ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. To the Editor of the New Zealand Spectator. Wellington, November 1st, 1852.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 758, 6 November 1852, Page 3

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. To the Editor of the New Zealand Spectator. Wellington, November Ist, 1852.

Sir, — Will you be kind enough to inform me in your valuable journal why flour has risen to £35 per ton ? when I see in your paper of Saturday last that it is only £18 to £19 per ton at Nelson. What I wish to know is, whether ihe merchants of this place, are in fault.uor the millers and bakers ; for'l' think flour sold here at £25 per ton would? clear , expenses from Nelson bought there at the above price. If the bakers, &c, wish to keep what few mechanics there are left in Wellington, let them sell bread cheap, or they may lose a' great many more families. I am, Sir, Yours obediently, FAIR PLAY. N.B. — If bread can be sold at Bd. per loaf now flour is at £35 per ton, what might the bakers have sold it for when flour was as low as £14 or £15 per ton ? The' Science of 'Colour in Dress. — Unfortunately for our health and comfort, the teachings of science are too often disregarded, if they interfere with our habits. Science, when not practically applied, loses its value.; it wants fixedness, stability. l Its application is its embodiment; without it, :jt. i§a mere.fjgnjary^ oF^ tHe^raih. Its business is to inform the mind, and remove erroneous impressions ; and its highest aim is usefulness. .The popular belief with respect to dress, that a black dress is warmer, both in winter and summer, than a white one, is erroneous. The truth is that, the material being the same, a black dress is cool in winter and warm in summer — while a white one is warm in winter and cool in summer; that is to say, the one is cool when we require warmth, and warm when we require to be cooled ; while the other is warm when we are cool, and cool when we are warm, and thus answers the purpose of dress, which is, to'" ' protect the body from the influence, of the weather. Science teaches that dark colours absorb heat, and part with it much more rapidly than light ones ; black and white being the two extremes. How strange that this knowledge has not been applied to dress ! •If the bowls of two spoons, the one, polished, 1 and the other smeared with soot, be held near a fire, it will be found that the blackened one becomes hot much soo/ier than the other ; and if now they be bpth made hot by holding them against the bars of the grate, and then removed from the fire, and suspended in the air, it will, be seen that the blackened one will get cool much sooner then the other. It is true that the difference in this case is chiefly due to the polish on one of the spoons, but it is not altogether due to it. Again : if hot water be poured into two vessels, the one white and the other black, the water in the latter will cool before the other. So likewise if two persons, one dressed in black, and the other in white — all other conditions being the same — were to go from the cold external air into a heated room, the one in black would feel the heat sooner than the other, and on leaving the room would feel the cold sooner ; consequently would be more likely to take cold than the other. It is therefore evident that a light coloured dress iaTmjqre cppdueive to health and comfort than Oaric bneV since it prevents the external heat or cold' from too suddenly reaching the body, and prevents the body from too suddenly parting with- its heat, and thus that it keeps 'it in a more equable temperature. We may now understand the reason .why animals in the polar regions are white — their whiteness preserves the heat" of their bodies much better than any other colour. So likewise the earth, in consequence of the whiteness of snow is prevented from parting- with its heat. It is not so much bysnow protecting the earth from thej.externar cold, that it does such valuable service as by its preventing the radiation of internal heat. This whiteness of snow and of the polar animals must* not be looked, upon as the result of blind chance; it strikingly exemplifies the wisdom and goodness of the Creator^ The above- observations are peculiarly applicable to the^case ,of- men engaging in Arctic expeditions. I,dpf np.tknow what dress they usually wear, but it is quite clear that a white woollen one would be the most appropriate ; and if it had a gloss upon it, it would be so much the better. This they might have learned from observing the anirrials in those regions. ' The Royal Geographical Societt. — The Geographical Society has had, its share, in, those graceful -. attentions which Prince Albert so willingly pays to all institutions for promoting

