NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1788, 12 February 1918, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF.

India’s wheat crop this year is estimated at nearly 480,000,000 'bushels, which is about one-fifth larger than the crop of last year. Sergeant Jack Roberts, aged 09, of Ashwell, Herts, claims to be the

oldest sergeant in the army under active service conditions.

An extra |d on the rates is to be levied in London this month, to provide for the policemen’s war bonus and increased boot allowance. Mr Gladstone’s second. Home Rule Bill (1893) passed the Commons by a majority, of thirty-four, but was rejected by the House of Lords. Ireland, with less population than Scotland, has more than twice the number of police, and the cost is £1,450,000, compared with £600,000. A robber-proof railway car has been made, which is capable of sending deadly cyanide of potassium fumes into the faces of the attacking band. To do away with the germ-carry-ing glass milk-bottle, so difficult to Clean, paper milk-bottles have been invented, to be burned after once using.

During the war the trade of Canada has increased from £172,800,000 in 1915 to £400,000,000 last year, the greater part of the trade being in exports. The combination of a phonograph and a telephone enables hospital patients to hear music when they please, while other patients near by are not obliged to hear. Investigation of the sun’s heat proves it to be a variable star, and an expedition to the cloudless region in South America is to be made to gather further-facts.