NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20088, 27 October 1928, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Tho sheep in Britain total nearly, 17,000.000.

Damascus, in Syria, is tho oldest of all existing cities.

Tho perfect egg should weigh slightly over two ounces.

A queen bee, recently exhibited in London, had travelled 3500 miles by post.

Of the new motor-cars sold in Britain nearly 70 per cent, are of tho saloon type.

Britain has now become the world's workshop for aircraft, ships, and locomotives.

, To save time in entering arid alighting, tho steps on the new Paris buses ars 12 inches nearer the ground.

Mustard gas was used in theory for the first timo during the recent Aldershofc Command manoeuvres.

Whimsical Walker, tho famous 77-year-old clown, has announced his retirement after 65 years' clowning.

Two District Railway trains were held up on the Uxbridge line by a flock of sheep wandering on the track.

A cheap oil can now bo extracted from crushed grape seeds. Each 331b/of seeds gives about 13 quarts of oil.

Bad road surfaces accounted for 80 accidents out of 287 cases investigated by tho British Ministry of Transport. Licences for road vehicles in Britain issued during the six months ended May 31, brought in a revenue of £19,884,801. Lord Aberdeen told an audience on Deeside recently that a man once congratulated him on being an " octogeranium." The interest alone on the debts owed by forty governments to tho United States represents tho wages of 5,000,000 workers.

There are now, on an everage, six times as many divorce cases brought before tho British courts as there were in pre-War days.

The longest telephone call in the Empire is now from London to Vancouver, 7000 miles. The charge is £3 16s a minute.

Enormous numbers of pythons and lizards art being killed, especially in the East Inches, so that their skins may become leather.

Tho Caravan Club of Great Britain and Ireland is to hold a " Coming of Age" dinner in November, th 6 club having been formed in 1907.

Britain is using more tobacco. In 1914 the average was 2.4 pounds per head of the population; last year it was 3.4 pounds

In one room in Bermondsey, London, eleven people live; while there are two families of ten persons each, occupying two rooms between them.

Britain's fleet of privately owned motorcars is estimated to have increased at the rate of 2500 per week during many weeks of the year.

It took nearly fifty men a day's hard work to clear up the litter left in Hyde Park near the Marble Arch after tho August Bank Holiday. Doncaster, with a population of 54,000, had an increase of 9669 unemployed in July; Bradford's increase, on a population of 286,000, was 6713. The Metropolitan Water Board pay 3 £90,000 a year to tho Thames Conservancy for the water drawn from tho river to supply London's needs.

" Wise women " still exist in Wales, who advise administration of some small animal, such as a mouse or toad, cooked and pulverised, as a cure for certain ills.

Although they have never met in person, a family in Sheerness _ has corresponded regularly each week with a family in North Ireland since 1855, over seventy years.

Oranges are expected to be cheaper in the coming winter in Britain than in any year since 1913, owing, to the rivalry between the Californian and South African growers.

Of the goldfish in Britain to bo kept as " pets." oply about five per cent, survive the first six months, owing to the popular lack of knowledge of how to treat them.

Convicted of being drunk while in charge of a car, a motorist in Britain was recently fined £25 and costs and disqualified for life from ever again holding a driving licence. One American railway company was so impressed by tho British King George V railway engine during its recent visit to the States that it has built an engine on the same lines.

The habit of drinking methylated spirits is on the increase, especially Ui London, the North.of England, and South Wales. There were 428 convictions for this offence in 1927.

Couples who wish to sit on tho park benches in Budapest cfrast bo ready _to prove that they are married by producing passports, marriage certificates, or other documents on demand.

Typists in Britain are said to be specially subject to illness, owing to the monotony of their work, the noise of the machines, and tho cramped positions they adopt, among other causes. By making a fitment for a window-strap in one part instead of two, thus using three screws instead of six, the Southern Railway in England, may save hundreds of pounds a year in future.

Coal should vary according to tho geographical situation of tho consumer. Thus. Hampstead, which stands high, can burn a denser coal than Westminster, which lies lower and is more shut in.

Seventeen cafes run by Scarborough Corporation in its parks and open air spaces have had a turnover this year of nearly £25,000. They are all controlled by ono woman, who is a voluntary worker.

The annual returns of tlio British Regis-trar-General show that the marriage rate is the highest for five years, including a Yorkshire increase of moro than 11 per cent., and that the birth-rate is the lowest yet recorded. Tho Old Hall, Lincoln's Inn, has been taken down and is being rebuilt with every stono carefully put back in its original position. When finished, the hall will appear exactly as it was in the cjr.ys of Henry VIII. Judging by the decreasing total of accidents at each Bank Holiday, English aro becoming safer. Experts say this is duo to the increased ability among motorists to drive cars automatically which is termed "road sense."

Imported cutlery in Britain, including knives, scissors, ordinary razors, safety and other razor-blades, carving forks, and knife sharpeners, will in future with certain exceptions, have to bear an indi cation of the country of origin. Travelling "tourist third cabin" on Atlantic, liners, which means tho return trip in comfort for about £3B, has proved a huge success. In all tho lines tho number of these passengers has nearly doubled, from 41,664 in six months of 1927 to 70.892 in six months this year. During one year 2000 queries were received by telephone at tho Croydon, Surrey, public libraries. They included requests for addresses -of translators of Dutch, the geographical position of Hermosa, how to make a sneepskin into a rug, and details of anonymous letters in history.

Milk bottles do not always contain the quantity of milk they are supposed to. Of twelve bottles gathered recently from widely scattered English districts, two held more than they were reputed to, eight were just right, one had to have tho cardboard stopper under the milk, and the twelfth would not hold a pint 01 milk even when" filled to overflowing.