NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3250, 28 June 1916, Page 43

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Questions for reply in coming issue to bo received not later than SATUB DA Y night. Questions will NOT be replied to through the post.

X Y Z —The War Pensions Amendment Bill has not passed the Legislative Council yet and is therefore not law. In the .bill it is provided that where a widows son was her "sole" support the pension granted shall not in any case bo less than would have been granted if the applicant was til© wife of the soldier killed or disabled. When the measure lias received the Governors assent amplication should be made to the Pensions Board in the usual way for a reconsideration of your case in view ot the change in the law. Plunket—(l) If the new position has the same grade of/ salary as the old, a teacher begins in the new position under a different Education Board at the old salary. (2) The Grand Pharmacy, High street, Dunedin. Mail writes:—"A number of country residents make an agreement with a coach. proprietor to nick up and drop their mail a*; the roadside for, say, 10s per annum. The coach proprietor subsequently disposes of his business. His successor allows six months to pass before putting in his'account for mail-carry ; ng, and then charges 15s. (1) Is he entitled to do so without prior i otification of ilie intended rise? (21 Cm he b 3 kept to the agreement entered into with his predecessor?" "Lex" replies:—(l) Yes, (2) No. In regard to your other question, if the d'strict has a rerifonable claim, to a post office the most effective method would be to bring the matter before the member for the district, and. urge him to press the claims of the settlers. Stamp asks: —"How is it that there ; 3 an orange yellow as well as the common violet blue in'the 2d stamp of the present issue?" ■ Stamp experts are of opinion that the explanation will bo found in the fact that the old mauve did not show ink well, and yellow was substituted. Cattle-stick. —(1) Have you tried this recipe? After *ollccting the fat for some time, tut it up and add about lib of beeswax to about 51b of tallow. Throw it all into water, and boil for an hour in a large pot. Let it get cold, then cut the cake of fat out, and scrape off the soft un.derpart. Make a weak lye, cut up your fat, again into this, and add to it lib of alum and lib of saltpetre for each 30lb of tallow. Skim carefully while it is simmering. When cold take it out of the water, and then it is ready to be rendered down and poured into the candle moulds. (2) To make neatsfoot oil the feet and hocks of veal cattle are cut off about 18in above the hoof, denuded of skin and slit up longitudinally. Near the hoof is a small mass of soft fat, which is scooped out with the knife, and set aside for the preparation of the best quality of the oil. The hoofs are washed in cold water, and then boiled in open pans, set :'n brickwork, and.heated by a fire underneath. A certain quantity of oil is thus boiled out of them, and when skimmed off forms an inferior grade of neatsfoot oil. After about three boiling the tissues between the homy hoof and the last digit bone are sufficiently softened to allow of the latter being easily scooped out of the hoof with a knife. These cores, consisting of gelatinous matter and fat, together with the small pieces of fat prveiously alluded to as being removed by the knife before boiling', are put into a separate pan of fresh water, and all boiled together for the extraction of the oil. This forms the best kind of neatsfoot oil. D. M. F., St. Albans.—Scarcely up to publication standard.