NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17110, 15 March 1919, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

The English national debt before thj war was £700,000,000. Seven V.C.s have been won by Harrow Scnool during the war. Post-war repairs to the roads in Great Britain will cost £60,000,000. The average weekly collection of waste paper in England is 4000 tons. The United States produces 66 per cent of the world's supply of raw cotton. The British Army in France is the largest owner of canal stock In the world. Lectures on demobilisation and reconstruction are being given in camps in France. The purchasing value of a sovereign in Great Britain is about 8s 7d compared with before the war. The British Government are aiming at an output of 1,000 new cottages a day, a maximum of 300,000 in a year. To protect their flocks, West Sussex farmers urge that low flying by aeroplanes after the war should be forbidden. A scheme has been proposed for ail Empire War Memorial shrine and cloisters within the precincts of Westminster Abbey. Over 100,0001b of tea were condemned by the British Government Laboratory in a year as containing sand or other foreign matter. St. Helena appears to have no real criminals. Stone-throwing by night was for a short period the most serious offence. Seven years' studv of the birds of Columbia has resulted in the discovery of 22 species and 115 sub-species of birds now to science. Tradition asserts that Portuguese r-iilors were among the first European voyagers to visit the distant cod banks of Newfoundland. The kissing of the hilt, which forme a part of the s"?ord salute, is a relic of the Crusader?, whose sword-hilts were in the form of a cross. Many of the lamp standards on London and Waterloo bridges are ma from cannon captured by British troops in the Napoleonic wars. The Handlev-Page bombing plane is so large that it has to be hauled out of its hangar and on to the flying field by means of a petrol tractor. About a thousand products obtainable from bituminous coal aro in current use and an almost unlimited number of others await discovery by chemists. In the Cathedral at Cologne there are three skulls, each circled with a crown of jewelled gold. The skulls are alleged to bo those of the Three Wise Men. Britain's potato yield last year wan 4,200,000 tons, the fargost ever raised and 868,000 tons above that of the year before. The turnip and swede yield, was 12,0.18,000 tons. Years of hard work will be necessary before the forests and roads of Albania can be developed so as to enable her to export wood systematically on a large scale. Armour removed fiom the Tower of London for safety during the war has now been returned to the Armouries, which have been rearranged and contain additional pieces. Dr. Charcot's sailing vessel, the Pourouoi Pas', used for the French Antarctic expedition and handed over to the French Navy in 1916, has now been re-transferred to the Ministry of Public Instruction for furthur use as a training school. A plaintiff who sued successfully at Bristol County Court for breach of warranty j on the sale of a horse, stated that during a fortnight the animal had consumed the back rail and cushions of a trap, the cover of a bin, two rungs of a ladder, a halter, a quantity of webbing, and a whip. The practice of wearing beards ha/l practically died out in England when Queen Victoria came to the throne. But during the long winter siege of Sebastopol the British soldiers in the Crimea allowed their beards to grow, and on their return revived the fashion, which has never died out.

The volcanic island of Sanlorini, in the Aegean Sea, produces a natural cement called "Portselana," which nixed in certain proportions with lime and Band is an excellent substitute for the best cement. Portselana has been used for many centuries and is still being wed throughout tlie Near East.

A canal is being constructed between the Illinois River and Lake Michigan which will complete the waterway between St. Louis and Chicago. The Government is planning to construct power boats and barges for the Illinois River, which can pass through this canal. These will carry cargo between St. Louis and Chicago direct.

According to a recent census, Germany now possesses over 700 factories for drying specially potatoes, 150 corn-drying establishments, 400 open_ drying plants suitable for partly dessicating different products, 250 vegetable-desslcating factories. 22 milk-drying establishments, and 400 plants established specially for the drying of cabbages.

It is stated that the Prussian Diet recently voted the necessary funds for equipping all good trains with air brakes, the work to be completed by 1927. The object in view is to increase the average speed, and thus obtain better utilisation of roll-ing-stock, and the measure is also expected to save 24 men per train, thus releasing 40,000 men for other work.

Port wine owes its position to what was largely an accident. Portuguese wines would not stand the journey to England, and the addition of a little alcohol was found necessary. Consequently the natural fermentation was checked at an early stage and the natural sugar retained. Its sweetness made it immediately popular, and it has been in strong request ever since.

While the King is away the Queen's flag flies on the staff over the front of Buckingham Palace, London, where her Majesty is in residence. Tho Queen's flag or standard contains eight " quarterings, four of them being the same as the KingTJ Standard and the t other four the arms of her mother, jlijlwas Princess Mary of Cambridge, witli those of her father, the latFDuke of Teok. During the British elections it was discovered late in the evening that a girl aged 9J years was on the register, and on inquiry at her home it was found that she was in bed. When her parents were told that she could vote, the little girl was hurried out of bed and rushed wf to the rolling booth. At another polling station, *& child four years old who was on the voters' list registered his vote.

After 50 years oA service the bamboo organ in the Church of St. FrancU Xavier, Tungakaeloo, Shanghai, is still in fairly good condition. It is stated that there is one other bamboo organ in the Orient, but it is not possible at this time to secure definite information relative to its whereabouts or condition. As metal pipes are to replace the bamboo in the Shanghai organ, the noted instrument will lost much of its public interest-

A 'Campaign for the utilisation of kitchen and table refuse has been inaugurated in the United States. Figures show that In one ton of garbage there is sufficient glycerine to make the explosive charge for fourteen 75-millimeter shells, enough "fatty acid" to manufacture 75 pounds of Boap, fertiliser elements to grow eight bushels of wheat, and a score of other valuable materials essential in the manufacture of munitions.

The following statistics of the work done at Southampton from August 9, 1814, to November 16, 1918, have been given by the Mayor:— number of persons embarked and disembarked, including troops, sick and wounded, and prisoners of war, 7,000,000; horses and mules, 821,000; guns and limbers, 14,000; motor lorries ana other vehicles, 110,000; stores, supplies, and ammunition, 3,500,009 tons; ships handled, 15.600,