TOPICS OF THE DAY.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXX, Issue 3863, 5 October 1899, Page 5

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

NEW' GAS ENGINE. We gather the following -interesting information from the London “ Daily Mail” in reference to the Westinghouse gas engine referred to by his Worship the Mayor, in the course of a speech to a deputation .yesterday f ‘Tlics'e engines are made in much, larger sizes than are usual with gas engines. - One- of 650 brake horse- 1 power’now running at Pittsburg is be-* lieved to be the gas engine in existence, but a still bigger one of 1500 horse-power is being built, in America, and is expected to give very economical results. . A 125 horse-power engine has already attained an efficiency of 28.7 per cent, on the shaft, and still better things are hoped for tho future. It is stated that with a Wcstinghouso engine and dynamo working at full load and using London gas at 2s 6d per thousand feet, electricity could be produced at $d a kilowatt hour, or allowing another ;Jd for attendance, maintenance and depreciation, at a total cost of l.Jd', the prevailing selling price in Great Britain being now Id to 6d. Such results, it is suggested, hold out a prospect, of a new .departure in the distribution of electricity in connection - with electric traction. Instead 'of . a large central station distributing currents, at veryhigh . voltages to local stations,' where step-down transformers supply alternating. currents to drive the motors, it is considered that gas made at central gasw-odcsrdould!?berramVoyudi3n pipes to gas engines placedriitopoSttiQris corresponding to tho sites of tho rotary transformers at a capital expenditure greatly below that required for equivalent steam boiler arid engine plants. Trio cost of fuel per • electrical horsepower so delivered should not, ,it is calculated; be more than half the cost of the fuel- for generating electricity by steam for similar service.”

A PROBABLE CENTENARIAN. , At the Pictou Hospital last week a kanaka named Isaac Wallace died. Ho was, according to a local paper, one of tho oldest residents in the colony, he having, as 7 ho said, 1 when a young man, lived with one of tho first missionaries who visited the colony. To give some idea of his ago, he had a tattoo mark on his arm testifying that ho was steersman in. his : fifth whale ship in 1824. Wallace was one of the party who rescued, at the Boulder Rock, some of those who escaped from the Wairan Massacre in 1842. He had been a resident of the Sound for many years, following' his calling as a whaler, until old age prevented his leading an active life, and for some time past he had been an inmate of the hospital, Deceased was reported, and with probability,. to be over 100 years of age.

A NEW HEBRIDEAN INCIDENT. With reference to the alleged murder of a Presbyterian missionary • at Tanna, which was reported in our. cablegrams yesterday morning, it might bo interesting to note that the most sensational incident in the cruise of the Shepherd Plaid lino steamer Victoria. tothoßanks Group ,thc Santa Cruz Islands, and the New Hebrides, occurred in the last-named group, at the island of Tanna. The Victoria gathered the information that in the latter part of last month the trading station 1 of Mr Carl Nystrom, an old-established copra buyer, doing his business with Sydney, was attacked by natives. Tho enemy

went stealthily to Hie place at nighttime, and Mr Nystrom had a narrow escape. Quite outmatched by natives, -he fled to his trading vessel amid a volley of shots and spears, and although badly wounded he eluded his pursuers. They, finding themselves in solo possession, ransacked the station, and left for their fastness in the mountains with the plunder. Word has since been sent to Captain Farquhar, of H.M.S. Wallaroo, which is patrolling in the group, and by this time, no doubt, the cruiser has visited Tanna. The island '' is thickly populated by a warlike and bloodthirsty race, and cannibalism is by no means extinct there, though tho missionaries have made some progress with certain of the coast tribes. It was off the south end of Tanna that the Union Company’s steamer Fijian was lost, and upon that occasion, the lives of the castaways were menaced by tile savages for several nights'. LAND SETTLEMENT. The closer settlement of tho lands of the colony is one of tho principal planks in the political platform of the present Government, and it is satisfactory to note that even in the absence of the Hon the Minister for Lands the work is being prosecuted with vigour. One of the methods adopted by the department is spoken of with appreciation. By this method the officers ascertain the opinions of intending settlers with respect to any estate before it is thrown- upon the market, especially in regard to the areas in which the properties acquired should he cut up; and their opinions are generally taken into account when the various estates purchased are being surveyed. The property of Mr Jas. Buli, near Sandon, comprising 1700 acres, was recently purchased by the Crown at £l3 per acre, and a meeting of intending settlers has been held at which the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Mr J. W. A. Marchant, was represented by Mr Earle, of the Survey Department. The settlers were of. opinion that the land should l be subdivided into farms of from fifty to 100 acres. It is understood that the Government will have the estate cut up in the areas suggested, and thrown upon the' market in February next. As the Government has paid £l3 per acre for the land, it is not expected it will be let on a lease of 999 years for less than 14s per acre per annum. As there is a demand for land in the neighbourhood of Bulls for dairying, it is anticipated that there will bo many applications for the sections. ■* _ “ STRANGE CONDUCT OF A GIRL A ypung lady who is on a visit from Christchurch to a friend in Masterton recently developed symptoms of strangeness, and on Monday night suddenly disappeared from her place of abode. Scantily dressed, she had wandered to the banks of the Waipoua-river in the vicinity of River road, and had apparently thrown herself into the water with what a Masterton exchange alleges to have been suicidal intention. Tho sudden immersion, however, appears to have dissuaded the unfortunate woman from carrying such a resolve into effect, for she presented herself at the house of a resident in a wet and miserable condition. The police were communicated with, and the young woman was restored to her friends, bub doubts are entertained as to her mental condition, and she will be medically examined.

A LETTER FROM KIMBERLEY?" [' ' In a letter from Mr J. M. Gillespie, dated Kimberley,, August 19th, which the ‘Marlborough Times” has been shown by the father of■ the writer, it is stated that “Dr. Jameson is now in Kimberley, and should war be declared, I believe her will be one of the first to enter the, Transvaal' at thehead of Powell's Irrcguhvfs. ' ‘ If lie’’enters it before war is declared he will bo shot by the Boers for a certainty. Two powerful searchlights have been erected on the outskirts of Kimberley, so as to flash right over the border, the veldt is mapped out, cannons erected, and other necessary precautions carried out under-the supervision of Imperial officers. The Boer press organs teem with bragging articles regarding the intention of the burghers to wreck the mines and bombard Pretoria' and Johannesburg immediately England makes- war on them. It is a wellknown fact that both Pretoria, and Johannesburg aro'undermined,’ and hundreds of pounds of : dynamite placed under various parts of. these cities, and it would be only a -matter of'applying fa match to these death-trains to carry out these diabolical threats, and spread havoc and death among the’inhabitants of these centres. Of course Boer and Briton would suffer alike, but sooner than see their country and its immense riches pass into the hands of their enemies', the Boers would shed their life-blood.” THE “NEW ZEALAND MAIL.” This week’s issue of the “Mail” contains an excellent budget of ladies’ topics which comprise reports of the Civil Service Rifles’ hall, Miss Coates’s ball, Misses Stafford’s book-titl i evening, Mrs Waldcgrave’s juvenile dance, the Garrison Band bazaar, etc. Full reports of the crisis in the Transvaal are given. The farmers’ pages contain an excellent and well-as-sorted budget of reading matter,' the snorting notes are up-to-date, and the literary pages and the “Echoes of the Week” contain a large quantity of well and brightly written nows of the week. On the illustrated pages are reproduced portrait groups of the Yorkshire Society, officers of the .Native Laud Court, besides comic sketches and other views.