GENERAL NEWS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVI, Issue 994, 28 November 1883, Page 6

GENERAL NEWS.

Sir W. J. Clarke has agreed to become the head of the English Consitution of Freemasons in Victoria.

The estimated number of telegraphic messages between the Australasian colonies and Europe, for the year 1882, is said to be 39.157, representing the sum of £225,557.

The " Wanganui Chronicle " says that a letter was received a few days ago from a Berlin firm of merchants, addressed to the "Lord Mayor of Wanganui," enclosing specimen chromo-lithographic portraits of " members of the august English throne, taken from the newest originals," and requesting the "Lord Mayor" to circulate the specimens amongst the officials and citizens dwelling in his Island, with a view to booking orders. A resident of Temuka some time ago bought a horse out of the Pleasant Point Pound for £1 10j. He sold him subsequently at a reasonable price to another man, who sold him to one who exhibited the horse at the Timaru show and got first prizi fur the best cob on the ground. This, of course, added value to the horse, and he was again sold and taken to Christchurch, where he again took first prize. His Excellency the Governor took a f incy to the horse, offered £40 for him, and of course get him. A Temuka horse has thus got iuto the vice-regal stables. The following recipe for preserving eggs is supplied tb the " Town and Country " by a c Trespondent : — Get a big boiler and fill it with water. Put it on the fire to boil. Have a bucket of cold water handy. When the water in the boiler is boiling, put the eggs into a net or open cloth, and hold them in the boiling water for one minute, or while a person can slowly count 25. Then hold them in the bucket of cold water to cool, a dozm at a time. When all have been done and cold, place them in bran or anything suitable, small cud down, in a c.»ol place. It is only necessary to close the pores of the shell from the inside of the egg. When performed properly, the eggs will keep good for a year or two.

The act of talking through a telephone or at a telephone, is an accomplishment that few people yet understand. A great many individuals are possessed with the idea that to be heard at the other end of the line, it is incumbent on them to raise their voices t > a revival- meet ing pitch, and shout out their questions and answers, as though they were hailing through fan miles of solid fog. How many poor telephones are shattered from stem to stern by the prodigious amount of bass, soprano, baritone, and childish treble, which in a key of high C is being constantly poured into their battered and demoralised ears. This (says an English paper) is an abuse of the telephone. An ordinary tone of conversation is all that is required. A harsh or loud tone destroys the harmony of the sound at the other end, and mars the current of communication.

Her Majesty the Q.jeen recently decorated Private Robert Gaw, Ist battalion Scots Guards, with the medal for distinguished service in the field. Private Claw was shot in the head at the baitle of Tel-el-Kebir, on September 13, 1882 ; but although severly wounded he marched wifh his battalion to the railway station at Tel-el Kebir, a distance of four miles. Here the battalion was halted, and Pvt>\ Gaw saw the surgeon, and made so little of his wound that it waa thought to be slight. Though in great pain, he remained with the battalion, proceeded to Cairo, and did duty there for five days, during which time he took his share of the guard and other duties furnished by the battalion. At. the expiration of this psriod he could no longer continue at his duty, and was sent to the hospital at Cairo, and thence linni^ to Netley. On March 16, 1883, the bullet was with difficulty extracted from his aknll, and he is now convalescent. In all probability, had it not been extracted, he must have died from the effects of the wound.

As a rule, the annual addresses of the successive presidents of the British Association have been most interesting papers, even to the unlearned. This year's President gava an address which forms a most marked exception to the rule. This is how the "Engineer " deals with it :— «• Professor Cayley then delivered his inaugural address. Contrary to our usual custom, we reDioduce this address neither in whole nor in part. It dealt from first to last with transcendental mathematics, and as it is as well that the truth should sometimes be spoken, we may say that it was as dry and uninteresting as it was possible for a man wh-se type of beauty is the Fifth rfook of Euclid to make it. It is as certain as anything can be that not 50 people who heard the address understood it, and not half of those enjoyed it. ... Professor Cayley is a profound mathematician first, and a suitable man to address a Brmßh Association audience a long way afterwards. It is not the custom to condemn addresses such as that of Professor Cayley; but we think it well to part from the custom."

The Salvation Army movement provides ite own vindication. In the last issue of the " Wiir Ory " the following is to he f ound ; -«• Mr Philpott, agentleman living near Christchurch, received lately a tomahawk, with a letter attached to the handle, of which the following is a copy :— ' 28th September, 1883, Sir,— l herewith beg to return you a small chopper (tomahawk) which I stole off your premises one day when a sale was on, I beg you to forgive

me, as I know God has, and haa, »inoe I became a Salvationist, shown me to make all reparation in my power for sins committed. This one I could uot delay longer acknowledging.— I am, A Salvation Soldier.' Mr Dorney, who has a grocer's shop off the North Belt, lately received 23 j from a man who had owed it for two years, the debtor remarking that it had been saved during nine weeks, that being the time since he waa saved in the Salvation Army, aud now he was paying all his old debta. This (remarks the Auckland 'Star') shews that a most ommpndable work is being done— better than that accomplished by policemen, detectives, and magistrates, and free of charge to the community."

