NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2084, 31 January 1920, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF.

South-Africa has more than 52,' 000,000 sheep. France has 11,000,000 small land-holders. It would take 27,000 spiders to produeo one pound of spidei' weh. , Sir Waller Baleigh inlrodm-ed oranges as well as tobacco to England. The war caused, damage ol nearly £000,000,000 to Belgian industries. It is estimated that 407 airplanes took part in the German raids on. England. The common housefly, becomes full grown in about four weeks after birth. The most valuable pearls arc round; next come the pear-shaped; and lastly the egg-shaped. “Hawking” is still a fa'von rile sport in Persia, where' every person of importance, keeps falcons. The natives of Siberia prepare a singularly intoxicating beverage from the common mushroom, Scotsmen founded three Of the greatest banks in Europe, those of England, France, and Vienna. Louis Lattenu, who died at the age of 33 in 1883, was said to have gone without food for 12 years., More than 7,0001 b. of pure gold arc required every 'year to supply wedding rings for British brides. The starfish has no nose, but it is believed that the whole of its underside is endowed with a sense of smell. , ■ Germany’s population has been estimated at as low as 57,000,000, as compared with nearly 05,000,000 before the war. - The Elms, Nuneaton, where George Eliot, the famous woman novelist, was a pupil, was recently .sold at auction. ' The total value of enemy pro-

perty seized'in the United States is estimated at between. £140,000,000 and £100,000,000. In early playing cards swords took the place of_“spades,” ami representations of coins were the equivalent of “diamopds.” Though England is a heavy importer of wool, but half the world’s woo! production, is grown in the British Empire. ■-By. .turning refuse into manure, ami salving old tins and paper, the Glasgow Corporation last year obtained a revenue of £14,000. • The model of the first tank was made in August, 1915; the first real tank, nick-muncd “Mother,” was finished in January, 1910. The women street cleaners in Cologne are now officially known as “Stadtische Elektrisehe Strassenbahnschienenreinigungsfraiv’! Archdeacons’ salaries arc. limited in-England by. Act of Parliament fo £2OO a year, out of which (hey pay travelling and all other expenses. The rattles of the rattlesnake are but a number of small hones on the (ail so Joosely fastened together that they make a clinking noise ■when shaken. There was at one time an order in Prance which prohibited infants under one year old having solid food given them unless ordered by a doctor. During the Gorman' sprifig offensive in 1918 the Brilis.h losses included 1,000 guns, 700 .treneh-rnor-tars, and 200 tanks, all of which were replaced in a fortnight.