THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 1884.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXX, Issue 4783, 19 January 1884, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 1884.

At the adjourned meeting of the Education Board on Thursday evening, the recommendation of the Greymouth School Committee, that Mr Thornton, of Reefton, be appointed Head master, and Mr Clements, of Greymouth, second master, was approved of. The San Francisco mail arrived by tram yesterday forenoon, and was promptly sorted and delivered. St. Mary's Young Ladies' Schools, All Saints' Convent, re-opens on Monday, 21st inst. All shares in the Golden Fleece Extended Quartz-mining Company, Limited, upon which calls are unpaid, will be sold by public auction on Tuesday, 29fch inst., unless the calls are previously paid. The Hokitika morning paper of Friday says: — "Two or three business men in town have in their possession dishonored cheques of the defunct Board of Education, which they cashed on behalf of employes of the Board. At present there seems no way of recovering moneys so advanced unless the members of the Board can be held personally responsible. To those who take pleasure out of circus entertainments, it may be of interest to learn that they will not be long before they are paid a visit by Woodyear's New Electric Circus. But it is not the same as was here last time, and it is to bo hoped that if the new one pays us the visit that is promised the manager will remember that the public whose money keeps them going are deserving of a little more courtesy than was shown them on their last performance here, when the canvas was let down about the people's ears before the performance was over or they could escape from the tent. One such trick as that is quite sufficient. The public, however, will be pleased to learn that the circus lias underwent a complete reorganisation. It was disbanded at Auckland, and Mr Woodyear went off to America, while his well-known advance agent (Mr R. Love) was dispatched to Australia to pick up fresh talent Both have since returned to this colony, Mr Woodyear bringing from the United States new horses, waggons, an electric light, and such a display of illuminated circus printing as has never been surpassed in the colonies, if approached; while Mr Love, after a four months search for professional talent in Australia, has brought over 13 of the best spangle and sawdust performers to be picked up. The four brought from America by Mr Woodyear include Professor Silvester, witli his troupe of dogs and monkeys. The company also includes a Japanese artist called Cooma who is described as a show in himself. There are also three lady artistes, and 33 horses and ponies. The I company ought to arrive on the coast shortly. The manufacture of eggs is being carried on in the United States on a large scale, one establishment turning out upwards of 1,000 an hour. The yolks are formed of a paste composed of cornflour, starch, and other materials. The whites are formed of albumen, and are chemically identical with the whites of eggs. The inner skin is a film of gelatine, the shell is plaster of Paris, and is rather thicker than the real article. It is said that, in point of taste, the eggs are undistinguishable from the real article, while they have the advantage of keeping perfectly good for year, and can be more easily transported than ordinary eggs, from the greater strength and thickness of the shells. They can 'be flavoured. The most assiduous hen has so far failed in producing chicks from these eggs; but, except for hatching, they are in all respects equal to the originals. " The Chinese are not the soldiers that the French are," says ex-Congressman Bookwalter, who has just been round the world, "but they have a clear policy. They are the best diplomatists in the world. The Chinese State Office is regarded as the keenest on the globe. The influence of the Chinese among all those Eastern people is subtle and perfect. Fancy the accuracy and skill of a Government which, under one system, can control 450,000,000 people." A patent has been taken out for preserving fresh meat, and it is of such an ingenious and thoroughly scientific character that I cannot do better than give an outline of it. The means for preserving the meat is a mixture of carbonic oxide and carbonic acid gases — the former a combustible gas, the latter a nonsupporter of combustion. These gases, when mixed in definite proportions, say not less than 55 per cent, nor more than 75 of carbonic acid, with not more than 45 per cent, of carbonic oxide, nor less than 25, form a thoroughly imflammable and tasteless mixture in which the meat remains unchanged for any length of time. The mixture of the gases takes place in a : specially prepared iron cylinder, the details of which are given in the specifications of the patent. The latter is taken ' out by Mr C. M. Pielsticker, of Sidney- 1 terrace, Kilburn. — Exchange. j In an article in the Nineteenth Century on the French army of to-day, Captain Norman makes the startling statement that, with the exception of the artillery, in which there is a noticeable improvement, that army is actually in a worse ] condition than it was in 1870, so that J " should Avar overtake France before she ( has realised and rectified the defects of - her military organisation, nothing can avert a disaster more crushing than that which befell her 13 years ago." Nominally the strength of force is 3,000,000 men, but half these are said to be untrained; 3 ttiere is a great paucity of officers — so 5 nuch so that Captain Norman believes it I nroulcl be almost impossible for France to

