ENGLISH ITEMS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5466, 3 October 1878, Page 3

ENGLISH ITEMS.

In the eighth anuuul report of the Master of the English Mint, it is stated that the coins sent from the Sydney and Melbourne mints have been assayed by his department, and that the results show that the uniform accu racy of these coins, both as to weight and fineness, has been well maintained, A joint roasted by the heat of the sun is one of the chief attractions of the grounds of the Paris Exhibition, where M. Mouchot, a Tours professor, when the clouds permit, daily cooks a portion of meat by means of a strong reflector. In the Italian section of the Paris Exhibition is to be seen a strange instrument, the invention of Signer Michela. It is not larger than a lady's work-box. There is a small keyboard, like that of a diminutive piano, and a reel of paper. A girl, who is entirely ignorant of stenography, sits at the little machine, and “plays” a speech three hours long. She then reads it as quickly as one can speak. In fifteen days (says the Law Times), without previous knowledge or practice, proficiency may be acquired in the working of the apparatus. Those who cannot afford to buy a filter may easily make one. Stuff a piece of sponge in the hole of a flower-pot, place above this, a layer of pebbles, then a layer of coarse sand, and above this a layer of pounded charcoal three or four inches in depth. Another layer of pebbles should be placed above the charcoal to prevent it from being stirred up when the water is poured in. The contents of the flower-pot should be occasionally renewed. But by ‘a small addition to this a cottage filter may be made which for practical use is quite equal to the moat expensive filter of corresponding size It consists of two flowor pota, one above the other, the lower one fitted with a sponge and filtering layers above described, and the upper one with a sponge only. The upper pot should be the largest, and if the lower one is strong the upper one may 'stand on it, or a piece of wood with a hole to receive the upper pot may rest on the brim of the lower one. The two pots thus arranged are placed upon a three-legged stool with a hole in it, through which the projecting part of the lower sponge passes, and the water drops into a jug placed below. The upper pot serves as a reservoir, and the sponge stops the coarser impurities, and thus the filtering layers of the lower one may be used for two or three years without being renewed if the upper sponge be occasionally cleaned. Caro ‘ must be taken to wedge in the upper sponge tightly enough to prevent the water passing through the upper pot more rapidly than it can filter through the lower one. The g and city banquet to the Prime Minister, and Foreign Secretary came off ou Saturday at Guildhall. The city authorities bad, with great discrimination, decorated the site of Temple Bar with two silver griffins ram pant, on pedestals supported by side arches, Lord Beaconsfie d’s words, “ Peace, with honor,” being inscribed on the baud which connected the rampant griffins,—a very fitting symbol of Lord Beaconsfield’s policy. The crowd cheered chiefly for Cyprus, for Lord Beaconsfield, and Lord Salisbury, and occasionally gave groans for Russia. The City Chamberlain, before presenting the freedom of the city to Lord Beaconsfield, gave him a short history of himself; remindedhira that his grandfather was a merchant trading successfully iu the city, and suggested, with some humor, that had Lord Beaconsfield remained among the citizens, inat a I of seeking fame and fortm e elsewhere —“ be might have been, who knows]—even Lord Mayor of London.” Lord Salisbury, too, said the City Chamberlain claimed descent from no less than three city aldermen, the las*-, of whom—Sir Crisp Gas coyue—was in 1752 the first occupant of the present Mansion House. In accepting the freedom of the city, Lord Beaconsfield and Lord Salisbury made commonplace speeches of the usual high-flown gratitude, destitute of any shimmer of the City Chamberlain’s humor.— Spectator, August 10.