Amusing and Instructive.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 7, Issue 351, 19 February 1866, Page 1

Amusing and Instructive.

Expensive Coeeespondesce. —lt is estimated that owing to the difficulty in running the blockade, etc., each one of the letters of the special correspondent of the London Times in the South cost that journal £l5O.

A person in want of money, acquainted with a certain Laird Hamilton, asked him to back a bill for twenty pounds. “ Na, Na,” said he, “ I canna do that.”—“ Why for no, laird ?ye hae dune the same thing for ithers.”— ;l Ay, ay, Tammas, but there’s wheels within wheels that ye keu naething about; I canna do’t.”—“ It’s a sma’ affair to refuse me, laird.” —“ VVeel, ye see, Tammas, if I was to pit my name till’t ye wad get the siller frae the bank, and I wad hae to pay’t; sae then you and me wad quarrel; and so we may as weei quarrel the noo, as lang as the siller’s in ma pouch.”

The greatest wonder of the day in Loudon is a “ baby actress,” aged two years and ten days, who can recite and act a whole scene from (Shakespeare’s play of “ King John.”

A good deal of the consolation offered in the world is about as solacing as the assurance of the man to his wife when she fell into the river—- “ You’ll find ground at the bottom, my dear.” Bannister was melancholy at finding himself 65, exactly the number of his own bouse. Looking up at the plate on the door, he thus soliloquised: ‘■Ah, you needn’t tell me—l know it; you told me the same thing yesterday.”

' An Uncommon Beain Disease. — A coroner’s inquest was concluded at Carlisle on Thursday upon the body of a factory girl named Gallagher, 22 years of age, who died somewhat suddenly last week. It was at first suspected she had been poisoned; but a post mortem examination proved that death had been caused by apoplexy, induced by the presence of a parasite called C'ysticcrcus in the left ventricle of of the brain. Antx-Louling Paint. —An examination of the various iron plates submerged, upwards of twelve months since, in Chatham harbor, each coated with one of the numerous anti-fouling compositions, was instituted by the officials of the establishments, when, with the single exception of a pair of plates coated with Gisborne’s anti-fouling mercurial mixture, the whole were more ‘or less thickly coated with shell-fish and sea weed, while on the plates treated with the mercurial mixture scarcely a mussel was to be seen, except in places where the paint had been rubbed off As many as eight dillerent compositions were tested.

Paibs. —Kate was talking glowingly about loveapples, “ That’s strange !” exclaimed Charley, her accepted lover. “ Why should love bo associated ■with apples ? On the contrary, X thought that love always went in pairs.” Kate smiled approvingly.

Right and Wrong. — A girl who was mating a dress put the sleeves in wrong. She was unable to change them, as she could not determine whether she had got the right sleeve in the wrong place, or the wrong sleeve in the right place.

. Death of a Princess in a Workhouse.—A correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette states that an Italian princess, of the late reigning house of Modena, was recently received into the Marylebone Workhouse, and has died there. Other members of the family are said to be living in London in a state of poverty. The medical and other officers of the workhouse rendered the poor princess every attention, but no sooner was she dead, than a valuable chain which she had retained and greatly prized, was found to he missing, and there is every reason for believing that it •was taken by some ot the pauper nurses by whom she was surrounded.

EARTH CLOSETS. (From the Melbourne Age.) Theee are few questions of greater importance than the adoption of measures calculated to arrest the spread of contagious diseases; and the prevalent alarm, owing to the spread of cholera on the European continent, and the probability of it visiting us in its desolating march, will, no doubt, lend force to any recommendations of the Central Board of Health, directing public attention to the means by which such evils may be lessened, if not wholly prevented. In this direction, the recommendation of the Central Board of Health in favor of the use of the earth closet, in preference to the open cesspool at present in use, is likely to receive some attention. It is a matter of surprise that so simple an expedient for remedying an evil inseparable from crowded cities and towns has not become more general. The remedy proposed has simplicity and inexpensiveness, iu addition to its cleanliness, to recommend it to the public, and will, no doubt, in time be brought into general use. We do not allude to any patents which are before the public, and which are more likely to retard than encourage its universal adoption. The patent we have seen is by no means an improvement upon the discovery published in 1862, by the Rev Mr Moule, Vicar of Fordington, in a letter addressed to the cottage gardeners of England. His primary object was to point out how they could produce a four-fold quantity of manure for garden use with little trouble, and scarcely any expense. He had tried the plan he recommended for several years, and many of his friends had adopted it with success. We cannot do better than permit Mr Moule to explain bis own plan. He says:— la God's providence there is no waste. Aad it was never meant that even the privy soil or the sink-water, or the water of the slop bucket should be wasted. Still less was it meant that they should poison fresh air and produce sickness. And yet they are now almost entirely wasted, and the privy does poison the air, and the little hole dug near the house, or, the ditch close by is the cause of many a sickness. Now, my .discovery is this : The earth of your garden, if dried—or dried and powdered clay—will suck up the liquid part of the privy soil; and, if applied at once and carefully mixed, will destroy all bad smell and nasty appearance in the soil part, and will keep all the value of the manure. Three half-pints of earth, or even one pint, will be enough for each time. And earth thus mixed, even once, is very good manure. But if, after mixing, you throw it into a shed 'Bud dry it, you may use it again and again ; and the oftener you use it the stronger will the manure be. 1 have used some seven, and even eight times ; and yet, after being so often mixed, there is no bad smell with the substance; and no one, if not told, would know what it was. * # • But now, how is this plan to ho worked out ? At once fill up your privy vault. I dare say it stands at a distance from your cottage, and in a very open space. This is not very convenient, nor, when you come to think of it, is it very decent. You place it there, however, to get the bad smell as far away as possible. But by my plan you may have it in a retired place, and as close to the house as you please. For the earth, properly used, destroys the smells at once. Let the seat be made in the common way, only without any vault beneath. Uuder the seat place a large bucket or box, or, if you have nothing else, an old washing pan. A bucket is the best because it is more easily handled ; only let it have a good sized bale or handle. By the side of the seal have a box that will hold say a bushel of dried earth, and a scoop or old basin that will take up a pint or a pint and a half; and let that quantity of earth he thrown info the bucket or pan every time it is used. The bucket may be put in or taken out from above by having the whole cover moved with hinges j or else through a door in front or at the back. If you can make a place into which you could go from your up-stairs room, there would be no need of a bucket or pan. Earth and all might fall into the place below (which would of course be enclosed) and there it might at once be mixed and dried. Such a place might be added to cottages at the gable, and look like a porch. The convenience to families, especially in times of sickness, would bo very great. This is precisely the system which has been brought before -the public by the Patent Earth Closet Company, with a proposed capital of .£IO.OOO, in 2UOO shares of £5 each, and avowedly formed for the purpose of working a patent said to have been originally taken out in England by the liey. Henry Moule, the patentee in this colony being Mr I). S. Campbell, who asks the sum of £IOOO for the right of using his patent. If we are not mistaken, the principle of the colonial patent was given to the world by the Rev. Mr Moule iu the letter from which we have quoted, and first published iu these co-iomes-in 1864, by the Sydney Morning He-

