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Southland Times, Issue 1114, 26 February 1869, Page 2

English Mail. — Up to the time of oar going to press there was no word of tlie Bangitoto's arrival at Hokitika. Stewart's Island. —It will be observed that the schooner "Waihopai is advertised to sail for Stewart's Island. (We understand her object is to load timber at Messrs Hay Brothers Saw Mills, ibr the Dunedin market. As, however, communication with the island ii not over frequent, she affords an excellent opportunity for those anxious to try their fcheir luck. on it as diggers. Railway • Tbaffic.— lt is said there will "be keen competition for the lease of the traffic on the Bluff line, tenders for which are now called for by the Government. We hear of a godfl Jttany eligible parties who are 'said to be offering for it. •..-., PapvnroiAii Council. — According to proclamation the Provincial Council will meet for the despatch of business on Monday next, Ist of March, at "noon.

Volunteer Band. -We learn that another effort is being made to organise an efficient Band in connection with the Rifle Volunteers. It is said that a thoroughly qualified conductor is shortly expected, and that subscriptions are to be called for, for the purpose of procuring a few new instruments. It is certainly little short I of a disgrace to a town like this, to have no public band of music. Nothing would tend so much to enliven the town as such an adjunct to the Rifle corps, and we trust the attempt may result in complete success. Roads. — The continuance of fine weather has been most favorable ;. to road making operations. The contract on the junction road is ' being proceeded with rapidly, and we understand the gang of men, who sometime since left town for the Mataura road, near Mr Hill's, are now well on with their work, the whole of which is expected to be finished shortly, and will have time to settle before the rains of winter come on. j Tea Meeting-. — A congregational Tea Meeting was held in the Presbyterian Church, I lay-street, last evening, 25th inst. The meeting was in every respect social and successful. There was a large attendance of members of the congregation and their friends. The report of the church's position was gratifying, an unusual number of speakers were on the platform, and the choir mustered in good force, and did effective service, filling up the intervals between the addresses with a number of fine Anthems very creditably rendered. The lateness of the hour at | which the meeting broke up prevents our giving j a longer notice on this issue. Resident Magistrate's Court. — At the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, 25th inst., several parties were amerced in the customary fines for allowing horses, cattle, and other animals to stray in the public streets*. A few civil cases of little importance were also^disposed of: The most iinpottant one being a claim for £17, made by a mau named Preston, as wages, alleged to be due him by Mr Kingswell. The case made out by plaintiff was to the effect that he had been engaged by defendant to sort wool for him at a station up-country, and that he had fulfilled his contract. For the defence it was shown that the wool had been so improperly handled that it had to be resorted in Invercargill. After a very lengthy hearing, judgment was given for defendant. Wool Ship. — The ship Robert Henderson, the second of the season, has now nearly all her cargo on board, and will proceed on her voyage in the course of a few days. We learn that one or two old colonists intend going home in her, on a visit. The Harvest Home will now take her berth at the wharf, andj as wool is coming in fast, she will quickly fill up. The G-RATiNGSi— The operations for maintenance and repair of the gratings appears to have been conducted on a singular principle. 'The pieces of quartering nailed along the edges will serve well as stumbling traps. Perhaps, 'however, they are designed to retain the water on the footway in wet weather, and for this they are excellently adapted. The genuis to whom the brilliant conception is due is deserving of a wider sphere than this Province can furnish — possibly we shall hear of his promotion. Divine Skvice. — It will be seen from an advertisement elsewhere, that Divine service will be held in the hall of the Presbyterian Church on Sunday, at 3 p.m. The service is to be conducted by the Rev. Mr Wholes, of Ruapuke, in the German language.

