MISCELLANEOUS.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 5014, 23 May 1889, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

Madame Melba is the daughter of one of the largest contractors in Victoria. Her father has been more than once Mayor of one the thickly populated suburbs of Melbourne. During June Madame Melba is to appear in London at the Italian opera, taking the part of Juliet in Gounod’s Borneo and Juliet, and also singing in Faust, Lucia, and Bigoletto. At the conclusion of the London engagement she proceeds to Berlin, where she will give represenlations at 5000 f a night.—Napier Telegraph. A new use has been discovered for the poppy. Once sown it is self-perpetuating, and is, indeed, almost impossible to get rid of. It forms a network of roots that cannot be exterminated without great difficulty, and is therefore admirable for keeping embankments in place. Within the last two or three years eminent French engineers have undertaken the sowing of railway embankments with poppies, with a view to prevent their being destroyed by heavy rains, or by upheaval when the frost is breaking up in the spring.

Although no Berlin paper would be permitted to hint at such a thing, yet it seems to be pretty well understood in diplomatic circles in that city that Prince Bismarck is ageing fast, and that he is a prey to nervous disorders which are highly prejudicial to the preservation of his intellectual equilibrium. Hence the ungovernable rage into which he was thrown by the publication of the Emperor Frederick’s diary ; his passionate vindictiveness towards the Empress Victoria ; the deplorable blunder committed by his creatures in the reptile press with respect to their baseless attacks on our Ambassador at St. Petersburg; and the almost incredible ineptitude which the great Chancellor has displayed in his ineffectual prosecution of Dr Qeffcken.

The Melbourne Gas Company have just put into use a gas holder, the tank of which is 35ft deep by a diameter of 196 ft. It took over four million gallons of water to fill it, and over one million and a quarter of bricks were used in its construction. The holder was made in England. Eight hundred and fifty tons of iron and steel were used in its construction, and its capacity is throe million cubic feet, requiring the yield of gas from three hundred tons of coal to fill it. It is technically called a three-lift telescope holder, that is three separate cylinders fitting one into the other, each being 35 ft deep, by diameters of 188,191, and 191 feet respectively, and when quite full rising to a height of 105 ft. The total cost of holder, tank, mains, buildings, governors, valves, boilers, engine, and pumps, will be nearly £50,000.

Tho b.B. Tekapo will loavo for Sydney on Saturday. The annual soiree of tho Primitive Methodist church will bo held in the Oddfellows’ Hall, to-morrow evening, after which a public meeting will be hold in the church. A new weekly journal is to bo started at Oxford next Saturday, a namesake of ours, the North Canterbury Times. Many flouring mills are lighted by electricity, but few are driven by electricity. Thorenberg, Switzerland, claims tho distinction of having one of the latter. It is run by electricity generated tljrce wiles away.

A complaint has reached us that owing to the late arrival of the express from the south under the new timetable, people cannot get their letters by that train till next day. It cannot bo generally known that ordinary It t'ers are delivered between 7 and 8, when the office is open for telegraphic purposes. A new Yankee “ novelty ” notion in the shape of a puzzle called “ Pigs in Clover ” has been introduced to the Auckland public. By all accounts this innocent-looking toy is likely to rival the celebrated “ fifteen puzzle,’ in the fatal hold it is establishing over the minds of even the gravest business men. The puzzle has a fascination about it under which tho claims of business are likely to be ignored, and family duties neglected. The following are the names of the Waihi football team, picked to play East Christchurch F. O. to-morrow :—'J'. L. Hart, Moore, Fitzgerald, Urinkmann, Wagslaffi, H. Ilaite, Stewart (3), Lewis, McLeod (2), Burn, Shallnrd (2); emergencies : 11. Wakcly, and T. Stewart.

We regret to learn that Mr Thomas Watts, well known in volunteer circles in died at an early hour this morning from imfiammation after a faw days’ illness. Deceased had been a member of tho C Battery for over ten years, and was- one of the very first members to join tho ranks of the Garrison Band. He will bo accorded a military funeral to-morrow afternoon, the cortege being timed to leave his late residence, Brown Street, at 330 p.m. By the death of Mr Watts the band loses one of its best bass players, and among his late comrades and many friends heartfelt sympathy is shown for his widow and large family, who are left to mourn the untimely loss of their breadwinner. The noted quality of the Coffee made in the Cafes of Turkey, France, and America is chiefly due to the fact that only Fresh Roasted Coffee is used ; so that none of the volatile oil and other essentials are lost. Ask your grocer for Anderson’s Coffee, and you will have a beverage alike refreshing and stimulating, as it is fresh roasted and ground at the factory, Timaru.—FAdvt.l