art, literature, and science. His Royal Highness, who is Vice-Patron of the Society, ' a,ttended its last meeting. The members were edified and gratified by the interest he evinced in the reports of recent discovery in the Himalaya and the interior of South'Afnca. But a matter of more importance for the general public was the intimation, made by ,th.c President, in the course of the evening, that he had reason to believe the Prince, as their Patron, would support a petition to .the Queen for a grant of apartments to the - Society. Sir , Roderick, Murchison pledged himself, and his colleagues, in the event of such a favour being conferred upon them, to show their sense of it by affording the public " a good and useful map-office." This is a fair offer of a quid pro quo. The Society already possesses an extensive and complete collection of maps, including the results of the official surveys, by land and sea, of our own and every civilized government. The untiring zeal of the Society in adding to its stores is vouched by the extensive additions it has been instrumental in making to the knowledge of Turkish, Persian, African,' and Australian geography. Much has been - effected by the Society's own efforts ; much by the emulation it has excited among foreigners ; much by the publicity it has been instrumental in giving to discoveries that might otherwise have been left to slumber in the archives of our Eorergti and Colonial d^paitments and the- 'Admiralty." -<The antecedents of the Society pjove that it deserves the confidence of the public ; and the numbers of its associates, and consequently its funds, are rapidly increasing. The boon of apartments at the public expense to such an institution would be amply repaid by the readier access to its rich and ample store of maps affordedto the public;'access to w Inch has ever been most liberally open to all, so far as the inconvenient house-accommodation with which the Society has been obliged to content itself, in order to have its means free for the promotion of geographical discovery, has permitted. — Spectator. Religious Persecution in Tuscany. — The following is an extract of a letter from Florence, dated 9th of June: — "Yesterday, at 3 o'clock, the decision in the case of poor Madiai and Pasquale Casacci was pronounced with closed doors. You will be sorry to learn that Madiai has been sentenced to the galleys, with bard labour, for four years and a- half, and his wife to .three years and ten months' imprisonment in the Ergastolo (the galleys. for females) with hard labour, besides having to bear the whole expense of their trial, and being subjected to three years' surveillance on their liberation. Casacci, who turned recusant, has been discharged by the Court of Criminal Law, but is detained to answer two processes against him by the police, under the law of April, 1851. That history may pronounce upon the chief actors in this affair, I may state that Nervini was president of the Court, Coccbi 'was the examining judge, Biechierai -acted as Procurator-General. The trial lasted four days, Rosa (Mme. Madiai) was pale and somewhat agitated upon her appearing in court. Francois (Madiai) was delighted to see his wife, and shook her warmly by the hand. Everybody wat astonished- at their composure. Casacci was the very picture of misery, and from my heart I pitied him. -At the commencement of the? triai'FrantJOis was~asked"Trhe~was born in the bosom of tb'e Holy Mother Roman Catholic Church. 'Yes,' was his reply, ' but now I am a Christian according to the Gospel.' ' Who made you so, and have you taken an act of abjuration in the presense of those with whom you are mm connected?' 'My convictions are of many years standing, but they .have acquired greater force by my study of God's Word ; but what has, passed between God and myself in secret I, have publicly testified by my communion in thp Swiss Church.' In reply to the questions put to -her, Rosa answered that she had not lightly changed her religion, and merely to please men ; that having •been resident in England for sixteen years she had read much of God's Word, and compared it with the doctrines of the Rjmish Church ; 'that becoming convinced of the errors of that Church, she had left it, and had at the Communion of the Lord's Supper, made a public profession of her adjuration at the tim.e when (he laws of the country allowed and protected full liberty of religion to the citizens. The audience were much struck with the simplicity and sincerity of Madiai. During the two following days witnesses were examined, and the Procurator-General concluded, demanding their conviction. On the fourth day the Court remained in deliberation for a considerable time, the opinions being divided — two were in favour of an 'acquittal and three* for condemnation. Madiai and his wife beard the sentence with firmness and dignity. The voice of the President trembled as he read the sentence. The public were indignant at the sentence, and against the judges, full of sympathy and esteem for the Madiai, and contempt for Casacci. Madiai has been advised to appeal to the Court of Cassation, and perhaps the superior Court, more free to act, will reverse the sentence. Landucci, the Minister of the Interior, having been applied" to, has advised an application to be madefor a commutation of their" sentence into banishment.