NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13146, 7 April 1906, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

■ i o- ■ I A xf.jE.die ■ machine -turns' out 1,500.000 needles a week. ■'; ■'; ■-.•■:,.■.'. ." About sixty papers are published in the interests of anarchy. - A convict earns about tenpence a week while in penal servitude.- . ■ *■■■■.- : About : 10,000 volunteers will train on Salisbury Plain in the summer. ■ A learned German estimates the force of '" .'. a thunderbolt at 50,000 horse-power. There are 1425 characters in the twentyfour books that Charles: Dickens wrote. : German .'■'lvor contains no real silver. but is a mixture of copper, nickel, and ■;;; zinc.'. .. ■■■'• -. A Paris paper says; the greatest charm of .-.;, a woman's attire lies in the shape of her sleeve. y '~ ' : ' __" : y • The dahlia derived its. name from the -.■--■■ Swedish botanist. Professor 'paid, who first ".- cultivated it. '■'■'': Persons horn in spring are said to have a more robust constitution than those born at other .seasons. . . ;, It. is computed that 500,000.000 picture post cards aire annually -sent through the German post offices. . . * . The Chicago police have raided several matrimonial agencies. and seized a-quarler of a million love letters. .... •It is estimated: that: the temperature;of the earth at a'depth of 200 miles is not less than 18,000deg. Fahrenheit, " : - ; V The word) "bosh" is simply tin-- Turkish for nothing,' and came into England about?the time of the Crimean War. -- ' Exposure to sunlight is : one., of the best disinfectants for clothing known.- .the light I passing through glass will not do it. y;: I A Manchester minister says ills firm con- -,; ! viction is that the theatre is, a place no !■ Christian man or woman should enter. ; v, c A letter posted in London on January 5, I 1898, has just been delivered" to a trades- | man/at Clacton, to whom it was addressed. i The converts to Esperanto at; Cambridge I now number more than fifty, and no. stu- | dents are making more headway than the local police. . \ • Charles Dfkkens said of "Robinson Crusoe" that; it was 1 !,"' the most popular story in the world,; and yet one which never drew a smile or tear." - V ■. ■ A French'scientist, of. note maintains that ''&. large number of the nervous madadies from which girls suffer>iiie to be 'attributed to playing the piano. \ ;■.;,; - If a man fell out of a balloon at a distance of five miles above the'earth his velocity at'the last second would be at the rate of 4653 feet per second.. , --, ...-,. .■.•■■., William Xewlands, a Los Angeles, California, boy, has just died from injuries caused by "falling off a .patent safety ladder which his father invented. Old-fashioned jousts between arm':d knights, like those described in " Ivanhoe,'" , are to be a feature of the forthcoming mili- votary tournament at Olympia. - .- .During, last year no fewer than : 10,000 school ■children" were taught to swim by " instructors employed by- the London Schools Swimming Association. , At the inquest on ai labourer who died from exposure at Wycombe, it was stated that he. had not been to bed for nine years. He preferred to sleep in .the open. ' ' • .'„•• At Elsenthal growing trees were converted into newspapers in less than three hours. In that time the j, trees were cut down, made into paper, and printed on. - To make:' fireproof paper nothing more . is necessary than to'saturate the paper in. a strong solution of alum water, and when thoroughly dry it will resist the action of Hume. ■ We wear away two inches of shoe leather in a ycnir. A pair of'-. boots that ".would last a' lifetime"' would, consequently, have to be fitted with soles ■ from ten to eleven feet thick. An apron is the royal standard of Persia. Gab, a Persian blacksmith, raised a revolt y which proved successful,';': and his leather apron, covered: with jewels* is still borne in the van of Persian armies.

.The West Ham Town Council has pre-, , seated an illuminated address to a young i girl, Ellen Ross,.for her gallantry in saving !it boy from drowning,, and a certificate giving her: permission to use the council's; baths' free of charge for life. - / ■ ■ - Domestic sen-ants are so scarce in Montreal that ladies in want; of help" : are said to visit the .gaol \ with a \ view to engaging; young women to work for them, at the close of their terms of imprisonment. _. . 'The Duke of Beaufort's famous pack- of foxhounds had, a narrow escape on the Great Western Railway. ■/. One valuable' 5 hound was killed by : a train,' which was pulled up in time to save the«others.-?';: "Gwendoline Violet Peai'ce, ten. years 'old, was charged at Tottenham' with stripping a;' hoy four years old of all his clothing but' lite trousers, and dressing her small brother in the. stolen clothes. She was remanded. ':' A Lynn, bankrupt' told the : official receiver that he lost some sheen by death and that he killed the, remainder to keep them, alive. This was his way of explaining. that he was able to make (saleable-meat of them. ..'■; It has been reported to the Maldqn Rural. Council that a great; nuisance is caused by gipsies ait Tiptree Heath. : ; They - live in ; a deplorable condition. "One sleeps in a box j and another in a tent made of a discarded ■ I petticoat. 1 The Birmingham;police- have recovered a heavy bar of silver which fell from, a. railway lorry while being conveyed through the streets of the city. / The man'.who\ picked it up thought it was tin, and sold ;it for •eighteenpenee.. At a jubilee;dinner 01 a foresters' society at, Yarmouth \ the; secretary said that in perusing the old minutes he, came across arule under which fines. of a penny were inflicted on '-•■ members for: swearing at meetings and silting - on the cashbox. , ' ,;•-.'.,.' ";-' The Clacton lifeboat secretary has received a. donation of £5 William Barker, a sailor, as a thanksofFcriug for his rescue ; by the Clacton' lifeboat > when the Norwegian sailing'vessel Hawksdale was wrecked off Cluctuu ; more lliaiu a. year ago. ■ .' \ In linguistic atmiuments the Russians are far: in advance of other; nations. Their Seisured and cultured classes, appear., to have the faculty of acquiring languages specially developed, and can for the most part 'cam a new language with a fraction of the time and trouble it takes a Briton or ; anv other European. /. ■"/"'--"•'■;. -/Insects generally breathe through special pores in various parts of their ..body ..'and-if these pores, are closed by oil they are suffocated. Anyone may Jest this by dropping sweet oil, on the back of a.wasp; itvery soon dies. . For this reason oil has been found one of the; best things to use for the destruction of;insects.'-';."."" The. little town of La.hr, Austria, has been terrorised lately by two footpads, who 'waylaid-.", many of the inhabitants, and in every case demanded that the victim's; boots should be surrendered at once, or .their value when new paid instead. •-"■;-/.The=■ two men, who have been arrested ,-'•'■ have confessed that they were operating: ohdiehailf of. a local shoemaker. • * , Ants' eggs are regarded as.'a' choice dish in some countries. They are spread upon a slice of bread-and-butter, -while sauces considered excellent are also made with them. They are esteemed as a costly .food in Siam;; within the reach only of well-to-do people. In some countries of; Northern; Africa they are cooked in boiling water, and yield , kind of ■■■vinegar. The Berliner Zeiunig am' Mitfng states that a Russian some time ago gave a .ring, worth £50. to a. newspaper seller in' the/ Friedrieh-strcet for three copies of " the Zeitung am Mittag. The-period fixed by; law during which the donor could have . regained possession of the" ring has now expired, and'the police iic.vn informed - the newspaper seller that I In- ring is hit, lawful property.