HERE AND THERE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1914, 5 May 1899, Page 3

HERE AND THERE.

Mr Andrew Carnegie, the multi-millionaire of Pittsburg (U.S.), has spent £1,200,000 in founding free libraries in the Northern States of America and in Scotland. He has now promised to spend £400,000 in building free libraries in the Southern States. Mr Carnegie is of opinion that no man blessed with wealth ought to die rich, but should dispose of his wealth in a useful way during his lifetime. He certainly is giving effect to his convictions. Would that New Zealand was blessed with a few Carnegies. The reason that the Pittsburg millionaire prefers free libraries to all other institutions is told in this anecdote of his own boyhood : When I was a hard-working lad down there in Allegheny, Penn., there was a Col. Anderson who announced one day that he would be in his office every Saturday to lend books from his private library to working boys and men. I was one of the boys who took advantage of his generous offer. He had only about 400 volumes in his library, but they were valuable books, and I shall never forget the enjoyment and the instruction I gained from them when I was too poor to buy books myself. Is it any wonder that I decided then and there that if ever I had any surplus wealth I would use it in lending books to others ? A Bill to effect direct local control of the liquor traffic in Scotland, and other temperance reforms, has been introduced into the House of Commons by Mr Parker Smith. The three options by which it is proposed to give the electors the right to exercise direct control over the retail traffic in excisable liquors .are as follow: —(1) By local limitation, which shall mean the reduction of the retail licenses to a number which shall not exceed a certain proportion to the electorate. (2) By local management, which shall mean the taking over by the licensing authority of all the retail licenses within the licensing area and managing the whole retail traffic therein for the public behoof. (3) By local prohibition, Which shall mean the refusal of all retail licenses within the licensing area, subject to certain conditions and exceptions. Rear-admiral Dewey’s promotion to the rank of a full admiral—the United States Congress having revived the grade to meet the case—has the effect of making him as high in rank as any naval commander m the world, while his future salary will be £2,500 a year. He has been approached by several political delegations to enter politics, with a view to a Presidential nomination, but he means to stick to his profession. “ I have no desire,” says the hero of Cavite, “ for any political office. lam deeply grateful for many expressions of kindly sentiment from the American people, but I desire to retire in peace to the enjoyment of my old age. I am too old to learn a new profession. I have no political aspirations, and my health would never stand the strain. I have been approached by politicians repeatedly, in one way and another, but I have refused absolutely to consider any proposition whatever. This is final.”

The oddest lighthouse in the world is that erected in Ulverston (Lancashire) Cemetery by Miss Mary Wilson to the memory of her father, Dr T.'M. Wilson, who died in London two years ago. It is of white Carrara marble ; stands 23ft in height, with a spreading base 25ft in circumference and Bft in diameter; is surmounted by a small dome and ball, supported on four pillars, and between these is a chamber, ornamented with a moulded cornice, and containing the radiating lantern. The light is forty candlepower, and the lamp has a burning capacity of about 13ft of gas per hour. On the block immediately beneath the entrance door is cut in bold relief a large and beautifully carved anchor, bearing across it these words : “ An anchor for the hope of sorrow through all time.” The chain finishes with a broken link, the other end being buried in the rock. The base of the lighthouse is carved to represent waves breaking against the rocks, and a coping covered with sea-sand is erected around this to give the whole a realistic appearance. The history of street lighting in Liverpool affords an object-lesson for our City Fathers. That Corporation took over the street lighting in 1894, and at once were able to effect economies that resulted in a saving to the civic exchequer of £9,500 a year. Their gas engineer (Mr C. R. Bellamy) conducted a series of experiments with improved incandescent lamps, the results being that there are over seventy-six miles of streets—onesixth of the entire city—in that city now lighted bv this means, and, though there were in July last 316 additional lamps in use, and the illuminating in the old city has been increased by 56 per cent., the annual charge is £3,000 less than it was in 1890. In the main thoroughfares the lamps have double burners ; in side streets and in the area added to the city in 1895, single burners. Impressed with the value of incandescent lights for streets, the Lighting Committee last year directed Mr Bellamy to report as to the cost of its extension to the whole cj£y. That gentleman, however, recommends a cautious policy, as he evidently believes that the last has not yet been heard on the subject. Several improved lights—notably the Voelker—has just been put on the market, and Mr Bellamy is anxious to see whether they have come to stay. Therefore, in the meantime, he favors the adoption of a gradual system of extension ; putting single burners in lamps in all side streets ; increasing the illuminating power by 146 per cent, up to midnight, and by 176 per cent, up to sunrise ; and in spite of these improvements he hopes to reduce the annual lighting charge by three shillings per lamp. On the general question he says: On these facts it might be argued that the system should be applied generally to the city at once, but the superintendent would point out that while during the past three years all new works have been charged to surplus revenue without increased charge to the lighting rate, such a change would necessarily involve the opening of a capital account, the raising of from £20,000 to £25,000, an abnormal extension of the workshop and staff of the lighting department, and the possibility that subsequent improvements in incandescent lighting would either be lost to the city or have to be paid for a second time. The superintendent would, therefore, strongly recommend that the system be extended at a rate which the surplus funds at the disposal of the Lighting Committee will cover. This sum would provide for the equipment of 2,500 lamps in each year, and the entire lighting of the city by means of incandescent gas lamps would be completed in four years, at the end of which the lighting throughout the city would be increased by nearly three times where the single burner is adopted, and by over five times with the double lamp, with a reduction of the permanent charges of between £3,000 and £4,000.

lb has to be borne in mind that Liverpool has just taken power to supply her citizens with the electric light, and for some years has had strained relations with the company who possess a monopoly of the gas supply, so that the action of the Lighting Committee affords strong testimony of the value of the incandescent gas lamp for street lighting purposes.

