COMMERCIAL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3343, 24 October 1889, Page 2

COMMERCIAL.

Messrs Lows & "lorna report at their sale yesterday, entries were considerably in excess of those advertised, especially in cattle, the yards being taxed to their utmost, the list comprising 50 largo bullocks, 50 indium steers, 50 small steers, 120 store cows and heifers, 50 yearlings and calves, and about SO dairv cows. Slieep were scarce, only 200 mves being penned. Only quo line in pigs came forward. The usual number of horses were offered. livery line sold, and prices in both sheep and cattle were firm. The following are the rates: -Large forward bullocks, 755; medium forward, 60s to 70s; small steers, -10s to 50s; breeding cows and heifers, 26s to 32s Gd; yearlings uiul 18 months old, 20s to 355; calves, 12s to 15s • dairy cows according to quality, 30s to 80s; sheep, forward shorn owes, Os to O's 7d; horses, hacks, from £4 to £10; small pigs, Gs to 9s,

Freeman B. Jackson and Go's sale report.—l''at cattle in us large numbers ; majority good quality, Cor which bidding was brisk, and selling readily at relatively bettor rates than last week, A small entry of sheep were penned, and fir below market require, raents; keen competition existed, and higher rates were obtained. Lambs, in full supply, were easier, No pigs yarded. Cattle—bullocks, io to L 7 7s Cd; averages, LG 7s and 16.3s 2d. Sheep-fat wethers (shorn), 10s lOd to 1:1s; lambs, os 0d to 'Js 3d. Ox beef made 17s the 1001b; wetlier uiuttou, 2d to 2|d,

Mr Gladstone on HorticultureMr Gladstone, in proposing a vote of thanks 1.0 the committee at Hawardcu Flower Show recently, said:— "Well, now I want to say.a few words about the subject of friut growing, because, in some points of view, that' is the most important of all brunches of small culture. 'As to flowers, Mr Finlay Bruce says that a very great excess is "rowing up in tho use of flowers connected with funerals, I am sure there is some truth in that especially with wealthier people. I am not now speaking of that beautiful custom of growing flowers upon graves, but fiinnnuin» graves full of wreaths or flowers when they are just going to lie lillcil tip I do not think is very wise, and this geutlpimm says there is a very great wasle of flowers altogether. I do not know how that may be; but fruit is a very important industry, and mi industry growing more and more in importance, as I will show you. in the year 1839 there were in this country about 90,000 acres of fruit trees, In 1972 tliey had i>ro\vn to 170,000, and now they ureestimated | by a very able gentleman—a Mr 1 Whitehead, writing in the Journal of

