MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1126, 6 September 1882, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

A correspondent of a It >im p.xpar writes for tho purpose of removing tho widespread impression that if tho Suez Canal wore destroyed, it would imperil the safety of our Indian Empire. Ho appends a list of 20 steam 'mm, b;»lonfing to four Atlantic lines, any of which he says, could reach Bombay under 32 days, and Calcutta under 34 days with an average of 1500 troops on board. The writer ventures on the assertion that "if naval architecture continues to develop as ifciias done for the last three or four years, tho Suez Canal would be used solely for commercial purposes, as we could sent our troops round the Cape in vessels which could not go through the Canal. We arc already within four or six days of this." This is a matter which it is well not to lose sight of just now, when the British Lion is expected to tremble whenever a Beddouin Arab approaches the banks of the Canal. Mr Stevens, a British cousul, stat6s (Oil and Drug News) that a former sJr*«BttJ^^J«r^^rn^u*aSM^d,» whose duty it was to trim his lamps, had a habit of wiping his petroleumbe smeared hands in the scanty locks which remained to him ; and after three months lamp trimming experience and practice of his dirty habit, lie found he had a much finer head of black glossy hair than he ever possessed before. Mr Stevens therefore tried the remedy with wonderful success on two retriever spaniels that had become suddenly bald. During the summer of 1875, his attention was called to several cases of sudden baldness of bullocks, cows, oxen, and tho loss of tails and manes among horses. His previous experience induced him to suggest the use of petroleum ; and it was found that, while it stayed the spread of the disease among animals in the same sheds and stables it MFeeted a quick and radical cure on the animals attacked. Mr Stuvnus says that the petroleum should be of- the most refined qualities, and should be rubbed in vigorously and quickly with the palm of the hand. It should be applied six or seven times in all, at in tervals of throe days, except in the case of horses tails and manes, when more applications may be requisite. A singular revolver story comes ! from Youngstown, Ohio. A timorous I young man, Henry Waters by name, used to sleep with a loaded revolver for his protection at the head of his bed. Some of his friends secretly drew out the bullets, leaving the powder undisturbed. Whan the young man went to bed, one of the jokers threw a , •jhortti nVnirhiH h^ " J < ii' / V""*'°*'*^**' room. Waters fired every barrel at tho ghost who apparently flung back the bullets at him. Tho victim of the joke is now a maniac, and his case is pronounced hopeless. Years ago, when the Rev Henry Ward Beecher was pastor o£a little church in Indianapolis, he was disturbed one Sunday evening in the midst of a long prayer by a sudden commotion in the congregation, followed by an almost preternatural stillness. Of course his eyes were closed, but the silence soon seemed so sepulchral in its intensity that he could endure it no longer, so he opened them. Not a living bsing beside himsi'lfjjwas'in the church. An alarm of fire had sounded down the street, an engine had come trundling, by, and every man, woman and child had rushed out to '-run with the machine." The aggregate value of the stakes run for this year at Ascot exceeded £55,000, showing the splendid average of £927 for each race, the principal winner was Lord Bradford, 5085 soys., of which Quicklime contributed 2625 soys., Retreat 1700 soys., and Battlefield 1700 soys. Mr J. H. Houldsworth, with his two sisters, Rozelle and Adriana, secured 3490 soys.,; and Mr Lefevre 3714 sozs. with Tristan, the winner this year of seven races off the reel. At an entertainment lately given in Washington, to gentlemen only, by the Chinese Minister, the centerpeice of the supper table was a Chinese pagoda three feet high, the walls of violets, jasmines, and hyacinths, the roof and balconies of pansies, and the projecting corners decorated with flowering mapls bead* te» represent lanterns. Adulteration is severely punished in Germany. A wine merchant in Offenbarq had his whole stock of 4,000 casks confiscated for selling adulterated stuff, and in carrying out the Court's order the officials proceeded to pump the wine into the main gutter of the town. For nearly twenty hours the street flowed with the alleged wine, "to the delight of the poor and thirsty who assembled in crowds to gather and carry it away. The police had finally to stop this ineffectual method of preventing the use of adulterated wines. Mrs Langtry's success on her tour is declared by her London friends to be financially equal to Mr Irving's. It is said that in four weeks Mrs Langtry has cleared £3000.