NEWS IN A NUTSHELL

Taranaki Daily News, 23 March 1935, Page 13 (Supplement)

NEWS IN A NUTSHELL

THE WORLD AT A GLANCE

Photographs are taken at the rate of 2500 a second by the new “super-speed” moving-picture camera. One estimate states that 350,000 new \ houses will be built in the London area during the coming twelve months. Women’s • feet have, on the average, increased in size during the past few years, but size eight is still exceptional. News of Waterloo drifted into Sydney per ship Fanny, on February 9—eight months after the engagement. The British record in shoes is claimed for a woman who lives in Durham; it is stated that she wears footwear of size Lr 21. London University, with an annual income of £1,920,000, is the richest in England. Cambridge’s income is £625,000 and Oxford’s £435,000. With a total rent-roll of over £2,500,000, the London County Council wrote off as irrecoverable bad debts only £3791 in the last financial year. , An Irishman has just had 115 nails and two pieces of iron removed from his stomach. Some of the nails were two inches long. He is progressing well. Athletic clubs in Germany have members enrolled to a total of over 7,000,000, who have the use of well-fitted stadiums for a charge of 2d or 3d each visit. So far as school fees are concerned, Eton is the most expensive, the fees being £230 a year. There are 1150 boys on the roll.

Crepe rubber is being .used to cure the street noise nuisance in Durban, South Africa. Thin strips of crepe rubber have been placed under the tram rails.

The oldest advertisement dates from about 600 years before Christ; A potter of Locris, in South Italy, put on his pot: “Fine! the pots which Pantelos • makes are fine!”

Inhabitants of the Sussex town of Arundel do not pay any water rate, as their supplies come from reservoirs and wells on the estate of the Duke of Norfolk.

Nimble fingers have enabled Frantisek Blaha to become one of the best billiard players in Prague. Using only the thumb and two fingers of his right hand to spin the ball, he compiles astonishingly large breaks. He. never uses a cue.

More foreigners are being admitted into England to take up work’as domestic servants. Permits to the number of 2923 were issued in 1932; up to November of last year the number of permits in force was 3327.

In 1913 a seaman from H.M.S. Challenger deserted in Melbourne. Two years later a motor accident near a naval depot led to identification and arrest. He had spent the interim in the police force.

Sound as a bell after 93 years as the roof-tree of a stone house demolished at Montreal, a beam of yellow pine 65 feet long and a foot square was taken S out and sold for £9. Its next sphere of existence will be spent as a ship’s mast. .Maid’s money is given to a maidservant who has been in service for two years dr more in Guildford, Surrey. The celebration at. the town’s ’ Guildhall took place this year on January 20. The custom is maintained under the will of John How, who died in .1674, and claims are settled by throwing - dice. The rector of Haccoinbe (Devon), one of the smallest parishes in England, is “arch-priest,” and' can claim the right of wearing lawn sleeves and sitting next to a bishop. He also - claims freedom ■ from all ecclesiastical jurisdiction, excepting the visitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury;

Two of the largest and most expensive umbrellas ever made have been manufactured in Leicester for Akenzua IL, Oba or Chief of Benin. The umbrellas, which cost £l5 each, have been made for State purposes. Councils will be held under their shade. ■ :

Among captive birds the bigger the bird the longer it lives. The peacock and the goose have long lives. The hen is short-lived—sixteen years at the most. None of the small birds has a long life. Larks probably live the longest. They have been known to reach seventeen years.

It may take a couple of new decrees to untangle a situation which resulted in the naming of a street as municipal judge of the town of Banao, - in Santa Clara province, Havana. Gating Galvez, provincial governor, recommended the appointment of Rafael Suarez Prieto as municipal judge. His address was given as Joaquin Macco Street. The official gazette published a decree naming Joaquin Maceo Street as a judge of thfe town.

The trumpet flower, or datura, found in - most tropical countries, although, not deadly in the open air is highly dangerous in a room. An accusation of murder recently was brought against the members of a family in South America who were said to have profited financially by the death in their house of a wealthy relative. It was found . that trumpet flowers had become mixed with others in a vase, which was allowed ta stay in the house all night, and had caused the death. People who are fascinated by the colouring and scent of tire trumpet flower, and unaware of- its danger, take this plant into their houses and soon fall into a trance, developing into a stupor from which they may never awaken. If a trumpet flower were placed in a sick-room and left for the night, it would mean certain death for the patient.

Workers at the National Institute for Medical Research discovered recently that mice can catch influenza. Haying y first administered ether to the rodents to make them unconscious, they dropped a virus containing influenza germs into their nostrils; the mice sniffed it up and contracted the disease. Further experiments in passing the influenza from mouse to mouse proved that the infection was contagious and not merely a chance result. The doctors also succeeded in preparing an anti-serum which rendered other mice immune from the infection. Similar experiments have previously been conducted upon fe rets, but as mice are less expensive and more easily handled this new discovery may have far-reaching results. It is hoped that it will eventually lead to the development of a successful anti-influenza serum for human beings.