NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3888, 27 December 1928, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES.

Reindeer racing is to be tried in Vancouver, where a “stud” of twenty reindeer has been established and six Eskimo drivers are being trained to race their novel steeds round the track.

■, Smoking “behind the scenes” is forbidden to film actors and actresses in several pi the biggest British studios, partly because of the risk of fire and also because it dulls the eyes of the smoker. A bad heather crop, due to the attacks of a minute insect, is blamed for the poor bags of grouse which sportsmen have been getting in many districts in England. The birds have starved to death.

The turret clock in the campanile of Chichester Cathedral does' not vary a minute from January to {December, according to the representatives of the firm who have attended to this wonderful clock for half a century. In Siam some of the women entrust their children to the care of elephant nurses, and it is said that the trust is never betrayed. The babies play about the huge feet of the elephants, who are 'careful not to hurt their little charges.

A new Atlantic liner just begun will have a tonnage of 60,000 gross, 4000 tons more than the present biggest ship. It is estimated that the total cost will be over £5,000,000, more than double what such a vessel would have cost thirty years ago.

Sailing ships are decreasing in number every year. In the twelve months ended June 30 last the total tonnage of sailing ships of 100 tons cr over, excluding those carrying auxiliary power, was 1,705,246, a decrease of 166,825 tons on the previous year. Colonel Lindbergh is called the world’s most photographed man. One of the leading commercial photographers has more than 7000 dif-

ferent photographs of him on file. Commander Byrd is represented by 2500. Chamberlin by 2000, and President Coolidge by 1500. The longest and most expensive trans-atlantie telephone call yet made since the service was inaugurated took place when an American staying at the Savoy Hotel in London, rang up a business associate in New York and spoke for 95 minutes. 'The conversation cost £285.

Catering for the 3600 persons carried by the Majestic, the biggest liner in the world, is a colossal task. For the round trip to America she will carry, among other stores, 55,0001 b of meat, 36,0001 b. of green vegetables, 48,000 eggs, 66001 b. of butter, and 42,0001 b. of flour.

The locusts eaten by John the Baptist were probably not insects, but the fruit of the earob tree, the dried pods of which are the locust beans sold as food for cattle. The carob tree is sometimes called the honey tree, from the sweet pulp contained in its pods while they are fresh.

Every week-end during the Blackpool season holiday-makers leave about 40 tons of litter on the promenade and in the streets, but about 60 tons are left in the August bank holiday week-end. Tramwayear tickets by the thousands, chocolate boxes, cigarette boxes, newspapers and bottle?; are left by the careless holiday-maker.

In England a seventh of the divorces take place after five years of marriage, and more than half after ten or more years. Nearly 'half of the annulled marriages are childless, and in a third of the Cases there is one child only. Three out of every five divorced persons re-marry, the number of divorced men re-marrying being considerably greater than the number of divorced women.

One of London’s few remaining , hansom cabs made its last journey a few weeks ago. With its 76-year-old driver on the box it came into collision with a saloon mo-tor-car. The cab was cut in two, the horse had to be shot where it lay in the street, and the cabby, William Purkiss, died in hospital. The yew trees at Fountain Abbey, Ripon, England, are supposed tc have been ancient when the abbey ivas built in 1132 and there are olive trees on Mount Jerusalem which are known to have existed 800 years ago. One tree expert has put the age of a certain baobab tree in Africa at over 5000 years.