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Patea Mail, Volume IV, Issue 317, 1 May 1878, Page 4

The Thames Advertiser says Wind mills arc now in use at the Thames as motive power for cutting lire wood into short lengths. The mills are found to answer admirably, and arc useful for cutting chaff, grinding Hour, or pumping or irrigation purposes in the country, aw welt as for motive power for such purposes as Urn above in towns. A model or experimental farm is being started at Canterbury. It is to bo situated near the railway station, Lincoln, and will contain 360 acres, the quality ranging from rich swamp laud to light .loamy soil, the whole being- admirably adapted for experiments in agriculture. Uieenllcdd and Stewart’s saw mill and sash and door factory is worked by a 40 horse power engine, employs about CD workmen, pays week!}- in wages £2OO, has over a dozen different kinds of labour saving machines, chiciiy American notions, and uses up about an average of four and a half millions superficial feet of timber, per annum. There are throe other sash, door, and planing mills in operation in Wellington. In a late issue of the Taranaki Herald & history of legislation relative to sale of liquors to natives is given, the conclusion anived at being that the Ordinance which proved such a scare to publicans throughout the Taranaki Provincial District awhile ago is actually inoperative and of no value. Our contemporary says ; —" There is a schedule to the Act reciting the Order-in-Council made on the 31st December, 1870, and this schedule gives a description of the boundary of the district where the Ordinance of 18-17 is to remain in force. This district is not very clearly defined, but assuming that it takes in the whole Province excepting the Pa tea District, it does not comply with the Act of 1870, which provides that the Order-in-Counci! is to describe the town, district, or province where it is desirable the Ordinance shall remain in force. The schedule referred to describes a district in which the Town of Taranaki is to be included. As’there is no such town, the consequence is that in the Town of New Plymouth, which was meant to be included, the Ordinance of 1817, is not in force ; in fact, it is highly probable that it is repealed, as regards every town in the Taranaki Provincial District. We think the wording of the 17th and 18th sections of the Act of 1870 will bear this construction, and if v/o are right in our conclusions, no conviction can be obtained for an alleged breach of the Ordinance of 1847. We give this opinion with some diffidence, as a case has boon lately dealt with in our local Court, whore a different decision was come to.” A tree-foiling machine,’ patented by Mossrs A. Hansome and Co., of Chelsea, has. been tried on the Roupell Park Estate, Tulsehiil. The machine is a saw, driven by steam power, and it cuts the timber close to the ground. An elm 2 feet 9 inches across the cut, was felled in less than four minutes, and another, 221 inches in diameter, in a minute an a-half. A contemporary sa}-s —Sir Julius Vogel is to receive instructions from the Colonial Secretary to.effect retrenchment in his department. Should he resent the interference and resign, it is rumored he will be succeeded by Mr Reader Wood. An editor in Mississipi recently wrote, “ Before our subscribers go down to bathe in the hays, we wish they would send their cards to this office, for we do not like to print a man’s name wrong who has been devoured by an alligator.” , Early news.—When a small boy with a • prejudice against clogs observes an old oyster-can in a condition of inactivity, he at once begins debating whether it - was created to point a moral or adorn a tail. The clog*gets the first nows of the decision. Satin is now the rage. It went out of fashion in England 28 years ago, when Mrs Manning, a celebrated murderess, was 'hanged in a black satin dress.