NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17139, 19 April 1919, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Italy's aerial "post already covers daily 1850 miles. Previous to (the war tho newest flag; was the Australasian. ' Fifty missionaries recently sailed from New York for Turkey. Dominoes is said to be the national game of the Esquimaux. 6.000,000, bushels of potatoes are grown annually in the world. Previous to 1751 the legal year in England began March 25 and not January 1. An archaeologist recently dug up an ancienlt safety pin from the ruins of Babylon. Of the 17.500.000 aliens in the United States only 6,000,000 have become naturalised. At the recent British election 1497 candidates solicited the suffrages of 21,000,000 electors. Lloyd's is now publishing a daily index of the movements of aircraft, as it does of shipping. A mother and child, aged respectively 103 and 79, have been admitted to a Norfolk workhouse. Every year the ex Kaiser received £130,000 as Emperor and £770,554 as King of Prussia. There are thirty-five directors of railways in the United Kingdom in the newHouse of Commons. There are over 250 special pressmen in Paris, representing all nationalities except the Esquimaux. Mr. Bonar Law has said that the return of all British guns captured by tho Germans has been demanded. Frankfort, the famous German town on the River Main, is the birthplace of the world's greatest millionaires. America is promised a motor car made mostly of wood which will come on the market at about £60 a car. Insects cause the destruction of more timber than would otherwise be available for building purposes than do forest fires. During the pasll twelve months fiftyfour million people slept in New York hotels, paying £28,000,000 in hotel bilis.

It is estimated that one pound of nitrogen properly applied to the soil will increase tie yield of wheat by at least onethird.

Some of the copper mines in Mexico are timbered with rosewood, while mahogany is so plentiful that it is used for fuel for the engines.

An ordinary-sized man, supposing hie surface to be fourteen square feet, sustain! the enormous atmospheric pressure of 30,240 pounds. A street in the French city of Lyons has glass pavements laid in blocks Bin square, so closely fitted that water cannot pass through them. Never before the late war had armies from the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa or India landed in Europe. Canada has now 30,000 miles of railway, or one mile to every 210 of its population. The United States has an average of on« mile to every 400 of the population.

95 per cent, of the world's supply of platinum is Russian, Colombia being the second largest producer, followed by the United Stales, Australia and Borneo.

Georgians, who have set up a republic of their own in the Caucasus, have a unique distinction. Their men are declared the moat handsome in tho world.

The peasant mothers of tho districts around Rome have offered to Vittorio Orlando, Premier of Italy, a pen of gold with which to sign the treaty of peace. The ■ Air Ministry has completed arrangements for the sale of surplus R.A.F. material, including about 2000 aeroplanes, with 3500 engines, and large technical stores.

I Salutes from warships, forts, etc., are always given in odd numbers, yet no valid reason can be adduced. It is a remnant of the old " odd numbers are lucky" superstition.

Scientists say that 7.000,000 years ago the first bird began to fly when the elongated crawling reptiles or swimming fish instinctively spread their limbs when falling from trees or jumping up in exuberance of spirits. The original model, of the sewingmachine, invented by Elias Bowe, whose centenary will be celebrated this year, is on display in the National Museum at Washington. The machine was patented September 10, 1846. A remarkable hen that laid 308 egg 6 in . a year was a feature of tha Chicago National Poultry Show, held recently. What is said to be the tallest gamecock on record, a bird 36 inches high, was

another notable entry.

At a jubilee meeting of tho North of England Conciliation Board of Manufactured Iron and Steel Trades, it was stated there had been no strikes or lockto for 50 yeare. Wages had gone up by 05 per cent, since August, 1914. The largest American flag- in existence hangs in tne main hall of the Grand Central Railway Terminal in New York. It measures 80ft by 160 ft; the stripes are 6ft wide, and each of the stars measures s£ft across from point to point. The Dutch island of Saba, in the Windward Islands, is just the top of an extinct volcano, sticking up out of the sea. The inhabitants live inside the crater, as there is nowhere else for them to live, the outer slopes being almost as steep as the sides of a house. The finest war memorial in the world i:. the Arc de Triomphe, commemorating the Napoleonic wars. It stands on a base 147 ft by 75ft, and is 165 ft high, yet so artistically built is it that it looks fairylike. It is inscribed with the names of 384 generals and 96 victories. According to Indian tradition, there dwelt under Niagara Falls a gigantic snake, which now and then would make its way to an Indian village and coil itself around the town. It swallowed the people and made itself further obnoxious by poisoning the springs and wells with its spittle. America had the second largest allied army on the western front when the armistice was signed, according to General Pevton C. March, chief of staff. I'rarce stood first with 2.559,000 men, the United States second with 1,950,000 men, and England third with 1,718,000 men, including Portuguese. When the first "tank" was being built it was obviously unwise to_ disclose its purpose, so it was given out in the erecting shop that the machine was to be a water-carrier for use in Mesopotamia. Naturally, the water-carrier soon became know,, as a " tank," and the name has . stuck. According to an expert, Great Britain'® | extravagance in the past is shown lows:-She spent per annum: £5,000,005 on eolf £7,000,000 on football, £(,500,003 on hunting, £?9,000,000 on gambling, £25 000,000 on jewellery, £28,000,000 or, millinery, £58.000,000 on tobacco, an* £181,000,000 on strong drink. Two of the greatest poems in the Eng. lish language were written by chums competing against each other ill friendly rivalry. They undertook to work at these poems for six months and then compare results. Keats went to the Isle of Wight and wrote " Endyroion," and Shelley went to a small resort on th« Thames and wrote "The Revolt of Islam."

One of the most, remarkable pcace con* ferences ever held was tliat which commenced on June 25, 1807, the outcome of which is known to history as the Peaca of Tilsit. The high parties thereto were the King of Prussia, the Emperor Alexander of Russia, and tho victorious Napoleon. An extraordinary feature of tliq meriting was that it took placo on a raft* built for the purpose on the River Niemusj tpd in the presence of both armies.