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Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XX, Issue 3936, 19 June 1877, Page 2

Mr Severn's lecture of last eve7iing was very well attended. The subject was galvanism, magnetism, electro - magnetism, and the induction coil, along with the very beautiful vacuum tubes. The theory of a galvanic battery was very plainly placed before the audience by a simple element of zinc and carbon. This produced the power called galvanism. When the metal and carbon were placed in a saline solution, the current, though small, was enough to ring a bell. A large battery was brought to bear, and its action illustrated in igniting a platinum wire while hot. This was taken advantage of m regard to the making of torpedoes, and after testing it with a low current, it was, after some slight adjustment, fired with success. The large coil just arrived from London, and opened only an hour before the lecture, was next put to work, and the very large spark produced, with its report, caused quite a sensation. Two or three of the vacuum tubes were next illuminated by the coil, and the effect was simply something wonderful. Some twelve of the extra° ordinary tubes will be exhibited this evening, when galvanism, terrestrial magnetism, and other matters of the greatest interest will be gone into, and some practical experiment will be conducted with the electrical machine. The libel cases of the proprietors of tho Telegraph against the Herald will be heard before Mr Justice Richmond today. It is now definitively settled that the action by the Hon. H. R. Russell against the Waha Maori will be tried in Wellington in August next. A large amount of evidence in the case will, however, be taken in Napier by commission. At the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, before R. Stuart, Esq., R.M., John Golding was fined £1 for having been drunk and disorderly. — James Greenaway was fined 10s, with 9s costs, for despasturing four cows and one calf in the Milton-road on the 13th of June. James Kelly, charged with the larceny of a set of gold sleeve links, valued at 10s, was remanded until next Wednesday.

The special correspondent of the Auckland Star in the Tuhua country writes : ■ — "Although no places of worship are to be found in the upper Wanganui district, yet the natives, being Hauhaus, use the Pai Mariri prayers, praying for the welfare and protection of their King, Tawhiao. They have prayers daily first thing in the morning before breakfast, and again in the evening after their supper. Their supplications commence with these words, ' nga te ngaria,' and end with the word ' paimariri. ' I took the trouble to count how many times tho word paimariri was used in the prayers, and found that it was repeated thirty-two times. The priest commences the prayers, and the natives all join in, chanting them ; the wife of the priest also says one of the short prayers alone. The Hauhaus do not reckon their time as do the Europeans — they make each month thirfcydays long, calling every tenth clay ' Ratapu ' (Sunday). On the sixth day of each month they chant their prayers six times during the day instead of twice, but for what reason I could not learn. " In Picton, the Revising Officer, Mr Lowther Broad, has stated a case for appeal to the Supreme Court on the question as to where the onus of proof rests in the cases of objections to persons having their names retained on the electoral roll. Mr Broad holds that the onus rests with the objector, to show that the person objected to is not qualified. AMr Godfrey holds it is the duty of the person objected to, to prove that he is qualified. The Supreme Court will have to decide. Our readers (says the P. JB. Herald) will be interested to learn that tobaccogrowing is daily becoming more popular in this district, so much so indeed, that Mr Gotch, the Auckland manufacturer, has informed Mr O'Meara that he is prepared to establish a branch manufactory provided only that a sufficient area is laid down. Mr J. C. Andrew, addressing the Wairarapa constituency, says : — I have forwarded to the Speaker the resignation of my seat as one of your representatives. I might have given a partial attendance, and paired off for the remainder of the approaching session of Parliament. It seemed to me a more fitting return for the confidence you have so long placed in me that I should vacate a trust to the duties of which I regret to be at present unable to give my undivided attention. The Lyttelton Times says : — " Cornelius Toll, convicted of larceny at the Timaru Sessions of the Supreme Court, on Monday, attempted to escape from his escort in the evening, whilst being taken to the gaol, which is about half a mile from the Court-house. The gaoler, after calling on the prisoner to stop, fired at him three times, which had the desired effect of bringing him to a stand-still, or rather, a tumble, though none of the shots touched him. Toll was brought