Miscellaneous Items.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1610, 16 January 1886, Page 4

Miscellaneous Items.

Oue of the liiost diffioulti transfers of heavy* structures yet attempted was successfully completed m Salem, Mass., a , few : weeks ago, where a brick factory chimmey, 90 feet high aVid only 6£ feet m diameter at the base,wastakenup andmovon, with the aid of six^ jnen and two horses, ,100 feet, and safely ( deposi tied on a new foundation;^ The' chimney was nt'arly, cyHudric&l,,jthe.Ji.pper diameter, being 5 feet; and it, was estimated that, a sway of % inches ,'from the vertical would bring it to the ground, so that great precautions were taken to prevent lateral movement m transferring it to t tiie«platform ouiwbiehit was to be transported. A cage was first bu\lt around : the ; chimhev, consisting of horizon at timbers supporting shores, which .extended 23 feet up the sidesofthesbafrv and were reinforced by a second set of shorter ones, beneath... After these were m place and well secured, holes were cut though the brickwork and needles insertedfruuder which thirty-four, jack-screw* .were placed, and the shor-i mgii nd shaftraised together hjghenou&s to allow a rough platform to be conin set irriacted under tbein,a nd roller place. Tne platform, which strong was plank, exteutendfid to the new position . of the of the chimney, and by levelling it carefully, and employing- a large number of rollers, the load* weigbiug 130 tons was easily moved into place. — Scientific American. . ■ Sir William Fox addressed an audience al. 'Bulls recently. He gave an interesting account of the proceedings at the 1 late International Conference of Good'VTemplars at. Stockholm, Sweden, inretacing his remarks thereto by alraUing tothe amazing growth' of the temperance cause m the country. About thirty^five ' years ago, he said/ the inhabitants of Sweden' were Übo'ut ; the most^druuken people/on the face of the earth. Every farmer was allowed to distiriqmatgi and every fawner did so ; every farmer got Hrunk, and ©very farmer|s;«ervant got drunk. At' length <he peopfe became frightened at their owa .debauchery,, and they did: what some of our legislatoi-y asserted c>u!d ne^e^'De / done-^-made -people g od by act of Parliament. Now, the Swedes were the most sober people m the whole qCJtorppe. . . . When he had first started on this crusade, people pooh-poohed, andj said " Pox has lost his heaii^he's, getting worn out ;" but there were many: men. now, teetotallers of far brighter intellect than Fox ever was. Seven Cabinet Ministers, and other leading men of the British Parliament were teetotallers,—(Applause) — A great deal was being heard throughout tho-colony of hard times, but ,what were the people of New Zealand doing/? .The figures of Major A^ikyMffn, ip. his Ministetial statement a few days ago, set forth that thejrnyere drinking ami smoking Jg3,ooo,oQo|a,year— as much as the amount of the whole annual taxation of the colony! JSvery year there wus being sent out ot the colouy to capitalists m England the sum of £1,500,000. to cover' the interest on borrowed money. Now, he ventured to assert that, bad we been absolutely sober people,' we* might have been able to have taken up these bonds ourselves, and- it would not have been necessary to send a single shilling out otthe colony.