NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2108, 27 March 1920, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Every ancient city of note was located on or near the sea or a river. During the war Great Britain provided 64,000,000 shirts for the forces. Steamers are estimated to he 20 per cent, safer than sailing vessels. Between August, 1914, and February 28,1919, 568 Victoria Crosses were awarded. The first public performance on a piano was given in London over 150 years ago. Several hundred peaks in the Himalaya Range attain a height of 20,000 ft. or over. Over a third of the population of Dublin consist of families living in a single room. The motor car carries more passengers than all the steam railroads in the United States. “Soviet,” in its original meaning of a “council,'’ whs used in Servia as long ago as 1805. Over 2,000,000 children, between the ages of ten and sixteen, Avork in the United States. Harnessed to a tiny Avaggon, a fly has draAvn 170 times its own weight over smooth surfaces. Under English common law, the shore that lies between low and high tide belongs to the crown. The journey from London to Paris by air takes 24 hours, compared with seven hours by land and sea. 5,346,000 people in Great Britain arc liable to pay income-tax; of these only 59,100 enjoy incomes of over £2,500. It has been estimated that warwork for Avomcn drew 400,000 recruits from domestic work and dressmaking in England. Tiie Cuban workmen can turn out 100 cigars a day each, all identical in shape, size, and weight, Avithoul using any mould or pattern. English is spoken by more than double as many people a.s French. The figures are'English, 160,000,000, French, 70,000,000. The crater of Manna Loa, HaAvaii’s famous volcano, is 20 miles in diameter. At limes the stream of lava issuing from it is 50 miles long. Of the tobacco consumed in Great Britain, 77 per cent, is made into cigarettes, 20 per cent, is smoked in pipes, and 3 per cent, in cigars. The mildest mining camp known is at Cobalt, Canada, Avhere there has never been a liquor saloon, and gambling in public lias been prohibited. In England, the longest interval on record Avithoul fatal accidents to a passenger (rain is one year and eight months, from October 261 h, 1907, to July 2nd,''1909. EolloAving the great volcanic*.outhurst of Krakatoa, in 1883, there Avere two years of red sunsets all over the v/orld, due to a dust cloud that enveloped the entire earth. The medal for Culloden was the first to be provided Avith a ribbon of definite pattern. Before then, each wearer suspended- his decoration with any sort of ribbon he pleased. At tiie signing of the armistice, the total of German bombing and scouting aeroplanes bad fallen to 1,700; while the Allies bad three machines on the front to the Germans’ one. In Lancashire there arc reported to be many quaint names on the registers, and a few are worthy of repetition ; —Bill Teacack, Rhubarb Jack, Toffee Tongue, Harry Mechanic, and Squinting Tommy. Hedgehogs roll themselves up into a firm, prickly bull in October, and do not stir again until about March. They do not require any food during' the Avinter months, as they fatten themselves tip for their long winter sleep. A berry found in the district of Ashanti renders sour and bitter substances sweet, and- another imparts to the palate a sensation Avhieh makes it possible parol Avhieh makes it possible to partake of acid substances and give them a flavour of-absolute sAveclness. The greatest volcanic; catastrophe in history occurred in 1783, Avhen Asahayama, on the main island of Japan, blew up. The mountain IhreAv great volumes of dust to a height of fifty .miles, and for years the atmosphere all over the earth Avas foggy Avith it. The invention of the ordinary balloon is said to haA’e had a A 7 ery simple origin. A linen shirt was hanging - in front of a tire, and Stephen Montgolfier, Avho is said to have invented the balloon, noticed that as the Avarm air rose it took the shirt Avith it. A hippopotamus can walk under water. One of the most astonishing discoveries made by an explorer (Thomas Stevens) av.is a lake in the crater of an extinct African A’olcano; at the bottom* plainly visible, walked a score of hippopotami “like coavs in a meadoAv.” John J. Taylor, of Streatur, Illinois, once wrote 4,100 Avords on the blank side of a postal card Avithoul artificial aid. The Avords on that single card, if printed in regular type, Avouid fill lavo and three-quar-ter columns of any of the great metropolitan dailies.