NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3847, 20 September 1928, Page 1

NEWS IN BRIEF.

It takes 100 livers to yield one gallon of eodliver oil. During its lifetime the sturgeon lays about 7,000,000 eggs. Timber worth £50,000,000 is imported into Britain every year.

If straightened out, an ounce of spiderweb would extend 350 miles. The famous Statue of Liberty in New York Harbour is 160 ft. high. Nelson’s Monument, in London, weighs 1500 tons and is 177 ft. high. Private persons who own and fly aeroplanes in Britain now number 70. Twenty thousand words in the English language are of French origin. Great London’s population is growing at the rate of over 22,000 every year. 'The output of artificial silk is now three times that of the natural silk. The skin- of the human palm is 76 times as thick as that of the eyelid. Diamonds of a sort can be bought as cheaply as sixpence each wholesale. There are now nearly 250 British peers without sons, including two marquises. Silver was first coined in Rome in 269 B.iC., when Fabius Pietor set up a mint. By using X-rays, two generations of tobacco plants have boon grown in one year. There are 322 varieties of wheat which have a botanical difference from each other. John Wjesley was the 15th and his brother Charles the 18th child in the family. The sweet-pea dates back to 1699, when the plant was first cultivated by a priest in Sicily. Tourmaline, a stone of many colours, was first discovered in 1820 on Mt. Mica, in America. Well over 7,000,000 Londoners are supplied with water by the Metropolitan Water Board.

When in circulation, a penny is estimated to pass through the hands of about 125,000 people. The British Navy now has a personel of 100,986. This is a reduction of 1289 from last year.

Every article for women’s wear, without one exception, is now being made and sold in artificial silk. The Cheselden Medal for surgery at St. Thomas’ Hospital, won by Mr A. H, Lankaster, was won by both, his father and grandfather before him.

A remarkabale cricket feat was performed by Mr. P. Upton, bowling for Dymchurch against Rye. He took all ten wickets at a cost of six runs out of a total of fortysix, and did the “hat-trick” twice. Seven men were bowled, one caught and bowled, one 1.b.w., and the tenth caught.