NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2325, 6 September 1921, Page 1

NEWS IN BRIEF.

The malt liquor callod porter is said to have obtained its appellation on account of its having been drunk by porters in the City of London about 1730.

During the calendar year 1920 the imports into Liverpool from the United States reached the figure of £271,547,600. Some of the principal items in this total were: —Raw cotton, £lO6, £106,097,400; bacon, £27,553,000; wheat, £9,459,600; hams, £6,680,200; lard, £6,577,000; and copper ingots, £5,369,800. A surplus production of brown coal in Czecho-Slovakia has permitted an increased exportation from that country into Austria, and to this has been added Dutch coal of high heating value and briquets from Germany. The net result is a substantial improvement of the coal situation as compared with a few months ago.

As a consequence of trade depression prevalent in Japan, the number of emigrants tend to increase. It is expected that during the present year there will he about 10,000 emigrants—3,ooo to Brazil, 2,000 to Peru, 1,500 to Philippine Islands, 100 to Australasia, and more than 2,000 to other parts of the world.

When the war started Zurich had a population of 206,000, with only 34 persons worth 1,000,000 francs each, and none of whom possessed more than 5,000,000 francs. To-day *the population of Zurich is 1,000 less than it was in 1914, but the census returns show that the city has 344 persons worth 1,000,000 francs or more each, with two worth more than 10,000,000 francs each, and 25 worth more than 5,000,0jQ0 francs each. This is . the Swiss franc, which has double the ordinary value of the French franc. It is reported from Paris that the German proposal to supply 25,000 wooden houses for the devastated regions as part of the reparations in kind has been approved in principle, and French and German experts are now considering the type of houses to be supplied.

The Spanish Government has presented to Parliament a vast scheme of public works, involving an expenditure of £200,000,000, half of which would be appropriated to railways and the remainder to roads, agriculture, irrigation, harbours, and coast lighting.