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Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3272, 18 July 1911, Page 4

Included in the. business which vas to have been dealt with by the Hawke’s Bay Land Board yesterday as an application by Mr. A. Mortleman to transfer to Mrs E. A: Mortleman of L.I.P. 108 part sections 1 and 10, Block 10 of 11, Motu, S.D. When the other business was finished, the Commissioner explained that Mr. Mortleman desired to obtain the freehold of 200 acres of the section. The balance he desired to transfer to his wife. The Board was inclined to grant the request but, as the applicant did not appear with some necessary documents, the matter was left unsettled.

The visitor to Medicine Hat, Canada, should he arrive in the day time, is struck by the sight of the street lamps, which, shine the sun ever so brightly—and Southern Alberta is famous for both the quality and quantity of its sunshine —still continue burning merrily, says a writer in Canada. One may be at a loss to account for this, till it is recollected that the city obtains the whole of its light and heating from the natural gas stored in the caverns of the earth beneath. Rudyard Kipling, who has said many good things about Canada, described Medicine Hat as having “all hell for its basement, with the lid off.” So “The Hat,” having nature herself for its lamplighter, does very well without mere mortals “knocking luminous holes in the dusk,” in R. L. Stevenson’s immortal phrase. The City Council, experiencing the phenomenon of having an inexhaustible supply of gas, if not. or money, have found it cheaper to let the street lamps burn all day than to pay Labor to light and turn them out.

A new Roman Catholic Church-is being built at a cost of £15,000 for the Benedictine -Monks qf Quarr Abbey, Isle of Wight. The architect, the Rev. Paul Bellot, himself a Benedictine, meets the workmen every morning at six o’clock, and continues on duty throughout the day.

In Bulgaria, a newly-married woman is expected to keep her mouth closed for speaking purposes for a whole month after her marriage, unless specially addressed by her husband. When * the month has elapsed the husband presents her with a gift, after which she is at liberty to chatter as much as she likes. Air George Alires, a well-known Alaidstone (Kent) man, and a bachelor, who died recently, left £4OOO to local charitable institutions and the poor of the town. Deceased was thought to be extremely poor. Among the bequests were legacies to all the porters, nurses, and sisters, 36 in number, at the two Maidstone hospitals in which he had been a patient.

Strangers have been afforded recently a rare spectacle at Lucerne. The deep red color which has given a small lake near Lucerne the name of the Lake of Blood has appeared after an interval of many years. The phenomenon is due to a red Alpine plant with which the bed of the lake is overgrown. The peasantry _ say it forbodes a great war. The last time the phenomenon occurred was shortly before the war in 1870-71. Epernay is a vast subterranean “citv of champagne.” For miles and miles there are streets hewn out of solid chalk flanked with piles of bottles of champagne of all blends and qualities. There is no light in this labyrinth of streets, crossings, and turnings,. except that given by sputtering candles. All is dark, dank, and damp, with the temperature about zero. The largest champagne manufactories in Epernay have underground cellars which cover 45 acres, and contain 5.000.000 bottles of wine. There is a whole street- in Epernay lined with fine chateaux, the proprietore of which possess similar establishments.

~ LCon G. Fowlds is of opinion that tlie North Island cannot possiblv gain more than two seats by the revision of the electoral districts. If two seats are transferred to the North Island, one of them, he considers, will certainlv be in the neighborhood of Auckland citv If only one seat is gained bv the 'North Island, it will probably be allotted to the neighborhood of the Taumarunui electorate, the population of which has greatly increased in the past five years? Some years ago an American promoter went to Berlin to sell the patent rights of a new bottle-making machine which made 20,000 bottles a dav kaud labor, and lowered cost of production. He found the German bottle manufacturers all bound up in a oflhpbittl consi 'fl ere d the state of the bottle trade was good, liked them present methods of manufacture, and Sn r S £°- nd at all *° the suggestion that this new Yankee machine \vas worth a million and a half marks to them Instead of going back home Wort”Wl reb A Uff (sa ' VS the ‘‘World's +1,2 i r e American visited one of the laigest- mineral- water companies in Germany and asked how many bottles they bought yearlv. Thev told him •? matter of millions'. Then he asked W when fe- Wei ' e p; !A n S f . or bottles, and iWril n y +i S - Ve the p V lce > to install m their own plant a machine which uould turn out all thev could possibly use at less than half their preseat -st. The offer was accepted and when the machine began te work the mineral-water people were delighted. The loss of this important customer brought the bottle manufactlmers around in a hurry. Thev bought the German rights, and that' machine is being built and used to-dav in Germany. '

Huiing the past two or three vears remarkable progress lias, it is 'said been made in the cultivation of a new species of potato in the department of Vienna in France. This potato originated in Uruguay, and is called the Solanum Commefsoni.” In its new environment in France, and by reason of its careful cultivation and selection it has developed several forms that promise to become fixed, and to possess much value as additions to the food resources of Europe. Among these forms all springing from one parent species’ there are a yellow variety, a white variety, a red variety, and a variety not specially characterised by color, all of which possess distinctive shapes and qualities. A fact that especially interests botanists and cultivators is that these varieties have evidently not yet reached their final settled forms, and the experiments in Vienna are closely watched, because it is thought that they will throw light on the unsettled question of the general origin of the potato.

