Morning journal and courier., 1888-10-04

the enemy's ships must pass in order to de- | liver formidable attack.
 The action of the Pittsburg board of school
 directors in leasing public school building
 for Roman Catholic parochial school is dis | approved by State Superintendent Higbee on
 the ground that "no money raised for the ' support of the public schools can be used for
 the support of sectarian school without direct violation of the constitution" This parochial school, he points out, in no sense
 belongs to the system of public schools. l Were school directors" says MT. Higbee, | permitted to lease our public property thus
 at their own will for the parochial schools, l the ecclesiastical convictions of the directors could turn our public schools into as many | different kinds of church schools as there are different denominations in the common wealth."
 Justice Screws, of Montgomery, Alabama, married Lawrence Storrs and Fannie Hen- derson the other day. after giving the follow ing preliminary advice: Marriage is at once
 the most sublime, exultant and soul-enwrap- ping of all the heavenly commands The realization of love's young dream is the most
 blissful of all earthly joys, or at any rate the poet attunes his lyric so to say. Yet mar riage sometimes comes to very unronantic phases-house rent, wash tubs, callards, oc- casional domestic broils, and, if you follow the divine injunction and help people on earth, you will be afflicted with many lusty squalls. These parties propose to enter into this state If there be objection, let it be known"
 A Norwegian engineer, Herr Tn. Thor bjornsen of Kragero, has constructed an ap- paratus for discovering leaks in ships. The apparatus is very simple, consisting of 8 closed furnace, which is placed on the deck of the vessel and in which smoke is pros duced by burning straw or ,branble. The matches having been closed, the smoke is forced into the hold by means of blower and tube, and in the course of half an hour or an hour the smoke will escape through any leaks there may be in the vessels sides or bottom. Of course, the vessel must be in dry dock. At recent experiment at Goth- enburg, leakage which had previously de- fed detection, was discovered in half an hour
 by the help of the apparatus. The time gems erally occupied in discovering a leak is es-
 timated at from thirty to forty minutes in vessel of 500 tons, and the cost of the experi-
 ment at 4d. per ton.
 A recent article in Garden and Forest on
 Forestry in California, contains some strik-
 ing statements relating to the general subject of forestry. Those persons who are uncon- cerned over the wanton destruction of the woods, and the efforts made to preserve them, may be surprised to learn that the economic value of our forest products is nearly double
 that of wheat, nearly treble that of cotton,
 more than ten times that of gold and silver,
 and forty times that of iron ore. Yet ssthe census, the agricultural reports, the recorded observations of intelligent men, as well as
 the individual experience of every one who has by travel become acquainted with the country, show that the consumption and de- struction of our forests now so far outruns their reproductive capacity that at the pres
 ent rate in few years we shall have no for ests at all, and their vast crop, valued at $500, ,00O, 900 a year, must disappear from our census books. We are eating into our capi- | tai and providing for no renewal of it." It is said that in the Marquesas Islands,
 where the use of opium, especially among
 the women, is very considerable, the popnla- | tion is rapidly diminishing in numbers and ! it is feared the result will be the sane in | Tahiti. The French authorities are aware of
 this, and more stringent orders have been is-
 sued to the police to prevent the Chinese | from disposing of the drug to the natives.
 The price to be paid for the sole license to | sell opium for period of two years Is open | to public competition, and sealed tenders are received at the stated periods. The farmer, or contractor, is allowed by law to sell 1, 100 pounds per annum, and that only to Chinamen. A good deal more, however,
 is sold, and finds its way into the hands of
 the natives, among whom the consumption | is increasing. The cost of opium in San Francisco is about 16s. per pound; it is sold | in Tahiti for from s5 to e5 16s Sd. The | successful contractor at the last adjudication
 obtained the license for 63, ,OO0f. per annum. | Including this amount and all possible
 charges and expenses, profit of about 45 to | 50 per cent. per annum is made on the sale
 of opium in Tahiti.