NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1808, 2 April 1918, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Two soldiers in Bath War Hospital furnish- a strange example of war’s coincidence. Both were born in the same village, both joined the same regiment, were simultaneously wounded in their left ankles by bullets which passed into their right feet, travelled home together in the same convoy and ambulance, and now lie side by side receiving identical treatment in the same ward. Catalysis is the property of matter which promotes chemical action though itself remaining unaffected, and certain biologists trace to this property all the needlessly intricate phenomena of life. Sanderton (Bucks) Workhouse haying been commandeered by the military, the contents of the institution have been sold by auction. The workhouse hearse fetched £7, and twelve pairs of boots £9 10s. Taken to France as a kitten two and a-half years ago, a black cat is the mascot of an A.S.C. company, with which it has travelled over 700 miles. It spends most of its time in the messrooms, and is known as “Rations.” There are “obscured” regions in the sky. where fewer faint stars are visible than elsewhere, and this obscured region appears to be a spiral with a sharp edge, the sharp edges being on different sides in the northern and southern hemispheres. One of the keepers at the Zoo has a tame rat which is a confirmed tea-drinker. It follows him about like a dog, and never makes the least attempt to escape. The animal was sent .to the Zoo as reptile food some months ago, but was found to be so docile that it was saved us a pet. Officers and soldiers who are skilled agriculturists will shortly be required to assist the QuartermasterGeneral on the Western front in organising the production of foodstuffs on the land behind the British lines. Tonnage is the crux of the war, and the cultivation of 100,000 acres, producing 600,000 tons, which will save a tonnage of 1,200,000 tons, may be a great factor in the winning of the war. Only 10,000 men, temporarily behind the lines, will be required for the job. While the Vatican has maintained a strict neutrality, it has endeavoured to maintain its usual relations with the Central Empires and the Entente countries, and this has not always been simple, because of its location in a belligerent nation. At present there is a movement on foot to install a powerful wireless station at the Vatican in order that the Catholic Church will be in a position to communicate directly with any of the countries at war, without subjecting the dispatches to thu censorship of the belligerent nations.