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Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10955, 21 December 1911, Page 3

Opposition papers that are not conducted on the lines which impart the peculiar quality fitly described in a telegram to a friend which was stated to have emanated from the Prime Minister, are freely expressing opinions that the Government will be.able to continue to control the country's affairs. The Wellington Post says: "The first impression from the figures is that the country has asked for a change without any clear indication of what it wants in place of the thing condemned"; but the Hawkes Bay" Herald declares that "the Government is not destroyed, but it has been rendered powerless for good, though still strong enough, as it seems to us, to retain office and carry on the administration of the business of the country. It cannot hope to promulgate, still less to carry out, any progressive policy. If, therefore, the views of Labor are'that the country needs.a progressive policy, Labor has committed political suicide. It has condemned the country to a period of stagnation, certainly, and possibly to an era of reaction.'' These are the opinions of a journal circulated in that hotbed of Conservatism: Hawke's Bay. "We want no more conclusive confirmation of all we have written in defence of the party in power. All that £hose who have weakened the Government by voting against it have done is to "render it powerless for good" ; to prevent it from "carrving out any progressive policy, and to "condemn the country to a period of stagnation and possibly, to an era of reaction." This reads like an excerpt from a friend. We commend it to the consideration of those who have turned against the > Government because of some trivial or imaginary defect in a Minister or in the Government's administration, which, of course, has the faults of all things human.

- The wishes of the North Otago Branch of the Railway Officers' Institute for a bright and happy Christmas .and a NewYear free from care are heartily reciprocated. We also reciprocate the season's compliments as expressed by the Town Clerk and Borough office staff. The following members of the Railway Department have been elected to represent the railway service of the Southern half of the Middle Island at the forthcoming conference of the A.S.R.S., to be held in Wellington m February next: Traffic Department— Mr Gaines, Balciutha. Locomotive Department—Mr Hutchins, Invercargill. Workshops—Mr Barnett, Dunedm. Maintenance —Mr Puttick, Oamaru. Our Duntroon correspondent advises that heavy rain fell all night, and between six p.m. yesterday and seven o'clock this morning, when it was still raining steadily, 141 points were registered.

At Waimate the wet spell shows no sign of clearing. During the past week

about three inches of rain has fallen, and the fruit gardens have suffered, considerably. This is the wettest December for many years.

.We have received £1 Is from Messrs Sang and Son, Thames street, for the Oamaru Hospital.

Mr Frank Jones has been advised of Iris success in completing his solicitor's examination. Mr E. J. Barry has passed the first section of the same examination.

A correspondent informed us yesterday that "the Crown tenants are very jubilant about.the Opposition getting into power; that they will be able to buy . . at the original value . . then sell out, and go for a Continental trip and see their friends on the unearned increment, for the Crown tenants nearly all voted against the Government." This is an exaggerated statement. It is not true that "nearly all the Crown tenants voted against the Government," though it is difficult to ascertain exactly how they -did vote, for it is known that in some settlements, notwithstanding the temptation of the bribe, the majority of the Crown tenants voted with the Government. In one instance a worthy wife of a Waikakahi settler informed' a canvasser on behalf of the Opposition that she intended to vote with the party which gave her her home. Such a woman is an honor to the settlers and to the country. The Dominion's figures showing the voting for Liberal and' Opposition candidates in each Island are not new, but they show that there are still enough discreet "free and independents" in the Middle Island to give a big majority against Northern rule and pillage. The figures, which are approximately accurate, are: North Island—"Reform" 26, Liberals (including Independents and Labor) 16; South Island—"Reform" 11, Liberals 23.

