NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2029, 16 September 1919, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Britain produces ji fourth of all Hie coal used hi the world. .Footlights were first injrodueed to the stage by David Garrick, In London £8,000,000 will be silent on education during 1910- ; 1920. One pound of phosphorus will, supply heads for 1,000,000 matches.* It is less than 200 years since the silk industry 'developed in Europe. Kembranl, the great painter, knew (he Bible by heart from end l£ end. Tortoiseshell does not come from tortoises, but from the sea turtle. The average weight of the circulating blood in the human body is 2Slhs. In proportion to its size, a Jly walks 13 times faster than a man can run. Shorthand-writers in the middle ages'were liable to be punished assoreerers. The black silk scarf worn under a sailor’s jumper-collar is in memory of Nelson. Electric light was first produced with carbon points by Sir Humphrey Davy in 1800. Sheffield, during (lie war. superseded Krupps as (he greatest, arsenal in the world. Explorers toll us that the llc-di of lIk; lion is fairly palatable, being rather like lough veal. The Holy Hand of the Chinese is India. Jl is the native land of Sakya-iiuni, the supreme Buddha. It is calculated that £20,000,000 worth of food is damaged in England by rats in the course of a year. Ah electrically-driven dirigible was developed in .France in 1882, which was 9.1 ft. long, and was moved by twin propellers. The total amount of coal supplied to the navy from August, .191-1, to November, 191.8, was. in round figures. 35,900,00(1 ions. Cals were always kept in nunneries in the Middle Ages, and that fact causes the traditional association of eats with old maids, ' .Geneva, picked for the capital of the world, was the seat of the li is I peace society ever organised in Furope, back is 1830. Hiding-horses, “demobilised,” fetched an average of £3l, mules £33, end heavy draught horses £lO2 each ul recent, army remount sales. In .10.14 there was one machinegun to 500 infantrymen in the British Army; at, the Armistice there was one machine-gun to 20 infantrymen. The oriliee Ihe whale’s ea r is scarcely perceptible, yet tl is said that the whale’s hearing is so acute (hat a ship crossing it- trade hall a mile distant will cause it to dive inslantlv.

Unlike many eenlenarians, who have -coir-' ol: descendants, .Mrs Caroline Hughes, a Birmingham woman. aged ]o*i, is alone iu llm world, as she Ims survived all her ten children.

Compared with the absolute lack ol’ pomp associated with modern sea bathing', the procedure adopted by the Duchess-de Bern, who lirs! made sea dips Fashionable in I 1 seems rather strange. In the summer ol' 18J7, when this great lady went bathing at Dieppe, her arrival ou (he beach was hailed by a salvo of artillery. The holder of the spe-cially-created post ol “Inspeeleur des Bains" had to be there to receive her, attired in a resplendent uniform. cocked hat, and white gloves. This functionary led her Hoyal Highness into the sea until the water reached Ids knees, when he retired with three profound reverences to change his shoes and stocking's. The duehesso* who was an expert swimmer, then proceeded to enjoy herself.

.During,' the war and since, fortunes have been made by profiteers. At long last pul die feeling is aroused, and Parliament is about to place legislation on the Statute Book to deal with the robbers. As a result of the agitation, it is notieeable in the large centres that .drapery linns are marking down numerous lines, and assistants are not now urging customers to “buy now, as the prices will be doubled next year! ! l