MISCELANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume IX, Issue 1408, 2 June 1884, Page 2

MISCELANEOUS.

A wonderful pearl Is on exhibition "in Cardiff which bar a singular story. The bn-ky owner is a M»* Bawlins, a rodent of Thomaston, who owns a small garden on Thomastoti Tips. Two vear<? aero a Ivsre quantity of oysters camp from G-risby, consigned to a lo^al oyster dealer, but the sale was »o* psinW enongrh to olear them off wl'ile they won* fresh, and several •^rrpls rpmainprl on hatid unfit for °afci"«?. The ov« f .p.r dealer sold a barrel of these oyster to Mr Rawlins to hp nspdas a fei'tilise^ in the garden, and this was dumped on the ground. Rawlins happened to notice something peculiar in onp of the shells which proved to beapearl. This particular oysterwas placed under a bush, where it remained for months, and then, seeing that the pearl rpr/iained as white and clear as ever, Rawlins brought it to town and had it tested V»y a jeweller, who appraised its value at £2000. The following appeared in the Irish Times (Dublin) :— «• It is not generally know that the country people alontf the line of the electric railway make strange uses of the insulated rails, which are the medium of the electricity on this tramway, in connection tcith one of which an extraordinary and very remarkable pecurence is reported. People have no objection to touoh the rail and reoeive a smart shock, wh»ch is, however, harmless, at least so far. On Thursday evening a ploughman, returning from work, i^o^d. nron thin rail in order to mount his home. TUa rjl jl i^ .«Vvatel mm insul.).t.ors IS iuohns aV-ow tiiH lev«'l 01 til!! LiMunv.iy. As

soon as the man placed hi_3 hands on the back of the animal it received a a shock, which at once brought it down, and falling against the rail it died instantly. The remarkable part is, that the current of electricity which proved fatal to the. brute must have passed through the body of the man ■und proved harmless to him." During a recent chemical lecture, while performing the experiment of burning iron, Professor Black stated that all those ranges in which Che Caltin, Waiuu-a, Waipahi, aud Kuriwao Rivers had their origin were rich in black iroimnd, whijh was ■extremely valuable. It contained 70 per cent, of iron, and no doubt thex-e. would be a time when an impoitant industry would result from the working of iron mines in that locality. At present the inaccessibility of the hills and the cost of procuring fuel would act as a great deterrent to the. sand being rendered of any practical value. He also illustrated by experiment how it was probable the fuse had been ignited which blew np thu Glasgow Gasworks, or at least greatly damaged them. The operator had only to calculate the time when lie waned the •explosion to take place, and put a Miflicienfc quantity of bisulphide of carbon on a piece of paper or auy other inflammable substance, aud iinmediatey it became dry it would ignite. This was illustrated by pouring some of the bisulphide of carbou ou a piece of blotting-paper, and as soon as it dried it at ouce took tire. The Irish population of the earth is in round numbers as follows: Irish at iomn, 7,500,000; Irish in England, 2,500,000 Irish in Scotland, 2,000,000; Irish in Australia, 1,000,000; Irish in. America, 12,500,000; Irish elsewhere 5,000,000. Total, 30,500,000. M. Ventain, writing to Figaro upon fraud in art, declares that not less than 70,000 pictures ascribed to D'Au'iigny exist at present, and believes that in another hundred years the number "will be a million. In London in 1831 the nomber of persons arrested for d ran ken ness and disorderly conduct was 21 per thousand -of the population, and in 1881 it was five per thousand of the population. A gratifying improvement. The Chinese have justromp'eted a bridge at Sangaugjoveran arm of the Ohina sea. It is five miles long, built enterely of. -stone* has 3000 arches seventy feet high, the v roadway is *eventy feet wide, and pillars seventyftve feet apart. The lustitute of Architects at St. Petersburg has been considering the j best means of preventing the Chinese { from continuing their preseut reckless j ■destruction of the remarkable archaic architecture of ('entral Asia* It has *yen been suggested that thu Russian Government should send acommittedf Antiquarians to the Coui't of Pekin to j endeavor to interest China in her own Ancient relics. The Palestine Canal scheme, says the 'South Australian. Advertiser,' which would have an 'important bearing on Australasian commerce, continues the subjectof .intermittent attention. The promoters are the Duke of Sutherland, 1 Admiral Sir E. Inglefield, Admiral Lord C. Pagc't, Mr j Mackiunon, and others. About a!• year ago Sir E. In^lefield applied to < the Sultan at Constantinople for a j firman granting permission for the proposed canal, and he has just this week gained that permission. No-v only the question of cost stands in the way. Various engineers have examined the route, and their conclusion is that the cost will, be £65,460,000. The north or upper canal, twenty-six and a ; lialf miles long, leading fvo a Ace to the Dead Sea, "would cost only £4,850, 000 ; whilst the southern or lower part strfitching over a distance of -si xtyse veu miles to the Gulf of Akabah would absorb the gigantic balance. The Duke of Sutherland will be in England in March, and the promoters will then •definitely decide on further action. Of the southern part, twenty one miles would be a tunnel 100 ft high and 100 ft wide. The London correspondent of the Birmingham ' Post' gives some purticu- • lars of a female fire bngade. The lady studeuts of Girton College, having lately Lad cause for alarm by the over-heating of one of the stove-pipes of the bmlding resolved on forming themselves into a fire brigade. And the lady superintendent applied to Captain Sbatf for assistance in the instruction and drilling of the pupils. The gallant captain, however, declined to assist the young ladies of Girton to what he believed would be certain ■danger, and an ordinary fireman was then hired to teach the young ladies their duty. In an incredibly short time they became proficient, and in spite of their petticoats, as nimble as Any member of a simple country brigade. They can work the engines aud execute the manoeuvres with the greatest precision, and when Captain Shaw was called upon to witness their* drill, he. waafain to compliment them heartily on their proficiency. The London Times says one fact emaphsised by the returns for the year is that wood has practically, if not absolutely, gone out of existence as a shipbuilding material. Iron is now j the general material of which vessels I are constructed, though steel is year by year coming to the front Mr Archibald Forbes gives the following account of a successful gold mining enterprise in the Transvaal : — 44 A Hebrew gentleman named Benjainim, a sonth African resident, devoted bis energies to obtaining concessions from the Transvaal Government of several thousand aces of anriferous country in the Transvaal district of Lydenburg. AtPilgiams's.Rest, Ophir, And other points on this property, superficial gold digging has i>een goin^ OM for Bouie VettiS, wilii very good

