NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2262, 12 April 1921, Page 1

NEWS IN BRIEF.

The lidian written characters represent, not letters, but syllables, and an Indian child has to learn .1,000 of them, and at least 10,000 are required to print them.

An American official’s order for 28 boxes of paper clips somehow became changed into one for 28,000,000 paper clips, and the U.S.A. Government does not know wlmt to do-with them. In the British Isles to-day there are approximately 950 voluntary or charitable hospitals, with 63,000 beds, most of which are in constant use. Public authorities control another 133,000 beds in (heir institutions. In Great Britain the dainty gold-en-crested wren lays the smallest eggs; but the .egg- of humming birds are tinier still, for some of these birds when adults are no bigger, without their feathers, than humble bees, The. traditional colour of ghosts is white, but examination of supernatural records -how that ghosts vary as much in colour as the flowers of the field. Quite frequently these visitant- from the other world -com Io wear very much wliai they were accustomed to wear before they passed over.