NEWS IN BRIER

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15169, 7 December 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIER

::;•'.;",-'. :■ ;..; ■» " ♦ ';.. : ,''''■• ■■;■■; ! v-;>•:''.:-Two-thirds of Ireland is under cultivation -. Salt water extinguishes fire much more quickly than fresh. . {~ i .Sea water freezes at 28 degrees Fahren- | heit, and boils at 213 degrees. ."■• ' \ A Grimsby trawler has caught over 65,000 j mackerel, beating all records. >' ,; , , There is enough iron in : the blood of 42 men to make a ploughshare weighing 241b. ; j In Great Britain there are over balf-ai-million agricultural holdings • exceeding one ■ acre. '■.' ' : '"- : '"'." : '"':•'■-/: ■'■ '-'.'■. Out of every hundred of, the population in : England and Wales, 78 per. cent, live in towns.■''-./ ■■••',„" ■;■:■".'.:•'•.-:.' '■.""■' ■■ /''■;■. Cyprus,, under convention of 1878, pay" - an annual tribute of, £92,800 to the Saltan, of, Turkey,. ' ■ \/ :::; '.".',".' ' -'" ' --- Coloured people in the Union South ; Africa outnumber the whites by nearly, four to one. . .■ v , ' . r ,~ Since 1897 the total .value of United t Kingdom produce exported abroad has risen by £220,000,000. • '. .''*•< About 64 per cent, of India's total trade ;' in food and manufactures is with Europe, : and 24 with Asia. '•'■;'. • ,•■ '•'•,"''".■„ Exclusive of India, the British' army has'. 83 troops, companies, and other forma* - tions of Royal Engineers. . .-.-.'., In England Bud Wales there are .35 Parliamentary boroughs which contain a popu- ' V. lation of 100,000 and..upwards. Of the 17,000 odd miles of railways" in \ the Commonwealth of Australia over 15,000 i: ;• are owned by the Government. \ > Admirals of the fleet, as distinct'from:',: admirals, vice and rear admirals,: are nob fi employed afloat in the British navy. India has 147 vernacular.' languages, th« ,\\; '; chitif •of 'which are Hindi, Bengali, ; Bihari,'-v: Marathi, Panjahi, Tamil, and Telugu. , * During the, past 20 years male offender* i ? between the ages..of 16 and 21 (convicted V '; annually have fallen from 18,000 to 8000. • In France, the average * usual working •* -l: hours per week "of the industrial popula- |;(v tion ale 117 per cent, of those in England. ''•'%• A half-crown, firmly embedded' in a- ; .■ horse's foot, was found ;by ; a farrier whilst ' ': engaged in shoeing an animal, in Manchea- fcll ter. • •,','. •' "'". ■ ■ \.- Unless an Austrian gains the consent of ■ '' ' his wife, he cannot get a passport of jour- : ney beyond the frontier of his own coun->.■< t try. " : '. ■ ' •''":";"',_;■':;;.; . :''.'/ •';;'' >.._ ';'."■ r | A resident of Fort Worth,. Texas, .prides . himself on being the only, mart, living, who possesses a - set of false teeth made of . cast iron. ':■ ■ '•■,.■...••.•." : ■■•■ - ,•■■ ;'.;• - -,•>->,•;:; -'" ; .'\ In the classification of battleships in the ; British navy, no.ship is considered first- . class unless she fires a broadside of ', at least 60001b. ■:..:• ■ o '■:.■: v,.:.J.;.r-,Tr i ' A Birmingham chemist has undertaken.';; the task of recovering £100. worth of ra- '.',■"' dium, a tiny speck that is hidden in 21b of•-, v ashes.,',.-; . ■'■ . , . '■ . ,;, " ,-'...;■... : ,." :' : :%< ':„ In Nepal a .woman ban divorce -her-hus-., ' band at any time by simply placing a betel-'. nut under his pillow and taking her depar- "'.' ture. \ ■ ,•- '; •■" s) A recent Parliamentary census of Eng- : . land' and Wales shows that,; exclusive .of the Universities, there are ,468 Parliament- ' ary ; areas. ",';. ;fe ; , ■, • ~ , .;,!,; .y-^ House-agents letting furnished hoURSS at : « a rent exceeding £25 a year in the 'United'' Kingdom i must < take out an annual licence* i- ':"■■ costing £2..:.;!