THE VIENNA EXPOSITION BUILDINGS.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 164, 27 May 1873, Page 2

THE VIENNA EXPOSITION BUILDINGS.

Tjtk Engineer publishes the following details relative to the magnificent buildings which are now beiny prepared for the great Exposition in Vienna. The chief structural material* to be employed are stone, brickwork, zinc, glass, and woodworks The great central rotunda, in. which the choicest objects will be displayed, springs from the ground a circular facade of piers, of no less than 4261 feet fn diameter. Aboyer this rises the immense roof, surmounted by a lantern of cast iron and glass, the diameter of which is 105 feet. Above the latter is a> second lantern, and rr t hen a cupola, the extreii&a/, height of the ftnial being {300 feet. The vastness of these dimensions may be judged from the fact that the domes of St Peter's in Eome, or St Paul's in London, or the steeple of Trinity Church in New York, might be easily set down within this enprmous concave without nearly touching it anywhere. Access will bB provided to the summit, fromT which an extended view of the city and adjoining country,, will be gained. At three sidss r the quadrangle round this central hall will consist of continuations of the exhibition galleries, but the fourth or north-east side of it will Be reserved for offices and administration rooms. There will be six grand entrances, of most imposing architectural design, and twenty-eight smaller entrances through the long sides of the structure. The great central quadrangle of lateral and transverse galleries will bo? about 755 feet square externally, and the total, length of the* grand central s^me 298G feet. The width of the latter will be 82 feet, and its height 52£ feet. All the galleries in both, directions consist of brick walls to about half the height,, stuccoed into a bold sort of pannelling exteriorly,, between, recurrent pier 3, which rise to the height of a frieze running. ' the entire length. The space between the top level of the brickwork and the frieze is glazed, the whole of the light being derived from the sides. ' < The building set apart fon machinery is of .brick, and is2614 feet long, ami 155 feet wide. Several boiler houses areannexed, and water and steam are laid throughout the structure. Connecting with two hiiesof rails within this building, and with nine other tracks extending the whole length of the Exposition, is the Uortli of Austria, railway, so that exhibitors will thus be enabled to bring their goods, without the risk of unloading, right Hg to the very point of Incation. There are four grand entrances to the machine hall. Sewerage is provided along its entire length, and, in addition to the supply of water laid' along at high pressure, well water may be obtained at any desired spot 'by sinking to about ten feet' below the surface.

A bit of wedding cake and its adventures form the tnemoof the following letter, which appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald of a recent date : — "Sir, — When the steamerWonga Wonga last' left Melbourne a friend of mine, recently-, • married, forwarded a small parcel by that .vessel, addressedr to me. I did not know the contents (although I had some idea thereof) ; but. I applied for the parcel at the office of the company, when I was informed that I must pass an* entry and declare fcbe contents, value, Sic, before it could be given up. Being in doubt as to what was really in it, it became necessary to hold a court-martial over it by opening it in the presence of the propet authorities appointed for such purposes. Next scene of this intcrosring drama 1 opens- upon a group consisting- of agents of vessel, custom-house authorities,, and applicant for parcel — all in the highest state of excitement and ill-concealed curiosity. Tableau ! — parcel found tocontain ' half-a-pound of wedding-cake,' which fact is duly recorded and attested on proper foolscap form. Now, surely, I can have no parcel ? Oil dear no ! you must conform to the requirements of the law, and pass on entry and pay duty. The duty is 'one penny s' but, the Custom-house being joat closed, you must waife'till to-mdrrow. Tired jft£f walking to and fro, I sit down to tell you about it. It ti&ti' . mice are considerate and I eventually get thte cake, you shall have a piece of it. — Yours obediently, A Matter of Duty,'" In a subsequent issue the Herald acknowledges receipt of ' t ho promised piece of cake, and adds : — " Considering that Ihe person who passed the entry only obtained $lb, he