NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18397, 12 May 1923, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

The first English stamp was black-" ' Gold is nearly twice as heavy fas l - ; ver. - t , , ■' "-v. ,V - '' - . Carp have been known to live s 200 years. : ■ _' : .';.;. A large liner may hare as many «* -_ ■ 168 furnaces. "■ ,* Chinese is spoken by nearly four bun- : ;,>, dred million people. , \ <.<f ;■• The letter "o" is used more often .^ , than any other. *,'• .'..';... Bank of England notes are never issued,,;;-.* a second time. .'^-..',- ■ *[[ -.'-'' , A love letter scratched on a clay tab- - , let 5000 years ago has been found. M . ' Rumania's war debt to Great -Britain v is £24,000,000, and her army numbers ,;-, 160,000. ~.. . '-"\" ' ,'V j.. American cigarettes are becoming very ~,* popular in China, 8,500,000 being im-;?. ported in 1922. '"'•"'••'"■'-;■'.'*. ; A magnificent large drop pearl, weigh- ||..'■■■. ing 100 grains was sold in London .re-..:,-, cently for £6400. \ • _ „ , y ? Perfumes which still gave off > fain* . ; aromatic odours were found in the recent ~,,_• excavations in Egypt. _ -, Ex-Civil servants iu receipt of pensions Vfi in Britain number 30,670, the annual if • ' cost being --~200,000. ' , ''\V'ri : ' Eight weeks* employment or t 1000 men \ was recently provided by the ;■"- springclean" of the Aquitania. , Vh Frogs that bark like . dogs * were dis- ;> covered in the wilds of Santo Domingo-. - by an exploration party. -- Among the Kachins, a tribe in Burma, ... - igirls wear their hair bobbed as j a sign . that they are all unmarried. ' .. -, \± For a matchless pair of Id and 2d ""Post Office" Mauritius stamps on one •nvelope, £11,000 was paid. ■» Beetles living 40 or 50ft. apart' can <"i-j ■ communicate by knocking their neads on: ;i the wood in a peculiar rhythm. i ? Children should not bo given too much - ~',''. bread and jam; butter is much better ;" for them than the sweeter food. v '•''%.-■';'■''' Fish are believed to be sensitive to the ( amount of salt and oxygen -in this sea ; " water through which they move. '■';••, Prince Napoleon has presented to the • ' French nation tho house at Ajaccio, ' Corsica, where Napoleon I. was bom.-, ~ ~ While America spends '.'. £4o,ooo a year ■ l on propaganda for the prevention of ac- ' v cidents, Great Birtain ; spends only. £ICMJ. Tho New Testament was divided .'" into verses by Robert Stevens, a printer, in . 1551. . . . .... ■' ' A big shark, landed at Cardiff ; re- ,■.., cently, was found to contain seven other, : > sharks, measuring up to two and a half,./. '" feet. ''-...',.'.• , < .';';' '. ;■..-';' The Wiesbaden Slate Theatre, which ',-». has been completely destroyed; by fire,; - was one of the finest in Germany, having cost £110,000. .. - ,/:< .' ;,i■:.:--':': ■ " • Special Sunday evenings "for lovers," at which the men were allowed to smoke, were ek.recent experiment in ; a "■- cinema at .. Button, > Surrey. « ; ; ■', ' Special electrifc " mm-baths," which ■:■); have many of-the* effects of a-Bummer ■ v' seaside holiday, s are now available in the* l fi', .West, End of London..-'.'-;"' ';';;-•;.;.■;-■ i -:-: ; ;-.';'.' , ,.V"'-: : Electric '' power and light sufficient .for.-". J i a town of 70,000 inhabitants, >■ are produced by the .machinery; of an Atlantic '• liner of the largest size. ''',"' The City of London Corporation has voted the "town olerk, Sir James Belli 'an .\ ' increase in salary of £500,"•• making M. total of £5500 'a year. * ;' The'town of Savage, in Northern Mississippi u has ' been . destroyed .." by ■■ a. tor* ; t '-. nado- -.Eighteen persons are said; to have t . '• been, killed and 100 injured. \' ,- '. v Two French naval officers were each I'' 1 ; fined £8 at Toulon for keeping an opium .. '" • den. Two girls, who were with them* ■•-. . ■; were also fined a like amount. ■-...