up yesterday, and sentenced to 10 years' penal servitude." The London correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald says: — "From all accounts, the Russian troops encamped near Kishineff are a fine set of fellows, though they receive some 5 copeches (lfd) pay daily. Their desire for the Scriptures is intense, and the agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society has within a few weeks disposed among them by honafide sale of over 10,000 copies at reduced prices, and is now putting on four more colporteurs with an additional stock of 18,000 volumes, of which he expects to see very few brought back. One officer alone bought 700 copies for the use of the men in his regiment. The Jews who abound in Russia, and even live by thousands in places like Moscow, whence by Law they are excluded, deem it a great hardship to be exposed to the conscription ; and it is to avoid this that so many are going back to Palestine and occupying the new quarter at Jerusalem, where cheap houses are being erected for them by building societies, just outside the Jaffa gate." The Burgess Roll for the Borough of Gisborne contains the names of about 230 burgesses. The Berlin correspondent of the Times gives the following accouut of a discovery which would seem to have been anticipated in a remarkable story by M. About : — ' ' About a fortnight ago a telegram was received at Berlin from Heidelberg containing the news of a scientific discovery almost too wonderful to be believed. Subsequent experiments, however, appear to have fully confirmed the news. Professor Kuhnel, at Heidelberg University, has proved that the last object seen by a slaughtered animal remains imprinted, and is perfectly visible for a short time after death, upon the retina of the victim's eye. More than this, the learned professor has succeeded in fixing and preserving the imprinted picture very much in the way in which photograph portraits are fixed by the maker of ordinary cartes. The animals experimented upon were cows and rabbits." A curious story comes from Paris (says the Pall Mall Gazette). It ib not so very long since a young man, well dressed and apparently rich, entered a clandestine gaming house. He was playing at " trente-et-quarante," and had already won a pile of gold. " Red wins," presently said the banker, and proceeded to hand over a hundred napoleons to the unknown one, for the stakes were high. But the stranger made no attempt to take the gold, and returned no answer to three or four questions put to him in reference to the game. His eyes remained fixed on the red, while his features assumed a ghastly paleness. A player touched his arm — he was dead. Then the banker coldly withdrew the hundred napoleons, observing that play was in the nature of a reciprocal contract, which could only be entered into between parties both of whom were capable of contracting, and therefore never between a live man and a decid one. The cause of death was heart disease, and the official report was soon drawn up in proper form. Tt contained, as may be imagined, no sort of reference to a gaming house. A good story comes from the west of England. The agent of a great brewery firm, finding himself with a large quantity of beer that had " gone off," and himself on tho verge of an arrangement with his creditors in consequence, sent for an analytical chemist, explained the case, and asked him what was to be done. The chemist considered the matter, and recommended a process of treatment which would restore the tone of the beer, although still leaving it with a peculiar taste. The beer was accordingly treated as advised, advertised throughout the west of England as a peculiar tonic ale, and sold in enormous quantities. The beer is now one of the most popular in the west of England. It is drunk by invalids and aldermen, praised by the faculty, and believed in by the pxiblic, although, before it was chemically treated, it was not worth twopence a hogshead, and the agent merely called in the chemist as an alternative to a fiat in bankruptcy. The following is an extract from a Paris lady's letter : — People are positively timorous about expending an unnecessary centime in presence of the darkening future. Many sales of artistic treasures have been countermanded till after the European war, now considered to be imminent. No purchasers were to be found willing to lock up capital in pictures, tapestry, and antique furniture. Many families in Paris that were in the habit of talcing furnished villas in the suburbs during the summer, have this year given up their town residences for six months, and transported their chattels directly to the country. Hence why the streets of Paris are blocked with furniture vans flying, as it were, the capital ; as formerly its shelter was sought before the siege. Messrs liontledge, Kennedy & Co. will sell to-day, at 11 a.m., apples, oranges, &c. Mr Lyndon will sell, to-day, at 12 noon, GO cases Nelson apples.