NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14853, 2 December 1911, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

FjvoKDfswero', first, made in Florence. ; The moon is 238,000 miles away front the earth.

Jersey's early potato crop brings in. about £250,000.year1y." ; On an average, a cow yields about 403 gallons of milk a year. The first birds of the earth were in tb« form of flying reptiles. , There are now 67 theatres in London* and 738 in the provinces. More than 7,000,000 golf balls are used up* in Britain every year. In 50 years the production of. petrQM leuin has increased 19 times. Ages before the Roman Empire petro* leum was used by the Egyptians. The controversy regarding Mars being an inhabited planet began in 1877. On the shores of the United Kingdom last-'year fish to the value of more than £11,000,000 was landed. • . '; . Accumulated in the mines of the world •/ thero is enough coal to create 15 billion horse-power for 12.000 years. . Electric tramways were first used in tho United Kingdom in 1882, when one %vaU opened at Leytonstone, in Essex. , Insurance, in its commercial aspect, wag [ first introduced into England by the Lorn-* I bards early in the 16th century. ;' | More than 22,000 vagrants were acN I mitted to 17 unions in the County of Berk*, ! shire in a period of three months. ■ Of the 6,500,000 persons who voted ati the English last general election there] were 41,710 who were unable to read. In the event of an employer becoming bankrupt, the claims of domestic servants come before those of ordinary creditors. Beautiful artificial flowers were mad« of wax by the Romans, and the Egyptians uSed, horn and metal'for a similar pur* . nose. ■ *- ■ v-■,-/■' '; -'■'' '■■• - "■'"«;"',;.;..". . :: • An expert, estimates that nearly 4,000,000 pneumatic tires will bo required 1 to shoo the motor-cars running in America during the year 1912. ' :" ' ' . '■;; In the City of London there are 19 railway bridges,, three, bridges across roads, and 62 across public ways connecting private ■ premises." ■■- -. ■_•. **■ ( ■ ;■■ - ■ - , • ' ;■:. - No fewer than 3,460,387 accounts in the Post Office Savings Bank -have been for* gotten by depositors ; not. one,. however, exceeds a sovereign. , ' "■ ~''.' ',; ; ' ""* The Union of South Africa, which in* chides the Transvaal, Cape Colony, Natal ■„ and 1 Orange; Free State, has a population Of 6,000,000 people. • !'French ' parents residing, in the Nord Department, and : having ; at,. least , seven; children, will ' receive an allowance of 9s) 6d per month from the Council-General. The largest'artificial leg ever made, mea- ;. suring 39in in circumference, is being com-,;: pleted :bv a Pittsburg firm for Miss Anna Clielton,'* of Oil City, 'Pennsylvania, who , weighs 50 stone. *» As showing,the difference between concert and music-hall salaries, a, writer quotes' the case of ; a "Welsh, contralto who appeared at Leeds concerts at 30s or- £2 a week, and who now commands £20 a, -week in the halls. < t 1,: x It is officially • announced that the new; White Star triple* screw steamer Titanic, 45,000 v tons, sister ship to the ; Olympic, and the largest vessel- in '« the world, will leave Southampton and Cherbourg on. hep / first \ voyage to New York, on April 10, /1912. \. In , Cornwall, .according' to Greenwich] time, the evenings continue "light, nearly 25',minutes later than in London. Cornwall, therefore, possesses an asset of com siderable , importance; l* For ; golfing pur- , poses, as an instance, almost an hour mora is'available'in' the Cornish. Riviera that* at places nearer London. yj ;;■ , / '. Mr. Whitehouse, M.P.. : has received :i present from a working miner in his constituency. v.Tti takes , the , form of ;- : a neat ' little alarm clock■• (set at the hour of: the i declaration of ; the poll). ,' The frame - has ': the appearance of black* marble, but in: . reality is composed of gas coal, cut from I the block and. artistically designed*,by the ' donor, >an ardent admirer and supporter; of Mr. Whitehouse. ; ,:'lnteresting'statistics on the French" sari , dine industry 'show, that there are 200 fac- , tories on; the French coast engaged in canning the fish; 14,000 women prepare' the j fish as they come from the nets, and 2500 ; men j are. employed in canning . them. The average annual production of tinned sar- ■ '. dines is" 20,000 tons. -About 121b of tin is used on every 100 square yards of the, : sheet iron 'itorn which the tins are made. ; 'Two loaves of bread baked 93 yeans ago in Germany form. the relic-contained in a < glass case at the home of Joseph Hummel, i a ; business • man in * thei States. : fi They are '; , reminders of the famine that swept Ger- , many in lßl6 and 1817. - Wheat then sold! for £17 'a bushel. The loaves ,- were heir--1 looms in. the Hummel family, and came v into Mr. Hummers hands when he was' . visiting his old' home in Wurtemburg 20 ( years a£o. * v-," ' ■•• ';..'•'" [ [> The ; picturesque village of Molesworih, < Huntingdon, possesses an unusual . cßßoe- ','; tery. It has been established about seven years, and up to date there have been 1 interred about 200 pete, mostly dogs, -al- ' though there are a few birds, about 50 1 Oftts, a marmot, arid.four monkeys. The' ! place is beautifully kept, the graves being-. ' planted with flowers, while the stones andj ■... .curbs .are principally of,while marble ; with ; ' suitable inscriptions. ',""". ' Each new, means >of: swift,; travel - en«. }. I. larges the boundaries of life and shrinks) distance—the aeroplane most of all. „'.Th» ' degree to which it has become an; accepted ' fact in modern 'life may be seen, by tho 1 suggestion of a European aviator that J, direction pointers be placed at suitable intervals through, all the Continental i couun ': tries. His idea is to have.huge : arrowS ' laid down,;,of: such a size that a,person*ai : mile; in the air can distinguish: the points .of the compass. , , >• ;■., ■'''•. t ; The State Legislature of Kansas is- dis< , cussing a Bill by which it is proposed to prohibit the wearing of tights on the stage* j or in > public places. f Tights, it ;is suggested, should t' be ''supplanted: by ■ skirts ! reaching not less than 4in below the knee--5 cap. , The, word " knee-cap" is apparently lj so offensive to the promoters of the Bill . that ;i throughout - the document the: word!. " "patella" is : used.': Fines of £20 for sach 9 1 offence,-.or -in 'default two months' im« t prisonraeht. are proposed. ...

