Wellington Notes.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3109, 21 January 1889, Page 2

Wellington Notes.

(Prom Our Own Correspondent.) The city is at present in a'' state of ' intense excitement, owing jo,the;- ■ Squadron being in ths harbour. On Thursday afternoon, -tlio H.M.S.. Orlando was '.'thrown ibpisn'' to' itio'-iJI' public generally, for inspection, and-' about five: hundred took advantage - '■ of the timely , opportunity to 'pay it •>. visit, to this ■ splendid' vessel. Oil • reaolring the deok of this magnificent ; boat, .the first -thing that! strifes tlie '•£ ■ eye is'the extreme order and cleanly ness of everything on board; The men were mostly off'duty when wo went oh board, Borne engaged at their ■ " • niealsj others malting' clothes, ancl the rest'at different kinds of evei'v ■ day toil, It was really agrand'siglio i to view all the gunnery in its brightest.; \ state. Thero are four decks, andjjbe ' carries two torpodo guns, and several >■ ■■ guns ami other war material, - Thore 1 are also two Bands on' board,'one ■ ■ brass and the other a drum and fife ' band. The officers were engaged jii- ; playing a cricket match on the ! Basin Reserve on Friday, against a . mixed team from the different clubs. a in the city. : On the Orlando side Jk there were twelve, and onthe opposing, eleven. The officers went in first, ■ and the score reached 108, while one, of their men went to-the wickets first and carried out Bis bat/ after inakiug ' »total of 63 runs. The Wellington '.' men then weutin, and made in their two innings only, S8 runs.' The - Orlando's Brass Band was on the ground, and they played some very nice selections, amongst them being the Boccaccio selection, and sevoral others, 'whioh were listened •to by ■ about live hundred spectators. _ A large number of men are engaged •in erecting posts throughout': the city for the wires for-the electric light, • the contract for which is expected to ' be completed in■ about.two months, ... It will ho doubt prove injurious to" • the gas company of this city. .' 'l.saw. an old Masterton resident. here to-day, who has just returned : from a visit to Mahikipawa [Mahakipawa], and he showed me soma fine specimens of old from the field. He had two nuggets weighing about an ounce each. He states that it is worth : about £8 15s an ounce. There ire still a few who have .-not yet bottomed, butas soon as they do they, expect to get almost a fortune. There are about five hundred men and thirty, women on the field.

The Wallace Swordy A great storm is browing in Scottod.. The sword of Sir William Wallace, the: .champion, has beta • removed from Dumbarton Castle to : Stirling, and thu men of" the Lennox" are in angry mood, .Recently the sword wuH handed over iu great ■ pomp by Colonel, Nightingale ■ (com- ~ mandent at cstirling- Castle) to the'" custodians of the.Wallace uionumon'ton the Abbey Crai?. Dr Kodgeru, '' aii onthuaiaetic Scot, gave a short history, of the swoid, Ho said that when Wallace was captared,' on . the . night of the sth August, 1305, hohad this weapon below his head, and that it was carried off as a pvieo to Dumbarton by - his bctrayor, John Menteath, the' Governor -of Duaibartoil Castle, The man who lived all down these centimes in Scottish memory, as the "fause Menteath," and the adjective has stuck to all of tl)6 name in the samo way as the " gay" Gordons and the "gallant" • Grahams, Two centuries after tho capture of Wallace—namely in 1505 -according to Dr Kogers, . tho accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of King James IV.. show that by command- of that monarch a : sum ejual to f3O of our iuoney was paid' to'the armorer "for,, among otherthings, " binding of Wallas' sword with coids of silk,'' and also supplynig for it one new lult and ploniet" jnd a new scabbard and belt," Tho next leoord of tho swoid is in 1825, >|ieu it was sent from Dumbarton to the Toner of London for lepans, I lie Duko of Wellington, who at the timo was.Master. Ordnance, - submitted the weapon- to Diy -afterwards; Sir Samuel Meyrick. • Hp, ' pidgin" only by its mountings,, jjavc* it is Ins opinion thai'it was not older •nn a -sword in the British e)niipc>d iviih llio Earldom of tipsier, and belonging to 'the ugii of hdu.ird IY', j])r Meyiick us probibl), aware (f

