NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2311, 4 August 1921, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF.

The Canary Islands are famous for their tomatoes, 17,000,0001 b. of which were imported into England during January and February of this year.

The world’s total production of gold last year amounted to £70,000,000, of which the British Empire contributed £48,241,000 • GO per cent, of the total.

R3B, the British airship which has been sold to America, is nearing completion, and will fly the Atlantic in June. It is hoped to make a nonstop record by continuing the trip to the Pacific Coast, a distance of some 8,000 miles. In 1020, 17,079,000 animals were carried on the railways of the United Kingdom. A similar number was carried during 1917,'but in 1913 nearly 20,000,000 animals were carried.

One of the largest aluminiumbearing deposits in the world has been discovered near Tapolcza, Hungary. It is believed to contain a possible deposit yielding 150,000,000 tons of aluminium.

Of 638 fatal accidents in the London metropolitan police area during 1920, 18 are attributed to push-bicycles, 69 to horse-drawn vehicles, 118 to tramcars and motor ’buses, and 433 to other mechani-cally-propelled vehicles. The tonnage of merchandise carried on the railways of the United Kingdom in 1920 was 317,877,500, as against 364,162,500 in 1913. The decrease in tonnage is probably due to the increased use of motor transport.

The librarian of the Sydney Municipal Library discloses the fact that during 1920 there were 1,093 books stolen, 407 being works of fiction, and 154 from the children’s library, the total loss to the City Council being £226. Ice an inch and a-half thick will support the weight of an ordinary man. Four inches will support cavalry. An eighty-four pound cannon could travel safely over five-inches, and eighteen inches is sufficient for a, railway train.

The French Navy is to wage war on whales. Crews of fishery protection boats have been ordered to open fire on any white whales sighted on patrol, and the destroyers and scout ships will assist in destroying whales to prevent their ravages among sardines. ■

The telephone was a .toy in 1876, {lie typewriter a crude arrangement in 1878, the electric industry a baby ill 1879 (when Edison invented the incandescent light), the phonograph was a curiosity in 1890, and moving pictures a flickering experiment in 1896. .

It is only 100 years since the English secured seaports at Canton and elsewhere in China, and only 50 years since Commodore Perry opened the ports of Japan ter the world, and yet the trade of the Far East exceed-, that of South America, Africa ami Australia combined, with future prospects of a much more extensive trade as their people adopt western methods of living and make use of the manufactured products of Europe and the United States.

Aeroplane.- are doing useful work in dealing with the plague of grasshoppers on the Crau Plateau north-west of Mar-eiHe-), which is far more serious than it was last year, crops of all kinds being destroyed over some 100,000 acres. Pilots report breeding-grounds, and scatter poisoned bran. -Japanese emigration to . South America is increasing rapidly, mainly to Brazil and Peru. According to recent statistics supplied to the International Labour Office, there are about 34,000 Japanese in Brazil and 10,000 in Peru;, they are engaged in Brazil on coffee-pi an ting and Peru on sugar-cane and cotton plantations.

Passengers carried on British railways in 1020 miinbered 1,560,801,000, as compared with 1,507,J 17,000 in 1010. Season ticket holders increased from 003,200 to 1,015,000, Receipts, including Government compensation, were £302,100,000, an increase oi' £71,700,000. The engine mileage showed an increase oi' nearly 43,500,000 miles.

The estimated cost of the proposed new tunnel under the Thames la# tween Gravesend and Tilbury, to link up the Kent and Essex railways, is £2,500,000. If the project is carried out, it will be the most expensive Thames tunnel yet constructed. There tire eight tunnels altogether, excluding tubes. The most historic tunnel is the Thames Tunnel, which leads from Wapping to Kotherhithe. Work on this was started in 1824, but owing to the river breaking through on several occasions, it was not completed till 1843.

In England a billion means a million millions, and is indicated by the figure one followed by twelve ciphers. In France and America the term is used to indicate a thousand millions, so that an English billion is a thousand times bigger than an American billion.