THE CANTERBURY AGRICUL TURAL AND PASTORAL SHOW, 1879.

... - [tiQNTINUBD.]

The show ' of reaping machines was large,and Messrs Reid and Gray’s exhibit was the one Which met with the judges’ approval, the Osborne being second ; and in mowing machines the Timaru firm also gained first honors, with a very compact which they sell at £22; the M'Oormack, at ten shillings more, taking second. A' forest’s hay loader was awarded a first prize, and ought to be a very useful implement on a farm. The reaping and binding machinery were not awarded any prize, as.it is intended to have a competition during harvest, so as to arrive at their qualifications ; and the same teat will be applied to the rye grass strippers, of which two were shown by Messrs Duncan and Scott Bros. The gorse cutting machines, by Hornsby are ponderous looking affairs, and are also to be subjected to a trial before having any award made. Wind pumps had two re presentatives by local manufacturers Croll and Scott Bros., but neither of them were equal to the Althouse, which was not shown this year. The show of . churns again asserted the superiority of colonial manufacture —|Mr Mathew Hall gaining first Mize against three American exhibits. He also ob tained a first prize for a set of cheese vats. All these goods are made of kauri pine, and are very neat and clean-looking. In the extra exhibits, a turn-wrist plough, shown by Mr Booth, is a most ingenious implement, having two mould boards, which, by a very simple leverage action can be thrown in and out of place by the ploughman,, the share also being turned the opposite way by the same movement. Ati American gang plough, which ought to do well in light land, was highly com mended. There was a number of clod crushers, chaff-cutters, bone crushers, drills, and other implements shown—all of which attracted a deal of attention from the visitors. DAIKY EBODUCE. ■ In dairy produce there was a keen com petition, no less than 25 entries being made for the prize for fresh butter, Mrs George Thompson taking first for fresh, crifl Mrs HenshaW for powdered, the letter also gaining the “ Press ” special gift of a piece of plate. * The quality of the cheese showed that the . Canterbury farxrlera are still able to keep up their reputation in this product, Mr C. B. Candy obtaining first for old, and Mr C. Brade for new. The cured and -preserved meats were splendid.. Mr T. H. Green took three firsts for ham, bacon, and spiced beef, besides the £lO 10a “ Times ’’ prize. Mr W. H. Mein’s assortment of tinned meats was particularly good, and some of the tins* which had been prepared over a year ago, had their contents as fresh and sweet as the day they were put up. They deservedly obtained first prize. There was a fair lot of entries in jams, pickles, and preserved fruits. COLONIAL nmUSTKIES. Malt found a prize taker in Messrs Boyse, Stead, and Co., with a very nice bright sample. Beer was shown in thir teen entries, Manning and Co. taking first and second; and in porter Messrs Wood and Co., of Ashburton, took first and second, in an entry of eight com petitors. New Zealand rope was shown by Messrs Seed, and Hall and Forbes, the former taking the first with a particularly fine quality of cordage made from New Zea land flax—which can be sold at from £36 to £4O per ton; and Messrs Hall and Forbes showing a very fair sample at as low a price as £3O per ton. The Mosgiel and Kaiapoi Woollen Factories’ exhibits took us fairly by sur prise at their unexpected variety and quality. Colored yarns, in every shade, hoiaexy, tweeds, serges, blankets, and shawls, in new and handsome patterns, * were admired by all, and, being innocent of shoddy, are certain in time to drive the .' imported goods out of the market. 'Theshow of leather by Mr Thomas Wilson was of a very, superior quality, the harness 1 leather being particularly good. In boots Mr George Hyde was the only exhibitor, and some very pretty specimens ■of the shoemakers’ art were shown. Basket ware, of Christchurch manu facture, was represented by a good variety of baskets of all sizes, birdcages, peram bulators, Ac.—Mr James Silvester being the manufacturer.

In casks, Mr B. Hall took apprize with some very nice butter firkins, at the low price of 4sßd each. Drain pipes * fire-clay goods, and pottery ' were shown by Mr W. Neighbours; and Messrs Austin and Kirk show a great im provement on previous years—the drain pipes, elbows,- and joints being more cleanly moulded - and more evenly burnt than usuaL ' Austin and Kirk’s pottery shows what can be done in this line by colonial enterprise, as milk pans, dishes, flower pots, vases, &c, are now manufac tured, by the firm. ' There was a very largo and varied as sortment of cooking ranges on the ground —Messrs Scott Bros, being the largest ex hibitors.' This firm also had a stand of ' ornamental castings for fences, &c, and -they .attracted a good deal of favorable comment. !

