A paper on the Ventilation of Theatres was lately read by Mr Seddon at the Parkes Museum of Hygiene, London. In some crowded theatres, the air has been said by a competent authority to be more foul than that of the street sewers. The intensely heated air would seem to act as a kind of pump, and to extract the vitiated atmosphere from the drains below the building. The successful introduction of the electric incandescent system of lighting to more than one metropolitan theatre has done much to mitigate the evil complained of; but it is quite certain that the ventilation of public buildings generally does not receive the attention which it so imperatively demands.
Another important consideration that is too often neglected is the acoustic properties of public buildings. Even in the last great work which has, after years of labour, been finished in London—we refer to the new law-courts—complaints are constant from those who have to work in them, of the great difficulty both in making their voices heard and in appreciating what is said by others. Public speakers whose duties carry them to various towns and cities throughout the kingdom, know very well that it is the exception, and not the rule, to find a room which is comfortable to speak in. Either the voice falls dead and flat, as if absorbed by a screen of wool; or it reverberates from every wall with such confusing echoes, that the syllables must be uttered with painful deliberation. A Committee appointed by one of our learned Societies to inquire into the reason why some rooms should be acoustically perfect, while others are quite the reverse, would do a vast amount of good. Until such an inquiry is set on foot, architects will continue to design buildings in which this necessary property is quite neglected.
OCCASIONAL NOTES.
INTERESTING NOTES ON TROUT-LIFE.
At a recent meeting of the Scotch Fisheries Improvement Association, held at Edinburgh, Mr Harvie-Brown communicated some notes on trout-life, which the Association considered of so much scientific interest, that it was resolved to engross them in the minutes. The notes are as follow:
‘The subject of coloration of flesh of trout is a much more intricate one than at first appears. I know of trout holding largely developed spawn in June and July in a loch in Sutherland, whose flesh is not pink only, but bright red like a salmon’s, and yet are not fit to be eaten. I know, also, in a limestone burn the very finest trout, which on the table are perfectly white in the flesh, whatever size they grow to; but in another limestone burn from the same sources, or nearly so, the trout are quite different in appearance externally, but equally white in flesh and equally delicious for eating.
‘I put a quarter-pound trout, along with others, into a previously barren loch. In two years some of these trout attained to four and a quarter pound-weight, developed huge fins and square or rounded tails, lost all spots, took on a coat of dark slime, grew huge teeth, and became feroces in that short time. The common burn trout, taken from a very high rocky burn up in the hills, in two years became indistinguishable from Salmo ferox. The first year they grew to about a pound, or a pound and a half, took on a bright silvery sheen of scales, were deep and high shouldered, lusty and powerful, more resembling Loch Leven trout than any others. This was when their feeding and condition were at their best; but as food decreased, and the trout rapidly increased in number, spawning in innumerable quantities, and with no enemies, the larger fish began to prey on the smaller, grew big teeth, swam deep, and lost colour, grew large fins and a big head, and became Salmo ferox so called. In two years more the food-supply became exhausted; and now the chain of lochs holds nothing but huge, lanky, kelty-looking fish and swarms of diminutive “black nebs,” neither of the sorts deserving of the angler’s notice. The first year they were splendid fish—rich and fat. Now they are dry and tasteless.’
LABOUR AND WAGES IN AUSTRALIA.
It would appear from the latest statistics that during the past few years wages have risen in some trades, and in a few only, have fallen. In the skilled branches of labour especially the tendency has been upwards, and the same thing is also noticeable in agricultural labour. For example, the rates for married couples on stations have risen from fifty-five to sixty-five pounds in 1876 to sixty or eighty pounds in 1883. The wages of farm-labourers have risen to fifty pounds or thereabouts, while only in the case of country blacksmiths have wages declined, the rates for such being now seventy-five to eighty pounds per annum. The colony is stated to be capable of readily absorbing any amount of skilled agricultural labour, especially that of the handy kind, without affecting the current rates of wages. Agricultural labour is in more demand than artisan labour, and good industrious hands would do excellently, as compared with the same class in England, both in regard to food and pay. With regard to other occupations, the following rates are paid on the New South Wales railways: clerks, two hundred to one hundred and fifty pounds per annum; foremen, five pounds ten shillings to three pounds seven shillings per week; draftsmen, four pounds fifteen shillings per week; timekeepers, three to two pounds per week; fitters, 12s. 4d. to 8s. per day; blacksmiths, 12s. 8d. to 10s. 4d. per day; turners, 12s. 2d. to 10s. 2d. per day; pattern makers, 11s. 10d. per day; brass-moulders, 11s. 4d. per day; plumbers, 11s. to 10s. per day; tinsmiths, 11s. to 10s. per day; brass-finishers, 9s. 6d. to 9s. per day; carpenters, 11s. 6d. to 8s. per day; painters, 11s. to 9s. 8d. per day; strikers, 7s. 4d. to 7s. per day; and cleaners, 7s. per day. The working day in the case of many trades does not exceed eight hours.