NEWS IN BRIEF

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21467, 15 April 1933, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF

Cobra venom is harmless if swallowed. A bee's wings beat 2500 times a second. Salt bars are used as money in Ethiopia. There are six Arabian newspapers in New York. Lions have the smallest hearts of all beasts of prey. Horsehide stuffed with feathers composed the first golf balls. There is one beerhouse and one telephono to every 271 of the inhabitants of Berlin. Orchid perfume is so expensive to produce that most of it consists of synthetic substitutes. The rearing of budgerigars, the beautifully coloured Australian lovebirds is among the hobbies of King George. A copy of the first folio Bible printed in England, Coverdale's version, dated 1537, was sold in London recently for £56. The road to Brighton, so long the favourite week-end trip of London motorists, is said to be losing its popularity. The longest-lived inmates of the London Zoo are to be found among the Xjarrots, tortoises, reptiles, and birds of prey. D'Anuunzio, the Italian poet, recently justified his reputation for being superstitious when he dated his letters Feb. 12, plus 1. Goods vehicles on the roads of Great Britain now total up to 365,000, of which number some 260,000 are in the Home Counties. Although only one ex-President of the United States of America is still surviving, there are six widows of Presidents still alive. Gold mined in Wales was used to make the wedding rings worn by Queen Mary, the Princess Royal, and tho Duchess of York. By exterminating rats in France it is estimated that that country would prevent damage amounting to £70,000,000 a year. Bottles of medicine to the huge total of 10,000 tons are used up every year by the 12,000,000 persons covered by National Health Insurance. There are more than 50 different species of kangaroos. The largest weigh more than 2ewt. and measure 10 ft. from tip of nose to tip of tail. A judge at Philadelphia recently dismissed from jury duty all men who have jobs. "We will give the unernploj'ed a chance," he explained. For the first time for nearly 500 years the bell tower at Thorrington Church, Essex, is empty. The six bells have been taken down for tuning. Shareholders of the Eiffel Tower have been informed that the financial year just ended showed a profit of only £7224 as against £23,000 last year. In a Christmas draw at Edmonton, Canada, a coal agent won half a-ton of coal, a confectioner a box of chocolates, and a publican a bottle of port. The world's oldest tree is believed to be in Yosemite National Park, America. Its age is estimated at more than 3SOO years, and its greatest diameter is over o4rt. A rusty aerial bomb was discovered as refuse was being sorted at thg.,dust destructor at Walthamstow. In a few moments it would have reached the furnace. Faced by a steel door when they broke into a, shop in Pentonville Road, London, thieves cut a new doorway through the wall and stole £SOO worth of goods. " Snow goggles " made of ivory, with narrow slits to shut out the glare of the on snow, have been found in Alaska in a grave several thousand years old. Carrier pigeons in Britain are believed to be losing their flying speed. Where an average speed of *SO miles an hour was ordinary, this has now fallen' to 40 or lower. A whole town in Tanganyika, Africa, has been destroyed by rats,- which first destroyed the cotton crop and then invaded the town in such numbers that the inhabitants had to vacate it. Gramophones records, as well as wireless, are being tried on the LondonEdinburgh expresses. Special records describing the journey and places of interest being passed have been made. Cutlery grinding is one of the most dangerous occupations, owing to the tvorkers breathing in so much silica dust. The mortality among grinders is 330 per cent greater than the average. Scale models of boats and ships of all sizes may be tested for speed, seaworthiness, etc., in a new tank, 670 ft. long and 30ft. wide recently constructed at the National Physical Laboratory at Teddington. Boots, blankets, clothes and a joint of beef have replaced the usual whist drive prizes of silver, crockery, and fancy goods at Usliaw Moor, Durham. These were the awards at a tournament in aid of aged mine-workers' homes. " City of Three Waters " was the address given by a debtor at the county court at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, lately. No one in court had heard of the place. It was discovered later that " the city " is a village near Whitwick, Leicestershire. Flying is still handicapped by the need for special permits to enter certain countries. One capital just over 1000 miles from London, can be reached quicker by boat and train, which takes 42 hours, than by aeroplane, which takes 10 hours' flying time. Mr. Bobert Harden, Bath's oldest inhabitant, died recently in his 104 th year. He was born in the reign of William IV. He could remember the last public hanging at and tho first train to reach Bridgwater. He never missed voting at an election. Hairdressing by means of gum and powdered tinsel is the latest' Parisian "fads," any colour being employed. The hair is moulded with a heavy plastic lotion and sprayed with gum arabic and the tinsel. To reniqve all this the head must be washed with spirit. An ornithological collection embracing the skins of several thousand birds and over 10,000 birds' eggs is one of the attractions of the new_J3euthen Museum, recently opened at Ben then, in Upper Silesia. There are also a collection of 150 cases of butterflies, and a Silesian herbarium. Statistics collected in Britain shott that people of some professions are lrtore prompt at paying their bills than those of otlier occupations: At the top of the list come clerks, civil servants, teachers, accountants, and solicitors; while clergymen, retired professional men. army and navy officers on pensions, ana titled people are at the other end. In preparation for the visitors who are expected to go in the summer of 1934 to Munich on their way to the performances of the Passion Play in Oberammergau, the Munich and South Bavarian tourist bureaus have instituted a course in foreign languages for persons whose occupation brings them into contact with tourists from abroad. Each course lasts six months, and includes two lessons a week.