hasmade us a very liberal donation, which we acknowledge with' our benediction to the newly married pair." A Novel Pastime. — Not the least unfortunate feature of* existence i*. that all our amusements are so costly. It is almost impossible for any one to divert his mind even for half an hour from the business of life without expenditure* of some kind or another. At Hammersmith Police-court, I recently, William Barrel, George Spice, and James Jenkinswero charged with stealing about £26 belonging to Mr John* Lawronce, a cab proprietor. It seems (say* the JPall Mall' Gazette) that Mr Lawrence, requiring relaxation, indulged with the prisoner* at a public-house in that interesting gameknown as " first sauvek in the face." This game is played by two persona, who stand opposite to each other in fighting attitude-,. and the loser is he who receives the " first smack \n> the face," the stokes- being either* a pot of beer or half a pint > of gin, as may bo arranged by the player*. A more delightful" recreation can hardly bo conceived, for all memory of the anguish- caused by the "smack in the face " is speedily ob» li terated' by the subsequent conviviality. It is a game moreover calculated to draw forth, some of the noblest qualities of our imperfect nature, for he- who- suffers while yet smarting 1 from- the blow entertains- his antagonist, and thus gircs an example of magnanimity. In. the present case, however, the amusement was somewhat marred by a disagreeableincident. Mr Lawrence having taken off his coat during the pastime, found shortly after-he had returned the garment that his. purse, which contained two £5 notes, a cheque for-.-£5 16s, and about £17 in- gold, had been emptied of all its J contents with the exception of the £5 note. The prisoners ♦ were therefore given into custody, and having been committed for trial— a sad ending to what might have been a pleaianfr afternoon ; but Mr Lawrence will doubtless realize the forej* of Bishop Hall's remark: — " Becreation is intended to tho mind as whetting to the scythe, to sharpon the edge of it which otherwise would grow dull and blunt." The next-i time be plays at " first svnaet in the face" he vrill probably, keep a Mmrp eje on his ooafc. A Wonderful Telescope. — We shall soon know Jail 1 about the moon — at least our American friends will, and when tncy Know wo supnusc everybody will. The Scientific American publishes an engraving of a wonderful telescope, which, through the annihilation of 160,000 miles of space by its refracting, power, brings the moon within eighty, n\iles ofthe human eye. " Its magnifying power is 3,000 tihies, aricK as the eye naturally receives a beam of light one fifth ot an inch in diameter, this instrument — gathering from the surface of a twenty-firo inch object-glass — will have an illuminating power 15,025. times greater." Such is the scientific explanation of this now wonder. Tho object-glass is the largest in the world. It v^as recently made in England, and with its mounting and working apparatus, is pronounced a wonder of science nnd art. But telescopes are like cannon and armoar-pla<«s ; no sooner is perfection suppesid to be achieved than a new start is eflected, and greater marvelsresuU. .Accordingly the eighty ' miles between earth and moon are soon to be diminished, nnd this time by a Massachusetts house, who arc completing, at a cost of 50,000 dol., a tv ent j-seven inch lens for the United States Government This telescope will be fixed on the Sierra, Nevada Mountains,, in an atmosphere of the utmost purity, from 7,000 to lOjOOO) feet abovo sea level. But American enterprise will not rest even with this achievement, and now we learn a movement is on foot for erecting a million-dollar telescope, under Government auspices, which would 1 " virtually reduce the distance from the tarth to the moon to about four or five miles." When this is achieved the great dispute about the " Man in the Moon " may be regarded as settled, for we shall bo near enoirgh to sec him, and, -with some further scientific apparatus, perhaps even to speak U> him ! Eobort Kettle, a temperance missionary in Glasgow, left a few tracts with a young lady one morning. Calling at the same house a few days afterwards he was rather disconcerted nfc observing the tracts doing duty as curl papers on the damsel to whom he had given them. " Weel, ma lassie," he ivmnrkcd, " I see you have used the tracts I left wi ye ; but," ho added m time to turn confusion into merriment* " ye lave putlen them on the wrang side o' your head, my woman."