the lioyal Agricultural Society—at 214,000 acres, and 1 should doubt whether that inchulcs all the small "aniens in ilio .ooimtry. But some people have begun to lie aliirmuil, and a gentleman named Molthaspublislied an article in the New Review, which lie entitles " The Fruit Growing Folly."' In this article ho says some things that are, no doubt, sensible, but I do not believe that fruit growing is a lolly, What he says is that the fanner has been very much and very easily misled on this matter. Well, I have heard many criticisms of the British farmer, hut I must say among his faults 1 never heard that going in 100 rashly for new things was conspicuous, for Mr Mow goes mi to attack particularly the cultivation of apples. And what do you think he says about tipples! That supposing you buy apples at uightpeuce 'i pound —that is what he says is a reasonable price (laughter)— wlmt are your apples, He says live-sixths of them are water, and therefore he considers that your apples cost you live or six times eightpence, namely, four shillings a pound,' which seems rather dear for apples (laughter). All that water he thinks is no good, and ought not to be reckoned. When I read this criticism I began to think is there, nothing besides apples that are con. sidc-rably made of water. It is well known to the chemists and philosophers how much of the human body is watei, Well, the last time, I was weighed 1 weighed lout teen stone (laughter)—no, no, 1 mean twelve stone odd, or 1721b. Well I know very well from what I have read) that out of that 1721b, something like 120 pound is water, and that happens to to me, who am as solidstuli'as other people (hear, hear and laughter), Every one of you is in the same proportion, and 1 believe tile gentleman who wrote this article, Mr Molt himself, tliree.foui'tlis of him probably is waterllaiighter). This gentleman further savs there is no power of increasing the consumption of fruit except by selling it at lower prices, and thereby infers that it will not be increased, because you don't want to sell it for less than you get now. Let us see how far there is any truth in this, I say there is a very great power of increasing, uud it is increasing continually, for in 18G9 there were 191,000 bushels of apples imported into this country, and last year they had increased to 3,800,000 bushels, of a valuu of about seven or eight thousand pounds, I observe that increase lias been almost all in , foreign apples. The importation has t increased more than thirty-fold, but we have had no such increase in the growth of domestic apples. iNow , 1 want the. Englishman to rouse his own spirit and compete freely with the foreigner in this mutter, ami he can do a great deal, and it is true that sometimes you may liiul greater cheapness to the consumer accompanying large extension of consumption, But tlieto are other causes that operate too, The number of people who want luxuries and comforts anil have the means to pay for them is rapidly growing in tins country. Wc still have poor people in the country, mo doubt destitute people, and much wc re-grot it, and we trust their number: may diminish and that if possible there may be no such thing as a Well'conducted destitute poison in the country after a time. But however that may be, there is uo doubt that not only those whom you call rich people, but the middle class and the class able to consume considerably in comforts and even luxuries rapidly grows in this "ountry, and that is the reason that the importation of apples has so considerably increased, It is a plausible thing to say the consumption won't increase unless the price is lowered, In the first place it is not true, because il will increase if the consumer has the means. Wo have a great deal more meat consumed in this country now than wc had fifty years ago, but the price is higher. How has the increased I consumption gone on with the increased price 1 Why, because happily there arc many more people able to buy it. But, besides that, it dors not at all follow that because the consumer gets an article cheaper the grower gets less for it, There are multitudes of things besides the price given to the grower which miiko up the price paid in the market by the consumer, It is a long time very often before an article gets from the grower or original maker to the person who is to lie the consumer of it. The grower sometimes has not got good arrangements for tlio security of his capital. Sometimes lie knows nothing about what other growers arc doing. Associations such as this,

which enable uiuh to get a lesson from his neighbor, otfsc in all parts of til'; country, am' tliey are wpans by which better articles are produced at lower oo,si by belter economy of the means of production.

S»ontaneous Combustion. One of the earliest recorded instances of spontaneous combustion (in 1092) is that of a'woman of the lower class, who, having for three years used liquors to such an excess that she would take no other sustenance, sat down one evening on a straw chair to sleep, and was consumed in the night time. No remains of her body woro found, but the skull and the extreme joints of her lingers; "and the rest of the frame," says Jacobus, " was reduced to cinders."

There is a record of another case, the victim being one Grace Pitt, who lived at Ipswich, She was in the habit pf going down to tlio kitohe.i afrniglifi to smoke a pipe, One morning early her daughter, missing her from her siile, wont downstairs and found her motile? stretched on tlio floor 011 her right side, and having the appearance of a log of wood much burnt, The girl poured water oVer the body in

order to extinguish the ilamo which consumed it, but the trunk was almost inoinoviitctl, and" resembled a heap of burnt coals covered with whito ashes." There hud been no fire in the grate for some time before; the candlo was found bnmt down to the socket, and the pipe was found close by. The woman was very stout, and a great drinker. . In the "Annual Register" for 1768 is recorded tlie case of the Countess Cornelia Bandini, who was in .the J habit of bathing daily in camphorated. spirits of wine, and who was found neur her.bed one morning entirely roduced to cinders. In tlio, sauiij; work tor 1778 another case, whicty. occurred at Coventry is ! to bo found recorded by a surgeon named 'Willman. The victim was a Mary jClues,,■ , CO years of age, and an inveterate drunkard. At 5 o'clock one morning .. smoke was seen issuing from the window of her bedroom. The ilnui© . were promptly extinguished by sOii/ftfe; ■ neighbors, and the woman was on the floor. One leg and a thigh were still entire, but tliero romained , nothing ol the skin, muscles, or viscera; t-lio bones of the cranium, breast, spine, and the upper extremities were completely calcined and covered with a whitish efflorescence. The walls of the room and everything in it were blackened, and it was filled with a disagreeable vapour; but nothing save the body exhibited any strong traces of lire. In a medical record issued in 1837 V • several cases are referred to, one of f which we may mention. A woman, • about GO years of age, who lived in Ireland, retired to bed one evening with her daughter, both being, as was their constant habit, intoxicated. A little before day some members of the family were awakened by an extremely oll'ensiveodoiu', which penetrated into 'their room. They went into tho room where the old woman and her (laughter were, and found that the smoke came from the former, who appeared to be burning with an internal lire. Her body was as black as coal, and the smoke issued fre' A every part of it. The combustion \ii fH with considerable difficulty arrested/^" and it was found that life was extinct. The daughter, though sleeping in the same bed, had sustained no injury; nor did the burning extend to the bed or bed clothes, which showed no other traces of the fire than the stains produced by the' smoke. According to the testimony of the relatives, tliero was no fire in the room. The wonnn had been more than usually intemperate for some days before. The last case which we will mention was authenticated by a Dr Levin under whose attention it came, Dr Levin, who was one of the French army surgeons m Algiers, was summoned to visit a Moor. lie found his . patient, a lmi'i of about 'lO years of ago, in a state of insensibility; lie was very large and fat, and seemed to bo an habitual drunkard. He had boon missed by his friends for several days, and was at lengtl: found dead drunk in the street. The doctor prescribed for him, and in five days ho was so far recovered as to be able to go to the mosque to offer up prayers for iiis convalescence. 110 returned drunk, and fov a whole month after- .