■■ ‘ Theshow of seeds was not large. The Association are to be congratulated on the glorious weather, and the atten dance consequent upon it. We hear that close on £9OO gate-money wae taken. It is evident that as the show is increasing in importancd and number Of entries yearly, the present ground will icon be totally in ' ' adequate'for the Association purposes.

AHVBHTDBB WITH AN OCTOPUS. —A rather amusing incident was witnessed in the Scarborough Aquarium recently. It appears that the keeper, whilst engaged - in dimming out the tank occupied by the “octopedes, was suddenly seized by the leg (fortunately he bad sea boots on) by the largest-of the octopedes, which fastened r, four of his tentacles round the leg of the . * boot,- sad with the other four held firmly on to the rocks forming the back of the fan If A struggle took place, during which tlw*manfound he- could not disen iglgahimselt without killing the animal, ’* ’ajadTfinaliy bit upon the expedient of slip ' .pingdus leg out, leaving the boot in the . writer and betting a retreat. The hungry , yctopus stuck to the boot for 20 minutes, ’ when it,relinquished its hold.

CORRESPONDENCE.

We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions expressed by our correspondents.

THE EARTH’S INTERNAL HEAT.

No. 2. TO THE EDIXOB. Sir, —In ray last communication I hinted that I would send you a few lines re the question Is the interior of the earth molten or rigid ? ” I regret that I have been so long in doing so ; the long interval is caused by my absence from home, and a pressure of ministerial duties. It must be conceded that the earth was once in. a niolten state. Its shape (oblate spheriod) has been deemed suffi cient proof of this. The notion that the earth js a perfect sphere, with the excep tion of a slight polar compression, is not quite correct; for while it is oblate at the poles it is also prolate at the equator, the same law causing both the equatorial pro tuberance and the polar compression. Although this bulging at the equator is almost inappreciable in diagrams yet con sidered pnysiographically it is of much greater importance , than is commonly supposed. Perhaps few men .can speak with greater authority upon this subject than Sydney B. J. Skertchley, F.G.S., of H.M. Geological Survey. He says, speaking of thus equatorial protuber ance—“ 1 have estimated that it ex ceeds the volume of the entire land (measured from sea-level) as much as 18,000 times. ” The same writer remarks : “ Suppose the earth to be a sphere at rest and to- be covered with an uniform ocean. Then let a quantity of solid matter be taken from the Polar regions and piled about the equator, so as to bring the earth’s shape into its present form. This would be clearly equivalent to building a mountain over the equator 13£ miles high, or about 70,000 feet [69,960] and whose base is equal to the surface of the original sphere.” It is believed that molten matter rotating in space at the rate of the earth’s present rotation would take precisely the form just described. The following experiment was made by M. Plateau ; —A mass of oil was placed in & transparent liquid exactly of the same density as the oil, and it was found as long as the oil was at rest it took the form of a perfect sphere floating in the middle of the fluid like the earth in space, but when a motion of rotation was given to the oil the spherical form changed into a spheroidal form like the earth. The shape of the earth, together with several principles of geology and physical geography, is held conclusive evidence of the earth having been at some time mol ten.

