ENGLISH AND FOREIGN EXTRACTS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1113, 31 August 1883, Page 3

ENGLISH AND FOREIGN EXTRACTS.

It is reported that an ingenious American Ims discovered vet another use for paper in the construction of railroad ties. There are snorts of mills in the country where piper, straw, prairie grass, and other fibrous substances am converted i "o straw board and so das substitutes fr wo id. The new cross tie is constructed of sheets or layers of piper or straw board, laid upon one another, cemented, and com cessed iut) moulds It is said to make a j ekect tie, practically water and tire proof. Atmospheric changes have no effect on it. It can he made as cheap •s wood at the p -esent time, and wil las at ’eist for 25 years. One papulae wi 1 out-wear five wooden one-, and "i 1 render b ut j r service, becansit does not rot, and there is no danger of spreading rails The first ton of Mexican tin has lately been received in the United htates, It came from the Duianga district, near the momvaiis of the same name; and is said to be bright, clear, and of good lex ure. It was discovered by Mr H ans Fireman, of Australia, who has been for more than a year Searching for evidence of the tin lodes and places spoken of by the old Spanish settleis. The Madrid .newspapers publish articles discussing at con iderable lengih the probable results of the visit of the King and Queen of Portugal to Madrid, where their Majesties have met wbh a very cordial reception. The general impression ex pressed bv all except a few Republican journals is that the visit will tend to improve the friendly relations between the two nations and f u our thegradual development of the material and commercial interests th y have in common without in any way iufri .ging upon the independence of ebher nation. The Republique Frnncai.te urges the British Government to reject the Eastern policy of Lord Dufterin, which, it declares, •"i 1 bring misfortune to tne ■ ast without resulting advantage onsly to Enghiud It is said that the friends andmediCil adviser of the Prims Minister are again a ging upon him tbe abso'ute necessity* t-.r rest from his official labou-s. The Prime Minister huq to a certain extent, overcome the ins m nia from which he was suffering before his vi-ir, to Cannes; bn Ur. Andrew t'larke is of Opion that the a 1 tick mav recur if Mr. Gladstone will continue the severe strain of late hours aud hard \vo;k. The proposed su' sciiption to reim burse Mr Newdegate for the costs incurred in wh it the hon. gentleman Ihes to ca 1 “ vindicating the authority of Parliament,” grows very so vly It will pro ably be tilled up in rhe end. as ilie ' 'onset Tative pirty could n it. very well exist under the scandal of leaving the extreme champion of their op nion hampered with these mon-y charges. Bur, in die meantime there is a ge er.il di- position to wait aud see w at someone else will do. The late Mrs Cra croft, who recently die I at Dorking, was the sister of Sir John Franklin She had Spent the grea er p.rt of her fortune on the divers expeditions which had been sent out to the Artie legions in search ot the a .'eat ex lorei. Even at the advanced age of 91 she still enter tail ed the hope of being the means of bnu.iu, to ngland furtner relics of >ir John Franklin to add to those already possessed oy the f.roily. It may not be generally known that one of the most potent ido-d poisons known L dynamite Merely to touch ir. «i hj the hands can-es vio'ent headache ; onei‘r>p of nitro-glycrrme, put on the ti[» of the tong ;e, produces exernci ting agony in the spine. If brought in cut ct with a wound it woul i pro ab y prove as fatal as the bite of the cobra di capella of India or the terrible rat-taiied snake of the West Tud e—though we Lave never heard of the expei linen 4 beb g tr ed either vohinta ily or the reverse The remedy used by miners for blood poisoning by dynamite is strong coffee and lime j lice.