The Oamaru Mail SATURDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 4 December 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail SATURDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1880.

Captain Edwin telegraphs :—"Bad weather is approaching from auy direction between north and wpsd r.;m south-west. will be a further fall of the glass, hut it v.-j]! rise after 12 hours, <tnd the wind will change southward.

Yesterday afternoon, about 30 of the High School Cade's were treated to some shooting practice. The shooting, on the whole, was very good. James Kelly again - put in an appearance at the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning on a charge.of being drunk and disorderly."" "This" "time, however, he was cautioned and discharged. John Hamilton, alias Robert Muir.-charged with forging a cheque fur LlO. purporting to he drawn !>y one John Turnimll, oh the National Bank at Oamaru, was remanded till Monday.

The Rev. G. Buck, who is on a'visit from England, will preach in St. Luke's Church to-morrow,' morning and evening, in the absence of the Ew. Mr. Gilford.

Tuhia, the Opunake murderer, is reported by the Post to li.we said in his confession : " I had no desire out to kill her-; it was a momentary impulse, and I acted upon it." It would appear from this that the murderer had.no motive ; and that the act was a rash and thoughtless one, perpetrated while under the maddening influence of bad brandy, will, we think, be yet proved. About ninety Cadets of the North School, under the charge of Mr. Lindsay, the master, proceeded to Maiieno by the midday train, where, on the beautiful farm of Mr. CJark, Punchbowl, they will hold a picnic. The boys looked remarkably well in their red uniforms, and their deportment as they marched through the streets of the town en route to the railway station proved that they are beginning to realise the importance of demeaning themselves in a soldierly manner. Mr. Lindsay is worthy of praise for taking so much interest in his boys, and Mr. Clark is deserving of thanks for his kindness in placing his farm at their disposal, so that they might be enabled to spend a day of physical and mental recuperation. Such outings have a wonderfully beneficial effect if properly conducted, as we believe the}' are by Mr. Lindsay, and will exercise a favorable effect on the after lives of "our boys." Better times for butter producers are promising for the future (says a Melbourne contemporary), and the dairy interest will doubtless watch closely the movement setting in towards an important export trade. Reference has already been made to the increasing butter export going from the port of Geelong, and now the directors of the Melbourne Frozen Meat Export Company are taking steps to thoroughly test what can be done in the same direction. Last week they purchased fifty tons of first-Glass butter which they intend to send home by the Protos, the steamer that has been fitted up for the reception of a cargo of frozen meat. By the same steamer eighty tons go in addition as cargo, while the Orient, Cotopaxi, and Somersetshire also take large consignments. Not less than 300 tons, it is estimated, v/ill go by the vessels named. All butter selected for shipment requires to be of the highest quality. A Northern contemporary lias hit upon a neat mode of dodging the Property Tax, and seriously recommends it to the notice of the Municipal Corporation. He says:—"lt is matter for serious consideration whether the Lannceston Council should not reduce the assessment upon town properties, and, if need be, levy an additional penny in the pound to make good the dificiency that would thus be caused. This would work beneficially in more ways than one, for while the original municipal rates now paid by the burgesses would not be greater than at pre sent, the amount of property tax payable by them would be materially decreased." This contemporary's public morality is somewhat lax. But the dodge would not work. In the first place, the Property Tax Commissioners would make their own assessment: and secondly, the burgesses w: uld lose vastly more by the depreciation iij. actual value than they would save in the paltry taxation. Large sums of money are made annually b} r the increment on the value of property owing to improvements, increase of population, &c. To decrease the public valuation, and to increase the local taxation, is hardly the way to make the increment grow. If property owners want to see their estates grow in real value, my advice would be, put the assessments as high as possible, pay your taxes, and don't growl. Above all things, avoid crying "stinking fish!"— Atticns.

Professor Arnold says that butter gathered in the churn always contains more or less buttermilk, which would soon spoil the butter if not removed. There are two ways of removing it—one is by kneading in water or brine, and the other by kneading it without water. One is called washing, the other working. The former removes it much more rapidly than the latter. The flavor of the butter which has been washed is different from that which has not been washed. The difference between washed and unwashed butter is analogous to the difference between clarified sugar and unelarified. The former consists of pure saccharine matter; the latter of sugar and some albuminous and flavoring matters, which are contained in the juice of the cane mingled with it, which give a flavor in addition to that of sugar. Brown sugar, though less sweet, has more flavor than clarified sugar. When unwashed, there is always a little buttermilk and sugar a iliering to the butter that gives it a peculiar flavor, in addition to pure butter, which many people like when it is new. Washing removes all this foreign matter, and leaves only the taste of the butter, pure and simple. Tl}e assertion is often made, and many people believe it, that water washes out the flavor of the butter ; but it only cleanses the butter of the buttermilk, sugar and milk acid which may adhere to it, just as clarifying sugar removes from it the foreign matter modifies its true flavor. The flavorof buttgr consists of fatty matters which do not combine with water, therefore cannot be washed away by it. The effect of washing upon the keeping quality of butter depends upon the purity of the water with which the washing is done. If the water contains no foreign matter that wjll effect the butter it will keep better for washing tha buttermilk Qut than by kneading it out.