To the Editor of the New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume XX, Issue 2130, 2 June 1864, Page 3

To the Editor of the New-Zealander.

Sie, —I seek the medium of your valuable columns, to mention a few facts worthy of public notice respecting the state of the Roads between Auckland and Onehunga. ..It is not often that I. trouble my head about such matters, but having occasion a few days since to walk into town, I could not-help noticing the lamentable state of our high roads. I m.iy mention that this road is now being re-metalled-over a great portion of its course, which compels pedestrians to take either to the mud, or the ditch, at its side, in order to evade a painful and tiring walk upon the crushed scoria, which affords anything but a pleasant path to tender feet. A pathway for pedestrians seems to me to be a thing entirely forgotten, in fact looked upon altogether as. a supefluity. But this is not exactly what I am desirous of speaking abouti It is this, as there is a probability of a great increase in the traffic upon the Onehunga Road, of a necessity this road will get miserably worse, in spite of the ballast that might be placed on it. I would recommend, in order to alleviate this, the scraping of the roads, taking off the superfluous mud and water, which lays on its surface, previous to the fresh ballast being put on; because the filth and wet which congregates upon the road only tend to soften, rot, and destroy the foundation of it; and when the ballast is amalgamated with it, as is the practice, it oozes through; and when summer and dry weather return, the traveller is choked and blinded by perfect simooms of dust and gravel, whilst by the slighest forethought and remembrance of how they manage such things in the old country, on the part of those in authority, this evil would be avoided. I am certain that the top surface, or slush, if scraped off the roads, as I state, would be of invaluble worth to the farmers of the district, as one half of it is manure equal to fatm-yard manure. Hoping that the contractors of our roads and highways will give my humble recommendation a trial, I am, Sic, Viatok. Auckland, June Ist, 1864.

A Lighthouse Keeper's Duties. —The regulations. imposed on light-keepers are very stringent, but not more so than the responsible nature of the duties demands, and, coupled with periodic inspections by members of the board and their officers, to see that these regulations are faithfully observed, a discipline somewhat akin to that of the military or the naval service is maintained. As an illustration of this, we may mention the signal tubes which communicate from the lightroom to the bedrooms of the dwelling-houses, and no man, on pairi of dismissal from the service, is permitted to leave the lightroom on any pretence whatever without in the first place summoning his colleagues to supply his place. A constant watch is thus kept up so long as the lamps are burning ; and in a long Shetland winter night, extending from three in the afternoon till nine in the morning, the four hours' watches which are taken by rotation, come to be a pretty heavy part of the duty. Seated in the isolated lightroom, far from the bustle and din of town life, the light-keeper spends many an hour of absolute seclusion, but, strange as it may seem, even he is not altogether exempt from the annoyance of nocturnal visitors. Whole flocks of small birds, driven by the wind from the coast and attracted by the dazzling light, have sometimes, like a living shower, been driven against the lantern and destroyed ; and even large sea-birds, hurried onward by the gale, have occasionally struck the thick plate-glass, and shivering it to pieces, fallen dead on the lightroom floor, while the lamps have been wholly or partially extinguished. The keeper then sounds his alarm, and applying a storm pane (which is always in readiness in case of accident) to the breach made by the misguided gull, his lamps are speedily relighted. It is not often, however, that the midnight reveries of the light-keeper are so interrupted, and night after night, amid the roars of waves and the howl of tempest, he holds his watch in solitude. A circulating library (in the truest sense of the word) has in some cases been sent round the coast from station to station, each box containing a stock of well-selected books, which, after a reasonable sojourn, are packed up and forwarded to the next lighthouse.— Good Words. The Light in Oua Lighthouses—The distance at which a light is visible depends on its elevation above the sea, and varies of course with the state of the atmosphere. We are not aware of any oil light having been seen at a greater distance thin the holophotal light of Allepey, in Travancore, which is visible from the Ghant Mountain, distant about fifty-four statute miles. Still, in our ever-changing; climate, subject as it is, to cloud and haze, there can be no doubt that any method of increasing th*» intensity of our lights should be hailed with pleasure both by the engineer and the sailor. We cannot get more light with.our present apparatus, for if we increase the size of the flame, we lose by the unnecessary divergence. What we want, therefore, is light of greater intensity; and it is that important quality which gives to the lime-ball light, and to Professor Faraday's electric light, all their valus for the purposes of illumination. The oxyhydrogen, or lime-ball light has not as vet been found to work steadily or satisfactorily. The roagnetic-electvic light has been adapted to lighthouse illumination by Professor Holmes, and was tried by the Trinity Hou«e of London, at the South Foreland, in 1858, "and latt-rly at Dungeness, ii 1862. A steam-engine forms a part of the apparatus required for producing the electric light, which would, doubtless prove a barrier to its use in our rock stations, such as the Eddystone or Bell Rock; but the chief difficulty which has been experienced in bringing this light into practical use is its tendency to sudden extinction. The Elder Brethren of the Trinity House reponed in September, 1862, " that with their present knowledge of the electric light, they do not feel justified in sanctioning its exhibition from any lighthouse where provision is not made for its instant substitution by a li"ht in ordinary use, it appearing to them that the contingencies to accident attaching to the electric light render such precaution absolutely necessary." The same perseverance and skill that have brought the electric lUht to its present state may, however perfect it a- a practical source of illumination; and to ensure that desirable end, it cannot be in safer hands, than the Trinity House of London, aided by the advice of Professor Faraday and Profssor Holmes.— Good Words for March The Powers op the Dog.—A. correspondent of the Smgleton Times writes from Wee VVaa as follows:—" Speaking of our late flood here, a remarkable instance of the distance a dog can swim took place under my own eye. On Saturday, the 13 hj instant —the first day of the flood here—as I stood on the top of mvdomicile, a dog belonging to Mr. Robinson, the lock-up keeper here (one of my companions at the time), was carried away by the flood; we all saw it from the house-top, and of course, after the flood, included it in the obituary of quadrupeds. He has been heard of again at a station on the Brigalow Creek. He must have swam forty miles before he made terra firma again; and must have been swimming all the remainder of that day and night until Suuday evening, when he made the place above mentioned."