NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1932, 28 January 1919, Page 1

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Over 200,000 habitual drug-users have been found in New York State, including army officers and soldiers in camp. A drastic anti-narcotic law by Congress is demanded. During the fifty years he has been vicar of Langford, near Hitehin, England, the Rev. C. G. Ewhank has preached over 5,000 sermons, baptised 1879 infants, and married 415 couples. Growing blackberries and mushrooms, by law, are not private property. You may be prosecuted for trespass on laud where they grow, but not for theft in taking them. An agnostic weekly, which has been attacking the Young Men’s Christian Association as “a . commercial association,” has been denied the use of the mails in the United Stales. August has been the most disastrous month for the col ton crops ever recorded, (he loss in the prospective production amounting to 2.482,001) hales —a result of the severe drought. The silk of Ihe great spider of Madagascar is line, strong, and elastic. 11 is used by (he natives to fasten (towers to sunshades. A single, female spider has been known to spin two miles of it in 27 days. The Vatican, in order to meet increased expenses in every department, will shortly issue a revised .scale of fees for all official acts of the Roman Curia, the central government of the Roman Catholic Church, Lord Leverhnlme, who is the new proprietor of the island of Lewis, off the coast of Scotland, in his new schemes for Ihe island after the war, lias included one for the const met ion of 100 miles of electric railway. If set side by side, Ihe German guns to be delivered lo ttie Allies would stretch nearly twelve solid miles of guns, which would he sufficient to line one side of the'road from the Royal Exchange to the Crystal Palace. The scarcity of paper brings to light Ihe fact that in the reign of Tiberius (42 B.C. —37 A.D.) the dearth of papyrus was so alarming that the Roman Government took over (he distribution of the available supply. The credit of inventing the depth, bomb and the convoy.system, which led to Ihe downfall of (he submarine campaign and Ihe final overthrow of the •Germans, is admit led by Admiral Sims, of (he American Navy, lo belong to the British. If rubber has lost its elasticity through oxidation it may he restored by soaking it in a mixture of two parts of water and one part of ammonia. .Rubber hands, rings, and small tubing may be restored to their original condition in this way. Douai, in France, is one of the few towns that take celebrity from a printing office. About 300 years ago there was printed in this ancient, war-searred town an edition in French of the Bible. Hence the familiartiy of its name in England. “The Wheelbarrow King.’’ is the title by which a man was known in Wynberg, South Africa. He was i barged with stealing several wheelharrows, and sent to prison. Sev-. era! previous convict ions of stealing wheelbarrows were 1 admilled by him. John Mullins, a coalminer of Hemphill, Pennsylvania, claims a world’s tonnage record for mining and loading coal in a single month. His output was (191 tons daily. Mullins’ wages for the month amounted to £B9 His 7d.