CHEAP and SERVICEABLE GATES.

Patea Mail, 12 January 1882, Page 4

CHEAP and SERVICEABLE GATES.

Gates made as follow have proved both cheap and serviceable in America : Obtain three uprights, 'hn-e inches by l£ inch, teet long, and four strips, 3 inches by 1 inch, 11 feet long. Cut shoulders in the ends of the strips, and saw out corresponding notches in the uprights. These are made inch, or half the width of the strips. The bottom notch inches from the end of the upright, and the upper one inches from the top end. Fit the strips into the notches. There is then a space of one inch between the strips, into which pnt inch strips, so as to make all solid, and fasten together with carriage bolts. Braces 8 by inch are inserted, and held in place by bolts or wrought nails. Bore as many holes in the end pieces for inch eye-bolts as it is desired to have wires. Twist the wire firmly into the bolts on one upright, and secure the other ends to the corresponding bolts on the upright at the opposite end. In stretching the wires, pass them alternately on opposite sides of the centre piece, and fasten in place by staples. This will, in a measure, prevent warping. By screwing down the bolts with a •wrench, the wires may be drawn as tightly as desired. The hinges are to be put on with bolts, and any sort of fastening may be used that is most convenient, Barbed or smooth wire, may be used. This is a neat gate, and, being light, does not sag badly.

A Dunedin firm intend shortly to bring out a journal devoted to scientific matters of interest to New Zealanders. Regulations under the adoption of Childrens Act were gazetted on sth January, with table of fees legally chargeable in connection therewith. Thomas Radford King, M.D., has been appointed medical superintendent and keeper of the Lunatic Asylum at Wellington. It is curious to learn that the fungus exported from Taranaki goes to China to make a gelatinous soup. Himeola polytricta was already familiar to the Chinese who came to this colony, for it is a plant of very wide distribution. A horse met its death under horrible circumstances on Mr Dillon’s place at Awatere recently. While drawing a load of hay, the horse trod on a box of matches, which ignited. This set fire to the load; the horse bolted with its flaming freight, and was eventually burnt to death. A Wellington journal says : Although the revenue returns for the quarter just expired are not yet complete, enough is known to render it certain that when these are published they will show a highly satisfactory condition of the colonial revenue.

Flax Export has varied remarkably. The amount sent out of this colony was very small until 1868—value £8,137. It then rose to £132,578 in 1870, and in 1873 attained its highest limit £143,799. It then sank back to £§,124 in 1879. In 1880 it rose to £16,617, and by what we hear will have nearly doubled again in 1881. For improving the Wairoa (Hawkes Bay) River, Sir John Coode proposes fascine training banks on each side of the river, with 400 feet length seaward piers on each side. The estimated cost of the first instalment of work is £59,478. A Napier journal says “as there is very little probability of Wairoa raising the sum required for the above first instalment of the proposed works, there is little necessity to refer to the second instalment, which includes a couple of piers after the style at Napier, and a small cast-iron light-house. Speaking at the banquet lately given to him in N.S, Wales, Sir Harry Parkes said :—“ On one occasion I remember picking up a sixpence in one of the public streets of Sydney; that bought bread which, if I had not picked up the sixpence, I should have had to have gone without for the day. Now I leave this country as Prime Minister, apparently with the confidence of both Houses of Parliament 1”