The Star. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1900. NOTES AND NOTIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6984, 27 December 1900, Page 2

The Star. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1900. NOTES AND NOTIONS.

The Government haa lost no time in com•ing ..to'a ; definite decision with ' regard to i the despatoh of additional too&ps to South Africa, We leaxn this mornings '.that not i*nJy dees it propose to send '&• draft of meh to fill the vacancies in tiio. Contingents already in the field, tout kOso that it intends to raise an entirely new contingent of 200 men. The members of will ..be enrolled, at the^expense of/ the 'imperial Government. They will be paid 5s a day, and they ■tfill be allowed to enlist on the understanding that they have been either hrservice invSouth Africa or in volunteer corps in New Zealand. One great feature of the ! Contingent will be the presenoe in it of Maoris. The Government has evidently overccme,the prejudice of the Imperial authOTities against employing cplourecl troops .against the Boera> and, - accordingly, half th« Oontingent will consist of Natives. Provided' that a. careful selection is made, "' thei Maoris ought to do credit both) td themselves and the colony.^ 1,,"-—^«. ■ The problem which arose out of ihe question: of • forming the first Australian. Caibinet has been greatly -simplified" since we, last went to press. Sir William Lyne haa. admitted his inability to form a Ministry, and; has advised the Governor-General to send for Mr Barton, and this has been done. This ought to satisfy all parties. Those people who maintained that, -as leader of the Government of the eldest colony, Sir William ''Lyne^had a right to he consulted' first, have > no reason to '"complain that the rules of oott^ stitutional procedure have been! disregard©d;| and those who claimed that as the r^cdg^' nise.d- head" cf the' Federation movement JMr . Barton was the man who should form a Ministry, will' now be aßle to rest content in the knowledge v that the person of thw choice-is engaged in :the task for which ; they T>elieve him to be singularly well fitted. The .only person Who is likely: to ! be dissatisfied with the -presejat arrangement is Mr G. H. •rtei^i.' .-^'ii ■"•'. ■;^-v":-; . - ;■-,..—« ..~..«,^_. ... . .:': Marshal ' Blumenthal, the Chief of the StaEiof : the Prussian Army, ' yhose death ■was announced yesterday, h&d v a vfery distin- v guished military career. "He entered: the ' Prussian army in 1827, and he rose so raipidly in his profession that during the Schles-wig-Hb&teini campaign, of 1849 Ihe occupied a high' position on the staff of -tlie general .i.m command. Fox .the. work he aid) in that campaign ihe was; promote to be Chief of the General Staff of the Bchleswig-Holstein, army/ 1 Continuing to rise, h^. acted as Chief of the Stoff in tlie) war against Denmark, and he occupied .thejaaine position in the war against Austria and in, the Franco-German struggle. "'T.o~ his share in the latter campaign the success of Germany was largely due. '..:..:,^^ .^. ' > Sir Ernest Mason Satow, K.C>M.G., whohas succeeded 1 Sir Claude Mac Donald as British Minister atJPekin, has an intimate personal knowledge 0f the Far East. He is now soinewhe'rev«ii>but fifty-five, and it -is close on thii|s|^eaj& since he went to Japan as a studen|-iir^jp*eter. Educated at London University^ ; > ; 3ie entered the Foreign Office by competitive examination, and was . fortunate enough to see New Japan in the making. He accompanied the late Colonel Neale, the British Charge d' Affaires, and was present at the battle of Kagosima, 1863. -He was appointed Japanese Sebretaiy in 1868. He was made agent at Bangkok in 1884, and. Minister to .Siam the foilpw-ing-year* ; After being Minister to Morocco, lie went to Tokio in .1,895: During the same yearhe waajnade"K.C.M.G. The Copenhagen Waterworks recently completed a work, begun r ■■as.^far /-back as 1887, 'viz. ,. the recCinstrutfiKibn&d'ccveringin- of; all the: inlets supplying* their works with :rwater. , condijii| '^4s of coiicretej;■..••■ 4ift ; r in diametfer;*,:: Copenhagen now draws its full supply %f from deep water-carrying veins existing : in vast deposits .of chalk. In ' the.' neighbourhood of the S'ouderso, which the Copenhagen Corporation originally bought in order to~"draw fits water supply direct from the lake—a plan which 1 was af terwards • discarded— some sixty-five artesian borings have been made, : which borings ~, with a depth! of. about 150 ft, suiiply the bulk of "the .water used 1 by the waterworks, the rest risinr, from some borings, 50ft to 60ft deep* 'iii the Ballerup district. ■■v ..- ■;•■-:•■•■.'.'. -,'V. ;V' : ->. .■•..-. ""■■ -jThe'se .'underground^supplies of water do not appear to vary; to any exten't,_andr>the temperature of the,wateris about Bdeg Cent. 'As' the water contains too much iron, it is necessary to give the oxygen *ot the atmosphere access to it, and this is being' do^Te by letting t-he waterfall, in fine §pray, a height of same sft. there being. a constant influx*bf ' fresh air.-. This treatment has made ifc possible to dispense'with tlie remaining' open ooiuse, which has n"ow,been done away wfth. The ccvered:in concrete conduits- of tie Copenhagen Waterworks have now^an 'aggregate length of 114,000 ft, of^which half has a diameter of 4ft or mor&; in. addition there are some 10,000 ft cf, vcast-iron- pipes. The aggregate length of the supply pipes in. the town is over five miles. Fof industrial pui--poses there are several open reservoirs for surface water.