ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15185, 10 March 1923, Page 11 (Supplement)

ITEMS OF INTEREST.

FROM THE WORLD'S PRESS. Herrings hardly ever exceed isin fa length. Cumberland is the wettest county in England. Japan has 3000 newspapers and magazines.

Rugby football celebrates its conn tenary next year.

x Foreign countries with Ministers in London number 26.

One woman in every six in England earns her own living. Round pearls are more valuable than the pear-shaped kind. The chief wine cellar of the House of Commons is 200 ft long. Since 1861 the United States of America has had 13 Presidents.

Silkworms were first reared by a Chinese Empress 4500 years ago. rrhe first London County Council was elected on January 17, 1889. Helouan, in Egypt, is said to be the oldest health resort in the world.

Foreigners naturalised during 1921 in Great Britain numbered 1053.

Out of 1000 children, 60 boys di« under five years old, but only 50 girls. Dragon-flies can catch up other insects travelling at over 40 miles an hour.

Irish people, who eat large quantities of potatoes, never suffer from gout.

Women jurors served for the first time in England at Bristol on July 28, 1920.

The first patent for cutting screws by machinery was obtained by Wyatt in 1700.

The British Football Association Cup Final will be played this season on April 28. The average depth of the Paciflo is 2500 fathoms; of the Atlantio 2200 fathoms.

France has about 600 civil aeroplanes, the United States 1200, and Germany 225.

Old-age pensions cost Great Britain £9,915,999 a year more than they did before the war.

Analysts say that butter is the most nutritious article of diet, and that bacon comes next. The United States has over 1800 publ.c libraries, containing more than fifteen million volumes.

Book muslin gets its name from Buke, the district in India where it was first manufactured.

Cork, iron, and even glass have been experimented with for making roads to stand heavy motor traffic.

It has been estimated that there are always 1000 thunderstorms in progress all over the world. China has 225 people to each square mile of territory, Japan has 376, and Australia less than two.

The first tunnel over a mile in length in England' was that at Horncastle, constructed in 1827. There were men of colour in the Coldstream and other English military bands up to the year 1840. Linoleum is made of powdered cork, oil, and resin, spread upon canvas under steam at high pressure. Pascisti, the name of Italy's most powerful political party, is taken from an Italian word meaning bondage.

Thirty-five per cent of inebriates who remain in inebriate retreats for a year or more are permanently cured. Japan is, perhaps, the only country in which fashions for ladies have, not changed materially fox 2500 years; Draughts were known to the ancient Egyp/«*ans, and pictures 4006 years old represent a quarrel over the game. In Great Britain there are about 3000 picture theatres; Africa, Australia and Asia have altogether oni? about 1361.

Sir William Gomra, who died in 1875, held the exlraoMltaary record of, having spent 81 years in the British Army.

A barrel of anchovies weighs 301 b, a barrel of caudles 1201 b, a barrel of potash 2001 b, and a barrel of soap 2561 b.

During the first eight months of 1922, 38'J different labour disputes lost Great Britain about 20,000,000 working days.

Canada has the largest forest in the world. It is in the Labrador and Hudson district, and is roughly 1000 by 1700 miles. The Baltic is- the shallowest sea, being only 43 yards in depth. Next comes the" Adriatic, with an average of 45 yards depth. The condor is the only bird which keeps its young in its nest for a year, as they cannot fly until twelve months after being hatched. France is now buying German cinematograph films, with the result that her imports of American films have decreased by one-third. The Great Central Company is to lay a special line for the crowds that are expected to visit the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley.

The present Pope, Pius XI., once sLudied at the Bodleian Library, Oxford/and visited London, Manchester, and other British cities.

Nicholas van Horthy, Regent of Hungary, broke with family traditions when lie 'entered ihc Austrian Navy, as his father was a country gentleman.

There are live rivers in the world which drain over a million square milo4. They are the Amazon, La Pleta, Obi, Congo, and Mississippi.

About 500 persons per 10,000 of the whole population of Britain have been in receipt of poor law relief in some form or other through the year 1922. A nominee for the position of judge in Arkansas (U.S.A.) received only one vote. He advertised a reward of flvo dollars to flic man who voted for him. A decree has been issued in Greece calling up ail men liable to army service. They must report on penalty of death; thai is, Ihey must enroll or die. Tlic I,ld' si map in exi. l l-nrr- :. a piece of mosaic in ,1 liyzantkie church at Maaba, in Palest!;!'', if represent > part of the Holy Land, and i- 1700 years old. A sp'de.r's thread is !-\u~y composed of four smaller threads, each of which, consists of tooo separate lin\ threads, so thai 111'' thread we see js spun of •1000 films. The flying lemur of the Indian Archipelago, which is only about .'iCttn long, can leap fully :?00ft by the um of the membrane connecting Its tta&t with each other.