results. He bought out the local \ mining claims, and his concessions j effected, came to England .with his ! project of carrying on operations on ! & lar^e scale. He avoided professional financiers such as Baron Grant, and shunned the mire of a limited liability company. In the issue the enterprise was gone into by a syndicate of some sixty persons, each of whom iOok up a certain number of shares. The syndicate list, which I have seen, is a curious one. Individual members of houses who do not usually concern themselves with such matters, are included in it — Magniacs, Mathesons, Forbesee, Farqhars, eet., but it is studded thick with noble names. Machinery v, r as sent out ; 10.000 tons of qu:irtz was already :it jri-uss ; the crushing commenced in December last, and a <rircular, specifying Mi** result, lias just beeupublishfcd. :he Opiiir quartz gave 3ioz. to tlieton. But it seems that there are frequent pockets where the quartz is embededin fine earth that is' highly aurifm-ous. Two tons of quartz and eurfch from one of these pockets whs submitted to treatment by washing. Tiie result was that 1 ,25W» of tine earth was lost, leaving a deposit of pure gold of I4oz lldwt 18gr, equal to about 30oz to the ton. and there remainded the balance of the two tonsil) rough quartz to be passed through the battiies. The £1 shares have gone np to £5 in a week. They are dealt in privately, there being no Stock Exchange quotation ; and the/re, is rfreat jubilation among the fortunate adventurers. They believe that they have found another El Callao— El Callao is the miraculous goldmine of Venezuela — perhaps its results have been beaten in Australia, but at this prosaic end of the world they are regarded as fabulous. In 1875 the valne of its yield was £\ 20,000 and the returns increased in a steady ratio until for 1882 hey reached £392.000. For the nine months of 1883 Baring Brothers received 86,841 ozs., equalling .£336,508, The dividend for September last was £800 per £420 share, and the present value of each of that amount is estimated at £44,000." Finding that. 2ooo prisoners wero in gaol in Egypt, of whom 1200 were untried, and that there, was not sufficient sitting room for another man, Mr Clifford Lloyd released 120 untried prisoners on March 21, and li« proposes to continue this clearance daily. Of these 120 men, 43 had been imprisoned for periods of from six months to one year, 11 for from I one to two years, one for nearly three I I years, five for periods of from three to i four years, one for over four years, j two for over five, and two for over six j years. All were waiting trial, being j charged with petty offences and cattle lifting. }.\r Clifford says that this may seem to be an extraordinary I prooeediusf, hut he declines the responsibility of keeping in prison, during terms of from one to six years, untried prisoners on any charge whatever. •