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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXVI, Issue 72, 29 March 1892, Page 2

An unusual and exoiting inoidenfc took place recently on board the steamship Branksmore in the Harrington Dock, Liverpool. The vessel was inward bound from Kurranohee, with wheat, whioh waa being discharged by a orew of Lasoars, At about nine* o'clock fche men working in No. 3 bold ran pell mell on deck, and reported to the ollioer of the watoh that a large snake waß "in possession" below. The officer, with fche "seraing," or foreman, and several Lascars, at ouoe went below, and found a large hooded snake, Bft long and 2ft in circumference coiled among the bags. The reptile showed fight, but the men proteoted themselves with saoks. When it thrust its head from beneath the pile, the foreman seized it by the neck, and held it whilst others of the men thrust it into a sack, in which, struggling violently, it was hoisted from the hold aud slung over the ship's side into the dock and drowned. It is a publio secret that when the present Sultan, Abdul Ham.d, came to the throne (says Professor Vainbjiry, writing in the National Observer) he brought wifch him not only a private fortune of sixty thousand pounds (saved ou an inoome of some ten thousand a year) but also the habit of eoonomy and moderation, He was also noted for his abstemiousness, and I do not exaggerate in saying that amongst the Sultans of this century and the last not one has built fewer palaces or spent lesj money on himself than Sultan Abdul Hamid, who at the same time is the only one that has ever laid out millions upon sobools and ohariticß for his subjects without distinction of oroed and race. We have only to look in his lace, and to study its expression -an expression so mild „it borders on timidity— to see the extreme kind-hearted-ness of the man, and to be convinced that with him severity is ever the result of imper-. ioub necessity, and that he is chiefly moved by the desire to do good whenever and whereever he can, Near North Yakuima, Wash., a company recently scoured a largo body of arid land on Moxee, and immediately began the work of boring. August 16, flowing water was struck at 400 ft., whioh had increased in flow from the rate of 80,000 gallons to 260,000 gallons per diem, and is increasing. Aa the work went on, water was sonfc through au eightinch pipe 33£fc. in the air. Those interested in fche Bohome olaim that hundreds of thousands of acres of arid lands will be reclaimed in central Washington, through a system of artesian wells, This country would otherwise be without value except for cattle rauge. An extraordinary soeuo ooourrad at fche Colonial Secretary's office at Brisbane on the morning of the 16th insfc,, when a crowd of women, many bearing infants and mqsfc of them accompanied by ohildren, invaded the premises, demanding' to see the Colonial Secretary. Ho was absent, but the women collared his seoretary. It appears tho Government had transferred administration of relief from the hands of the Relief Board to the Labour Bureau, but fche latter had proved unequal to the great amount of extra work, aud'kenoe the commotion. The Under Seoretary, to relieve distress, gave instructions (hit ia future relief should be distributed at the Immigration Bureau. At a recent meeting of the Academy of Soionoes. Paris, a paper waa read on the preventive inooulaiion of yellow fever by M. Domingoa Freire. The author has inoculated 10,88 i persona with cultures of Micrococcus amaril. The mortality of those so vaccinated waa o'l per cent;, although the patients lived in districts infected with yellow fever, while the death rate of tho uuinooulatcd during tho same period was from 30 to 40 per cent. These results have led the Government of the Brazilian States to found an institute for tho culture of fche virus of yellow fever and other infeofcious diseases, and fco appoint M. Freire the director. ( In Illinois sparrows are being slaughtered I in thousands. On tho first day of December j tho Bill offering a bounty for daad ones becamo law, and at tho close of that month the clerk of St. Olair bounty had issued bounty warrants for 1285 birds killed within the o% alono. It is supposed that not fewer than 10,000 have been killed all over the county during the month. Two cents are paid for each bird— Que penny English money. The destruction done hy sparrows to tho crops during tha last two years led to legislation on the subjeot, Dundee is suffering from an insufficient supply of jute, whioh ib already at famine prices, and seems likely to riso still higher. The oause of this is fche failure of tho jute orop, whioh, so far as Dundeo is concerned, is expected to leave a defioient supply of 200,000 balos, or a sixth of the annual consumption ; even after taking int.) aooount the surplus stock of 400,000 bales from last year's crop. Many of the mills have stopped part of their maohinery, while in one of them, since fche beginning of February, work has been altogether suspended on Mondays. Till this oheok was received, the jute industry in Dundee was in an exceedingly flourishing condition. The Harbour Board, in faofc, are at the present time considering plans for the extension of the facilities for unloaning jute-ladon ships. It is proposed to construct a jetty 800 ft long, and a shed of the same length and 160 ft wide, the total cost of both being estimated at £5o } QIQ, Even a temporary oheak to this great industry will meau a very serious loss of money fco Dundee, The first (Initio harbour crane baa been ereoted on the Petersen Quay at Hamburg, It serves for conveying gooda from vessels anchored at the quay djreot'jnto the railway trucks, or into the store aheds, or vice versa. The span width of the crane structure is about 13 metres, with a tree height of 5 metres, so that two loaded railway trucks can conveniently pass oiose to one another underneath. Only one man is needed to tend the eleottometre and to guide all the movements upwardo, downwards and to eithor side. Should tha current ba interrupted whilst cargo is being raised an electric brake is provided which, prevents tha gooda from suddenly falling, —Au iugouious invention is an orange peoler that removes the coat without cutting the inner skin. It is Claimed tbat: 1000 oranges may be peeled without soiling finger or glove or losing a drop of juice. The peeler is a piece of wire, niokel'phtted, very Imuoh in the shape of a button hook, but. with a tiny blade let into the inner bend of f the hook, ■„.■'- "••,•;.'[