NEWS IN A . NUTSHELL

Taranaki Daily News, 19 January 1935, Page 11 (Supplement)

NEWS IN A . NUTSHELL

the WORLD AT A GLANCE

Chicago is nearer the. centre of the earth than New Orleans. More substances will dissolve in water than in any other liquid.

One-fifth of all the people accidentally killed in America die in accidents caused by poor vision.

A man can read a newspaper by the light produced by a Costa Rican lantern fly.

A driveway with tellers is provided by a bank in the west of America so motorists can make deposits without getting out of their cars. AU the salt in the oceans would cover the United States with a layer a mile and a half deep..

On the average, the external portions of fingernails are completely renewed once every 90 to 110 days. British film studios have paid out £250,000 this year to secure the services of Hollywood cinema stars. Austria, Czechoslovakia, Norway, Spain and Sweden are all now within a day’s journey by air of London. A man has been summoned at Croydon (Eng.) for driving a hearse at over forty miles an hour.

Farmers in Southern California are adding plant food to irrigation water. Ammonia gas in the water has proved as nourishing as nitrogen fertiliser.’ Under normal conditions, a skilled pearl diver can stay under water approximately three minutes. The record, according to one report, is five minutes. So much rain feU in Preston recently that one morning part of the town had no water supply. Rain had washed moss into the water main and choked it.

Although the official wage of a hall porter may be litle more than that of a page-boy, his real income may run into four figures through tips. r. Dogs have their “day,” and according to the figures of the leading dog shows, the favourite breeds just now are cockerspaniels, cairns, and Pekinese. Women in China are suffering from many new edicts, barring unstockinged legs, permanent waves, lipsticks lowback gowns, mixed bathing, and mixed dancing. Where crew accommodatiph is . concerned, British ships come seventh on the list, being beaten by Sweden, Denmark, Norway, U.S.A., Holland and Germany.

The number of clerks employed in London has increased by more than 255 per cent, during the past forty years, although the occupied population has only grown by fifty-five per cent. <■■ A native boatwoman at a village in the Chungshan district of Canton has given birth at one time to seven boys and one girl, all of whom, including the mother, are doing well. . Nine hundred thousand tons of coal are used to catch the 200,000 tons of fish landed at Grimsby every year, where the largest ice factory in the world turns out 1200 tons of ice a day. The word “lemon” is one of the most universally used words in the * world. With only slight variations, it is used m almost every tongue of the civilised globe. - - '

Russia has the most children; France the most old people. Almost 50 per cent, of the people in Russia are under 20 years of age. Thirty-one per cent, are under 20 in France and 39 per cent in the United States,

The . Kidderminster brothers —George Jones, Frederick Jones, and Harry Jones —have just" completed 186 years’ service between them with Messrs. Tomkmsons, Ltd., carpet manufacturers. Their father also worked for the firm for forty years. A thick fog costs London £1,000,000 for every twenty-four hours it- lasts, while a fog for a similar period throughout the country results in a loss of. £5,000,000 to the four great railway companies alone!

During his work of inspecting 27,000 miles of cable round the South American coast, Captain Haine discovered that three whales had become entangled in a cable, probably mistaking it for an octopus, and been ■ drowned. An army doctor, who served in the Peninsular War, was found, after death, to be a woman. The doctor was described as a repulsive-looking creature, over seventy, sft in height, with a shrivelled face like parchment

The heartwood of lignum vitae, weighing from -73 to 83 pounds to the cubic foot, will sink as will Jamaica or Wert Indian ebony tipping the scales at 69 to 83 pounds a cubic, foot. Other heavy woods which may or may not float, depending on the specific type, are boxwood and greenheart.

Princess Youssoupoff’s parrot, which she smuggled out of the revolution, is 140 years old and belonged to the -famous Empress Catherine of Russia. \He hves in a warm blanket, is completely bald, has only two tail feathers left, feeds on milk and brandy, and supports’his beak on a rest.

One of Chicago's leading restaurant keepers has asked the wives of 200 married men in his employ to work at least one day a month for the next six months. He thinks that the attendance of the women will tend to increase domestic happiness by giving wives first-hand knowledge of the problems their husbands have to face at work. Because of the- similarity of various groups of letters found _ inscribed on ancient mill stones unearthed near Pompeii, archaeologists trace the use of trade marks back to the Romans. Their belief is founded on. the fact that mill stones of the same general design invariably bore the same group of letters as if to. identify the maker. A hot iron, paper napkins, and some oil often are used successfully for removing spots from the polished surfaces of tables. Cover the surface with several thicknesses of paper napkin cut to fit the spot and then apply the hot iron, regulating the temperature so as.not to scorch the paper. Remove the napkins after the wood has been' thoroughly heated and rub the area briskly with a soft cloth moistened with a. few drops of mineral oil. Finally, polish with a dry cloth. z . Pafnucy is a pet dog hi. Poland. His .. owners were in arrears with- their taxpaying. A bailiff, sent in to movable property, attached one of his seals to Pafnucy’s tail. On the day of the sale Pafnucy, being both movable and active, was absent. His mistress was. summoned tor concealing distrained property. She said that Pafnucy’s "little inside” was delicate, and obliged him to take irequent. walks, this accounting for his absence during the auction. ’The magistrate found the defence valid, and the culprit was discharged.