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Star (Christchurch), Issue 2038, 18 September 1874, Page 2

Labgb Cities. — The only three cities on the globe positively known to contain over one million of inhabitants are London, Paris, and Newark (including Brooklyn), the reported population of Yeddo, Pekin,and other heathen centres haying proved to be widely exaggerated. Berlin, ,St Petersburg, Naples, and Vienna do not differ very widely in population, though the Prussian capital is growing more rapidly than any of the other cities, and is probably the largest by at least 40,000 or 50,000. Be aping and Binding Machine.— The following is from the Axtstralasian : — The application of Messrs Roberta and Hutchings, bf Melbourne, for letters patent for an improved binding apparatus for attachment to reaping machines, was heard and granted . by the hon the Attorney-General, on Thursday. The cut grain is delivered by an elevator on to a binding table through a slot in which two semicircular arms arise, carrying with them fche two ends of a straw band which has been spun during the time the sheaf has been cut. The attendant ties or twists the two ends of the band together, one arm is allowed to fall, and the sheaf is discharged. Coal Tbade of Newcastle. — During the week ending Aug. 21, the shipment of coal from the port of Newcastle amounted to not less than 28,842 tons. Of that quantity, 8259 tons went to Sydney, 4447 to Melbourne, 1328 to South Australia, and not less than 2061 tons to New Zealand. New Caledonia was a customer to the extent of 466 tons ; China for-, 1922, Manila for 1200, and San Francisco for 6792 tons. These figures should give confidence to the steam-coal miners it work on the Grey River. The Melboubne Mint. — A Melbourne paper says : — A fresh argument in favour of •the federation of these colonies is furnished by the recent report on the Melbourne Mint. That institution cost, we believe, £80,000, and its business is so small th it its annual expenditure exceeds the income by £10,000. Taking the interest on the money spent, it may therefore be reasonably concluded that we lose £11,000 a year by the concern, or £280,000 in 20 years ! The Mint was never required. One mint is more than enough for Australia, with its falling gold yield. Now, if -the colonies had federated, we should have been saved this needless loss. It would have been better for our miners to pay the freight of gold to Sydney, at a very slight loss, than for the colonists to contribute £14,CC3 a year to the revenue to maintain a white elephant. As days pass, the advantages of federation are more powerfully impressed upon our aaiadi.

The Imperial National Debt. — In the House of Commons, on the 29th April, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Stafford Northcote, stated the total amount of the national debt at £779,294,000, of whioh the sum of £723,514,000 is funded, the su-n of £4,479,000 is unfunded, and the sum of £52,000,000 is in the form of terminable annuities. Gaeibaldi. — Before Garibaldi went to Caprera a ship rarely touched there, but during the last three years 150 steamers have put into the little harbour. Four Neapolitan steamers have been named after him, and since 1871 he has been presented with agricultural implements of the value of from 14,000 f. to 16,000 f. He has also received other presents of money and jewelry, worth about 1,000,000 f., but these he has returned. He is honorary citizen of 90 town, villages, or districts, and honorary president of 120 societies. He has 21 swords of honour, 11 of which have been sent from abroad ; and since 1871 he has received upwards of 5000 addresses of sympathy from various quarters. The island of Caprera brings him a net income of about 3000 francs." Truly, the grand old patriot has not been forgotten in his seclusion. Tblegeaphio Extension. — The Atlantic States are moving for further telegraphio cable extension, and, from the active measures now being taken, the consummation thereof is not far distant. : It is estimated (says the Leader) by Mr Cyrus Field, the great telegraphist, that London and Shanghai may be brought-, within, thirty minutes' ' speaking distance of eaoh other. Mr Field, who has recently visited San Francisco to arrange for the laying of a great Pacific cable, has set forth his plan very clearly, and from the known character of the man it is certain that, having once put his hand to this work, he will not rest until it is completed. Already the American war steamer Tuscarora has been employed taking soundings between San Francisco, China, and Japan, l and when her work is completed, the money will be forthcoming to carry out the first instalment of the echerae. Ultimately, and at no distant date, we are led to expect an extension to Honolulu and thence to Australia. As an illustration