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Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 244, 3 February 1875, Page 2

Holloway's Pills.— Nothing preserves the health so well as an occasional alterative in changes of weather, or when the nerves are unstrung. These Pills act admirably on the stomach, liver, and kidneys, and so thoroughly purify the blood, and they are the most efficient remedy in warding off derangements of the stomach, fever, diarrhotr, dysentery, and other maladies, and giving tone and energy to debilitated constitutions. All who have the natural and laudable desire of maintaining their own and their family’s health, cannot do better than trust to Holloway’s Pills, which cool, regulate, and strengthen. These purifying Pills are suitable for all ages, seasons, climates, and constitutions, when all other means fail, and are the female’s best friend.—(Advt.) Singular Phenomenon Observed by Archdeacon Stock.—Archdeacon Stock, of Wellington, publishes the following account of a curious phenomenon furnished by the Rev. Janies McWilliam .— “ As I returned from Foxton last Sunday night (10th) along the beach, I observed a small but densely black cloud descending across my path to the very earth. As soon as I had ridden into it, as it were all at once in, I noticed a blueish flame streaming from my beard. I rubbed it, thinking for a moment that it was actually fire, but of course felt no heat. I then noticed that a similar flame shot up from each of the mare’s ears and streamed from the forelock, mane, and tail. She was terrified, and. shied, reared, wheeled, and did all she could to get away from the cause of her fears, but to no purpose. At last, seeing her efforts were vain and feeling no hurt, she was induced to go on, the flame remaining as long as we were in the cloud, perhaps a quarter of an hour.” The Wellington tenders for erecting the new building for the Union Bank of Australia have been received by the architect, Mr. Toxward, that of Messrs Halley and Ewing (£4530) being the lowest. None can be accepted, however, until the Christchurch tenders have been received. The new building is to extend from Lambton Quay to Featherstonstreet, with a good frontage to both. It will be just opposite the Supreme Court, and will have the advantage of being close to the £lOO drinking fountain presented to the Corporation by Mr. John Martin. The style is to be Grecian of the Dorie order, and the material timber and brick combined, with a slated roof. All the apartments and offices and fittings will be on a very extensive and complete scale. Our senior local bank appears likely to stand second to none iu this city in the architecturally imposing effect of its building and the excellence of its arrangements.—A’. Z. Times.

Wheat Crops in New Zealand.— The average yield of wheat per acre in tho different Provinces of New Zealand has been returned as follows In the Middle Island : Otago, 29} bushels; Canterbury, 23} bushels; Marlborough, 16} bushels; Nelson, 17} bushels; Westland, 3} (there being only two acres under wheat in that Province). In the North Island: Wellington, 23} bushels; Taranaki, 20} bushels; Hawke’s Bay, 18} bushels; and in Auckland, 7} bushels. The Resident Magistrate at Auckland has decided that vexed question “ Whois a traveller?” under the Licensing law. According to his ruling it is not necessary to constitute a “ traveller ” that a person must be in some place other than that in which he usually resides to be enabled to obtain liquor on a Sunday within prohibited hours —it is quite sufficient if lie or she has been travelling aud needs refreslim ul.

