NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19502, 4 December 1926, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Grasshoppers have their ears on their front legs. A children's corner is now provided in Truro Cathedral. The radiator of a motor-car in Norfolk was badly damaged by a cow jumping on iL Two million toy balloons, intended for Christmas, were recently destroyed by 3 fire in London. Spinsters live longer than either married women or bachelors, according to one medical authority. London school children at Leo have raised over half a ton of potatoes in their playground gardens. Crops in North Yorkshire have been so bountiful that many farmers have had to extend their stackyards. Stoke Newingtou, where Daniel Defoe lived, is: to have a bust of him like that in the Cripplegate Institute. Four hundred Soman coins have boon found buried under a stone on the golf links at Knott End. Fleetwood. A wolf has killed eleven sheep belonging to the Superintendent of Wolf Hunting, near Angouieme, in France. Among London s strange occupations are cart-minding, selling hot watir in tho markets, and painting door-knockers. Soup is stated by one doctor to be tho host appetiser before a meal, with tea and coffefl as a second and third choice. This year the postmaster of Bromley, Kent, will take the holidays duo to him in 1882, of which ho has just been reminded. At the English Kennel Club's recent annual exhibitior nearly one quarter of the dogs shown were Alsatians, of whom there were 544. Nino times a champion, Selects Ideal, a fox-terrier recently sihown in London, is just over two years old. His owner refused £IOOO for him. . Imitation jeweis are selling well in Paris, where an artistic bracelet with imitation, diamonds set in silver may cost as much as £2O. Only one passenger was killed in ft train accident on the British railways last year, although i 1746 million passengers were carried. A toy balloon released at a horticultural show in Staffordshire was picked up next day on a Danish farm no loss than 530 miles away Bobbing the hair, and skirts more than six inches off tin ground are banned by the divisional officer of the Salvation Army in West Hartlepool. Of 250 Staffordshire women 3 who lately visited Blackpool together, more than 200 had never seen the sea, and many had never been in a train before. During tho year ended May 31 last no fewer than 2186 sums of money and 918 parcels of clothing were found la Hie Gkisgow Corporation's tramcars. A number of figures carved in sandstone have been dug up at Whiistoiio Grange, near Rotherharn, where a church is believed to havo stood in 1237. i Emeralds <at so popular in Britain just s now that, £I2OO a carat is hemp; paid for tho best specimens. The choicest diamonds fetch only £6OO a carat. A thousand pounds, has been sent liy her family to an officer of a Danish ship • who rescued an Englishwoman from ' drowning in Coponhtigen Harbour. The tost to educate ono child at an 3 olomentary school in Britain for one year amounts 'to £ll 12s. lid. Of this £8 4s. sdl. represents the teachers' salaries. A farmer in tho Driffield district in Yorkshire gave his; harvest workers this ' vear a real thanks giving in the form of a. s £5 note each as soon as tho last sheaf was carted home. I , } I Rate collector, clerk to the pariah council, and assistant overseer are among tho posts held by Mrs Rosa Gotta, of Bacton, Norfolk. This lady also carries on a builder's business. Among 228 cases of overcrowding: reported in the past year to the York (England); Health Comittee was one of a bedroom being-occupied by a husiband and wife and their eight children. In memory of 30 men who Went down with tho trawler Field-Marshal Robertson, off Iceland, in February. 1925, a table® is to be sent from Hull to bo placed in Reykjavik Cathedral, Iceland. In motor-cycle making Britain loads tho way, one single firm turning out micro machines '.han an made by all Anioricaii producers The export trade was worth more than £6,000,000 last year. If a barrage* were thrown across tho Bristol Channel, near the mouth of the River Severn, it would produce nearly twice aB much electrical power as is obtained from the Niagara Falls. I Jumpers a. wor.i by naval sailors will in future havi. their V-shaped oponiuga s altered in depth according to the total, i length of the garment. At present every • jumper has an eleven-inch opening. ! Four prisoners were shot dead, 22 I wounded, and five warders wounded it) ; a recent outbreak at the prison in Kingston, Jamaica, arising out of tile differ- ' ence in the diet of Europeans and Jamai- | cans. r The narrower a bird's wing is in comparison to its length, the bettor is tho ability to fly. Also, the shorter the body is in comparison to the length of the out- > stretched wing, the greater is the flying I power. j A man named Johnson who attempted I to walk from Chicago to New York withj out food was forced to abandon his task when he had covered 607 miles—half the distance—in 20 days. He lost 371b, in j weight. A Franch thief who thought he was t breaking into the houseooff f a family on j holiday let himself into tho Marseilles y office of the Secret Police, and walked 0 into a room where there were five e detectives. Among the 25,000 language pupils in 1 tho Loadon County Council's evening s classes, French, German and Spanish are the most popular subjects, bat many reinvests were also made for courses in Knssian and Esperanto. i, Among many curious objects found in j tho stomach of a shark caught in Dalmatian waters were a tin oi corif densed milk, a metal cigarette calie, a pair of women's shoes., a box of matches, some j rope and some sailcloth. i "I leave to my son-in-law, William \ Arthur Warren, my complete wireless ap- ; e paratus." This was a ciauso in tlio will i of Mr Thomas Griffiths, of Wrexham, i Denbigh, who left £6003. It is believed to t he the first definite bequest of its kind. Mr J S. Bellamy, a bricklayer, who 0 died, aged 71, at King's Cliffe, Northanmf tonshire, regularly laid from 800 to 10(X) - 1 bricks a day when in the prima of life, 5 and also after he was 60. At times he ex- ! ceeded laying 1000 bricks a day, working r 12 hours. ; There is a quaint harvest custom in 1 parts of Northumberland. The last few stalks are cut by the prettiest girl in the field, carefully gathered up into something like human form, then dressed in a white , frock, and carried to the farm to take the place of honour at the supper. Two young pigs appeared on the field of play during a football match at Brid-i lington between Harrogate and Bridlington Town. The pigs chased the ball, and play was stopped for 10 minutes while pavers took part in a cli3so which resulted in the capture of the intruders. A wreath uj the fdrun of on auctioneer's rostrum, complete with hammer, was k among the floral tributes at the funeral >. at Kendal of Mr. Thomas Carter, a, Bjjnckpool auctioneer and president ol the .BritI is?] Association of Auctioneers, vrao |$ was drowned in Lakia Windermere. |H