The terrible story of the French bioscope operator who was three times tossed and gored by infuriated buffaloes in German South-west Africa gives but another illustration of the dangers that are daily and hourly being run with the object of thereby profitably amusing the public. We have been used all our lives to the men and women who tame lions, dive into shallow tanks from a groat height, do acrobatic feats at a high altitude, and in other ways endanger their lives and their powers of enjoyment. The bioscope has offered new perils to the fearless. Only the other day views of a volcanic eruption were secured, tlie operators being exposed to great personal danger. There are several bioscope operators at Tripoli, running the ordinary risks of warfare. No tragedy, as far as we know, to equal the horrible fate of the, "African World" operator has yet resulted from the invention of the cinematograph, but it is possible that, a.s the public taste grows more jaded, the operators will be called upon to take greater risks. Up to 10.30 this morning 78 points wore registered by Mr E. S. Brewster's rain gauge at Awamoko. At the fortnightly meeting of Endeavour Lodge U.A.0.D., held lastevening, the following officers wore installed in their respective chairs by D.P. Bro. D. M'Leod, assisted by P.A. Bro. A. J. Sandom.—J.P.A., Bro. G. Harris; A.D.. Bro. J. Kearns ; V.A.. Bro. A. Whillans; Secretary, Bro. E. Vine; Treasurer, Bro. H. Gronfell; Minute Secretary. Bro. J. M'Jonnett, jun.; 1.G., Bro." T. Blair; 0.G., Bro. Sang ; A.D.B.'s, Bros. W. M'Cutcheon and W. Ross ; V.A.B.'s, Bros., W. Hopley and H. Hurndell. Satisfaction was expressed at the state of the lodge as disclosed by the balance-sheet. The accumulated assets are now only a little less than £3OOO, and this notwithstanding that upwards of £3OO had been disbursed to sick members during the year. Bro. G. L. Grenfell, H. Groeott, E. Vine, and D. M'Leod wore elected Grand Lodge representatives for the ensuing term, and Bro. J. Wallace alternate representative. Bro. A. J. Sandom was 'nominated for the office of District President. Votes of thanks were accorded the retiring officers, the lodge surgeons and chemists, and the installing officers; while a motion of appreciation was minuted congratulating P.A. Bro. T. Cox on his approaching marriage. The lodge was closed in unity, peace and concord. ;

From a London paper:—'Widow (descendant of one of England's greatest field-marshals) desires paying guest to join small house-party for golf and bridge ; near Slough ; references to titled friends. Address Sport, etc.' 1 Two young people have found on a hill near Copenhagen a highly-valuable treasure, including about 600 gold and silver pieces dating from the end of the 10th century. There are several AngloSaxon coins, and also gold and silver armlets, bowls, cups, jewels, etc., of the highest interest and value, according to experts. They have been brought to the Historical Museum at Copenhagen. The Government of the Czar lias officially intimated its determination to prevent to its utmost any excesses against the Jews or any recrudescence of pogroms within the Czar's dominions, states the Jewish Chronicle. With this end in view, M. KokovtscfF, the new Premier, is taking extraordinary measures, a large force of troops having been ordered to Kieff to safeguard the lives and property of Jews in the district.

Vanity on the part of an escaped convict has led to his arrest. The convict is Leon Cibion, who was condemned in 1907 to seven years' penal servitude,, but managed to escape and get .to Hayti, returning to Paris some two years ago. A few months ago Cibion became engaged to be married, and thought he would like a photograph of himself, his intended bride, and several friends. The photo was taken, and was so good that the photographer exhibited it in his window. A detective saw it, recognised Cibion, and the convict was re-arrested.

The average mouse runs 16,000 metres a day, and certain energetic subjects have been known to run 29,000 metres in a period of 24 hours. With a view to the utilisation of the power of mice, an inventor constructed a wire drum revolving on an axle. The production of linen thread was 41b per 5 days of mouse labor. The inventor of the machine died before perfecting his invention.

Interesting experiments have been made with ancient medals, vases, and so forth, of lead, that are gradually disintegrating in the museum of Cluny, France. After a certain number of years they fall into dust. The cause, it is thought, lies in the presence of minute quantities of saline matter, with which the objects have become impregnated during their long burial in the soil or under water. These microscopic impurities play the part of bacteria and microbes in living bodies. In other words, the lead is "sick," and, unless the noxious matter can be removed, will inevitably perish. Curiously enough, it is found that if traces of salt are imparted to a fresh mass of lead, it is attacked and eventually falls to pieces like the objects in the museum at Cluny.

