NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3100, 13 August 1913, Page 47

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Questions for reply in coming Issue to b« received not liter than BATLEDAT uigtt, H. L.. Maheno. —A first-class whitewash is made by' dissolving 21b of ordinary glue in 7 pints of water, and when a!! is dissolved adding 6oz of bichromate of potassium dissolved in a pint of hot water. Stu the mixture up well, and then add sufficient whiting to make ii up to the usual consistency, and apply with a brush in the ordinary manner as quickly as possible. It may be coloured to any desired shade by the use of a trace of any aniline dye. Lime asks: “I purpose sowing through an ordinary grain drill 2cwt or 3c\vt ground burned lime per acre. Would it bo safe to sow tlie oats and lime at the same time and down the same spouts?”—Yes. it would be quite safe, so long as you make sure the oats will pass through the same spout. The quantity of lime is somewhat small, and you would get better results from, say, scwt. Inquirer asks: “ Was a British square ever pierced, and, if so, where?'’ At Abu Klca, in the Egyptian Soudan, the Arabs pierced a British square through an opening accidentally left in the formation: but not one escaped alive. The incident is referred to in one of K’pling’s well-known lint's on “ Fuzzy-Wuzzy.” I F. B. —A half-crown piece bearing the head of George 111 would not be worth more than its face value. Constant Reader writes: “ Some time ago I put up a windmill with an 300gallon corrugated tank. It has boon empty this winter, not being in use owing to the frost. Upon inspection I have found several small holes rusted through it. What would bo the best thing to do —solder or paint both inside and out?” —■ —The only thing to do is to solder up the holes, and keep the tank full of water. Fainting would not be of any use. If the tank had been kept full of water it would not have rusted. Darkness. Gisborne.—Messrs Turnbull and Jones, electrical engineers, inform us that it. would not bo possible to light a room 2Cft x 24ft with a small battery of cells You would require i k.w. dynamo and a i h.p. engine to drive it. Tito whole would cost about £5. Cells are not practicable, and the cost of such is Is 6d each. Rifle. —(1) Your rifle is evidently rusted, as lead can easily ho removed with hot water and a stiff brush. You may remove the rust- with a steel brush and kerosene, but it will come up again. Once a rifle barrel is rusted it is impossible to get it right again. (2) If a Territorial mentioned when registering that he had a suitable horse, lie would be posted to a mounted company if there was on© within a reasonable distance. Advance to Settlers.— (l) The Stateguaranteed Advances Department lends on Native land held under lease, land held under the Thermal Springs Act, educational and other reserves, hind held under lease from a leasing authority as defined by the Public Bodies’ Leasing Powers Act, where provision is made for the payment of valuation for improvements Dj the incoming tenant. (2) Advances are made on all freehold lands. (3) Advances are made on all freeholds up to throe-fifths of the value of the security.

and 07) leaseholds up to three-fifths of the value of the lessee's interest in the lease Communicate with a local agent or the superintendent New Zealand Stateguaranteed Advances to Settlers Department, Wellington.

Subscriber wants to know the principal reason why the Home Government do not grant the franchise to women. ■ Briefly, because the Ministry is not of one mind on the question. Some of the Ministers favour granting the suffrage, while others oppose it, and, of course, no Cabinet could hang together if a majority insisted on introducing as a Government measure a Bill which was opposed by an influential minority. Mr Asquith some time ago announced that if the House of Commons chose to pass aa amendment conferring the franchise on women, tjie Government would not hokl it to be its duty to oppose such amendment.

