MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume X, Issue 1555, 1 June 1885, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

Dr Buller, FR.S., author of the celebrated " Birds of Npw Zealand," contributes a charming article on the migration oF paroquet ■», &<;., to the Science column of the evening Pi-egn this evening (telegraphs our Wellington correspondent). Dr Bill to maintains that the popular notion that th*»se eruptions ef hade's of birds indicate a hard, season i» in thn main correct, through the train of causes may not te properly understood. This is the first of a series of articles on natural history and popular 3ciettce from eminent perm that are to appear in the Even tug' Press. A proclamation was published lately addressed by tb* Mahdi te the inhabi{ants.of Amhia, promiaiue th« speedy re-fstabljshment of the C«liphata in Medina., .According} to the Nusret, it contained th« following passage : — •♦ I ewear Tjy God and the Prophet that I do not weild the bwoH to found for nay»elf a kingdom on earth, or to anians wealth, r>r to reside in sr^endid pnl»ioea b>ufc to l >rin|(' comfort and relief to all

believers, and free them from the slavery imposed upon them by unbelievers as also to restore to the Moslem faith in its old jjlsry. lam therefore determined ! to oarry ray sword from Khartoum to | Berber, and thence to Dougola, Cairo, and Alexandria, and to restore those cities t« Moslem rule From Egypt I will proceed to th« land of the Prophet, and drive out the Turks, whose rei&u ia not better than that of nnbeiiefers, and restore its two holy cities to the sons of Isoaa. Believe, tkarefore 0 sons of Ismail, that I shall soon appear ii) your midst armed with the sword of faith." Tbe native-born American hates drudgery ; and all the mechanical arts when pursued without some knowledge of science to employ md interest the mind while the hands are active, are more or less drudgery. Accordingly we tind that til a 'American is scarcely ever to be font id as a me;* workman. It has indeed paused into a proverb that the real American nev«r takes off his coat to work. Th« railway porters, the pointsmeti, the . navvies on the various railroads of the country, are foreigners ; the conductors are, American. Call at the pointsman's cottage, and you may find him Irish, or JiYci.cli-CUnadiaii, csrtainW not American. Th« porter at the railsvay station may be Irish of German. The navvy may be English or Irish, or Canadian, or even Italian— he may possibly be German or Scandinavian ; American he nerer is. The factory operatives of Fall River or ©f Providence, of whose ' striken ' we heard so much four or five years ago, may be Canadian, or Irish, or English, it is certain they ai'e not Americans. The pianoforte uiakeraof New York another •striking' trade — may ba German, they are nat American. The men employed in the heavy works of the mines and iron works tit Pennsylvania — among th« AHeghanies or in that * back country ' of which Pittsbnrg is the eentre — -are of many different countries, not a few being Belgians, hut they ax* not American. Liverpool has recently been ?n fete on the occasion of an offioial survey and transit of the Mersey tunnel, and a colossal undertaking, which has scarcely an equal in the annals of engineering enterprise, h«« v^been practically accomplished. All the difficulties of the task— and their name is legion — have been successfully overcome ; and from the engineer's point of view the tunnel is completed fro»n one l>ank to th« other, and there remains only to be done the minor and incidental work of ballasting the line. This accomplished, the means of communication by railway between Liverpool and Birkenhead under the Mersey will be completed, and the missiug link will he supplied in the railway service of this important district, Th« Mayor of Liverpool and the Mayor of Birk,«nhesd, approaching severally from" tho opposite sides of the river, met midway underground in the tunnttl to see and to testify t<» the achievement of this gigantic work, and to share bands together. A platform waa erected fot their accommodation, a cord being drawn across the platform bisecting it, the Myaor of Liverpool standing on the one. side and the Mayor of BirkenbeaH on tbe other. Not even the St. Gothard Tunnel, which is the world's wonder equal's it -as - a triumph of engineering skill. Some excitement, was caused in Portsmouth convict prison, England, recently by the discovery on a convict of a bunch of skeleton keys capable of opening any of the doors or gates of the establishment. An American paper Rays that the Whito House has been so often painted that the white lead upon it is said to be, \ij actnsl measurement, nearly a quarter of an inch thick. For tVo centuries tho-entire industry of Mitteuwald, a town of Bavaria, shut in by snow-clad mountains and dense forests, has been violin-making, for which the surrounding forests furnish , the bf-st of material. Every yard is crossed by a- labyrinth of ropes and poles, on which hundreds of violins are hung up to dry. Every kind of stringed instrument, from the finest j violin to the cheapest banjo, is main?. factored and shipped in large quanti lies to all parts of the civilised world. Masterton possesses n g?imis — a " Colonial Edis*n " the lo.al Star culls him. He has, during the past ye>.i\ invented a self-closing and fastening gate, a nnllock yoke by which four bullackn will be able to pull as much as eight can do with the ordinary yoke a boring machine with eight augers, ami lasit, but no least, 4 self acting pump, worked by the water which is raised, and with which he is able t« irrigate four of his paddocks. Th« Royal Academy of Turin will, in 1860, award a prize of £500 to the author of the best work that appears between 1883 and 1886 oti any subj.ct connected with physics, chemistry, physiology, geology, geography, or statistics, or to "the author of a brilliant and useful discovery." The prize is open to competitors of all countries. An interesting trial was recently made of a new bout specially adapted for police purposes,. and the inspection . and protection, of waterside premises. The. experiments were macie, on the Thames round about Westminster Bridge soon after eight o'clock, where, notwithstanding the coldness of the night a score ot electricians and other geutl^ni'-ri HsscmbK-d o?i the steamboat pier at the in vkatio.ii of Mrlleckenzann, the inverter. On the bow is fitted nn eli<ctno arc lamp of 5000 candle power surrounded by a po»v;rfu! reflector and jfitt.v'j so ;is(f» \<-? ..isily tuljusted to u'.y UHJ(i<- of :1, di :i:. ! „..•). T-..'- f>]. -.ni'-jfy uecessavv f-,r ii;-< Vnuy. io lura'sii- «i

by the tame accumulators, which pro- ; vide that for the fccrew, and are arranged in hunkers, forming seats along the middle of the boat. The vessol-. when •barged, is capable of going at a speed of eighty miles for four hours, showing a light all the time, and the cost is said to be trifling. The object of this particular form of vessel is the wore effective guarding of river banks, wharves, Ac. than is possible either in boats or steam launches. The vetsel runs silently, and owing to its low water line is practically invisible. The light can be flashed on or off in a second of time and most effectually discloses anything, however small, withiu several hundred yards. Flies awd Bwqs. — Beetles, insects, roaches, ants, bed bugs, rats, mice, gophers, jack-rabbits, cleared out by " Rough on Rats." The New Zealand Drug Co., Sydney, General Agents.