PrOFESSOB HaLFOKD's ANTIDOTE again Successful — The efficacy of Professor Halford'a antidode for snake-bite vas demonstrated in a very remarkable manner last week at Seymour. Mr Start, P.M., on his return to Melbourne, remained there one night, and was called to see a lad who was dying: from the bite of a black snake. The boy, who was abont twelve years old, had been bathing in a water-hole, and was bitten in the leg just as he stepped from the - water. When Mr Sturt saw the boy he was in a state of coma, with glazed eyes and dilated pupils — evidently dying fast. No medical man could be obtained $ but there were two apothecaries present, who, upon the advice of Mr Sturt, injected ammonia. The operation was performed rather roughly — the vein was exposed with a penknife, and the ammonia injected with a com. mon syringe — but tho effect was wonderful. In les9 than ten minutes the lad recovered con. sciousness, and when Mr Sturt (who is our informant) left next morning was almost quite recovered. G-OI.D PbOSPECTING IST TaBASTAKI. — We take the following from the 'Herald' of the 4th inst : — The prospecting parties are still hard at work in the ranges, and we believe that the indications of gold are becoming more promising the deeper they get. Several pieces of quartz have been brought into town, which, although no gold is visible to the naked eye, have every apperance of being gold baring ; but we have no means of testing it here. The several specimens which have been forwarded to Auckland, the analyst of the Bank of New Zealand has spoken very favorably of, saying that they contain traces of gold in them. Latterly one party have come upon sulphur, and jihe further, they penetrate into the drive, the more difficult becomes their work from the fumes that evaporate from it. Citizen Soldiers. — " Pilgarlick Patience" writes a very amusing letter to the ' Hawke's Bay Herald,' from which the following is an extract : — " I havd the honor to belong to Her Majesty'.s Bth Company of the Napier Militia. I am what people here somewhat flippantly call a new chnm, and have ouly recently been enrolled in the above-named dis. tinguished portion of her Majesty's forces. I have, unhappily for my own peace of mind, little of the dare-devil in me, but have a con siderable regard for my own personal safety. Mine illce lachrymaa. After about two drillings, [ was, with the whole Napier force, marched to the top of the hill, with a band of jiusic playing. Before this I had on a previous drill bean ordered to 'form fours.' I leave your readers to judge of the absurdity of a command of this kind without a word of previous explanation. We were ordered to ' shoulder arm 3,' and now mark the next command, ' fix bayonets.' Yea, sir, ' fix bayonets' at ' shouldered arms !' Shado of Wellington, have pity on us! Now, sir, I'm coming to my troubles. Let us return tD the • hill where we ar» formed in line. ' With blank cartridge load.' I must here remark that my rear rank man was Private Muzzle. Muzzle informed me in confidence over a pint of beer, that he never fired off a piece before. Of course every man loaded any way he could — 3Oine right, but alas! the far greater proportion any way but. according to rule. Muzzle, with an obstinacy worthy a better cause, would cap with his rifle's point just behind my ruht ear. The angle was a peculiar one, inclining a little upwards and towards the left. The consequences of sin explosion (by no means improbable) would have been the loss of the writer's right ear, the abrasion of the skull, the right lobe of the braiti would have been entirely shattered, and the dexter eye would have seen no more, and seven orphans would have been left to the apocryphal guardianship of the State." Educational Refobm:. — The ' Pall Mall Gazette' states tlmt a new and not unimportant reform is about to oa introduced in German schools, viz., the abolition of all afternoon classes. It was principally during, the past summer months that the experiment was almost forced upon the authorities. The results are on • all sides reported to have been more than brilliant. The forenoon classes are, we believe, somewhat, but not much, longer than formerly ; but it is said I that the pupils- show an eagerness and a vigor in those short morning hours which have never been known before, and their progress is quite in keeping with their keen and energetic as- , siduity. The most curious pojnt about the j matter eeems to be the fully authenticated fact i that tho schools having hitherto only closed ex- j ponmeutally earlier or later according to tho wishes of the respective head masters, the progress shown by the various schools stands ia an inverse ratio to the duration of the classes,

or, in other words, the less hours beyond tho four or five of the morning in school, the more did the boys get on with their lessons. Compressed A.ir for Propelling Vehicles. — We (' Builder') hare often suggested the desirability of applying coinnressed air, or some such power, to the propulsion of street vehicles, whether coaches, omnibuses, cabs, or velocipedes. If what we now learn from America be correct, this desideratum lias at length been realised. Mr Waylis, of New Orleans, has recently invented a locomotive car which, is said to have proved a complete success. In the car station there is an ordinary steam engine, of about sixty-six horsa power, for compressing air into reservoirs, and two of these reservoirs are placed on the top of each car. On the car there is a small engine, operated by the air supplied from the reservoir in the same manner as by steam, and giving the exact amount of power that was required to compress the air. The engine is not difficult to run, and the cars can be stopped much more readily than when horses are used. Each car will have 300 pounds of compressed air to start with, which will be sufficient to run it nine or ten miles. Telegraph to Australia. — We find the following in the ' Overland China Mail' : — By recent Straits papers we note an item of news which is not without interest to residents in China. We are pei-haps wrons in implying present residents. Bather let us say to future generations of residents in China. The item in question is to the effect that H.M. surveying vessel Serpent, Captain Bullock, has proceeded to Java for the purpose of commencing thu survey between that island and Australia of a practical route for telegraphic communication. We presume that the proposed line will be from the south coast of Java to Perth, or the mouth of Swan "River, a distance of little of little over twenty-five degrees of latitude in an almost direct line. It is scarcely probable that this line would be seriously entertained except in connection [ with the project of extension to Singapore, and thence to either Moulmain or (3-alle. as the ultimate object can only be to pl\ce Australia in connection with Europe. Should it be realiv carried out, its execution cannot *'ail to give great impetus to the proposition so often made to lay down a line between Hongkong and Singapore. To have the me»ns of direct and immediate communication with Europe would be no slirht temptation, but when a similar facility would be afforded through the same cable to send messages to Australia the inducement would be doubled. The Mount Cents Tunnel. —A. gigantic enterprise — the piercing of Mount Cenis — is also drawing near to its completion. On November 16 the tot:l perforation on the two sides of France and Italy amounted to 9080 yards, and the length of the whole tunnel being about 12,300 yar Is, thera now only remain to bore 3,240 yards or thereabouts. Is Consumption Contagious ? — At the sitting of the Academy of Medicine recently, says ' Galignani,' Dr Olmuveau read a paper in , which he described his endeavors to decjd* the question by direct experiment. If tuberculous diseases, he argued, are virulent affections, it must be possible to communicate them through the medium of the digestive organs, by means of which a large quantity of virus may be administered at once. Considering, therefore, that of all animals horned cattle were the most subject to consumption, the author of the paper selected four healty heifers in excellent; condition, not more than a twelvemonth old, well fed, and protected from all possibility of contagion. To three of these he administered 30 gms. of tuberculous matter each, extracted from the lungs of a consumptive cow, and diluted with water. The fourth heifer he kept for comparison, abstaining from all experiments upon it. After the lapse of about three weeks the first three subjects began to waste away, presenting all the symptoms of phthisis. .They were slaughtered fifty-two days after the commencement of the experiment, and numerous signs of generalized tuberculosis were observed on the lungs, which were dotted with small tunnrs, and in the region of the mesentery. The fourth heifer presented none of these appearances. From this, Dr Chauveau concludes that consumption may be communicated through the digestive organs, and that consequently meat derived from diseased animals is exceedingly dangerous food.