Citt Bor's Letter from the Countbt. — Dear Jimmy, W — Ask your mother to bring you up hero right oft". It's * gay. There's fishing here and lots of worms to catch 'era with. You stick the hook in them nnd (.hey wriggle bully, fislnn'd funnier when you don't witch llip book in the seat of jour pantaloons. *o t'wt y»\ can't sit down nnd can't fish alljyie way homo. I did that the other day, and Mr Jenkins, W Cd^Bn Laura's bran, asked me if I vus u sole or a heel. Suppose he thot In* was • oing to be fn»in\ but I didnftsee it. Bnmln , I a i-» bini cut a piece ouf of Coium Laura's hair, wl ere licr hook caught and Kuh it, hie a. g;oit baby, and ptit it into )ii-> f.aeket. So I toh\ on Vm at ten, and everybody laft. Thuy have caws horcand I go to see them inifked. Tliey don't pump it out with their tails, like you and I thought they did, but they squeeze it out of a bag that comes on purpose, I suppose. I milked tho other night. It was very hiird to squeeze, and it would not f o into the pnil. Some went into my eyes, and the rest went up my sleeve. I don't like milking. I don't like the turkey cocks noitliei. They ruffle themselves up and run at you. They arc a ferocious bird, and disagreeable to live with. Chickens are nicer. We cat 'em. They put them under a " barril " at night, and Dill and I kill them in the morning. You'd better eomo here and bring a shotgun, for there are bears hore — anyhow . we snw a fox — and candy, because we can't get' any here, and a pop-gun, and some bows and arrows and things. Perhaps we can shoot a deer. I think Mr Jenkyns is a blamed fool. He made me believe, he found a deer's track the other day, and when I looked it was only the mark of Cousin Laura's boot. I don't sco whnt makes him so happy about girls. We won't, will we? I'd be ashamed. lam going V to ride old Sam to-morrow. lie's a1 o -se. You can ride him bar-back, and it's very hard to stick on he feels so squirmy. Give my love to all the boys, and tell them I'm having a bully time, and I bate old Jenkyns. No more at present, from yours truly, Bobbie. About thirty years ago a minister in Hatfield, Mass., delivered some reproofs in the course of a sermon, which were construed into a personal attack by a regular churchgoing member of bit congregation, and thenceforward that gentleman withheld his presence from the church, and his friendship from the preacher. The latter, feeling that he had done no wrong, refrained from making advances, and thus a for twenty years they wended their separate ways. But at ™ last the skeleton hand of death knocked at the door of the parishioner, and he §ent for the minister. Tho good man hastily obeyed the summons with solemn delight, as his being thus called showed a mellowing of the heart of the dying man, promising reconciliation both, with heaven and himself. " You sent for me ?" he said, as he approached the bedside. " Yes," replied the dying man, whose breathing was now short and difficult, " I hove but a few hours to live, and I tent — sent for you to fay that — this is the last chance to apologise ! " A Sydney morning paper relates the following : — " One of the vessels now in port recently made a voyage with tea- to America, and the master, who was about as shrewd a specimen as could be desired, was specially cautioned that the wharf thieves were sharper than in any part of I the world. Of course he took precaution accordingly, and, having engaged stevedores to land the cargo, '(the several officers were drafted off to watch, the different stacks of boxes as they were made on the wharf. It was no use the attempt to steal a box of tea from that ship's cargo, for between master and officers there was a good look oat kept. In the afternoon, when approaching knock-off time it was found, however, with every precaution, the master was swindled, for seeing there was no chance of stealing a box of tea, the thieves had stolen the tea from a box, and the modui operandi was as novel as effective. The tea stack being built on a platform wharf, the scoundrels had, procured a laige borer, worked their way under the pier until in the locale of the stack a hole|np\v*rds was made, and the genuine ' souchong ' abstracted with the utmost ease. The master acknowledged himself beaten, as the empty box was discovered, and the hole beneath showed how daylight robberies were perpetrated." The products of a native industry in Victoria, namely, the preparation of furs and skins of rabbits, cats, kangaroos, opossums, wallabies, emus, and even rats, are attracting general attention. The effoits in this line of the firm of Messrs Cohn & Co, of Melbourne, have received the special notice of the Press there. The skins are transformed into rugs, mats, boas, muffs, collarets, and trimmings, which are really very beautiful, and the Melbourne Daily Telegraph, in reference to the industry, mentions that "the fur clothing is for the most part shipped to JNew Zealand, and finds ready sale there.' Messrs Benjamin Bros, one of whom is, the Dunedin representative of Messrs Cohn <fc Co, have taken premises in Bank's Buildings, opposite the Bank of Otago, for the exhibition and sale of the particular goods, and they may also be purchased from drapers, ironmongers, furniture dealers, and others, in Dunedin. As showing the success attending the efforts of the