MISCELLANEOUS.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 90, 25 November 1843, Page 360

MISCELLANEOUS.

Sugar. — An estimate has been made of the annual consumption ( of sugar in Van Diemen's Land. It is found that about 650 tons are consumed in private families, and 350 tons by the brewers, confectioners, and in other ways. It is further proved that beer of which sugar is a component part, is not only more nutritious, more palatable, and more wholesome than beer made from malt, but that it will, if made of equal strength (that is to say if the same quantity of alcohol is produced by fermentation), keep much longer, and when acidity begins, the acid is much less pernicious. The properties of molasses (treacle) used in brewing are still more conducive to health. One quarter of malt yields 200 lbs. of sugar. The best method of brewing, both for health and preservation, is to use about fourteen pounds of sugar to the quantity of malt used in manufacturing a hogshead of strong ale. It will raise the quantity of the wort from 109 to 1 18, one pound of sugar yielding a quantity of 34 per gallon. It is a remarkable, but well ascertained fact, that the children accustomed to drink sugar-made beer are never afflicted with that most painful affliction that visits the children of the poor, which it is ascertained in a great degree proceeds from aqueous diet — worms. Sugar is a most powerful anti-scor-butic and anthelmenthic. — Murray's Review. Valparaiso. — We are sorry to hear that some of the mechanics at present out of employment in Melbourne are intending to leave the colony and proceed to Valparaiso, under the impression that the late calamity which befel that city will have furnished abundant work for an unusual supply of builders and their concomitant tradesmen. A paragraph has appeared in the Australasian Chronicle, having reference to a similar proposed emigration for that district, and warning the parties against such a project. That paragraph we subjoin for the benefit of our townsmen who may be contemplating a step we believe to be fraught with disappointment and' ruin: being fully enabled to corroborate the statement it contains, upon the authority of personal friends long resident in Chili : — " We sincerely regret to hear of the infatuation of those who are now said to be embarking for Valparaiso, but more especially on account of the deluded immigrants themselves. When men are out of employment it is very natural for them to seek for the roeans'ofwbsistence, and to look out for some place wnere; they ' could earn their bread by the sweat of their brow/ But they should look carefully before them, ere they commence a two or three months' voyage to a strange and to them an unknown land. The first sacrifice they must make is the payment of £10 passage money; then they land among strangers, not knowing a word of their language, with no one to consult or assist them, or look out for employment. It is true the necessaries of life are cheap there, as they are now here, but wages are low and working men plenty : perhaps a few mechanics may find employment ; but what will become of them in case of sickness or disappointment ? It is better to grapple with difficulties amongst our own kindred and countrymen, than expose ourselves to dangers amidst a medley of half savage Indians, descendants of African slaves, and a mixture of a jealous revengeful Spanish race — a race particularly averse to strangers. We know something of this heterogeneous population, and we most seriously forewarn our countrymen from all contact with them." — Port Phillip paper.

Dangers of Wood-Felling. — The woodsman is continually subject to accidents of the most appalling kinds. Added to the incredible toil of clearing heavily-timbered land, the hardy settler goes to his work every morning with the consciousness that only the same Providence which could preserve him unharmed on the field of battle can shield him from the perils of his daily labour. The ordinary operation of cutting down large trees, if performed where the timber is scattered, involves considerable risk ; since a splinter, a limb heavier than was allowed for, or a heart more decayed than appeared outwardly, may thwart his nice calculations, and wound, if not kill him on the spot. But it is in the dark and heavy wood, where the fathers of the forest stand in ranks almost as closely serried as those of the columns of Staffa, that peculiar dangers are found. If a tree when felled happen to lodge against another, it is almost a miracle if it is dislodged without an accident. This the best and most experienced woodsmen acknowledge ; yet there are few of them who can resist the temptation to try. In cutting- down the supporting tree, the one first felled is almost certain either to slide or to rebound in a way which baffles all calculation ; and accidents from this cause are frightfully frequent. The only safe course is to girdle the second tree, and let both stand until they decay, or until some heavy storm sweeps down the incumbrance. But this involves too great a vexation to the axe-man, since his ambition is to up the niece of land he has undertaken to clear Bereft of every thing but the unsightly stumps which attest his skill and bravery. — Mrs. Crmers's Forest htft. Living in the West. — Dined at the house of a thriving New Englander, who, from small beginnings, is now the proprietor of five thousand acres of prairie land : he has enclosed several fields of Indian corn with ditches instead of rails— more permanent work — answering the double purpose of staving the prairie-fire and keeping off cattle ; he has sunk a well and built stables, barn, and hog-pen, on a large scale ; and, like a wise man, lived up to this in a simple log and mud cabin. I am really at a loss to ktfbw where the good people in this country, this out-of-the-way place, find all the good things they set before travellers, especially the New EngUnders : they teem to live better here than they do at home, vr.d riot in pumpkin-pies and all sorts of cakes ai d meats, savoury stews, Sec. ;

and, to be sure, wine and strong drink is not to be found oh the table, but rich cream and excellent tea and coffee fillup the vacuum, arid invariably conclude a meal fit for an alderman. — Life in the West.

