NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3006, 25 October 1911, Page 51

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Questions fox reply in coming issue to be received not later than SATURDAY night. Ballot.—(1) You can see a copy of the Land Act at the nearest.land office. The clerk of the nearest magistrate's court will no doubt also have a oopy embodied in the Consolidated Statutes-. (2) Yes, the Advances to Settlers' Office lends money on leases-in-perpetuity. (3) No advance on the security of leaoehold lunds is granted for an amount exceeding threerfiftbs of the value of the lessee's interest in the lease. Further, all. covenants and conditions on the leasee's part contained or implied in the lease must have been complied with up to the date of the granting of the advance. You must, of course, have security in the shape of improvements to offer for the loan, otherwise there is no likelihood of y<mr obtaining the advance. Merino.—lib of 60's quality wool'will-yield 60 hanks of spun yarn each 560 yards in length J. R. K. —Turpentine, sandsoap, and plenty of " elbow grease" will remove the rust from the bath. "Wager wants to know at what distance oan thunder be heard on a oalm day? Also. at what distance oan lightning be seen on a dark night, and at what distance it can be seen in the day time? Frankly, we do not know. ■ Inquirer wiants to know what should be counted in playing cribbage for a hand of three 7*9 and an aoe?—Fifteen six and a. pair royal, 12. _-■ Constant Reader. —There is a. duty of 20 per cent, ad valorem on incubators, brooders, etc., from Australia. Should they be of foreign manufacture they are subject to a further preferential rate. "Wonderer.—(l) We do not think the men working oh the wharves at Dunedm or Fort Chalmers could work 90 odd hours without sleep. They certainly do not do so as a rule. (2) The one gang of men does not as a regular thing discharge the cargo of a Home boat without stopping for eleep. ' ~ . Anxious.—You oan have the roller of your wringing machine recovered with ru.bber-at W. Melville's, George ■.. street, Duhedin. The rubber must be' vulcanised on the spindle, and it would therefore be necessary to forward the spindle. A —By the. Public Holidays Act of 1910 the ■ date of Labour Day was ohanged from the second Wednesday in October to the fourth Mondav in October. That is why Labour Bay was observed this year on Monday, 23rd. mst. . • ■' ... Labour.—Labour Day is a statutory holiday under the Factories Act and the Shops and Offices Act. Without knowing the circumstances, it is impossible to state whether its -non-observance in a particular case renders a person liable for a fine. The Shops and Offices Act provides that the -ordinary "wages or salary of every shop assistant shall be paid for Labour Day and other statutory, holidays. ■ . ..- Milker. —There sup various mechanical contrivances to prevent a. cow sucking herself. A' correspondent some time ago wrote that lie cured his cow of Ihe practise in the following manner:—l placed some lard (not melted) on a plate, and with a knife rubbed in as much CRyerr.e pepper as possible, and leave it pliable. ; Immediately after milking I greased the teats with this, being most particular with the one she begins. on, which is the front one, on the side on which she. is in the -habit of sticking from. The cow tried . several times to continue the bad habit but she . did not relish the. mixture, and as. it involved so little trouble I kept*applying the .mixture for a month. Never " had, any more trouble with' the cow. B* careful to milk at the regular hour, as thf> '. cows do not suck until the .bag. is full. PTeutral.—The" Declaration of London is an agreement arrived at at' a. conference of the chief naval powers Tield' i'n London as • to the rujes.of prize in naval warfare, the being to draw, up a'definite code, following the precedent of the Declaration of Panß_ in 1856, for the purpose of the International Prjze Court ia be established in accordance with one of the conventions of-the (Second Hague Conference. The Port -of. London is not placed in any'

in accordance with one of the conmentions with the Declaration. Inquirer.—There can be no arbitrary fixing of one day in temperate- climes, either in the Northern or Southern Hemispheres, for the commencement of any season. The bummer months in England are roughly referred to as May, June, and July, winter being November, December, and January. In almanacs, on the other hand, it is assumed that each season commences at the equinox, or solstice —e.g., that m the Northern Hemisphere spring commences at the vernal equinox (about March 20), and summer at the summer solstice (on Juno 21) If you have travelled in Njew Zealand you will realise how ridiculous it IB to attempt to fix on one day as the beginning of a season. In Auckland spring (seed time) and harvest are much earlier than in Southland. > '-' Photographer, Grown Terrace.— Photographs \ai<? paid for if accepted. There is no limit to the number. Constant Reader,!—Your inquiry in reference to Goza bed us has been referred to tl*» field division instructor,... who has grown them and ha® hid experience with, them.- , •'.. '*. , . Clifb-kn —ln a recent article on- ditching b\ ' dynamite the method described was as follows:—Sink a number of holes with an iron bar along the line you wish the ditclt to take, insert a plug of dynamite in each hole, and then explode the whole sunul- . taneously. I do not understand how to explode, say, a hundred plugs about three feet apart simultaneously. The only way 1 am familiar with is to explode with fuse nnd cap, and this would not do, for unless all exploded at the same moment much of the soil would be thrown back in the channel • and much of the power would *»«>»© lost. Is. there any simple way by which charges in this way could be exploded by electricity, and, if . so, could you describe the method and the necessary appliances ( —Tile charges for wholesale dynamite work require special oaps, into which the electric wires are fixed. They are exploded by means of a Sterling dynamo low tension exploder, which generates the electricity required, and is made to set off from, 10 to 80 shots. The former can be obtained at once, the latter would have to be sent Home for. The " exploder" is compact and comparatively light—a 25-shot exploder would weigh 141 b, and is easily managed. Ot.voo Miner—H. M. Davey, consulting engireer, replies: (1) In J. B. Krantz's work on dams, the dimensions are about 12ft 6in Thick at the bottom and 6ft 6in thick at the top. This is for such as would cause death and destruction if they gave way, and where such, is possible the greatest care has and ought to be observed. (2\ As you question stands there is no answer, or if one were given it would be as likely v.rong as right, for all depends on the size of the jet. The point is this: if you want to get the best practical power from water in pipes, the water should not travel more than 4ft per second through the mains. It may, of course, travel at less speed, but the friction at four feet per second is trifling, while at greater speeds the friction increases, and so the effective power at the jet in correspondingly Jess. Now the larger pipes would carry any amount of water up to seven heads, snd the smaller pipes would carry any amount v of water-up to.-34 heads, so you will see 'at once that if your jet only delivered, say, two heads, it would not matter much which line you used, the difference (there would bo a difference) -being so-j3mall-as not to be appreciable; while, if the jet was intended to d*liver, say, five heads,, then the larger pipes would-' moat- certainly deliver the water at a better pressure. So, if you have a case" in view please write and state ,it fully so that, a proper answer ■ can be given.

