GLEANINGS FROM THE PAPERS.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 3, Issue 141, 19 June 1880, Page 3

GLEANINGS FROM THE PAPERS.

Tho Daily News believes that the public have net yet been officially irr T formed of the annexations to the British Empire which have lately taken place in I Torres' Straits, and adds :—" With the .sanction of the Homo Government,' j Kaibai, Talbot, Deliverance, and other : islands have been annexed to Queens.* | land. ■ In faet, that colony has been. | provided with a new maritime boundary,' I which considerably extends its limit seaI wards. Captain Pcnnefather, a naval ! officer, has been sent to Torres Straits, in ; the Colonial schooner Pearl, to cruise I among the islands, and visit tho various j fishing stations; at the same time his ; instructions reipiire him to perform any : special duty to which iie may lie ordered bv tho magistrate at Thursday Island. I The excuse made for these annexations ' is thno liie pearl fisheries in the Straits have attracted so large a population that ; it has become impossible to preserve order ■ among them, or to bring them within the jurisdiction of British law, unless the ; islands are annexed. Nevertheless, it is ; desirable that the public should realize j the fact that, although the acquisition of • these islands does not directly increase our responsibilities to any larae extent. : yet the possession of Sabai, for example, brings us into very dose contiguity with' j the mainland hi New Guinea." The j Pacific Wanders Art | N - ,,. 2) was I avowedly passed for hie purpose of ><- : ' '-'■■ >:■■: i < ■,:,■ war.' I . \~ jj the j limits of the British dominions in iliI and eiTee.ive mueikieyv ;or en*' the

I "••' '■!','< ■■■ !■:■ t:.p |.i - ill is ..not; She policy approved by Parliament has been delibera.-.eiy set aside. It remnius to be seen whether there is stdlicient justirica- _ tion for the course which has been taken; but it is manifest that before loll" we shall be urged to obtain a footing oif the coast of New Guinea. Bein.'j now sn | near, we shall be pressed to take another step in advance, ami, indeed, the possession of these \viy islands will probably be one day made a pretext for annexing a portion of the mainland. The secret of the Whitehead torpod.. is out. A publisher at, Por.smou.h'has brought before the public a work 0:1 submarine warfare, by an ollieer lafe of the English and Ottoman navies, in which a full and faithful description is given id' the notorious fish torpedo, lie rells 11the size of the weapons, their nioi'u e power, the nature of i;i« inter,'a' ineeha'iisin, and the reiwjn why thtv sometimes -auk ami so.nclimes floai lie (ells of the explosive charge contained in the head of tho terrible lia't destroyer, and how the explosion '- brought ukmt. But all said and dene we doubt whether after his explanation the Whitehead torn.do is not a jjpi-eaceT mystery to most people than it was btfore. Without a model or meehaniea' drawings, the most detailed rfescripaori

would fail to supply skilled wo-koieii with sufficient infurtr.ution to construct a torpedo. Tim fish tn: - pei'lo lies been on view at the Woolwich A.'seaal for some months past, and is, we believe shown 'o every visitor who pusses ..iii-ough the workshops. The nature of oho cli,v,\v in its head has been explained repeiUed'v in the British service it is of gun cotior, and, if we remember righrlv. amounts t.i :!() or 40 lbs. of this material] The miinm r of launching (he torpedo has been frequently made the -abject of a nu»i'i--exhibition, and that (he motive power of file torpedo is supplied by compressed air is a well-known fact. In the middle of the cigar-shaped instriinient, whie'o measures .some twelve or fourteen feci, there is an air rese-woir of siikit .-tee', and iho atmosphero is e.impressed tlieveiu up to six or seven hundred pounds to the, square inch. Tile n.r liiulev this tevrilik I'iv-snre 111-11 •• -, oui". mid sets in mutioe mi .-ugiiic of me ni'-st delicuc nniiire that turns n --i. •■.», while nu i..geuioii- . sti.-iiirlf iii ]• n.nv.'s t'n. ugh in. water iike 0 tveliei. ' it ilea!- .• 1.,. i of Us journey -when it. li..< „ - ,iru .. :,' victim for tht: simple prison that it iair, ".r ti'.e la-.' -kink" ef the fish ma\ lio tn opi-ii a valve, whr-u .rater rushes in, nod t ue animal sinks. There has been no secret about any of these points, and whether the publication of more minute details will permit of the con- ■ struction of tho machines forthwith by strange hands is a matter of which we . have very grave doubt. The Fiji Tiinea has received a samplo of a product called Kapok, for whicli it appears there is a remunerative.market open in the colonics. The substance is of the texture of silk, hut very short and weak in the staple. It is the product of a weed which grows abundantly in many parts of Fiji, and the fact that tho substance lias a recognised commercial value may serve to make tho obnoxious presence of the parent stem the more readily tolerated. An extraordinary case of imposition has been brought to light at Chelmsford. At tho celebration of tho termination of the Crimean war, ill 1854, a woman fell down in tho stroot. Slio was carried • home, and has pretended evor since to bo ' suffering from paralysis, and to bo unable to loavo her bed without help. During all this time she has lived on the charity ' of tho benevolent, and tho prayers of tho Church have frequently been been requested in her behalf. Lately persons entering Iter house at unexpoctoi! times have found lierdress.nl anddownstaiwand Ojlfl discovered her making a very hearty ; meal. She has confessed hor imposture, and for tho present has been taken charge : of by the Guardians. ■ J