NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3005, 18 October 1911, Page 51

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Questions far reply in' coming issue to be received not later than SATURDAY night. "W» J. L., "Waitahuna.—The samp!© of niineral sent fox identification was submitted to Professor -Park, who has reported that it is on incrustation "of silica such-as might be deposited by the; in" filtration of silicious waters. It has no commercial value. ; - Reader, op Witness.—-The taxation on land -in Mr Lloyd GeorgeAs Finance Bill provided. tbsA- the owner of. land the valuo .of which • has risen through the enterprise of the community or neighbours shall pay one-fifth of' the strictly unearned increment; a tax of |d in the . & on the capital value of land not used to. the best advantage, including mineral land, to be charged On- unbuilt-on Land only; 10 per 'cent, reversion duty on benefits derived from, the determination of leases. ' The ordinary land tax in New Zealand is one penny in the pound on the unimproved Value with! a graduated tax beginning with land of the unimproved value of £SOOO, on which l-16th of a penny in the S, extra is charged, rising to £2: per cent, where land is held to the value of £200,000 or. over. Absentees are required to pay an additional 50 per cent. No dobtinction is made 'between town and country land. Your question is not at all clear. It must be remembered that, in both Great Britain and New Zealand Ideal taxation has also to be paid. E. • R.—New Zealand prime winter doe skins realised 24£d at the last London wool sales. Interested.—lt would appear from the Press Directory and other publications that no papers, ox magazines are published in Concord. It is 23 miles by rail from Boston. Grandmother writes: —l have a small quani tity of ooooanut oil I am desirous of converting into soap. I tried once to do so with Greenback's oaustic soda, following the. directions on the tin as for fat, but found the soda did not absorb the whole of the oil, consequently the soap was. enough to almost take the skin from the hands. Could ypm kindly find out for me if it is possible- to>- make soap from oil alone, or how I may set about utilising "it fox soap?—Coobanut . oil ...acts differently from any. other fats!,-in combination with which weak lyes- produce a milky mixture. Such lyes have no effect upon cocoamit oil. fox it can be seen floating on' the top, •while strong lyes of 25deg to 30deg very soon produce saponification throughout thtv ■whole mass: 'This soap is sometimes called marine soap, as it will lather well with sea-water. A lye of 27deg. cold weighed, will saponify an equal weight of cocoamit oil—loolb, for instance, making nearly 2001 b of soap. The oil is put in the pan together with the lye, and the heat is applied. After continually stirring it for one- or . two houirs the paste will gradually thicken, when the temperature of the heat applied should be moderated, but the stirring continued. After a time the paste turns'" into a white semi-solid mass, which forms the s-oap, and this has to be filled<immediately.' into the frames, because solidification takes place very quickly. A mixture is often. used of equal parts of tallow and cocoaniit oil, or of bleached pa.lni oil i and ooooanut oil", which'yields' a very fine soap. In preparing the lye spring water or river water should be used. '"'"';. Subscriber, Ida Valley.—The distance across a six-furlong running track would to some extent depend on. how the course is laid out. Usually parallel lines are. drawn, and half-way between the ends of the two lines a stake is driven, a wire attached, and a true course is made. In a six-furlonjr course the distance between the parallel lines would be about 67S feet. Nug&ets—The leaves which you forwarded ' ,are not' those of the English nettle.' Apparently they are from the tree nette njrtica r ferdx), called by the Maoris Opga-ono-a. We- doubt if cattle would oare to oaf nettles of any kM,. , ' ' . , , AYTHORN.-rAt cribbag© the holder of a band containing three sixes and two threes, would be entitled to. score 20—namely, fifteen 12, pair 2, and pair - royal 6. ■ . • Voter.—(l) If the father-is-a British subject the children, though brought up m_ a foreign country", would ' also be British subjects, and it would not .be _ necessary to take out letters of naturabsait'ion in the ; Dominion. (2) A foreigner not naturalised I could oily get hie name oh the roll by 1

false pretences, and he would therefore, be liable to punishment. (3) The names of all foreigners granted letter's- of naturalisation are gazetted. No doubt a record is also kept. Ballot.—What particulars do you require concerning balloting for land'/ The principle oil which the ballot is conducted is set out in the Land Act, and the ballot is then oarried out under regulations'. The amount of money theft would be advanced would depend upon the nature of the tenure. If you supply-particulars of the proposed transaction then details can be given. ...'