NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13086, 27 January 1906, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Titk pneumatic tube idea originated iff 1667.

The first guineas! bore the impression of an elephant.

On an average the letters received by thflf German Emperor number nearly 600 a. day*

The huge- guns of modern navies can only be tired about 75 times before they am worn out.

Italy has the greatest proportion of criminals. They number 61-0 to the million of population.

Mount McKinley. in. Alaska, has never been climbed, although countless attempts have been made.

In Northampton a, woman follows the occupation of auctioneer, and another that of horse-slaughterer. i

["here is an agitation in Glasgow to haviji umbrella stands provided on the plat form or the electric Manual ■-.

Wooden shoes are wont by about seventy million people m Europe. Most oi then* are made of batswood.

It is a point of honour that' Moorish women never know their own ages. They have no birthday celebrations. Bright red spectacles, accompanied by hitenia 1 doses of calomel, form a new Germans specific agent against seasickness.

The British motor-car budget for 190t» is estimated at some £4,000,000. This is *, colossal increase in the sale of cars.

In a few years' time (writes a. writer in World's Work and Play) the best motors cars in the world will be made in England. ,'

A labourei named Gill has died as*that, result of a. scratch received from a kitten i which he rescued from a wire trap at Beck-' ley, Sussex. i

The Brooklyn Bridge cable is 7ffc 6ir» longer when the thermometer murks ono hundred degrees than when the mercury isdown to zero.

A rule in effect in Leipzig, Saxony, as* sesses the expense of calling out the tiro department to the owner of the house where the lire originated.

A new steel factory to cost £4,000,000,; and to give employment to 5000 men, is to, be constructed by the United States Steel j Corporation on 2500 acres of land in In-,' diana.

Dr. Andrew Wilson says the healthiest** homes in England are His Majesty's prisons. If we could all live under such severely sanitary regulations each of us might attain the age of 100.

. The cost of feeding the animals in the; Zoo last year was £3423. The. principal items of food were 207 horses, 270 goats, 34.9211b of fish, 25,196 eggs, 6855 quart* oS milk, and 137 loads of hay.

China's population, according to recent estimates, numbers 426,000,000 of souls, including 8,500,000 in Manchuria, 2,180,000 in Mongolia, 6,430,000 in Thibet, and 1,200,000 in Chinese Turkestan.

During the naval visit to Canada and. America there were 355 desertions6B iron* the Drake, 38 from the Cornwall* ;, 6B from the. Berwick, 53 from the Bedford, 75 from the Cumberland, and 53 Jjrom the Essex.

Berlin has erected a huge building resembling a factory, where the unemployed,, whole families— are received and provided for. But no one can take advantage of this hospitality more than five times in three months.

The enormous tin toy industry is mainly in the hands of the French and Germans. Germany turns out 60,000,000 of them year' ly, France 50,000,000, of which latter no fewer than 30,000,000 are exported, Eng* land taking the bulk. i

A scientific man proclaims that he has discovered that working • about . high voltage electric apparatus results in "grave disturbances of the digestive organs, loss of appetite, distress after eating," and a whole train of dyspeptic symptoms.

On the opening of the first French. railway, in 1837, a. French reporter wrote ex- ■ citedly of the locomotive "He snorts! Hia prodigious tail of vapour floats in the firma- i; ment. Noble and intrepid horse, which no- ' thing can stop! Job's horse." , 'Yf'; Every Japanese barrack has a gymnasium, and the Japanese soldiers rank among the best'gymnasts in the world. In half a t ; minute they can scale a 14ft wail by simple ~ bounding on each other's shoulders, one {' man supporting two or three. others. « ,' ■ The recruit l- , enrolled for the British Si army from January 1 to the end of Octoi her numbered 33,929, and for the year from October, 1904, to September, 1905, 35,351. - The quality of the men, bosh physically./ and Socially, is stated to be satisfactory. | A portion of Mont Blanc has been sold'l for £6000, and is to be broken into large squares of granite for building purposes. ;_ The rock in question is a world-famous - stone, which, broken off from Mont Blana in the glacial period, was deposited in the Rhone Valley at Monthey.

Inventors are now turning their atten* tion to the smaller details of the motorcar. One of the most recent patents is applied to a wire frame arranged to sweep the rubber, tires. This, it is claimed, will' avoid many punctures, since it will remove tacks and bits of glass as soon as picked up.

Since the first visit Jo the ice cap" of the South Pole was made, some 50 years; ago,, there has been a steady recession of the belt of some 30 miles, and it is argued that in the course of time it will bo possible to make approach to the pole itself, and that the land in that vicinity may even become inhabited.

The Irish language has only 18 letters. Sometimes each letter is written separately and not joined together. The chief difficulty in learning Irish is that there t«re innumerable abbreviations for words and phrases. The language, too, is non-phone-tic, the words rarely being a key to the correct pronunciation.

A Parisian shoplifter carried a bogus baby with her during her predatory excursions. The infant had a wax face and a hollow leather body. It, was the thiefs custom to dexterously' transfer purloined articles, such as gloves, laces, etc., to the spacious baby, which usually gained much in weight during these little excursions.

Women in China have the privilege of** fighting in the wars. In the rebellion of 1850 women did as much fighting as men. At Nankin, in 1853, 500,000 women from various parts of the country were formed into brigades of 13,000 each, under female officers. Of these soldiers 10,000 were picked women, drilled and garrisoned in the city.

Colorado doctors are endeavouring to get the Colorado Legislature to enact a law restricting marriage to the physically fit. The proposed Bill provide? that all applicants for marriage licenses, both men and women, must submit to a physical examination, and if anv couple is unfit to wed because onei or both has some incurable disease, oris undeveloped, then a license shall be de- , nied. The life of a horse so rarely approaches man's allotted span of threescore years and ' ten that when it does so it is an event of more than passing interest. There is in I Manchester an authentic account of a horse, "Old Hilly." which belonged to the Mersey I and Irv.ell Navigation, and died on November 27, 1822, at the ripe old age of 61 I years. Shortly before Ins death a lithograph; ! "was published showing " Old Billy" with j Henry Harrison, who had known the animal for 59 years.

On the apex of the Prince of Wale*' crown, which he wears on special occasions, is a curious feather, or, rather, a tuft of periwak feathers, the top of which is adorned with a gold thread. This feather is said to be worth £10,000 and has the distinction of being the only one oi its kind in the world. It took twenty, years to procure it, and it caused tno death of more than » dozen hunt The reason the, pursuit of the periwak is so dangerous is because it inhabits the jungles and other i haunts of tigers.