NEWS IN BRIEF

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1779, 22 January 1918, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF

Whales from 300 to 400 years old are sometimes met with. The age is ascertained by the size and number of layers of the whalebone, which increases yearly.

The average length of life is greater in Norway than in any other country. This is attributed to the fact that the temperature is cool and uniform throughout the year. During the 19th century fifty-two new islands rose from the sea, by volcanic action, and sixteen disappeared. The earth is therefore richer by thirty-six islands. An authority on the subject declares that many cases of defective eyesight are caused by wearing tight collars, which interfere with the circulation of blood to the head.

The paper used by the British and Foreign Bible Society for its cheap editions of the Scriptures cost just 2d a pound in pre-war times. Today the price is Bd. When the Grand Duchess Olga of Russia was born, £1,000,000 was settled on her, and it is said that this huge sum was safely invested in British and French securities.

The Russian aviator, Captain Smoliauinolf, starting from the neighbourhood of Konnenetz, Volhynia, has alighted at Salonika, thus having made a flight of about nine hundred and forty miles.

' A clergyman at Sioux Falls, lowa, walked down the aisle of his church and handed a ]hu to each woman wearing a low neck gown, suggesting it be used immediately. Then ho announced that “those who appear here next Sunday in such gowns will 'lie sent home.”

Eagles have been noticed flying at a height of 6,000 ft., and storks and buzzards at 2,000 ft. A lark will rise to the same height, and so will crows, As a rule, however, birds do not fly at a greater height than I,oooft.