The Coronation of the King now being an acknowledged fact, ldndlv forward your orders for wood, ooal, ooke, to the Gisborne Wood and Coal Company (opposite the Royal Hotel). 2s 3d per bag. No credit.*

The chain belonging to the Harbor Board’s big crane, which had been passed through a furnace in order to renew it and remedy the defects caused by the recent frosts, was replaced on the crane yesterday.

- The South British Insurance Comfpptiy has just adopted a special form for policy which insures workmen ■against accidents happening during non-working hours. This policy should supply a long-felt want, as the Workers’ Compensation Act makes no provision for accidents except during working hours. One of the latest applications of. electricity is the electrio whip, said to have been invented by a. Californian waggondriver. who found it inconvenient to reach out his whip to touch the horses in stormy weather, and so contrived a flexible pole, which, on coming into contact with the horse’s flank, shot-forth a small electric shock. The pole can be easily worked by a slight movement. By having fork-shaped ends to the pole both horses can be touched simultaneously. The week-end change of programme of Bathe Pictures at His Majesty’s Theatre on Saturday will be submitted for the last time this evening, and a large attendance is expected. At the sittings of the Magistrate’s Court held at Wairoa last week by Mr W. A. Barton, S.M., four men were charged with shooting a cow with intent to steal the carcase. Mr L. T. Barnard appeared for the accused, and after a lengthy hearing they were acquitted. What the skilled surgeon cannot do the quack will lightly undertake, says the Melbourne “Argus.” Recently a man, who said he was over eighty years of age, presented himself at the Melbourne Hospital, and seemed disappointed because none of the medical staff would pay him a fabulous price for what he discribed ’Us the marvel of the century—nothing less than a certain cure for cancer. Last week the man again visited the hospital with another old man, who had an arm in a sling. Dr. Piper examined the hand, and with difficulty repressed a cry of alarm. The wrist and arm were black, and a malignant cancer had eaten deeply into the flesh. It appeared that the discoverer of the “ marvellous ” cure had been experimenting on the patient, and had allowed the cancer to grow unchecked. His treatment seemed to be the application of vinegar and caustic. Had the patient gone to the Hospital, instead of permitting the old man to humbug him, the cancer might have been stayed. Now he will suffer the loss of his arm.

The following illuminating paragraph is securing wide publicity:—Something has happened to Mars! Professor Howell, one of the ablest of presentday astronomers, as the result of his remarkable investigations at Falstaff, Arizona, where he has a magnificent instrument for observing that mysterious planet, maintained some while back that the Martians were engaged in a fierce fight with Nature for their existence, and were energetically constructing huge canals to lead the water melted at the poles to the arid wastes upon which they depend for their existence, About the same time M. Antoniadi described at length before the British Astronomical Association How at the end of last year mysterious mists and markings obliterated certain famous landmarks on the planet. Many scientists are inclined to the belief that disaster swift and sudden has swept over the planet. Exactly what that disaster is no one seems ready to state in so many words, but the opinion appears to be that Mars has been visited by some catastrophe, more terrible, more devastating, and more extensive in its effects than any cataclysm which has visited the earth, and it is feared that the struggles of the Martians, supposing human life existed, have ended for ever.

The German Empress does all she can to encourage domestic servants to stay in their situations and render faithful service. Every January she gives rewards to servants who have good records. This year over 200 women were thus rewarded, each of whom had been in the service of one family continuously for 40 years. The Empress gave each servant a golden cross, an autographed diploma, and a purseful of money. A lecture on the changes effected by light was given at the Royal Institution in London recently by Mr T. Thorne Baker, who said that beer could be brewed in less than half the ordinary time if the brewing were carried out in flat glass vats through which red light of selected wave-lengths was projected. It was only reasonable, he said, to assume that the more rapid production of alcohol in this way would prove of value. All the experiments went to indicate that the maturing of wines and spirits could be materially hastened by choosing a suitable: light treatment. By using the energy obtained from absorbed light the maturing of a wine, which now takes years, might well be reduced to .months, or even weeks.

The severest flogging in Portland Prison for the last twenty years was inflicted on Convict Houstey, last week who received thirty lashes with the ■“cat” for a murderous attack on a warder, whose head he cut open with a pickaxe on May 11, after returning from work in a quarry.