NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2276, 14 May 1921, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF.

A toil of diamonds is worth £B,000,000. The Forth Bridge contains 48,000 tons of steel.

There are, in all, 05 masters at Eton College. ,

North America has a white population of 100,000,000. Peas were cultivated in Europe more than 1,000 years ago. Walrus-hunters paint their boats white, to resemble cakes of ice.

The art of wicker-weaving has been tin industry for 5,000 years. There are 32,680,000 trade unionists in Europe and the British Empire.

Florida is the greatest orangegrowing State in the United States of America.

Some 70 periodicals printed in Esperanto, the universal language, are now published. Tlte Town of Emporia, Kansas U.S.A., claims to have more automobiles (ban families.

Ninety-six per cent, of the motor vehicles in the United States ar« American-made. Death duties were first levied in Great Britain on real estate —land, horses, etc. —in 1894. Canada has 252,180 miles of road, of which 25*000 miles constitute highways of the first class. Fifty modern vessels are employed to lay and look after the submarine cables of the world.

On the New York to Chicago air service passengers are to he charged according to their weight. With the going good, an Eskimo dog will draw an average of 3001 b. weight for 25 miles in one day. About 1,000 tons of obsolete cannon balls are being offered for sale at Acre by the Government of Palestine.

Motor car registrations hr Canada are reported to be increasing at the date of 25 per cent, every year. Lake Eric, part of the boundary between Canada and the United States, has an area of 10,000 square miles.

The construction of the Panama Canal involved the removal of 175,000,000 cubic yards of material —soil, rocks, etc.

The first ship of the Hebrew commercial lleet, the Ifaloutz (Pioneer)

lias been smashed by a gale at the Pert of Jaffa.

The Chinese,' of all peoples, attach most importance to etiquette, their Boole of Bites dating back to the lirst century, B.C.

A Swiss has arrived in Paris after travelling round the world on a bicycle. Tie covered 35.000 miles, and took seven years. When the Delhi motor show was destroyed by fire many fine ears were burned. Their value was estimated at about £130,000. The two extremes in human hair are that of the negro, fiat in section and curly, and that of the Mongolian, which is round and straight*. A leading New York shop has installed an ingenious X-ray outfit which permits its customers to see how their feet til any pair of shoes, The legend that pigs kill themselves by cutting their throats with their sharp fore!ioofs is generally b< Keyed, but there is no truth in ii. Paris can claim the busiest telephone subscribers in Europe, many of them putting through 10,000 calls a year on a single instrument. Every London fog will now be recorded by new machine-., by which, at the end of the fog season, the total fog weight will im made known. Belgian children under 16 are only admitted to picture shows which exhibit films approved by a special commission for family consumption,

A Bill lift." been inireduced by the Dutch Government for tho compulsory physical training of the entire Dutch population between 1(1 and 10 years of age.

The Municipality of Ilameiin, Normanby, lias elected as its Mayor a former ‘‘poilu,'' aged 24, who is said to be the youngest .Mayor in France. Paris hotels and restaurant* are now officially allowed to serve meals of more than two courses, the last of (he war food restrictions having been thus removed.

The Government telegraphs of India last year made a profit of just over £1,000,000 after paying all expenses, ineluding interest. Anglo-Indians are agitating foi cheaper rates. The recent great, earthquake in China affected an area of 40,000 square miles. Whole villages were buried, thousands killed, and in many places half the houses have been destroyed. For the first time for 40 years the depth of the Seine at Paris has dropped below oft.. owing to the prolonged drought, and the canals in Central France may soon become too .shallow for navigation. The population of Btula Pest as revealed by this year's census, is 020,721. . The increase in population between 1000 and 1010 was 200,248, but the increase between 1910 and 1020 was only 25,353. The statue of Joan of Arc. which was removed from Kheim* during the bombardment of the city by the Germans, is to be brought back again on July lt.Oli, when a special pageant and fete will celebrate its return.

The heaviest fall of snow experienced for 20 years fell in New York on February 10th. Train services were utterly disorganised, seven deaths from cold occurred, and many people were injured owing to vehicle accidents and falls.