NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2785, 31 July 1907, Page 51

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Vufttion* for reply in coming Utu* t# bt nesivti noi lain than MONDAY niglit. T. H., Dtmtroon.— Scarcely up to th* standard. F J. ,Gr., N.B.V.— Promising, hut not up to requirements. M. 8., Palmerston.— A duty of 20 peer cent, ad val. would be charged on silver plate coming to New Zealand, despite tb* fact of its having been left to you by will. J M., Millerton.— The Russian Empire comw prises one-sixth, of the territorial surface of the globe. The Statesman's Year Book gives ite tcta! area *s 8*642,667 English milee. Whittaker's Almanac says the area is 8»879,044 English, square miles, distributed *as follows •.— Russi* proper, 1 859 195 Bnrfish square ingles ; Poland, ifoei ■ FiSlndr i*Mat; <?tai 2,052,490 English squasre miles. Asiatic Russia: 4 817,687; Central Asia, 1,327,317; total, 6,326,584 English qnaie 1 miles. J. W., Hyde, -writes to, oak 'the value of » volume giving in diary form. «a account ©x "Voyages to the N.W. Coast of America, by John Meoxs, who was in command of the ships Felice and Iphigenio, The book is evidently one of an early edition. Mr H. H. Driver, of George street, in reply to our inquiry, informs us that a copy (*to bds, 1790) was sold at auction in liondon m 1903 for two guineas. Sttop. — According to the Mines Statement laid . before Parliament on the 26th inst. the number of gold dredges at -work at the end of 1906 was 167. A list of these dredges is given in the Mines Statement, which is procurable from the principal booksellers in Dunedin. Ktjmatt Reader.— H. M. Davey, consulting engineer, replies:— As you have not mentioned ■the quaantity of water to be used, it is impossible -to tell you more than to give the power for » given quantity, and if you nave twice that quantity, you should usually have twice the power. I cay "usually for you will nat in your case, seeing that the pipes would be- too s-ma.ll for twice Ih£ quantity suggested below. With a good a-nd suitably-sized turbine (you omit the make sr any particulars about it, so it may be suitable >x unsuitabte — that is, it may be designed for some given fall and quantity of water, which may or may not be what you have) and at your pressure and with one Government nead, that is 60 cubic feet per minute, ycii shpuld get about 5 brake horse-power. <2) Usually an allowance of rather more than 1 h.<p. per heact is allowed, but tho apparatus is of drfferent sizes, weights, lifts, and speeds, and lastly, some material is easier than others to work.. In this case I consulted with Mr Wilkinson, of the Dunedin Ironworks and Steel Company, Willis street, and we came to the conclusion that you would need about 1£ b.h.p. for each head. It is wise to have wmrple power in each ea.*es as your*

