NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2677, 5 July 1905, Page 48

NOTES AND QUERIES.

- Questions for reply in coming issue (« In reuivti - tut later than MONDAY night.

IS. J. A. — What is considered to be the best edition of Burns's works published of late years is Chambers's' "Centenary Edition," edited by Dr William Wallace. A very fine biography of Burns was published about the - came time, one of the famous "Scots Series," "Robert Burns," by Gabriel Setoun. Carlyle's essay is still thought to be about the best appreciation of Burns by many people, but" " it may not be -easy to get it. The first two named may- be got from, some of the Dunedin boofiaellers. The Centenary, issue- of tho Burns Chronicle has several excellentarticles on Burns,, notably tne two great speeches of Lord Rosebery, delivered at Dumfries and Glasgow, also muck informa.-

lion? that is not to be founds elsewhere> ■.No poet has hadi so many biographers and) editors as Burns; it would take up about a column of the Witness just to mention them. all. Some very fine eulogmms on Burna have been published in fcne Witness,, notably the anniversary addresses of the late Thomas Denniston and the late Scobie Mackenzie (two by the latter). — W. B. jErKEENTAXE. — No. But the owner may lodgea complaint with, the warden. According. to section 101 (subsection 2) o£ "The Mining Act,, 1898," the licensee of any race must erect, and maintain to the satisfaction of the warden a sufficient bridge at every point -' wherek any. road in- ordinary use at the time of tile construction of the race crosses such race, or where, in the> opinion of the warden, » bridge is reasonably required for public ' or private, convenience. fxcpnßXß.—On the facts as set forth in your letter, he is not entitled to claim the amount - o£ the bill' of costs. Insured One. — (1) Yes, duty is payable to tfie Government under "The Deceased Persons' Estates Duties Act, 1681." The amount of- duty depends on the amount bequeathed, ithe scale being as follows: — On a sum not exceeding £100, mo duty; on any amount exceeding £100, but net exceeding £1000 — on itlie first- £100 no duty, and on the remainder MB2£" per cent : ; on' any amount exceeding £1000, •but not exceeding £5000, £3| per cent. ; on any amount excaeding £5000 and up to £20,000, £7 per cent.; on £20,000 and any aomunt over that sum, £10 per cent. In estimating the amount of duty, you must itstke into consideration the fact that when the children are beneficially entitled" under tK«. administration the Commissioner of Stamps allows a- refund of one-half of the dUty. (2) The Post Office Savings Bank pays 3£ per cent, interest on deposits up to J3200, and 3 per cent, on excess over £200 lip-, to £500., If £500 were deposited the iotal amount of interest for one year would T>& £16. £500 is the maximum amount of deposit on which interest is payable. If a person wishes to invest larger sums at interest, he can purchase either NoVr Zealand •consols bearing 3£ per cent, interest, or debentures under "The Aid to'" Public Works and Land Settlement Act, 1903," carrying 4 per cent, interest. &PBBCRIBER. — Mr H. ML Davey, consulting engineer, Moray place, kindly replies: — The beat way would be- to have the puirap as '• dose to the* water as convenient. It would not be of the slightest use having the pump «t the top of the line of pipes, not perhaps *o much on account of the length of suction pipes, though that in itself -would certainly be very disadvantageous, but on account of the perpendicular height, which is far and away too much for huction. If it Would be of sufficient' advantage to you, ih»

engine itself might be placed at the delivery or upper end; of tho pipes, with, ihe pump near thiecriyer surface; but if so, you* would have to transmit the power from the engine to the pumrp by. a. wire rope drive and pulleys, unless you. go in for electric, transmission, li convenient, however, tne best place for the engine ■would be on the , top of the bank, out of ihe way ox floods, and.

