NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16669, 13 October 1917, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

- A Russian is not of ago until he ia.26.-J--■ v. : '' The Straits of: Gibraltar are 14 mile* v wide. "•■ : y: -p ■■!■ •'-.'".■ ■•'■,--.'■.:-■•; u- ; . '■'/■;• ' ■'.'-■ •■.■" ■-■■-■"* ''• '■'■''■ --;■-'.■'.- •>:-' Press censorship has been abolished 14 Spain. "A.Women's Military Congress has- been convened in Russia.' - ' The earliest . known , cookery book was . printed in Venice in 1475.': • . v ;..'.;. -, In the last "push" the tanks used 4 ,'" 2,000,000 gallons of petrol. :■;•. },y "&. ?; Meat tickets are to be introduced '',fi|; ■£ all Russian towns and villages. ..Articles to the value of nearly £250,000:'' : ' are pawned in London every week. ; y£' s ;;,' China'pro'.iißes. to; become within a few years tha largest market in the world. :.. The Bank of England contains silver ingots which have lain in its vaults since •1696. t .'-' i ;->,; ;, '■> Leather, ;: money was in circulation , iri Russia as recently as the tame of Peter the Great.,,/ ,J. ■-..' \ , Granite is the only common rock wbicS • shows no ! traces of : either animal or vege- ' table life. .,. /'. , All gold and precious stones in private possession have ' been requisitioned •in Westphalia. v*T >._ About 300' species of turtles and low torsos are known. Some c! these attain a' very large size. - v Very nearly 1400 million pounds sterling is invested in ! railway companies in the, .;■•; United Kingdom. . ■ ; M. Gutchkoff, Russia's ex-Minister for . War, has joined the army and volunteered for the front. ; ' ~ A great auk's- ? egg, which a collector bought' in Paris for about 2s, wa3 sold subsequently for £315. ;. .., ■ .;:' Lightning conductors, on account of their copper and platinum, are being requisitioned 'in- Germany. ~ 1 Bricks' made of coal ' dust are used for -. Eavm'g in Russia. The coal dust is com- f ined with treacle and resin. " ' ~:' '].. . In Persia there are no distilleries, brew, : • eries, or public-houses, and native wine is the-only intoxicating beverage used. .'.',.. / The case is reported from Petrbgrad < eleven, bricklayers, : on a non-war job; * i who earned in one week over £45 .each. . Nearly £300,000 profit was realised by r bazaars in New York, Boston, and Chi- :: cago on behalf of the allies' war chari--. ties. '■ ■ ; Lighting ib v.the rush* of o;ob kind' of, electricity from a; cloud to unit« % itself '-".; with another kind in a cloud ;. or. in the ' earth. Mitchell, ; the explorer,;. reached- Capo ■ Northumberland August 20, 1836, hay.,; .*_ ; ing discovered Austraha Eelix, now Vic- .; • k-ria. - ... > ; : ':..-:. .-' ]■..-'- vi;S- ; . Six sons of Mr. E. Portal, .of Hungerford/England, are. in the army,- navy, and . , , flying services, aid three have gained the ' ' D.5.0. .- ..; ' " Brum ri.V' the Eiistcm collating has died,: and it is stated that during his official life he raised £2000 for charitable purposes. (

