NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2252, 17 March 1921, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF.

A Chinese bowl only seven inches high has been sold for £1,207 ,10s. The herrings season in the North Sea has been very successful, the total landings of herrings being not far short of 3,000,000 fish. Rabbits can see in the dark in precisely the same way as cats. In the pitch darkness of the recesses of their burrows they cannot see, but use the senses of touch and smell to direct them.

In a ploughing match held near Yarmouth, England, the furrow di-iAvn by the winner was so straight that when the. judges used a tape measure they could not detect the slightest inequality. In Switzerland the embroidery industry is facing a serious crisis, exports having dropped far below their pre-war level. The watch factories are also being obliged to shut down owing to a lack of orders. Probably the first lady consul in the world is Mrs Diana Agabeg Apcnr, appointed to represent the Republic of Armenia at Yokohama, .Japan. She is a widow of tilt, and

lms worked hard for her country

| Maid of honour to Queen Mary ! receives the rank of “Honourable" with tlm social standing of a bar- | on's daughter, miles- hy birth they i already rank as such or higher.

A. moderate gale has a velocity of between 3!) and 4(i miles an-horn, a strong gale between -17 and 54 miles per hour, and a whole gale between 55 and 03 miles an hour.

Bride, bridegroom, and be-t man at a wedding at Stockport, England, were deaf and dumb. The service was interpreted in sign language by a deaf and dumb missionary.

Wednesday and Thursday have been proved to be the best “output days in British factories, the output of Saturday being exceptionally low, even allowing for only half a da vs’ work.

A bathroom for every thirty men, an isolation-ward, and a dryingroom are among the innovations demanded in mercantile marine ships by the English Seamen's and I* iremen’s Union.

The number of new books published in the United Kingdom during 1920 was 11,004, an increase of 2,382 over those published in 1019. The water supply of the city of Tunis is obtained from the same source that supplied Carthage, and some of its cisterns are still in use. The total cost of the war to the United States has been fixed at justover 13,700 million dollars, or about £2,750,000,000 in normal English money. Formerly a marriage dowry of £I,OOO was given to the Queen's maid of honour on their weddings, but tits lias been discontinued for some time.

The ofiicial cost of the British Education Act for the present financial year was pul at £53,000,000; it will probably be nearer £10,000,000. The depth of water under a vessel can now be ascertained by the byprophoue, which works on the reflection of the sound of the ships propeller from the ocean hed.

The fly flies at the rate of over five feet per second, when leisurely sporting in tlie air, but if a bird gives chase, he can increase his speed to 35 feet a second. Out of 638 ships which entered the port of Montreal last year, 460 were British and 120 American. The

total tonnage was 2,120,519, as compared with 2,041,638 in 1919. Wireless telegraphy is revolutionising shipping; American ships will soon be in touch with New York all the way across the Atlantic till they reach English shores. A gale becomes a hurricane when its velocity exceeds 74 miles per hour.

Silk puttees, to wear with short skirts in' bad weather, are an Am- ’ criean fashion idea. Unsolved murders are increasing in New York, 40 being recorded during a recent six weeks. There arc 7110,000 villages in India, and in scarcely one out of five is there a school at all. Western Australia supplies- nearly 50 per'cent, of the world’s market, in mother-of-pearl shells. If kept' dry, wheat will grow after being stored for five years. After that the life germ in it dies. In the French war zone, Arras now has a population of 41,500, Betliunc of 20,000, and Lens of 9,000.

Exports of Canadian pulp and paper increased in value during 1920 by nearly 100 per cent, over those of 1919.’