sit a convenient distance for leather or rub-

ber belting to drive the pura/p. You would ' need about 3C brake norse-power, and

thotigh Bin pipes migh.' do, you. ought to have 7in pipes- for tho amount of water ■wanted to be pumped, seeing the length o£ the line of pipw isr 600 yards. You must understand that you.- would never make a mistake or lose power by having- pipes'

that might be said to b» too large, for the water would c-nJy run the slower through them; you lose power when you force water through pipes, that are too small, seeing that you cause the 1 - water to run too quickly, and thereby get much unnecessary friction between the water and the pipes; so that there would be no liaorm in the pipes being even larger. I mention this, as you urighi

he offered laige pipe? cheap, as is some» times the case, and jou might think that large pipes would give more work to the pi.mip, vhile the levcrse is the case. When you have diecided where you will put your engine and where jou will put your pump, and vhat sort of pump you would like, you might write to the editor again, and get * fuller reply. I understand thai Messrs Burt have centrifugal pumps that are specially xnz&v to pump to the height you need. Tlie ordinary centrifugal pumps will no'» usually jrarnp so high. Ycu can get what are callea "Duplex" pumps, or other doubleaction ones, preferably in pairs, to work tvith steam or gas; or if there is sufficient current m your river, bow about a moored pi»nt in the. stream and current wheels? In reading over y.yur letbar again it seems doubtful whether your total rise perpendiculaily from the river suiface is 30ft or 70ft, please make that cTear in writing again. Th» calculations are on a supposed riso of 70ft in all. Pebplextip.— 'l here is no hard and fast rule as to the method of going through the grand inarch in a ball room. Every M.C. has his own. ideas, and hence there is considerable div«reity in the styles adopted The following: mstiuctions will, however, probably surt your purpose:— Couples march round tha room, as though in a procession; after getting properly into line the top couple leaJ down the esntrie to the bottom of the hall; lop couple lead %o the right, second couple to the left, and so on, every alternate couple marching in a serpentine direction to the top of the room. When the two leading coniles meat, march down the room in fours to the bottom, breaking off into couples toright and left to top, this time marching m the direction to form the figure of * vase; couples nrcel, again at *op, ladies and gentlemen separate, ladies to right in a zigzag to the bottom, gentlemen to left in a zigzag to the. bottom ; when partners m»t, march round the room and polka. With a large room and plenty of couples, an M.C. can fomi any figure- he may choose, a.nd some form very pretty sights to onlookers by the variety of the figures they devise. Ajax. — The following reply to a similar question appeared only a few weeks ago, but you have evidently missed it . — Make a strong lather with feoft soap and hot water, and let it stand until cold. Wash the sheepskin in it, carefully squeezing out all the dirt from the wool. Wash in cold water until all the soap is out. Dissolve lib each of salt and alum in two gallons of hoi vrat«r, piit the skin into a tub, and pour the liquid over it. If not sufficient to cover, add more hot water. Let soak for 12 hours, then hang oit a pole to drip. When well drained, strr-tch carefully on a board to dry, and Etretch several times when drying. Before quite dry, sprinkle on tihe flesh side las? each of powdered alum and saltpetre, rubbing it v;ell in. If the wool is not firm on the skin, allow it to remain a couple of days, then rub again with alum. Fold the flesh sides together, and hang m tha shade two or three days, turning over each day till quite dry. Scrape the flesh side* | vrell with a dull knife, and then rub with I puniics stone to make the skin soft. Several ! skins may be sewn together to make large mgs. Eor colouring, procure any of the dy-cs sold by chemists. Sew a loop of strong cloth on to the corners of each skin. Prepare the dye in a shallow vat, having it hot, and the wool damp. Let two persons stand on opposite sides, each holding two corners of the pelt by the cloth loops, and dip the wool side into the dye bath, moving gently till all parts are coloured a 1 ike. Rinse m the same manner. When the wool is dry, card it until it is smooth and fluffy. J. H., AVarrington. — (1) It is as difficult to state which is "the first real spring month in the British Isles," as it is to reply to a similar question -with regard to New Zealand. The Vernal equinox falls on March 20 when spring is supposed to commence, but as May is. usually regarded as the. first , summer month, that hardly fits in. However, as September may be regarded as the first real spring month here, so may March be looked upon as the first in England. (2) The Cospatrick, eandgrant ship, Captain E-n-'Slie, on hey way to Auckland, took fire at midnight, November 17-18, 1874, only five or six out of 476 escaping. They wore picked, up or. November 52V, and arrived at St. Helena on December 6. (3) We havie no information on the point. A Reader op the Witness. — No, barley meal is nab made in New Zealand mills. Gristing barley requires special machinery, and the small demand would not warrant the expenditure necessary. Volunteer. — Te-s, by giving three months' notice, but he must deliver up his accoutrements before getting his discharge. In case &i change of residence or physical inability, he can get liis discharge at once, without waiting for Ihe expiry of the three months. A Constant Readeb. — No, not while Great Britain is on terms of neutrality with the belligerents. W. L. — No, it is not absolutely necessary. __If you have confidence in the business integrity of the purchaser, you can take his promissory no^e for the balance. (2) The diagtaph "ci, 1 ' as in Pleiades, is- pronounced "i" as in. pine. An "c" and "i" coming together, however, may belong to different syllables, in which case the pronunciation is guided by the accent or mark between then:. (3) If by "hard" you mean like "k," no ; the pronunciation is like "si," the preceding "i"' being soft. " Dispute." — Lord Hawke's team was defeated by Victoria and South Australia. It drew with New South Wales, the match having to be abandoned through ram. Rea-BER oj? the "Witness fob Twenty Yeahs. [ — (1) The length of the solar Jay xs> con1 stantly fluctuating, and to get a fixed measure of solar time astronomers have to imagine a sun moving uniformly in the celestial equator, and completing its- circuit in the same time as the reai sun. The time marker! by this imaginary sun. is called "mean solar tinW When the imaginary sun is on the P meridian, it is "mean noon" ; when the real i sun is on the meridian it is "apparent nooai." It is obvious that a sundial must show apparent time, while clocks and •watches keep mean time. Only four times 1 in the year do these two coincide. The mean j solar day is 24 hours; a sidereal day is 23hr 56min 4sec of mean solar or common time. In the course of a civil year of 365 days the earth turns on its axis 366 times> I or there are 366 sidereal days. (2) Wellin?I ton time. In this connection the follow- ! ing from a reply supplied by Mr H. Skey some time ago in answer to a correspondent) who asked "What time in the day does tha shadow of a telegraph pole point due south.' in Otago?" will inteiest you:— "He should mention the day, as it is always varying between certs :u limits. The ah? r I - w of a vertical pole points dtis south four iicics in the year at 12 o'clock astronomical time — viz., April 15, June 15, September 1, and December 25. But as the authorities have adopted a uniform time all over New Zea>land, they fixed upon a, central meridian, and they use this time, called New Zealand mean time, for all our clocks. Now, Dttnfifiin is eight minutes in tisae west «s2 tii»

