NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2274, 10 May 1921, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF.

According lo a British Parliament ary paper £532,187 of the £l,151,071 advanced by the British lovernment to Greece from 1843 to S7l is still outstanding. At the end of 1920 the number of in.sonic lodges on the register of he United Grand Lodge of England ms 3,012, as compared with 3,442 t the end of 1919.

A five hundredweight wheel at the Ifficieney Exhibition in London was o beautifullv balanced on ball

bearings that a touch was sufficient lo set it revolving for three hours. Figures of gross national debt per iiead of population are: —United Kingdom, £170; France, 5,773

francs (nominally £230): Ttalv, 2,053 lire (£82): United Stales. 230 dollars (£47).

There are about 200 kinds of pigeons. They are all descended from Ihe ~,,l'oekdovc, a bird which makes its home among the seacliffs of Europe. Pigeons do not favour trees, like other birds.

Tn the early part of the nineteenth century, oil spouting from the eurth was regarded as a nuisance and a calamity, while to-day 70,000,000 tons a year is regarded as all 100 small a supply for the world’s needs.

In order to provide work for men thrown out of work by the (dosing of certain nitrate fa dories. the Chilean Parliament has authorised the Government to issue a £2,000,000 loan to start a number of public enterprises.

When a perching bird alights on branch or twig its muscles automatically “lock.” The bird is thus kept' in position while sleeping. It requires a conscious effort on the part of the gird to release itself from a resting position. A general servant who was remanded at Marylebone on a charge of theft, was stated to have held about 100 situations*'during the war, when servants were scarce, but none of them did she keep for more than two weeks.

To count the number* of people in the United Kingdom and record the particulars required for the census, would, if human labour only was employed, cost £10,000,000. With the aid of machinery the cost is cut down to £500,000. Signor Giolitti has announced in the Italian Senate that, according to calculations made by the Treasury, the deficit, which some months ago was 14,000,000,000 lire (about