A physical laboratory being wanted at Liverpool University College, its estimated cost being between £30,000 and £40,000, an anonymous donor gave £IO,OOO, which was followed by an offer of £5,000 by Sir John Brunner. It was later announced that Mr Alfred Booth had made a challenge offer of £2,500 if three other Liverpudlians gave a like amount. Professor Lodge will get his laboratory all right. He recently gained the Rumford medal of the Royal Society for his important discoveries in heat. Mr Fred Villiers, the war correspondent who visited this colony a couple of years ago us ft lecturer under the auspice’s of

R.S.S., has come to the defence of Lord Kitchener, and upholds the action of the Sirdar in ordering the demolition of the Mahdi’s tomb. Speaking at Newcastle-on-Tyne the other day, he said that had the tomb been left intact the Oriental mind would have regarded the Mahdi as more or less immortal, and the Soudan would have again become the hotbed of fanaticism, which had been its curse during the last fifteen years. Regarding the alleged killing of the wounded, Mr Villiers said the whole story was beneath contempt. He had been with many foreign armies in the field, and he could assure them that he had not come across a more humane and generous soldier to a conquered foe than the man thev lovingly designated as Tommy Atkins. Excesses would take place in hot blood at all times during war, but they could rest assured that the British soldier did not sully the flag he served under with the blood of the helpless wounded. Nor would British officers allow troops of any color to so disgrace themselves. An interesting feature of the recent General Election in Queensland was the illustration afforded of the usefulness of the contingent vote., In the Burrum electorate there were four candidates for a single seat. Two (Messrs Tooth and Rankin) were supporters of the Government, one was a labor representative named Dawson, and the fourth (Mr Biddles), though nominally Independent Labor, got very little support either from that party or any other. It was obvious from the divided counsels .amongst Ministerialists that unless the contingent vote could be freely used the labor candidate would succeed. Again and again v both by advertisement and otherwise the electors were urged to avail themselves of this means of expressing the will of the majority, and the result fully justified the advice. On the first count the Government supporters polled respectively: Rankin 313, and Tooth 462, against 502 votes given for labor (Dawson) and 61 for Independent Labor (Biddles). Thus, under ordinary conditions 502 voters would have put in their man against a party which secured 775 votes, because the latter were divided between two candidates. Just here the contingent votes come in. Every voter, after striking out all the names on his paper, except that of the man of his choice, may place a figure 2 after that of the man who stands next in his esteem. Neither Dawson nor Tooth had an absolute majority, and Biddles and Rankin being set aside as defeated candidates, the papers are re-examined for contingent votes given in favor of the two highest names. It was found that 198 such votes had been given in Tooth’s favor and only 48 for Dawson, and, these being added to the primary votes of each candidate, gave a majority of 110 to Mr Tooth, who was accordingly declared elected. Simple as the plan is (observes the Brisbane correspondent of the ‘ Sydney Mail ’). many of the electors failed to understand it, and there were no less than thirty informal votes in this electorate. But an example like this is an education in itself, and in time the system will, perhaps, be better understood.

The Old Age Pensions Bill drafted by the Premier of Victoria largely follows the lines of the New Zealand measured Any man or woman of the full age of sixty-five years will be entitled to a pension of £lB a year, provided he or she has resided in Victoria for twenty-five years. The amount of the pension will diminish according to the income •which the applicant has from other sources, till it reaches the vanishing point at about £4O per annum. That is to say, that anyone having a private; income of 15s a week or thereabouts will not be able to claim the pension. The method of obtaining funds out of which the pension will be paid has not yet been settled, but it will probably be by a readjustment of the Income Tax. According to Mr Seddon, an old man in the North, while he was travelling there lately, was taken ill and expected to die, as he was believed to be at his last gasp. His nephew went to the bedside of the dying man, and told him he had been awarded the old , age pension. “Is that so?” said the old man. “I have now something to live for.” So he had—£lß! “I thought,” said he, “I would be a burden to you all, but now I shall be independent.” The old man, added the Premier, took up his bed and walked, and is now as lively as a cricket, on the strength of the old age pension! At Goulburn (N.S.W.) Police Court last week John Mathews, a local cabby, was proceeded against for selling a return half of a railway ticket from Goulburn to Sydney. Accused pleaded guilty, but Mr O’Brien (solicitor), stated, by way of mitigation of penalty, that two witnesses for the prosecution came to Goulburn disguised as swagsmen, and told another person that unless they could get tourist tickets they would have to walk to Sydney. This person saw the accused, who agreed to get the tickets, as he had none himself. It was not right for a great department of the State to send people round to tempt others to commit breaches of the law. It had been deprecated by a judge of West Australia, and in Victoria a detective and his accomplice had been put on trial for inducing others to commit a crime. Mr Robert Davies, for the'prosecution, said that up to eighteen months ago the maximum fine was £5. This was found inadequate to check the traffic, and the maximum was increased to £2O. The Commissioners lost thousands of pounds annually. He pressed for the maximum, reminding the magistrate that when dealing with the last case of the kind he said that he would next time impose a fine of £2O. A fine of £2O was imposed. A remarkable balloon voyage has just been accomplished by three Prussian officers, which is claimed to be the quickest on record. They left the Tempelhofer-feld a few minutes past ten in the morning, the weather being bright, and a strong wind blowing. At one o’clock they were over Breslau ; at three they crossed the Austrian frontier at a height of 5,200 ft; they were soon over the foothills of the Carpathians ; and at four o’clock they landed at Baguska, in Galicia. As the crow flies, Babuska is 420 miles from Berlin. The average travelling would be therefore over seventy miles an hour.