NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20229, 13 April 1929, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

The Turkish Government has ordered thousands of typewriters. Goldfish are descended from the cornman carp, and originated in China and Japan. A butcher's shop in Pinner, London, built in 1307, has now been opened as a beauty parlour. Cunard ships carried over 200,000 people across the Atlantic last year, and steamed a million miles. Over a-quarter of a ton of broken glass has been picked up on beach at Skegness, England. German youths are not so tall now as in the pre-war days, the general decrease being at least ljin. It has been stated that there are over 40 iniles of greenhouses in and around Worthing, England. One inch of rain on an acre of land would fill more' than 600 barrels of 45 gallons capacity each. The new grain elevator at Port Arthur, Ontario, can load vessels with 2500 bushels of wheat in a minute. Canada has now a million motor-cars. Twenty-five years ago she had 220, and 30 years ago none at all. A Frencli steamer coming from Syria with a cargo of monkey-nuts burned its cargo to figi.t a fierce gale. A meat van delivered £25.000 worth cf gold and silver at the Bank of England, London, a short time ago. The King of Albania has sent two Albanian Scoutmasters to England for training at his own expense. There was an increase of 32,000 Scouts in the United Kingdom last year, and overseas numbers increased by 40,000. The gas plant of the Gas Light and Coke Company at Beckton, England, produces 100,000,000 cubic feet of gas a day. In Great Britain an acre of good fishing will yield more food in a week than an acre of the best land will yield in a year. For the first time for some years a convict has died at Dartmoor. He was a victim of influenza followed by pneumonia. The famous carrier pigeon of Verdun, whose death was recorded a few months ago, is to have a monument erected in its honour in Paris. The Commonwealth Government has voted the sum of £2500 to enable Australian Scouts to be represented at the Jamboree this year. A young man climbed up a 30ft. wall at Grimsby Corn Exchange, England, and released a pigeon caught by its leg in the gutter-pipe. A landslide occurred on Aberavon Mountain recently, completely blocking the main line of the Ehondda and Swansea Bay Railway. A fine pheasant was seen in a tree in the Chapel Royal churchyard the other day, within sight of the buses passing through the Strand. The London County Council reports that under the de-rating scheme there will be no increase in London borough rates for the next five years. Strawberries were on sale in London on January 19 at 30s per box of 36, or 10d per strawberry. They were English berries, hothouse grown. The winner of a special prize in a handwriting competition at Coleshill, Warwickshire, Elementary School was Edna Beardmore, who has no hands. Hughenden Almshouses, Lord Beaconsfield's church, which have been unoccupied for some years, have been converted into a parochial hall. The curious dress of the Beefeaters at the Tower of London is said to be dne to the desire of Henry VIII. that they should look as stout as he did. A rabbit became lodged in the main water supply pipe at Cottingley, in Yorkshire, England, causing the village to be without .water for a whole day. Q'he Prime Minister of Britain recently reminded the Baptist Union that the Baptists provided the last martyr who was burned at the stake —in. 1612 at Lichfield. A man from the Moselle Department of France is being rolled to Paris in a wine barrel by lour Polish friends. He expects to be rolling for 70 days at 12 miles a day. It is claimed that there are more workers in Leicester who own and occupy their freehold houses than in any other English city of more than double the population. An 86-year-old agricultural labourer, W. Vince, of Chattisham, Suffolk, has been employed on the same farm for 70 years, and has lived in the same cottage "for 62 years. Mrs. C. E. Bousfield, a Nottingham lady 100 years old, has lately addressed ' a temperance meeting in Nottingham. She is the mother of Mr. William Robert Bousfield, K.C. Although onlv 13 miles from London, the Kentish village of Keston suffers from an overdose of foxes, the inhabitants being kept awake at nignt by the howling of the animals. Long waits on the platforms of London railway stations are to be made mcrS enjoyable. Gramophone kiosks have been provided at several stations and records are to be played throughout the day. A return presented to the Surrey Education Committee shows that the uet cost of elementary education in the county for the year 1927-28 was £ll 16s 5d per child. In Middlesex the cost was £l3 18s Bd. Dating from the fifteenth century, the Coventry Cappers Company, after their annual meeting in the Priests' Room above the company's chapel in Coventry Cathedral, partook oi: the traditional wine, bread and cheese. Two undergraduates at Oxford, who removed a barber's pole, have been compelled by the university authorities to carry the pole through the streets in their academical dress and restore it to its owner with apologies. Tin has been largely used in the making of the Golden Arrow, the car in which Major Segravo established the speed record at Davtona Beach. No other known metal would stand the friction without overheating and melting. Signor Mussolini, tho Dictator of Italy, has appointed himself to fill no less than 10 Cabinet appointments, including Head of the Government, Foreign Minister, Secretary of War, First Lord of Admiralty, Air Minister, and Home Minister. " Hard work never killed anyone," says Miss Gadby, aged 92 years, an elastic web finisher at a Leicester factory. She has worked for 82 years, has never been absent except for ono short illness, and resolutely refuses to apply for an old-age pension. While tho Bishop of Stepney was collating tho Rev. E. B. Murray to tho living of St. Luke's, Stepney, Mr. J. A. Kensit. head ot the Wycliffo Preachers, walked up to the chancel rail of the clnurh and made a protest, which caused some excitement among the congregation. Coughing or sneezing involves expvdsiOfi from a theatre at Brentford, Ofi'taVio. This drastic method has Weft adopted by ihe manager to combat inllvien?a He Vtas instructed attendant)* that aViy rtwmher of tho audience who is coiighiftjc ov sneezing must be requested to gd to the* b6X-offiee. A refund of the ticket ttotray vili be Kmdf).