NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3849, 25 September 1928, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF.

“Pug-pups”—pick-up-glass-piek-up-paper —is the name of an organisation formed among Limpstield children in an effort to clear the common of litter. There were 500 fishes from all parts of the world, including the famous tree-climbing fish of tropical Africa, at the late British Aquarists Exhibition in London. “Jumping beans” are one of the curiosities of Mexico. Each contains the pupa of an insect whose spasmodic movements cause the bean to hop and roll about. Five hundred acres of moorland between Hebden Bridge and Denholme, in Yorkshire, caught fire during the recent heatwave, destroying all grazing prospects for three years to come. A holiday census taken by the London County Council shows that half of the 400,000' elder schoolchildren go away for a summer holiday, 80,000 owing their holidays to charity and 120,000 going with friends.

A vast new scheme now in progress for reclaiming land from the Zuider Zee, by means of a vast dyke, will add an area of 552,504 acres, larger than that of Leicestershire, to Holland within the next 30 years. An increase in world shipping of 1,761,749 tons in twelve months is

shown in the New Lloyd’s Register. Great Britain and Ireland lead with a 566,328 tons increase, while Germany follows with 414,205 tons. “Keep a quiet heart, sit like a tortoise, walk sprightly like a pigeon, and sleep like a dog,” are the rules of life of a resident of China, who claims to be 250 years old, and yet says he has a number of friends even older than himself.

Boys at Birchington, Kent, have built a large clubroom, which contains a stage and seats 150. The work took them a year and four months. Local contractors lent them scaffolding, ladders, and barrows, and the total cost was £315.

“ ‘Pictures’ two or three times a week, watching games instead of playing them, too fond of holidays, and does not value money, because he gets it too_ easily.” That is how one expert sums up the English schoolboy of to-day. The consumption of tin has increased enormously with the popularity of silk and artificial silk. Ten years ago British silk: companies were using 800 tons of tin a year} .'now they are using 8000 tons —for weighing and dyeing purposes. A novel camera, already in use in New .York, and devised by an American policeman, can be set to explode flashlight powder, take a photograph and ring a warning bell if an unauthorised person meddles with the object the camera is set to protect. All the world is mapped out on the same scale in the new. atlas being compiled, in which each nation will do its own area. Although the work was begun in 1909, it will not be completed for many years yet; it will comprise about 1920 sheets.

In a recent Civil Service examination in Britain, out of over 1400 girl candidates for typists, only 360 passed. In arithmetic scores failed to get more than ten out of a possible hundred marks, while in English one candidate did not earn one mark out of a possible 300.

During the three months ended May 1 last, 107,049 new motor vehicles were registered, including 56,136 cars and 36,019 motor-cy-cles. A sum of £19,884,801 was received in payment for liecnses for road vehicles during the six months ending May 31. A mansion near Bradford, Yorkshire, which was formerly the residence of Sir Milton Sharp, M.P., is now a tramps’ home. It was ..started as an experiment to try to learn how many tramps were actually genuine and how many were just ne’er-do-wells. An official investigation conducted in certain American states showed that out of 14,815 persons interviewed, all over 65 years of age, only about 25 per cent, were dependent on relations or charity, and that less than two per cent, received aid from charitable institutions.

Locusts on the line were responsible for a nelay of two and a-half hours to an African goods train at Gilgil, Kenya Colony. A swarm of the insects settled on the track, and when, the engine tried to plough through them the oil from their crushed bodies covered the metals and wheels.

One exhibit at the recent British General Post Office horticultural show was a “garden,” 2ft. by Ift. 2in. It is the work of Mr. J. Hales, of the Inland Revenue Section, and has in it a “house” and a “gardener’s cottage,” with electric lighting and a lawn of moss from the Surrey hills. Mankind only began to get civilised when people discovered the art of agriculture, which allowed them to settle down and cultivate the arts and crafts, instead of roaming about and hunting for food. That is the theory of a well-known professor, who puts the date of the birth of civilisation at about 4000 B.C.

Three cargoes of phosphate from different parts of the world will reach Auckland this week.

A. silkworm produces as much silk as 24 spiders.

Epidemics of measles usually occur in England every two years, usually in March and April. Wlarm wine is served free to the police of Paris at their own station when there is a spell of cold weather.

'Postmen in Britain must be at least sft. 4in. in height to ensure them being able to reach all letterboxes.

A postman’s pet hen at Epping walks regularly into the kitchen, turns out the cat and dog, seats itself in the armchair, and lays its eggs there. A beam of light shoots through space at a speed of 186,000 miles a second, occupying eight minutes in making its trip from the sun to the earth. Starting off in a race from Worcester over two years ago, a homing pigeon returned a few weeks ago to its owner’s cote in Little Dr'ayton, Shropshire. The wettest day ever recorded happened on June 14, 1911, at Bagino, Phillippines, when 46 inches of rain fell. This is more than Auckland’s average annual fall.