NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1753, 30 August 1917, Page 1

NEWS IN BRIEF.

The first map of the world which included both hemispheres was published by Sebastian, Cabot, the celebrated Venetian navigator, who for years was a. resident of Bristol, England. The oars of most defenceless animals, such as the rabbit, are turned backward, because the creatures constantly expect pursuit. Hunting animals, on the other hand, have their cars turned forward. Aircraft Avhich, owing to stress of weather or other causes, have boon obliged to descend on Dutch soil and have in consequence been interned, are being bought by the Netherlands Government. Italians of the poorer class are noted for their general good health. This is by many authorities ‘attributed (o the fact (hat they eat less meat limn the same section of any other Europca.ii nation. Tea-drinking is a constant occupation for a Thibetan. In every lord and in cvyry house the tea kettle is always on the lire. The laws of hospitality hind all to present tea to their guests, and fvery Thibetan woman carries with her a wooden howl of Himalayan maple by way of a iea-ciij). The number of War Savings Certificates sold in Great Britain during the week ended February 171 !i was. 8,151,130, making the total 78,789,45(1. The figures for each day wore: Monday, 008,‘217; Tuesday, 1)90,180; Wednesday, 090,401; Thursday, 1,315,48-1 ; Friday (last day of the loan), 2,755,081.;. Saturday, 1,100,017, United Stales cotton goods arc rapidly becoming ..ousted from the .Manchurian market hy Japanese manufactures. The trade was formerly worth £5,000,000 annually. Supplies of electric lamp bulbs, of grades formerly supplied by Germany, are now being shipped from Japan lo South Russia. j An Irish manufacturer has p i,- >- pared a plan for laying an L .. submarine pipe-lino between .he British Isles and America, which, according lo estimates, would transmit oil lo England at a small fraction of the present transport a = lion cost. The scheme (‘alls for a'n outlay of £10,000,000. A well-known Baris dressmaker is about to export to the United States rat skins from the trenches. Many of the lads in the trenches have engaged terriers and invented various traps in order to main l an honest penny out of the revival of rat-catching. A good price is offered per hundred. Scrap leather is used for various purposes, including manure, the manufacture of heels, glue, dolls, children’s shoes, washers, etc. sometimes the greases and tanning material contained in the leather are extracted to he used again. Burne leather is a material much in demand for use in the “hardening’’ of metals. America possesses a society of seaweed enthusiasts, who hold periodical dinners at which nothing hut seaweed is served. One of its momlurs recently stated that on the sea beaches of the United Slates sufficient proloids to lake the'place of the entire product of the northwestern wheat fields of America are east up hy the waves and allowed to decay. It has boon calculated that every inch of rainfall above four inches in the Dnkoias, California. Wash.jngton, Kansas, and Nebraska' in .May and June meatus an increase of £3,000,900 in Ihe value of the wheat crop. Every inch of rainfall above three inches in July in Indiana, Illionis, Kansas, lowa, Ohio, and Nebraska increases Ihe value of the corn crop by £33,000,000. The National Museum of Copenhagen possesses a rare collection of musical instruments belonging to (he prehistoric age of bronze. These instruments tire a species of bronze trumpets called “lurs.” They were discovered in the middle of the eighleenlli century in several parts of Dcnimii'k, and they .arc so well preserved that they ean be utilised musically. They have an extension of 22 notes, and contain four and ahalf octaves.