It is also conceded. that the interior of the earth is at the present time intensely hot; so hot that “taking the increment of heat at 1° Fah, for every 60 feet, it is apparent that, other things being the same, a temperature will be attained at a moderate depth sufficiently high to melt every known rock. Thus, at about 35 miles from the surface, the heat would be sufficient to melt platinum the most re fractory of metals.” I find that Professor Loomis, LL.D., reckons the average increment of heat in Europe to be 1° for every 52 feet. In Louisville, Kentucky, in a boring 2086 feet deep, 1° for every 76 feet. In Colum bus, Ohio, in a boring 2575 feet deep, 1° for every 71 feet. The mean of these American localities being 1“ for every 73 feet Beete Jukes, F.R.S., and Sydney B. J. Skertchley, F.G.S., both, reckon a feneral average of 1° for 60 feet, J. forman Loekyer, F.R.S., F,8.A.5., &c., 1° (centigrade) for every 90 feet From the above it has been assumed that the interior of the earth must be molten. In the “Museum of Science and Art,” in one of the chapters upon popular geology, may be found a diagram showing a section through the earth, a thin black line mark ing the thickness of the crust of the earth, upon? which insignificant film wo are supposed to be living. Well may one writer speak of it as a “ perilous bomb. 1 ' I shall in my next give a few reasons for thinking this “ molten bomb” theory a mistake. I am, &c., .B. J. Westbeooke. P.S.—Since I wrote the above I have observed Mr Oliver’s letter. I thank him for his criticism, and shall, with your per mission, have something to say to him in an early issue.

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE’S COURT.

Fbiday, Nov. 14.

(Before Thos. Bullock, Esq., J.P.) James Sullivan, on remand, was charged with being found drunk in East street. S. Maddison, master of the Old Men’s Home, stated that Sullivan was a quiet man, except when in drink. The Bench gave him a lecture, and the prisoner was discharged on the under standing that he was to be on his good be havior for the future, and to abjure beer so long as he remained an inmate of the Home, Garret Gough and Gough were charged with having no visible means of support. ■ Constable Maroney, deposed that Mr Gough had been about three weeks in Ashburton, and both, bore a very bad character in Christchurch. Constable Beaumont said that they had had twelve months on achargeof vagrancy, and on two other occasions a month and a fortnight respectively. The prisoners did not deny the facts, but stated in defence that it was only for having a drop of drink which they were in the habit of indulging in. The Bench sentenced them to two months with hard labor each, which was objected to as being too much. assault. George Smith was charged with assault ing a Railway guard in the execution of his duty. McFarlane, Railway guard, stated that prisoner had refused to show his ticket in the train, and on arrival at Ashburton had struck him and knocked him down. Mr Pilkington, stationmaster, corrobora ted the evidence of the guard as to the assault, which was unprovoked, and very severe, the guard being insensible for some minutes afterwards.

Constable Beaumont deposed that after arresting Smith he had searched him, and his effects consisted of sixpence, a knife, and a pipe, and he had no railway ticket in hie possession. Smith said that he was drunk, and had intended to get out at Bakaia, and was vexed at finding himself at Ashburton, hence the assault. The Bench fined him £6 or a month’s mprisonment.

Plan of the Agricultural Show Grounds at Tinwald Nevember 18, 1879.

THE FARMER.

Cheesemaking. (From the Chester Courant, March 11, 1868. ) Lecture Delivered under the Auspices of the Taporley Agricultural Society by Mr J. Harding, the Celebrated Cheddar Cheese Maker. THE CONSTITUENTS OF MILK.

Milk is composed of milk sugar, whey, caseine, and butter, held in a liquid form, generally in an alkaline state. An acid, introduced either from natural or artifi cial causes, effects their separation by con verting the milk sugar into lactic acid, which in its turn acts upon the other con stituents, which enables us to secure the caseine and butter, and amalgamate the two and make it into cheese.

There should be a proper dairy room, but this indispensable item in dairy prac tice, as a rule, is wanting throughout the length and breadtl of our land, in the ab sence of which there can be seldom a guarantee for making good cheese. The milk, so delicate in its nature, requires to be deposited in a place entirely free from every impurity ; the floor of the room should be clean, and every precaution taken to render it dry. Cement should be used where necessary to fill up joints and cracks, so as to destroy every lodging place for filth ; every utensil in use should not only be clean but appear with a polish. The milk should be poured into a receiver outside the dairy-house, and conveyed by a pipe, or rather an open shute or conduit, to the vessel prepared for. its reception in the milk-house, that the milkers may not enter the dairy. Under these circumstances milk may be kept sweet in ordinary weather, in a temperature of 63 to 65 de grees, during the night in one vessel (say the cheese tub), to which the morning’s milk may with safety be added, and a fine cheese be the result. I cannot under stand why persons prefer the labor of making cheese twice a day, when a cheese of a superior description can be produced by making once as I have described. In preparing the milk for the reception of the rennet, in the absence of Cockey’s or any heating apparatus, care should be taken to prevent the overheating any portion of it, less its condition become affected before the rennet is added. It is not safe to heat it beyond 100 degrees. During the summer months it frequently happens that no heating is required, the evening milk in the cheese tub having stood at 65 to 70 degrees ; and that of the morning coming in to mix with it at a temperature of 90 degrees will at once fix the bulk at 78 to 80 degrees, the temperature required. The rennet which should be perfectly sweet and its strength practically known, should at once be introduced and stirred into the milk so as to take immediate and universal effect, and at once arrest the particles of cream, and prevent their es cape to the surface. If the atmosphere be close and damp and the temperature high, the evening milk may have acquired sufficient acidity to slightly affect litmus paper, to which there is not always much objection; but if it has remained per fectly sweet, a little sour whey of a clean acid taste may be added to assist the ren net, the quantity being regulated by the experience of the dairywoman.

