NEWS IN A NUTSHELL

Taranaki Daily News, 4 March 1933, Page 13 (Supplement)

NEWS IN A NUTSHELL

THE WORLD AT A GLANCE

Mail carried each year by British railways amounts to 25,000,000 sacks of ‘letters and 140,000,000 parcels.

A pine-tree grower arrested at Bitburg, Germany, is alleged tp have stolen 80,000 young from plantations.

A Blackpool (England) group of Boy Scouts have worked 7275 hours, laid 3946 brides, and excavated 3526 cubic feet of clay in building their headquarters.

A farmer at Concord, New Hampshire, is paying for his daughter’s education at a local school with his crop of potatoes instead of cash.

Girls are now 'receiving training in domestic work at seven centres in Great Britain; six of these are in England and the seventh in Scotland. The course lasts from eight to 10 weeks. . . : '

, As a distinction for having completed more than 10 years without an accident, 412 motor drivers have been awarded an oak leaf bar by the “Safety First” Association of Great Britain.

A 200,000 candle-power flare shot from a pistol has been successfully tested as an aid to airmen making nigh, landings. The flare lasts more than a minute a” ’ lights the whole district

American college students pay. for their education.in curious ways. At one Texas college a student turned up with a herd of cows and paid his way by selling milk to the other students. Headaches, according to Dr. Peterson, of the University of Illinois, U.S.A., are due to chemical changes in the blood. They are worst when the thermometer registers extreme temperatures. At a Cabinet Council recently M. Paul Hymans, the Belgian Foreign Minister, referring to the German elections, expressed the belief that a restoration of the monarchy in Germany at a very early date was more than a possibility. A boy has been shot by a ~dog at Mesa. He saw two. dogs fighting, and pushed the butt of a rifle between them hi an attempt to stop the battle. One of the dogs clawed at the gun, trying to get it out of the way. Its paw hit’ the trigger, sending a bullet into the boy’s chest. .

Mr. David Tennant—a nephew of Lady Oxford, has bought the largest two-seater sports car in the world at a cost of £4OOO. It is a 40 h.p., eight-cylinder Leyland Thomas special, and can attain a speed of 120 miles an hour. It is so large that a baby car could hide in the bonnet with ease.

Members of the police force of Niagara Falls,'' Ontario, are to undergo a “human speedometer” test devised by Magistrate Fraser, who will award a prize to the policeman having the smallest percentage of errors in judging the speed of passing motor-cars The Magiswas prompted to make the test because of the wide divergence in estimates, shown in court evidence

The homely whirr of the spinningwheel will soon be heard again in many an Irish homestead, where in our greatgrandmothers’ time it was a necessary adjunct to the household. Spinning classes now being conducted in Lissmoyle, Brideswell, and numerous other Roscommon centres are attracting an overflow attendance, and the young girls are becoming very proficient in this useful art.

Miss Mary Hayward, who has lived all her life in the little Seyemside village of Arlingham, celebrated her 100th birthday recently. She received many messages of congratulation, including one from the King. The village was decorated, church bells were rung, and school children went into her house two by two to Wish her many happy, returns. A cake, with a hundred candles, was among the many gifts to “Aunt Mary,”’ as’ she is known to all.in the village. The Alsatian dog of Mrs. Benjamin Schultz,, of Chicago, has saved his mist tress for the last time. The dog had already proved its worth by routing a: bandit who attempted to rob Mrs. Schultz. Three armed men Who invaded her home again the, other night did ‘not notice her speak quietly to the animal, which leaped at the leader of the three, only to fall dead with two bullets in its body, the robbers then fleeing emptyhanded.

The grammar school at Emmerich, on the Rhine (Germany), is celebrating its 1200th anniversary this year. It was founded 348 years before Durham School, which is believed to he the oldest English public . school.: During the Middle Ages, Emmerich became so famous that it had 2000 students. In 1592 it became a Jesuit College, and in 1788 it passed into the hands of the Knights of Malta. Napoleon closed the school in 1811, but in 1932 it was re-opened as a Prussian State gymnasium. Many famous statesmen and ecclesiastics have been educated there. ■

A new Robinson Crusoe is reported to have been discovered by the crew of the French windjammer Tolosa on Riiica Island, about 100 miles north of the Magellan Straits. On going ashore to search for water members of the ship’s company came across a man, clothed in goat skins, roasting meat. He uttered guttural cries, but when made to understand that the seamen wanted water he led them to a natural spring. The man appeared to be of Nordic stock, either Scandinavian or German, or possibly British. On being shown the Tolosa lying at anchor and being asked if he would like to be taken off the island, he turned and fled into the woods. What is claimed to be a record flight from Croydon to Paris for a British light aeroplane was made recently by Captain Percival in a machine named the "Gull ” which he designed himself. He made the journey in 96 minutes, with no wind to help him. The “Gull” is a high-winged ; monoplane with a 130 h.p. Hennes engine. The record for any type of machine is claimed to have been made by the late Commander Glen Kidson . and . Lieutenant-Commander Owen Cathcart Jones in an American machine twice the size of the “Gull” and fitted with a 500 h.p. engine, which did the journey in 72 minutes. An Imperial Airways 42-seater liner recently made the trip in 85 minutes, with the help of a strong tail wind.

A new shining white building of eight storeys, rising 150 feet above the Mersey, is Martins Bank, Liverpool, remarkable for a great deal mote than the money it holds. Far down in the rock on which the bank stands are huge fans drawing down air from the street, and passing It through oil baths, to free it from germs and dirt, and the cleaned air is then treated electrically, 10,000 volts passing through it, and so filling it with more oxygen than is in the finest seaside air. This oxone fills the whole building, even t the strong-rooms. The strong-rooms are contained in a 100-feet-square steel box. bedded 50 feet down in the rock,' and roofed with two feet of concrete. If the whole, building were to crash down upon it, the structure would stand the strain.