The "Automatic Megass Fhemen"* 
By W. Price Abell. 
N Lancashire a maxim most thoroughly worked 
up to is, that "a man saved is one thou- 
sand pounds gained." In this colony we all 
recognise and appreciate the fa6l that labour saved is 
labour available for other work, particularly at this 
present time of the eflux of men to the Gold placers, 
and the ravages of influenza amongst our working popu- 
lation ; at a time also when every penny that can be saved 
must be saved. 
To-day I am certain of your interest in what is herein 
described, because it is a labour-saving device so re- 
markably simple that it scarcely requires description. 
The usual method of handling megass hitherto has 
been to drop it from an elevator, carrier, buckets or 
boxes, into the megass platform, from thence regulating 
and pushing it by labour, rolls, or gearing into the 
respective furnaces, this being laborious and requiring 
much attention. 
With this brief account of the past condition of megass 
firing to facilitate the description of my " automatic 
firemen" I will proceed to describe the invention. 
My obje6l is to reduce the labour on megass platforms, 
as now used, and at the same time to facilitate the com- 
bustion of the megass, by replacing human firemen by 
" automatic mechanical ones." 
* Read before the Society's Meeting, July 14th, 1892. 