BREAKING THE CHEESE. The coagulation should occupy 50 to 60 minutes, it may then be cut across at right angles with a long knife or other cutting instrument, when the whey should immediately begin to appear. With the milk at this stage of the pro ceedings in the condition I have des cribed, the character of the future cheese is entirely subject to the skill of the operator. To follow the Cheddar method, after remaining a short time in this state it should be broken or cracked up care fully, to prevent waste, when a little whey is taken off and warmed. When the breaking is completed, this heated whey is poured over it, which tends to harden the curd and clear the whey, when the curd will be found to be in small and distinct particles ; it is then allowed to subside. A portion of the whey is then drawn off and heated for scalding, which may occupy 30 to 40 minutes. The curd is then stirred up, and the heated whey poured amongst it until it has reached a temperature of 100 degrees. The stirring is continued until the particles of curd again separate and sink, when the whey remains clear. With Gockey’s heating apparatus, the breaking and the scalding is performed by one operation, the temperature being gradually increased during the stirring till it reaches 100 degrees. There is probably less necessity for the curd being so finely broken when it is not to be scalded, as there would be some difficulty in again collecting it without the appli cation of heat of a high temperature. After being subjected to the heated whey for 25 or 30 minutes, the whole of the whey is drawn off, and the curd becomes a compact mass, which is heaped up on the convex bottom of the tub; the

temperature being carefully retained, the whey readily escapes. When this is effected, which may occupy from one to two hours, according to circumstantes, it is placed in the press, to remain 20 or 30 minutes, when it is removed and broken in the mill, and salted with the best refined (which is prepared for the purpose by Titley and Bath) at the rate of 11b of salt to 561bs of curd, when it is again placed in the press. The next morning it is turned in the vat, and a dry cloth is given to it, which is not sub sequently wetted. At the end of the third day it is removed to the cheese room and bandaged, when it is turned every day for a few days ; as it hardens it is turned twice a week, and ultimately once, till it is sent to market at two to four months old.

