GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3735, 29 December 1927, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

The first gas for domestic use in England was conducted from the retorts to points of use through the utilisation of discarded gun-barrels. Traffic problems are no new things. So long ago as 1601, coaches so congested London’s narrow streets .that the Government had to take control. The crow population of the United States is estimated at 200 millions, and each bird is believed to cost the farmers of the nation a dollar a year. Pictures built up of pieces of vvallpaper are the newest “art” hobby. The inventor is a Sussex man who lias turned- out some very charming effects.

! Furnace Creek Ranch in Death Valley, California, is the hottest known inhabited spot in the world. A thermometer there registered 134 deg. in the shade. Rubber shoelaces have appeared on the market. They are said to stretch so easily that shoes can be put on or taken off without being unlaced.

London footballers are asking for pitches totalling more than 500 acres in excess of the space which the parks committee of the council can devote to the sport. Grocers who make too much profit are now penalised by the Paris police, who debar the offenders from showing their Wares on the pavement outside their shops. French or foreign firms established in France who wish to employ a worker who is not of French nationality must now get permission from' the French Alinistry of Labour.

Manicure-sets and ornamental pins have been found in fancy reticules dug up near Ur of the Chaldees, proving that the modern van-ity-bag is really a very old institution.

, The grubby appearance of the pillars of the Guildhall, London, was caused by the' smoke froig the Great Fire of Jjondon, the result of which has never been cleared away. There are various crimes which a member of the House of Commons in his ignorance may most readily commit, and one of the most serious is to lock a door in the House. A new census in Palestine gives a population of 887,000, of whom 041,000 are Mohammedans, 158,000 Jews, and 78,000 Christians. The Jews have nearly doubled since 1922. In intellect, idealls, .artistic achievement, and muscular prowess, the people of to-daj' are no better than those of 3000 years ago, according to Professor Millikan, the world-famous scientist. Built with such delicacy as to include the wings of flies among its working parts, a new instrument will be used in measuring infinitesimal quantities of heat in the spectra of distant stars. , cert performers in the United States. For a one-night appearance in American cities with 300,000 population, John McGonnackj the Irish tenor, is guaranteed £IOOO, Fritz Kreislei> the violinist, £950, and Galli-Curci, the soprano, and Paderewski, the pianist, £BSO each.