New Zealand Patents.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 33, 19 January 1884, Page 6

New Zealand Patents.

laixtlatioxs under the new Patents Act of last session have just been gazetted, and it may be useful in the interests of inventors and the general public if »ye give an outline of the provisions of the new law. It is chiefly a consolidation and simplification of the previous law, the object being to save trouble and expense. Under the amended law applicants for Letters Patent will not, as heretofore, have to declare that they have not applied elsewhere for protection for their inventions. Specifications may be on paper or on parchment, and no condition as to size will be required. It is intended to have printed forms kept on sale at the post-offices throughout the colony, so that any inventor can easily obtain one, fill up the blanks, attach a description of his invention, with 10s in stamps, and drawings if necessary, and send it with a copy on a duplicate form to the Patent Officer or a local Patent Officer agent. The applicant will receive in return a certificate of protection for twelve months. Notice of intention to proceed hitherto required from the applicant has been dispensed with, and the Patent Officer will, when gi'anting his certificate, also appoint a day for the hearing of the application. The necessity for attendance on the day of hearing has also been done away with in cases where there is no opposition. In such cases the Patent Officer will, without further application, issue his warrant, and on receipt of an application, with a fee of £2 (which can be paid at any time between the day of hearing and the expiry of the twelve mfiiths' protection), will issue the patent. In opposed cases the Patent Officer has the power to examine the parties and their witnesses on oath. The form of letters patent has been considerably reduced in length, by omitting from it the conditions on which it is granted and is to be maintained. Under the repealed Acts the holder of a patent granted outside the colony could not obtain letters patent here, but only letters of registration. This was sometimes a cause of hardship, and by the new Act it is made optional to apply for either. Instead of a certified copy of letters of registration being handed to the inventor, and the original retained in the office, the original will be supplied and a copy retained. All the conditions relative to letters patent are made applicable to letters of registration. An important provision has been made which will render it penal for any person falsely to pretend that he has obtained a patent or like protection for anything, and thereby to mislead the public. Under the Stamp Act, all fees are payable in stamps. The new Act came into force on Ist January last, and therefore the provisions we have been describing are now operative. The result of the simplifying and cheapening of the process of obtaining letters patent should be to stimulate inventive genius and give an impetus to industrial activity in various directions. It is now within the reach of the poorest labourer to protect any invention which he may make, and thus secure to Himself the fruits of his ingenuity, research, or toil.

The Pukekohe and Mauku Cheese and Bacon Factory was formally opened on Jan. 12, when the premises were inspected by a large number of settlers, and 130 afterwards sat down to luncheon, at which congratulatory speeches were delivered. The factory is one of the most complete in New Zealand ; its plant is capable of turning out 1,600 lbs of cheese per day, and extensive piggeries, at some distance from the main bunding, provide a means of utilising all the waste of the factory profitably. Cheese-making operations commence today, 600 gallons of milk having been guaranteed by the shareholders. Our detailed report of the proceedings at the opening celebration is unavoidably crowded out by mail news. Why does the thrifty housewife never attain perfection ? — Because she is always mending. "Truth' mentions that Mrs Langtry has abandoned hw intention of visiting the colonies. What lovers swear — To be true until death. What husbands swear— Unfit for publication. A kiss upon the lips is a mortgage upon a girl's affections, which may be foreclosed at any time. James Mace has arrived in London from New York t but without Slade, who, it is presumed, has returned to New Zealand. •'The only jokes women like to read are those which reflect ridicule upon men." "Yes," says a contemporary, "on taking up a paper a woman invariably turns to the marriage column. Has anybody seen that comet or comets said to be rambling about the heavens just now? How is it possible to proceed in two opposite directions at the same time?— By walking from the forward to the aft part of ft vessel while sailing.

they have done the railwny miirlit h»iv» been practirally useless to the people >>l To Arohn for years. Mr Mitdielsnn al o promised .to do all in his power to uvi tenders called for the formation of the permanent way immediately to the e«»mpletion of Hunt and White's contmt. After th's matter hud Ivon snrc«ss(u!ly arranged, Mr Mitchelson^ visited the Hot Spring, and this morning wi-nt up Hi > tramway as far as the fo-^t of Butler's Spur. Want of time prevent % d a vi^it to the mines. The party lftL't forthuTliaui^s ut noon yesterday hy a special coach provided l>y Bradley and Go.