FROM OTHER PAPERS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 46, 18 November 1907, Page 3

FROM OTHER PAPERS.

Agriculture is not always profitable, judging _ by the remarks of a local farmer to a Wairarapa "Daily Times " reporter. He was commenting on the fact that wool-growers wore making all the money, while the fattener was finding it no good thing to always put in rape and turnip. Asked to explain, lie said, "I turned over seven and a half acres this season for rape, and the cost was exactly £23.. Labour swallowed up £15, and seed, etc., £8." "What return do you expect?" queried the reporter. "Oh, about £15 or £16." This farmer, who resides on Upper-Plain, said it was a favour to. got. a man-to do the work of cultivation at all. "In fact," ho concluded, "there's nothing in it."

Two young girls, whose hard faces and brazen manners conveyed the impression that they graduated from the gutter and the pavement, appeared in Balclutlia recently, says the "J.''rcc Press." They were accompanied by a. cadaverous youth no more prepossessing than themselves. On Wednesday afternoon the girls came under the notice of Constable Lopdell, who gave them the order to "move on," and escorted them to the train at 5 o'clock to see that they obeyed. From Milton they were similarly chivvied before coming to Balclutlia. But the law that proirid.es no other remedy for these poor, pariahs of society than to hunt them from pillar to post is surely strikingly inept. If this were a custom of the benighted Hottentots it would bo deservedly reprobated; here in this Christian land the practice, of "moving on" the outcast and' the morally helpless has become so common as hardly to excite comment.

With the summer weather experienced lately, sharks are already becoming numerous in the harbour (reports the "New Zealand Herald"). On Sunday last a party of Psrne.llitcs, who wore enjoying a big haul of kahuwai off Hobson Bay, were surprised at tho appearance of a largo shark, which took one of the fish as well as tho line. A shark lino was immediately put out, with the result that tho ferocious nsh was hooked, and after a great strugglo was harpooned and captured.

The Auckland "Star" of Saturday says:— It is five years ago to-day since the bs. Elingamitc was wrecked on the Three Kings, bound from Sydney to Auckland. Numerous attempts have been made to recover the treasure which went down with the Elingamite, but so far little- success lias been achieved. The first attempt proved fruitless, the diver going over the wreck and failing to find anv trace of the treasure. Subsequent investigations proved that the diver had descendnd on to the wrong vessel, his initial search boing over another wreck lying closo to the submerged Eliugamite. Of tho £1700 held in the grip of the sea, only a comparatively small sum has so far been recovered, but " : t is tho intention of the syndicate concerned to resume operations again shortly.

Tho health of Mr. Alexander Whisker, an old identity of Auckland, who it now in his 90th year, is causing his relatives and friends somo anxiety. The old veteran landed in New Zealand with tho 58th Regiment, during tho Maori war, and is probably the l only surviving soldier in the country who was in scrvico at tho time of tho accession of tho late Queen Victoria. -

"Name tho happy day, and I will buy the ring," the young man in tho popular song lilts lightly to his love. A man who appeared in the Christchurch Magistrates Court recently related that his exporienco had been oh different lines. His blushing brido bought tlie ring, paid the registrar, and defrayed all expenses in connection with the woddiug. "That is rcvorsing tho usual order of things," said the Magistrate, and tho witness entered into an explanation, which set.out that he had mot with an accident, and was out of work at .tho time This did not deter him from taking on tho responsibilities of married lifo for the second time, oven though an account for tho nursing of his first wife remained unpaid.

Tho present method of securing mail-bags, as is well known, is by means of twine and a seal of wax, which bears the mark of the office of origin. Many attempts have been made to devise a lock to tako the place of theso seals, and a neat invention for this purposo has been shown to the "Otago Dailv /rimes." It is the idoq of Mr. T. C. M'Lennan, of the Railway Maintenance Department in Dunodin. The lock proper is attached to a band to enclose tho mouth cf tho -mail-bag, and closes with a snap. When closed there is apparently no way of introducing any tool to pick the lock, the two halves forming a neat cube about' lin. in length each way. . Tho locking-bar is > very simple, and must bo opened by a squareended hoy, ono of whioh would open any of the locks; and so any postal officer can open the hags consigned to him, no matter whence they originate. The necessary precaution to prevent any unauthorised person from opening tho locks constitutes the invention. A seal of paper, bearing the mark of the office from which the bag was despatched—a similar marls being borne by the bag for comparison—is inserted before the lock is closed, and must lie destroyed by the insertion of the key. Each officer taking over the bags ' on route can tiros tell at a glance whether thoy have been tampered with. It is understood that the lock has won high opinions from those qualified to judge.

A healthy and hungry weasel is almost as quick on his game as a rat-lulling terrier, anil could give points to tho ant for perseverance, whilst-tor savagb cleverness in reaching its prey it has no rival. Mr. White, of Normanby Street, Musselburgh (says a southern exchange), owns one of tho most securo fowlhouses in and about Dunedin, but ho lost forty-nino chickens in the space of two hours and a-half yesterday morning. Eleven of the slain, each with a puncture in'its neck, were found about tho place. Tho other thirty-eight .had entirely disappeared. Tho oiily possible entrance for the weasel was a small slit in a trap-door through which tho chickens got to their grass run, and the relentless littlo beast must have dragged away tho thirty-eight missing ones by that exit. When a' weasel can thus, play havoc in a fowlhou'se that is supposed to bo secure, what chance have the birds that are kept in places built of kerosene tins and broken palings? To men of intrepid spirit the delights of exploration lie in diverse dangers. The chances of being lost, starved, drowned, buffeted to death by an avalanche, or sliding out of a tame world on a neck-break-iiig glacier arc only a few of tho chief delights. Exploration in New Zealand is like—well, liko the Dominion—uniquo and full of wonders. In tho Otago Museum (records .tho "Star"), Mr. W. G. Grave, of Oamaru, told members of the Otago Institute of some exciting, dreary, and painful happenings to four explorers in Fiordland.' In Uvo weeks they had five dry days. One man fell 40ft. down a . crevasse, escaping death by means of tho swag on his back, which ho had looked upon as a kind of Christian's burden. As a result of the fall his nerves were wrecked, and ho spilled a billyful of •boiling water over his foot the same evening, and had to hobblo in a slipper through a dreary pass. Then hunger attacked the party, and a pea rifle became their chief support. _ They didn't cat tho rifle, of course, but lived on what it killed. Then the strength of wcka, kca, and wild duck was too much for one fellow, who contracted a tremendous boil near his and knew the sufferings of Job. In a letter to Mr. J. K. Mitchell, of Patca, local agent of tho Patca Shipping Company, Mr. W. Bennett gives a few particulars the repairs to tho Kapiti. He writes: "We'arc welding the stern frame together in its place by a patent process with a metal called 'Thermit.' For an experiment we welded the rudder on Wednesday, with success. It is a remarkable thing. The rudder and brokon part were laid out in line and a mould placed round the break. A small pot containing tho Thermit was hung ovor the mould, the operator placed about a tablespoonful of white powder on top of tho metal, and, striking a match, set it on fire: In ten . seconds the metal was boiling, and ten seconds later it was over. Twenty minutes later wo lifted the rudder to an hydraulic press and bent it and straightoncd it without making any impression on the momJ- 1! ' 1 ,