above mentioned firm, we may stato that when the industry was first launched last year only about twenty persons were employed, but that at the present time there are over 100. > The following is from the Athenaum t — Tho controversy excited by tho letter of Dr Skey on the Oxford and Cambridge boat race two or three years since, is still fresh in people's memory. It confirmed in the public mind the uncomfortable idea that boat-racing was fatal in its consequences, which was encouraged by the appalling story of a whole University crew having died a few years after the race. The vory reverie of all this has been proved to be the case by the careful researches of Dr J. C. Morgan, of Manchester. The total number of men who have rowed in the University race since its establishment is 295. Of, these 255 are still living. In a forthcoming book, Dr Morgan will publish letters from 250 of these, in which they state what line of life they have adopted, and in what manner they consider their own health and physique influenced by the race. In 0| the case of those who are dead, Dr Morgan, finding the published list untrustworthy, has examined the college books to identify every case ; and has further discovered, with regard to each man, from what disease he died, and hc^w far his original constitution had been affected by the race. Tho result of this examination is that in quite a minimum of cases was'the disease aocelerated by rowing, and these cases were of men radically delicate. The volume containing these letters and statistics will be issued shortly, by Messrs McMillan." , , Onions and Epidemics. — A medical writer says : — " In the spring 'of 1840 I was in charge of one hundred men on shipboard, with the cholera among the men. We had onions, which a number of the men ate freely. Those who did so were soon attacked, and nearly all died. As soon as I made this discovery their use was forbidden. After mature reflection I came to the conclusion that onions should never be eaten during the prevalence- of epidemics, for the reason that they absorb the •virus and communicate the disense, and that thr proper place for them is sliced and placed in the sick room, and replaced with fresh ones every few hours. It is a wellestablished fact that onions will extract the poison of snakes : this I personally know. Some kind* of mud will do the same. After maintaining the foregoing opinion for eighteen years, I have found the following well attested : Onions placed in tbe room where there is small-pox, will blister arid decompose with great rapidity ; not only so, but will prevent the spread of the disease. I think as a disinfectant they have no equal, when properly used ; but keep them out of the stomach under such circumstances." >•> Almost everybody knows that tobacco, liko all excisable articles, is often more or less adulterated, but smokers may be somewhat surprised to hear of tho extent to which this is &*ried in England. Out of 432 samples collected by the jjpttise Department and carefully tested 312 were found to be adulterated, the adulterating substances being wheat and rice starch, sugar, liquorice, lampblack, catechu, and various colouring matters. The anulteration by means of sugnr and liquorice will scarcely be believed as it is raported up to 46 per k cent, of the former, and 55 per cent, of the latter ! How many * smokers would imagine that their tobacco was one-half at least sugar and liquorice ? Jt is notable that the samples adulterated with sugar and liquorice were nearly all Cavondish. Turkish tobacco generally appears to be tho more genuine article sold. The St Petersburg correspondent pf ,the , Htforning Post states that M. Alexandrovski, the inventor of tho " underwater vessel," has just introduced a floating cabin that very much resembles that in tho Bessemer ship, but instead of being attached to a pivot, literally floats in a kind of tank placed amidships between the engines. The invention has been tested by tbe Grand Duke Constantino in his capacity as head cf the naval department, with a perfectly satisfactory result, all efforts to shake the cabin proving utterly unsuccessful, and tbe pitching as well as the rolling motion of tho vessel being completely counteracted. Wooden Railways in Canada. — An English journal states that the wooden railroads in tho vicinity of Quebec have attracted some attention. It appears that there are now 100 miles in operation. The guage is 4 feet S\ inches. The running time is about sixteen miles per hour, but trains have bcon run at the rate of thirty-five miles per hour. The rails are made of maple, 4 inches by 7 inches, set up edgewise, and notched into the cross ties 4 inches deep, and held by two wedges down in the notch on the outside of the rail. The sides are 8 inches thick, and laid 20 iuches apart. The cars have four wheels, and some of the engines weigh thirty tons. In froity weather the driving wheels have less adhesion than on metal rails, but no considerable difficulty is experienced from this caiue. The rails will last from two to four yards, according to the quality of the timber and the amount of the traffic. The cost of such roads is 1 from 4000 dollars to 7000 dollar's per mile. They' seem to-be very well fc adapted for light traffic, aud. us soon as the busings of such lines maj require it, metal rails may be substituted for wood without any change in th« equipment. ' ' ' ' * Sheridan agreed with Walker that tHe pr'oflnriciftMon 6f wind should be wyrd, but insisted, contrary to Walker, 1 that gold should bo goold. Sheridan .tejh>, us that. Swift used to jeer those who pronounced wind with a short i, by saying, I have a great minn'd to firih'd why' yon prphbunce' it winn'd. An illiberal critic retorted this upon Sheridan by saying — If I may be so baold, I should.beglud to bc.toold why you pronounce it goold. ,