F. B. Subschibkr. — H. M. Davey, 91ftPrinces street, replies: — In your letter you state a number of facts, boat do not ask any definite question. The idea- ia an ex-" oeedingly good one, and it is very greatly to be wondered at that it has not been adopted' for most cultivated ground in such places as yours, where the water should be got so easily and so very cheaply. From the size and action of pump and the particulars you give of it, you should get about 2J gallons per minute of water, though probably about 2 will be nearer the .usual. Yc-u will have to be careful with an eccentric, as it is apt to heat. You might have some oil in a tin like » grindstone trough far the band to dip in each time, but a orank would usually be better in continuous working. If you intended to ask something, write again. I shall be very glad if you will write and say how you succeed when the whole- is pump gives yo-u. Sxowed-in (Tarras).— (l) No; the lowest score against Kaikorai was .in 1888, when 3 points were registered against the team. The best record of the Kaikorai team was in 1894, when they won 18 matches out of 13 played, scoring 260 points and having only 4 points scored against them. (2) Madame Clara Butt is making her first visit to the colonies. C. M. E., Waituna West.— The publishers of the Hibbert Journal are Williams- and Norgat*, 14 Henrietta, street, Goven-t Garden, London, W.C. Though not kept on sale any bookseller will order it for you. "Lex" replies as follows to your other question i — Fixtures in a house are personal chattels >,£-o annexed to the building as to be deemed permanent improvements, which cannot conveniently be detached and removed without material injury or damage to the hiouse. Chattels so affixed become the property of- the landlord as part and parcel of the house. Articles set up for ornament and convenience >re, however, usually removable, and among chattels that have been declared movable may be mentioned the following: — Hangings, tapestry, and piei glasses, whether nailed to the walls or" panels, or put up in lieu of panels, cornices-, marble or other ornamental chimney-pieces, marble slabs, window blinds, wainscot fixed to the walls by screws, grates, ranges and stoves, although fixed in brickwork, iron backs to chimneys, beds fastened to the walls or ceiling, fixed tables, furnaces and coppers, pumps, mashtubs and fixed watertubs. coffee and malt mills, cupboards fixed with holdfast, bookcases standing on brackets and screwed to the walls, clock cases, iron ovens, and the like. It must be borne in mind that articles can be .removed only when the severance will occasion but little or no damage to that part of- the houee to which tbay are annexed, and if the bath and wardrobe mentioned in your Tetter ajre easily detachable they will not be considered fixtures. A Native writes: — "I would like to know if' there is any cormectfon between country ■whexe phosphate .rock md limestone abounds and oil-bearing -country. My reason for asking is that some 27 years ago when great improvements in the way of drainage and- ditching- were being carried out under the ' management of ££r Theo. Henderson a.t the Horseshoe Bush, near Clarendon, the writer and another were cutting » ditch up the bottom, of a narrow gully, at the-- head of which we tapped what we considered at the time an oil spring, the substance floating on top of the water; it undoubtedly had the odour rt smell of oil. The^wxite-r was too young at the time, and never gave it further thought, but since the Taranaki oil boom I have often thought I should «ike to see a little prospecting done in the- vicinity of ttie homestead. The particular place I mention is close to •what we called in those days the lowea: ' stables, close to where the bullocky lived. AU the same, I should be very sorry if any publicity given to what I have stated should be the means of causing the owner, whoever he may be, expense in the event of his prospecting «nd meeting with nonBuocess." — I>r P. Marshall, of the Otago School of Mines, and * well-known geologifrt. on being interviewed on the subject, said:— "'Oil shales in New Zealand, so far -as known at present, belong to the same formation as the Clarendon limestone, but lie some distance below the limestone. I do not know sufficient about the Clarendon district to say whether oil shales occur tEere. Of course, you will understand that oil shales do not occur everywhere beneath- the limestone, but I mean to say that where the shales have been found hitherto they lie beneath the rock that in other districts corresponds to the Clarendon limestone." Subscriber -asks for the bsat method of growing potatoes from the potato apple. Mr Shiel, of Messrs Nimmo and Blair, supplies the following information on the point: — The seed 1 of potatoes jhould be eown early in spring in boxes containing rich soil placed in a siheLtered and warm position. Before the plants are crowded they •hould be picked cut into another box containing rich soil and shifted again, as they require it, into the open «oil well prepared and made fine. Oqly small tubers will be for advanced the first year; but those planted in the following spring will prodnce good-sized tubers, and the produce from this planting will decide -which will be the best varieties to select for future -planting. Seeds from one apple will produce very different varieties, and it is from such sowings that the recent new varieties put on the market have been selected. The ripest potato apples ehould be selected and exposed to the gun till they begin to shrivel. They should afterwards be put into water, and remain in it till they again become pulp. The seeds can then be easily squeezed out, washed, and lai3 on paper to dry to fit them for sowing. Interested, Southland.— H. M. Davey, consulting engineer, replies: — The diagram* and illustrations in the Witness of August 22, 1906, were from some I had, and were 3>ut in by the late Mr Wm. Fenwick, who was very interested in th« different makes of hydraulic ranis, as he considered them eminently suited for many places in the colony, as indeed they are. It is perfectly possible to have such a ram as you about. Rams are of two makes, the "A" class is the ordinary sort, and the "B" class is the sort that works by ordinary •wate* that may be dirty, and can elevate clean rain or spring water or, of course, other suitable liqtiid. The difference is that instead of the water exerting its force on part of itself and pushing such p alt «P through the delivery valve, the moving water pushes clean water (or it may be other liquid that may be desired to i>e pumped) through a rubber diap'na-nr., which has a similar effect, but k*e]>- the two liquids apart. Messrs A eiid T Burt or Messrs J. Anderson and Co. v. o\Ad make you the ram it" you g» c them all particulars, .-onie of whulx are: — (1/ Fall in feet (2> Perpendicular height from bottom of a» ove tall to place of delivery of the water. '3i The distance or length oi »iae line »i, Quantity of available

wateT for working rain. (5) Number of gallons per day of 24 hours, to be raised. (6) The distance in which the fall is obtained, or length of pipe line for -working ram. (7) The depth and Horizontal distance from the ram to the clean water, and whether the clean water is in a position to gravitate to the ram. The British maker best known is John Blake, Accrington, Lancashire. Gy*.T. —H. M. Davey replies: —Yes, tank water is used fox high-pressure boilers where the atuds ax© 10ft only; but your height is better, of course. Yon must keep the tanks as high as possible —thwi is, "close to th© spouting. The top of tank could be about level with top edge-»of the spouting. You cam use ordinary 400-gal-lon tanks, but if you make them it would be wise to have them, say, onily 3ft deep and of as large area as you think you will need, for it is serious if the supply fails, fund more -especially if i-t s£az~ta "again irisaa an empty boiler is very hot. Geometry. —Probably you refer to the little instrument invented by Dr H. M-. Leving«, particulars of which will be found on page IS of this week's Leslie.