NEWS IN A NUTSHELL

Taranaki Daily News, 25 July 1931, Page 13 (Supplement)

NEWS IN A NUTSHELL

THE WORLD AT A GLANCE

The number of unemployed in the world is estimated at about 20,100,000, and in Europe at 11,000,000.

Napoleon’s sword has been bequeathed to the United Service Institution in Whitehall (London).

On April 10 the British Unemployment Fund was in debt to the tune at £79,940,000.

The expenditure per head of the ’Bril’ ish population oil alcoholic liquors was £6 4s last year, compared with £6 9s 6d the year before. The Firecrest, in w'hich Alan Gerbault sailed alone round the world; is to be presented to the French Naval Academy.

The roof of Cannon Street Station (London), now being cleaned, covers 85,000 square feet, and during the winter two tons of soot accumulates outside.

Oxford Street is one of Londons busiest thoroughfares;' it is 10 furlongs long, but there have only been 30 fatal traffic accidents in it over a period of seven years. Rheumatism iu various forms is responsible for nearly one-sixth of the working time lost through, illness each year, and costs Britain nearly £2,000,000 in sick benefit;

It is calculated by an authoritative Swedish statistical society that, including losses from revolution, famine and pestilence, the Great War deprived the world of no fewer than 40,000,000 lives. The number of men directly employed on State-aided unemployment relief works in Britain is about 200,000, or about 16 per cent, of the number of men registered as wholly unemployed. , I The sick folk of London are assisted, by ,a staff of 10,000 nurses and others, working in 76 hospitals, which contain, nearly 42,000 beds,. There are also 163 ambulances working from 20 stations. Cricket bats that have “made history” ‘ in the hands of famous players are? to be exhibited in the pavilion at I Loughborough. Sir Julian Cahn,-the president of Notts C.C.C., has acquired 150 of these historic pieces pf wood.' ’ •’■ Advocating the setting up of a Royal Commission to deal with.the subject of bovine tuberculosis, Lord Moynihan said that more than 1000 children under 15 years of age die from milk poisoning l.'L every year in England. ~..”■,. The total number of persons in receipt of poor relief in England and Wales at the end of February was 1,038,733. The corresponding numbers for 1929 and 1930 were 1,202,776 and 1,102,535 respectively. ■ “Brightness” among school-children ( is, in very many cases, just glibness. Youngsters who can * talk more glibly and quickly than their companions frequently get an unmerited reputation for being clever. .•

Animals (are said to act as guides to airmen crossing America. The cattle, horses, and poultry along the established routes show no concern at air-’ craft, while those creatures,that are not so accustomed exhibit alarm and. so help to warn the straying flyers. The; number of insured persons in England and Wales Who were eligible to receive dental., benefit last year was 10,500,000. The number who actually received, that, benefit was over 1,000.000, and the cost to Approved Societies was £2,100,000.

Last April, with a rainfall of over, three inches, was the wettest. April corded, in Great Britain since 1678, when the rainfall was just on four inches. April , is normally one of the .driest months, the average rainfall-being only $ 1.45 inches.

During last year the total imports of wheat, barley and oats into the United Kingdom from Russia amounted to 18,853,000 cwt., 5,969,000 cwt., and 2,757,1 OOOcwt. respectively, these figures representing 18 per cent;, 39.1 per cent, and 28.5 per cent, of the total imports from, all sources.

A recent census of the homeless of London showed that 60 men and women were living in the streets, 14,970 were found in licensed common, lodging-houses, and 1057 men, 137 women,°and 17 children in skelters and labour homes not licensed as lodginghouses. ;

Women are more apt to leave things behind them than are men; according to the experience of one American rail- > way company. More than 60 per cent, of the items reclaimed from the lostproperty office belonged to . women. They ’ ranged from umbrellas, handbags and gloves to perambulators and bicycles.

Almost all the goods made in prisons in. Great Britain are used either by the Prison Department or by. other Government departments. They are sold at proper prices, calculated by adding to the cost of the materials a percentage addition tor the cost of machinery and tools, etc. #

The Rev. Denham Rowe Norman, believed to be England’s oldest.clergyman, celebrated his 103rd birthday recently at AU Saints’ Vicarage, Emscote, Warwick. where he is living in retirement. Mr. Norman was ordained in 1655 and from 1665 until 1925 he was master of St. John’s Hospital, Lichfield. An extremely interesting museum exhibition has been opiened in Stuttgart, Germany, where the fashions in women’s clothing from 1660 to the beginning of the present century are’shown in the Palace Museum. The exhibition includes also a collection of hats and parasols of earlier date.

Mitzi, a 19-year-old blue Persian cat, which has died of heart disease at San Gabriel, California, owned a fine house and a fortune of £3OOO. House and fortune were bequeathed her, so that she might spend her last days in luxury, by Dr. Maude Cain. The estate will nowgo to a human friend pf the woman doqfor.

Vivid purple and green chickens have been incubated at a Calgary (Canada) hatchery. The effect was produced byinjecting a serum into the egg by means of a hypodermic needle on the 19th day of incubation. While only purples and greens were obtained, it was said that careful blending of these shades would produce a kind of blue.