NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2497, 22 January 1902, Page 47

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Inquires. — Before you can become eligible for an appointment as cadet in the Lands department you would first of all have'fo pass the Junior Civil Service examination, and then, unless you were amongst the first 20 or 30 on the list, you would have no chance of an appointment. The age limit is over 16 or under 25, and if successful, you might be appointed cadet surveyor or cadet draughtsman ; but of course the number of appointments made yearly is limited. The scale of pay is £40 for the first year, £50 for the second, £60 for the third, and £70 for the fourth. You should apply to the secretary of the Civil Service Examination Board, Wellington, for particulars concerning the examination. At the end of the four years' cadetship you would have to pass an examination before the Board of Examiners as constituted under th© " New Zealand Institute of Surveyors and Board of Examiners Act, 1900," before you would be competent for an appointment as surveyor; but even if you passed that examination successfully, the Government does not guarantee you an appointment. The following detail of subjects of examination will give you some idea of its stiffness: — 1. Mathematics. — Trigonometry (plane and spherical), geometry, and algebra, so far as applicable to surveying. 1. Computation. — Triangulation, including polygonal and raytrace computations ; reduction of traverses ; computations connected with the setting- out of roads and curves; adjustment of discrepancies in surveys ; computations of areas, including such as have irregular and curved boundaries. 3. Principles and Practice of Surveying. — Details of fiekl practice, including the keeping of field notes; topographical surveying; cutting off given areas ; redetermination of boundaries; laying out roads; setting out curves ; plotting from field notes ; stadia surveying; barometric and other measurements of heights ; surveys under the " Land Transfer Act, 1885." 4. Levelling, &c. — Levelling, measurement of earthworks. 5. Principles of Construction. — Adjustment and use of the following instruments — viz., steel band, theodolite, level, sextant, compass, plane table, clinometer, telemeter, barometer, and thermometer. 6. Field Astronomy, Geodesy, &c — Determination of latitude, azimuth, and time; reduction of star places; elementary geodesy; Bpherical excess ; convergence of meridians, and declination of the magnetic needle. 7. Drawing. — Plan drawing ; compilation of plans ; projection of maps and charts, aud description writing. 8. Miscellaneous. — Physics and geology • (elementary), and survey regulations. There are so many books on surveying that it is difficult to advise you. You had better write to Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs, and ask them for their list, and then you could make a selection according to the length of your purse. Subscriber.— (l) The Dunedin Amateur Athletic Club do not give medals as prizes, but orders on jewellers instead. The value of the orders is on the following scale: — Field events : First prize, 30s ; second prize, 15s. Other events: First prize, JE2; second prize, £1. (2) The annual subscription to the Dunedin Aroatejr Club is 10a 6d, in addition to which you would have, of course, to pay ih» ■ entrance fee for each particular race in which you competed. It is also necessary that you should be an amateur as defined by the rules of the N. Z. Amateur Athletic Association. If you require any further particulars, you had better communicate with Mr E. L. . Macassey. the secretary of the Dunedin Amateur Athletic Club. His address is Water street. Dunedin. (3) The world's amateur record for throwing the 561b weight for height is 15ft 6gin, and it is held by J. S. Mitchell, American, September 6, 1897. Mac, Chatto Creek.— The cribbage hand contains 18. Reader, Witness —There is no run. Figs. — Figs are either dried in the sun or in an oven specially built for the purpose. We know of no method of preserving them in their natural state for some months, but should imagine they might bo preserved in syrup the same as other fruit if it were thought worth while to go to the trouble to do so. A f abmeb's Son. — A special edition of the Witness is published on Thursday morning, and may be obtained in place of the Wednesday's edition by anyone who orders it. The only variation is that it contains the Burnside market reports for the week and the report of the Land Board. Cockatoo. — It takes 360z of greasy wool to make lyd, double-width, of 240z cioth, which is an average New Zealand cloth. The cloths generally in use mn from 20oz to 28oz. It takes about 3Jyds of cloth to make a sac suit of clothes for an oidinary man. It will therefore take nearly Sib of greasy wool to make the suit. The proportion of grease in wool averages : for merino, 55 per cent. ; for half bred, 45 per cent. ; and for crossbred, 35 per cent. Fond Father.— The best time for your boy to leave the State school and enter the High School altogether depends upon your ideas as to his future. If he is destined for commercial life, he will do well to pass the Sixth Standard before leaving, for you cannot beat the State school curriculum for • good grounding in all that is absolutely necessary for such a rareer. If, on the contrary, you ■wish to fit him for medicine, law, or any other profession which demands a good knowledge of languages, the best time for him to enter the High School would be after he has passed either the Fourth or Fifth Standard at the Stale school, according to the time at his disposal. Galw-vv. — (1) Yes ; notice must be given in the form prescribed by " The Fencing Act, 1895." (2) He is limited "by the act to 21 days. (3) Yes , you can thereafter recover from the defaulting party his proportion of the cost. Constant Reader.— Section 14, of " The Impounding Act, 1884," permits the destruction of poultry trespassing on fenced land, m which case you are responsible for any trespass. Subscriber, Waipon — (1) Mi James, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court, Masterton, recently decided that a private individual is not allowed to fish for trout on his own property without a license. You will find the judgment in the Otago Daily Times of Gth Decembes last. (2) Pheasants, being imported game, may not be shot anywhere without a license. Wool — X may recover the value. :>f the sheep from both V and Z if the latter were> acting in concert; but if Z is an innocent party, X's remedy is against V only. (2) It was illegal for Yto give X's sheep' to Z, certainly. As a matter of fact, though, V had every right to lmnound the sheep, but not to dispose of it in the mannei indicated. 'E. E. O'Dakiels, Waipori.— (l) It is a (fcbatab'e point, but we will. hunt up some authonJies am! lei you know later. (2) Mr Percy Smith, the Surveyor-general Wellington, would be a likely man to give yon lnfoimation concerning Pitcairn Inland J. W. — Club root is the result of soil sickness, cp.ussil by taking a, crop «i oiie or other oi the

cabbage tribe from the same ground year after year. Move yom cabbage pot to another part of the garden for a } r ear or two. If that is not practicable, lime the soil, and when planting, dip the roots of the young plants into a mixture of soot and clay. Cock Sparrow.— Take loz of arsenic, loz pearl ash, and one quart of water, boil together till dissolved, then add the wheat or oats, letting the mixture be ail absorbed. Common washing soda will answer if pearl ash is not at hand. L. M., Dunback.— Mr H. M. Davey kindly ?eplies: — The machine that has given you moie or less anxiety for such a long period arrived safely in Dunedin, and has been examined. There appear to be no radical defects anywhere, and, indeed, it needed oil more than anything else.