MISCELLANEOUS.
' Say it was an Irish:ma.n. — It was an Irishman who wanted to find a place where there was no death, that he might go and end his days there. It was an Irish editor that exclaimed, when speaking of the wrongs of Ireland, " Her cup of misery has been for ages overflowing, and is not yet full." It was an Irish newspaper that said, speaking of Robespierre, that " He left no children behind him except a brother, who was killed at the same time." It was an Irish coroner who, when asked how he accounted for the extraordinary mortality in Limerick, replied sadly, " I cannot tell. There are people dying this year that never died before." It was an Irish handbill that announced with boundless liberality in reference to a great political demonstration in the Rotunda, that ladies, without distinction of sex, would be welcome. Messrs Coleman and Morton, of Chelmsford, exhibited a machine which will effect an immense saving in time and labor in unearthing the potato. To potato-growers this machine will prove quite a boon, as its cost has been fixed at a prico which will bring it within the reach of all who produce only a few acres of potatoes, while in work it ib far superior to any kind of plough in use for the same purpose. In working this machine the front double breasts open up the ridge of potatoes, while the earth and roots are delivered by the two side breasts upon the inner surface of the revolving riddle, the fingers of which (after allowing the earth to escape through them) deliver the potatoes upon the ground on either side of the man guiding the machine. — European Mail. The Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland has had a powerful influence on Scotch agriculture. It has the most intelligent and successful farmers in the kingdom lor its leading members ; its objects reach the very principles of agricultural science, and, having heen publishing its "Transactions" for more than seventy years, its records form a very mine of instruction for the farmer. Its reports, for which it pays liberal premiums — " must all be of a practical character, containing the results of the writer's own observations or experiments, . . . and general essays and papers compiled from books are not rewarded." Under these rules the society is able to call out the results of long-continued and careful observations and experiments. Some of the reports on practice and observation go back from five to twenty years for their proofs. — Geo. H. Cook, in the Albany Cultivator. The Geelong Advertiser says : — The following extract from a private letter received by the last mail from a gentleman who has recently expended a large sum in sinking for coal in Lancashire, and whose " prospecting " has been rewarded with success, will show what the proprietor of a colliery has to contend with, and the position colliers now occupy. Twenty years ago the colliers were comparatively an ignorant, illiterate lot of men, who so long as they got moderately well paid, and some beer at night, cared but little how they " grovelled " along. Now, however, cheap education has made the class more intelligent, and they protest against their fellow men being made moles of the whole of the day. The following referred to : — " The colliery is progressing very well ; we raise from 600 to 800 tons of coal weekly, and they are taken away as fast as they come out of the pit, and would be if the quantity was trebled. It is no uncommon thing for 20 carts to be waiting to be loaded. Such, however, has been the outlay, and so great is still the outlay, necessary to develope the mine that a very much greater weight of coal must be raised before there can be any profit (£15,000 having been spent in sinking the shafts). Coal mines do not pay for many years after they are first opened, but eventually, if no accident occurs, they do (and they ought to) repay the capitalist who invests his money at such great risks as cannot be avoided in sinking pits and working the mine. The colliers, like all other workmen in this country, are now masters of their employers, and the boys are masters of the men (ao far as coliiers are concerned), and they will only work when and as short a time as they please. Boys earn from 12s to 15s per week, and the men from 30s to 50s per week, working eight hours per day,
and perhaps four daya a week." This great demand at a new colliery shows how much coal is wanted in Lancashire, as within a radius of a very few miles many other prolific rniues are in fall / work, ____________^_ —
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Southland Times, Issue 1581, 21 May 1872, Page 3
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793MISCELLANEOUS. Southland Times, Issue 1581, 21 May 1872, Page 3
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