NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18711, 17 May 1924, Page 19 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

The strangest street name in London is XX Place, Globe road, E. 1. There are said to be between 1003 and 1500 millionaires in the United States. Air raids on Great Britain during the war resulted In 1413 deaths and 3407 injured. . ■ .

London's elementary school children decreased from 893,845 in 1914 to 797,373 last year.

Pupils of the London elementary schools have the use of a travelling library of 2,000,000 books. About 80 per cent, of the motor-cars sold in America are bought on the "hirepurchase" system. Apple puddings and marmalade tarts, two typically British dishes, are becoming popular in Franca London's hotels and boarding houses I will accommodate only about 100,000 visitors, it is estimated. Public-houses in London now number 5514, a reduction of • 22 per dent, since* the 1904 Licensing Act. Newspapers numbering 2190 are pub-< lished in Great Britain and Ireland; of these 421 appear in London. The largest crocodile in the London Zoo is about fourteen feet in length; he is approaching ninety years of age. Two eggs believed to be birds' eggs be-: tween 25,000,000 and 60,000,000 years old, have been found in South Dakota. Second-Lieutenants in the army start) with a salary of £320, including firnolu- • «?ents, if single, and £394 if married. The total .number of clergymen under 35 years of age in the Church of England is estimated at very little over, 1000. Innkeepers a.re being, trained in cookery and in the licensing laws at a special "school" recently established in London. Out of the 27,000 girls employed by one firm in England - an expert chiropodist, found that only 25 per cent, had perfect feet. '

Onco the (town house of the Bishop.? of Winchester, Winchester House, St, James*, London, has been bought by A club.:

Tiny ' pictures, on the finger-nails, carried out in harmless thin enamels, are a - fashion fad 'among London society women. 1

Crocodiles grow quickly; for the first few years of their lives j then their rate of growth slows down to about one inch a year. ~ ' ' The Arapthill guardians hava stopped the relief of a man whose illness was stated to be due ip the effects of excessive cigarette smoking. - ?- Eight British M.P.'s ; own ; the surname Davies, another eight are named Williams,, seven are called Jones, while there are only three Smiths. - . . Naphthalene worked into the garden soil in the proportion of one ounce to the square yard is a protection against certain destructive raoth larvae. Matches, lor long a State monopoly in France, are to bo made by a private firm in return for a large " royalty " to the French Government. Special perfumes, which are intended t<* restore the natural scents to flowers deprived of , this vattraction by early forcing, are being made in Austria. . i In answer to an advertisement for at curate for an English Church, applications were received from one man- aged seventy-, three and another sixty-nine. >\ " • \ • ■> ■ ,', * . • J ; ; Watches sometimes > are very seriously affected; by the \ magnetism •; of their ' wearers. In most cases those who have this! affect are dark 'complexioned. - The spread of education' in Britain is one of the- main causes >of ; tho decrease in crime : during the ■; last 30 y£ars, according to one of His Majesty's judges. ! The oldest classical collection of butter-< flies and insects in the. Natural History Museum, ■ South Kensington, ;l. was made 150 years ago, but it is still perfect.. Cages, . which contain.: cradles, and which\ can be { suspended outside thewindows of i flats, are a . novel i suggestion in England, for the use of. town babies. Thirty-four schools for the blind, four, teen for the deaf, and seventy-eight for the mentally defective children are maintained by the London County ; Council. ; Eyeglasses with t platinum rims, and adorned : with- narrow black • ribbon are threatening to suplant. the horn rimmed spectacles in popularity :> ; with'; women. For the four meetings of Derby County and Newcastle United in "a recent round of ■" the Cup, 128,391 people 1 paid £9113 in gate-money to witness the the matches. Speech-making is the novel subject to be taught in : a new"studio' '■ recently opened in : London. - The : promoter is a lady .who , belongs to t]v old Russian aristocracy. . . , * 1 "

Working'' in 1 tanyards :or gas works is believed to fbe ■'> beneficial vto those who suffer from diseases -of the . chest, "vvhila varnish makers seldom suffer from rheumatism.- : I '\C

: "Uncle," the common name for pawnbrokers in England,, is replaced by "aunt" in Paris, where the State pawnbroker was also formerly known as the Mont-de-Piete, or Mountain of Piety, , . - Clothes-stealing • has been: quite an epidemic form . ofcrime:. in ; London lately. Suburban villas 'and West End flats have been.j robbed. Clothes :; being apparently the booty searched for.. Babies as young as three years old are said to be employed in the crowded tenements of New York on home work for the factories. ' They 'help: to make dolls, toys, and artificial flowers.. A lock of Milton's hair, which belonged in turn 'to Joseph Addison, Dr. Jonhson, John Hoole, and, Leigh Hunt, all famous literary • men, is now in, the possession of a, New York firm of book dealers. When Miss Nellie . Padfield, aged 22, won £120 damages in a breach of promise action -at Bath against Charles Wilfred Bawlings; 26, a railway- fireman, the jurymen handed her their fees also. ;i Kettles and pans made of ; cardboard have-been patented by _a German inventor. ' The material is dipped in a mixture ■ containing asphalt and resin, which makes it waterproof and acid resisting. % A cat .which chased-a squirrel along the slender branch of a tree in Regent s "ark, London, lost its nerve and remained m the same position for upwards an hour. It was ultimately rescued,by. the aid of a sack attached to a long pole. Canaries are being, superseded as pets by the budgerigar, more frequently caded a "love-bird." because of v its devotion i> its mate. The common green variety coat less than 10s a pair, while a pair of whi.a birds is priced at, £200 and over. : Every beat and tremor -of the human heart can be registered and photographed by means of a new electrical instrument, the cardiograph, which works on , S® principle : : that every movement of the heart generates an electric current. ■I Mark• All who will .be 95 years of ago in June, and who claims to be the world . champion long-distance walker, is now Waged on ,the last stage ot a twentyfour dears' walk, in the course, or.which he has. tramped" all over; the world. r ?On the main roads in Ontario, it will soon be impossible to lose one s wa\ if » novel scheme is adopted. highways are already known by numbers, and w suggested. that these v numoers should. l>e fixed to every telegraph. polo along each road.'" / ' V" J' ■; ; ' " y '-Among articles forgotten by; passengers on one of the V English railways recently .were a.; snake-pattern neck L- chain : and 'pendant get .with", diamonds, si stuffed alligator. ' a motor engine, nearly •; forty bicycles a collapsible prom, cand: & child ?-. tricYfle. '■ :■ .f ( SISSISIII . si:?