NEWS IN BRIEF

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21473, 22 April 1933, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF

A new Sphinx is reported to have been unearthed on a site near the second Pyramid. During last year 44 canneries in British Columbia packed more than a million cases of salmon. Practically all the fresh pork eaten in London comes from England and Wales and the Irish Free State. Berlin's population has dropped by 150,000 since 1929, when it reached its peak with 4,360,000 inhabitants. Aged 130, an inhabitant of a village in 13aroda State, India, is regarded as the oldest man in the British Empire. Teunis racquets are the queer diet favoured by an insect a quarter of a:i inch long, which is new to Great Britain. The skipper of a Hull trawler, badly damaged in a storm, brought her back after being three days, without a compass. Of the total number of road accidents in Britain, it is estimated that more than 08 per cent could have been avoided. During last year 166 London, Midland, and Scottish trains were accelerated, with a daily saving of 8652 minutes. The _ world's smallest antelope- is found in West Africa. It stands only a little over twelve inches high at tho shoulder. Pedestrians in Lisbon will be forbidden to speak while crossing the road, if proposed new by-laws como, into force. . Forty or fifty tons of dried flies are imported into London each year. The insects are graded and used for feeding goldfish and water fowl. ' The Newfoundland Government Railhas concluded a contract to barter 76,000 tons of wood for 40,000 tons of coal supplied by a Cardiff firm. Monthly flights by the Graf Zeppelin from I'riedrichshafen to South America, including Pernambuco and Bio de Janeiro, will begin on May 6. More than three million ounces of gold came last year from mines ii\ Canada, which is now the second largesig gold-producing country in the world, f The famous Sun Inn at Saffron Walden, in Essex, has been bought bv the National Trust for £2OOO. In 1647 it was the headquarters of Cromwell and Fairfax. Ihe death-watch beetle'is threatening the destruction of the loth-century roof of St. Mary's, Puddletown, near Dorchester, the Weather bury of Thomas Hardy's novels. Traffic on all French railways shows a decrease of 22.6 per cent in the past two years, compared with a slump of 16 per cent on the British railways in the same period.

Palestine, says Major H. L. Nathan, a member of the House of Commons, is as busy as a beehive. Laziness has disappeared, and Jews arc forsaking trade for farming.

A " tell-tale " light, fitted to vehicles subject to statutory speed limits, which flashes a warning to patrolling policemen if the vehicle travels too fast, is being tested in London. Dr. Joseph Hunter, Liberal member for Dumfries, is one of the most celebrated Burns orators in Britain. Yet in three and a half years in Parliament he has never made a speech. Weather reports are now so complete that it is claimed that a well-informed expert can now say exactly what sort; of weather is being experienced at any place within a 500-mile radius of London.

Lilian Harvey, the .London girl who became a famous film star in Germany, took with her on her recent journey tc Hollywood a maid, .a chauffeur, a cos< turnier a car, forty-seven dresses, and sixty-four hats.

The recent death in England of Colonel John Pawson, at the age of nearly 96, left only sixteen known survivors of the Crimean and Indian Mutiny wars. Twenty-two died in 1931 and 13 in 1932.

Gasoline sold in Canada during 1932, according to figures compiled by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, amounted to 503,452,000 gallons. Nearly half of the total was consumed in the province of Ontario.

Forty-one threepenny pieces were used by an English bridegroom at the Great Casterton Church, Rutlandshire, to pay vfche rector's fee of 10s Id. The rector was given the twopence change as a tip " for counting the coins^-

One thousand six hundred' and twenty-four new passenger automobiles were sold in Canada in January, 1933, this being almost double the sale for the month of December and about two per cent over the sale for January, 1932. More than one-third of Canada's coffee requirements come from Jamaica. One-third comes from other countries within the British Empire and the remainder comes from foreign countries, mainly in Central and South America.

The total enrolment at the University of Alberta, Canada, for the 1932-term was 1,938, the highest-in the' history of the institution. The largest enrolment was 721 in arts and sciences. Of the total enrolment, 1,298 were Canadians.

The natives connected with the mission of the Rev J. Underhill in West Africa have been so touched by the ao ' counts of the distress in the United States that they have collected the sum of 40 dollars for the unemployed in the latter country.

An inquiry by the London County Council has resulted in a statement that despite the popular belieF, rheumatism is less severe in abnormally wet weather. It is worse during dry periods, when the temperature is lower and there is no sunshine.

There are 279,472 acres planted in fruit trees in Canada, according to information obtained from the decennial census taken in 1931. On this acreage there are 10,548,918 apple trees; 1,015,465 peach trees; 601,502 pear trees; 822,875 pluqi trees, and 667,705 cherry trees.

American architects say they believe that sky-scrapers will, shortly be built of a new material as hard as concrete composed largely of-brown paper built on a metal framework. The paper is moulded into slabs or blocks with coal tar resins under high temperature and great pressure. David Lawrence, a Mississippi negro, grew impatient when the jury trying him on a charge of murder had been absent for an hour. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter, and just as the judge had sentenced him to seven and a half years in prison, the jury returned a verdict of " Not guilty." The .judge did not alter the sentence. Of the 10,362,833 persons who form the population of Canada, exclusive of the Yukon and the Northwest Terrw tories onv 3.289,507 or 31.7 per cent, live on farms. The rural population of Canada at the last census numbered 4,792,135 of which 3,289,507 or 67.2 per cent lived on farms and were presumably engaged in farming. Canada will take an active participation in the Fifth World's Poultry Congress to bo held in Rome, Italy, early in September next. In addition to displaying educational exhibits, a large number of Canadian birds will be sent to the exhibition part of the Congress. A number of prominent Canadian poul»trymen will attend the Congress