NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2059, 25 November 1919, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF.

An odourless onion is one oi Chinn’s nssels. Sail u-ed lo bo Hie ordinary money of the Abyssinian-. Vanilla flavouring is obtained Crum the fruit of an orchid. Honeycomb, one scjuarc* tool in size, contains 9,000 cells. In Iceland whistling is forbidden as a breach of divine law. One thousand pigs were eaten daily in London before the war. flie shin of the whale is in places as ranch as two feet thick. Spain has fewer daily papers than any other European country. Milk consumed weekly in London amounts to over 00,000 gallons. Over 750 grains of corn were found in the crop of a pigeon shot at Old Windsor. France has fewer paupers and fewer millionaires than any other prominent, country, Japanese eoohes refine crude oil in their homes, and peddle kerosene from house to house. Diamond weighing scales are so accurately poised that an eyelash will turn the balance. ■ “Y” is the name of a bay in -Snyder Zee, a river running through Amsterdam, and a town in Lhina. The people of India -peak about 150 different languages, and are divided into 43 distinct nationalities. For experiments with a. model airplane, a Frenchman mounted the wings and tail oi a crow on a wiie frame. The earliest liwycie was introduced in Paris in 1808. called a velocipede, or popularly “a hone -shaker.' Norwegian government experimenters have succeeded in producing ;l bread containing 20 per cent, of fish. ‘ Time was once measured by bunting caudles, each one made so as to burn for exactly one or Iwu-hoiu periods. In Liberia the sun rises exactly at (i a.in., and set.- at 0 p.ni., throughout (lie year, and is directly overhead at noon. If is calculated that the Isle of Sheppey has been reduced uy over 80 acres through (lie inroads of the sea during the last -10 .years. Although Germany buiii .120 Zeppelins during the war, never more than lift ecu or sixteen were fit to take the air at one time. The Cleveland Street Railways has just taken out the largest insurance policy ever written —£2,022,000, against “riot and civil commotion.” A method of using the electric magnet under water has been devised in Japan, and promises to be of great assistance in locating sunken vessels. America claims that (be Slaiand Stripes wave- over Jo.i per cent, of all tonnage alloal, while Great Britain comes second with 33.5 per cent. Advancing yea r- are tno gcJ \ oj. Chinese, and it is -aid to be polite tc suppose your Chinese guest lo be inui'h older (ban Ins or hei staled age. Abyssinia is the original home ol the coffee tree, and in the highlands of that country there are immense fi,rests of it liia.t have never been touched. The only important peace treaty ever negotiated by women was that known -as the “'Ladies Bcaec, airaiigcd by Louisa 01. i>a\oy am. Margaret ot Austria. A, London couple connected their two bicycles by iron cross pieces, carrying a long box, and thus transports the family of six, the small children in the box. Ripe bananas are most- easily digested of common foods. Bananas reijuire one burn’ -15 minutes tor digestion, most other foods between three and four hours. The largest cake ever baked was made for I rederick M illiam 1. 01. Prussia. It was 18 yards long, 8 yards wide, and If feel thick. Mdlle. Mistiiiguetl, the "darling dancer” of Hie Paris halls, recently left for New York for a lengthy tour. If is considered that she has the most beautiful legs of any Paris dancer, and before starting she insisted on having them insured against accidental injury for £25,000. Mdlle. .Mistinguelt took with her 135 gowns and 93 different samples of footwear.