of the magnitude of the survey and soundings for the Pacific cable the Tuscarora reports that in some places the ocean is three miles deep. - Mr Field points out that present telegraphic communication between London and New York and countries in the East is necessarily slow, by reason of the number of countries the line passes through, involving constant repeats. This will be obviated by the Pacific cable, which will be worked upon circuit, and messages which now take twelve "hours in transmission, will pass through by. the new route within thirty minutes. The announcement of this project with such a man at the head of it as Mr Cyrus Field, the father of ocean telegraphy, augurs great material advantages to these colonies. A Cheap -Substitute toe Coal. — A Mr Isham B-ggs has recently patented an invention in England which bids fair, says the Sydney Mail, to realise the hopes and dispel the fears that have so long been prevalent in connection with calculations of a coming failure in the coal supply. The new product claims to be both a light-giving and a heatgiving agent of the highest 'efficiency and hitherto !i uriapproached cheapness. It is an inflammable gas, obtained by some peculiar (but unexplained) treatment af coke at the. cost for material and manufacture of 2d per 1000 ft. This gas, burnt in conjunction with a hot blast, gives a temperature higher than that of a smelting furnace, and is expected to fuse platinum. In an ordinary stove, with pumice or some other incombustible material to play upon, it will provide a "large fire for twelve hours at the cost of one halfpenny. Whilst coal burnt in the best furnaces, will convert into steam five or six times its weight of water, boke burnt under this process will convert 11.8 times its weight of water. And the apparatus can be made portable and self-acting cc as to be applicable to locomotive or marine engines. This heating gas, treated with heavy petroleum oils, yields, at a cost of 6d per 1000 cubic feet, an illuminating gas, which, from the beautiful flame it gives, is called by the inventor " kalosic." We have heard a great deal lately about cheap illuminating gases formed by the admixture of atmospheric air with hydro-carbon vapours; but in the case of these merely mechanical mixtures, there is a risk that the materials, if compelled to travel together, will, on being let loose for use, part company. The kalosic gas, however, in which the hydrocarbon vapour unites with carbonic oxide, is said to be a permanent chemical compound that will carry any distance. Feench Aemamentb. — The Cologne Gazette, having often pointed out that the French armaments' since the recent war have been far more considerable than the German, in one of its latest impressions adduces figures in proof of the favourite German allegation. Since the' Franco-German war Germany has increased her army by 9 battalions of infantry, 32 field-batteries, 5 railway companies, 3 battalions of military train, and some few companies of foot artillery and engineers. France, on the other hand, has, since 1870, added no less than 128 battalions of infantry, 28 squadrons of cavalry, and 159 field batteries to her military strength. In 1872, on the promulgation of the new military law, the French army numbered 126 regiments of infantry, 30 battalions of rifles, 4 regiments of Zouaves, 3 of Turcos, 1 foreign regiment, 3 light African battalions, 63 regiments of cavalry, 30 of artillery (comprising 300 field batteries), 1 regiment of pontoneers, 4 of engineers, and 4 of military train. Since then a number of new regiments have been added — namely, the infantry regiments, 127 to 144 ; the dragoon regiments, 21 to 26 ; ihe chasseur regiments, 15 to 19 ; the 11th regiment of Hussars, and the Artillery regiments, 31 to 38. In 1875 a further regiment of Hussars and one of Chasseurs is to be added. Moreover, it is contemplated to increase the 19th Army Corps, stationed in Algiers, to three divisions, by adding three new regiments of the line and one regiment of Turcos. Even this does not exhaust all the additions proposed. The territorial army, called into e'xisteuce on March 30 last, includes 72 regiments of infantry, of three battalions each (to be eventually increased to double that strength) ; 18 regiments of cavalry of three squadrons each; 18 regiments of artillery, 8 of engineers, and 18 military train. Even leaving out of account the Landwehr force still to be formed, the French army has thus been increased since 1870 by 344 battallions and 82 squadrons, which amounts almost to a doubling of the force commanded by Napoleon 111. The Cologne Gazette estimates the total strength of the French army in its present condition at ] ,600,000 men. The French may reply that Germany did not need so great an increase after the war, having taken care to provide it before.