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Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1633, 12 February 1886, Page 2

. Messrs Storey Bros, and Co., of Lancaster, England have brought out a novelty which woutd seem to possess no little utility. It is a fabric for covering wajhi, to which the name of •• Tec: toreuin " has been given. While' it posies an artistic appearauce, it can be repeatedly washed with soap' and water without suffering any injury, -being entirely impervious to damp. It is very durable, is as cheap as ordinary wallpaper, and can be applied m the usual way ; while, inasmuch as it \ checks the inroads of damp into a room, and it can lay claim to hygienic qualities. It 'has always been possible to clean, by diverse means, the different articles , of domestic. furniture ;. and the ; only striictural portious of a room which one had not yet been abb thoroughly to wash have been the walls. With the ' new material m use the walls may be scour* «d as frenly as the floor ; and the consequent advantage m ,the case 'of hospitals, schools, and other buildings, m which perfect cleanliness is so essential will be considerable. . / | About the year 1816, a party of country gentlemen ' were -dining at Alfo'xtdn Park io jthe .w.eitern\_bart- of Somersetshire. A casual expreesion from ona of the company . aroused the hitherto most silent person of the |party, a shy, but intellectual-looking man, who appeared even younger than he was ; and, rising into enthusiasm, lie proceeded (to describe the ' pow^r) of electricity, and the range of 'its influence. At length their startled attention was fixed by : his solemnly pronouncing the following words : v I prophecy that by means of the electric agency we sba.ll be enabled to communicate our thoughts instantaneoiuly with the uttermost parts of the earth." This announcement was received as a wil«i chimera. Yet, absurd as the idea was then deemed, most 'of the party lived to witness the fulfilment of those prophetic words. The person who thus fortold the electric telegraph wits Andrew Crofise, then unknown to the scientific world.