NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3338, 6 March 1918, Page 35

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Questions lor reply tn ooming isauo to be **■ MIT« 4 >not later than SATURDAY night. Qo«etions will HOT b* replied to throng*. the post. M. C. R—Admiral Sir David Beatty is the son of Captain D. D. Beatty, of Borodale, County Wexfordi, Ireland, where he was born. He was married in 1901 to Ethel, daughter of Marshall Field, sen., of Chicago, who is still living. Admiral Lord Jellicoe was born in, 1859 (in England, we believe). He is the son of the late Captain Jellicoe and the great-grand-son of Sir James "Whalley Smyth Gardiner. He was married ' in 1902 to Florence Gwendoline, daughter of Sir Charles Cayzer, and his wife is still living, y M. M., Waikaia.—A book on dynamos that would be useful is " Dynamo Electric Machines," by S. P. Thompson; for electricity generally, "Electrical Engineering,'' by Slihgo and'Brooker, also " Electric Lighting and*'Power," by W. P. Maycock. J. S., Waitepeka.—Eepairs cannot be made when the silvering on mirrors peels off badly. You can have the mirror resilvered in Dunedin, or you may proceed as follows: —The glass must be perfectly cleaned and freed from all grease or impurity. A large, perfectly flat stone table is provided, upon which is evenly ( spread a sheet of tinfoil, without crack or flaw. This is covered uniformly to a depth of £in with clean mercury. The glass is then floated carefully on" to) the so as to exclude all air bubbles. It is then pressed down by loading it with weights, in order to press out all mercury that remains fluid, which is received in a gutter round the/stone. After about .24 hours the glass is raised; gently upon its edge, and in a, few weeks it is ready to frame. The lower end of the glass from which the mercury was drained should be at the bottom of the frame. Curious.—The eve of St. Peter's Day falls upon June ' 28, the festival of St. Peter and Paul falling on June 29. Interested. —Your request came to hand too late to be attendea to in this issue. Motorist. —"Write to the director of the Aviation School, Christchurch, for particulars. Patritia. —The samples you forwarded were submitted to Professor Benham, who, on opening the box, found no " flies." The grubs, however, he found on examination to clearly indicate, a weevil—probably the " biscuit weevil," or possibly some form of woodborer. Without the insect it is impossible to say more. It might ba worth while securing more samples and forwarding them. Taratu. —You do not indicate what kind of skins you wish to tan. As probably wattle bark is "not available in your district, the following process for tanning fur skins may serve your purpose:—After scraping the skin clear of the flesh or fat, soak in warm water for an hour, and then apply a raste made of equal proportions of borax, saltpetre, gluuber salts, and water. About £oz of each should be sufficient for opossum skins, but more for larger ones. Then double Ihe skin together, flesh side inwards, and place it in" a cod"! place for 24 houis, at the end of which time it should be washed clean, and treated in the .same way as before with a. mixture of loz of sodium carbonate (washing toda), joz borax, and 2oz hard white soap—these must bo melted slowly together without 1 bring allowed to boil. The skin should then be folded together again and put in a warm place for 24 hours. After ih' n dissolve -loz of alum, Boz of salt, and 2oz of baking soda in sufficient hot watsr (o saturate the skin—the water used should be soft, preferably rtsia water. When this is coo; enough not to scald the hands the skin should bo immersed and .eft for 12 hours, then

V wring it out and hang up to dry. The soaking and drying must ho repeated two or three times till the skin is soft and pliable, after which it may bo rubbed with fine sandpaper and pumice-stone to obtain a smooth finish. A. O, Warepa.—Communicate with the director of the Aviation School at Christohurch or Auckland, when you will be suppled with all necessary information. Nell.—No additional postage stamps need be placed on a letter for a solldier after he has left New Zealand, The letter should give the soldier's number, rank, and the regiment or branch of the service to which he belongs ; then should follow "care of General Post Office, Wellington.-' The officials at Wellington send on the letter to the particular locality m which the soldier is serving. J. C, Drummond.- -Your best plan would be in the first instance to communicate with the member of Parliament for your district, and got him interested in the case. He could bring the matter before the Minister of Agriculture and Dr Reakes, Chief Government Veterinarian. It is » roundabout way of disposing of the animal, end probably time and trouble might .be saved, and as good a price obtained, if the animal were submitted for sale by auction at Invercargill. Edith.—Apply to Miss K. Glendining, 54 Manor place, Bunedin. Students are accepted for a course of - training occupying two years, at the end of which time they receive the association's certificate, qualifying them for any position in this branch of education. Anxious. —Any experienced housewife will tell you that flatirons lose their "temper," and are difficult to heat after they have been many years in use, though whether there is any scientific explanation of it is difficult to say. Kamahi,, Southland, asks why his lambs are scouring, and desires a remedy. "Agricoia" replies: " You do not say what the feed, is, or whether the lambs have just been weaned or are still on their toothers, etc. However, you might change the feed, and provide a ' lick' of salt, iron phosphate, and turpentine." Nikau Palm writes: "A year or two back I copied from the query column of the Otago Witness the key to the characters in Mallock's "' New Republic," but since then I have lost the same. As I am re-read-ing the book, I should feel obliged if a reader of your paper could supply tie key." Perhaps some of our readers may be able to oblige. Inquirer, 'Dunrobin. —Mr H. M. Davey, consulting engineer, replies: "There is ho reason that I can possibly see, judging froin what you say you have both in quantity and fall of water, why you could not get all the power you want, for you could get from 10 to 12 brake horse-power. But it would be better to decide upon the class of motor you intend to put in, for the" one that you have is not the one ,„that is most satisfactory, seeing the slowness of the speed it goes at and the high speed needed for at least some of your work. You would find a small Pelton wheel better and iar cheaper, seeing that little gearing would be required with a Pelton wheel, if you got a suitable sized one, which I could tell you on your reply, with exactly what you really require; whereas otherwise the gearing will not only absorb a large amount of, the power, but you will find it very expensive ' to buy and also to maintain;* and, even more than that, the large wheel will not develop as much power as the Pelton would, by a good deal. However, write again, and to the Editor next time.