WELLINGTON NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14625, 10 September 1909, Page 4

WELLINGTON NOTES.

(Paou Oua Own CoMfEsroirom.)

WELLINGTON, September 8. The Wellington Crematorium, which v, situated in the cemetery at Karori, was tested to-day, and worked satisfactorily llto temperature registered was 1500det 1' ahrenheit. °

When .nearing the West- Coast of New Zealand on her voyage from Sydney, last night, the Manilla ran into a southerly gale, which made things unpleasant for some hours. Amongst those on board Were Dr Batchelov, Dr Burt, and Mr and Mrs J. F, M. Eraser, of Dunedin, and Mr J. C. M. Grigg, of Longbeach. The Manuka brought 2800 cases of fruit from Australia for the Wellington market. The metallic filament lamps recently introduced here have saved the Wellington householders who use the electric fight many pounds, In this connection the city electrical engineer has given some interesting information to the Dominion newspaper. In the first Osram lamps the filaments were made of osmium, a very rare metal, and it was not until the manufacturer found that tungsten would serve the purpose that the lamps could be produced at a, commercial price. What is now required is an improvement in ,tlie .process. At present the tungsten is pulverised into a very line powder, and this is mixed with another material to serve as binding, the whole forming a. sort of paste. This substance is then forced through tiny holes, and the resulting thread is the filament of the lamp. Heat is.then applied, with the result that the binding material is burnt out, and the particles of tungsten are fused together. The filament thus formed is very fragile, and that is why the lamps have to be handled so tenderly and are so liable to breakage. What the manufacturers want is a process for drawing tungsten into a sufficiently fine wire which would be much less brittle than the present filaments, The difference being analogous to that between wrought iron and cast iron. A process lias been patented, but it is. at present too costly for manufacturing purposes, All the lamps now on the market, the English as well as the German makes, lnvo filament's produced in the manner described. Independently of the wiredrawing question, Mr Richardson is sure that the lamps will shortly be considerably cheaper than they are at present. English retail prices are already lower than those charged here. Mr Richardson said the revenue of the electrical department was still suffering from the reduction which people have effected in their lighting bills through the use oi the new lamps, but he anticipated that an increased consumption would in due time make good the loss. He mentioned that tungsten is found in New Zealand, there being a consid-jrable quantity in Otago. It is interesting to note that the Reetton Chamber of Commerce, as reported in a West Coast paper, recently received a letter from the Cfiiterbury" Chamber of Commerce inquiring about wolframite and scheelite ores, from which tungsten metal is extracted. The letter stated that 'here is a ready sale in England for these ores, and the writers asked to be put into communication with exporters of same. The spiritualistic seances conducted here by a Melbourne bootmaker recently imported by (he local spiritualistic fraternity, have developed into farcical proceedings, and the local spiritualists have been so tangled cp in the matter of mediums, apports," and •ther weird and wondrous feature; of the mil that they are daily becoming more and more of a laughing stock to the general community. All attempts to get a rigid test to decide whether or not the birds and other "apports" are whizzed through space from India and other distant countries by the "spirits," or aro morelv materialised by trickery, have failed. Recent seances have not been a success, and their discontinuance is announced. A challenge bv the editor of tho New Zealand Times 'for a rigid test has been evaded by the medium.