Items.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XX, Issue 6167, 24 January 1895, Page 4

Items.

A practical test is about to be applied to what is known as the Heckert-Row-land plan for generating natural gas in the bowels of the earth. The necessary pumps and engines are now being erected on the site of the old Wetherald rolling mills, in the north-eastern part of Findlay, Ohio. This is in the vicinity of several abandoned gas wells which will be utilised for conducting the experiments. The theory, which was evolved by William Heckert, a well-known mechanical engineer, at present a member of the Finlay City Council, will work a revolution in the natural gas region if it proves a success. Mr Heckert proposes, by means of powerful pumps, to force air down into the gas-bearing rocks, which it will permeate, and thereby become infused with the active properties of the gas itself. The mannerisms of different cricket players are interesting. Giffen goes through the motion of wetting his finger every ball without doing so, and tosses the ball just as he turns to bowl. Jar vis lifts and arranges his cap after every stroke. Bruce smoothes down the face of his bat with his hand after each hit. Worrall, when he goes in, takes one of the bails off, draws a straight line, replaces the bgil; and then steps out and picks up two imaginary dead flies off the pitch. Worrall's 96 in the Victoria-New South Wales match was unquestionably the best he has ever played. It was a fine, plucky, patient innings, in which he hit ten 4's and a 5, but did not go scathless in making them. The state of the wicket was shown in the state of Worrall's fingers, not fully protected by the batting glove. Three of the nails on one hand were bruised and blackened, and the fourth had not escaped damage. Worrall had bad luck with the bat in the last test match, but performed brilliantly in the field. According to the Daily News an American paper the other day published the following curious piece of "news": — " Mr Gladstone has gone into the hotel business in his old age, having opened an establishment near the library he equipped at Hawarden, with a rate of 25s a week for board and lodging and the use of books. The place has been running only for a month or so, but readers and students have already made it a success. "