NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15056, 27 July 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Cotton is now grown extensively in Africa. Great Britain's present national debt ;, exceeds 724 millions sterling. .* In area the United States of America exceeds 3,000,000 square miles. Entertainments in London are attended by 200,000 persons every Sunday. Homeless persons in London on one night recently exceeded 1200 in number. As many as 57,000 persons of Scottish nationality left Scottish ports last year. Income tax for the past financial yeai yielded the Exchequer 44 millions sterling.. Sable-hunting has been prohibited Of three years by the Russian Parliament. •'■ Shrimps to the value of £13,000 are sold on Sundays in London in the course of a year. .;' , •'.■;':: Shakespere's birthplace at Stratford-on-Avon was visited by 40,000 people last year, • • New Zealand has in one year exported to Great Britain pork to the value of over £30,000. . Practically; the whole of the tea grown in India in disposed of by auction in Calcutta. ' - Calcutta, with its population of % 1,300,000, is the second city in the British Empire. To present a revolver at anyone, even if the weapon is unloaded, is in law an / assault. ;>;< ~....;, :/ : ;-a| Tokio, in Japan, has a population of nearly two millions, and almost half a. mil* lion houses. '."•','■ ■■'":].■. : ." v ; "' : ';'■ '■ - ■■'■■' '";":-:"'',■'. \■'■v;■^v^■■■'^:c'ft^^ i f^iNgJ:^■Ls!ii^^ Nearly 100,000 women in New York city consume* no fewer than 35,000,000 cigar" ettes a year.' . ■ y. " ■ More than five million bunches of ' bananas are now imported annually into Great Britain. Officers of the London County Council report over 11,000 cases of evaded licensor ' duty in one year. ■ Containing 488 levers, the signal-box.aS' St. Enoch station, Glasgow, is the largest. in the United Kingdom. Sold during 1910, the original manu-' script of the hymn, "Nearer, my God, tef Thee," realised £30 10s. Out of a total adult' white male population of 138,000 in the Transvaal, nearly.- '. : 50,000 are unmarried men. Gorman engine-drivers are given » gold medal and a sum of money for ©very 10 years' service without accident. Due to mechanically-driven vehicles,, .there were 39 fatalities last yeap in the city of London and Southwark. ■'-• With headquarters at Hamburg, tha Hamburg-American line is the largest owner of steamships in the world. Wild dogs ase now one of the dangers of Indian jungles.. Even the tiger and panther flee before these new nests. ■? ■'■ r Stored in large strong-rooms at Wool-: wich Dockyard are nearly 50,000 un-. , ' claimed South African war medals. At an annual railway coupling competition the winner coupled, and uncoupled with a pole 20 waggons in lm. 11 1-5£ It is computed that there is £800,000,000 worth of gold and jewels at the bottom of the sea on the route between England and • India, .'■'■■ . i '.'•'/'< ■'('■/ ' ! 'v- :, ' Snake-bites as a cure for consumption are mentioned in Sanskirt literature as having been practised for five or six thou- ; ' sand years. Two aeroplanes were used at a wedding ;; in Mineola, Long Island, for the propose "of showering rice and confetti on the newly" , wedded 'couple.' "/ .*•'' * ' ' Professional story-tellers, who wander from house to house and ply their trade for 2£d per hour, exist, -in large numbers' in Tokio, Japan. British Dominions in South America consist of British Guiana and British Honduras, and comprise nearly 100,000 square . miles of territory. A pearl diver considers he hat, dane a ' good day'work if he collects 2C'O shells. The record number taken -in one day stands at 1000 shells. ■ Fashions -in women's clothes change at least twice a year in England, yet in Japan the fashions have remained practically unchanged for 2500 years. The tallest lighthouse en the British ' coasts is the Skerryvorc, off Argyllshire. " • It is 140 feet high, contains 4308 tons* of masonry, and cost £90,268. Whilst playing in the Gentlemen v. ' Players match at Lord's in 1896, H.H. th.3' .. Jam of Nawanagar (Prince Ranjitsihbji) . scored 47 runs in nine minutes.' In Central Africa there is a tribe that i only bestows the privileges of citizenship and • marriage upon..'a man when ha . haa' ■ climbed down a precipitous cliff. , , Over 1000 ships of various kinds and*.,', sizes sail up and down the English Chan- ' nel every 24 hours, and there are seldom fewer than 200 near Land's End. , Egypt is the only country in-the world * where there are more men than women. The male sex in the dominion of th© Khe- ",''' dive exceeds the female by 160,000. The Arabs show their friendliness Khen meeting by shaking hands' six or eight times. Arabs of distinction go beyond this —they embrace each other several tiroes. :;: At the extension of the Royal Albert Dock, London, there are to be three elec- V trically-driven pumps, which can deal with' 5 about 130,000,000 gallons of water per day. Of the States comprising the U.S.A. New York is the most densely populated; 1 its population exceeds nine millions. The i population of Pennsylvania exceeds seven millions. The elephant requires less sleep than, ' "?- any other animal. In spite of then* capa-i city for hard work, these giant* seldom, , ■ if ever, sleep more than four or oceassion-'. ally five houre. The swiftest bird is either the vulture,', which is aaid, to be able to travel at- tha ■ frate of 150 nsiles an. hour, or, the English , " kestrel, which : can probably equal, . if. not; <"* exceed, this speed.. '. v ] ( * , "'VJ i. Rats, on incoming ships to a. total of 898, V? and 2130. in warehouses, were destroyed ;.■; A recently in one month in the port of Lon- : don; during,the pest eleven year.3 706,572, rats have besn destroyed by officers of then -~ port. Record prices were realised at tha auction sale succeeded the Evesham ' annual asparagus show. The bundle which took the challenge cup weighed 181b 4oz, and was brought for ten gui* neas. - f ;; |5 To the sapphire has been, ascribed all. various times magical properties, the two chief ones being: That it prevents wicked thoughts; and that it is such an enemy, to poison - that, if put in a glass with a spider or venemous reptile, it will kill it.> ; , Serlby Hall, near Retford, the stately home of Viscount and Viscountess Gal- . way, possesses the distinction of being th« K§Sj only military hospital established in England by authority of the War Office for ' the reception of wounded in the event of - invasion ■;..,.-•■■ ■■■■".■ ■.. . '.:.■....'• ■' '''■''.'■■.■^'..■■Ji...:.'; Based on calculations made" at. musichalls in the West End of London, it is proved that 52 per cent, of the money , ' spent on turns goes to sketches, operas, and the like; 23 per cent, to oonwlians, and 14 per cent, to vocalists; the balance goes to odd turns. A train which left Bolivar, in South' America, for a neighbouring town thi-e© years ago has just arrived. The distance"' . covered was 120 kilometres, and the rea- . , son, fox; the delay was & storm which de* railed* the train, killed most of tas pa*» gangers, and, ripped up such a goodly, por- ~.; tion of the railway-line that the company*';./ owning it was forced into bankruptcy,. About six months ago an Amiinj^'WJg-"-,*;>■£ neer undertook, the. ireco.n.-..tnic i<m ot «a road, and brought the long-datojrf .im» to the point tor ,-y^^W<WSW^::i ; ; * ', . i '{ , ,' ' l rh il :\ Y .. . ,i '''f.w.J',.. ..i i..:.1 «..., .. * . lis,.!*i?'^ , J>.... t w«!\EAy