NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2430, 18 May 1922, Page 1

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Beer was taxed in Egypt over 2,000 years ago.

It is reported that a group o£ Swedish financiers have asked permission of the Soviet Government to found a. hank in Moscow with a capital of 150,000,000 kroner (£B, 300,000). The bank will principally be interested in the corn trade.

The daily output of newsprint in Canada in a strip one yard wide, would encircle the globe. This is equivalent to a daily production of 2,525 tons of treated pulp. This represents a daily cut of more than 6,000 acres. Switzerland has made treaties with Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and the Netherlands allowing aircraft to land without previous permission. The basin of the St. Lawerence River, North America, contains more than half the fresh water in the world and includes Niagara Falls.

The “double,” a. small bronze coin worth half a farthing, and still minted in Guernsey, is the smallest coin in circulation in the United Kingdom.

Gold and silver to the value of over £2,250,000 were extracted from the Hollinger Consolidated Gold Mines, Limited (Canada), during 1920.

r Tlie population of Canada is 8,772,000. This is an increase of 1,565,357 since the census of 1911. The increase between 1901 and 1911 was 1,835,328.

At a meeting of the West Derby (Liverpool) Guardians it was stated that the number of poor receiving outdoor relief was 64,411, ,‘igainst 10,602 last year.

Charles Dickens insisted upon having his bed placed north and south, and it is said that he carried a compass in his luggage to ensure the correct degree.

In accordance with his last wishes. the body of Captain F. -T. Mosely late marine superintendent of the Union Cast/le Line, was buried at sea off the Isle of Wight.

An estate of 1,000 acres of farming land in Nebraska and a cheque for £3,125 compose the record “tip” recently given to a waitress in an American railway station restaurant.

The maximum weight which a man should lie able, to carry without breaking down is about one-third of his own—i.e., a man weighing lOst. should be able to carry 471bs. A bow and a set of arrows more than 4,000 years old which came from a tomb in Egypt, are among the antiques owned by the Royal Toxophilite (Archery) Society in London.

An Italian airman, while looping the loop over Udine, lost control of the machine, which fell on a house crashing through the roof and killing a woman as well as the airman.

A light-armoured car, capable of travelling at a high speed and at the same time firing 4,800 rounds of ammunition a minute, is being experimented with by the Army authorities.

Claimed as the tiniest capital in the world, Tulagi, the .administrative centre of the Solomon Islands, contains thirty whites and a few Chinese. It does not contain a single road. That they would be worn one day by.a king’s daughter is a tradition attached by the Cianricade Diamonds, which Viscount Lascelles presented to Princess Mary on their wedding-day.

Wooden dishes, plates, and bowls are coming into fashion again for table use. Made of walnut, mahogany, and other pleasing woods, they are more costly but less fragile than glass or china.

Margate Corporation has made over £2,000 in rents for various “pitches” on the beach of the famous resort for the coming summer. Last, season’s rents were less than half the value of this year’s. The War Department, Washington, announces an immediate reduction of the American Forces in Germany by 203 officers and 3,000 men. The remaining consist of 100 officers and 2,217 men.