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Star (Christchurch), Issue 3436, 16 April 1879, Page 2

Loud Beaconsfield's Age. — Lord Beaconsfield's admirers (obsorvos " Atlas " ) will rejoice in the reflection thafc, according to the laws of hereditary longevity, ho has still many years of lifo to look forward to. His father lived to bo 82, and his grandfather, Bonjamin Disraeli, to bo 8(5. His mother was only 71 whon she died ; but his father's grandmother, Mra Seybroot, lived to tho ago of 90. If Mr Beresford-Hopo had known Isaac Disraeli was tho son of a Dutch Jow, ho might effectively havo retorted Lord Boaconsfield'B sneering allusion to tho " Batavian graco " inherent in Dutch blood.

The Eael of Ravens wohtii on Technical Education.— Lord Ravensworth, in distributing the prizes to fcho successful students at the Newcastlo-on-Tyno Scienco and Art Schools on Saturday night, said thafc in elementary education as a gonoral rulo it was a wise thing to fcoach a littlo and to teach ifc very woll; but ho would bo blind to all that was going on around us were ho to dony that thoro was something moro wanted, and it was that something thoso scienco and art schools wero designed fco supply. This higher education was provided to give all a chanco, without distinction of sex or position, and especially to thoso belonging to tho industrial classos. Such students woro thus enabled to matriculate in tho London University, which simply meant a passport to tho higher wulka of lifo and a freo ontry to nil tho liboral professions. A higher ambition than that it was impossible for any person, high or low, to attain fco. le.hnicul education enabled tho artisan, Informing his taste and teaching him elegance of design, to compete with othors, and if possiblo to beat them. Ho was of opinion that otlier nations, particularly tho French and Italians, woro our superiors in taste, elcganco, and appreciation of colour and combinations ; but great things had boon dono in England of lato years, and fcho firsfc who stimulated and set astir tho improvement was tho lato Princo Consort. Ho was glad that the Prince of Wnles was following in his fathor's steps and taking a lead in what was roally fcho aocial improvement of tho masaes of , fcho people. It was only just to say that wo stood at tho head of all othor nations in the ceramic art, and that our manufactures of porcelain and pottery brought tho highest {irices at international exhibitions. Ho beioved, however, tbat unlesa we put fcho English artisan on an equality with tho foreigner ho would bo beaten.

OsTEionKS.— There has been a large amount of ostrich-farming at tho Capo recently, but tho demand at Homo for fche plumes of the talleat feathered biped known has of late somewhat fallen off. , Theao combined caueeß have led fco a slight; flatness in tho ostrich feather trado, and pricos in the colonial markets rulo low. Feathers of suporior quality will, however, command good prices. At a recent sale at Graham-town, South

Africa, 13 magnificent " primes," or perfect white plumes, realised a guinea each, being at the rate of £145 per pound weight. The average quotation for " fine whites" was 40 sovereigns a pound ; while " blacks" could be had as low as 14 pounds. Ifc is tolerably well known that ostrich feathers imported from the Cape Colony have almost entiroly supplanted in England the supply which we were wont fco procure from Barbary and the skirts of the Groat Desert of Sahara ; but the French contrive n-iturally to obtain considerable quantities of these superb plumes from their Algerian dependency. The feathers plucked from the living bird are, it is understood, more beautiful and more durable than those taken from the animal somo time after death; but the feathers taken from recently killed birds have the same qualities as those plucked from the living biped, and are far superior to cast or dropped feathers. The plumage of the male ostrich is, as is generally the case in al- varieties of the feathered race, much better than that of the female ; tho fine drooping plumes on the back and those near the tail being the purest whito j while those of the female are scarcely ever free from a tinge of gray near fche tip. Of courso the prime cosfc of an ostrich feather at a Colonial saleroom gives but a very faint idea of what the perfected plume will bo worth when it is supplied by a robemaker, a court milliner, or a funeral furnisher. It has to be purified by repeated washings, sulphured, scraped, curled, and in some instances dyed, beforo it can adorn the brow of aristocratic beauty, or add solemn dignity to the prancing sable steeds which furnish the last cavalcade of Vanity Fair. Tho friends of animals will finally rejoice to hear thafc the South African ostrich farmers are enabled to secure their crops of feathers of the besfc quality without killing their birds, and without inflicting any cruelty upon them.