wards was in tho samo condition ' "tt every day. l)r Levin was then sum- ' moned tigain, and when lie reached, the man's house found him lying on the ground a corpse, threo-fourtlis consumed, black carbonised, ami exhaling a most offensive sinsll. The"® account which theattenilantsgavoivas > that he had been brought homo the preceding night drunk as usual, and had been put to bed. A smell of burning bad been perceived a short time afterwards, and they entered his room, and found him suffering excruciating pains; lie said he was burning all over, and drank a great quantity of water, but felt no relief. A whitish colored flume was observed playing round his body, which exhibited in different parts some frightful wounds. Tho attendants then all left the room, believing that the man was possessed with a demon, in consequence of disobeying tho prophet's injunction to abstain from all intoxicating ilriiiks. The combustion in this case took place by the simple force of the organisation; for nobody in a state of ignition bad been neat the patient. A Stvane'e Eniertainment.

An entertainment of ut novel character was given for tlio first time M oil September 4, in the St. James' Great Hall, London, in the presence of a number of press representatives and other invited guests. Tlio performers wore eight or nine members of the religious sect of the Aissaouas, which is said to have sprung into existence about three centuries ago in Morocco, and to have since spread over the north of Africa, Their oiigiu is attributed to a curse pronounced upon his followers by a. certain sheik named Mohammed Hen Ai'ssa, who, weaned by their complaints during a long and toilsome journey, is said io have bidden them eat whatever they met with cn tlio road, including reptiles, stones, and all poisonous and noxious tilings. From tlias .day it is stated the Aissaouas became a sect, and have ever since bean able to eat that which is injurious to other men without !harm to themselves, The few representatives of the sect now iu London certainly do some remarkable things. Dressed in long white, robes V fastened at the waist with red sashes, they seat themselves in a. semicircle on the stage, and first, go through what appears to be a vcJ.igious service, 4 prayers being alternated with weird chants and tom-tom choruses, Then one of them suddenly darts forward, and, indulges in a wild and fantastic dance, twivlim? himself about, - waving his arms a nd jerking his head, violently Irani side to side, the rest meanwhile singing, shouting, yelling 1 and loudly beating their tom-toms. Having apparently worked himself into an almost frenzied condition,, the dancer places his naked feet on the edge of a sharp sword hold by two of his companions, and stands upright upon it, seemingly without injuring himself, and, to all appeavances, without discomfort. Then there is more tom-tom playing and chanting, and another man comes to tho front, and, having iiiikilged in various antics, devoursa livoscoipion,' places round his naked waist a rope with a running knot, and allows & seven or eight persons from among i tho spectators to pull with all their strength at each end, A third man eats part of a live snake and sticks iron skewors through his ears, cheeks and. arms; and a fourth licks and places his bare feet upon red hot irons, and forces a skewer into the skin of his abdomen. After each feat tho performers fall Hat upon I.W. stage, and remain in a seoiafnginsensible condition for a shout timet when they appear to rowvaii consciousness, and resume, their places; in tho semicircle, The perforraancOi. as a whole, is ol an oxtvaordinnrv and curipjts character. v