NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14835, 11 November 1911, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

A million herrings are. worth £1300. On the active list there are five admirals of the fleet. In 140 nests there are, on an average, 25,000 wasps. , .. German -silver is an alloy c£ nickel, copper, and zinc. > Navy chaplains are paid from £219 to £401 per annum. . The average fees for a special marriage licence exceed £29. New York State has abandoned the use of public drinking-cups. Field-Marshal Lord Roberts was 79 years . of age on September 30th. Farm animals at present in Canada exceed £112,000,000 in value. The term " reverend" was firet used for ministem in the year 1657. A flash of lightning has been known to ' cure an attack of neuritis. One shilling per acre was a fair rent for land in the reign of Henry VIII. Los Angeles, in California, has mounted •, a squad of policemen on roller-skates. Every hearth or fireplace in England was taxed in the reign of Charles. 11. - More than 2£ million acres per annum } of wheat are grown in New South Wales. Bread sold in Chicago must Be stamped * with its weight and the name of the baker. • Since 1839 the employment of dogs for ' drawing carts has been abolished in London. ' ' A distance of 70 miles, 1388 yards has been traversed by a motor-cycle in one hour. Oats contain a larger amount of flesh and bono forming substances than any other cereal. • • - r ' .The final work - in building the Campanile of Venice is expected to end nextApril. : *, ' Ninety per cent, of the cycles imported l into Japan are supplied by British manufacturers. • ■ I * ' Terrific thunderstorms accompany tornadoes, which are short in duration and quite local. '• • • • " , " In the English-speaking world there are nineteen millions of Methodists of all denominations. V " . Any- person to whom it is tendered may break or deface any gold coin below the current weight; ' ' / , .: Tobaooo seeds are so • minute.; that ra; thimble will hold enough to sow over an. acre of ground. '* > . . There are..fewer than 5000 electors, in. twenty-two Parliamentary constituencies in. the British Isles. 1 ; J .: ' , * The Automobile Association has nearly. 35,000 members, who own between ..then over 50,000 motor cars. ' *'• . 1 :• ;; Twenty-three months ' are ' required in which to complete a British Dreadnought - from the' time the older is received. The London and North-Wee tern Railway, * Company have decided to abolish second-; class carriages at the end of this year. r : •; r •; 11l Holland;,'the rights of parents are" so strictly maintained that a man or . woman under thirty may not marry without their, consent.' '■ ' v < ' •, The heaviest salmon , caught for the last ten years in the Cumberland Derwent, showed fight • for an' hour, and was found! to weigh olilbs. V ~ Sir James Crichton-Browne says that if the present rate of decrease of the disease can be maintained, tuberculosis will cease in from 30 to 40 yean».' - ..

A collection* of ' buttons, 'dating from : th& Ninth Century, left by a man who died at Ghent, has been found to be worth. £8000. It started with one taken from tho robe of Charlemagne. Birds . have been seen through a ' telescope crossing the disc rof the moon at at calculated * height of five). miles, and Gatket believed that some birds, such •as curlews,, fly at a height of 10,000 feet. The first milestone out of the City 'of' London on the Great Eastern Road to "Col- s chester is to -be found in the taproom of. a beerhouse in the Whitechapel Road. - Probably the house ; was built over the atone. ] v A remarkable occurrence was, witnessed at Czezanow, GaJicia, when the• Synagogue was struck, by lightning during service.. Everyone present in the synagogue ; fell to the ground insensible and remained so for some time. , • - _ From the time the Olympic was in col< lie ion with the Hawke, until her , safe ar-; rival at Southhampton the Marconi wireless installation on board was utilised . fop sending messages : from the ; liner V.to 'all parts of the world. " • A very strange sight is a white negresa at . present in Berlin with a troupe of black warriors. *• Her child and her ; sisters are black, as are all others of the;" family, ' and, like a freak of Nature, the woman is quitewhite, skin as well as hair. \ ". One of .the items in the , Cheshire Yeomanry Camp Sports in Eaton Park was a short distance race j between Lieut. Herman's charger and a motor car driven by Captain Egerton. The charger won easily, the motor getting badly away.

Mr. James Stewart,. Inveraray, when' hauling a net which ho had set in Loch. Fyne, off Inveraray, found rolled in it a. monster skate, weighing iscwt, and measuring 6ft 2in from snout to tip of, tail, and 4ft 6in across the broadest part.

Although the International Horse: Show" at Olympia has been in existence only five years, this year's dividend has brought/ the total profits up to 100 per cent., so," that, apart from reserve funds, the shares holders have received the whole of theiu"; capital back. , , .

In a farmyard at Aisby, South Lincoln-, shire, is a wheat: stack j which I has $ been; standing there for 32 years this ? harvest. The story runs that the owner made a vow* not to sell the com under a certain price, and this has never been attained. Th» grain ie in splendid condition.

The chair at this year's ; dinner;in com-* memoration of the Relief• of: Lucknow, will be taken, by the oldest survivor of thab historic campaign, General Sir ji: George Digby Barker.]' vj The gallant veteran was one of the force who, i under Havelock and Outrun; - forced 1 their?. way; into : Lucknow on September 25th, 1857, and relieved thq Residency after its terrible siege.;

A Berlin| has made the experiment of ap« pointing thirty feminine "policemen." l These guardians of the law will have children as their especial charge. Nob only will homes bo visited, for the woman officer may walk into any house at her own discretion, but schools and institutions where. little people are boarded and educated will be entered and examined at will., A new German " liner" of 6(100 tons, to sail between Hamburg and West Africa, is fitted with anti-rolling tanks, and the own- : ers have shown their confidence *in - the efficacy of the apparatus by providing the dining-saloon with ordinary' dining-room chairs! not fastened to the floor in any way, though their feet are shod with india- - rubber, with the object of preventing : slip* ping. . In Spain the baby's face is : swept 1 will* - a pine bough to bring it good luck. In some parts of Ireland a belt of woman's ; hair is placed round the . child to keep harm away. In'. Holland, garlic, ' salt, bread, and steak are put into the cradle of a new-born baby. -; When a Grecian mother is putting her child into the cradle to sleep,' she turns three ; times round before the , fire while singing her favourite song to ward off evil spirits." - .. According" to • the latest census l returns' for the 'administrative conn of London, the total' population for Greater London is 7,252,963. v»The area of the administrative county of London is ; 116.8 H square; miles. The area -of Greater, y London, : , which " includes all parishes-: within;-. eleven miles of Charing Cross, is 693 square miles. In 1910 the five boroughs of New iorto boasted, of 4,776.883. although ; the popu, lation is now • estimated at more than nv<s ' .jaillioiU