NEWS OF THE DAY.

Bush Advocate, Volume I, Issue 65, 4 October 1888, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

■ • . ». 4, A smart shock of earthquake was felt in Danevirke at 3.30 yesterday afternoon, the direction apparently being east and west. The new Palace Skating Bink in Christchurch is 240 feet long and 140 feet wide. It is lighted by electricity. Mr T. Sullivan, of Danevirke, had the misfortune to suffer serious loss by fire this morning. He had risen early, and, at five o'clock, was working in his garden. About that time Mrs Sullivan lit the fire in the kitchen, and almost immediately flames broke out over the mantel. So rapid was the outbreak and the names spread so quickly, that nothing but a couple of blankets could be saved. A smell of fire was noticed earlier in the morning, about two o'clock, but a search did not disclose anything. It is surmised that a defective chimney was the cause of the fire, as an examination shows that the bricks above where the mantel-piece was, are blackened with smoke that must have been escaping there for some time. The strong wind blowing probably drew the games up and ignited the lining. The house, which was a large three-roomed one, was insured for £100 in the New Zealand Company, and the Union Company had a risk of £50 on the furniture. Mr Sullivan estimates his loss above the in-

At the Wellington Supreme. Court. on Tuesday. John Jenkins, James Parker, and William Higgins, convicted of cattle stealing at Woodville, were sentenced to twelve months' hard labor. Mr 0, 0. Hegh .of Norsewood, whose advertisement appears in another column, was uniritentunally omitted from the list of business men in the description of \Norsewood past , and present recently written by a member of our staff. His business wilY be described in a, future issuer . A day or two ago we had the pleasure of seeing the first field roller ever turned out at Norsewood. To judge by appearances it is equally as good a. roller as could be made anywhere outside the district, and is intended for a pair of horeea, being fitted with a pole. Mr Pettersen is the maker. Blue gum leaves are said to have proved most efficacious in cases of lungworm in sheep and lambs. The trees are cut down, the branches lopped c 3 and strewn about the places in the field most frequented, when the animals chew the leaves. One practical sheepf armer states that with this remedy he would not be afraid to run lambs on the most polluted pasture. We have heard of tall scoring, big bags, and that sort of thing, but it was only a day or two ago that we (Clutha Leader) were told of a recent lady visitor, who. during her stay in Balclutha visited the Tuakftoto lake and sncceeded in Bhooting. a beautiful black swan at a distance of 200yd9. The weapon used was an ordinary rifle, loaded with bullet cartridge. An fclarm of, fire was .raised at Mr Small's store at Norsewood on Tuesday. It proved to be only a chimney which was having a " flare up," and beyond a quantity of smoke, that might have had a more beneficial effect on bacon or hung beef than it had on the eyes and throats of those who were on hand at the time, and the alarm necessarily felt on account of the large newly-arrived stock of goods stored on the premises, no damage was done. Our poor attempts to describe Norsewood have given very general satisfaction to our Norsewood readers, and a number of them have sent copies of the Advocatm to distant friends, not only in this colony but also to Queensland, Victoria and America. One gentleman, Mr J. Pettersen, informs us he. sends a copy to his friends in Queensland, as they will find more information of the district in the Advocate than he could hope to give them in his letters, and this allows him to write on other matters than local topics. An old Maori chief was under examination the other day before the Native Lands Court at Hastings, with respeot to the boundaries of certain tribal lands, when he was asked whether the boundaries he had described were true according to -his recollection, or whether he had not invented them. The old man in contemptuous tones said. " Turn to your Bible, and read Deuteronomy XXVII., 17 verse!" Somebody, less acquainted with the Scriptures than the Maori, turned to the chapter and found these words : — 11 Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's land mark." — Telegraph. Mr J. Petterson, of the Norsewood Shoeing Forge, has added a wheelwright's shop to hie