NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1733, 22 September 1917, Page 1

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Ten thousand pounds has been given by Gambia for aeroplanes for the Royal Flying Corps, The aeroplanes will be named after the colony.

In England the latest estimate places the loss to the nation caused by farm pests —the rat, the mouse, the honese-sparmv, and the wood pigeon—at £40,000,000 annually, or about £1 per head of the population. Some people say it has been proved beyond all doubt that certain dogs cure rheumatism. In Denmark physicians frequently recommend victims of rheumatism to keep dogs, and let them sleep on their beds during the night. Mr John Philip Sousa, the American “March King” and bandmaster, is now an officer of the United States Navy, with the provisional rank of lieutenant, charged with the task of organising bands at the various naval training stations. President Wilson has turned over to the United States Shipping Board for service 87 German merchantmen which were seized when the United States declared war. The remaining 14 arc already in the possession of the Navy Department,

It is a gross breach of etiquette for a Chinaman to wear eyeglasses or spectacles in company, and it is equally impolite to enter a rooin with the hat off. A gentleman of the Celestial Kingdom always remains covered to show his respect. In order to assist in relieveing the paper shortage, the Government of the province of Quebec has decided to offer for sale great extensions of the timber limits in the region situated near Lake Saint John, near the Upper Ottawa, and in Saint Maurice.

The Sultan of Egypt has given £I,OOO to the fund for the building of an Anglican Cathedral at Cairo, the site for which was given by the Egyptian Government, on his iniativc. Sir R. Wingate and Bishop Maclnnes have both written warmly thanking the Sultan. A Washington telegram states that the secret of making optical glass of the sort used in field-glass-es, range-finders, and periscopes, a product for which the United States has hitherto been dependent on Germany, has been discovered by the Bureau of Standars after experiments lasting two and a-half years. A land “battleship” was launched in Union Square, New York, on Memorial Day, as headquarters for a recruiting campaign for the Navy and Marine Corps. Christened the U.S.S. Recruit, this wooden Dreadnought has already attracted hundreds of recruits. It mounts real guns, and has all the appearance of a battleship ready for action. By the Bill recently introduced by the French Minister of Finance, the tax on all war profits exceeding £20,000 is raised to 80 per cent., and upon all inheritances and bequests exceeding £BO it establishes an annual tax of three-tenths per cent, until the death of the beneficiary. The total revenue accruing under the Bill is estimated at £OO,000,000, An expiatory monument to the Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his consort on the site of their assassination at Sarajevo has been unveiled. The Archduke Friedrich represented the Emperor and the German and Turkish Consuls attended. The memorial bears the inscription “The Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his consort, the Duchess Sophia, gave up their lives on Juno 28th, 1914, on this-spot for King and Fatherland.” Tame elephants are used in India to capture wild ones. California has a “diving horse” that is used to encourage other horses to leap from a high platform into a tank. The animals that are in training watch their “teacher” make several plunges from a platform 30ft. high; they are then made to leap from a platform 15ft. high. After a few trials they seem to lose their fear and make the leap from different heights without hesitation.