"England's peril was not from without, but from within," said the Rev. Moffat Gautrey, the new president of the P.S.A. brotherhoods, whose conference was lately opened at "Whitfield's Tabernacle. Britain's nest campaign, he said, would not be fought in a deadly duel between English and German Dreadnoughts; her next campaign must be fought out in the Empire's heart. The greatest foe which they had to fear was the giant lust for drink. He ventured to assert that the nation was wasting £1,000,000 a day, barring Sundays, the year through, on drink/ and in the waste of the nation's finest assets which drink entailed. Great Britain, he said, would never be saved by Acts of Parliament, but by personal dealings with individual souls.

It can be stated with perfect truth that a lump of sugar may be turned into diamonds. Not all the substance of the sugar, of course, will enter into the composition of the gem, but only the carbon that it contains. Sugar consists of carbon united with oxygen and hydrogen. The oxygen can be easily separated out, and in certain experiments for the production of diamonds this sugar carbon has been employed. The diamonds so produced were, of course, very small and destitute of commercial value, but still they are real diamonds, and the chemical result achieved would be no greater intrinsically if they were as big as the Kohinoor* The hope has often been held out that an improvement in the process of manufacturing of diamonds may be effected whereby the necessity of dissolving the carbon in molten iron may be dispensed with, and the required combination of great pressure with great heat may be brought about by

some such operation as squeezing the carbon between red-hot metal plates. Magnetic attraction or repulsion are the necessary consequences of magnetic induction. The magnet attracts a piece of iron by inducing an opposite polarity at the end in contact with it, and tho tw6 opposite principles attract each other. The north pole of one magnet attracts the south pole of another, and similar poles repel each other in consequence of the attraction and repulsion of the opposite or similar principles. If the pole of a powerful magnet be suddenly ;bj;ought near to the similar pole of a weaker one the inductive action is often so strong as to reverse polarity of the latter, when attraction instead of repulsion will take place. The attraction of iron filings is explained in the same way. Every particle of iron next the magnet has magnetism induced itpon it, and it becomes a minute magnet; this particle makes the next particle a magnet, and so the opposite polarities being induced in such of the particles, they attract one another the same as if they were each permanent magnets.

An official estimate of the strength of the Frenih Army, as it was composed last year, has been given by M. Klotz, the Minister for Finance. The officers and men under arms numbered 581.491, the first reserve, which could bo called out at once, numbered, roughly, S00,000; the second reserve, 400,000; and the last reserve, 1,700,000, thus making a grand total of 4,500,000 men. Medical authorities agree that, although there are many contributing causes, excess Uric Acid in the blood is the real cause of Rheumatism, Gout, Sciatica, Lumbago and kindred diseases. Rheumo is the one remedy that wilt remove this excess uric acid and quickly give relief. Sold by all chemists and stores 2s 6d and 4s 6d.. 15 Messrs Baldwin and Ray ward, whoso local representative is Mr E. Piper, Thames street, report that amongst the many applications for patents they ha-vo just "filed are: —A. G. Lunn, Auckland, refillable loose-leaf pocket-book; G. N. Larkin, North Sydney, washing domestic crockery; W. J. Alexander, Christchurch, tramway cleaner; A. J. Ilainsworth, Wellington, electrical water heater.

Severe headache? Wont' stop, nothing handy P Call at the nearest chemists'; "Stearns' Headache Cine, please." One wafer gives almost instant relief. 40

Opposition in Oamaru is keen in thu trade. I'm on top for value, so buy your Loewe or other pipes from me. 1 stock all the leading brands of tobacconists' sundries; also choice walking sticks for Ninas presents. In wishing you tho compliments of the season, I desire you to know that my business will be closed on Monday and Tuesday next.—Cecil Jackson, Crown Hairdressing Saloon, next Post Office.