In Gloucestershire they make their cheese twice a day—it is broken, or rather mashed, the whey is dipped off, the curd hardens, and pressure is applied in the tub. Here only the hands are employed and the whey escapes between the fingers. The work of making is finished by 10 o’clock in the morning, and tho cheese is put in the press, weighing six or eight to the cwt. I have seen 40 or 50 of the same turned in the press every morning, when they get a coating of salt and a clean cloth. This cheese, being beauti fully sweet in flavour, is not in its general’character fine. BAD CHEESE. It is a matter of surprise that so many cheesemakers understand so little of the business from which they- obtain their in come. Go into the majority of cheese rooms, especially where thick cheese is made, and this fact is apparent. You there see cheese of-warious shapes and colors, representing good, bad, and in different, the production of one and the same maker, who is not only ignorant of the irregular character of the cheese, but also of a remedy to improve it. Ask a dairy woman why her cheeses so differ in shape and appearance ; what answer will you get 1 “ Cheese never was made alike on this farm,” or, “the cheese is never good when the cows are in such a field. ” When the factor comes to buy, and casts his practised eye over the cheeses to clas sify them, that he may know how much to offer, his offer is rejected, on the ground of being unfair and partial. He has given a “ neighbor a much higher price, for his cheese that is not any better than mine,” or “he has a name.” These - are only specimens of facts that are constantly oc curring in the experience of every re spectable cheese dealer. While such ignorance prevails there will be no im provement. On the other hand the responsibility of making cheese is too great to rest alone upon the woman. (Hear, hear.) The man should assist her by studying the nature of the milk and the successive changes which it undergoes be fore the cheese is made, so as to be enabled in his cheese room to point to any inferior cheese, and understand the cause. If I were to discover a failure in the crop in a part of one of his arable fields, he would at once give me a satisfactory ex planation, and he who would be so conver sant with cause and effect in the field, in his cheese room would be a complete igno ramus. I greatly pity a poor woman who having all the cheese-making responsibility upon her labors might and main, day after day, and year after year, to obtain success, and instead of her husband’s aid, gets his frowns, until “ hope deferred has made the heart sick. ” To such persons I may render some assistance by showing how bad cheese is made. Bad cheese is so e times made by being sour, for which there are two causes ; one from the atmosphere over which we have no control. The mo ment milk is drawn from the cow it com mences its progress towards decomposi tion, and if placed in a temperature of over 65 degrees, in a close atmosphere, there is no certainty of its keeping sweet during 12 hours, and should it require to be heated at all in the morning it will in crease the acidity, the presence of which in the milk does not alway develop itself until too late to apply a remedy. Ano ther kind of sour cheese, and which is the worst, is caused by a want of cleanliness either in the utensils or floor of the dairy, or it may be from the effluvia arising from adjacent gutters or heaps of manure, &c., or meat hung in the neighborhood of the milk ; any of these causes will not only sour the milk, but will also impart to it a bad flavor. I have occasionally detected the cause of this kind of sour cheese by the resemblance of its flavor to some adja cent stench. The former of these kinds of sour cheese, made by the Cheddar me thod, will sometimes become blue-mouldy, and when ripe and mellow is exceedingly good. A. sour cheese may be clearly assigned, during the process of making, to which class it belongs. The curd from natur ally sour milk will more tenaciously retain the whey, and will spread itself over the bottom of the cheese tub, whilst that which is made from tainted milk will part

from the whey more readily, leaving the curd in a dry and sandy condition. The intelligent dairy woman will readily un derstand this, and everj’thing around her will receive an extra scour, which will prove to be a preventive of a similar disaster the next morning. The class of inferior cheese to which I should like to call your attention is such as usually fills our fairs and markets—cheese not made from sour milk (some of which occasion ally may be found in our finest dairies) but from milk sweet and good, and which but for the mismanagement of the maker would have been of a very different character. These cheeses are of so many different grades that they can not well bo classified. I therefore include all full milk cheeses which do not reach the standard of fine, and deem them to be in ferior. The essential elements of good cheese are fine and mellow texture, sweet aromatic flavour, and rich buttery quality; the absence of either of these essentials detracts in a greater or lesser degree from its perfection. * BAD TEXTURE. Of such is “soft and soapy,"porous, and hard, dry cheese. Cheese of bad texture may generally be detected by an experienced eye, as being unshapely, bulged out at the side, upon which the bandages have left deep indentations, frequently sunk on the top, and still soft to the touch, throwing out a thick damp coating, and is larger in bulk than it ought to be, and more or less out of shape. There are two causes, one of which, or both, have contributed to the production of such a cheese, viz., weak rennet, Or an insufficient quantity, or subsequent neglect. The power of the rennet must be according to the tempera ture of the milk. Thus milk at 80 will require more coagulatory power when given time than milk at 90, and if rennet too weak be employed the cheese will be cold, tender, and soft, and will baffle the most skilful hand to make it into a first class cheese. The cream will rise to the surface and much of it pass off in the whey, injuring the quality as well as the texture, and will sooner or later acquire a rank flavour and tallowy complexion. To account for the faults of such a cheese, the anatto frequently becomes a scape goat. When the whey is not properly extracted, the best anatto (which I am bound to acknowledge is Nichol’s) will lose its brightness when it comes in contact with whey in a state of ferment. Bad texture is caused also by neglect in the subsequent process, in not giving the required attention to the curd in its various changes, allowing it to lose its temperature and checking the free escape of the whey. Both regularity and attention are indispensable to the production of good cheese. The cause of a soft soapy cheese is un doubtedly due to the presence of win y, either from an imperfect separation from the other constituents of the milk at the commencement, or from subsequent neg lect or ignorance. Porous cheese from the Cheddar and Cheshire methods of making are quite distinct in their charac ter. The former, if made porous, will never acquire that closeness which charac terises its superiority of texture, but the latter, though porous for the first two or three months, will ultimately become solid and good. As a rule, a porous Cheddar cheese will be inferior in flavour, fermentation in a greater or lesser degree being the immediate cause—a cause which must be again placed to the credit of the presence of whey. Another cause of porous cheese is using too much running, or over heating the milk. The coagulum becomes so hard that it is almost impos sible to break it as fine as it should bo ; besides a loss of cream, a bad texture is the result. The inexperienced dairymaid will stir too fast, without judgment, till the curd becomes brittle. A cheese with a hard dry texture will seldom improve ; the factor often mistakes it for a skimmed milk cheese.

