NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1743, 2 August 1917, Page 1

NEWS IN BRIEF.

There are about 1,400 places of worship in London. The sun yields 800,000 times the light of the moon. The West Indian humming-bird weighs only 20 grains. Envelopes were first used in their present form in 1839. The average weight of the human heart is bounces. In Cochin China there is to lie found a race of black Jews, Iron horseshoes have been found dating back to the year 481. The Empire of Japan comprises to-day about 4,000 rocky islands. The Emperor of Japan can trace his decent as far back as 600 B.C. Camels can hold from two to three gallons of water in their humps, English workmen spend more than 60 per cent, of their incomes on food. In England there are on an average 5.38 persons to every inhabitted house. Opals are the only gems that cannot be counterfeited with any degree of success. A shoal of herrings is sometimes five or six miles long, and two or three miles broad. The number of dogs licensed in the United Kingdom is approximately 2,500,000. A girl’s school in Tokio sends its students for a walk once a week for their health. It has been estimated that the world’s supply of coal will be exhausted within five hundred years. The population of America is estimated at 100,000,000, and 16,000,000 of those arc of Teutonic, origin. A well-known doctor states that baked banana is the ideal food for nervous and anaemic brain-workers. New York, the capital of U.S.A., with over 5,000,000 inhabitants, is the second largest city in the world. Scientists inform us that the Schaumasse comet is only about 30,000,000 miles from the earth now. The first mention of gloves occurs in Bath, which means that they have been worn for at least 3,000 years. Eight thousand eight hundred and five artificial limbs have been supplied to soldiers by the Pensions Ministry. It is estimated that .the beer available until November will allow only one pint a day to each habitual beer drinker. The sale of new bread is now rigidly prohibited in Switzerland, and night work' in bakeries has been forbidden. A private of his Majesty’s Royal Bodyguard ranks in title with a captain of the navy or a. full colonel in the array. Walking sticks are a survival of the old cudgels, which used to be carried only for purposes of offence and defence. No member of our Royal Family in the direct line except the sovereign can legally marry without the consent of the Crown. , The United States is a Federal Republic consisting of 49 self-gov-erned Slates, with a central administration at Washington. Since the outbreak of war ammunition and firearms valued at £IOO,000,000 have been imported to England from the United States. The vine attains a great age, continuing fruitful for at least 400 years. It is supposed to be equal to the oak as regards longevity. Although the standing American Army does not exceed a quarter of a million men, the country has an enormous reserve to draw on. Probably the most expensive cradle ever constructed was one made to the order of a great financier at a cost of no less than £15,000. ' Some naturalists are of the opinion that the whale was once a land animal, and that it was forced to take to water as a means of protection. Excepting grape wine, the oldest alcoholic beverage known to man is saki, a rich wine. It has been used by the Japanese for over 2,000 years. “At times we were at such a height above sea-level that we marched in the clouds a great part of the way,” writes a British soldier in German East Africa. At the Birmingham Tribunal, England, a ease was reported.in which a man with a cork leg had been pressed for service, and is now serving in an infantry regiment.