NEWS IN BRIEF

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2447, 29 June 1922, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF

Morroco has no newspapers,

The area of England is 50,874 square miles. The moon moves 3,350 feet every second.

The first British Navigation’Act was passed in 1381. The harbour works of Southampton cover over*3,ooo acres. Monuments to military heroes are unknown in China.

Sheffield Wednesday Football Club was established in 1866. The two .words, “skirt” and “shirt” were originally the same. The first machine for sewing mechanically was patented-i«-1790.

In water sound travels about four and a half times as fast as in air. In the form of matches, more than two tons of wood are consumed daily. Fish that flush, crimson with excitement when given food are found in India.

The production of cinema films is now the third largest industry in Germany. The finest Kashmir shawls cost as much as £3OO when bought in that country.

An engineering works in the Midlands is managed and staffed by women entirely. Ocean steamers ascend the River Amazon for a distance of 2,300 mres from the sea.

The oldest operated mine in tl world in Sweden. It was wort ing in A.D.1225.

In the Sahara and Gobi deserts and in parts of Mexico and Peru, rain never falls.

There are nine British species of fish of the skate family, all of which are edible.

The finest public collodion of postage stamps is that in the Berlin Postal Museum. Railway fares in Norway tor journeys exceeding 30 miles have been reduced IS per cent. One school in Carnarvonshire has only seven pupils, while five have fewer than fourteen each.

Quakers in North America num her 120,000 as compared with 20, 000 in the United Kingdom.

Leeds Corporation accounts show a loss of £43,000 on the municipal tramways last year.

There were 8,305 casual paupers in England and Wales on the night of March 24, last, and 7,400 on July 31, 1914. A cat on a farm near Lincoln has adopted eight ducklings following the drowning of its own kittens. Last year 138,118 animals were sent to the cattle market at Islington, London, for sale, compared with 182,452 in 1920. Estimated to cost £1,000,000, a pipe line is to be laid to carry water from Ambleside to Manchester, a distance of 28 miles. Although blind, a Canadian exsoldier has passed the Canadian Civil Service examination for employment as a shorthand clerk. By remaining at work instead of retiring on pension a North Bucks police inspector has saved the ratepayers £7OO in three years. A globe representing the world has been unveiled in America as a memorial to Admiral Peary, the gallant discoverer of the North Pole. Some of the finest lace in the world is made by the women of the Philippine Islands from strong, silky fibre obtained from pineapple leaves.

The Governments of .Canada and the United States have geographic boards who are responsible for the authentic spelling of place-names. The pipe which Sir Walter Raleigh smoked on the scaffold in 1618 is now in the private museum belonging to a London firm of tobacconists.

Girls clad in simple white gowns recently danced in a New York church as a part of the service, while limelights played on them from the galleries. The cost of living went up enormously in Berlin on April 1, rents being increased by 90 per cent, while numerous taxes also became much heavier.

Charles Dickens insisted on having his bed placed north and south and it is said that he carried a compass in his luggage to ensure the correct angle. Congress has voted £220,000 for the taking of immediate steps to control the waters of the Mississippi River, which has been in a dangerously flooded state. James van Albert, the tallest man in the world, is 9ft. sin. in height. He has recently been received by President Harding at Washington. His wife is sft. 7in.