Duel asks what distance he would have to travel with a Massoy-Harris drill (Bft wide) when sowing an acre of land. The distance would depend on the shape of the acre, but approximately it would ho 1 mile 55 yards. O AMARUVIAX —We learn from Messrs Turnbull and Jones, electrical engineers, that the amount of coal gas required to work a 3 b.h.p. gas engine would depend upon the quality —approximately 35 cubic feet per b.h.p. for an engine of the size given. The consumption of gas will increase per b.h.p. on lighter loads. Aboiit 2 kilowatts —equal to 20 amperes at 100 volte or 10 amperes at 200 volts —would be generated bv a 3 b.h.p. engine. The cost of 2 k.w. machines, complete with pulley and slide rails, would bo about £22 10s. W. 'C.. Polorus Sound. —H. M. Davey, consulting engineer, replies: —“A circular tank 10ft internal diameter would hold about 490 gallons per foot in length, so from 4ft to sft high would bo sufficient; and at 9ft diameter it would hold about 397 gallons per foot high, and so would need to he rather higher; and between these I think you could get what you want. There are many ways of tankmaking. Concrete between two rows of boarding is one way, and another way whereby far less material is needed is as follows; —Erect your circular boarding, say, about 6in to Bin more in diameter than the diameter of the tank, on a levelled bottom, and cut a groove in the ground to fit the lower ends of the upright boarding to work to. This ensures the bottom being’ true to shape and in position. The easiest and best method is to make the frame probably of upright boards 4in to 6in by lin, t and g boarding, which would be best kept together with wire bands outside same as needed, and if not circular you might need a row of battens cut to the swoop, say, out of lOin or 12in by 2in stuff, though this might not bo needed, or needed only in one or two places where the boarding seemed to go out of truth. When the boarding is completed get inside it. and take strong fencing wire and staple it to the boarding, not touching the boards, but kept from them by a small bit of wood about |in cube, or, better still, make the bits of wood sin long and the same wide, but of a thickness to fit between the staples, ' whichjhave to be long enough to go sufficiently into the upright hoarding to hold the wire and no more. This wire is then wound round and round inside the upright boarding, but a little clear of it, rising about to 2in at each turn, so it takes about 32ft of wire for every 2in in height of rho tank, and when completed the wire looks like an open binding or like a screw thread round and round, joining the wires end to end If one length is not enough to go round. The concrete is sand as coarse and clean ns can be got, and cement about 1 to 3 or 1 to 4, the first preferable, and it is trowelled round when stiff enough to stand, about 2in high, and when rhe first round is completed the stuff is strong enough to take a second row. or. say. 2in or so more, and so on. gradually decreasing the thickness to about Sin thick at the top. Therefore when this is done, you have a thin tank that is bound with a continuous band or winding that is sunk a little into the cement, but which is near the outside of same. The ins-do needs properly to be trowelled with steel finishing trowels on the inside, and any stuff that. falls from time to iime may be spread to form the floor with advantage. If the wood frame is taken away at the finish the bits of wood can be removed and cemented up to prevent the wire from rusting. If a top is needed, the same can be made with same material and strongly-expanded metal, leaving a manhole to clean out and to take away t'-m necessary timber for supporting the said metal during *he construction of same. I hope you will understand this. If not. I could send you a sketch of same.” Subscriber. —The Presbyterian Orphanages, care of Rev. E. A. Axolscn, 6 View street, Dun-din; and St. Mary’s Orphanage, Hawihorn road-. Mornington, would appreciate the gift of collection of stamps. E. ,T. 8.. Bush Siding.—Mr H. M. Davey rep! How you ever managed (if you did) to keep up steam and not have something give way with all that stuff in your boiler is a mystery. Through the courtesy of the Inspector of Machinery, to whom I took the sample, I am able to say that the material was probably concentrated decayed vegetable matter, and probably also there was carbonate of lime in the water that has helped to harden the deposit, and also to give it the weight it has. This accumulates, and the heat hardens it, as you see. It most certainly is highly dangerous, and far greater care should be taken with the boiler than seems to have boon the case in the past to allow such a thickness to accumulate. If anything were wanting to show the importance of boiler inspection, your sample supplies it. Keep on using the caustic soda fill the boiler is quite clean internally, and see that it is kept so as much ■as possible, or you will probably have some bad accident. If possible well filter the water, or get, other water if such is available, flow long do you think this deposit was in forming? It would be very Interesting to know this.”