NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3737, 5 January 1928, Page 1

NEWS IN BRIEF.

All the underside of a star fish :is endowed with the sense of smell.'

itlugli'Gotobed was' the name of a chilil christened at Cieethorpe recently.'' '■

Ui the male population of Canada over lu years ul age, 77.5 per cent, work for their living.

'So small that it cannot; be-seen vvii'tii the nazed eye save as a tmy speck, in the middle of a piece' of glass, a pnotograph was recently on show in London. One hundred of these would occupy about the, space of a pin’s head. v

Forty years ago Mr. L. Foster, of Tebworth, Bedfordshire, bought’ a cumin-for half-a-crown, and kept it under has hed because he thought .he was going, to die of quinsy. He recovered, resold the'coffin for eight shillings, and it, is now. used for storing odds and ends. .. ') /; .Curtains , made of artificial silk are superseding in popularity the white cotton variety, so rapidly that there is a dearth of operatives in 'Britain td, make; them. A highlyakalled. hand, may receive as much as £7 a week without overtime. [

To commemorate Sir Francis Drake’s association with the River Medway a model of his famous ship, the Golden Hind, has been hung in the Dockyard Church at Chatham. This ship was tlie first English vessel to sail round the world.

As the result of test questions put 'to boys and girls of ten to fourteen who use the Bethnal Green Public Library, it was found 'that Shakespeare was more popular than Dickens. Sixty-four children voted for the Bard and 24 for the novelist.

Honey that poisons has been discovered in Asia Minor by a German explorer. Eating it causes giddiness and sometimes temporary unconsciousness. Poisonous species of rhododendrons are believed to furnish the nectar the bees turn into toric honey. Returning to . Middlesbrough for the firs.t time since he went to Australia fifty years ago, Mr. Bennett H. Alston, now the wealthy owner of a Melbourne building known as Alston’s Corner, took back the still

uncashed cheque given to him by his lni'iier when lie left' home. . According to Burmese superstiiiou marriage betvveen|t»’o persons born on the same day djtythe week is certain to bring misfortune. To prevent these unfortunate marriages, all children arc called by a name which begins with a letter associated with the day of the week upon which they were born. , A snow-white young blackbird is to be seen daily with its parents, on the Portmadoc golf links. Instances of albinism among birds are not ■are. The phenomenon is due to the j/- hsence of the normal colouring .natter from the deepest layer of the skin, and the hair or feathers >. are similarly 'affected. With intense artificial light that rivalled sunshine, a French biologist has succeeded in growing three .‘generations of beets in a single ’ cur The powerful illumination • ;;>) —d the plants to, go to seed more |f; -a ally and the seed to germinate in Hiar less time than usual. 'v | A macliine that can smoke three r-lozeii pipes at once now saves the E-moiier me uistasieful job of a new briar or meers■Lnaum. Equipped' with mechanical jSuuuih anu lungs, it ‘’ages” a pipe tn u way that would ordinarily re- & litre weeks of .steady use. |L What is prouably the smallest Pf-uliiig ever done is that of a lnema ot tne staff of the Ordinance f! survey office at Southamptob, who Ihas written the Lord’s Prayer ele|ven times on a space the size of a Puireepeimy-piece. He used a litho. Lbrush and a reading glass. ' | I’ennics from children, especially BCi .Sunday Schools, have done much iio increase the fund which has been munched for the proposed Scottish fffit'ional memorial Do David LivingIfcme, the missionary and traveller. The amount aimed at is'£l2,ooo, of v,Licit. £7OOO has been raised, .subscriptions from cdiildren amounting |lo £IOOO. p. itareiy in the history of Uie Jamt a baiuuia trffue has iffere been itciivijy as is’ Dding''Uis-. icuscnt. Fri>in tne. beyear until last weekI'e bnii;t nas ffad 1 been exported Uian at any similar period m History,' Tice number effhnot, says Reuter, be less tiian 17,250,000 bunches. . y v ~ ■ /•'( ■■ ;. y A rabbit catcher of Llanbedroh, near Fyvilheii, found, the ;leg. of a black v alibit - in' one of; his traps ;. and after resetting the trap found another'leg in it a week laiteE He found the rabbit a. few days later, minus two legs, in,'another trap, the wounds having healed., :1 An American has presented 50. guineas to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, making, his fifth gift. He lias now given if £260. Each gift, since the first, has been made, in the names of members of his family or of friends .in" order that they, too, may be associated with the work of the (British lifeboats. . I'T A'

In ' Campbelltown; Argyllshire,, there, is a barber, who has' decided that, for conscientious reasons, based on the Bible, he. cannot cut women’s hair. A member of a strict religious sect, he has announced his decision to discontinue all forms of women’s hairdressing forthwith.