NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2027, 11 September 1919, Page 1

NEWS IN BRIEF.

When the Japanese desires lo woo the tickle goddess of sleep he stretches himself on u rush mat on the floor, puts a hard, square block of wood under his head, and does not sleep if he does not have it. Although there is enough land in Canada to make the British Isles more than 30 times, Hyde Park would afford comfortable standingroom for every one of its inhabitants, with space to move their elbows. j -

It js estimated that if half the acreage which is now occupied by hedgerows in England and Wales were sown with wheat there would be a yield sufficient to provide bread for over 1,000,000 people for a whole vear.

If the Shah of Persia were to be deprived of his income he would still be one of Ihe richest men in the Avorld, He would only have to sell his ornaments, gems, and precious stones lo become possessed of alunit £7,000,000.

One of the commonest' of' all street superstitions is that there is tremendous good fortune- ahead of any one who meets a piebald horse in the street. Where the idea came from nobody really knows, but it exists in all parts of the world.

The Victoria Tower of the Houses of Parliament at Westminster took 20 years (o build. From base to summit the tower contains .140 spacious rooms —each (ire-proof and packed with Slate papers, the records of centuries of .English history.

According to evidence given before the Coal Cpmmission, colliers are almost exempt from consumption. Doctors are practically agreed on (his point, and differ only as to the cause. One theory is that coal dust prevents the development of the disease.

Once during the war, British general headquarters received 9,000 telegrams in one day, and 3,400 letters by despatch-riders. One army headquarters had 10,000 telegrams in a day, and the daily telegrams on the lines of communication were 23,000,

The worst-wearing road in England was probably the Thames Embankment, in the days before it was paved. It is an absolute fact that it ale up 3,500 tons of cracked granite yearly. Where it all went to was the puzzle, for .the level of the roadway remained the same.

Assuming a man to he of healthy appetite, and making every allowance for the years of childhood and Ids old age, the bread be lias eaten during Iris life wortld turn the scale at 12 tons, arrd would ire represented by a loaf 10ft. long and wide, and 12ft. high—a leviathan loaf which i\ hundred strong men could scarcely raise from the ground. While Jews are, of course, subject to the oi’dinary ailments of life, they can boast of an average longer life than any other race. They have always enjoyed remarkable immunity from tuberculosis, cholera, and typhus. In the fourteenth-century, when the Black Death was raging throughout Europe, the Jews were exempt from the plague. In .Newfoundland dogs are trained to catch lish. In many of the boats that go out after cod the tishermau lakes with h;m ope of the .flat-coated retrievers, known as Labrador retrievers. If a big cod is hooked, and is troublesome to land, the dog jumps into the water, catches the struggling captive, and brings it in.

In 1025 a'Captain Bailey Introduced hackney-coaches into England, and by his astute methods of advertising soon had all London interested. Samuel Pepys, the wily old diarist, was Die first person of any note induced to lake a ride, although it is said the old man insisted upon a large consideration for placing his life in jeopardy.