NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2949, 21 September 1910, Page 51

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Questions tor reply in coming issue t* k» wmrivi sot lat«r than MONDAY night. Pension.—A widow is not eligible for an old-age pension earlier than any other person. The chief qualifications are:—Applicant must have reached the age of 65; must have resided continuously in Xew Zealand for the past 25 years [continuous residence is not interrupted by occasional absences not exceeding twe years]; must not during the past 12 years hiivc been imprisoned for five years for any offence; must not during the past 12 years have deserted husband and children; must have lived a sober and reputable life during the past year; yearly income must not reach £6O; the net value of accumulated property must not be £2OO or over; must rot have deprived herself of pro- ' perty or income to qualify for a pension. • Apply to the registrar of old-age pensions. Kuw.—lf the will was proved before the Ist January, 1858, ajid the testator was a man of substance, it were best to search the index to the wills proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, which is kept at Somerset House, London. Failing this, tho will is probably to be found in the registry of the district in which it wias proved. To find a will proved since 1858 is easier. If must have been proved either at the principal registry at Somerset Hoine, or in the registry of the district in which the testator lived. In the former case the original will itself is carefully preserved. Th» indices to these will? fill a rcora of considerable size at Somerset House. These may be examined, and the will read on payment of a fee of one shilling. In the latter case, a copy of the will is sent to Somerset House, and this also can be perused on payment of the same fee. The reader may not copy any part of the will, except the names, and addresses of the executors and the date and private number of the will. If a copy is required it will be made on payment. of sixpence a folio (90 words) for an ordinary copy, and Od a folio for a certified copy, which, with a shilling stamp impressed thereon, can be produced and read in any court of law. Subscriber. Wyndham.—At the end of December, 1909, the navies of the various Powers were: —Great Britain: Battleships, ■ 53; —total all ships. 514. France: Battleships, 18;—total all ships, 156. Russia: Battleships. 7:— total all ships. 237. Germany: Battleships, 3i; tofai all ships. 250. Italv: Battles-hips. 10; total all ships, 188. United States: Battleships. 28;—total all ships. 112. Japan: Battleships, 16;—total all shios, 181. At that date the battleships building were: Great Britain. 7; France, 6; Russia. 8: Germany. 8; Italy, 2; United States. 4: Japan, 2. OiiARAMA. —The tw.o men yen refer to were convicted at Dunedin in May, 1903. They were undefended. Premium Inquirer.—We do not know of any life assurance company or society that would admit liability to return portion of the first premium when the person insured found he was not likely to be able to continue the policy. As a rule the amount paid as a first premium is mostly absorbed in expenses. The medical man who examined the person to be insured has to be paid out of it. also the commission to the canvasser, etc. As the Touupany or society was liable to pay the full amount for which you wore insured if death had occurred before the expiry of the first 3ix months of which you say three have claused, you receive good value for youi premium. After a policy has bsen in existence for two years some offices make a return to the insurer should it unfortunately happen that he cannot continue his policy. Can you not arrange to reduce the amount for which you are insured, to that you will be able to. pay the premium'' In such a cate it is possible some arrangement might be made by which portion of the first premium might be used to pay part of the second premium on the smaller sum. Interested. —(1) As the machinery you refer lo i 3 not specifically mentioned in the tariff, in all probability you would have to way a duty of 20 per cent, on that imported from England, and a preferential fluty of 10 per cent, on that imported from -America. At the same time it is possible

that by communicating with the Minister beforehand, giving details, a decision might be given classifying the machinery. Some used for somewhat similar purposes is admitted duty free. (2.) Gas and oil engines from. England are admitted duty free, while those from America have to pay a preferential rate of 20 per cent. (3; Freight is charged by either weight or measurement according to which yields the best reUirn to the snipping company. (4) The surtax of 2J per cent, is still charged on the total amount of duty. There are also landing and other charges that have to be paid.

Sibsckibek, Brunnerton.—The paragraph concerning the scarcity ol bricklayers in Dunedin was quite correct at the time of publication. Since then, however, there is a lull, and we learn from the president of the union that there are a, few men who are not at work at present.