P. F., Dennis ton. Westport.—Mr H. M. Da voy, consulting- engineer, rejjliea : .Formerly the -receivers or cylinders were placed much higher than now, say, about 3it from ground to bottom would do nicely., and Gee that the circulating pipes aie amply large, say, l|in to l|in in internal diameter, with no sharp elbows. (2) . No, I believe not —that is, under the special circumstances you have mentioned. Anyhow, do not put in one now, and test «nd see if there is any trouble with not having one-. (3) I don't think you will find the loss of heat you fea.r, and if you do without the cock I would be glad to hear how you get on, if you would write a few weeks after you are fixed up. (4) Put the glue overnight in a large, clean basin of cold water, with plenty of water; but it will suck up only a certain quantity; then melt it in a glue pot or a ba,sin, within a saucepan; and thin it down with hot water to the consistency you need; some qualities fake more than others. (S!> Why varnish at all. Why not melt some beesfax and mix with ray linseed oil to a thin paste, and well rub in? That way is coming into fashion now, and it keeps longer than varnish; but it woidd not prevent varnishing, if ycu lmis-t have it, afterwards.

Teacher writes:—l notice, in answers in Notes and Queries, a statement is made relative to free books. Now, that statement is true a« far as it goes. The books are provided free up to a- certain point. An illustration rimy help. I am a teacher with seven pupils in a preparatory class, and I recsavo my .<--.even hicks for them free the Education Beard paving the cost of my bookseller. Next year I have three additional pupils in the (ireparatory class, and there are only seven 'jooks for the new 10 that I now have. I apply for more books, and am met by the reply: " The beard's grant does not movide for infants this year, only for Standards I and II this year." Do you now sae Low the thing works out? The number of children in any given class is always changing-—not so th> number of bcoks. I am a Southland teacher, end I think the system is a, farce whe,a' thus carried out. I'never met » parent who objected to buying the necessary books in moderation. Query: Who is to. buy the extra books if the parents will not?—So far as we ere aware the Otago Board has never declined an application for additional books. The system does not- appear to work smoothly, but it is only another result of the centralisation that is aroing on steadily.

G. P. C Chatton.—Mr H. M. Bavey replies: Ir this case I asked the opinion of Mr J. L. Paesrnore, ■ junior, who is an export in these matter*, and he very kindly replies as follows.—Re inquirv concerning alteration to engine. On an "engine with both connecting- rods driving on one crank it is very difficult to get anything- Hfee good balance. This is owing to all the moving parts, connecting rod 3, pistons, and crank all moving in the one direction/ In the original design you had a balanced crank shaft, and the pistons moving in opposite directions, up and down, balanced one another. "With the alteration, you still have a. balanced crank shaft, but there is nothing to balance the connecting rods and pistons. The weights on the fly wheels merely balance the crank webs and pin. The only remedy is to add weights, equal* to the weight of the .pistons and connecting iods, to the heavy side of the fly

wheels. Even then you will not get tlio engine to run with such balance as before. The extra weight will set up torsion strains and other vibrations, the theory of which would take up too much space to fully explain. I believe what Mr Passmore means is this: If yon balance your engines for a certain speed, say, 800 per minute, they will not be as well balanced for a greater or less speed as you now; have them, whereas before they were far more nearly balanced from the way they were set than they are since you have made the alteration.

X. Y. Z.—H. M, Davey : —ln this case I thought it best to refer the diagram to an authorised surveyor, and so I submitted the sketch aaid figures to Mr L. O. Beal, who kindly makes the area to be 17 acres 4 roods 13.6 poles (17—2 —13.6). Mr H. M. Davey writes:—l fancy there is one quesion that has -not been answered, find I think it. is something about a very small quantity of- water. If, therefore, anyone finds his quesionnot replied to in thip is-sue. would he kindly., sand it in again, when it will receive attention^