HERE AND THERE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3168, 2 December 1914, Page 76

HERE AND THERE.

Electricity and Farm Work.— Strenuous efforts are being made to emphasise electricity as an indispensable handmaid for all work upon a farm. At the recent Agricultural Show held in Christiania an interesting model farm conducted on this principle constituted a prominent feature. The energy for this farm was supposed to come from a small waterfall in the vicinity, which had been diuy harnessed. The healthy crops in the fields had been raked upon fertilisers electrically manufactured. The farmhouse and all the outbuildings were electrically lighted, an electrical stove was in the kitchen, while every heating and cooking operation was conducted by electricity. The selfsame agent was utilised also tor producing unlimited quantities of hot water. Knives, boots, and culinary utensils were cleaned by its means, while coffee was ground, bread was 'cut, and juice-pressing machines were likewise operated. Electric radiators heated every room, and the farmer 1 was supplied with a device for heating his shaving water in the bedroom, while his wife was provided with electricallyheated curling tongs. In the scullery small motors drove the washing machine and turned scrubber and mangle; while currents of hot air supplied by electrical agency dried the clothes, and an electric iron completed the laundry operations. Workshops were fitted with electricallydriven tools; the food for the stock was prepared by electricity; while even grooming and sheep-shearing were carried out with electrically-driven implements. The cows were milked by electric machines, and the incubators were electrically heated The Best War Correspondent. Under the heading, “The Best War Correspondent,” the New York World bestows high praise upon Sir John French. It says: “ When a man 62 years old, without previous journalistic experience, produces the most admirable news account in existence of events of world-wide interest, it may seem a fluke. When the feat is repeated, and again repeated, the element of chance is eliminated. It is time to hail as the best correspondent brought by the War of Nine Nations Fieldmarshal Sir John French. General French has unusual facilities for securing authentic material, and he can probably get most of his “copy” past the censor; but these advantages would never save a dull and confused narrative. His reports are readable and fascinating, couched in the tei’se and vivid style of a first-class reporter. General French exchanges news like a veteran correspondent with the French observers on his flanks, quotes from German letters, accuses his enemy of unmilitary conduct, but not at wearying length, and does not hesitate to use ‘ human-interest ’ anecdotes of trifling military importance, or none, to show better than any amount of dry, technical detail could do the spirit of the army. The bulletins of a commanding officer are necessarily ex parte statements. But the reports of Sir John French are so simply, clearly written that they strongly convey the impression of absolute reliability. They will form the backbone of the ponderous histories of the British participation in the war on the Continent, which will presently be written by men of less genuine journalistic and literary talent.” Empty Paris.— A remarkable glimpse of the effect of the war on the gay world of Paris is given by a Times correspondent in that city. “ Paris is a city of long, empty distances and unutterable calm,” he writes. “The boulevards still show some attempts at bustle, and the outlying faubourgs are well peopled, but Rue di Rivoli, the Rue de la Paix, the Place Vendome, the Champs Elysees, and all the avenues leading from the Etoile are deserted. “Where are the fashionable women? Simply-dressed girls and soberly-clothed women are all one sees, and should some leather-headed creature so far forget harself as to appear in fine raiment she is received with cold displeasure. Where, again, are the young men, who, less than two months ago, were dancing the tango, wielding the fan, turning a graceful phrase for a pretty woman’s ear, and revelling in all the luxuries of civilisation in their most artificial forms ? Where are all the young idlers—the poets, the playwrights, the music-makers, the lawyers, the doctors, the men of business, the clerks, the shop assistants, the stonemasons, the plumbers? We know well where they are. They are in the trendies, they are meeting the enemy in the open field, they are lying wounded in the hospitals, and many, we know, have passed on to the other side, where there is no war and ‘ where the crooked places are made straight.’ ” A Secret of German Industrial Success.— British manufacturers who make up their minds to plunge energetically into this trade warfare at the present excellent opportunity must also not forget that they will have to face a most perfect selling organisation, the completeness of which in every branch of industry has been one ot the secrets of German success. When the Germans have finished their machines they leave nothing to chance as far as the selling of them goes. They print their catalogues in the language of the country to which they hope the machines will go. They send a representative or agent who can speak that language to interview personally all their prospective customers, and they orrange with a local financial house to look carefully after tlieir pecuniary interests. They study the local conditions and local requirements of the country with the greatest care, and never

object to losing a little on an initial order if there is a fair prospect of repeat orders bringing future gain. If pushed with equal energy and equal tact, however, we need never be afraid that British machines will not sell as well as those which are made in Germany, and it will be as well, therefore, to glance rigidly at the details ot Germany’s machine-tool export trade. — Engineering. Bavarians and Prussians.— How much the Bavarians love the Prussians was brought home to the Kaiser when, in the course of an address to naval recruits at Kiel, he urged them to fight valiantly against foes within the Eatnerland, as well sis those outside its borders. At the conclusion of his speech he proceeded to interview some of the recruits, the first thus honoured being a stolid peasant from a remote part of Bavaria. “Who are our chief foreign foes?” he was asked. “ The Russians and the French, your Majesty.” “And who are the enemies within the Empire?” proceeded Wilhelm, expecting, of course, to be told that they were the “ The Prussians, your Majesty.” When the storm of rage with which this reply filled the Emperor’s bosom had subsided, he found that it had been given in perfect innocence and good faith. German Notes.— German notes in circulation now amount to £211,743,000, an advance of £11,745,550. A year ago the note circulation was only £9,783,000. The times are abnormal, but the inflation of every item in the return indicates pressing circumstances, for though gold is being swept out of currency, the demand for paper exceeds the return of gold. Bills discounted now total £237,508,550, an increase of £6,702,000 on the week.- But how does this stand with a year ago? Then the bills totalled £30,578,000! Liquid resources are needed, obviously; but as deposits (now at £122,086,000) are down £8,921,000 on the week, it is clear that money in Berlin is being withdrawn for the necessaries ot life. A Lesson for Germans.— The following story should be translated into German and distributed in leaflet form among the War Lord’s Ministers and soldiers“ Before the battle of Orthez, the bridge over the Gave de Pau had been passed by the French army. The Duke of Wellington sent a note to Marshal Soult saying that a battle would, of course, take place on the following day, but that, as it was desirable in the interests of the inhabitants of Orthez not to destroy the bridge, he promised that if Marshal Soult would abstain from blowing it up no soldier of the British army should cross it. Soult trusted him, and the bridge is to-day intact.” The Gold Output.— The world’s gold output is about £100,000,009 a year, of which more than one-half comes from the British Empire, one-fifth from the United States, and the balance from Russia, Mexico, and South America. Practically all this gold is shut out from Germany. With German factories paralysed and the cold grip of the British fleet about her throat, Germany, it is argued, must bring the war to a close before starvation conquers her. Turpinite.— It was an English chemist who first achieved the discovery that made turpinite possible. A generation ago he told the British Association how he had produced an arsenious gas so fatal in ks effects that the liberation of an infinitestimal portion of it meant instant death to the person who inhaled it. A popular writer ot that day made a novel out of it. M. Turpin has converted it, after years ot experiment, into the most terrible engine of war known to science.