The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-03-26

~, ume y AI1ou Otates IN Hutter OF excitement.
| Ihey are again making the most preposterOus
pretensions of helping the boys" and sending
relief to the men sin the gap" All this bluster
and fanfarrOnade is intesnely interesting to the
6lackguards who are safely housed in New
do,, h3rk' put must seem very grim joke to the
deiuded wretches who are hunted through the
/ mountains OF Kerry, or are lynn shivering in
Irish prisons Ifthe generous impulses that
str the Irish heart are not wholly dead in the
Dreasts OF the vampires who are fattenng on
tne plood OF their countrymen, tho details of
this last attempt in Ireland must surely arouse
feeling of remorse in these scoundrels. One
OF the Fenlan orators in New York, this week.
asked, nave not we, the men in America, told
tne men In ireland openly to defy the British
government? fit were not for us there would
not now be those brave men pining their lives
away IN Portland prison." The charge is
wholly true, and yet these specializing and pee
ulatlng Yankee Fenians are still engaged in
| trying to shove more men "intO the pan"whicb
they carefully avoi |. Every misfortune of the
irlsh insurgents Is utilized as means to col
lect further sums from the flats in America to
enable the sharps to support the dignity of fic-
tltlons titles civil and military.
| PETROLEUM AS FUEL.
The London Free Press says:l
Inc interesting news comes from Montreal
tnat the use of petroleum as fuel by Mr..
Starke, has proved quite successful. He is able
oy burning one gallon per hour to raise steam
enough to drive q ten horse engine. This is a
! great fact. More than month ago Mr.
| Ciarke, OF Wyoming, perfected a plan for
purnlng crude oil in conjunction with super
heated steam and having reached that point,
proceeded to take out patents for Canada and
| the United States. The time occupied in the
/ arrangements attending this prevented him
from bringing his apparatus publicly into no
nce. Mr. Rogers, of Dundas street, has how
ever, been employed during the past few days
in fitting one up, and it is expected that to-day
| 1t Will De put in operation at the factory of
/ Hon. u. Leonard, York st. A few hours there
fore, with the Clarke apparatus, and no legiti-
mate doubt remains as to the fact that contriv-
ances have been arranged to bring into pract-
cal use one OF the most powerful fuels known
! one cheaply produced, easily controlled, and
| nexpenslvely worked Not only is it likely
that petroleum will be soon universally used
for stationary engines, but that it will find its
/ wav to the steamboat hold be adapted to blast
| furnaces-fOr the flame is very intense in its
| character-and enter also into even domestic
| economy. taaa -l3 -.tf.r.I t'4a
Before leaving Canada, about the middle of
February, we took occasion to examine the
Clarke apparatus here referred o,and while it
is quite probable that it will work admirably,
burning about one ortwo gallons ofoil per hour
for atwenty horse boiler,it is nevertheless true
that the pipes-of wrought iron-and the re-
tort-ofcast iron-in which the oil and steam
are united and superheated, are constantly ex-
posed to and immersed in an intense flame
We asked Mr. Clarke ii these pipes were to be
headed red hot and he answered, Eyes, con-
stantly, intensely hot" Any practical me-
chanic may judge for himself how likely an
apparatus of iron is to come into general use,
all the principal parts of which are, and nee
essarily must be, so heated.
1t has been stated, with what truth we do
not know, that experiments in the u S. Ma
Wy have shown that one pound of petroleum
contains precisely as much carbon or heating
power as two and half pounds of anthra-
cite, making three barrels of forty gallons
each, about equal to net ton of coal If
this be SO, oil, at any price that will pay for
production, can never take the place of coal,
except perhaps in an oil locality, because of
its vastly greater expense. tV
| CHEAP RAILWAYS.
The railways of Canada are all of wide
gauge, and built at great expense; so expen-
sive that dividends are rare, and capitalists
hesitate to invest. Recently the question of
building narrow gauge roads, of cheaper con-
struction, has been engaging public attention,
and the Toronto Globe says: 81 ai..
The discussion of the question of cheap rail-
ways in our columns has made it evident that
such projects if fairly started would prove ex-
eeedingly popular. The idea of building rail-
| ways which shall answer the waits fthe coun-
| try, and, at the same time, be of such charac-
ter as to cost but ten OF fifteen thousand dollars
per mile, is, naturally enough, captivating
one-not only to our business men, who feel
the want OF railway connections with some of
the finest parts of the country-but also to the
people who are without a good road to market,
and who feel that they lose largely by that dis
| advantage, -au
The call made by the committee for informa-
tion from practical engineers as to the feasibil-
ity of such railways, and the probable cost OF
| such railway as would be adequate to the
work required, has met with several responses
| of a very favourable character. One engineer
| OF good standing puts the cost of serviceable
road at $12 500 per mile. The committee has,
| however, decided to extend the time for receiv-
ing such replies to the 10th of April.
| aE F0,. NOVA SCOTIA. "a s.,r
The Lieut.. Governor addressed the Legis-
lature at its opening on the 10th inst, and
took occasion tospeak in warm terms of COM
mendation of the confederation scheme as a
measure likely to promote the prosperity of
the provinces. He congratulated the members
upon the freedom of that province from Fen
ian raids TO which the other provinces have
been exposed, and expressed his regret that
tie Government of the United States have ad-
hered TO their policy of last year, in obstruct-
ing that trade which under the Reciprocity
Treaty was so beneficial to their own country
as well as to the Province. He says, howev-
er, that the abrogation of the reciprocity
treaty has proved very much less prejudicial
to the interests of Nova Scotia than her peo-
pie anticipated. "' tt a Ha
The Halifax Colonist denies that confedera-
ton is unpopular in that province, and, says:
| here is but the expiring squirms of the annex
alton reptile, which the Act of Colonial Union
| has severely "schotched." Hlfr
| DEATH FROM CHLORoFORM.
A man named John Gould lately died in
| the hospital at Toronto, while under the influ-
| ence ofchroloform, and the case has been sub
.jected to long and thorough inquest by the
coroner. The verdict attributes no blame to
| the administrator ta#t
THE OIL INTERESTS.
In London, c. w., where are already half
dozen or more oil re6neries ofvarious sizes, a
| new company has been organized, and re-
finery of very large dimensions is being con-
structed by them. The low prices of crude oil
are likely to result in the refining of the whole
yield in the province and shipping it in its re-
fined form. AT latest accounts the crude ar
ticle was slightly advancing.
The Canada Banks evince a strong disn-
clination to make any advances on petroleum,
to aid in its shipment whereupon the London
Free Press says:
| This is one of many illustrations of the short
| sightedness of some of the chief monetary in
| stitutions of the country.
| To find that New York banks are willing to do
| for Canadians that which their own institu
tions deny them, is not flattering continental
ry upon the latter.
! MISCELLANEOUS.
The Quebec Mercury learns from the Up-
per Ottawa that the season has been unusual
ly favorable for manufacturing and getting
| out lumber, One of the largest housas ranortS