forge. The new venture is 24 x 18 feet, with a 12 feet wall. The building is complete with the exception of iron for the roof, which has not arrived. As soon as the iron is to hand the shop will be completed, and work begun in this link. Mr Pettersen has 'also engaged his old assistant, Mr Olsen, who, in addition to being a good " all round " blacksmith, is also a whitesmith, while Mr Pettersen's particular speciality is a knowledge of machinery, in the manufacture of which he was' engaged before coming to this country. WhileJP-i'ohibitionists.are engaged agitating for the total suppression of the • liquor traffic, M. Jacquemin, of Nancy, has invented a new drink, which he calls " barley wine," and is attracting general attention in Paris. He obtains this propuct by fermenting malt by employing saccharomyces ellipsoidus — i.e., the ferment of wine. His barley wine, which the Academy of Sciences, with M. Pasteur at its head, enthusiastically approves, is a " white wine " of very agreeable flavour, bearing no resemblance to beer ; it contains five degrees of alcohol (or more at pleasure), and, like other wines, a small amount of glycerine and succinio acid. Nutritious and agreeable, a brilliant success is anticipated for this new drink # A gentleman, a widower, recently inserted an advertisement in one of the Sydney dailies for a wife, widow preferred. In due course an answer was received and another returned. Matters went on in this way for some days. Finally an appointment was made, and the two met at an appointed place with a view to matrimony. The lady was somewhat heavily veiled, while the advertiser was looking as spruce as possible in expectation of success in his new Venture. A moment or two was spent in conversation, when the two became thunderstruck at the discovery that they were fatHer and daughter. The correspondence which passed between the two prior to their meeting was carried on in disguised handwriting. . Most stirring healthy ohildren have a genius for falling down and cutting their knees or grazing their hands which astonishes grown-up folks; and the mother, with her clever fingers and careful handling, is always the dootor applied to. A capital remedy, which has lately been discovered for healing outs quickly and well, is castor oil. Make sure first of all that the wound* is quite free from dirt, as if any dust is left in it it will suppurate until the foul matter is thus expelled. Then' put the edges together, aud bind on a pad of soft linen or cotton wool soaked in oil. Tie a handkerchief bandage over, not too tight, and renew the bondage whenever necessary. Cuts treated thus are said to leave no scar, a very important matter when the injury happens to be on the face. Tbe Melbourne Aye of Sept. 15th says : — A crucial test of the adaptability of the Schanschieff electric light for illuminating railway carriages was made last evening on one of the passenger trains running to Brighton. A first class smoking carriage was fitted with a circular Schanschieff lair p, containing an incandescent lamp, the electrio current for which was supplied from a small battery. As time did not permit of the apparatus being placed in position whilst the train was standing at the Flinders street platform, the fixing of the lamp to the ceiling of the carriage, and connecting it by an insulated wire with the battery under the carriage seat, had to be hurriedly performed whilst the train was running to Brighton. Ordinarily the carriage is lighted by two oil lamps having a 13-candle power. The Schanschieff light shown was fully 16---candle power, the illumination being superior to that produced by the two oil lamps. Although placed in position under disadvantageous circumstances, the light proved a decided success. It was not affected by the oscillating motion of the train, and. was perfectly free from the intermittent flickering which renders train travelling in oil lighted carriages so distressing to the eyes. The light was mellow, yet. sufficiently brilliant to enable the passengers to read letterpress withease. It is stated that the cost of running the light would be only about one-fourth that of the ordinary oil lamps used on the Victorian railways. From an economic point of view,, this of course would represent a great saving apart altogether from the other advantages claimed, not the least of which is the immunity from the danger always present with oil lamps in cage of an explosion or collision.

