NEWS IN BRIEF,

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16823, 13 April 1918, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF,

Watehpipls of lead were first made in 1839.

There are 7,500, farms in the United States.

The Air Board occupies 595 rooms at the Hotel Cecil, London.

Pigeons were first used as carriers of messages 700 years ago.

It takes 3,600.000 grains of oats to sow an acre; 2,800,000 of barley.

The tone of a piano is best when the instrument is not near a wall.

Nearly one-seventh of the population of the United States are foreign burn.

In 1820 forty-sis persons were hanged for forging Bank of England notes. Eighty-£.c per cent of the people who are lame are affected on the left Bide.

Half the human race die before they reach 17, and only one person in 1000 reaches 60.

In the buffet of an hotel at Middlesbrough lianas a notice, ''Officers and Civilians Only.''

Of 2585 Old Haileybnrians who have joined up, 1373 have won honours, including three V.C.'b.

Horses, giraffes, and ostriches have the largest eyes of land creatures, and cuttlefish of those in the sea.

A clock which has run for 289 years exists in Kansas City. The clock' was made in Plymouth in 1628.

It is 70 years since the first railway in the world was finished, and now some 400.000 miles are in existence.

The copper mines of Cyprus, which in ancient times were considered among the richest in the world, are to be reopened.

Many rare birds visit England in Dp. cember and January which are never seen in that country daring any other season.

In Italy a Government tai—a special id stamp—must be affiled to all restaur, ant or cafe bills, amounting to more than lOd.

Many of the eo-called " vegetable ivory" buttons used on dresses, cloaks, etc., are made of potatoes treated with sulphuric acid.

Round travels at 12 miles a minute, and gunfire in Franco when heard in this country, takes about 15 minutes to travel here.

The average number of eggs produced by a halibut is three and a-naif millions, but a large cod will have as many as nine millions.

There are only 42 horses left at the fire-station? all over London. But for the war the service would be entirely motorpropelled.

The cheques whi<-h pass through the London Clearing House in six weeks are more than equal in amount to all the coin in the world.

Solely for tourists, Switzerland has built an aerial tramway, a. mile and a-half long and ascending to an altitude of nearly a mile.

While a bridal wreath in England is usually composed of orange blossoms, Italy uses white roses, Spain red roses, and Greece vine leaves.

Red Cross parcels, each containing a plum pudding, a Christmas card, and other seasonal thing l ., were sent to 12,000 British prisoners of war.

The price of a ham in Berlin, when obtainable, is said to be £16, while a pint of salad oil brings £4, cauliflowers are 5s each, and cabbages 2s 6d each.

Insurance statistics show that if the wife dies first, tho husband on an average survives nine years; while if the husband dies first the wife survices 11 years.

America has secured more tonnage for the carrying of troops and supplies for tha allies as a result of negotiations with Northern European neutrals and Japan.

In China there is no regular standard of distance. A Chinese mile may be from a-quarter of an English mile to a mile and three-quarters, according to the province.

An aluminium pencil that writes on glass or porcelain, .producing marks that can be etched with! acid or burnished to resemble inlaid silver, has been invented by a Swiss.

If a pair of herrings could be made to breed and multiply undisturbed for a period of twenty years, they would yield an amount of fish equal in bulk to the globs on which we live.

Sued by his wife for non-support in a Missouri Court recently, a man replied, "That, after all, is a mere scrap of paper," when the woman produced her marrii.ge certificate as evidence.

A scheme of war memorials which is finding favour in Northumberland mining circles is that cottages shall be built for aged miners, the number depending upon the size and prosperity of the place.

The bayonet became a British weapon during the reign of King Charles 11. It then resembled a lance or pikehead, and was screwed into the barrel of the musket when the latter had been discharged.

Last year 10,001 persons were killed on United States railroads, and 196,722 were injured. Only 291 of the killed and 8008 of the injured were passengers; 6769 trespassers were killed and 11,791 injured.

Women's hair is being collected by the Bavarian Red Cross Association. This has been found to be an excellent substitute for certain raw stuffs, and the collected combings will be used for this purpose.

From rubbish which would formerly have been thrown away, army cooks, it was stated at a recent food-economy meeting at Hoddesdon, Herts, had saved enough to provide 8,000,000 large shells. A picture tiostcaTd bearing the postmark Holloway, November 12, 1904," was delivered at the house of a Lewisham, London, resident on November 10, 1917, two davit short, of 13 years after it was posted.

Mr. Henry Ford, the American motorcar manufacturer, has agreed to become assistant, unpaid, to the general manager of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, to aid in spced : ng up the merchant fleet programme.

Tatooing is forbidden in Japan. A! teacher of Idzumo explained the law to his pupils, and told them how tatooing was done. Next day four of his scholars appeared literally adorned with tha forbidden art.

" In two years more than £10,000 worth of goods has disappeared from St. Pancraa Station, London," said Sir Archibald Bodkin at the Old Bailey recently, when seven men and two women were sentenced for railway thefts.

An iron box, containing £4500 in silver, sent for the relief of the Servian Army after its march across country to the Adriatic fell into the sea at Durazzo when being landed. A diver was eent down, but failed to recover it.

More than 100,000 waitresses, cooks, dish washers, and other employees where fod is served in New York are compelled to have certificates stating that they are free from typhoid fever, tuberculosis, and all other infectious diseases.

The paper shoes that are being manufactured in Strassburg are highly praised bv the press of that city. The newspapers urge pathetically that the new footwear is warm for the feet, and has the advantage of being decidedly artistic in appearance.

The Mcthusaleh of Norway has recently died at the ago of 121 years. The man was a hard smoker, and was a fisherman by occupation. He married for the third time at the age of 98, his wile being 30 years his junior. She died, a few months before him.

The usual punishment which the Germans are saai to inilict upon those who refuse to work on the defences which are being constructed in the North of France and in Belgium is to strip the offender half naked and put him in tho water or mud. Repeated refusal is punished by; blows with, whips ob the butt-opi of, jiflsa,