NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15252, 15 March 1913, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Apples nourish ther brain and • spinal cord. Chemists are the most suicidal- class hi ,- Franco. On an average a taxi burns three gallons of petrol » day. The average Englishman consumes £40 .worth of food a year. Brown is to bo tho " correct"- colour for 5 mala attire this season. Over 160,500 acres are under cultivation for fruitgrowing in Belgium. M. Poincare has a pet Siamese cat, and a pet retriever called Bobette. Birmingham University is now. in wireless touch with tho Eiffel Tower. British goods imported into Germany in 1911 were valued at £24,089,000. Astronomical observations in China wens j carried on a* far back as 2352 B.C. The largest bath-tub in tho world, it is said, is to bo *' built" for Mr. Taft. About 10,000 taxicabs usually ply for hire -on the streets of London every day. Raillesa trams is a meaningless phrase* since the word tram means a grooved rail. More than 37,000 children are officially recorded as street traders in England ana Wales. Manchester has the largest free library in England.; There are in all over 180,000 volumes. ...•'" ' • • The industrial population of the United Kingdom amounts to nearly 14,000,000 persons. - Banana barrows are now seen in the streets of Paris, " Id each" being the price of the fruit. The first person to ascend Mont Blanc, this season is the 15-year-old son of a wealthy Italian. ■, ' As the result of one night's work, the fishermen of Plymouth recently landed 800,000 herrings. The income of the London charities for the year has been £8,219,000, an increase of about £150.000. "Incompatibility of temperament" was the cause of over 1000 divorces in- Paris in twelve months. Banns have ,been published at LlaneUy for a wedding between a spinster of 86 and a bachelor of 68. Sincelß74 the ratable value of property in England and Wales has risen by nearly. 100 millions sterling. - A total of £296,218 stcrxl to the credit) of depositors in naval savings banks at the end of last year. M. Poincare s Paris residence is in a street named after Major Marchand tie French "hero" of Fashoda. The love of the Japanese labourer for his oxen is equal to that of the Irishman for his pig, says a lecturer. ; ,:^ ;■.;., , ._..';,';, Two thousand. three hundred and sixty- , eight miles of tramway track have been laid in. the United Kingdom since. 1878. "Toffee," according to a trade paper, is . derived from daffy, a colloquial corruption at David, the patron saint of Wales. Eleven hairpins, 73 ordinary pins, and a .-.. piece of steel were removed from the body; of an Aberdeen woman during an"'opera*f . tion. " Sw-ai&ey,**«ccording to a glossary of the Essex means " tho commonest beer; small beer, sometimes sold "at Id *» ',' pint."- ' .. | Before a fire brigade,can start for aVfire ! in Berlin the members must all fall in line - i in military fashion and salute their cap** ; tain. '. ' -*' ; '' ; ,/ Six hundred and forty-two thousand nine hundred and seventy-nine tons of ' frozen; . meat were, eaten in the United Km I last year. .„, . - The banana boom,- which began forty; i years ago, was started by a Boston captain l [ who took some, bunches from Jamaica to j his home. . ' ' - - : . .-•-.' °- '■"'•' , ;■• More than 100,000 children are* it "is* l* claimed, being influenced to care for good i and healthy books by the National Home |- Beading Union. - According to official returns the .value" of the imports and exports of Canada; last i year amounted to £200,000,000,-the largest, i amount on record. •■■"'■?•---'-;■■'.'■;•-<■= ■ " : ;' ,,i "-^.:.:;:)•<.-;;.^'-'-." In a recent return; issued by the BritishIndian Government 302,425 girls under -five" ' ■ years- of age are described as wive«V and 17,703 as widows. •> ■ x r "' ► A return - just issued by the Ministry; ' of Commerce in Borne states that during > '.. the last 52 years £9,250,000,000 has been ' lost in gambling by Italians. '•'•..:" Tapioca is dearer owing to the fact, than ; large areas formerly devoted to its plant*:: } ing 'in the Straits Settlements are now ' being' used for rubber planting. Among the names of the inhabitants of the little village of Puttenham, neap j Guildford, England, are two ,Kings four ! Popes, ten Bishops, and eleven Peers. .\. * A driving belt in an engineering works at Smethwick has been in continuous use or*..-.;. 32 years, and has " travelled" a distance ; equivalent to 74 times round the world. No' fewer than 1678 persona who took* ; part in a Paris newspaper's Presidentaial j competition guessed the exact number of votes that would be cast for M. Poincare. The production of pig iron in Germany; > last year • amounted ,to 17,852,571 tons*, which is the highest figure yet attained./ During 1911 the amount was 15,557,030/. > tons. ' . - . ■ > - By hiring all the cabs and .vehicles: in* r town, a"Moscow" man "with a ■ sense of humour forced all theatergoers* i to. walk home through the .snow^coveredjr; . streets. ■ . ■ ■"■ v ■\'■ ■ ■■.■■■■/■ ;.■'■;.' In 255 days a dead leaf gave up 62' pel* ' ' cent, of the nitrogen, 74 percent, of. th» J phosphoric acid,"' and 90 per cent, of the I potash that it contained when it first fell' I to the ground. , It is estimated that a London texicah^ ' covers 20,000 miles per annum, the up-, ; keep, including tires, repairs, garage, re->, ■ placements, petrol, oil, grease, etc., costing" £150 for one year. _ A quantity of old papers purchased bj( . i a Philadelphia waste-paper dealer from: a banking- house for £12 was found to* >' contain envelopes bearing rare stamps, which have been valued at £15,000. ~s*:f w-y-f The sum of £40,000 was spent in tba ' defence of the Labour-Union officials tried! at Indianapolis on charge* of conspiring*' to commit dynamite outrages, while the ' Government's expenses are pat at £15,000., - When a 12ft 6in shark caught in Mauri'* \ this was cut open, a dog, a goat, and a large collection of bones of animals were , .found inside. The shark was caught with] a 2in line from a 20ft open boat, and wastJ hauled to the -surface after a desperate^ struggle. , r i Nearly one-ninth of the population-oft . the United States consists of negroes, of . whom there are 10,000,000. Of this num-*; ber 8,749,390 make their homes in th«( , Southern States, and 80 per cent, of then* live in the country districts or in the small ' towns. ' "in 1881 Dr. Gunther estimated that there were over .220,000 named and described species of insects. Since that date : the* number has been increasing at a rate of) almost 10,000 a year, so that at the pre- ' sent time the number of described insect* ' must be approaching half a million. The dividends declared by South African*;, companies during ' 1912. amount ta £14,980,684. Gokf mining companies were,*. responsible for £8,353,393, ... agsineta, £8,058,319 in 1911, (diamond companies for* ', £2,132,921 against £1,853,140, oollierieav ' £308,940, against '£235,133, and bankttV £449,609, against £389,908. '"''... Fear of the fatal number 13 has reigned! ' strong among motorists since the first bias. ~. > Race/rom Paris to Bordeaux, when Na JSpij. r car capsized ,13 kilometres .front tb«**s' winning-post, and! both driver. . iMidt ( . mechanician were killed. "; Some petite.: . however, brave the superstition with tin? : . • pnnity. Mr. pierpont Morgan hooses m, i" large proportion ;offlik'*«t'rtrs»suie«^;i%#^ > Prince's Gate. And for. years a prosper* , . s, ous bedding has • , jhwiseiMC'iV ;• . ':. > '^--