The Hawaiian gazette., 1885-12-15
NOTES.

4 TuE railroad system Of Japan has attained al
length Of 22j miles and is increasing steadily. III
has been mainly built by the japanese Government
with native capital. The business results up toI
he present time have given no cause for dissatis
faction.
The experiment of making sorghum sugar att
: fFnnklyn IN Tennessee has proved disastrous
failure, and has resulted il the nearly complete
loss of all the capital invested amounting tol
$4,000 The natural advantages of soil and clim-
ate were so cOnfessedly superior that failure was
not anticipated.
A FEENcH forestry journal says that thirty years
( ago the khanati district of Bucharia one of
the most fertile regions of Central Asia. Ii was
: well wooded and splendidly watered About
ihIry-hye years ago mania for clearing away thel
! forests seized upon the people, and now all the
great forests have been cut away, and the little
Z that remained was rayaged by fire during a civil
aar. The consequences were not long in follow
( ing, aud have confirmed this country into kind
J sof arid desert. The water courses dried upl
and she Irrlgatiug canals empty. The moving
sands Of the desert, being longer restrained by
land. and will finish by transforming it into al
desert GosOlate the sOitudes that separate i'll
from Khva.
THE clerk 10 the Hawaiian Consul General all
san Francisco now keeps n detailed record of all
shipments of goods to the Hawaiian Islands, fromI
that port, also those shipped from the East or from
foreign ports The goods are listed as "dutiable
free by treaty OF free by civil CODE From thel
returns thus kept, the following figures are obtain
4 ed and which show the yOumne of business for al
period Of two months and twenty days, ending
{ zSeptember Goth, viz:
free by Treaty s43ssO I'd
Dutiabic Goods. ...... l2l 6Sj al
Free by Civil 66O5l sS
Observation-Disclosures. s626O89 %
This Is only for n period of eleven weeks andl
averages almost S57 600 worth of goods, exported
Z to the Islands, every week, from San Francisco
saIone.
An experiment of the greatest importance to the
commercial world is now being made on the eastI
coast OF England by the Telegraph Construction
and Maintenance Company. For the last eight
months the Company has had several of its best
operatives located in the neighborhood of the
Maze, of which the most dangerous sands rOundI
England are 10 be found. These gentlemen areI
hourly IN communication by telephone with al
lghtship which Is anchored ten miles out in the
vicinity Of the Swim passage. An ordinary tele-
graph cable has been laid from Waltou-ou-the-I
Maze 10 the sunk Lightship. and telephone andI
Geographic apparatus have been affixed TO bothI
ends. II was considered improbable that the
human voice would be conducted ten miles, especi-
ally IN rough weather, but this has been now prov
Tea 10 be thoroughly practicable. A conversation
was carried on with Mr. Stevenson, one of the
Telegraph Maintenance Company's officials (who
"as on board the Sank Lightship) BY telephone
Tor a considerable time. Mr.. Stevenson had been
month upon the boat, and had experienced all
kinds of weather, during which time he had kept
Lewis and Mr. PInkerton. his colleagues on shore
tully informed Of the state of the weather, rough
ness of the and passing craft frequently fore
casting weather, which usually turned out 10 be
correct. month upon the lghtship is a trying
nrdeali but Mr. Stevenson was 50 satisfied with
ihe success that attended the experiment, and
knowing, If the advantage of teiephonic com
ImunlCatlOn with the lightship was understood and
generally adopted, what splendid boon it would
be TO mariners and merchants, that he spent his
time buslly IN collecting information and watch.
ing the working of his electrical machines