raid. The patentee may very properly lay claim to the plan by which the earth is applied in these closets, some of which are in use in the industrial schools at Prince’s bridge and Geelong. The earth is enclosed i wooden hopper or funnel, at the bottom

which is a moveable flange, operated upon by a lever, the handle of which is placed convenient for the sitter. Each pull of the lever acting upon the flange discharges a portion of the fine sifted earth into the closet, thereby covering the deposit. The machinery in the closet at the Geelong industrial schools, and at Mr D. S. Campbell’s stores, does not perform its work efficiently. At Geelong, it is continually refusing to act, and it is relied upon that it is the duty of a person to go round, at intervals, and remove the impediments which the earth causes to the action of the lever. This fault is said to be attributable to any small stones preventing the action of the flange. One of the machines at Mr D. S. Campbell’s would not work at all, because the earth was not sufficiently fine, and had not been sifted before using. All those objections may be got rid of by the patentee, but as they are at present likely to prejudice the use of so valuable an application of a general principle to the requirements of life, we point them out with a view to their being remedied. It is, however, evident that there cannot be any great improvement upon the simple plan recommended by Mr Moule, which we hear has been very closely adhered to by Mr Stanesby, of Fitzroy street, Coliingwood, who has constructed earth closets which do not require any machinery, and are therefore less expensive, and cannot get out of order. He follows Mr Houle’s plan almost to the letter, and constructs them in all shapes, suitable for internal or external use, the pan or box being readily removed and coated with a mixture which prevents corrosion or evaporation. The deodorising and absorbing qualities of earth will scarcely be credited by those who have not had practical experience of it; and it removes all inoffensive appearance and odor ; and the commode may be made in any shape or of any material suited to the taste of the owner, and may also form an article of domestic use, which can be removed if a change of residence is necessary. lu the general application of this principle it is essential for its universal adoption that it should be cheap and simple. In the patent closet there is the right of the patentee and the cost of machinery. In the other system there is simply the material, the earth being applied with a scoop, as required. It is in the power of any joiner to construct such a closet, or convert the closets at present in use lor the application of earth. The contents of the pan or box may be conveyed to the garden and used in the manner that guano is applied, or may be sold to some market gardener or horticulturist, who will, no doubt, gladly exchange commodities for it, or give its equivalent in money. The Patent Earth Closet Company calculate that its value will be about £.5 per ton, and that the carting of this manure would pay a handsome profit to any one contracting to do so. It is, therefore, a consideration in the adoption of this earth closet by municipalities, and if it is desired that it shall be brought into universal use and the cesspool be prohibited by bye-law, that the simplest and cheapest form should be adopted. It is purely a question of calculation whether a municipality or a corporate body would not derive a considerable revenue by the erection of such closets at their own expense, for the privilege of removing and disposing of the manure. But the question of health is a more paramount consideration, and expense ought therefore not prove au obstacle in the adoption of the i earth closet wherever local government exists. There are many other benefits to be derived from it, to which it is unnecessary to allude. Time may be required before its real adrau- ■ tages can be appreciated, but it is a step in the right direction, and one which must not ’ he construed into a substitute for a system 1 of drainage, which wc hope to see carried 1 info effect whh as little delay as possible. ; It is in the power of every tenant to make it ■ a condition that in future such closets shall ! be erected, and landlords will not he slow to s find out the pecuniary benefits they derive • Irom it; and, where the system is not adopted, ■ a simple bye-law will bring it iuto operation.