\Y. C, Invercargill.—You should have used lime with the cement on the footpath, and it would have dried fairly white. A firstclass whitewash is made by dissolving 21b of ordinary glue in seven pints of and when all is dissolved, <>oz of bichromate of potassium, dissolved in a pint of hot water. Stir up the mixture well, and then add sufficient whitening to malic it up to the usual consistency. Apply with a brush in the- ordinary way as quickly as possible. This dries in a very short time, and by the action of light- becomes converted into a perfectly insoluble waterproof substance which does not wash off even with hot water.

New Chum. Riversdale.—(l) If you have the proper appliances for cutting the horns of the cattle, a daub ol tar is all that is required to stop the bleeding. (2) You do not say whether you want to tan the calfskin or preserve it with the hair on. Write again .and state definitely what you require.

Inquirer, Wyndham .—You can obtain books on mechanical engineering from Mr J. Brailhwaitc and probably from oiher booksellers. - Elementary works cost from 2s 6d to 3s Cd. Inquirer,—The chairman, and not the secretary, would lead off the grand march. Bush Settler.—To purchase a life annuity with the Government insurance Department of £SO per anntim. p.tyable in halfyearly instalments, for a man 63 years <;f aye, would cost Jt'sl4 lis Sd. Mona.—(l) Your best plan is to write to. the mutron of one of the private hospitals in Dunedin. The duties could scarcely be described in detail. (2) We do not know the address of the individual referred to. Jt is said he has removed to some northern town.

Arbitration, Waipori.—lf a man sells <i horse for £65. and * little later buys it •back for £6O, he has made £5 by the deal. He then sells the horse for £75, and thus receives £lO more for the animal than he did on the occasion of the first se;;e. He is thus £lO and £s—that ia £ls—better off than he was after the first sale of the horse. A. \V. S., Ciydevale.—Mr H. M. Davey, consulting engineer, Princes street, replies: Have you correctly measured the flow of water V It is not to be measured, a 3 some think, at the board it flows over, but in the way which I will mention, in case you may not know. Yon lower the water till it just spills over the sill, and a few feet back in still water you drive a stake in, or have a flat stone the exact height, or level with the sill. (If it is inconvenient to lower the water, you can get the level with a spirit level). You then measure the height from the peg or stone that was level with the sill somewhere in comparatively still water, up to the surface of the water. So if the water i 9 the three inches above the sili, you have 25 cubic feet per minute, which is less than half a head. You should get two b.h.p. from this, and a suitable pelton wheel would be, say, 21 inches in diameter, running at about 400, or rather less, per minute. A five-inch pipe line would do, but I find that you can probably get seveninch light pipes as cheep (they do not make five-inch here with fla'nges); price about 2s 6d per foot, tarred, ami with flanges and bolts, from Messrs Cossens and Black. Re pelton, probably you should write to Messrs Price at the Thames, Auckland, for that size. I have not seen them here, and they make all sizes. Is it impossible to make a race so as to shorten such a long pipe line as you mention? M'K. C. D. C. —A person reaches his majority on attaining 21 years of age. and the term has also been applied to clubs and institutions. The year of jubilee of the Hebrews occurred every 50 years. The Christian Chinch adopted the term jubilee from the Jewish, and it is still an institution in the Roman Catholic Church. As instituted by Pope Boniface, the jubilee was to be held every hundredth year. Clement VI abridged the time to 50 years. 11l 1470 the time was still further abridged to 25 years. There is thus some support for naming a. twenty-fifth meeting a silver jubilee meeting. In the case of your club it will be the " coming-of-age meeting." Forty-seven Years' Subscriber.—We are making inquiries about the matter. Had you given the average percentage .of the mineral in the find the question could have been replied to at once. S. It. Q. —Mr Tannock is to read his paper on " The Spring Garden " at Port Chalmers this week. After that it will be available for publication. Dominie.—We are making inquiries, but so far have been unable to come acr.css- the article referred to about a mountain peakhigher than Mount Everest in any of the magazines. It is more likely to have appeared in a newspaper than a magazine.