•■ r . The -first, veiisel: to ■■pas*.''; through the ■; Panama Canal, • willl- be ailnited ■ States war.' ; ship. ';,"; The -date^ fixed for " ; ■' " event* is / ' October 15, 1913. '• , •",'"< Southern , Tunis boasts of a houseless ' ■ town having a population: of 5000 people. ■ They ore troglodytes, whose fathers before - them lived in similar" caves. ; ' ' .. „ \ __ There'are just 8000 boats engaged in seafishing, and the regular crews number in all close on 34,000 men and boys,' with another 10,000 casually employed. The longest underground thoroughfare in. Great Bntain is in . Central , ; Derbyshire,, where you can , walk seven miles upon a road connecting several coal mines. %'. : One London omnibus company alone loses £80,000 a year by passengers over-riding the destinations marked on their tickets, or , slipping off without paying any fare. : '' The jarrah, a tree which grows 1 in West Australia, supplies practically {the" 'only- ■■■ wood known, to lumbermen which 1 eifectu- : ally resists the depredations of insect?. >> : During 1911-12 there were 1090 fewer;' . prisoners received into prison :in England '.- and Wales *' for . indictable offenccn . tried ;' summarily" than; in the previous 'yean • ' ; It is estimated that a .train of trucks ■ ■ loaded up; with the earth and rock ;thatv\;i have been taken from the bed of the ;i' Panama Canal would reach twice round the * I world. . ' T "" ' t ■ i The walking-leaf insect is a curious ex-. ,. '-■?.. I ample of'tropical life, allied to the locust, • which so resembles a leaf ■ that the closest ; l .- l ; ! scrutiny generally fails to detect the differ^- }-'\l I ence. ; -. ''/'• ,•.;■ • ■■.;].' ,;: ''^'<i; iw n~:\^ : .Vy^\' i - : ,In the sixteenth century the' blades' b£ ' table knives bore on one aide the musical -~ notes of the "Grace before meat,", and on the other side those of the ''Grace, : alter meat." , - '•■ , • ■■ Since 1837, the largest Liberal majority, f in Parliament in England w ks 354, in-1900,,' and the smallest was 1, in; 1847; while „,..,•• largest Unionist majority was 152, in 1895, and" the smallest 46, in 1880/ ' .-.'-. >L' : ' ■v' ':■■•'■ The inventions of , the musical scale or ;' gamut occurred in 1022. It was the work! . of an Italian monk, Guido Arctine, who ■ was three tiines sent for to Borne, to ex- ,* plain and teach it to tho clergy. ',•" v .■-..• The new Parisian fashion in 'stockings is M made with separate^compariments',for each ;;;; toe. This is said to be' a v sure cure for ;, corns, _ which are caused by the rubbing •• V of. the skin . against that of . the neighs yl'■} boUring toe. '."■.;.." ,„'-"-'' ~ In some cantons of Switzerland there are . held public wrestling matches ; once a year at which, pretty nearly everyone is present.. ; At Grenchen recently, a property owner and his tenant wrestled for a year's rent as ;.;'. stakes. The tenant won. ;': ;,...,.,. ,;;/ The Desert of Sahara is becoming a garden. Within a few years 12,000,000 acres ~ of land have been made fruitful by-artesian wells. But there are 900,000,000 acres yet to be reclaimed before all the sand wastes . of South Africa are utilised. ; -;'; ; ■•■:." An enterprising Frenchwoman has just performed a very interesting feat by way of proving the sustaining powers of chocolate. , For 60 days no other nourishment passed ( her lips, and at the end of- that timo she had lost but 151b in weight. _ Including the High Court of Justice, the 1 Court of Appeal, and the Court of Crimi- ' - nal Appeal, tho total: cost of the: Law, Courts for the year ending March, 1912, * * was nearly £700,000, while, the' receipts were some £200,000 short of this sum., ;.'«<.; In the reign of James the First a patent was granted for a steam engine (then called a fire engine), for taking, ballast' out of rivers, and for raising quantities of water. This is the earliest instance upon reebrd'of &M the application of the power:of steam in ' England. • \ • „ r ■ • ; ;.':„•' -';/* , •' •■' In researches on, different, methods c£ preparing food, a physician, has proved that.\ both beef and fish are more digestible i» - " the raw state than cooked, thatjieef is in, I - general better digested than fish, and that ; a hah is more digestible smoked than in any;' other form. ■/ V ..;• ; ... In the matter of fares the trans-Siberitta^ puts all other railways to shame: .T? ! F^fl# first-class the.charges axe about*^6*iHuitas'-.. of : a -penny '■ per'' mile -, ■ second ?'(WlS;tpK*H,i^S inferior), 1 less than a "halfpenny for m* same .distance, whUeifyou'cara.to risk « ; third-class journey you get ''JfiS^SSEgHSS^^ I .for a penny. , Even th»;»' the height;o^.. , i-extbrtion:^)enftcbmpar^:^|fe^g|| hcrant"rate';^lh^^^^.sl':{^^f» Hke a shilling for P*p^^i,m t .'■ if the emigrant does not ling the Govsmment will lead it hlmj