FLAVOR. Now if we carefully analyse the smell that generally prevails in ill-flavored cheese, I think you will agree with me, that it is very nearly related to that found in strong butter. If this hypothesis be correct then we have a clue to the cause of much of our bad-flavored cheese. It pointsalso, at least, to a suggestive remedy, viz., that as soon as the coagulation is properly formed and broken, there should be no delay in drawing off the whey. There is another kind of flavor which we frequently meet with in cheese, which is much worse than that I have described, and requires no uncommon olfactory powers to detect its origin. It is so distinctly foreign to milk—it has evidently been imported by some one of the causes I bave named under the head of sour cheese. It is a striking fact, that this class of ill-flavoured cheese is rarely found where there is good dairy accommodation, although it is not an uncommon occurrence that we find a cheese somewhat out of flavour in our best and finest dairies, but not from tainted milk. I have never ,

learnt that a difference exists in common j pasturage of different localities io materi- | ally affect tlie flavour of cheese. Soma ' persons sp. il the flavour of their cheese in their vain attempt to improve nature, as for instance, making rennet with sweet briar, the flavour of which they think is imparted to the cheese., but that is not the fact. Nature needs Urtla improve- j ment, only assistance. Neither the miik nor the rennet needs to be artificially flavored. The quality is of course due to the presence of cream in the first instance —that is we cannot make cheese of good quality without the cream; but not a little depends on the skill of the operator in carefully manipulating the first stages of the process, so as to secure and amal gamate the caseine and butter. But some thing depends on the quality of the land. It is true that some land is richer in butter than others, while some is richer in cheese. I could give instances of this, but perhaps you can supply them from your own neighborhood, where i or even 11b of butter per cow may be made per week, and still the cheese be as rich as on some land where all the cream is retained. In general, the clay and oolite, where there is a depth of soil, are the most pro ductive of cheese, whilst the limestone drifts and lias pi’oduce the largest quanti ties of butter. But to make a cheese of good quality does not entirely depend upon the presence of large quantities of butter. In the “Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society” of 1861 (part 1), Dr. Yolecker gives the analyses of several cheeses which showed varying quantities of butter. Of three of those specimens, that which showed the smallest amount of butter was the richest cheese, and worth a penny per pound more than either of the others. This result was due to the superior manufacture. A cheese carelessly broken, cither too fast or too slow, will tend to produce a cheese of inferior quality ; in the one the butter will be lost In the whey, in the other it will be bound up and hidden in the curd (I am speaking now of scalded curd) both producing similar effects. There is just one other kind of cheese which 1 should like to name, if I had a name for it. I have said little of the dairy-room or the storing of the cheese, partly for want of time. Per haps a brief description of my own dairy room and furniture, &c., will suffice for the present. My dairy is by no means a good one—inadequate to the requirements of the milk of 70 cows, aid not at all favorable to the making of fire cheese, but in 'lie absence ><i better I make the best of if., ft is Ibit long, 12ft wide, and 7ft high. It would' astonish some cheese makers to see how few utensils, and what a small amount of labour is employed in the production of good Cheddar cheese. The tub is placed nearly in one corner of the room, to which is connected Coekey’s heating apparatus. The milk is poured into it from without. The evening milk remains in the tub during night, to which that of the morning is added. During the summer nights a stream of cold water is admitted, and after filling the cavity beneath the tub, continues to run off, cooling the milk in its passage through. The whey escapes from the tub by means of pipes to the piggery. The press, which is a treble one, presses all the cheese. There are no leads to wash, no dipping of milk or whey, and no slops on the floor. The cheese tub is of copper, and all other utensils of tin. One of my daughters, or their mother, makes the cheeses, and a man handles them after they are made.

