NOTES AND QUERIES.

Qnetlions for reply in coming issue to be received not later than MONDAY ni§ld.

©BOTTHOLOGIST writes: — "I have received a long letter from D. S. F., port Molyneux, on the subject of the attacks made on the longtailed cuckoo by other birds. If D. S. F. will forward his name I shall be glad to send him what information I can on this subject. If D. S. F. had read my letter carefully he •would have noted that I asked for information of the habits of the litlle cuckoo, the bronze cuckoo, or shining cuckco, known to the Maoris as pipiwarauroa. I am sorry to say I have not yet heaid of its arrival, though numbers must hay noted it by this time. One of my former correspondents told

me that he had seen a pair of "' wrens," grey warblers he meant, sit quite still, paraiysed or almost fascinated, while the cuckoo ■was in the vicinity of their nest. Any noles on the habits of this pretty little visitor will be gratefully received by " Ornithologist." •'Vr'ATEE-HEATEK, Otautau. — Mr Dav,ey replies: — (1) Your coil should be able to bear the passage and delivery of water through it against the pressure of 1401b p~er square . inch, and what seems to be the matter is that either the pipes are not strong enough or are of inferior quality, or else you have pumped too vigorously at some time and seriously strained them. You do not say •whether they are. the seamed oi the solid drawn pipes, and you do not give the thickness of them, so the answer is more or less guesswork. From a careful reading of your letter, you seem to have shortened your pumping supply, probably after the coil was strained, with having too much water pumped through, and, onc.e. strained, they may or may not give way, but, >f course, there is more likelihood of their doing so. (2) Of course hot water is better than cold, not only for economy, but also- that it does

not chill the boiler as cold water floes. JiiNEB, Roxburgh. — Ma Davey replies. — It is rather difficult to know exactly what to advise, as you will see. First, you area considerable height above the sea level, and you want to lift your water 25ft, and that is the length of the, shortest leg apparently ■when the water is at its highest level. I do not think that such a lift is possible. It would be a great help if any readers who might have used, or who might be using, syphons of large-size and high lifts, wou.d kindly send. particulars of same lo the editor for the use of other readers of this column. Personally, I have not heard of large-sized, syphons with as high lifts as might be had in' theory acting well, if at all, so any information in 'direction would be very useful, and 'the' sooner the better." Earns also do not seem to b& made of as large size as you want. The very largest on Blake's list is to lift 400,000 gallons per 24 hours, or considerably less than . a quarter of what you ask for, though, of course, except for quan-

tity, a ram would do all you want, and -^more, in the way of lifting and delivering your water. From your diagram it would ~seem to be feasible to /un the water from the race by fluming or pipes over the saddle, letting as much as you require run into the dam, "when you want it "xv-erted there, and . otherwise running the water the 150 ft away. in,- this "manner. ' Is ' this "not 1 possible, or easy? If- you- read 'the reply re syphons a week or two -ago you will, see that the limits

are in the- longer leg, and your measur-e-

_ roents exceed those limits, for you " must measure frpm the lowest level of the water at the longest leg to the top of the pipe at the highest point. If, however, we- get information that is useful it will be published at. once. It might be mentioned that a 9in 'pipe is the very smallest that would do if

your lift were within suction limits, and lOin

or even llin would be better. Syphons.— Mr H. M. Davey asks that users of the above would kindly read the reply to "Miner "-in this issue, and send particulars there" asked for to the editor as soon as con-

venient, and oblige. T. B.— (1) Only if the work was done so negligently and unskilfully as to be of no va'.ue. (2) Yes, if the payment would be reasonable in amount having regard to the work done. (3) No, bat payment could be withheld if the work was not performed up to contract requirements. iW. L., Ophir.— Mr J±. M. Davey, consulting engineer, Moray place, kindly replies: (1) The smalles-t size of. pipes if in- a straight line to carry the water you speak of across the gully is 17-Jin in diameter, so you will be able to consider whether yon will have them that diameter or rather larger. It may be of service to you to know that the water alone in that sized pipe will weigh about lewt per foot of length. (2) It depends on the strength of the pipes and to a great extent on the thickness of meial of which they are ina<3e, as thick pipes will stand far more distance between supports than thin ones. One gcod way where the height between the pipes, and the ground is not too much is' to erect trestle supports considerably ' higher than the pipe line, and rest the pipes on a cross i bar between said uprights, and arrange wire ropes — say either

two; four, or even six — from the top of the supports to the pipes, like the letter A, _co that each trestle supports" the pipe line in several places. (3) The editor will forward you a sketch of a couple of suitable trestle and truss supports to choose from, probably by post. Some of the shorter piers might be of stone laid in mortar if stone is near and handy, as such are not liable to rot, etc., as timber is, and they could he built while waiting for the ordered material. If, however, you decide to make an inverted syphon of it you could bend the line down the gully and up the other Bide, only it would be wise, if so, to have the pipes about lin larger, and have the bends — or, probably, they would be taper grummets — very easy— no sharp turns. In cases of this ' sort it is wise to have a screwed door to your pipe at the lowest point, and to arrange that this point should be nearer the outlet end than the intake, bo as to get at any sediment, etc., occasionally. In any case, whether straight pipes or bent^ ones, have a larger tapered intake with a, grating to prevent undesirable things entering the pipes and perhaps . sticking there. Strong wires make as good a grating us possible for such a, position, and they are cheap and offer but little obstruction

to the water. Bound Hill. — A non-commissioned officer's certificate only holds good in the company in connection with which he has qualified for it. When he transfers to another corps his new captain may ignore the certificate and place him in the ranks. In most cases, however, a, captain would when making promotions take into consideration a man's

standing in his previous company. .Cave writes: In fast week's Notes and Queries "Inquirer 1 " asks for the relative Quantities of pollard, bran, and flour as a substitute for crushed wheat for digestive bread-making. Possibly a knowledge of the constituents of wheat may assist him in arriving at a satisfactory conclusion. The following table is given in Primrose M'Coamell's "Agricultural Note Book," in

the winter, but we cannot say what other

use you can make of it. Awamoa, Oamaiu.— Can you say in what issiie of the Witress the dtescription appeared, and in what part of the paper, or if you cut out the paragraph will you please send it to us, and we shall endeavoui to comply with your request. Trafalgar. — The teacher. Subscriber B. — (1) If the youth is a unionist

he is entitled to £1 per week from 17 to 18 years of age, and to £1 5s per week from „ 18 to 19 years of age. (2) Yes, but only if he is a member of the industrial union of

workers in the trade. Maequerite.— Will be replied to in Poultry

Column next week. " Twa Dugs and a Bone" essays to interpret a cartoon which appeared in last week's Witness thus : " The workers and manufacturers are determined to have the freehold of the implement trade. The farmer's collie, freehold to the core, will stand his ground. The worker's poodle doesn't just know all his wants. The harvester's Newfoundland steps in and collars the bone. Moral: The workers will assist themselves by adopting a more friendly tone towards the farmers and the freehold, if not they will find themselves the foundling. ' Nuff said.' "