Two comets are now overdue. Th© comet of 1812 had, according to Encke's determination, a period of 70£ years, and it is now 71 since it was in perihelion. Since Enkie's time, however, it has been ascertained that its period will probably be something longer ; but, making full allowance for the more recent investigations, the comet should come into view before many months are over. The other comet for whose appearance a watch should now be kepi is known as Temple's Becond periodical com it. It has a period of a little over five years, and was seen in 1873 and 1878. Temple's first periodical comet has a period of about a year longer, and was last seen in 1879. Neither of them is conspicuous, but that of 1812 should be more sensational.

A visitor to Wellington (says a Northern paper), from the Dunstan goldfields, which he had left to search for employment in the Armed Constabulary, was introduced to a new arrival of the opposite sex by the s.s. lonic. Her charms were irresistible. It was literally a case of "love at first sight." The fair one began to lament her state of single blessedness, and darkly hinted at the advantages of wedded life. "I'll marry you if you like," promptly remarked the accommodating swaiu. "All right," she responded, and next morning ihe happy lover called round at the place where his adored one was employed in the humble but honest sphere of domestic service, to ascertain whether she were "still of the same mind." A reply being obtained in the affirmative, the young lady discarded her broom aad slop-pails, and, with the assistance ofjd;qiuintances, who consented to bee Bo the necessary witnesses, the loving B^ were duly " hitched " at the Registry fice. Next day they proceeded on their honeymoon in a steamer bomil for the South. We have not heard whether ihey have yet commenced to throw tea things at one another.

The " Fiji Times " in a recent article calls attention to the inimeuse utility of the cocoanut as food rations, and the yalu ible qualities which it has for sustaining nutrition. The followiug instance is given in the case of a vessel that once left San Fra&cisco with 400 passengers for Sydney, and which, in consequence of running Bhort of stores, had to put in at Samoa, where a large quantity of ocoanuts were obtained. During the remainder of thepassage, very heavy weather was encountered, in which the vessel became waterlogged, and only reached Sydney after a perilous journey of 80 days, during which time all the provisions ran short, and men, women, and children were fed only upon cocoanuts, being at last reduced io one per dieni for each adult. Notwithstanding the diet, not a life waa lost, and not a aiugle case of sickness occurred, all tho passengers landing in a healthy and well-nourished condition. Iv another instance, two men drifted in a whale boat ou to Quails Island, where they remained for seven years before they were taken off. They had no food beyond a chance %iag fiah and cocoannts, and yet when rescued were in excellent condition, and bad gained iv weight.

It is a noteworthy fict that the replies of the Coknial Office to the AgentsGenprals' memoranda on the annexation question were not signed either by Lord Derby or by his principal Under-Secretary. The "New Zealand Herald," commenting on the circumstance, says :—": — " As it appears that the official mind has been somewhat exercised at such a departure from the recognised rules of diplomatic usage, there is probably significance attaching to it. The principal Undersecretary, whose duty it would appear to have been to forward the disappointing document in question is Sir R. W. Herbert, who was for many years Colonial Secretary and Prime Minister of Queenslaud, and it is quite possible that his wellknown warm sympathy with the interests of the colony in which he won his spurs, and the cause of which he has ever stoutly maintained, may have impelled him to evade the ungracious duty of depressing the ambitious pretensions of the c >lony. If so, the importance attaching to the iueidetit which appears to have attract ad notice would consist in less or more of variance appearing to exist between the permanent and political heads of the Colonial Office on this particular question, which may go to c infirm the idea that the discouragement to annexation may be more a matter of personal opinion on the part of E irl Derby than any settled conviction in governing circles.

The latest application of electricity is reported from San Francisco, where a seiies of trials art* beitig conducted at a store iv Washington-street, under the supervision of a deputy revenue collector, in order to prove that electricity will in 12 to 48 houre give wine aud spirits the mellowness that hitherto lias been produced by years alone. Tho manner in which it is done is as follows ; — Two blocks of cat bun wrapped up in flannel are inserted in the liquor to be purified, and these carbons are connected with ihpv< positive and negative poles of an ordinary* Brush electric tnachiue. Electricity id then generated by the usual means, an^ the process of purification and refining proceeds. The chemical action upon the liquor is such that all impurities are attracted to the negative carbon-covering flannel. The excess of fusel oil also finds lodgment here, and when the cloth is removed it looks as if it had been steeped for a year and a day in tar-fat brine. It is asserted that the liquor does not lose proof during the process. Light wines require about 2 hours of this electric churning ; fortified wines are rendered mellow in 12 hours, and the hardest and deadliest sample of alcoholic distillatiou is made comparatively harmless within 48 hours. As there are seveu wine producing districts in California, and the total vintage this year is 12,000,000 gallons, the importance of this process is obvious.

An Americ >n editor thus reports upon a would-be critic :—": — " We are sorry you dou't like our paper. We publish it simply to please you. We should aik you to come to the office aud edit it, only, if we did, some iniquitous idiot might write and tell you how much batter he could do it himself, aud that would annoy a nervous person like you/*