Commercial and Industrial Notes.

Bruce Herald, Volume IX, Issue 840, 26 September 1876, Page 3

Commercial and Industrial Notes.

(' British Trade Journal. 1 ) The whole of the specie which went down in the Schiller (£G0,O0O), lost, it will be remembered, last year, off the Scilly Islands, has been recovered, except about £1600. The Bessemer saloon steamer, which waa to solve the difficulty of the Channel passage, and coat, little more than a year ago, about £200,000, was sold early in the month to a Leeds metal and iron merchant for £20,000 ; after the engines have been removed the vessel will be broken up, and sold, as scrap iron. A new invention called the electric pen consists of a small electric engine on the top of a holder, which is used as a pen. This works a needle that pierces the paper, making §00p to §QQO holes pep mjuute, so that in writing such is \he rapidity of the motion of the needle that th.c point does not drag or tear the paper. The pierced paper or " stencil 'Ms placed in a frame, and an inked roller is passed over it, which fills the fine perforations with ink ; a sheet of paper is then placed below the written paper or "stencil," and the rollc-r is again passed over it once or twice, when a perfect fac- simile of the writing is obtained. It is stated that these facsimile)* cau be produced at the rate of four to five per minute, and one writing or "stencil " will suffice to print 1000 copies. An invention has been recently made on the Contipent by Mr jj£arl Hahn, paper manufacturer, of the firm of Hahn f Brothers, Paper Mill, Schmarse, near Oels, Sileeia, Prussia— viz, the manufacturing of barrels and boxes, of fir© and yyatpr-prgof pgper and wood-Dulp. The barrels manufactured by Mr 'Halm differ from the American ones by not beitig nailed together, but ponsist pf one solid paper pylipder, tfee matprial pf whjpb 19 impregnated with a waterproof, ipspluble glue. The paper barrels, are Bftid to combiue with great durability a considerable

of tare" (a barrel "containfng' 3o gallons weighs 301b5.), and are already in request for the transport of flour, sugar, biscuits, fruits, seeds, powder, and especially chemicals. Tne price is 4s and ss, according to the strength of the barrels. — ' Paper Maker's Journal.' A material invented by M. Gollissaint Voniche, of Paris, has recently made its appearance in the German market, which goes by the name of French vegetable leather, and which is manufactured in the following manner : — A wadding of woolwaste, or even of wool itself, of uniform thickness, is laid upon a hot polished zinc plate, and a concentrated decoction of Fucus crispus, or pearl-moss, or any other fucus-like material, poured over it, and then it is pressed between two rollers which are placed at a distance from each other, corresponding with the intending thickness of the leather ; after being rolled, it receives a coat of boiling linseed oil, and is then dried j lastly, the dried sheet receives a thin coating of vegetable wax, and, in order to make it supple, it is once more rolled between hot chamfered rollers. In order to produce a cheap substitute for sole leather, the slimy decoction is largely mixed with flock-wool until a thick pap ia formed ; this ia spread over zinc plates and covered on each side with a thin layer of wool-waste, then dried, and afterwards coa.ted with boiling linseed oil, being lastly subjected to a heavy pressure between zinc plates in a hydraulic press. It has often been a source of wonder to us that, in a practical country like ours, in which the spirit of invention is rife and improvement is the order of the day, we could go on painting our houses inside and out with what has been rightly termed 11 that abomination," white lead. With the exception of possessing body and density, white lead has no single quality which is not bad. It is poisonous to manufacture, and in use it becomes discolored, nay, blackened, by foul gases. It loses its opacity by age, and acts detrimentally on the vehicle used to fix it. We have lately, however, examined a white paint manufactured by the Liverpool Silicate Paint Company, which is probably destined, as it is undoubtedly qualified, to supersede white lead. Possessing at least an equal covering power, it is perfectly innocuous. It is more ■ pure in color, more stable, and is not in j the smallest degree affected by foul gases. These manifold advantages must bring it extensively into use. By substituting this new white for lead paint, we shall avoid that unsightly discoloration of our house fronts which imparts 6uch a gloomy appearance to our towns. We shall no longer have to fear that the effluvia of drains and cesspools will change the whole face of our decorations, converting the whites into a grimy black. When the inevitable dust and soot mar their brilliancy, we shall know that a washing with clean water will restore their pristine whiteness, and we shall not be disap* pointed to find that we have removed a cover of dirt to discover worse below. A strong idea prevails among a large number of persons of forming a great African Company, on the model of the old East India Company. Some bold speculators have already laid down the lines of a great colonising and trading company, to obtain a charter from the Crown, and to occupy large tracts of the West Coast of Africa. The present system of trading, it is urged, meana very little more than the selling of rum and tobacco to the native tribes, and the secret encouragement of the internal slave trade. A great organising company made up of first-class merchants having in their employment bold and resolute adventurers, and having the command of ample resources, would do for these regions what the Government cannot possibly attempt to do. Splendid visions of future Clives and Hastings on African Roil are already filling the souls of enthusiasts. We are given to understand that an attempt will, at no distant date, be made to give shape to the idea, and to bring it in a practical form under the notice of the Government. Soberminded people, undazzled by the splendor of the idea, will perhaps, think such, an enterprise a little out of date, hut we are assured that it has its number of believers, and that a resolute effort; will be made to obtain for it the sanction of Government. Indebtedness is without question the greatest safeguard of European peace at the present moment. It is the ultimate check on a spirited foreign policy which might set all the leading ppwers by the eara.and bring about Armageddon. Most of the military powers are in the painful dilemma of having borrowed so much in order to prepare for war,- that they can get no more to enable them to make war^ eyen |f jihey woulc}. The pastern Question is in the hands of fix states, whose combined public indebtedness amounts to 2800 millions sterling. The respective totals are ; — Great B,rfj;aip, 7/5 millipns j Austro r Hungary, B,6'A millions ; Q-ermany, 4Q millions; Frauce, 930 millions ; Italy, 3G5 millions 5 Russia, 380 millions, Great Britain, I<Vanee, and Germany, are in the least difficult position, for they owe chiefly to themselves. Austria, Italy, and itussia are debtors to nearly everybody but themselves. They b,aye not financial resources either to pay off old deb,t, pr pMspenee frith fre§h borrowing abroad. BTot pne of them, were the debts thrown on itgelf ? poul4 parry th,e pu.rden.B it bag already undertaken. This is too clearly perceived by investors for them to venture more capital in the same channel, and it ia hardly a paradox to repeat that the heavy financial losoea of [he pas{; t^q yeaijja a. re nece^ary <:p' gjiaccf Europe, from the calamity of a war otherwise nearly inevitable.