Mice and canaries for : the detection ; $£0 dangerous air and. gases are playing ..their part on ?fw*est front, \ says Professor Haldane. i The vineries at Windsor, England, are bo -managed that they, furnish grapes for v. the'BoyaV household-during every month: ' of the' year. .-.r:.' .* '-:■':.'■ < ~-■■"■■■.:•'■■'-: .VJ-. ■'■*--' '.'■'■■{'. ": ■ "." ;■'-' ;■ :"■ ' ,"*. "i " "-; " ' : '<'--' '" '■'{ The Paris Figaro announces that it has; :'■■: received*'a'second,offer of 6000 francs as ; '; a prize' for thai first aviator who, drops a bomb on Berlin The, design ■6c •' fte; Meritorious • Service ■ Medal-has oeen changed to one of crip son,.''.with'."':'white edges,'and' a white line ' down the centre. : flri four' weeks' -the police" of; the Hitchin division- collected' 3019 rat-tails, v 103) : fully-fledged sparrows, 1186 Unfledged, sparrows, and 3762 eggs. , '• ■'• '■.'. ,;. . 1 "The valueof all kinds of landed in England and Wirfea in one year is over £7,000,000, and the nnmber. of-men and '■ boys employed over 40,000. -■■ ■ '.' About 60,000 tons of fish of ail dewripy tions i were imported ■; int<> I England from • Norway and the Netherlands dwing the first: six; months of this, year. '-, - .-: : '&k record of the R..F.0. during, the war is being compiled, and out. of over 700. officers who have died, the compilers.-,-. have biographies of .about 600. -v "• In Jewish marriages the woman i* al. .' ways placed to the right of her mate..: ..■•>■' With every i other i nation- of the ? world -f her place in the ceremony is on. the left. ■*'■--. The Gotha type of biplane is 78ft wide, 40ft long, ; has ! two Merceries engines with * a-total of 620-K.p., and ts?o propellers at ■; the rear. 'It- can carry 8001b of explo- _. - •elves;' ...' -~'".■.;■• v ■::,.:■ ■i At many of the camps in France crests of British regiments .have < been.- ertisti- \ cally laid out in" stones ~' and ? coloured . - glass. Some of the designs are 20ft, in ~> circumference.

: : . There are £5,400,000 worth of steal and - . wooden ' vessels : ''under;. construction, or 1:-•• contracted for, in ■ British? Columbia today, while a year ago 1 -there was not a-.-■large ship being built. •; r . An orchestra 'of disabled soldiers, some ; of ; them with only a Btump !of B: leg, and a* conductor who has to wave the baton . with his left hand, is the pride of a ■ miltary orthopiedio hospital. -"Lost children in Japan do not long remain astray. V: It is the custom for. parents to label their children with tlielr addresses, ; 6o;that,ia.eMe:they wander any wayfarer may send them home.;; ; Every oyster, has 'a;mouth,;a:-heart,- a ■'■■ liver, a stomach, besides many curiously ; devised little intestines,: and,other necessary organs, such as would.be handy to a ; living, moving, intelligent creature. ■ ...-■- ■ Divers in the clear waters of the tropical .fieas'find'that: fish of i different colours, when frightened,"do not all dart in the same i direction, but that ; each different; v■kind takes' shelter in that portion of the , submarine growth nearest to its colour. • It cannot bo said that the* navy has /-'. been 'given '.large- number of V.C's dux- ■'. ■■ ing the present war. Of nearly 250 conforced, the- senior service, including, ita 1 .■ branches, has won just over a score, .while before this campaign its total was forty-,. J . one out, of over 600. ; ;' " '~i- . ■;-To - safeguard • the Londoner -and,: his property, not;; to mention .; the /country/-.■.-'■. cousin staying in town, an army of over sixteen thousand ■ police superintendents,-. inspectors, sergeants, and constables is employed. The pay the "force-" comes to /■ nearly/a million and -a-half pounds per annum. A'curious needle was- in ■■ the possession -~.•■ of Queen Victoria. It was made at tho '' •;.' Celebrated' needle manufactory at Red- : :: v: ; ditch, and represents the Trajan c column X" : ■in miniature. Scenes from* the -' Queen's -':>;, life are depicted on the needle, so ; finely ~ cut that they are only discernible througH a microscope. ■■ In .the bacterial "treatment, of sewage at ' Birmingham,; England, some of tho con-' (act beds were filled with coal, and it is v , stated'that the effluent was so clear, spark-, line • and ■ odourless that the men working . • about the beds drank from it. ; : The Cm . / torn, toe beds was very-»^..£*«■ than that from beds filled with other filtering media,:; % -' The Duchess of Connaught was one of • -tho" greatest, if not the greatest, heiresses ? who evor married into ■ our ; Royal ;. - Family from -'. Germany. Her • father, tho ; Red Prince/ was a .very rich man. Prin-,';;. --. cess Patricia receives £50,000 under the, will of. her mother, and £25,000 goes to, the Crown 'Princess of Sweden/. on whom ,; .-.-..• a settlement was made at the'time of her marriage. , It is quite a new' departure to ?,;<; r, • make public a Royal will, and a sign'of / : the democratic: times ." in ; .which" wo' are : ■.', : living. • Even '..tho Duke. of Fife's .will was Icepfc v secret; on; account of ; his ' sob*. ' ' vtionghip to- tho King* .--...•' ... ■ ; ■:'.'