NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13497, 25 May 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Tire highest trees bear the most, pointed leaves. ■ • - '.- - * ."" • ■•;■ ....',' ,"'".

Storm-clouds travel at a pace of thirty-six miles an hour. . « ,

The tide in the Mediterranean at Algiers never exceeds 3$ in. ~':.-:* ;..,''.

Medicine must he charged for in Germany according to a State price-list.

Exeter Cathedral possesses-the heaviest ringing peal of bolls in the world.

Eighty thousand people live within the danger radius of .Mount Vesuvius.

Holland is the rm.lv European country into which coffee is admited tree of dutv.

Railways use up over two million lons of steel a'year, almost half the world's produes. . "

One man can by the aid of modern machinery cat 10,000 natch-wheels in a working day. , .-. *

An oak tree sixty feet high has been cMi« mated when in full leaf to have over six mil. lion leaves.

China's Grand Canal is the most wonderful artificial waterway in-the world. It-* is over 200 miles long.

Red is the commonest colour among the marine creature* found at great depths in the colder parts of the ocean. .., ;

The black jaguar which is found in Central America will attack any man by night or day, whom it finds lying down.

Houses built of other materials than wood are almost unknown in Russia- outside tho cities, and wood forms t'*ho principal fuel.

The famous clock of Stnwburg, which gives all the .movements of the sun, moon, land planets, was constructed over 550 years ago. '7/ :, ;v^"*>-'

The coral roadfs of Bermuda are the finest in the world far cycling. They are ,as smooth as a dancing floor, and are never dirty. • .

In Spain it is a belief among the pea* sants that the water in which a weddingring has been dipped will greatly benetit the eyes.'

Lions and tigers are powerfully affected by the smell of .lavender water. "Under its influence they sometimes become as docile as lambs." .'".'"';' i . ;'.'

Japan has the cheapest postal service in the world. For two about seven-tenths, of a penny—letters, are conveyed all over the empire.

Granite is twenty-five times as ..valuable for building purposes as is brick. -After granite come, in the following order, limestone, slate, and sandstone.

Defective eyesight is, according to ,an eminent authority, often due to wearing of tight collars, which interfere with the< circulation of blood to the head.

The longest underground thoroughfare* in Great; Britain ' is in Central Derbyshire, where one can walk seven miles without coming to the earth's surface. ■

An evil reputation has long been borne by the upas-tree. -; It is still ft common belief, that it is fatal for animals or men to rest beneath its poisonous shade.; ;v

" Plants grown ;in violet-coloured glass houses are said /. to progress the slowest, while those protected by red glass flourish the quickest and are, moreover, the hardiest,, A modern ; incandescent lighthouse (lantern, with - a 3£in. " mantle, gives 2400 can-dle-power, and ; uses no more oil,; than the old six-wick burner, Vwhich gave only 700 candle-power. ,

'Large salaries are paid to, skilled -gar* deners in Japan, who can twist and torture trees from their normal • forms •of growth into the likenesses of animals, boats, houses ?. and other designs.

; ; A quicksilver mine is found in ; Peru which : is over one : thousand feet in . circumference and 480 feet deep. In this profound /abyss are streets, squares, and a chapel where religious worship'■'{& held. '• ~ ' '< Motorists in Philadelphia Law taken to carrying carriage .whips for • ; little boys who think* it" funny to stand on the roadside and shoot beans and peas at the chauffeurs through blowpipes. , ■':■■.■■ Mr.'Ditmars, the curator at the Zoological Gardens,; New York, : assisted by sixteen labourers, has pulled all- the teeth of a Salome, a 265-pound python. 'He will equip her with a set of false teeth. > ;-.-■ , Among the assets of 'an octogenarian: named. George Buck, who", appeared ;in the < Capetown Bankruptcy Court f was'a piece of ground ; containing the grave, with' monument, of t his wife, ; who died;' somii l years r ; ago. . ' ' / ..." A dog clothed in a papar suit upon whiah. were the words in large type ; Vote >for; Kirk, . was sent about v the streets of' St. Austell, Cornwall,: in support of his . master's candidature at the urban council election. ' •

' The, parchmentv used for drumheads *is prepared from the skins of donkeys, calve** • •.■ goats and wolves; that for• writing pur-v poses from the skina of sheep. The impor- ; | tant part, the polls Magi is 1 done with pumice stone.

A staircase has been invented which playii tunes as it is walked up and down upon. A scries of pins is pressed by the feet and play* gongs and drums, while others are connected with collapsible clumbers, which blow various instruments.

Girls Must know how to sew, knit, and bake before their guardians will permit them to have lovers, in Norway. . Some of them, are so eager. to acquire these useful accomplishments that they learn them before they can read and write.. *

A mild winter does not, contrary to general belief, ; increase the death-rate j on the other '■;. hand, severe frosts have this effect. During the great frost of 1395-6 the London death-rate rose to nearly 500 a we<»k in excess of the corresponding : weeks of: tile year before.

In Denmark > there - are " over ; 220,000, rural landowners. ;More than half have riot, mors than one acre, 96,000 have: less than four acres, and only 2000 have more. The small landowners occupy themselves chiefly with the egg and fowl industry. - > -

The German used Ito be reckoned ■ th*i "k greatest smoker on earth. . He is no longer. The Belgian smokes 6.211b of tobacco yearly ; the inhabitants of the United States . 5.41 by while the German's share is only 3.441b. Hie Briton is really a most moderate smoker; 1.951b lastshim a year.

The skin of the men and women of some nations is much thicker than that of others, particularly; in hot countries. The Central African negro has a skin about half as thick again as that on an European. That of a negro is thickest over the head \ and -backdoubtless to serve as a protection , from the sun. . ■ .

' Two or ] three species 'of birds arc known to accompany i the. crocodile whenever '-he appears ■ above the water. ' When they see anyone approaching : they will fly, at the crocodile's nose, giving loud cries, and the beast never waits bo investigate, but instantly shuffles into the , water at • his best speed. . ' , -■-•■ ' .

• : A policeman ; giving evidence at ; the Kingston ] Police i Court, London, said/' he took his prisoner to the " veterinary sur<> feon," meaning .the divisional surgeon, Another policeman / at the Thames Police Court-said that he arrested a man- who was ill-treating a horse in a " coal shed." and bis inspector explained that he meant a cul-de-sac. ; •'• ,- '.-•.■:■:■■* -v

..At Stiviehall, near Coventry, may be seen a church that, among English chinches, at all events, possesses the unique distinction of having. b<en built by the unaided efforts of one man alone. Tne name of this persistent and assiduous workman was John Grene, a stonemason of Coventry, who laid the ■; first stone in 1810, and * completed his self-imposed task seven years later. V -"'A V -

Pigeons are to be pressed into service to serve one of the tiuy colonies not linked by cable or wireless. , An attempt; is being made at Montserrat, one of the Leeward Islands,; to establish a pigeon post^itbrAntigua. Some homers have been imported from England, arid, as soon as they have increasedsufficiently, attempts to establish; a regular post between the two islands will be made-