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Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 14, Issue 1164, 24 June 1870, Page 3

Expoet of Leeches. — Fewpersonshave any conception of the magnitude of the leech trade. Franco is said to consume yearly 100,000,000 of leeches, England and Germany the same, and other countries in proportion. From official statistics of France, Germany, Russia, Italy, and Turkey, it has been gathered that the prime cost of leeches sold in Europe exceeds £2,000,000 per annum. Some parts of Australia abound with leeches, those which frequent the Murray river being preferred by the medical faculty to any other known specimen. They bite freely, and leave no inflammatory wound or mark behind. They thus equal, if they do not surpass, the famed speckled leech of Northern Europe. Messrs. Felton, Griniwade, and Co., of Melbourne, took measures some time ago for the conservation of the Murray leeches, and their contracts with the fishermen in the Murray district for the past season exceeded half a million. We are informed that the inter- colonial demand is almost equal to the supply. Shipments are, however, sometimes made to England, and the s.s. Somersetshire took, a large consignment for disposal in the home country. The leeches have been packed in boxes of soft clay made to resemble as much as possible the muddy bottom of the river, which is their ordinary resort. ToNa.ißi.uo in Eruption. — The Evening P?st of the 9th says : — " On the 2nd instant Dr. Hector received a telegram from Mr. Park, the telegraphist at llunanga, informing him that Tongariro had been in a state of active eruption for some days, and that the red glare was visible from Hunanga Mountain, and also from Tapuaeharuru, at the north end of Taupo Lake. Yesterday evening he received a further telegram, stating that the flame is increasing, and that a sound like thunder is distinctly heard at Tapuaeharuru, and occasionally even at llunanga, which is situated 50 miles in a direct line from Tongariro. The telegram states that there are two points of eruption — one at the top, and the other on one side of the mountain, by which is meant, no doubt, not Tongariro proper, but the more recent and lofty cone Ngauruhoe. Dr. Hector iuforms us that in January last there appears to have been a dischai'ge of hot ashes, which melted the snow where they fell off the slopes of Huapehu, and that in October a red glow was observed to be reflected from the clouds overhanging the cone. In 18b"7 the natives told him that in the month of May in that year flames were seen to issue from Ngauruhoe, attended by an eruption of ashes which reached as far north as Henemaia, or 35 miles in a straight line, covering the ground with a white dust, like snow. The last marked eruption, attended by loud noises, which tho natives reported, was in 18G5, when the Taupo district, and even the water of the lake, were covered with several inches of black dust. The showers of ashes that on this occasion fell into the Hotoaira, a small lake between the volcano and Taupo, were so dense as to poison tho fish. Judging from the above information, the present eruption appears to be rnore violent than any of the abovementioned, and may, perhaps, be attended with a discharge of lava, which has never previously been observed in connection with this volcano." Tubular Breakwaters. — Mr. W. Jackson has invented an original arrangement in the construction of breakwaters. This consists of a sort of honey-comb, formed by fastening together in parallel lines a large number of cast iron tubes ; the structure is so placed thai tho waves flow through the pipes, that is to say, tho axes of the pipes are parallel to the direction of the most dangerous winds or currents. Mi*. Jackson has recently submitted to the War Office a scheme for the erection of a small breakwater, according to his system in Seaford Bay. He is not the first invontor of metallic-breakwaters. Captain Vetch, 11. N., invented some years ago a system of iron caissons, which was proposed for the Plymouth breakwater; and in 1857 Lieutenant Manico, li.N., patented an apparatus which he called also a caisson, though it would be more accurately defined as a crate, which he proposed to fill with stones, so as to form submarine blocks. Mr. Jackson's breakwater is widely different however from Captain Vetch's and Lieutenant Mauico's inventions. The latter was proposed to be used in the body of a pier or sea defence ; the former, according to his inventor's ideas, should bo placed at some distance outside. The Bket Root in Melbourne. — The Australasian says : — A now industry is about to bo entered upon in connection with the Agricultural Distillery Company, Footscray,' viz., the manufacture of sugar from beet by a process lately discovered. Mr. Nathaniel Levi has lodged with the Attorney-General the necessary documents for tho protection of tho invention, and an effort will be made by the company to commence operations at once. The modo of manufacture, as described in the application, differs materially, we understand, from those processes in uso on the Continent. Mr. Lcvi's plan is to macerate the beet in hot water in order to extract tho saccharine juices, and the sugar is then obtained by the evaporation of the liquid. Mr. Levi is satisfied that the company will succeed in obtaining valuable results, and when it is borne in. mind that the enormous quantity of 700,000 tons of beet root sugar was the produce of tho season 1808-9 on the continent ofEurope, it is apparent that a large field is prosented to the farmers of the colony for the cultivation of the beet,