NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 2756, 10 July 1924, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF.

The place with the shortest name in the British Isles is On, in Scotland. Street accidents in Great Britain during 1i)23 caused 2,97!) deaths, Shrewsbury had received 32 Koyul Charters by the time of -lames I. A Wesleyan chapel in Stepney has been granted a cinematograph license. At a Theydon Bois (Fssox) whist drive Mrs Luck won the first prize and Mrs Love third. Londoners annually spend about thirty million pounds on travelling to and from work. A prisoner recently escaped from the Griinshv Gaol by cutting a bole in a 12in. Avail. Britain’s war widows have been decreased by 90,000, avlio have married again. Hereford Gaol is for sale. It is

suggested that it should be turned into offices or flats.

Oxford has 88 doctors ~f whom three are women, and 2 1 dentists, including two women. The Portsmouth corporation lias forbidden the -extension of wireless aerials across public highways. “Scratching posts" of wood are now provided in all the cages in the lion house at the London Zoo. Girl Guides of which there are 317,862 iu Britain, now outnumber the Bov Scouts whose total is 270110.

Claws on its wings as well as on its legs enable the hoatzin, a South American bird to climb trees like a cat.

Between January 1, 1020 and March 31, 1924, 220 lives were lost in accidents to R.A.F. and civilian aeroplanes. A tomtit has been building its nest in a pillar-box at Caldera], Lancashire, using the-, letters as “building material.”

Using a special pack of cards, Mr \\\ Percy Merrick, a blind man, just failed to win a Shepperton whist drive prize. In turf bets, including ready money and credit transactions, it is estimated that £140,000,000 is staked annually in Britain. Referees at the six-day cycle races in Paris are on duty during the whole of the test: this means 144 hours with little or no sleep. The breeding of rabbits and silkworms is encouraged by the Spanish' Government who have sent instructions to local authorities. Our blood is red by accident. A scientist stated recently that we do not know yet why it should not be green or anv other colour.

Women’s instinctive dread 'of rats and mice is "said to lie due to llie fact that limy knew that rat. Ileas were the child' carriers of pla-

During 192.'i there were prescribed for London school children 23.577 pairs of spectacles, of winch it is 4iiiown that 21,357 were obtained. Ten thousand Jews were guests at the wedding in Rumania, of a rabbi's daughter. The food included 35 oxen, 21(1 sheep and 169 calves. Among London's sione animals, ns shown in statuary, are horses camels, elepliats, ranis, bison, dogs, sheep, and lambs, rats, mice and squirrels. Jigsaw puzzles are returning to popularly: some of the newest contain anything up to 5(10 pieces and take even mi expert a week to piece together. The London County Council lias n waiting list of 15.00(1 for its houses. Applications arc received at a rale of 1,000 a week, but most of I he lists are closed. In the .Mall, London, a beacon has been creeled giving a Hashing green light similar in principle to the ivnwat(died lights employed in nia l ine mi via.a I ion. Seven boxing ■ contests tollowed immediately upon devotional exeri 'scs at a prayer meeting at the Merritt .Memorial Methodist Church in Denver (Colorado). A lad of 16 told the Shoreditch County Court judge that after an

accident t<> his hand in a factory Ik- applied for clerical work, hut was always told he was too old to start. On being told that a man sued to' rent at the .Southwark County Court was penniless, Judge Sir r l. Granger made him a grant: from the poor I,ox to set him up in business. The Rev. Denham Rowe Norman Master of St. John’s Hospital, Lichfield, the oldest clergyman on the active list in Fmgland. has just celebrated his 9(ith birthday. A live eel, 2fft. long, a large plaice, and_ two small cels were found in the gullet of a monk (mb, weighing about Icwf., which was caught in the floating dock at Penzance. After remaining dumb and feigningl madness for a year, a french criminal was recently sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment. He promptly broke his silence with a cont ession. At one point in Fmgland 3,900,000 tons of traffic pa<s annually both ways over a roadway only lift. wide. This is in Warrington, on the main road between Liverpool and Manchester. In response to the agitation lor beautifying the highways of America, the Standard Oil Company has ordered the destruction of 1500 huge signboards it had set up t hroughout California.