The English footballers beat the Taranaki men by two goals and a try to a try. Mr Forward has been again elected as Chairman of the Ormondville Town Board. We are pleased to see that his past services have been duly appreciated by the members of the Board as Well as by the ratepayers, and congratulate both them and Mr Forward on his appointment. Mr R. J. Seddon, the member for Kumara, met with a severe accident over | a fortnight ago, receiving a severe kiok in the stomach from a horse. The Kumara Times states that Mr Seddon is still confined to his bed, although a fortnight has -elapsed since he was* kicked the pain returns the moment he essays to rise or alter his position. A special cable message to the Melbourne Telegraph states that the retaliatory debate in Congress upon the subject of the Canadian. fisheries was remarkable, on account of the virulent attack made upon England. One Senator said he cared no more for the British- Navy than for a wash tub armed with crackers, and another characterised* 1 England as a clammy devil-fish among the nations. In the course of a special sermon on behalf of the New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society at Wellington the Rev. Hi H. Driver announced that an unknown Victorian gentleman had recently given £2000 for the erection of mission houses on the stations occupied by the various Australian societies. Of this munificent sum (says the Post) £500 falls to the New Zealand Society, and will be spent in the erection of a house at Narayangune or Dacca. Mr Driver said that this handsome donation by an anonymous friend ought to prompt the Baptist of New Zealand to larger liberality and brighter hope in the efforts to further the evangelisation of India. There is now fitted in the Wellington railway goods sheds an apparatus for automatically extinguishing fire, called Grimel's automatic sprinkler, which Mr Maxwell saw largely used in America during his recent visit. It is a most valuable invention, and consists of a pipe with rose heads at intervals closed with an alloy, which fuses at a heat of about 150deg. If a fire starts in a building, directly the temperature rises to this figure these roses start playing; It is in-* valuable as a fire preventative, and it will be a great gain to the insurance companies if it is introduced largely. The Railway department intend to have other sheds fitted up with it, including the principal ones on the Canterbury and Otago lines. • The Sydney Mail thinks the question whether snakes swallow their young in order to protect them has been finally set at rest. An interesting discovery, it says, of a singular nature, has been made at Coogee, by Mr H. J. M'Cooey, " whose name is well known in scientific circles." Mr M'Cooey was strolling in the neighborhood of Coogee Bay, when he suddenly startled a large black snake (Pseudechis prophryiacus) and no fewer than eighteen young ones. No sooner was the reptile startled than she made a strange hissing or gulping noise, and opened her mouth widely, into which her young glided with extraordinary rapidity, and disappeared down her throat. Mr M'Cooey instantly despatched the reptile, and on dissecting her killed thirteen of the young snakes, the remainder making their escape in the grass. . An instance of what a contemporary terms fatuous stupidity on the part of the British Treasury was recently related by Lord Bury. For years there have been attempts made on the part of the Government to buy the right to use the Clarence lane, giving entrance to Richmond Park, but as the Government would never offer more than £2000, or the proprietor take less than' £2500, the negotiations came to nothing. A new proprietor, however, *ar^ - riTed" on tho ~eoone,~who TnuniflCßntly offered his right to the Government for nothing. But instead of jumping eagerly at the offer, to receive for nothing that for which they had in vain offered £2000, the Treasury refused to accept it because themaintenance of the road would cost £100 per annum I The cost of maintaining the road would have had to be borne in any cose, but while the Government was willing to bear the cost if they had also to pay £2000 down in ready money, the Treasury refuse to bear it when the initial demand of £2000 has been waived. Cardinal Manning 'in a discourse recently published draws a very gloomy picture of London and disintegration of human society in these latter days. He says: — "London is a desolation beyond that of any city in the Christian world. Four millions of human beings, of whom two millions have never set' their foot in any place of Christian worship; and among these two millions God only knows how (f ew have been baptised, how few have been born again of water and the Holy Ghost. London is a wilderness. It is like Rome of old — a pool into whioh all the nations of the world streamed together, and all the sins of all the nations of the world were continually flowing. Such is London at this day." . The prospect for the future, he Jsays, is no better, if, indeed, it is not even worse, for the distinguishing note of society is the disobedience of children to their parents. " The rioh cannot control their sons and daughters ; the middle olass cannot guide them ; the poor cannot govern them. The Agricultural Show on Friday ought to attract visitors from the country, although we must say no effort has been made to bring the attractions|of the Show prominently before the publio in the Bush districts. The Railway Department insert a notice that an exouraion train will run, but at what time, or at what price) is not stated. Further, in a large district like this, the insertion of the advertisement at the last moment does not give either the Department' of the public fair play. Many subscribers will not get thenpapers till Friday morning, and even those who receive them this evening have very little time to make up their minds whether they will go. But having decided to visit the Show, they will still have to hunt about to find the green posters at the Railway Stations to see all about the fares, etc., but as these buildings will most likely be in darkness they may have a troublesome job. Seriously, it is absurd not to state in the advertisement what the fares are, and when the train starts. The posters people to a lot of unnecessary and lose the Department many a fare. There now seems little doubt that Professor Elisha Gray, of Illinois, has scored another gceat discovery with his " tetantograph," for which he has now obtained letters patent. It is designed for transmitting messages by wire between distant points by the sender' in his own handwriting, thus doing away with skilled operators. The invention is based on the discovery of a new principle in controlling the electric current, whereby a pulsatory current is produced, all previous attempts to transmit handwriting having been based on the use of a variable current. The invention is reported to work so accurately and rapidly as to give promise of being commercially successful. Several attempts have been previously made to devise an apparatus of this kind. Mr Edison had so far succeeded six or. eight years ago that at Menlo -Park, with a laboratory apparatus, autograph messages were sent with entire success, so far as reproduction of the message at the other end of the line was concerned. It worked at a fair rate of speed, but not so rapidly as wiis desired. His other work drew him away from this investigation at a time when the apparatus seemed to be ap. proaching perfection. Professor Gray has uo doubt reached the same end by other means,

We notice that Mr Haselden, the Undersecretary of Justice, is at present paying a visit tp'theJEtash, but are not in a position to state .whether „tKe "yisitj-iS paid iA his oapaoity of Undersecretary, or merely as a. private gentiemiin travelling^fbr, pleasure} t : 7 f ,-••' \ . : *v We are glad to observe that Mr Forward has at length met with success in urging the Ormondville Town Board to take the maintainarice of . Dongi's road in hand, andiie deserves great credit lor so persistently championing the unfortunate settlers, who, while paying rates, have been unable to reap any advantages from •. their connection with the town district. At the same time we give those who op-, posed authorising the work on that road every credit for having done so from good motives, but they may rest satisfied that the Board's action in regard to that road is perfectly within. their powers, and when the ■ Town Board's solicitor gives his opinion it will be found that this is the case.