News Items

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4386, 16 March 1909, Page 1

News Items

Crabs can see and smell, but! they cannot hear. V

4 I Nearly every Japanese fol-1 lows the profession of his father. 1 The average English woman ! is 2in. taller than the American. I Statistics show that the! longest-lived people eat the I heartiest breakfasts. I There is a strong movement I in France to have women form! a part of juries when womens prisoners are being tried. j Flowers are l|deg. warmer ! than the surrounding air. 1 The smallest quadruped in! the world is the pigmy mouse I of Siberia. Antiquarians say that Egyp- I tian women wore false hair in J the year 5000 B.C. * j United Scotch Government! officials are considering a plan | for stamping weather forecasts, briefly stated, on each letter j that passes through the mails. On examination, an ostrich was recently found to have! swallowed 113 metal cartridgecases, weighing over three j pounds, besides several stones,f and nails,' !

Motorists are civilising the world. Small villages where 'j formerly it was impossible to;j find good food or a comfortable bed are now the proud pos-Jj sessors of first-rate inns or hotels. ‘

A Parisian institution has made a new departure in open*, ing an apartmeut house for large families only. No family is N i allowed to move into it unless it has at least three children. Madrid is the most elevated I city in Europe. It is built f on a i mountain plain or plateau 2200 | feet above the level of the sea. |jj Being much exposed to ex- |? tremes of heat and cold, it is | ; very unhealthy. Billboards, for advertising J| purposes, are prohibited in Berlin. Their place is taken by pillars, or columns, erected at j street corners. All posters before they are put up must be : approved of by the police. ijs Mr George Evans, an Abery- 'i stwyth antiquarian, who gave evidence before the Eoyal Commission on Ancient Monuments | in Wales the other day, sai<i i some old Welsh castles were still used as village hen-roosts.

The industry of manufacturing fertilisers by taking nitrogen direct from the air by electric process is expanding in Norway. A project is on foot to utilise the great Ejukanfos Fall to supply electric power for this purpose. The 20 large diamonds in the British Crown are worth £ISOO apiece, and the two centre diamonds £2OOO each. The total value of the stones in the crown is at least £J 00,000.

In Finland the people use a curious stone for a barometer. When foul weather is approaching it turns black or blackish-• grey ; in fine weather, or when clear weather is coming, it turns almost white. This stone is quite common in Northern Finland. and is called “ Tlmakiur.”