~.k "A. few weeks ago Albert Gayer, ofj Berea. Cleveland, U.S.A., made a joking; .remark that he would have no singing at his funeral it was out of date; what he desired was a- phonograph selection. •, ,A day or two a?o he was killed while tending a powerful gas-engine.; His : mates, convinced, that ho had had a premonition of his death, decided to respect his last wish* The " Dead March" was accordingly played by phonograph as the coffin was carried from Gayer home. ' ' About two, miles - from;; Horncastle there is a house which stands in ; two; parishes and in two Parliamentary divisions, When tho tenant is in one portion of his residence, 'which/''was originally two itp.pt mental ho' is in West Ash by. in the Horn* castle Parliamentary division, ; whilst where he is in another part of the building lie is in the, parish of Hemingby. .in tho Louth Parliamentary division;-: He has: a. Parliamentary voter. in each division, and, exercised his dual privilege at tho general election. , .' ' ■■?•;'£

.....-It is.now ; ,75 years since the first 'rail-. way was introduced into Germany., Tho experiment was ~ naturally on a•; modes* scale, ' from 'Ludwigsbann/ joining gj£nftj NndemburgUo'.Fnrth:''The.siX i :kiloTOpueft 'of .75 vears ago have •> increased to-day to < 60,000 "kilometres, a kilometre being five* eighths of a 'mile/, and ;. ; it: is caimed that Germany. to-day. .possesses-the ™, 8 '™' way system in Enrone. : : The, first locokmh : five vised on the Nuwmhure-Furth luui was named-the Aden and^M.magi under the superintendence ut «OT&«PSwi in 'England. It cent £860, ' ■■•*'«**so*s