■-' '. '•'- Dispute A. C, H. M. Davey, engineer replies:—(l) In ia way you are right—that is to say that a square foot of, say, a oertain thickness of lead, and .a foot of it, are the same weight, and therefore are the same area;., but there may be this, difference:' that a, foot-square: must ,\ '-be a foot long and a foot broad, and in fact nitist bo exactly ft foot square, while ' a square foot may be of any shiape; only; , it. must contain "the foot square if airi ranged in that form. Now, if you noticeid I said we must assume-a: .thickness, for anything square - like the terms above do >not imply- any thickness'; * for instance, you may have a foot square of paper or the end .section of .a long balk of wood may be a foot square looking end-ways on it. (2) Although it is true that a sub- ~ stance a foot. square may. also be a foot thick, still catling it a.s square: does not imply any .thickness, so it cannot mean a • cubic foot even if it happens 'to be no. To do this .you "would have to say your block was a foot square. and also a foot thick"; well,' then, why not call it properly a foot cube? Now, trw same thing applies to the term cubic foot; a block is better described as a foot ciibe„ for a foot cubei -muft be a rectangular block measuring a toot long, " broad, and deep, but a cubic foot may mean any shape having the same ■ bulk. For instance, if you made a box a foot cube inside measurement and filled it with water, .thafci's a foot "ciibe'.'of water, though perhaps it is mor-e generally called a cubic foot; but take that j^ater*and put it in jugs or glasses and you still have "a cubic foot of water in the lot, but not, a foot cube. To put the matter shortly, ■when you speak of things a' foot long you give no idea of width or thickness; > you only give one measurement. When you. spea.k of things a foot square you give no idea of thickness, but you give two measurements; but when yoU say a foot cube you speak precisely—you give all three measurements, and there are no more to give. Please remember what is said of the foot or other measurement, either square or cube, does not apply to more ..or less than one; for two feet cube is utterly different to two cubic feet, and three feet square is not the same as three square" feet,. neither is half a cubic foot the same as half a foot cube, r.or.is a-quarter of a square, foot at all the same as a-quartei-of a foot square. You rocst probably, know all this; if not, it can be explained to you if you ask for it to be done. L. C. H. J., Queenstown.-—Mr H. M. Davey, consulting .engineer, Princes street, replies : (1) At your pressure a jet should de'iver the following, always presupposing the pipes are ample, enough not to cause unnecessary friction" etc.: —2-inch jet, 2 1-3 heads; 2}-inch jet, 2 9-10 heads; 24-inch jet, 3*| ■heads. At half the pressure these amounts ■ would be I\, >2, and -2J- head®. respectively. (2) No, there is no easy way, though many persons profess to have-a way of their own. - You- see, so \< much " depends on the .exact grade per mile, the class of earth, whether clay, gravel, stony, or rocky bed and sides, etc:' ' For" Turrning water where you can get to a wider place where the current is slight, and just beyond that a narrower ■ part which, if not natural, you can make by/damming, etc., there is a simple way. Take .a board and. form a square gap, in it, an even number of feet or - preferably to simplify the calculations.. The total .length of the board would lie the width' of the stream ; or the contracted dam. as the case might be; and the total size of the gap would' be so as to allow aU' the: stream to pas® through it easily. . 'Set,it level in the stream,' with., the sharp or square edges of the gap up-stream and! ■ the,, bevelled edges dowft-stream. Now puddle it watertight, so that all the water runs through the gap, and prepare a stone or peg to be driven in level with the bottom of the gap but scme\vhere in the stiller water at the side or where it is stillest. If you watch, the moment when the water begins to spill over the sill you will see by its surface two 'things—first if the sill is- level, and then you .can get the' level of the top.of;'the stone or peg by the means. Then leave the who I .© till the water is in 'fu.il swing, pouring through the gap; the width of the gap is known, and the depth niust be measured. This cannot be" done well at the gap itself, but better in-'.the stiller water, over fihe peg or stone ..that'..was-, the..exact, height of the bottom ■ or siil of trie" gap. If. therefore, yon do. this and..write and tell me the ywidth of -your gap. and the degtih of wat.3f\over,-it,.' •i will not only -tell you how much water you bifive at that place, but give you the Calculations' for the different that width of gap, which you can use atother places'. You see. I do hot know whether you intend measuring a big river or a tiny trickle, so I cannot say make a gap so many .feet widie; it might be of no use to make it the width I might- pick on. I am pleased that the advioe I gave you abo-ut the pipes was all right. I always like to know whether things asked about have been tried, and whether they went right or wrong; and if unfortunately the latter, whether, it was my fault or whether tlie thing was done some other way. However.'! know that you can get the quantity of water the above way, and if you do>> not understand about the cutting of the board and send me the approximate sizes - I could make you a model, arid sent! it upto you 15y post, but you may do it all, right by the above instructions.