A Collegiate Scandal.

The boys of Nelson College—which is always regarded as occupying the premier position among the educational establish ments of New Zealand—seem destined to make themselves famous in more ways than one. A few weeks ago the colony was amused by reading a political mani festo from these young gentlemen, which was as edifying as it was original. More recently, however, a number of young scapegraces at the College have dis tinguished themselves in a manner that is neither original nor edifying. The story is now generally current, and in many instances has been circulated in a very exaggerated form, so that there can be no harm in stating what we believe to be the real facts of the case. From what we learn, it appears that some sixteen of the boys are concerned in the esclandre, which consists briefly in their having com mitted petty peculations in the shops of various tradesmen in the city. The thefts appear to have been committed in a very systematic manner, some of the boys en tering the shop and engaging the shop keeper in conversation, while other ab stracted articles from the counter or win dow. Indeed it is said that they even went so far as to attempt to dispose after wards of the goods so obtained. While every allowance should be made for the pranks of boyhood, promoted rather by a love of fun than by any criminal intention, it was felt that the offence in this case was too serious to be lightly passed over. Ac cordingly six of the ringleaders were promptly expelled, while the others were sentenced to a whipping, the terrors of which were aggravated by the fact that they were not told when it was to be in flicted. The policy of this plan was shown by the fact, so it is stated, that some of the boys asked that they might have a “ double allowance ” provided that it was inflicted at once. The affair has naturally caused a good deal of comment, the more so from the position in society held by the parents of some of the boys.

UNKNOWN

(From the Derbyshire Timm.} One of our metropolitan contemporaries ; is devoting some space to a correspon dence upon the subject of the prevailing use oJ f"ul and profane language in. this' country. Jfc is not ho-ore it was time- that publ'c :U:toiiT,i-.!!i .vas *ii: ected tu the pre valence of this most useless and disgust ing vice. It is almost impossible to pass along the street of our large towns with- .; out having our oars polluted by language of the most horrible description—some of it is so bad that we most charitably pre sume those who use it do so in ignorance of its meaning. Nor is the evil confined altogether to grown up persons among the lower classes. The children speedily . learn, and the language we can hear any day from pit boys in this district, is often of the worst description. Neither is the use of this bad language confined to the working man. The classes above him, it is true, are far better trained in this re spect as a rule, but “ Arry ’’-can make use of oaths far too readily, and there,are black sheep in the ranks above him also. Another feature of this reprenhensible habit is that the Character of the bad lan guage used, is changing, or has changed. In past ages the oaths of the people were distinctly of ecclesiastical derivation. They were, too, mostly used to emphati cise what was said, by the process of call ing upon the Almighty to witness to their statements, or by clenching their argu ments by an appeal to holy men or holy subjects. Bad as this sort of language' was, the “ blood and ounds ’’. style ,of swearing was infinitely less repulsive than - the filthy and disgusting language' which has replaced it. Scarcely a. vestige of’ the old style of swearing remains, except “ the frequent d or the impious tise of the Creator’s name. The rest is unadul terated filth, if filth can be so described, and the fact proves a certain amount of degrada tion in the classes in which to swear and curse is still considered a desirable accom plishment. The style of language, which has been alliteratively described as “ the three b's,” has swept out the old monkish : oaths of the past, and even the more decent condemnatory epithets of oiir fore fathers are giving way to it, a fact which speaks badly for the swearers, as it shows that even in ihe*r low depths there is a •deepen level still. Now all this sort of thing is a great disgrace to a Christian nation, and we have no doubt whatever it could be speedily greatly checked. Any town can enact bye-laws by which the use* of profane language is made an offence punishable by fine, and imprisonment by default. Many towns / already • enforce these bye-laws, and the effect is excellent, not so much perhaps in the mere punish ment of the particular delinquent fined aa in the fact that by these prosecutions attention of persons who are likely tor adopt the habit is called to the subject. If all those persons who thoughtlessly swear and curse were thus reminded of the im propriety of it,, there would be a con siderable improvement in the language used in places of public resort at once,, and we might trust to the- repressive'- measures to deal , effectively,\rith the wilful offenders. A good deal may also 5 be done by employers of labor instituting a system of fines for swearers, such fines to be devoted to the benefit of the work people in general, and there are many other ways in which this useless, dio-. gusting, and degrading vice might be effectually checked. Certainly it is in cumbent on those in authority to take some steps to limit a national vice -which of late years seems rather to. grow than diminish, and which is decidedly worse ini its incidence than formerly. We trust, these few “ cursory remarks on swearing ”• —to quote the punning inscription at Chatsworth—may be of service in di recting public attention in this county to a subject which must be admitted to be, of social importance. '