mobilise her army. Non-commissioned officers are equally scarce; there is a great want of discipline; insubordination is on the increase, and "the old feeling of comradeship amongst officers has been succeded by mutual distrust, and esprit de crops amongst the men is a thing of the past." A series* of burglaries in London having been investigated, it was found that in each case one of the servants in the house at the time had received a character from what purported to be "her last place." This "place" was always the same; it was the house of a lady and gentleman who apparently lived in good style at the West End, and whose names were in the PostOffice Directory. The establishment was maintained solely for the purpose of planting an accomplice in likely houses. In some cases the accomplice was actually a member of the household at the time of the robbery, and made all the necessary arrangements — such as leaving the windows unfastened, giving a signal, and keeping the other servants out of the way. The whole plot is said to have been carried out with remarkable skill and ingenuity. _ A correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette gives the following recipe for getting thin: — "Breakfast — A cup of black tea, white bread (or, better, brown-bread toast) with abundance of butter, an egg if reI quired, or a little fat meat, ham, bacon, or fish. Lunch — A little fat meat, boiled or roasted. Afternoon — A cup of black tea. Dinner — Soup, fish, fat meat, ham or bacon, (no meat without fat), cabbage, baked fruit (without sugar if desired), salad, fresh fruit, cheese, and bread and butter. A half -glass of whisky and water will, at dinner, do no harm ; a few glasses of claret or light Avine. After dinner — Cup of black tea." Either the correspondent or his digestive organs must surely have made a mistake. This diet, one would think, ought to fatten. It is announced that M. Body, of Locornette, in the Ardennes, has invented a new and ingenious fire-damp detector. Ie is essentially a safety-lamp of the Davy type connected with an electric bell. Contact is prevented by a catch held back by a cotton wick impregnated with some chemical preparation. When the firedamp reaches dangerous proportions the wick ignites, the catch is released, and the bell rings. The total average strength of the British army on the first day of January, 1883, was 159, 229 of all ranks, the "number of officers being 7,336. Almost an exact moiety of the force was in service abroad, and of the 94,295 in the United Kingdom 61,325 were quartered in England, 3,609 in Scotland, and 29,361 in Ireland. Out of every thousand men 756 are returned as of superior education, 186 as able to read and write, 28 who read but not write. Twenty years ago 641 out of every thousand could just read and write, only 52 wore of superior education. The number of Scotsmen and Irishmen in the army arc decreasing, while the increase of Englishmen is comparatively large. Mr Way, head master of Wesley College, gave some capital advice to parents recently. Referring to the irregularity of some pupils' attendance, he said : — " The consequence to the absentee is very often, not the loss of some independent piece of information (e.g., of the towns of Africa, which will make no difference to his learning the rivers of Asia), but the missing of some important step in the way of explanation and practice in a new rule (as in mathematics or languages), on which all I after work more or less depends, an omission which may leave a weak point in that boy's work for months, a difficulty constantly cropping up, and a continual source of discouragement." The bright visions of placer and quartz gold mines said to exist in that mysterious territory, Alaska, have been dissipated by the recent return to San Francisco of the Schieffelin exploring party. They satisfied themselves by long and painful search that the country " wouldn't pay" as a gold region. Although there is a good deal of gold to be found in places it will never be a great mining country, as it is too cold and inaccessible. There are only about three months in which gold can be washed, from May to August. There is not so much bimber as is generally supposed, and it is of poor quality. Alaska is relegated, with a sigh, to its fogs in summer, and snow and ice in winter.

Greenwood and Son, Dentists, Wanganui, next visit to Greymouth in April. — Advt. The achievement that gave to the world Wolfe's Schnapps will live in the history of curative science as long as t\v\ human frame is subject to natural diseases. — [Advt.]