NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20722, 15 November 1930, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Asbestos was known to the Romans 2000 years ago.

Tlio pistol was invented early in tho sixteenth century.

Tho bridge with tho longest span in tho world is Quebec Bridge, The Vedas are the sacred books of the

Indus, written about 600 or 700 A.D

The most complete extinct volcano in Great Britain is Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh. More rubber is produced in the British colony of Malaya than in any other country.

Malta was taken from the French under Napoleon in 1800, and voluntarily ceded to Britain by the Maltese. One of tho longest canals in the world runs from Leningrad to (he frontier of China, a distance of 4500 miles. There are now over 13,000 women students in German universities, or oneninth of the whole membership. Silk furnishes tho longest continuous fibre known. One cocoon has been known to yield nearly three-fourihs of a mile.

The first railway station in the City of London was Fenchurch Street, the tenminus of the Blackwall .Railway, in 1840.

The first most important naval victory was that •of Sluys, in Belgium, near Bruges. It is now several miles from the sea.

None can tell whore the diamond goes in combustion. When burnt it leaves no ash, and not a 'trace of tine once brilliant stone.

A metal found'in South-West Africa, and known as zinc-blende, produces a bright light when struck or rubbed, even under water.

Mr. Stanley Baldwin, who used fo b<* a keen cricketer, still, enjoyis an opportunity of watehing Worcestershire County playing a match. One penny put on the rales of Westminister brings in a return of £40.000, over £SOOO more than it would yield in the City of London. It is probable that, the Is'ila has a greater variety of fish than any other river in the world. An expedition took to England 9000 specimens. During the recent heat wave it is estimated that Americans were paying an additional £1,000,000 a day owing to the increased cost of food.

About 95 per cent, of Denmark's farms are owned by the farmers themselves, due in part to the financial assistance given them by the Government.

Hammerfcst, in Norway, is the most northern town in the world •of any importance, and Punta Arenas, in Patagonia, is the furthest south.

Poultry were artifically hatched many years ago in Egypt, and in the 18th Century the scientist Reaumur introduced " incubation " into France.

The largest of trees is tho Wellingtoriia Gigantea, a product of California; specimens often growing to a height of 450 ft. and a circumference of 116 ft.

During his year of office the Lord Mayor of London may have to attend anything up to 400 banquets, putting in an appearance at two in one evening.

It is estimated that if the annual earnings of the people of the United States were in one-dollar bills and pasted in a strip, they would reach 8,500,000 miles.

A sweet-pea seed discovered rn the sarcophagus of an Egyptian mummy and planted iu the grounds of the United States Embassy in Santiago iu 1924 has flowered.

During recent street excavations in Boston, old pipes were dug up which were part of the "ancient conduit" laid in 1652, and said to be the first water service installed in the United States.

Hippodrome and Coliseum, favonrito names for places of entertainment, are derived from the Latin. Hippodrome was an arena where horses performed; coliseum was an area for shows of any kind.

Bay rum, if real, is inado from' the berries of the West Indian bay tree, with alcohol added. When the virtues of the berries were discovered, ram—the cheapest alcohol —was used. Hence " bay rum."

Despite the flourishing existence of radio music in the home, more children are studying music in the United States today than ever before. Sales of pianos for use in the home havo in some quarters returned to normal.

There are 612 colleges and universities in the United States, and the total number of students is 767,000. The grounds and buildings are valued ftfc £200,000,000. Harvard, founded in 1636, is the oldest of American universities.

The popularity of flying is at present greatest among Americans, closely followed by English., Germans, and then Japanese. Italians, though such brilliant engineers, are not keen as a nation on using planes for travel. The currents flowing in an ordinary radio receiving set are exceedingly small and may be expressed in terms of fl.vpower " —one fly power being the energy expended by a fly in crawling up a window pane one inch in one second.

The term " chestnuts," for stale jokes, originated from a play in which one of the characters repeatedly told a funny, story of a man who fell from a chestnnto tree". Thereafter all well-worn jokes of stories wero dubbed " chestnuts."

Ants are credited, with an instinctiva knowledge of the general weather for a whole season. When they are observed in the summer enlarging and strengthening their dwellings, it is said to be 4 sign of an early and cold winter.

Balsa is the lightest wood known. It grows in South and Central America, and weighs 7jlb. a cubic foot—about half th® weight of cork. Owing to its lack of strength it is of very little commercial value, although it has been used in aeroplane construction.

Tho peasants of the mountains of northern Bohemia are expert in the manu. facture of musical instruments, and Ilia export of string, reed and brass instruments, accordions and other keyboard instruments, .amounts to about £1,200,000 annually. The United States line of passenger steamers has lately installed university orchestras for all summer (rips. Up to the present twelve are being so employed in their vacation time; and on tho Leviathan an orchestra is composed of students from Harvard.

Someone has observed that the new httlo British Princess is tho second daughter of the second son of tho second son of tho second child of Queen Victoria, and was born on tho second day after tho second decade oi: the second month of the second half of the year.

In tho national thrift movement launched in Ireland in 1924, 50,000 school children have saved nearly £200,000, accumulated in instalments beginning at a penny. In Victoria 165.000 school children have deposits in the Savings Bank amounting to £289.300

Sickness and invalidism cost _ Bnt.im £5.000.000 in Health Insurance in 191 S. Mlowing for the increase in the number insured iTaSI" £3- » <"<» now runs lo i 11,,000,000 . year.

The pleasure of the S,inday • ajemooj drive would be enhance , £ llowed thr* is concerned, it tne c n , Un'ted of the hve days