NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3569, 30 November 1926, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF.

There are 20,000 families in Italy with over 10 children.

A large nest of wasps will account for 24,000 flies in a day.

No pennies have been struck at the British Mint since 1922. Wireless apparatus is now installed in 3,500,000 British homes. It is estimated that a single pound of silk is the product of 2300 silkworms.

Heat from a fire at Standbridge, Bedfordshire, baked apples on the trees.

Twice as many children live to grow up nowadays as compared with 50 years ago.

Making artificial silk stockings is now finding employment for over 2000 workers in Britain. There are about 1000 building societies 'in Britain, with over 1,000,000 members on their books.

In one brickyard in the Northeast of England 5,000,000 bricks can be produced every 12 months. Fog alone is stated to have appreciable effect on the death rate from respiratory' diseases. Formerly a public-house, a building in Manchester has now been acquired for use as a church vestry.

In Russia there are several farms where horses are bred for making violin bows from their hair. The costliest watch in the world is a jewelled timepiece owned by the Pope. It is valued at £60,000.

Women have invaded all but 37 of the occupations of the world. There are as yet no women enginedrivers.

Only one form of lizard is venomous, the gila monster of Arizona. These reptiles have about 50 poison fangs each. Fresh-water eels travel a distance equal to a quarter of the earth’s circumference, about 6000 miles, in their lives.

A diamond with a hole right through the middle has been discovered at Elandsputte. It is of special value as a, freak gem. The ordinary weight of the human heart is 9Joz., and in size the organ is equal to the closed list of the person to whom it belongs. Last year British railways carried nearly 75 million parcels, 278 million gallons of milk, 33,843 tons of meat, and 473,738 tons of fish. Fines levied on motorists and paid into the British Road I und during the financial year 1925-26 amounted to approximately £165,ono.