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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 117, 17 May 1879, Page 2

" Proof spirit " (says an exchange) was socalled because in tbe pre scientific age it was customary to levy duty on spirits by a rough and ready process, called the proof* and conducted as follows :— A small heap of gunpowder was wetted with the spirit to be tested, and the spirit was then set alight. If the spirit was strong, the gunpowder became ignited, and flashed off very soon after the spirit was lighted ; but if the spirit was weak, the water left behind it us it burned off wetted the gunpowder so that ifc did not explode. A careful investigation of the true constitution of the spirit showed that the weakest spirit capable of igniting the powder had the following composition by weight : alcohol, 4924; water, 5076 ; specific gravity 9.20. Thia is known as proof spirit,

A couple of sailors were recently arrested in New Orleans for throwing buckets of tar at each other. It was a pitch battle. Might I, without offence, auote Thomas Garlyle's description of the "stump orator (says l< iEgles" in the Australasian). For me I do not presume to apply it to auyoue in particular, and yet I firmly believe that there are prominent politicians who in their inmost souls will discover la it an apt description of themselves— or, say, of some of their dearest frieuds :— " The palpable liar with his tongue does at least know that he is lying, and has, or might have, 9ome faint vestige of remorse and chance of amendment ; but the impalpable liar, whose tongue articulates mere accepted commonplaces, cants, and babblements which mean o ,,jy < Admire me, call me an excellent stump orator i'-of him what hope is there ? His thought, what tuought he has, lies dormant, inspired only to invent vocables and plausibilities ; while the tougiie goes so glib, the thought is absent, gone a wool-gatheriogr, getting itself drugged with the applausive * Hear, hear '—what will become of such a man ? His idle thought haa run all to seed, and grown false as the giver of falsities ; the inner light of his mind is gone out ; all his light is mere putridity and phosphorescence henceforth. Whosoever is in quest of ruin, let him with assurance follow that man j he, or no one, is on the right road to it. 1 ' We extract the following from a Victorian contemporary, with reference to the Kelly gang :— "Auother wild rumour which has gained circulation is that news has by some means been brought from the outlaws' camp to the effect that a quarrel took place between the brothers Kelly, Byrne and Hart. It is stated that during the altercation a desperate struggle ensued, in which revolvers were freely used on both sides. To make the rumour still more sensatioual, the quarrel is said to have ended iv Byrne and Hart being shot dead by Ned and Dan Kelly. The rumors have caused a gread deal of excitement, but I am inclined to put no confidence in them. Parties of troopers and black trackers are continually coming in and going out, but they do not appear to find a warm, or indeed any, trail at all. Although the correspondent of the Herald does not credit the truth of the rumour, we shall not be at all surprised if it should turn out to be correct. It will be remembered that ou the Bth inst., we published under the beading of ' X Dream,' a letter from a correspondent who related that a friend of his had dreamt that he had met the twoKellys, and upon his remarking ' how is it I see only two of you, when we always look for four as your party V The brothers looked very black, told him to mind his own business, and replied, ' Two's as good as four for you.' At the same time we thought the interviewer of the Kellys had been dreaming with his eyes open, and are still of that opinion. With such a large reward offered for their apprehension, the two Kellys must have distrusted their companions for a long time, and would not hesitate a moment in putting them out of the way if they saw the slightest reason for doing so.''