NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2416, 28 June 1900, Page 54

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Questions for reply in coming issue to it received nut later than MONDAY night.

G. B. writes: — As there may be some of youtreaders -who' are possessed of an ordinary 2in telescope they can see a large cluster of sun spots which are on the sun's face next us. Unless they fill up they will be in view up till the 26th. In a 2in glass they will appear as two, but in a larger glass they are many and extend over a tenth part of a line drawn aoioss the sun's disc ? Care should be taken to obscure the sun's rays. Smoked glass does, but; a green, a blue, and a red glass, all placed between the eyepiece and the eye, is best. Lex. — (1) The School Committees Election Act does not fix any number as necessary to constitute a meeting. Six is, we think, sufficient and they might lawfully elect five of tii emselves as a school committee. (2) The act can be obtained through any bookseller ; price ]s. Young Subscriber. — The purchaser of stolen goods must give them up to the true owner, and has no claim against the seller,^unless he can prove that the seller knew then? fco be stolen. It does not make any difference whether the goods were bought at auction or privately. In Trouble. — (1) The Fencing Ac£ provdes for erecting a fence away from the boundary line, if from any cause the boundary line is unsuitable for a fence. You will either have to continue to repair the fence whenever it is washed away, or arrange with your neighbour for its erection on a safer place. If tLe adjoining landowner and you cannot agree as to where the fence should, be made, you can <- apply to a stipendiary magistrate to decide the matter. (2) You can sue the ov^ntr of the cattle for damages if he allows them to come on your land, but you cannot charge for grazing them. (3) There is no definition of " a cattle-proof fence." The act only prescribes " a sufficient fence," of vhich there are nine different kinds prescribed, bff.\rles three kinds of rabbit-pioof fence. (4) All sheep must be branded immediately after shearing, and. all lambs before the 30th of April in each year. It is not compulsoiy to brand pigs or horses running on securelyfenced land. The brand is only prima facie evidence of ownership, and the owner of unbranded stock would not lose theni merely because they were unbranded. In the case of sheep or lambs the owner is liable to a penalty for not branding as prescribed by the act. For the purposes of the act, ear-mark-ing is branding. Subscriber. — The right to resume land for gold mining was secured by an act of 1891. There is no right to mine foi gold on freehold land unless it is first resumed. Guidance. — The provision of the act reads: — " Any widow or any wife who has obtained a protection order may hold a license, but except as aforesaid no woman, whether married or txnmarried, shall hold a license." " Keeping a man on the premises," to quote your own expression, will not help the matter in any way. P. W. L. — The new version of " The wearing of the gieen " and " Boys of. the Queen's navee " are not yet obtainable in Dunedin. Subscriber. — Mr Beverly kindly replies: — •\ This year winter begins, in New Zealand, June 22, at 9 a.m. Summer begins December 22, at 6 p.m. Inquirer. — It nil Tbe necessary for you to write to the head office of the company at Dunedin for the information you require. Subscriber. — "We fancy some parts have been taken up. Your best plan is to write to the Secretary for Agriculture at Wellington, who will no doubt furnish you with the information you desire. CycMST Wants to Know . — The duty on bicycles is 20 per cent., so that the amount payable would be 28s. A£7 bicycle would,* however, never give you satisfaction, as it cannot have anything but the most inferior work in it for the money. Shepherd. — The Wairarapa Daily Times. J. P. — The population of China is said to be 380,000,000. Apples^ — Dessert: Reinette de Canada, Cornish aromatic, ribston pippin, Cox's orange pippin, scarlet pearmain, stunner pippin, Peasgood's nonsuch, Bismarck. Cooking: French crab, stone pippin, gloria inundi, Yorkshire greening, Lord Suffield, Lord Wolseley. Among some 30 vsurieties which, tpftk;

first prizes at the Dunedin Horticultural Society's show, the above are probably the bess. Woolclasser. — Your query -was replied to before. We should say that South Africa is about as bid a place as it would be possible for a woolclasser to go to with the object of pursuing his business. Your best plan before making up your mind definitely would be to write to the Minister for Agriculture, Capetown, to see whether there is any inducement for you to make the contemplated change. Young Subscriber. — The mutiny on board the Bounty occurred on April 7, 1789. The mutineers put their captain, Bligh, and 19 nien into an open boat with a small stock of provisions, near Annamooka, one of the Friendly Islands, April 28. They reached the Island of Timor, south of the Moluccas, in Jiine, after a voyage of nearly 4000 miles. Some of the mutineers were tried September 15, 1792, six being condemned, and three executed. The others settled on Pitcairn Island, marrying South Sea Islanders, and their descendants are still there and at Norfolk Island. Inquirer asks: — Is there any examination (practical or theoretical) to be passed before being eligible for the position of dredgemaster ? If not, what qualification is considered necessary? — No examination is required, past practical experience on a dredge bsing the principal qualification, cotipled with honesty and sobriety. Hillgeove. — We shall publish the details as soon as they are available. Unfortunately our correspondent with the third contingent, who could have supplied the particulars, was laid low with enteric fever, and, like our correspondent with the iirst contingent (Mr Mouitray), has been ordered by his medical advisers to leave South Africa. S. A. C. — The question of which is the national *■- flag of New Zealand is very muoh easier settled than the question oi which is the British flag, for there are a variety of ensigns, though all have one point in common, the union. The blue ensign with the stars representing the Southern Cross is the New Zealand national flag. On the representation of Mr. Busby the British Government sent to the united chiefs of New Zealand three different flags to make a selection from. The chiefs decided on the blue ensign with the Southern Cross. The flag was hoisted and saluted with 21 guns by H.M.S. Alligator on March 20, 1834.