,_\tlwparticulars uucartbcd by • Dr. ' Rogersae to tlio repairs exeouteil in jVth6>r9ign of Jamoa IV., which ttkeo'unts for his judgment. ])r ?T?Sotlger6 concluded by saying that he h?d no douht that this was tlio ■■ weapon.,with'winch Wullaco Wiight wps wont to "iniiko ureal rnumo 1 ' About him. A lineal desceudent of . tho redoubtablo champion was presflit, ■ #t-Stirling, and passed the weapon through his hands to tho provost of ( ? burgh- for pri'scvation in tli6 Wrtllaeo monument. At tho conclnsion Of the proceedings theujuu-' pany numbering some 200 ladies" d gentlemen, sang God save the Queen Up to this point everything went smoothly, but the tale does not end here, •. Dumbarton ■ Town Council the - otber night discussed in angry mood the manner in which their sword had beon. curried, off, and expressed their views on the mattor with considerable 1 vigor and plainness of speech. CounDrMcLachhm thought it was flßjp duty to take steps to get tho (Fwcapon back, and said it had been aurrcptitously taken away. Provost Babtie, as became the leading civic magnate, was "neither to liaud nor bin." Ho faid. that neither he nor Sir Jatnes Colquhoun, the LordLieutenant of tho county, had received notice of the proposed removal, "which had been done with great . secrecy and scant courtesy." The Council unanimously agreed t'j demand tho an explanation from the War Office, and get their local members to raise the question in Parliament, . Water Gas,

.Li a cable message recently it was announced that water gas lias been ■ manufactured by the Leeds Forge ipnpany at a cost of fourpence per tsousand feet, and that the sale of it , already amounts to £IO,OOO per annum. Experiments with the manufacture of water gas (says the Argus) have been conducted for years both on the Continent.and in America, but this would appear to ,be the first occasion on which it has put to practical use on an (' extended scale. The message does not state whether the gas is used for illuminating purposes, or for heating solely. Hitherto water gas has been found unable to rival what is known as producer gas for heatiiig purposes. Producer gas is manufactured by the use of air only, and water gas by the use of 6team only, in conjunction with carbonaceous fuel, and consists only of hydrogen and carbonic oxide. The latter constituent renders it highly poisonous, and as the gas is odourless, it is very dangerous, as a leakage cannot be detected by the smell. Experiments have been made by mixing it with ammonia to give it a strong odour, and some such tedient would be required before it Id. be safely used for general poses, It is probable that- the Leeds Forge Company only uso the gas for heating purposes, as a very extensive and costly plant is required to purify it suiiiciently for lighting. In Leeds coal and producer gas are sold at Is 8d per thousand feet, and if water gas can be manufactured, at 4d per thousand feet, it is evident that for all the purposes for which it . can be used it will soon supersede those agents. ' The American Wheat Market.

Mr L. W." Sawyer, in his circular dated November 27th, describes the position of wheat in America as follows: ■ Speculative trading continues liberal in the American wheat markets, with prices irregular and excited under a heavy decline.' Since the 31st ult,, . jnumber wheat in Now York and Cfficago has fallen respectively 14c and 170 a bushel, and the December quotation of the former market is about 3c a bushel less than recorded . at times during last August. Operatois for an advance possess an advantage in not having to faco any powerful concerted bear: attack or opposition although this is somewhat offset by the absence of auy heavy short interest already , outstanding, which, at the moment, should undoubtedly be a Bource of strength and material for the bulls. The truth ptus to be that it is a long market, so that the general outside crowd can do nothing with the load except carry it in doubt and fear, so long as the European markets remain like a watched pot which fails to boil. The cliques, or /inside crown, are heavy holders of teßtocks, part of which they are willing to unload, but the remainder they are .naltfnlikely to continue holding, It iwR suspense as to what will be done with this stock which causes general ■ outside uneasiness, for the cliques are dtill largely masters of the field, and can manipulate prices up or down, if tlie crowd will only take sorao action, no matter which way, and create either a " long" or a " short" market for them to play with, Beyond the decline in the market there has been . nothing new of a depressing character now that the export movement from Atlantic ports has been killed. Receipts run as light as beforo, tho percentage of contract grado does not improve, and tho stocks at Chicago keep below 3,000,000 bushels; while for the past month tho \Tsiblo supply increased at a much smaller rate than for the corresponding period in many years, This, however, fails at tho moment toinduco exporters aud .conservative dealers to buy on the breaks, as it is not clear that the vhcat tendered on December contracts will be absorbod promptly by she professionals, even with the lotefortable premiums now in sight.*' % \ " Kouoii ON Coiixs. Adk for Well's "Sough on Corns." A complete, permanent cure. 1 Quick relief or corns and bunions. At all chemists and Druggist.