-, Some English judges are stenographers, and take their s n ites m shorthand. At the Wells assizes, some jwirs ago, a 3 ■ enographic judge wa« piveidinjj in the Crown Court, and i i summing up one of t e < u c* he r< xl po t onu of liis fc notes to the jury. In giving tic evultwe ul one of the i witnesses, his Lordship iv.»il the clisef porti< n with mthesita- , tbn ; but at last he miule a piuse, and tin mug tJ tlie . reporters' box, said — *' C >uld nny of yon gentle nen assist [ me to a word here ?'(> i and cull m the baby ; ' but it can't ! "^be that, as there is )i%> b.sby in the ca>-e." I supplied the fc word, which was " bQhbv," the slang term for :i policeman, , 'and his lordship having thanked >me, proceeded -without ; idifficulty to decipher the rest of his notes — Anecdotage. > . .Charley Eichards, one of our chattiest correspondents, t sends us the sketch which follows : — There lives near by here r one of those nondescript characters commonly called old > ninida, Hnnnah G-riswold by name. Hannah is not the most i brilliant female that has ever stepped upon earth to inako r tlie heart of man rejoice, but still she lias a destiny to fill, no doubt. This good maiden's ambition has always been to marry, but the fates hare been adverse, and aho has been ; obliged to play her little game thus far all alone. One of her i neighbours, Afho knows full well Hannah's ambition, told her if she could look away over to farmer Sholdon's barn, some three miles off, and see a hen's egg on the gable end of it, the would be married within sixty chi)«. Taking a commanding position Hannah commenced her gaze of love. After a long and earnest look, she was asked "if she could discover the egg?" "Well," said Hannah, "I can just make out the outlines of the egg, but I can't see the barn." — London Mirror. The bread thrown upon the waters by the Acclimatization Society is showing signs of returning. Three carp were captured in Mr Owen's lake at the Wangaehu and brought into town to Mr Eussell at the Bank of New Zealand to-day. This is encouraging to the acclimatizers. — Wangamti Herald. A tailor was startled the other day by the return of a bill which he had Bent to a magazine editor, with a notice that the manuscript was respectfully declined. A doctor went out for a day's sport, and complained of having killed nothing. " That's the consequence of having neglected your business," observed his wife. An old farmer said to his sons :—": — " Boys, don't you ever spekerlate or wait for something to turn up. You might just as well go and sit down on a stone in the middle of a medder, with a pail 'twixt your legs, and wait for a cow to back to you to be milkeil." A lady walking on Broadway, a short time ago, a gentleman's button caught in tlie fringe of her shawl. Some moments elapsed before the parties were separated. "I am attached to yon, madam," said the gentleman, goodhumouredly, while he was industriously trying to get loose. "The attachment is mutual, sir," was the equally goodhumoured reply. An American found himself brought face to face at Eomo last month with an old schoolfellow whom he had not seen for years. "You hero?" "Yes, my dear fellow, I have just been married, and have come to pass the honeymoon in Italy." "And your wife?" "My wife? oh, I left Jier in New York." Which is the oldest, Mis 3 Antiquity, old Aunty Deluvian, Miss Ann Terior, Miss Ann Cestor, Miss Ann T. Mundane, or Mis 3 Ann T. Cedent ? Old Equestrian : " Well, but you're not the boy I left' -, my horse with." Boy: "No, sir; I just specilated, andbought 'im of t'other boy for six cents." Party (who wants a letter) : "My name is Mike How." Post-office clerk (leformed Civil Service) : " Well, if your t name is your cow, what is your cow's name ? " 4K" No>r Tarn Attximo." — In what part of the United Kingdom is it to be presumed that garotters would prefer te reside ? In the Isle of Man, because there the cats have no tails*! , I Dr. Bri'ght's Phosphodyxe. — Multitudes of people are hopelessly suffering from Debility, Nervous and Liver Complaints, Depression of Spirits, Delusions, Uu fitness for Business or Study, Failure of Hearing, Sigkt, and Memory, Lassitude, Want of Power, &c., whose cases admit of permanent cuao by the new remedy Phosphodyne (Oxonio Oxygen), which at once allays all irritation and excitement, imparts new energy and life to tho enfeebled constitution, and rapidly cures every stage of these hitherto incurable ahd distressing maladies. Sold by all Chemists and Storekeepers througout the colonies, from whom ■ pamphlets containing testimonials^ may be obtained. — Caution : Be particular to ask for Dr. Bright's Phosphodyno as imitations are abroad; and avoid purchasing single bo ttles, the genuine article being sold in cases only. — Adv