General News.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XX, Issue 2044, 18 March 1887, Page 2

General News.

Pat blackberries, not too ripe, into a jar, and cover up closely. Place the jar in a pan of water over the fire, and, after it has gently simmered for about six hours, strain oft the juice. To e »ery pint of juice add lib or more of tine crystallised or loal sngar, boiling and skimming in the ordinary way of making jam. Put into glass or stone jars, and lie down. A little of this mixed with water will make a pleasant drink,and, medicinally, this preserve can be taken for a sore throat and other complaints. Says a writer in the Canterbury Press :—lf our V .lunicers are not to be encouraged in their shooting, then I think all their drill iu company and batallion movements iu war time will be simply useless. The life of a good Volunteer company is its shooting competition, and its life blood a liberal allowance of ammunition.

The Age concludes au article on Tongan affairs thus : —lt is a sad and serious reflection that a people who as savages were noted for their friendly dispositions should, as Christians, be found squabbling and fighting with a zeal and fervor which both sides insist upon designating as religious. We clip the following from the Westport Evening Star, 23rd ult. : Messrs Jones and McFarlane, the gentlemen who so satisfactorily conducted the totalisator at the late race meeting, took the trouble to rectify a mistake made by an investor in their machine, on Saturday, under circumstances that render the incident worthy of mention. A £5-note was paid for a £l-note, and the mistake was not discovered for some time. Upon being apprised of the error, Mr McFarlane, in paying out the dividend on the race, carefully scanned each note as ho took it from the £1 drawer, until be found the fiver. The task was all the more difficult on aeeout of in* creasing darkness, but it VM und*f* taken with ready courtesy. The poor Tichborne claimant 1m descended to the lowest depths of all. A flaming advertisement in the Oiaehanati Enquirer informs us that hnjiui let himself out for exhibition r»t a museum of curiosities. The varioat incidents in his supposed career from shipwreck to penal servitude are depicted in a series of coarse wooden engravings. As he has familiarised himself with the history of almost every estate in Chancery, the advertisement intimates that “ he is capable of rendering invaluable aid to those seeking information in relation to any estate iu which they are interested.” Among the exhibits at the Cincinnati

Museum are giants, dwarfs, and a “ bearded fat lady,” besides other monstrosities, living and dead. The claimant has much reason to complain of his friends and admirers; for if they had bought him a respectable tavern, they would have saved him from the indignity of becoming an exhibit in a dime museum.

Following the lead set by the Nelson Mail, the church authorities in other parts of the colony are considering the advisability o 'pting the electric light for the building-, in which they are interested. We understand that Messrs E Ashcroft & Co. have received instructions to prepare specifications for the lighting by electricity of the Christchurch Cathedral, and St Paul’s Church, Dunedin. The lighting of the Nelson Cathedral Church has so far proved a great success; but it is pretty evident that in order to guard against all accidents, an accumulator will have to be provided for storing the electricity in order that the congregation may not be at the mercy of the engine which, however well regulated, may at times become a little capricious in its working. We may add that the cost of fitting the church with the apparatus is £IOO, while the weekly working expenses for two evenings a week are seven and sixpence. To provide an accumulator will involve an additional cost of £BO.

The Nelson hop crop will soon be gathered in, but the yield is very small, owing to a great extent to a storm experienced a few weeks ago. At Motueka the yield will not exceed six to six and a half cwt to the acre, instead of 15 cwt. In the neighborhood of towns the yield will not bo larger, but sales should be good. Among the prospectuses of new companies, in London, a very strange one has appeared : it is the Sea ot Galilee Filing Company, with a capital ut JLi V >00! It is related that once when Henry Kussell, whose singing of his own descriptive songs, ‘The Lifeboat,’ ‘ : vNewfoundland Dog,’ and others is

remeuiuertMi uv imwiv x>ew xorKors, was siuwintr the hitter in an Knglish town, a man called out, ‘ Was the child

suvuu, man r no wan u*surt*u imu tho child was aared, and at that asked j more earnestly, ‘ Canst thou got me a | pup'? ’ i The New i v ork journal tho Austra-! hmian and South American, in an i excellent article on tho frozen meat I fnn.ja rtf tKoao (•illiilimi). hnlHa It to 1)0 |

indispensiblc that we should adopt the system pursued iu Chicago, where nothing in the business is su tie red to waste, everything being turned to account. We are told that it is difficult to make a profit “ when the hides are largely exported as hides and reimported as leather, and other offal is either entirely sacrificed or sold at the cost of removal ” lu Chicago everything from the abbatoirs is made use of. The Idles are turned info leather; the hm- is wanted for felt or postering, &e ; the b'o id and bones are prepared tor agriculture; the

horns and hoofs are used to- glue and < tor comb making Our contemporary * sivs on the point;— " There is no < '■a i-'on why Australia and New Zea- 1 ■ a ul s iculd uot make the facilities ’ I'lev possess tor raising cattle and 1 sneep che.ip'y in enormous numbers, the basis of a most profitable and 1 desirable group of industries.” '

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after ta^^^^^B “ yet ! tv those have letters M stencil rou f u ?.* pear or P rlD Very made the Society England carts can^^^^^^^B more and horsM^^^^^^^Hg oaa . M de passed eighty fi^^^^^^^^^^Bdst dial family end fatigable, in the catting canals, able to sloop or to remain awake at ft At a Geographical Socioly de Lessens again Panama Canal traffic in [IBS9, will not be sufficonst!action of them later that by the date shall be able to fIBK canal.

' iePPwa contemporary gives IktlMni, as the cost of wheat mah| in Michigan and some other WMtRB States Ploughing 7s Gd pur acre, fitting 4s 6d, fertilisers purchased 3s lOd, barnyard manure 3s, seed 5s 2d, drilling Is Gd, harvesting 5s 3d, stacking 3s, threshing 3s Sd, marketing 4s, interest (7 per cent.) 14s Gd, insurance and taxes 2s Gd, repairs 2s 9d. When we deduct the value of the straw and the rental value of the dwellings, £2 Its 2d is left as the average cost, and this divided by the average yield per acre, gives about 2s Gd as the average cost per bushel, which would leave a nett profit of 26 per cent, on the operation of producing a bushel of wheat.

“ Prohibition Bibles ” have been invented in Georgia, US, to evade the prohibition to sell spirits. Apparrently they are really bound editions of the Scriptures, but actually they are merely boards concealing a bottle of whisky. By touching a spring at one end the other flies open, and the neck of the bottle appears.