NEWS IN BRIEF.
For the first time in its history, the great Krupp works at Essen, Germany, have worked a year without making a single implement of war.
Caterpillars and beetles which prey on cactus are being imported into Australia to fight the pricklypear, which is spreading at an alarming rate. Goldfish are natives of China, but they have long been acclimatised by fish breeders in Italy, whence come the bulk of the European supplies. The youngest man to receive the rank of field marshal was the Duke of Connaught, who received his honour when just over fifty-two years ; of age.
The arrival at Capetown of the new 20,000-ton liner, Arundel Castle, caused enormous interest, this being the largest vessel plying south of (he Equator. The partial electrification of the Melbourne suburban railways has proved a great financial success, the saving effected thereby amounting to £IOI,OOO per annum. The prevailing idea that parachutes frequently fail to open is a fallacy. In (500 parachute descents from observation balloons during the war, only three failures occurred.
A little brick cottage situated at Passv, one of the most fashiomibln quarters of Paris, which was bought in 1879 for 7,000 francs, was sold by auction recently for 135,000 francs.
One of the municipal councillors of Paris proposes that for the projected piano tax shall be substituted taxes on star carpets and lifts, as being outward signs of wealth which can easily be controlled. Aeroplanes are being used in South America to search for oilwells in swampy jungle-land; where it bubbles up, the oil kills all the surrounding vegetation, thus making aerial observation easy.
Horses l’ed upon preserved seaweed, according to experiments made by the French Army Veterinary Service, put on weight, remain very lively, and are capable of as much work as horses fed on oats.
The Canadian city of 'Winnipeg, with its suburbs, lias a population of 282,818, an increase of 10,8(50 over the estimate in 1920. Fifty years ago Winnipeg was a Hudson Bay trading post with a population of 200.
The American World’s Sunday School Association lias gathered statistics everywhere about the schools, and it estimates that there arc 287,420 Sunday schools in the. world, with 2,58(5,825 teachers and 27,709,70(i scholars.
Among the paradise fish found in China, the male blows bubbles until a sticky froth floats on the surface of the water; to the under-surface of this he transfers' the eggs as soon as they are laid, guarding them from destruction by liis mate. Great Britain alone uses something like 5,000,000 tons of paper every year. This sounds —and is—a lot; but it is small in comparison with the United States of America, whose average consumption in nearly 40,000,000 tons per annum. , The abolition of postmen’s Christ-mas-boxes was vigorously debated at the annual conference of the Postal Workers' Union at Edinburgh. A resolution was adopted urging the Labour party to demand legislation making Christmas boxes illegal.
For .speed and stamina' there are not any runners in the world capable of beating the Tarahumare Indians, of whom about 15,000 survive in Mexico. They are in great demand as Government couriers, for they are said to be able to cover 170 miles a day on foot, and have been known to run GOO miles in tive days. The inhabitants of Teneriffe are feeling very much cut off from the sutler world, because they have not up to the present seen an aeroplane. The French Under-Secretary of State for- Aviation was so much struck by this misfortune that he has arranged that an shall shortly proceed to Teneriffe for the special purpose of giving a series of exhibitions near the town.
It is interesting to know that China’s Grand Canal, at one time one of the world’s great engineering wonders, is to be put in order and used again as a trade route between the north and south. The parts now blocked with mud are to be excavated, and £1,250,000 arc to be spent immediately. The worlj will be carried out under the direction of American engineers, and it is hoped that in a comparatively short period a section of 100 miles will be made ready for navigation.
Despite pessimistic statements (o the contrary, the season at Monte Carlo was a bumper one. The receipts amounted to £1,380,000, or £260,000 more than in the previous season, and the net profit was £440,000. It is stated unofficially that
£130,000 was given in tips to the croupiers by the winners. A plague of monkeys has descended upon Simla. At the command of a leader, they will loot it certain shop in the bazaar, and leave others alone. In one house the dining room was found recently in the possession of a dozen monkeys, who were eating the fruit off the sideboard and opening bottles. A French war widow, Mme. Pavelet, living near Auxerrc, in the Department of the Yonnc, with her two children, learned recently that she had won the French lottery prize of 1,000,000 francs. She had purchased a one-franc lottery bond in Hie hope that if she won a prize it would serve as a dowry for her little girl when she grew up and married. William Philadelphia, a famous animal trainer, and Carl Hagenbeek’s right-hand man, has just died at Berlin from injuries inflicted by an elephant. Philadelphia, who has trained lions, tigers, Polar bears, brown bears, seals, elephants, and even a crocodile, was cutting the corn of an elephant named Rose
at a circus, when she took offence and squeeze him against the wall ol‘ her cage, breaking his leg and several ribs.
An outbreak of ptomaine poisoning lias occurred at Bancroft Lodge, an English workhouse infirmary. In the early part of the week some 27 members of the staff, principally women employed in the laundry,
were taken ill. All the symptoms pointed to ptomaine poisoning. It is thought that the poisoning was caused by some gravy which was served to the laundry hands at dinner. The committee has dismissed two of the staff, whom it considers responsible, and a full investigation is being made by the hoard.
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Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2301, 12 July 1921, Page 1
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1,017NEWS IN BRIEF. Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2301, 12 July 1921, Page 1
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