NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20988, 26 September 1931, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Britain used I,OOO,GOO,CCQ gallons of petrol last year. Men outnumber women as residents in the City of London fay 150. Americans have contributed £II.OOO fcjr preserving Boston Stump in Lincolnshire 1 ; Five million gallons leas milk was drunk in the United States last April compared with April 1930. There are 600,000 motor-cars still being used in Britain, which were first -registered four or more years ago. 0t the new motor-cars first registered in Britain last year, nearly 90 per cent, were of the closed type. A feature of Navy Week held at Portsmouth. England, recently was a practice sail aboard a model of Nelson's Victory. Mrs. Ann Bonsfield, of Nottingham, celebrated her 103 rd birthday by addressing children at a Salvation Army garden party. _ • The sound ot a gun firing at Woolwich was recently heard at Cardiff, a distance of 150 miles, by means of a scientific instrument. A rose tree planted in Chesham Bois Churchyard. Buckinghamshire, has grafted itself into a yew tree, which is now covered with roses. Divorces are becomins much more common in Britain. In 1371 there were 166 cases in England. Scotland and Wales; in 1929 there were 3396. Changes in dress fashions may be » source of danger in factories, where, it is said, long skirts- will increase nhe number of accidents. Two men have been fined ia London for throwing coppers from a vehicle on to the pavement, causing a scramble by children and risking an accident.' In Canada, where the cost of a wireless receiving licence is 4s a year, it is estimated that one person out of every 19 owns a wireless set. Wnen Madame Ida Rubinstein, the famous actress and daneer, arrived in London by aeroplane 70 tons of Inggage followed in a train in 10 waggons. Organised air-lines now cover 136.000 miles in regular routes, over which 600.000 passengers and 13.C0G tons of mails and freight are carried every year. There are still 40.000 names on the waiting list for houses under the London County Council, which is still nearly half a million dwellings short of requirements. The Irish -Free State last year bought more British-made motor-cars than all the foreign countries in the world put together, or all the other overseas dominions. The biggest mountain in Great Britain is Ben Nevis, which has a height- of 4406 ft. Everest, the highest mountain in the world, is nearly seven times this height. ' ■ The proposed Moscow-Vladivostock air route, covering 5000 miles, will take 60 hours' travelling time, compared to 10 to 12 days required by train on the same journey. On© big firm of drapers m the West End of London estimate their annual losses through shop-lifting at £10,000; they prosecute thieves in about 250 cases every year. C'ne-eighth of the total cotton crop is destroyed every year by the bollweevil in the United States, where insects do damage to the annual'value of £4OO/500,000. ' V . Musical notes, as piano strings snapped, accompanied the crackling of burning wood when a fire which caused considerable damage broke out at a piano factory ait Kentish Town,^England. A count of salmon taken in British Columbia waters last year showed that the grand total was 37,000.000. It was a record season, the previous highest total being 9,500.000 less, in 1926.; y ' i Street accidents caused the death of 1393 persons and injury to 55.961 in Greater London last year. Eighty-seven per cent, of these accidents were due to want of forethought and alertness. " Red snow.'' which is to be found on Vancouver Island has been puzzling scientists. Where the snow lies deep it is of a decided red colour, although when a handful is picked up it appears white. The last of 20 generations, Miss Sarah Louise Bannister, of Havant, who celebrated her 104 th birthday recently, has lived the whole of her lifetime in the house which was once her father's surgery. Cans for preserving fruit, etc., are to be turned out at the rate o£ 1200 a minute, or 100.000.000 a year, at a new factory built, in Worcestershire, one of the greatest fruit-producing centres in England. New Delhi, the seat of Government in India, is only used half the year, the result being that for six months out of every twelve it is a deserted city, with mules and camels roaming in the principal streets. Searching all over the world for rare mice is the unusual hobby of a young man, who has discovered innumerable types ranging from the sue of .rats down to less than" one inch and a quarter ia length. Premises used as places of amusement watched over by the London County Council number 772, including 325 licensed for cinematograph, 451 for music and dancing, 256 for music only, and nine for dancing only. Travel by air is becoming cheaper. It is possible to go from England to Karachi, India. 5000 miles, in just over five days, for £SS. The first-class journey by land and water costs only £6 less and takes 12 days longer. „ Experiments madfe by 'an American doctor on prisoners who volunteered for' the work seem to disprove the old -theory that black coffee keeps one awake. All the subjects tested slept more restfully after drinking black coffee. While her railways are still a handicap, Russia has made huge strides in air service. They claim over 19,000 miles of aerial route at present, and intend opening a Moscow-Vladivostock rente —the longest in the world —this year. Six naval tugs tried in vain to refloat the £2,000.000 battleship Emperor of India, which was battered heavily by the Iron Duke during experimental shell fire recently and settled down on a mad bank 12 miles from Bognor Regis Beach. Divorce is now very easy-in China; a married couple simply write down a declaration of their desire to separate and sign it before two witnesses who also sign. Then they are divorced. If, however, either party objects, a court , action is necessary. France is catching np on Great Britain in the total number of motor-cars in use. The latest figures show that Great Britain has 1,553,032 cars, while France has K520.501. The United States heads the world's list with 25.500,000 cars, but Germany has only 658,636. Small balloons, measuring about 4ft. in diameter and carrying feather-weight instruments, are used for " exploring " the upper atmosphere. They show that the temperature remains nearly the same from a height of six miles to about 18 niiles. Above that height is a band of very high temperature. Flexible glass thai can be rolled jxp without damaging it has been mve i**. . bv two young American scientists, it » predicted that within a few for dressing tables commercial and scientific »■ made of this substance, aro ,Ti«l to almost any backmg matercu.