NEWS IN BRIEF

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15906, 1 May 1915, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF

Kaiser William has been. German Em pe.ror for 27 years. The Victoria Cross was first instituted on January 29, 1856.

' Special jurors are not exempt fromserv ing as common jurors.

Motor fire-engines and ambulances arc freed from license duty. A colonel in the Household Cavalry receives 24s 6d daily pay.

George I. revived the most Honourable Order of the Bath in 1725.

Britain's modern torpedoes have a range slightly exceeding 7000 yards.

Notes for 1000 franca, or £39 odd, are issued by the Bank of France.

Luxemburg covers 1000 square miles, and has a population of 260,000.

Pawnbrokers in the United Kingdom pay an annual license of £7 10s. Live bees are allowed to pass by letter post within the United Kingdom. The entire world produces a total of 1,000,000,000 tons of coal annually. Lances used by the British cavalry have shafts composed of ash or bamboo.

Prussia in normal seasons produces slightly more oats than does Canada. Germany possessed about a thousand aeroplanes at the beginning of the war. Before the war there were five thousand German waiters and barbers in London.

You may not send a postcard measuring less than 4in in length by 2|in in width. Liyer;iool ha 3 nearly three thousand dwellings under direct municipal control. Agricultural labourers in England and Wales.average in wages only 17st 6d per week.

The Young Women's Christian Association possesses a world membership of 650,000..

!There is.one snbnarine belonging to the Australian Navy, and another is being built.

Britain's Roval Naval Reserve was established in 1859; the Royal Fleet Reserve in 1901.

British silver coins are made from an amalgam of 37 parts pure silver with three parts of copper. ,

The total enlisted strength of the array of the United States of America is limited by law to 100,000.

All. England's Victoria cresses are manufactured from cannon taken from tho Russians at Sebastopol. The London Salvage Corps, maintained by ..the various insurance companies, consists of, ex-navy men.

China has. an area of a million and ahalf • square miles, and a population of three hundred millions.

King George V. is related to nearly all the reigning nouses of Europe, one exception being Austria-Hungary. Bank of England notes are issued for sums of £5, £10, £20, £50; also for '£100, £200, £500, and £1000; • The Gloucester Regiment wear a badge at the back and front of their caps because they fought back to back in Egypt. ,

Paper flywheel are'.coining, into use. The tensile strength of paper is enormous, hence its advantage over iron for this purpose. ■>•;<;-■:,'. .'■ ;■.... It: is stated, that" all Germans and Austrian have been advised to leave Rome, and that a large proportion of them, have 1 already, departed. _. : . ; ,' '< On the occasion of the Russian New I Year King George has conferred honours, I on .the Grand/Duke. Nicholas and leading [ Russian | generals, "

, It-is stated from Copenhagen that Hamibutgi'Lubecij'fiacV Cuxhaven.have been ' placed'in a state of : siege—apparently in inticipation of British attacks. .■-... ' ... $t lncluded in' Italy's ; . population ':are nearly P 11,000 Germans and 12,000 Austrian. The j number 'of ■ : Italians -abroad has . been estimated at about 5,558,000. ifj

.'?!> A boy i employed in his father's, shoo factory, in Salem, Mass., lost his finger in a machine. i; He • sued : his itffar for dam. ages, and th 9. verdict was in his favour.

A- coasting sleigh for use on Swiss mountains is equipped; with • both. runners and wheels, either of which may be lowered to the ground by levers operated by 'the driver. \' : ;'/; ■...' .<• -v*'-•V

One hour after the War Office cabled their acceptance of an offer from Toronto University of a hospital of 1040 beds, 26 doctors and 100 nurses of Toronto volunteered; „ " V.W.* .' '■*'.'"'■' '"

Rome became, the capital of Italy's in 1870. Of the palaces, She largest is the Vatican, • the residence of the rope, and the Quirinal; now the'residence of King Emmanuel. • -;*' >.'' 'jf \ %>&"*;..

' The point where the Turks attempted to cross the Suez Canal is where Professor Edouard NaviUe and those" who agree"with him locate the •passage/of the Ked Sea by . the Israelites.. - f< • . '■.'.•• h. :

About four/ years previous to his ascending : the throne, Kmg Emmanuel - fell fin .', love with 'Princess; Holen- of J Montenegro .'"; ->■. while on 'a r visit'to Russia, and the mar-."; riage took place* in October, 1896..- rr. ■ '.Uniforms for >ar staff of: 110,00 are pro- J; • Tided by the' Stores Department of >the Post Office, and the fitting sizes scheme > , provides for -men with nearly two thou; < sand different measurements in coats alone.:""' N

Every, day. there are despatched from England to the troops " forming our expedi- '> tionary force three hundred thousand, letters and ioghteen thousand parcels, thelatter of a weight approximating forty:; torn. ■ '"'..,,. -. .' '.; ,'■'',., - J *-'*

The-municipal markets in Los Angeles, established last year, are said :to hay n met : the approval of householders to such an extent that 25,000 people on market days come with their own baskets to carry their purchases home. ' * ■"".;';;:;' The cow houses and farm buildings in Holland are noted for their neatness; and cleanliness. ' Sometimes mate are ■ spread before the.doors, even of cow houses, and visitors are • required to wipe their feet before entering.

A marvellous flower grows on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Its chief peculiarity is the habit of- changing its colour daring the day. In the morning it is white, when the sun is at its zenith it is red, and at night it is blue.

During the flat racing of last season the net value of stakes won hi England was £468,204; in Ireland, £40,083; and in Scotland, 4365. The number of horses that ran in the different races Of last season was 5506, as against 4055 during 1913.

The Roman Catholic Church is nominally the ruling State religion of Italy, but the power of the church and clergy is subordinated to the civil government, and there is freedom of worship to the adherents of all recognised religions.

At Suigen, on the Swiss-German frontier, near Constance, the Swiss authorities remarked that there were an extraordinary number of funerals recently, and, becoming suspicious, ordered a coffin to be opened. The coffin was full of copper. Half of the adult males in the United States are receiving less than five hundred dollars per year; three-quarters are receiving less than six hundred dollars; nine-tenths are receiving less than eight hundred dollars per year. Only onetwentieth of women toilers receive six hundred dollars a year. More than one million pounds' worth of orders for war materia! have been placed in Canada by "the British Government since war was 'declared, and Canadian factories are also producing equipment for France, Russia, and Belgium. Twenty-eight million buttons for the British Army.; were included among the orders. ; ■-■• i \ .

President Poincaire, at Nieuport, proseated colours to a brigade of marines, • whom -he congratulated op the.-r gallant,, struggle against the difficulties of ; the ground, the : enemy's fire, ' frost, rain, and., floods. Some months of patience, moral resistance, and enurgv will, lie Mid- W cide centuries of future. "• "• . ; v -.'.V;.