NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2156, 29 July 1920, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Hiding his fortune of one thousand pounds in a cellar, a Fi’eneh farmer discovered that rats had eaten the newly-printed, notes. The teak, w T hich supplies one of the strongest timbers known, grows slowly, attaining a height of only 150 feet in over a century. A deposit of from 10,000 to 15,000 tons of sulphur has been discovered in the crater of an ice-cov-ered mountain in the Aleutian Islands. Canada, measuring nearly 4,000,000 square miles, is the largest British possession; the smallest is Gibraltar, less than two miles .square. There is a species of ants which build their nests along a north and south line so accurately that a traveller may direct his course by their aid. Three hundred and forty-three death sentences were carried out in the British Anhy during the war. Of these, 206 were eases of desertion. The various diamond mines in Africa yield stones with such distinct characteristics that they are readily classified as to their origin by experts. S The gold mine of St. John del Ray, in Brazil, is the deepest metal mine in the world. It was opened nioyc than 80 year’s ago, and had been sunk to 6,326 feet at the time of the latest report. The temperature in some parts reaches 116 degrees Farenlreit. , In the plains of Northern Siberia, the sub-soil of which never thaws, a crop of rye is sown, matured and reaped within 45 days. There the summer is short, but the sun shines almost throughout the day and night. Light and moisture are constant; should the heat be the same,' Liberia would be a northern paradise. English-speaking people write far more letters than any other race. Australians come first with 130 letters per head per year, Canada and the United States next with 80 per year, and the United Kingdom third with 75. The Germans write 40 per head, French 40, and Italians 11.