DIAMOND JUBILEE ILLUMINATIONS.

Evening Star, Issue 10332, 4 June 1897, Page 4

DIAMOND JUBILEE ILLUMINATIONS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—Concerning our intended illuminations, may I mention that Mr Harland's proposal to place one or two candles in the windows of our houses is an excellent one as regards effect, being not at the mercy of the weather. But it is attended with a measure of danger, owing to the possibility of blinds, hangings, or curtains becoming ignited. This was a fertile cause of fires on the occasion of the illuminations in honor of the marriage of the Prince of Wales in 1863, both in London and in Edinburgh. Transparencies on the inside of windows illuminated by lamps fixed properly in position may be left to themselves, provided that neither a cat nor a dog be left in the house to roam through the rooms; but candles burning down in their sockets, or toppled over by losing their stability, are almost sure to cause fires. An out-of-door mode of illumination for which the heights of Dunedin are admirably suited was used with great satisfaction on the higher portions of Edinburgh on the 10th of March, 18G3. This was a dish of hardened fat with a ball of cotton wick set in the centre and lighted. These were called jxidellas (the Italian for a fryingpan), and were just the dishes or saucers iuto which flower pots are set. They were about lOin in diameter. They were placed along the heights of the Castle Rock, the East and West Princes street Gardens, and on the Castle ramparts, round the Mound and Bunk of Scotland iu Edinburgh—the effect being very fine. These could be placed in Dunedin iu the gardens and along the paths in the grounds of many of our citizens who dwell on the heights, and in the Triangle and Octagon gardens, etc.—l am, etc , Casskroi.e. Dunedin, June 3.