Presence of Mind.

The “ Scientific American ” quotes, the following short rules given by Professor Wilder for action in the case of For dust in the eyes : Avoid rubbing; dash water into them. Remove cinders, <&c., with the round point of a lead pencil. Remove insects from the ear by .tepid' water, never put a hard instrument into: your ear. If any artery is cut, compress, above the wound; if a vein is cutcom preas below. If choked, get. upon all fours and cough. For light burns, dip the part in cold water, if the skin ia dea troyed cover with varnish. Before pass ing through smoke, take a full breath, and then stoop low ; but if carbon is suspected walk erect. Suck poisoned wounds un less your mouth is sore ; enlarge the, wound, or better, cut out the part with out delay. Hold the wounded pact as long as can be borne to a hot coal, pip end of a cigar. In case of poisoning, excite vomiting by tickling the throat,' or by water or mustard. In cases of opium poisoning, give strong coffee and keep moving. If in the water float on the back, with the nose and mouth projecting. For apoplexy raise the head and body ; for fainting lay the person flat. “Brevity is the soul of wit,” so the professor’s maxims have, at least, the merit of being short, and perhaps many will think that some of them are more easily preached than practised—to wit, floating on your back in water when you cannot swim, and cutting off your finger, or putting into the wound a live coal when you have been bitten by a mad dog!

4

THR MHBU'RTOW OUARIHA^

feU'fUttPAV, it.



IMPLEMENTS. Q o 3 *r LJ « SJ H «o 9 HORSES. 0 1> Beswick’s Store. OJ § sr T 1 M CLARK’S STORE. 1 Q ti U1 DAIRY AND FARM PRODUCE. i 1> o cj ri sr •8 u 0 > U1 o w Band. c| u 6) 0 0 w c w m W horse w CO 5 , PARADE. w }> H {H ► •avoa H i HORSES. sasaow



Any man (says the “ Coney Island News”) pays too much for his whistle when he has it wet 15 or 20 times a day. A Useful Clergyman. —A North British journal reports that Mr Howard, the New Connexion minister of Crook, is a man of many accomplishments. He can preach a good sermon, he can lecture on many branches of science in a very able manner, and blends amusement with in struction. He is a mesmerist, a phreno logist, and last, but not least, he can cure many diseases without the use of medi cine. Every Thursday afternoon scores of people with crutches, stjcks, arms in slings, bad eyes, toothache, headache, &c., wend their way to the chapel vestry, where for two hours Mr Howard practices the healing art. Many surprising cures are mentioned, and people come from such distant places as Newcastle and Sunder land, suffering from all sorts of ailments. It may be stated that Mr Howard is a bitter opponent of spiritualism, so that this science has no credit for the cures he effects.



Liverpool papers print the story of one William Mayor, a respectable citizen, who passed several years in penal servitude for burglary and an attempt to murder, of which he has been proved to be entirely guiltless. It was a case of mistaken, iden tity, and no redress for the injustice ba» ever been received. A Plucky Explorer.— M. Soleillet, a French explorer, is travelling through Africa in a remarkably primitive fashion. His sole means of transport is a mule, of great docility, and his only escort is a man servant. He never carries arms, and adapts himself to the habits and customs of the tribes through which lie passes, eats and dresses ns they do, and as he speaks the languages of the country he finds no difficulty in keeping on friendly terms with tlie blacks. He advances very slowly, stopping at every villiageih# reaches, ajnd rendering any service he Can to the inhabitants,;