NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18089, 13 May 1922, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

American Indiana are rarely found irittt beards.

Silk resists weather conditions Wfcfce* than linen.

Nairobi, in British East Africa, has now an important film colony. False fringes and wigs were worn by the women of Egypt 5000 years ago.

Ninopins, the indoor form of skittles, is said to be at least 7000 years old.

King George can trace his descent in a direct line from William tb& Conqueror. There were, it is officially stated, 849 convictions for bigamy in 1919, and 670 in 1920 in England. Fulham Council proposes to reduce the charge of electricity from 7d to 6d per unit.

The ostrich, the biggest, bird in the world, ha? proportionately the smallest brain.

In making tarred cordage, the yarns aro passed through heated tar before being twisted.

Among certain African tribes brides can bo purchased on the instalment system.

Women are not to be allowed to become barristers, magistrates, or judges in Germany.

In the recent Lancashire County Council ejections, only 19 out of 103 seats were contested, Chile has opened an official pawnshop to advance loans on reasonable terms to working men. Briar roots, weighing 6000 tons, for the manufacture of pipes, aro exported annually from Corsica.

It is officially announced that the tax upon Sunday travel on the Italian State railways has been repealed. During February 586 emigrants left Antwerp for America. Of these 43 were Belgians, 269 Poles, and 137 Russians.

Pourparlers, it is stated, will shortly b* initiated between France and Bulgaria for the conclusion of a Commercial Treaty.

Every man or woman who ia thirty years of age, and still uiomarried, is to be fined £1 5s yearly, in (Jeorgia, U.S.A.

Launched in 1906, at. the cost of £1,813,100, H.M.S. Dreadnought wag recently " scrapped " and sold for £40,000.

By 41 votes to 36 the Dutch Second Chamber has passed a Bill enabling women to become Judges; in the Dutch Court.

At t&ie time of the Armuitice 5000 tona of salvage from the battiefhslds was being dealt with each week in establishmente at Home.

The first red rose to be grown in Bagland was planted in the gardens of the Manor of Savoy, London., in the thirteenth century.

Kneeling on both knees was reserved for Divine worship in the Middle Ages; homage to the sovereign was done on one knee only.

Switzerland has made treaties with Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and the Netherlands allowing aircraft to land without previous permission.

The basin of the St. Lawrence River, North America, contains more than half the fresh water in the world and includes Niagara Falls.

The " double," a small bronze coin worth half a farthing, and still miintedin Guernsey, is the smallest coin in circulation in the 'United Kingdom.'

Gold and silver to the value of over £2,250,000 were extracted from the Hollinger Consolidated Gold Mines, Limited (Canada), during 1920. ,

The population of Canada is This is an increase of 1,i>65,357 since the census of 1911. The increase between 1901 and 1911 was 1,835,328.

At a meeting of the West Derby (liverpool) Guardians it was 'stated tiat th« number of poor receiving outdoor relief was 64,411, against 10,662 last year.. Charles Dickens insisted upon haying his bed placed north and south, and. it is said that he carried a compass in his luggage to ensure the correct degree. In accordance with his last wishes, tha bodv of Captain F. J. Mosiely, late marine superintendent of the Union Castle Line, was buried at sea off the Isle of Wight. An estate of 1000 acres of farming land in Nebraska and a cheque for £3125 compose <,he record "tip" recently given to a waitress in an American railway station restaurant.

The maximum weight which a man should' be able to carry without breaking down is about onerthird of his own —i.e., a man weighing lOst. should be able to carry 471b. A bow and s, s»t of arrows, mere tban 4000 years old, which cam* from a tomb in Egypt, are among the antiques owned hv the Royal Toxcplwlite (Archery) Society. London. An Italian airman, while looping tha loop over Udine, lost control of tha machine, which fell on a house, crashing through the root and killing a woman as well as the airman. A light-armoured car, capable of travelling at a high speed arid at the sama time firing 4800 rounds of ammunition a minute, is being experimented with by the Army authorities. Claimed as the tiniest capital in th» world, Tulagi, the administrative centra of the Solomon Islands, contains thirty white people and a few Chinese. It does not contain a single road. That they would be worn one day by a king's daughter is a tradition attached to the Clanricarde Diamonds, which Viscount Lascelles presented to Princess Mary on their wedding-day. Wooden dishes, plates, and bowls are coming into fashion again for table use. Made of walnut, mahogany, and other pleasing woods, they are more costly but less fragile than glass or china. Margate Corporation has made over £2000"in rents for various "pitches" on the beach of the famous resort for the coming summer. Last season's rents were less than half the value of this year's. The War Department, Washington, announces an immediate reduction of th« American Forces in Germany by 203 officers and 3000 men. The remaining American Force on the Rhine will then consist of 169 officers and 2217 men. It is reported that a group of Swedish financiers have asked permission of the Soviet Government to found a bank in Moscow with a capital of 150,000,000 kroner (£8.300,000). The bank will principally be interested in the corn trade. The daily output of newsprint in Canada in a strip one yard wide, would encircla the globe. This is equivalent to a daily production of 2525 tons daily of treated Canada produces 2500 tons daily of treateS pulp. This represents a daily cut of more than 6000 acres.

A master manner, who was remanded at Stratford Police Court,, England, on a ehargo of obtaining £5 by false pretences, was stated to have told 'the police that he was on the point of starving. There wero hundreds of captains working as deck hands, he added, jind he could not get work. Mr. Hoover, the United States Secretary of Commerce, is reported to have stated that nearly 2,000,000 men and women who would otherwise have been without work are employed to-day in the United States owing to proposals made by the recent conference on unenipl o y men £ summoned by President Harding.

The Leipzig Museum of Books and Manuscripts finding itseM in financial difficulties, proposes, with the permission of the Government of Saxony, to sell tha famous Gutenberg Bible in order to raise mnnev for carrying on ,:ho museum. ■*"" Pujksmuseum of Amsterdam has offeree to buy it for 10,000,000 marks (abort £10,000 at the present irate of exchans»>.