TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 11, 20 November 1883, Page 3

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

[Communicated.] A NgW game has been invented which is, perhaps, to supersede the lawn tennis so popular among us. It is slightly similar, both in character and name, being known as long tennis. A club of some 40 members practising the game in France, travel from town to town to instruct amateurs. The grounds on these occasions are crowded with attentive spectators. The rules are entirely different, and the courts required are much longer. It is in imitation of the ancient and royal game of jeu de longue paume, once immensely popular in France and practised considerably in modern days. Lawn tennis at a French watering-place is still played almost exclusively by the English visitors, who are looked upon as amiable lunatics by the Natives and French holiday-makers, There is much alarm among colonial hopgroweas at the present moment caused by the increasing quantity of drugs of a deleterious character which have been placed in the market to supersede the use of hops in making beer. The matter is a serious one to persons interested in the hopgrowing industry, and many meetings have recently been held on the subject both in England and Australia. Lists of drugs to be used as substitutes for hops have latelj’ been furnished by large English chemical houses, to the leading hop-consumers in the colonies. Among these appear the following Chiretta, 9d per lb ; quassia chips, £1 per ton ; camomiles, £5 to £8 per cwt; gentian root, £2 per cwt; catechu powder, Is per lb ; bruised orange peel, Is per lb ; calumbie root powder, Is 3d per lb. A preparation which is being pushed to a great extent is of French manufacture, and is known as Extrait d' Houblins d* Alsace. One pound is said to be equal to 40 lbs. of hops. All the substitutes are alleged to be of a more or less poisonous character .ised in the manufacture of beer. The Victorian legislation is considering means for the immediate suppression of a traffic at once dangerous to the public and ruinous to an important industry.

The use of quinine in various ways, chiefly medicinal, is increasing so rapidly that the supply does not equal the demand, and tho price is consequently very high. Steps arc being taken in various quarters for tn© ex tended cultivation of the cinchona tree, the bark of which yields this valuable drug. It was largely introduced into India in 1879, and has already yielded an enormous profit. It is also extensively prown in Java. The Republic of Guatemala has resolved upon raising 5,000,000 trees. Jamaica and Ceylon will also produce large quantities. The question of domestic filters is attracting attention. It is asserted that water is more likely to contain noxious germs after passing through the filter than before, unless the utensil is frequently baked or boiled, as well as cleaned. Boiling the water is more efficacious than filtering it. It is stated that the materials of the filter, instead of dertroying the germs, become a nursery for all softs of noxious organisms, invisible to the eye,

| The new Queen of Madagascar ia Bald to be a handsome woman of 20 years of age. She is nearly white, het* features being alto of a European type. About two years ago she married a young Hova or Native gentleman, who had been educated for the medical profession at Edinburgh and for some years occupied the position of doctor to the late Queen. They disagreed and the Queen ia now separated from her husband, who has been banished to the furthermost corner of her dominions. The late Queen appears to have been a woman of remarkable character and intelligence. After a careful study of the Bible she embraced Christianity and from that hour sought to improve and raise her country. JShe suppressed slavery, idolatry, and many heathenish practices, encouraging education and intercourse with foreign countries. She improved the laws, laying the foundation of a constitutional Government and establishing important offices to be held by Native gentlemen, educated in the college at Antananarivo. The literary and scientific world has lately been much agitated, as many of your readers have doubtless observed, by the professed discovery of an original manuscript of a portion of the book of Deuteronomy. A Jew named Shapira professed to have discovered the documents in a cave in Palestine. The writing is on slips of sheepskin, so black with age that the letters can only be deciphered with the assistance of strong chemicals. The letters exhibit the oldest alphabetical characters known and the document appeared to have been prepared about 800 or 900 B.c. The parchments have been submitted to the most critical examination and tested by the chief scientists in England and Germany. The result is that the manuscripts are pronounced to be a forgery of the blackest description. Dr, Ginntourg, who has devoted several weeks to testing and examining the documents, writes to the British Museum, stating that in his opinion no less than 4 or 5 persona must have been engaged in producing the forgery. He believes that the com oiler of the Hebrew text was a Polish or Russian Jew, or one who had learned Hebrew in the North or Europe. The text in the manuscript is slightly dissimilar to that of the received version.