Prosperity of the Argentine Republic.

Progress, Volume I, Issue 3, 2 January 1906, Page 65

Prosperity of the Argentine Republic.

The Implement and Machinery Review says — " We are glad to note evidences of continued prosperity in the Argentine Republic Considerable advances have taken place in the prices of Government stock during the past five years, one description having risen from 90 to 1041, and another from 67 to 94. It is also good news for British makers of railway material that much further railway development is under consideration. The Argentine railway system in 1904 had a length of 12,000 miles, or an increase of 523 over the previous year, and all the lines had largely increased traffic receipts, owing to agricultural prosperity. The extent of the new lines under construction a little time ago was returned as 1,529 miles. British makers of machinery suitable for handling gram should note the statement that the Great Southern Railway intend to construct a dock and grain elevator at Bahia Blanca , the present jetty, although a comparatively new one, being inadequate to the growing requirements. The existing jetty will be enlarged and an elevator erected. With regard to the 1904 wheat harvest, in the district served by the port of Bahia Blanca, there was an increase of 10 per cent, in the area of wheat sown, and an improvement of 40 per cent, in the yield. A recent official report states that even the largest landowners have very little accommodation for their crops, and the colonists or small farmers having none at all they look to the railway company to construct at their station, -warehouses large enough to store the entire crop of a large district. Then when the price of corn rises and they wish to sell, they hope the company will be able to transport at once many thousand tons of gram. But even if this were possible with a single line, the docks would not be able to deal with so many waggons at a time. Hence the need of enlargement. With reference to the trade of the

Argentine Republic with the United Kingdom, and with British dominions beyond the seas, in 1904. there are very satisfactory signs of expansion. The imports from the United Kingdom alone were m the neighbourhood of 13 millions sterling, and were an increase upon the previous year of which is the more remarkable and encouraging following as it does upon an advance of m 1903. This augmentation is greatly due to the large imports of locomotives and railway plant for British-owned railways in the Argentine, as well as to an enlarged demand for all kinds of manufactured articles owing to the increased prosperity of the country."

The deepest soundings of the sea made by any vessel were reported by the ship Nero while on the Honolulu-Manila cable survey, with apparatus borrowed from the Albatross. When near Guam ths Nero got 5269 fathoms, or only 66ft less than six miles. If Mount Everest, the highest mountain on earth, were set down m this hole, it would have above its summit a depth of 2612 feet, or nearly a mib of water.

A " polyphone " (many sounds) is an elaborate machine built like a cabinet, and worked by clockwork or battery, says the Baziar. Large steel parfovatxl discs revolve vertically or horizontally inside th? cabinet, and the perforations permit the escape of small pinions that affect the gongs or wires, as the case may be, at the appointed places. There are a number of different types of polyphone, som? bsmg ingeniously automatic in the removal of the disc when the piece is finished, and the substitution of a fresh one in its place Each disc is a " piece " and as the automatic arrangement acts in regular sequence, the order of each performance can be altered at will by the owner rearrangm r the discs beforehand m their slots in any kind of succession desired. They are expensive machines, ranging from less than to as high as