meridian; therefore on the four dates mentioned the sun's shadow points due south

eight minutes after 12 o'clock at Dunedin." li. M. P. — The habit is no doubt the result

of faulty feeding or a prolonged moult, due •to want of care. Give plenty of fresh water, and a batji regularly in siunmti; seed only twice a. day, and in small quantities, canary seed being the foundation. Above all let her have plenty of means of amiuseniemt. A few green radish pods, tha green seed 3 of the nasturtium, or any pung-ent vegeitable in common use acts as a preventive. Give no meat, bur. a little bread and milk, tho tread softened with hot water, pouring it off and allowing it to soak up as much milk as it will carry without beiug soppy. Australian parrots when moulting shotild bo covered n>p warm with a blanket, and kept so for abonb six weeks, being i-areful to keep them from draught or cold. While moulting they should be fed on oats and canary and hemp seed, and should have no

baths. *• Yellow ana Black."— The Union Cud held the premier position in 1890, but that is more than 14 years since. Since then the premiership has been held as follows: — Alhambra (two years in succession), Kaikorai (seven years in succession), Alhambra, KaiIcorai, Alhambra (two years in succession),

and Southern. *A. D."— ln order to justify his presence on licensed premises during prohibited hours i a. "person must satisfy the court that "' he ■was an inmate, -servant, or lodger on such premises, or a bona fide traveller, or that otherwise his presence on such premises •was not in- -breach of the provisions of the Licensing Acts with respect to the closing ' «f licensed premises."