NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2062, 2 December 1919, Page 1

NEWS IN BRIEF.

The greatest whirlpool is the maelstrom off Norway. It is an eddy between the mainland and an island, and when the current is in one direction, and the wind in another, no ship can withstand the fury of the waves. "Whales and sharks have been cast ashore and killed.

French electors are to have a veritable orgy of voting between October and January of next year. They will be called upon to elect 235 senators, 020 deputies, 3,500 general councillors, 37,000 mayors, and 700,000 municipal councillors, besides innumerable parish councillors. These statistics do not take into account any elections which may be held in Alsace and Lorraine.

A Taranaki paper tells a “good one” about a Maori Pioneer taken prisoner by the Huns. In answer to a question from a German officer as to how much damage (he German bombs were doing in London, Henare replied: Worry bad. Him broke down tc shop, te church, to school, and te picanini.” “Haf England got much food?” asked the officer, “No not too much kai, only butter and cheese from Noo Zealan’.” “How many soldiers coming from New Zealand efery mont?” “Tousan and tousan, not enuf boat bring him all, an Bill Massey, he te big rangatira, he come later on. He te las’ man an’ te las’ bob.” “How many Maoris vos der being trained?” Bout too million, and by korry, he to big feller. He feed on te poaka and biineby he eat to Sherman.” Ilona re was eventually rescued by an Irish bird-man, and for valour was decorated by (he King at Buckingham Palace. “Tenakoe, Hori, py cripes you got te wery fine whare here,” was what the King heard as he pinned the medal on the breast of the Maori brave.

Denmark appears to be exempt, according to Mr K. Kampp, official Agricultural Adviser to the Danish Government, now visiting New Zealand, from the disquieting phenomenon of the drift to the town. It is a land of small holdings and freeholders, he informed a Press representative, and the country is thickly populated in consequence. Interest in rural life is fostered by over a hundred agricultural schools and colleges, and there are seventy high schools furnishing a good general education. Then there are seventeen experimental stations, and, over all, the 11oval Agricultural College. Aggregation and rcaggregation do not exist, the tendency being rather the other way, as farms are divided up among the family of the farmer. On twenty acres a man may make a good living, and there are thousands of families who managed on less than ten acres. Land too poor for agriculture is being planted with trees to provide'timber at a later date, and a progressive policy pervades the system of agriculture. Everything is tried to increase the output, which in normal times, from an area one-sixth the size of New Zealand, with three times the population, includes exports of butter worth .€10,000,000, and of bacon three-quarters of that value.