NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3592, 29 January 1927, Page 1

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Tlic savage inhabitants of the Dutch Island of Nias, oft' the coast of Sumatra, still practise head-hun-ting and decorate their homes with human skulls.

Painted on a piece of apron calico, a painting by a London plumber was recently exhibited in a London show and bought by a well-known expert.

In the new Devonshire House, London’s newest block of palatial flats, there are fourteen lifts, a bank within the. building, and separate bathrooms to all bedrooms.

Maltese dogs, the little whitehaired animals so popular as pets in Victorian days, are no longer to be found on their native island. They were all exported for breeding.

Photography, without plates or films is possible, it is claimed, with a new invention of a South African chemist. Pictures are taken directly on sensitised paper. Damages amounting to £3 have been awarded to a Lille typist, who was dismissed by her employee, the day after she was engaged, because she had her hair bobbed.

Although he has two artificial legs, M.r. Austin, of Chelsea, has driven 30,000 miles in one car, won several racing prizes, and travelled from London to Newcastle in one stretch.

Hackney, London, it is said, possesses what is probably the smallest consecrated church in the land. In it are seats for “ten poor, ancient widows,” who live in ten almshouses.

Handling bulbs has been known to set up skin disease in certain eases. In the same way, people employed in cutting the stems of narcissi and similar blooms may develop a rash. Questions asked in the British Parliament cost on an average not less than thirty shillings each to answer. There may be as many as* 120 questions on one day’s order paper. A “cat” burglarjw.as sentenced to seven year's penal servitude Tat Leeils; The judge remarked on the futility of moderate sentences on a man determined to live a life of crime.