Effect of Manufactures upon Agriculture. — The cultivated lands through which we passed were originally waste moor and moss; such they must ever have remained had not the accumulation of population around the factories opened an immediate market for farming produce, which gave the strongest impulse to farming industry. The former wastes have been cultivated to the very tops of their hills and the very margin of their streams; the soil has literally been ploughed by the spindle and sowed by the shuttle and the loom. It is to manufactures that this district is indebted for the moor blooming as the garden and the desert blossoming as the rose. A curious instance of the rapid increase of the value of farms was related by my companion. He showed me a piece of ground which a farmer had formerly rented at £30 a year, but he was unable to work it with profit, on account of the distance of the market to which he had to send his produce, and he sank deeply in debt. That same farmer subsequently rented that same ground at £70 a year, and out of its profits at the higher rent paid the entire debt which he had incurred at the lower rent. — Dr. Taylor's Tour in the Manufacturing Districts.

Countby Economy in Newfoundland. — It was just dusk when we arrived at Pouche Cove, and we put up at the first house or cabin we came to. The people received us most hospitably, and gave us tea and bread and butter ; but, owing to the recent death of a daughter, could not accommodate us for the night. We then we/c taken to the house of the schoolmaster, where we were kindly received; but his house being equally unfurnished with room for more than his own family, he took us to a Mrs. Sullivan's, where, it appeared, strangers usually put up. We found here several people assembled round the wood fire, and shortly joined the circle. After some interchange of talk, in which Kelly bore his part by retailing all the news of St. John's, Dr. S. and I were shown through a door into a small narrow room, in which there were two beds. I, in my ignorance, concluded this was a bed apiece; but Dr. Stabb, more accustomed to the country, immediately asked who slept in the other bed. " Myself and the girl, Sir," said the venerable Mrs. Sullivan, to pxgreat astonishment. Accordingly we tumbled iaw> one bed, and, after the fatigues of the day, were soon fast asleep ; and in the morning found the other bed had certainly been slept in, and so concluded the old lady and the girl had effected their entrance and exit quietly in the night without disturbing our slumbers. — Juke's Excursions.

The Bible in Spain. — Alcalde. — The inhabitants of Finisterra are brave, and are all liberals. Allow me to look at your passport ? Yea, all in form. Truly it was very ridiculous that they should have arrested you as a Carlist. Sorrow. — Not only as a Carlist, but as Don Carlos himself. Alcalde. — Oh! most ridiculous; mistake a countryman of the grand Baintham for such a Goth! Borrow. — Excuse me, sir, you speak of the grand somebody. Alcalde. — The grand Baintham. He who has invented laws for pi the world. I hope shortly to see them adopted in this unhappy country of ours. Borrow.— Oh ! you mean Jeremy Bentham. Yes ! a very remarkable man in his way. Alcalde. — In his way ! in all ways. The most universal genius which the world ever produced : — a Solon, a Plato, and a Lope de Vega. Borrow. — I have never read his writings. I have no doubt that he was a Solon ; and, as you say, a Plato. I should scarcely have thought, however, that he could be ranked as a poet with Lope de Vega. Alcalde. — How surprising ! I see, indeed, that you know nothing of his writings, though an Englishman. Now, here am I, a simple alcalde of Galicia, yet I possess all the writings of Baintham on that shelf, and I study them day and night. Borrow. — You doubtless, sir, possess the English language. Alcalde. — I do. 1 mean that part of it which is contained in the writings of Baintham. lam most truly glad to see a countryman of his in these Gothic wildernesses. I understand and appreciate your motives for visiting them : excuse the incivility and rudeness which you have experienced. But we will endeavour to make you reparation. You are this moment free : but it is late ; I must find you a lodging for the night. I know one dose by which wul just suit you. Let us repair thither this moment. Stay, I think I see a book in your hand. Borrow. — The New Testament. Alcalde. — What book is that ? Borrow. — A portion of the sacred writings, the Bible. Alcalde. — Why do you carry such a book with you ? Borrow. — One of my principal motives in visiting Finisterra was to carry this book to that wild place. Alcalde. — Ha, ha ! how very singular. Yes, I remember. . I have beard that the English highly prize this eccentric book. How very singular that the countrymen of the grand Baintham should set any value upon that old monkish book. — Borrow* Adventures in Spain. A Gigantic Project. — It is said that many of theironmasters are sustaining a loss of from 268. to 30s. upon every ton of bar iron now sold at the current rate of the market, namely, £4 per ton, and that they are only prevented from " blowing out" a great many of the furnaces by a desire to keep their work-people a-going. In this state of things, " there is a proposition," the Birmingham Gazette tells us, " which finds favour with some of the leading ironmasters, and there' is a probability of a meeting being convened at the Universal Hall of Commerce, to take the subject into consideration. Mr. Bush, the engineer, has submitted plans to the Shipwreck Committee of the House of Commons, now sitting, for the construction of a harbour of refuge upon the Goodwin Sands, either on account of Government, or by a pri-

