NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2111, 6 April 1920, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF.

The Russian vodka, usually distilled from rye, exceeds in strength thfe alcoholic beverages of all other countries.

Old British railway plans and tracings, in one instance dating hack to 1833, were converted into lipen dressings during the war.

The model of the first tank was made in August, 1915; the first real tank, nicknamed “Mother,” was finished in January, 1910. The first stained-glass window depicting an aeroplane to be placed in a church, is now to he soon in a London place of worship. Very little wind prevails in the Arctic regions, and this fact facilitates the transmission of sound. Persons there can converse when a mile apart. Butterflies, which are very prolific in Australia, are suffocated in millions by the aborigines, and. separated from their wings, pressed into cakes and eaten. In (he sixteenth century the blades of table-knives boro on one side the musical notes of the “grace before meat,” anil on the other side those of the “grace after meat.” .Scientists have stated that man in tiie distant future will have no use for his teeth, which will therefore depart in accordance with the slow and sure gait of Nature.

An automobile of the limousine type has been invented with a telescoping body that can be drawn out to afford more room when tourists wish to use it for camping. The oldest and most frequentlytapped rubber-trees produce the richest sap, and some trees which are tapped every other day will yield sap for more than a score of years.

At Alleghany City, Pennsylvania, there was recently rolled a steel spring, six inches wide, one quarter of an inch (hick, and 31.0 feet long. It is the largest coiled spring ever rolled.

The lake which has the highest elevation of any in (lie world is (freon Lake, Colorado. Its surface is 10,252 feel above the level of (he sea. In some places it is over 300 feet deep.

Polish girls as a rule have particularly good taste in dress, and in the artistic blending of colours. Many of the women of Poland arc noted for their beauty and gracefulness of form. It is customary in Siberia for a girl who has accepted the suitor she favours, to present him with a box of matches and a pair of slippers, a> a sign that ho is to he master in the home.

A singular feature to he seen in Japan on New Year's Day is a grass re.lie running from house to house, with symbolical decorations. It is believed to ward off evil spirits during the year. The pelt of the (rue sea oiler is to-day the most valuable of all furs. The sea oiler was formerly found in considerable abundance off the coast of Alaska, hut it is now nearly, if not quite, extinct.

The three tallest trees in the w'orkl are believed to he a sequoia near Stockton, California, which is 325 feet high, and two eucalypti in Victoria, Australia, estimated to be -135 and 450 feel respectively. The lightest wood, in weight, that is known is “Balso.” Cork' is three limes as heavy as this wood. It mm easily lie indented with the linger nail. It is treated with paraffin and used in the making of floats and in constructing life-rafts.