NEWS IN BRIEF

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2225, 11 January 1921, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF

Jt lut* beco-estimated that the total horse-power which could he drawn from Niagara Falls is 5,-A 500,000. It is said that the first free library in England was the one founded by Robert Redwood in Bristol in 1615. The world’s annual wheat production is almost evenly divided between the northern 'and southern hemispheres. Owing to the crowded state of the Cologne gaols thousands of; warrants against criminals cannot be served. The sale of refreshments and revenue from hotels brought English railways a profit of £770,028 during a recent year. More than 7,000 lb. of pure gold, says an authority, are required each year to supply the wedding rings for British brides. . Persons who claimed that they had held communications with the dead in the sixteenth century were burned at the stake. Contrary to expectations, the “tilling'’ of French soil by high explosive shells has brought ,to the surface line crop-bearing earth. Diamonds have increased 160 per cent, in value, and emeralds 300 pel cent, during the last few years, while rubies have decreased.

This year’s camphor output in Formosa is estimated by Tokio’s experts to reach 6,000,000 kin, or approximately 3,500 tons. It is estimated that through war casualties and the reduction in the birth rate, there are to-day 3,000,000 fewer males in France than when the war began. /•The household budget of an average British worker this Christmas will he 0s Od per week higher than last year, according to an estimate of the Food Controller.

Germany requires a minimum of 0.000.000 tons of wheal a year. The 1020 crop amounts to only 7,000,000 tons; 2,000,000 tons must, therefore, be imported from abroad. More than £40,000,000 inrush changed hands in New York one day recently, when French representatives paid hack the instalment due on the Anglo-French loan the United States made in lPlf>.