NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 2710, 20 March 1924, Page 1

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Orchards cover 252,ut1t) acres of Great Britain. A hippopotamus' hide in some parts is 2iu. thick. The largest oyster.- in the world are obtained from Japan. Paris has voted a million francs for demolishing it- slums. Three out of every 135 English speaking people have red hair. Two hundred ml twenty-four gallon- of fresh water weigh a ton. Doctors slate that after the age of 50 the human brain loses weight. There are ISO mountains in the Alps from 4000 ft. to 15,732 ft. high. The United States now has 40 per cent, of the worlds railway mileage. In one summer the defendants of a single fly wili number 2,080,320. There are to-day 25,200 more small holdings in Britain than in 1922. Toothbrushes and mirrors are unknown on Porto Santo Island, oil Madeira. Eighty-five per cent, of the people who are lame are affected on the left side.

Carbonic acid is a component of snow, which is therefore a splendid fertiliser.

Of all the railway occupations those of the shunter and guard are the most dangerous. British postage stamps have been printed by only four different linns since 1839.

Uunk nj' England notes are numbered backwa nh i'ruinlO.OOO, lien - ila- lijrni'o 00.(Mil. Motor trallic is inure easily handi< < I I* \ the police Ilian the old liot se-di a wit vehicles. The nettle, which has IS common varieties, is the most widely spread of any wild plant. The lies I opera ever performed iii public was given 323 years ago at a French royal wedding. The average temperature of the whole globe is 50 degrees, or 18 degrees above freezing point.