vate association of capitalists to be endowed with certain privileges. The leading feature of the plan is the immense consumption of iron which its adoption would necessitate. It is proposed first to commence with half a mile of embankment, and this alone would require for its completion not less than 35,000 tons of iron, which, at £5 per ton, will give £175,000. Should the whole plan be carried out for the embankment of rather more than eleven miles, about 800,000 tons would be consumed, 7,000 men would be employed weekly for eleven years, and £4,000,000 sterling thrown into the iron trade alone. The cost of a cubic foot of iron and concrete is Is. 4d., being half the price of stone, and the working of a ton of iron gives employment to five men per week. Each caisson, according to the scale submitted to Parliament, would be one hundred feet long, fifty-four feet high, and thirty-six feet at the base, and to diminish one foot in six. It would contain 178,800 cubic feet, and would weigh 1,300 tons of iron when floated off to its destination to form the embankment wall, and would be filled with concrete; each caisson, when complete, weighing upwards of 13,000 tons." Weighty as this project is, we fear that it is somewhat visionary withal. The Thames Tunnel would sink into insignificance before the blocking out of the sea from the Goodwin Sands by an iron embankment. But we live in an age of wonders. The Colonies. — Lord John Russell is unable to comprehend Sir Robert Peel, and Lord Stanley's policy of considering our colonies as intrinsic parts of the empire, and dealing with them as if they constituted so many English counties. Ana why? Because England is subject to a taxation which they do not share. And if it be so, it is on account of the wealth which during centuries she has collected within her borders, and in defence of which she has lavished her treasures and spilled her best blood. Her colonies do not in an equal degree possess the advantage of fixed capital which England enjoys. On the contrary, they have yet to create it for themselves. They have lands to clear, to fence, drain, and cultivate; bridges, ways, and canals to construct, and dwellings, schools, and churches to erect. A former race have transmitted most of their conveniences to England, and for which a present generation has now in part to pay. The total annual value of real property in England and Wales assessed to the poor-rates in 1841 was £61,540,030. Where, in the wide range of our colonies, or in what new country, is an amount of wealth to be found such as is here exhibited ? And hence it is that our colonies are not subject to the same measure of direct taxation as the parent state. But they are not on this account the less susceptible of being treated as English counties, although in these last there are no restrictions and no frontier duties to pay upon the produce of one county passing into another, as happens when English produce passes into a colony. But, on the other hand, many of these commodities, although thus exempt in England, are subject to duties of excise, which is an infinitely more vexatious mode of collecting a revenue. Within the frontiers of England, bricks, glass, hops, malt, paper, and soap, yield duties through the excise of more than fourteen millions. But the colonies are not burdened with this system of collection, although by means of the customs they pay upon their frontiers amounts, in proportion to their population, fully equivalent to the English excise and customs together. It may be true that much of this revenue is paid upon English manufactures, but England is not the sufferer thereby, it is her colony. The relative consumption of English goods as compared with their population is far greater throughout our colonies than in the counties of England. Why, then, should they not be considered in every respect integral parts of the empire with the English counties themselves? — Correspondent of Standard.

Sydney Teetotal Society. — The following highly influential gentlemen have not only joined the Teetotal Society, but are advertised to attend the Grand Festival of the 16th — General Sir Maurice O'Connell, X.C.8. ; his Grace Archbishop Poulding; Colonial Secretary Thompson ; Sir James Dowling, chief justice ; Mr. Justice Stephen; the Attorney-General; Mr. Therry, M.C.; the Vicar-General; Dr. Lang, M.C.; Mr. Cowper, M.C.; Dr. Bland, M.C.; Dr. Harnett; the Mayor of Sydney; Aldermen Allen, Macdermot, Neale, and Brennan. — Murray's Review, Nov. 3.

It is well: known to chemists that carbonic acid gas is a substance which immediately extinguishes fire; the existence of the latter being totally incompatible with the presence of gas. An eminent man has advised that all ships should carry a sufficient cargo of this gas on board in reservoirs, for the extinction or prevention of fires at sea.