MISCELLANEOUS.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 360, 17 April 1889, Page 5

MISCELLANEOU S.

The Minister of Mines has caused to be gazetted«ome amended conditions of reward for the discover y of new gold fields. The reward offered, £10,000, seems large at first blush, but the first clause of the conditions limits the maximum sum to be given in each Island to £5,000. The newly discovered goldlield must be situated not les-s than forty miles from any existing workings, and no reward is payable until 50,000 ounces of gold have been produced from the newly-discovered goldfield within three years from the date of it being registered. Wo have to acknowledge the receipt of a copy of the " Australian Mining Standard," a weekly journal recently started in Sydney, and which, as its name implies, is to be demoted solely to matters connected with the mining industry. The enterprising proprietor (Mr E. Wilkinson, Bathurst) has decided to extend its spheie ot usefulness to New Zealand, and in future it will contain articles on the mining industry in i this colony, while special attention is to be ! paid to the Hauraki t^old field, the various mines on which, e&pecially those at the Thames, have lately manifested considerable improvement, as evinced by the amount of business daily transacted on 'Change. The terms of subscription are 6s 6J per quarter, 12s 6d half-yearly, arid £1 2-. per annum, payable in achancc, for which the " Standard " will be forwarded to any address in the colony. The local agent is Mr H J. Oreenslade, Thames. A \ery satisfactory trial of the Evenden gold paving machine has been made at Wellington in the presence of a number of experts. The machine is an application and extension of the panning-oul process, and the advantages claimed for it are thut it faaveo labour and is more certain to save gold. Mr Evendon states that with a pan 12 feet in diameter nearly 20 tons could be washed in an hour. Samples were taken and sealed of washed and unwashed stuff, and also of the tailings. These will be analysed at the museum. Count d'Abbans, Vice-Consul for France, wab so interested in the machine that he acquired a share in the patent rights, and on arriving in France intends exhibiting the machine at the French School of Mines in Paris The patentee will shortly leave on a tour to dispose of his patent rights, and timing his journey so as to arrive at the Paris Exhibition, where space has been kept for his invention. A telegram has since informed us that the percentage of gold saved was 96, The following is from the financial article of "Truth": -" The result ot the Victorian issue of three million sterling was fairly satisi'actoiy for the colony, although not so favourable as was anticipated. lam afraid that the money will be l«adlv wanted iv Victcia where a inonetory crisis, is not without the range of possibility. Altogether, the situation in home of our Australian colonies is such as to cause grave anvietv. Not long ago heavy losses were disclosed in connection with the New Zealand financial institutions, and now the nerves of the shareholders of the Queensland Investment and Land Mortgage Company have received a shock in the announcement that the London directors have issued writs against the local directors for lending money on land in which they are alleged to be interested. I am afraid that New Zealand and Queensland are not the only Australian colonies where leckless borrowing on estates has been encouraged." A \ cry simple method has been discovered for rendering uho posts of fence s proof against the ravages of bush fires. It is as follows :— Before erecting the ience soak the posts for 24 hours in a large trough or other vessel containing a solution of alum in the proportion of loz to the gallon of water. It will then be found that the fire has no effect upon the wood. Thus in the case ot posts and wire only, the bush h'ret could burn all round them without the least fear of damage, as the aoaking renders the posts? perfectly fire-proof for all time. The feeling of the masses in England is \ery strong aoainsl the Government for I thexr treatment of Mr William O'Biien. Many remarkable episodes have show n conclusively the direction in which the tide of popular o[ inion is setting. Possibly, howj ever, the most extraordinary event was the conduct of the Ist Battalion ot the Manchester llegiment while waiting at Queenstown Railway Station in charge of an I o nicer. While they weie drawn up in line on the platform, one man raised his cap, and shouted, "Three cheers for William O'Biien!" Despite the protects of the officers, tho whole of the men took their caps in their hands and joined in the cheer. It is ominous when soldiers cheer Government prisoners. The sturdy miners of the north of England have expressed doubts as to whether they would subscribe to taxation, as furnishing the C4ovornment with means to carry on their brutal tyranny towards Ireland. A correspondent of the " Standard sjnds to that journal the following cheerful information :—" Perhaps some of your readers may like to know that the present famine which is committing such havoc in many parts ot China belongs to a cycle which was due last year, and which embraces the year A.v. 272, when the inhabitants; of Britain ate the barks of trees ; 446, at Constantinople and some other parts of the Turkish Empire ; 747, in Wales ; 1047, in Scotland, which lasted two years ; 1336, in England ; and 1748, ditto. A volcanic cycle is due this year, and another one next year. The erupting cycle of this year is linked with the dreadful eruption of a.d. 79, which caused the destruction of Hoicnlaneum, 685, 993, 1306, 1536, 1712, etc. An earthquake cycle is due in 1893, linked with the years a.d. 107,528, 1081, 1249, 1456— the latter at Naples, when 40,000 persons perished ; 1755, in the of island Mitylene, in the Archipelago, when 2,000 houses were overthrown, when considerable damage was done at Oporto, in Portugal, and at Seville, in Spain, but more particularly at Lisbon, where, in about eight minutes, most of the houses and 50,000 of the inhabitants were destroyed and whole streets swallowed up. Its influence was felt for a distance of 5,000 miles. A stormy cycle is also due this year. The great storm of September 3rd, 1658 (the day that Oliver Cromwell died), so violent and terrible that ib extended all over Europe, is connected with this cycle. The periodicity -of natural phenomena determines the influence which causes ame."