The Duke of Cambridge was a great diner-out, and nothing gave him more pleasure than being called upon to take the chair at any of the annual festivals in aid of some popular charity ; but although the toast which he had to propose was written down for him on a slip of paper, he very frequently contrived to forget what it really was, or managed to mix it up with some other subject in a manner which was highly entertaining to the audience. Thus, if he happened to preside at the dinner given at Willis’s Rooms in aid of the funds of the Newsvendors’ Benevolent Association, flushed with the juice of the grape, the Duke, rising, would deliver himself as follows ! —•“ Ladies and Gentlemen, —-It is now my agreeable duty to propose to you the toast of the evening. We arc met here to promote the objects of a most useful society, * one which has done a vast amount of good in this metropolis upon highlyinteresting occasions, and helped many worthy fellow-creatures at a period of great anxiety and peril. Ladies and gentlemen, we are all deeply indebted to this most benevolent society. I beg, therefore, to propose health, prosperity and success to the Lying-in Hospital.” At this juncture some friendly bystander would pluck the orator by the sleeve, and remind him that it was not the Lying-in Hospital the claims of which he was there to advocate, but the Newsvendors’ Benevolent Association. Then the Duke, taking up his parable, would go blundering on, mixing the two up together in a manner highly comical. “ Ahem, ladies and gentlemen, I find I have rather exceeded my duty on this occasion in advocating the claims of the Lying-in Hospital ; it is certainly an admirable institution —no better; without it we should probably not have so many newsvendors, and without these useful members of society how should we get our morning papers ? 1 drink prosperity, therefore, to the Blind Asylum.—l beg pardon, I mean the Newsvendors’ Benevolent Association—and may they long discharge the duties they owe to society, by taking care of those unfortunates who find themselves in an interesting condition.” (Immense applause aud laughter.) The Duke had a habit of talking sotto voce to himself, especially during the time of Divine service. Thus when the Dean of the Chapel Royal said, “ Let us pray,” he might have been heard to exclaim, “ Yes, let us pray ; a very good thing, indeed ; let us pray, by all means.” And down he would kneel accordingly. Again, when the Commandments were read : —“Thou shalt do no murder.” “Ahem! Well, I don’t think I ever killed any one that I can remember. Amen.” —” Thou shalt not steal.” “ I don’t think I have ever stolen from any one since I was quite a little boy. Amen.” — “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” “May the good Lord forgive me! I fear I have broken that commandment very often ; but let us pray, by all means ; and may the Lord have mercy on all our souls. Amen, amen.” — Belgravia.

Professor Horsford, who has few if any equals in chemistry, as applied to the domestic and useful arts, advises the farmer or gardener to make his own superphosphate, and gives the following minute directions : Get your bones together, and break up all the biggest of them with an axe or heavy sledge. Raw bones are much the best, because they contain ammonia in the gelatine. When, by boiling in lye, or by long bleaching, or by burning, the organic matter has been wholly or in part expelled, the bone is still valuable for its phosphate of lime. But a raw or fresh bone properly treated will yield phosphate of ammonia—the most active and valuable of all manures. Let the farmer dig a shallow pit shaped like a bread bowl, and if the soil is clay he may make it tight enough by ramming and treading. But if his soil is sandy he should line the pit with a waggon load of clay. Pile the bones in the pit, and wet them thoroughly with diluted sulphuric acid. Sulphuric acid or oil of vifrol will not operate on bones unless water is added. He should buy one-fourth the weight of his bones in sulphuric acid ; if he has 400 weight of bones, he should get 100 pounds of oil vitrol. In diluting the acid, more or less water may be used, according as the bones are bleached, or of large size ; but as a rule, liable to exceptions that will occur to the intelligent farmer, five pints, that is, five pounds of water should be added to one pound of the oil of vitriol. In a few days the thus treated will be found great); f softened, so as to crush under tho stroke of a spade. The superphosphate should be mixed with some other fertiliser, as dry muck, and applied in small quantities not directly to the seed.

Insolvency of lire assurance companies.—Rather an awkward announcement is made by a correspondent in the columns of the Times. He declares that according to the accounts published in accordance with the Life Assurance Company s Act, 1870, by certain companies, some of them doing a large business, actuaries have come to the conclusion that the companies in question are hopelessly insolvent. Actuaries cannot warn the public of these companies aud their condition because they would lay themselves open to an action of libel aud the insolvent conditions of the companies would ba very difficult to demonstrate mathematically. Actuaries will not join in taking such a step, and the only conclusion is ■ that policy-holders must protect themselves, and before they insurehuist snli*?v themselves as to the position of the companies in which they desire to insure. lhe outlook is not pleasant for young moil ■ who have insured their lives I’ot th ir families’ benefit.