NEWS IN A NUTSHELL

Taranaki Daily News, 20 July 1935, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN A NUTSHELL

THE WOULD AT A GLANCE

Beer is the oldest fermented beverage. It was first brewed in Egypt 3000 years B.C. . .

An Alberta farmer has decided to frame a cheque he received in payment for a »i cow sold at the Calgary market. The cheque is for 19 cents—9 Ad. Australia’s average annual export o(

rabbitskins is 87,360,000. In addition an average of eight million .carcases depart frozen.

Sydney has the world’s shortest street It links Pitt and George Streets at the western end, measures 22ft IJin, fits one building, and has but one side. Its correct name is St.' Laurence Street.

Among the starters in a race at Maitland in 1835 were two horses named respectively Pitch and Toss. The pair deadheated, and their owners tossed. Toss won.

With a .population of 1,241,000, Sydney is the Empire’s second city, and eighteenth largest on earth. Other figures: Glasgow 1,112,000, Birmingham 1,012,000, Rome 1,093,000 and Liverpool 860,000. William Howard (“Nosey Bob”), New South Wales hangman, dealt professionally with 75 patients, and as assistant and chief, altogether saw 96 people off. He hanged one woman..

During a night census taken in London in February, 50 men and 18 women were found wandering and homeless in the streets. This is 11 fewer than 12 months ago.

Between 1923 and 1934 the number of men in employment in Britain increased by 6.3 per cent, while in the same period the number of female -workers increased by 18 per cent.

London’s Fire Brigade is considered to be 20 years ahead of any Continental body, although it does not go in for novel fire-extinguishing methods so much as others do. -'

“Nurseries” for children whose parents are in the bars are to be provided in centain South London pubEc-hduses. A woman attendant will ’ e in charge in eviry case. \

Herr Hitler has been supplied with a careful translation of Sir Samuel Hoare’i speech. Until he studies it in consultation with his advisers official- circles are reluctant to comment

The French Press considers the speech demonstrates that the Stresa front is not broken and is a warning to Germany not to presume too much on the naval agree- » ment. . c .

Although he is still only 47 years of age, a retired officer of the United States Navy has just married for the fifteenth time. Only two of his previous, wives died; of the rest, eleven divorced him and he divorced one.

A Prague veterinary surgeon has a wolfhound which, acts as chief crooner in a jazz band. It accompanies the music by tapping a drum with drumsticks tied to its feet, and it also introduces the necessary notes on the cymbals. A nation-wide appeal is being made in France for funds to defray the cost of the colossal statue of Britannia which is to be erected by France at Boulogne in commemoration of the landing there of the British Expeditionary Force in 1914. A baby boy weighing 22 pounds has been born to Mrs. Charles Steinman, in New York. The child is one-sixth the weight of his mother. Mrs, Steinman has eight other chudren, nona of whom weighed more than eight pounds at birth. According to the Copenhagen newspaper Pohtike'n, Kiel is being once more converted into a fortress by Germany. Forte destroyed in 1920 under the Versailles Treaty are being rebuilt in a form compared with the old forts were as toys. ’ 1

A road only two-thirds of a mile long has. been laid down in. Birmingham at a cost of £5OOO. It contains 32 different types of surface, the materials used varying from cast iron, wood, rubber and concrete with cork-filled joints. Continental titles are inherited by every child, even if, only adopted; this has brought into being hundreds of agents who make good incomes bringing together . moneyed people and impoverished noble-. men willing to adopt them for a fee, graded according to the title.*

At a recent warehouse fire in Detroit (U.S.A.) the fire brigade pumped gallons of water on to the fire, but not a drop ran into the street. This was due to the fact that it was a sponge warehouse, and the sponges- absorbed practically every drop of water. 1 The Australian tiger. snake is the . world’s deadliest reptile. Its 47 mils of poison is sufficient to inflict death oq 118 sheep. The Indian cobra and the American rattlesnake are only moderately . deadly.

To brighten village cricket, Rev. K. C, Horwood, rector of Rushton,' Kettering, has promised village batsmen Ids for every fifty runs scored within forty-five ' minutes and £1 for every century scared within ninety minutes. Penny-in-the-slot radio sets for the home have been introduced in France. Instead of buying a set, it is possible to have installed free a high-powered set with a small slot machine attached. On putting a coin into the slot 40 j minutes’ radio programme is assured.

At 2.9 telegrams a head of population per annum New Zealanders are the most telegraphic people on earth. Australians —2. l—rank second. The only other countries with an average of one, or better, are the U.S.A. (1,5), Canada (12), Norway (1.1), Great Britain and Spain (ID. In 1934 Australians sent 12,778,031 telegrams. i ' 1 “ ’ Next time you’meet someone who tells you he is descended from William, the Conqueror you will be quite justified in telling him that you are, too. If eeeh generation, was distinct, you had four great-grandfathers, sixteen great-great-great-grandfathers, and' by the time you I have gone back to the thirtieth generation—that is, the . time of William the Conqueror, you would have piled up over 500,000,000 ancestors.

Eighty tankards are believed to lie buried .under one of the arches of Waterloo Bridge, now'being demolished. When Waterloo Bridge was being bujlt, eighty masons from Aberdeen were engaged on tlie granite work of the balustrade. Beer for the workmen. was' provided from a Thames-side inn, but it was not popular with the Aberdonians, who flung all the tankards into a crevice and filled 3t in with mortar.