News in Brief.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 6 November 1917, Page 1

News in Brief.

I M I I ■ -—ll— Spiders live two years. The apple tribe lire varieties of the crab. The average depth of the English Channel is 110 feet. A square foot of honey-comb contains about 9000 colls. A single crow destroys 700,000 insects a year. Plant life rarely thrives under yew or ash trees. Madrid has the highest altitude of any city in Europe. Physicians assert that reading aloud is one of the best exercises. The shaddock, citron, orange, and lemon are improvements of wild limo. Briton Ferry (Wales) has one allotment to every 25 of the population. The leaves of the hawthorn are an excellent substitute for Chinese tea. Manna is a natural product of the ash and larch in Sicily, Calabria, etc The number of teeth at maturity is thirty-two or sixteen in each jaw. London paupers now number 75,768, a reduction of 23,903 on the pre-war total. Bird-lime is prepared from the berries of the mistletoe and the bark of the holly. Bathing-vans at Llanfairechan Wales, hav.e been converted into poultry houses. Keys, watches, rings and brooches increase the danger of being struck by lightning. Few know the meaning of sea level. It is half-way between tho high and low water marks. Australia contains more unexplored territory in proportion to its size than any other continent. A camel can travel 40 miles a day for 12 or 14 days without water and carry a load of 4001b. The heart of the vegetarian beats, on an average, 58 times in a minute; that of a meat-eater, 75. Over 1000 bicycles have been stolen in the London metropolitan area during the past few months. One and a-quarter million women arc stated to be engaged in men's places on the British railways. Switzerland in proportion to its population, spends more on poor relief than does any other country. Tho water of tho natural brine springs of Droit wich (England) is twelve times stronger than sea-water. In the British Museum there arc on exhibition books written oil oystershells, bricks, tiles, bones, and ivory. German cigar manufacturers are now obliged to deliver 75 per cent., of their output to the military authorities. In some parts of Ireland a belt made of woman's hair is placed about a newborn baby to keep evil spirits away. An elephant works from the age of 12 to the ago of SO. He can haul 15 tons lift half a ton, and carry three tons. In many countries tho belief is held that babies born at precisely twelve midnight are endowed with occult powers. For short distances the salmon is the swiftest swimmer of any iish. It can travel at the rate of 25 miles an hour. The majorty of colour-blind people belong to the educated classes, of whom no fewer than 4 per cent, are thus afflicted. An ordinary healthy man in the prime of life should be able to lift with both hands 2301b, and support on his shoulders 3301b. The cost of working the Tower Bridge last year was £15,270. The bascules were lifted for the passage of vessels on 3354 occasions. Hindus and Moslems in India are now buying in the United States tho turbans Great Britain can no longer furnish owing to the war. The small colewort is the origin of the cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower. Seakalo and asparagus were insignificant marine plants. A wireless telephone has been invented that can be used on a motor car, even though it is travelling at forty or fifty miles an hour. Of the 3000 Etonians who have been on active service, bOO have been killed, 1000 wounded, whilst honours gained include six V.C. 's.

The price of bread in England in 1855-1856 was IOJd to lid per 41b loaf. In 1807 the price was lOd to IOJd, and in 1872 !)Jd to lOd. Lightning conductors are made of copper, that metal being the best conductor, not easily fused, and less liable to injury by the weather. Everywhere, and always, more boys than girls arc born into the world, the proportion approximately being 1040 male inhabitants to 1000 female. A farm worker who has diod at Rushington, New Forest, England, at the ago of 94, was for 87 years in continuous employment on the samo estate. Returns from IGO wood-pulp mills in tho United States show that last year they used 3,419,000 cord-7 of wood in making 2,229,000 tons of pulp for paper. The jar in which tho first wheat was sent over from Spain to Ecuador was recently sold for £80 in Now York. It is a blue and white Chinese vase.

Tarring and feathering was once a legal punishment for theft. It is to be found' in the statutes of both England and France about the time of the Crusades. The Madras Presidency is making a bid for the lead-pencil business almost monopolised formerly by the teutons. The industry is thriving and certain to succced. An eight-year-old-child at West Baldwin Maine, seeing a hawk about to raid the hen-yard, ran to the house, got his father's shot gun and succeeded in shooting the hawk before it could do any damage. Russia is growing more food, it bavin" been decided to use the large open vacant spaces of some of the towns in Russia for the cultivation of beetroot to produce sugar, and to turn flower guldens into kitchen gardens. Slim policemen are required in San Francisco to handle the Chinatown beat. It is claimed that a large man cannot negotiate the secret passages, narrow doorways, and windows and small cellars of the Chinese quarters. In 75 years an oak contains a ton of timber, in 150 years eight tons, but the poplar increases three limes faster than the oak. So in 13 years while the oak increased four and a-linlf inches in o-irtli, the larch increased 33in. " Comparatively few Londoners arc aware that one of the most remarkable hospitals in the world is that of the Roval Veterinary College at Camden Town, where over five thousand animals are treated every year at a cost of over £0000 per annum.