NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10900, 3 November 1898, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Mb. R. DtmoAN, chief inspector of machinery, in his annual report, draws attention to the large amount of new machinery erected during the year, most of it being for mining purposes. The boilers and engines have, ha odds, for the most part been imported from Great Britain and America, which militates against the manufacturers and tradesmen in the colony. " Every boiler and engine imported means a loss of weeks of good skilled employment, and prevents engineers in the colony making permanent additions and improvements to their plant, as it would not pay to have this extra costly machinery Ending idle. This is to be regretted, not only owing to the non-employ-ment of tradesmen and loss of business to employers, but also on account of the education that our rising engineers lose while serving their Apprenticeship, through this high-class machinery not being made here. This is a matter that should bo looked into." It scemi to us that the inspector of machinery is here travelling out of his sphere. He is paid te inspect machinery and not to advocate protectionist measures. It is to be regretted that so much machinery has to be imported, bnt at present a heavy duty is levied, and surely, when, notwithstanding that, those concerned find it to be for their interest to import, it must be presumed they know their own buemess interests better thnn the inspector of machinery. The pile of Labour Bills now on tho Statute Book is a severe handic&p against the progress of the manufacturing of machinery in this colony, and it might have been useful if tho inspector had given hii superiors a hint on this point. Mr. Duncan proceeds: —" The whole of the imported boilers and machinery could be made in the colony, in my opinion, not only to equal, but perhaps to exceed in usefulness, the imported article, as the local requirements are better known to thoso interested in the colony." Such a statement must make those who know the machinery which has lately been imported, somowhat doubtful as to Mr. Duncan's professional judgment. •

The question of over-prcssnre at school has "for some years past been prominently before the public, though its importance has perhaps been diminished' by the conviction, now becoming generalised, that over-pressure is often only a euphemism for undernutrition. The fact, howover, remains that persistent and excessive intellectual fatigue resulting from injudicious professorial pressure is capable of engendering a pathological condition presenting in the main the characteristic features of neurasthenia. The subject has, so far, not being studied in a scientific manner, at anyrate in this country, and there is plenty of scope for serious and careful observation. An indispensable preliminary to any such investigation must be the discovery of a method whereby the effects of intellectual fatigue can be studied experimentally, and the recent work by Binet and Henri on La Fatigue Intellectuelle" shows that means are no*r available with this object in view Experiments carried out on adults showed that after an hour's application To ™h a «*]«* as arithmetic, certain psychological effect, are observable in the shape of modifications of simple processes which admit of thltVi™ 110 "- We find for instance, ™* the tlm9 required to wo* out calculaboth in written and mental, is prolonged markedly, and the subject can no longer read as rapidly as before commencing the experiment, his ability to mTnthr?l antral processes is dinumshed and his memory for figures himpaired. Numerous experiments carried out m school, further proved that the degree of tague i, prop tiona] to the .£ °1 the intellectual application. Of the vanous methods employed by these ohservers, the dictation U i s J £ Ojmon to be preferred to aUothLS feofrom many of the fairies .sociald with cwtain other teßte Buch as impairmento memory, and diminution of tS e «ns.b,hty, while, on the other hand it i tisfoundimore^;^ tom and the .rrors committed L 1 nounced modification, 0 L *?™l organic h9 . S reat intensity of th e e?rt JK *° the «-*«- 1 nS ph r logicai H we study these TffV '•*»>. Thus, for erTm n rt ybetween <*>* the helrt-hU •P ' , after * thmi if tue effort TtT *«*****. while constriction, and thi. f. f n Me " vaß °" byvaso-dilatefon f ° lWed on nomena obtain i"n Beries of P^" »WA is »t first "J!,^^ 01 torded. firrt aooeler and then rel

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Both the Home consumption and tl e f<~. " ! shipments of Home-made spirits have creased, but there has been nothing uW" ' great boom that some people believe to h taken place. As a matter of fact. ; t J , been demonstrated in the newly.; s Lj port of the Inland Revenue that over the period 1892 till 1898 the crease in consumption has not kept ■** with the increase in population, f or in the former year we consumed on an age of 0.831 gallons per head, in the year the average was 0.824 gallons, s r increase as lias taken place, moreover - wholly in England, for both in Scotlaad' A Ireland, instead of increasing, consume? has diminished. " m

The items of news to-day respecting ft relations between France and England HsM somewhat conflicting. M. Blowitz '"•:«,'4" Times' correspondent in Paris, describe, these relations as being very delicate. ij&g well-known that he has access tc the W'P information, and his long experience of aid affairs gives great weight to his opinion On the othei hand, we are told that Pan newspapers declare that France will tenia to negotiate, but will await a favourable m. portunity of reopening the whole question. Tins means that France sees that this would be a most unfavourable time fo ongage in hostilities, but that it will by n means acquiesce in our holding Egypt, bnf will abide its opportunity, when Great Bit'" tain is embarrassed in some way, to make our' continuance in Egypt a cause of hostilities, Mr. Hayes, the Junior Lord of the Treasury has declared in a public speech that he has" seen despatches showing that the French Government had recalled Major Jlarchand. The Emperor William was received in fljjfl Church of tßb Rcdeegiei, which he coase. crated, by the choir singing, " See the Con-' quering Hero Comes," not very appropriate: music for the occasion, and gave an address': advocating the union of all branches of jpl Christian faith. The disunion of the» branches has been manifested nowhere more''% strongly than at the Holy Places. Italy «'2 having some trouble in the dominion it still f retains in Africa. The Sultan of Raheita has 4 rebelled, but has been deposed, and has fled. The peace negotiations betweeD Spain and "• the United States are not proceeding very smoothly. The Spanish Commissioners pw fess to be astonished at the claim for th* 1 Philippines, while it is said that if an agree- ; ment is not come to America will renew " hostilities. . ; :;•<