CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXXI, Issue 10308, 29 March 1894, Page 5

CURRENT TOPICS.

The report of Mr Fairley, the Leads Official Analyst, on the subject of glycerine is not pleasant reading for those vrho are accustomed to take doses of this .popular remedy for a “rough, throat.” Out of eight samples recently examined by him five were found to contain. appreciable : quantities of arsenic. Some time sine* the presence o! arsenic', in glycerine attracted attention, and manufacture** took pains to show that due provision was made for preventing contamination. The Pharmaceutical Journal suggests, with good reason, that chemists should tak* a taps for ascertaining the purity of glycerine sold by them.

Considerable success has been attained by the ladies’ half-price periodical tipkpts introduced by the Victorian Railway Commissioners some months agoC. The ' find: experimental step was made in February last year, when the wives ofperiodloal, ticket-holders were granted similar tiokatH- - at half price in cases where the ladies war# 1 not receiving salary from a business situation, those who were in business having already a liberal concession. From February to the end of the year Sllo of these tickets were sold, averaging nearly -3J>O * month, as it was only during Februaryi that the system was introduced* and not more than thirty-four tickets were in that month. Finding (hat the eystem • was appreciated by the public,, the com-’ miseioners decided to extend it, and, With the new year it was made open for any lady not receiving a business salary to get a half-price ticket without having to take the preliminary precaution of marrying the holder of a periodical. This extension has had a marked effect, as the sale has risen to 1397 tickets for the first Iwo months of the year, giving an increase pf just double the average business. >

At;the County Court, Ballarat, a -few days ago, before Judge’ carpenter named Christian Jensen,, pro-' ceeded against W. T. Stevens, a sewing machine agent, tor the recovery of jSI9, damages for alleged libel. It was shown that Jensen was indebted to Stevens in the eum of-ss, for which a demand was made through the medium of apoßtalcarfi. The debt was paid, and subsequently plaintiff received another -postal rcardj in ■ which yb was stated that there was* still Is 2d due to Stevens, whose signature>wac appended. Later on a third postalXiasd - ’ was sent to Jensen by Stevens,-who wrote that “men like Jensen were not worth writing to when every shilling hadto he dragged out of them,” and that Ms (Jensen’s) custom was not worth having!” Stevens, who defended his case in person, said that in writing the oh j actionable words on the postal cards he had mot been actuated by malice. His Honor, however, replied that the statements on the rards were uncalled-for and libellous. Plaintiff, he thought, had not -suffered by the receipt of the cards, and he would therefore merely give him a verdict of Is damages, with £3 Is costs. / ' Mr M’Garthy, health officer at Footscray, has sent A sensational report to the Melbourne Board .of Health .on the .character of the Yan Yean water consumed in certain quarters of that borough. Aa outbreak of typhoid led him to make inquiries, which showed that the Yan Yean in the vicinity .of the affected area .was simply horrible, the amount of solid filth 'being about cne-tbird to the bottle. He had mo hesitation in saying that ;the filth was sewage, and finding mo other o&naefor ‘the outbreak of the disease,-attributes it to the water. Be recommends that -the Education Department should provide filtered taps ac the local ;Btate acbodls, and advises the local Council to .call the attention of the Metropolitan Board of Works to the necessity.of moreixeqnentiy hushing the smaller water-mains.

“ The trials of the new Austrian Salvator mitrailleuse, or quick-firing machinsgun." says a London contemporary, “ have been reported upon as highly'satisfactory, and the weapon has been -adopted by the service, 100 pieces being now toady for distribution. The' gun is not intended for use in the field, as in the case of the English. Mp.-rim and Nordenfelt machine guns, but will be mounted on -the outwork* encircling important fortresses. It is half the weight of the Maxim, and its-average rate-of discharge is 800 rounds per minute, with a maximum of 320. The principal point of interest, in respect of which the new gun differs entirely from the mechanism of similar weapons now in use in other countries, is the oscillating pendulum rflgntat.iTig the speed of fire. There are -two firing commands with; the Maxims, ‘single fire’and ‘continuous fire.* With the Salvator mitrailleuse -the advantage is gained of sustaining a moderately heavy discharge of - 80, 60 to ..IOD rounds per minute, and increasing it, by mean* of a faster oscillation of the pendulum, to 300, when a dangerous phase of the attack has been developed. The mechanism is said to be very simple, and throughout the trial no jars were recorded,”