NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 2981, 31 December 1925, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF.

All Shakespear’s will shortly he published, translated’into Japanese. If the poison fangs of a snake are taken out, a new pair of fangs will grow.

More than 30',00 marriages take place every year in the County of London

Jack Hobbs, the well-known cricketer, has had a itew variety of dahlia named after him.

Out of the 24,350,000 families of the United States, over 11,000,000 own their own homes.

Landowners in Hungary arc prohibited by old laws from selling a single acre of their estates. Lundy Island, with a populat on of less than 50 persons, is not subject to either rate or taxes.

A rat costs a penny a day to feed, and there are as many rats in Great Britain as there are people. Sent up at Shai'dlow, in Derbyshire, a.toy ballon was found the following day, still inllaled, floating on a mill pond at Strasbourg, in France.

At a farm -fire near Barmouth the congregation of a church close by fought the flames, and rescued a calf, some poultry, and some pigs. Although he is v 74 years old, Mr. Hannant plunged, fully dressed, into a dyke ten feet deep.in Norfolk, and saved a little boy from drowning.

A homing pigeon has had a broken leg set at West London Hospital —the first time that a bird has been sent to the hospital for treatment. The burning down of the Japanese House of Commons is believed to have been due to the carelessness of workmen repairing the other House.

The world's smallest state has the world’s tallest ruler. Dr. Heinrich Salim, president of the free city of Danzig, is six feet eight in-' dies in height. After’a lecture from the teacher on lifeboats, the children of an infants’ school in a poor ..disfxkT, Lwkknf collect ed TJ.jgpunong them - selves for the insti.luion.

The new carillon of 52 bells, made at Croydon and just rung for the first tiuio in New York, played ‘Abide with Me," while a great crowd listened over a radius of two miles.

At an inquiry into the proposal for abolishing a Limehouse slum one of the tenants, opposing the scheme, was asked what his house was like. “II is*a palace, sir," he said. According to an agricultural economist, (lie United Slates of America can support a population of 350 millions of people. P>.v apply- ' ing German methods this figure cad be increased to 574 millions. A threshing machine on a farm in the United States broke down re- ‘ eentiy. New parts were needed, and, rather than waste valuable time, an aeroplane ws hired to fly '.to the nearest centre for the parts. A cheap new,gas, non-poisonous,-has been invented, which, it is claimed,; gives twice as much light .and heat as coal gas. 11 is made from oilwaste by a process invented by Dr. O. 11. Bean. A 17-year-old youth has lately died in England from the effects of a scratch from a blackberry thorn on the eyelid. At the inquest the coroner urged the importance of giving instant attention to all scratches. ’ ' ' * ' A Scotland Yard official, Mr. W. J. Giles, has patented simple plates, for Jilting.to motor-cars tp reduce the danger of accidents. At the touch of a button the word “Right,” ‘Left,” or “Stop” appears brightly lighted on the plates. A French inventor, M. Dessau, is reported to have produced waterproof matches. Rubber is added to the fulminating material and then vulcanised. Every match tested after immersion in water is said to • have ignited without difficulty. j The special wireless station, to be

used for “beam” telegraphy, which is under construction at Bridgewater*in Somerset will be notable for its great masts, of which there, will be ten. Each is 287 feet high, and 12 feet square, the weight be-mgf-close'lupon 50 tons. During restoration work at the Thermae of Septimus Servus, Rome, where a theatre and cabaret are now housed in the proximity of the Piazza Barbarini, and marble .statute of Minerva has been discovered. It is headless, but is otherwise in a good state of preserva-