NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1763, 13 December 1917, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF.

On ground which before the war was used for football in Yorkshire, the crop this year is likely to produce from 20 to 25 tons of potatoes to the acre. At a,depth of 200 fathoms under the sea the pressure of water is two tons to the square inch, and the temperature is only just above freezing point. Our Anglo-Saxon forefathers, after the marriage ceremony, used to crown the bridal couple with garlands of flowers kept for that purpose in the church. During September, 19 Norwegian merchant, ships, of a gross tonnage of 30,800, were lost. Twenty Norwegian seamen were killed and 17 reported missing. As a means of preserving the memory of fallen members of Parliament, Mr Churchill suggests a name-plate on the . back of the seats they had in the House. Damage to the extent of £15,000,000 was the result of a fire which occurred in Salonika. The insurances amounted to £10,000,000, most of which is with British companies. The atrium of Roman houses was the hall, the most important part of the house. It was lighted by an opening in the roof; the chambers were off it on both sides. The tomb of Charles XII. is to-be opened in order to ascertain whether the bullet which killed him at the seige of Fredrikshald, in Norway, came from the front or the rear. Near Halton Camp, Wendover, is a little shed where you can “insure yourself against loss on the battlefield by having your name, number, and regiment tatooed on your arm for sixpence.” Soldiers in the trenches several' miles away listed over the telephone to an entertainment given by Miss Ina Ashwell’s concert party at one of the railheads on the Suez Canal. An Italian ice-cream vendor tendered 960 farthings and 2-10 threepenny pieces in payment of a fine of £4 at London South-Western Police Court. When payment in this form was refused, he produced a £5 note. When a king and queen were married in Norway (in pagan days), it was customary to present the bride with a shield, sword, and axe, so that she might, if necessary, defend herself from her husband’s blows. The man who shaves himself has always east longing eyes on the leather straps attached to railway carriage windows. They evidently are such perfect strops. The temptation to cut one is often 100 great to be resisted, and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company are said to lose £IOO a year from the theft of these straps. It is now proposed to stud them with copper rivets, and thus render them useless for shavers. Sunsets noticed in recent months have rivalled in brilliancy those that followed the Krakatoa eruption in 1883. Bringing this to the notice of the Royal Astronomical Society u£ Canada, A. F. Hunter attributes the effects to the war. In the 30 degrees of latitude from the Suez Canal to the Gulf of Riga, a wide area has been filled more or less continuously with ' bursting shells, while thousands of battleships and transports have been running to and fro by sea and thousands of motorvehicles by land, and no volcanic eruption ever equalled the output of smoke and dust.