■.. > » ; In silent tunnels under the' quaint Fenland village of : Wisbech, r are 250.000 bottles of port wine, put there to ; mature. Some of the wine is a century old. '. ■ There were .grandchildren mourner* t at the funeral of Mary Wright, widow, of Winthorpe, Newark. , She left fiß grandchildren and ;30 . great-grandohild-ren. •■; . .'•.... ■■ ,:. ' ■■: '■■; ■ -:u.r\-. ■■ Eggs valued at £194,804 were handled '' last year vbv an v East -r Anglican ;,;; egg :; societv which buys % eggs % from : Ifarmeni ,- , and sells them in London and other big ' centres. ■ * s From a wireless set'? Installed on - a vehicle drawn by a small donkey, the •' London midday wireless concert ; was broadcast in the street at. Blackheath recently. , ■ '/ J ; Possiblly a record ■ has been (treated by : a breeding sow owned :by Mr. Robert v ,i Stokes of, the Anchor Hotel, Friskney, near Boston, which has a litter of 23 fine i young pigs.,,''. -;;',. ; :"';.- : * , , /A muffin man ; for ringing his bell, \\,- was fined one shilling at Highgate, "Lon-; ; . > don. He was accused of "using a noisy ; : instrument, to wit, a bell for the pup; ; pose of selling muffins." ' Burin? the past year.the British Post-, Post Office carried nearly 120,000,000 par*; '.. cels, and claims for; compensation were' .:■ i met in respect of about. 10,000 parcels, or , one in overy 12,000 dealt with. /;s;||*;,;'■■ A Bohemian glass polisher haa com- r pleted a clock which, with the exception of the spring, is made entirely of glass, In Iceland men kiss. hen they meet,*}-'.». but' a man rarely kisses a woman. .:.-'w-j.-; ',--■-:■ During February 3782 men wore approved for service in the British . Terri- \ torial Arrnv, the total strength of which . .:. on March 1 was 135,881. The peace establishment is 180,213 officers and men. I .' A train of 'trucks taking 100 miners,*<• ■>; to work in the Hicklington Main coalmine, Mexborough, Yorkshire, was derailed and overturned. All tho men were thrown out and hurt, five -of \ them ->;. seriously. "Generally speaking, * the Londoner Is a law-abiding _ person," says a solicitor ' of long experience. - "The average number of police court cases have decreased' from about 20 in each Court per day to about five." ...'''" '% The Bishop of Peterborough states "'-.*? that tho night before he left India re- ■ cently all his jewellery was stolen, in*,- ~ ' cluding his episcopal ring and, star and- - a sapphire given him by residents of Kandy. , " ■-.. . University of London students, L'. • variously clad, were collecting in the ' streets of the West End of .London recently for a fund to provide the students ; of the University of/Kazan, Russia, with one meal a day and tuition for the next " session. ;A:-\ -■•;'•'. - ,* •.•;■ .;-.v^ ; ).., : Mrs. Carter, of Frentford, England, , recently gave birth to four children, one of which »a» stillborn. -The other three ' babies died soon afterwards, arid' this '' was followed by the death of the mother. Mrs. Carter was the wife of a man of -' ; the working claw, . t - . ■ ■ ' ['-■] • Hearing the cries of a cat which had -M ; ■ fallen down a disused pit-shaft 60ft S deep, Robert Brown, aged 14, of Carlln : i How, North Yorkshire, volunteered to v ,; rescue it. He waa lowered to the hot- . ' j torn, and brought up the frightened ani- ' - mal in his arms. .. .■'•/.,• .v,-;. •.;.-^ I The names of Princess Mary'* baby George Henry Hubert, have become verr ? > ' gJPUfV. *T T orkiD * d "» mother* at t .Sheffield. Baby linen and nursery fitting • j dealers say' there has been a big ran on*'j all-white christening robes and baby •»*»- . and all-white cote and drspiajrs ail«™.« * | Princess Mary's choice. ** ' j The total number of air raid*, either Iby Zeppelin or aeroplane, which m, i made on London in the course of'tlm-' '-'- ; war wu.25. They took place';, between A/ I May 31. 1915. and May 20, 1918 a*} ! 'esulted.m the deaths of 524 people and , injury to 1264 other.. In the oow. <* the&* raids 174 , bu,l , dln «» were destroyed '- j and 619 seno-wly damaged Wring m direct monetary .' lose. ,- , erf :- -,-iSJdB I£2UM3 f OOO. ' *"* • W «W(ft