NEWS IN BRIEF

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21758, 24 March 1934, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF

There aro over 2,014,000 motor vehicles in use in Britain.

Salmon have been observed to swim at the rate of 10yds. a second. A recent decree banning all Fascist organisation in Latvia has now been made permanent.

In constructing the Panama Canal about 3(30,000,000 tons of rock and earth were removed All anti-vaccination organisations in Prussia have been dissolved by the Prussian Government.

A seat on the New York Stock Exchange was sold recently for £38,000 — £B.OOO more than for the last seat sold.

Australia has placed an order through the British Air Ministry for eighteen general purposes aeroplanes at a cost of £160,000. >

A passenger service between the River Tyne and Norway has now become a well-established route. There are signs that the traffic is steadily increasing.

Of Great Britain's total population, one person in every ten is " too dull or too sickly " to be absorbed in industry, according to the famous doctor, Lord Horder.

Boys and girls are equal in average height up to the age of eleven; then, between eleven and fourteen, girls arc the taller; after that, boys are steadily the taller.

Women civil servants who are employed in working tabulating and other machines in Britain are demanding a rest period of five minutes for every hour's work.

Austria has only two inhabitants with incomes of £30,000 or more. Only onethird of the population pay income.tax, the average yearly income among, the payers being £9O.

Stammering is said to be becoming more common among girls, who are iiow subject to the same nerve . strains as boys and men, who were formerly the principal sufferers. Last year the people of Penryn, in Cornwall had no rates to pay. The quay dues and the income from municipal property were sufficient to meet all the necessary expenses.

The membership of the House of Lords totals 738, including four Royal peers, two Archbishops, 24 Bishops, 16 Scottish representatives, and 18 Irish representative peers. ,

A sea cucumber recently arrived at the Loudon Zoo from Madeira. This creature ensnares small fish, after the fashion of a spider by casting out threads from its body. According to one expert,. Sweden, Norway and Finland are gradually rising higher above sea-level, while some other countries, including Germany and Denmark, are sinking. Among 3025 victims of fatal accidents from January to June last on British roads, 1581 were walkers, 520 cyclists, 514 motor-cyclists, and. 410 motorists and passengers. Although he never earned ifiore than £3 a week, an Aberdeen working upholsterer recently died leaving over £SOOO to Aberdeen University for the foundation of scholarships. The skeleton of a baby that was buried about 1600 years ago has been found under the floor of a Roman house that is being excavated in Verulamium, near St. Albans, England. Hayti, the famous island in the Pacific,-has been given back the name by which Columbus christened it—Hispaniola. This is already appearing in official American books and maps.

Britain's national consumption of petrol goes to show that in the first ten months of 1933 motor vehicles covered in Britain no less than 640,000,000 miles more than in the same period of 1932.

Smuggling is a rising "industry." In the year ended March 31, 1933, there were 7725 seizures of smuggled, goods in Britain, while the number of persons convicted of this offence was 3177.

The people of Britain paid taxes at the rate of £l6 8s per head in the financial year ended March 31 last. In France the current figure is £9 10s; in Americaj £4 19s; and in Germany, £5 15s. ; "Musical cabs have, been added to New York's fleet of taxis.- They are the first of 5000 to be equipped with wireless sets which will tune In on any broadcast as soon as the taximeter starts ticking. Turkey is purifying and simplifying her language, which hitherto has been 60 jumbled as to account for the low standard of education; at the last census 95 per cent, of the population proved illiterate. ' , • Factories have been established _in Great Britain by about 300 foreign manufacturing firms since 1931. This is only permitted by the Government in those industries which are classified as " not overcrowded." , Centenarians are more common in Bulgaria than in most countries; just now there are 15S Bulgarians who claim to be over 100 years of age. Of this number only four are unmarried, 85 are men and 73 women. Traffic in titles has now been made illegal in Germany. This was formerly a widespread ramp. One Baron is reputed to" have adopted and given his name to seven children for sums ranging from £SO to £IO,OOO. Experts say that there are, in Britain, about 1000 road bridges which are unsafe for modern heavy road transport. Most of them are over railways and canals and were built in the days when road vehicles were much lighter. Wild flowers and plants are to guide farmers in Britain in the choosing of the most suitable crops for then* lands and the best times for planting. This new science is being studied at special stations established by the Ministry of Agriculture. Automatic telephones .are reducing the number of operators in Britain; in Edinburgh the number of girls employed has fallen from 194 to 110, in Newcastle from 265 to 10S, in Leicester from 139 to 66, and in Sheffield from 217 to 101. Whale poaching has become so rampant in the Antarctic that the Government of Lho Falkland Islands has appealed to the League of Nations. Ihe greater part of the islands cnuc is derived from a Is 6d tax per barrel of whale oil. Statistics prove that out of 2963 fatal accidents in Britain in only 260 cases was excessive speed on the part of a driver more or less responsible, while only 12 motor-cars and 16 motorcycles were travelling at more than 40 miles aii hour. '> Properties held for the public in .Britain by the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty - now number over 250. One of the biggest tasks undertaken by the trust was the raising of £35,000 to purchase the land round Stonehengo. All the new submarines built for the British Navy are to be fitted with two safety devices. One consists of eye-bolts to which divers can attach a hawser m the case of need; the other is in the form of buoys which can be released from within the"submarine and by means of which her crew can communicate with the rescue party. ' m