MAIL ITEMS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 933, 3 May 1883, Page 2

MAIL ITEMS.

Continental

There presentations of France Italy, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Roumania, Servia, Switzerland, Brazil, the Argentine Republic, San Salvador, and Guatemala signed at Paris, on March the 19th, a convention adopted by the Conference which has been in session, securing to the citizens of thevarious'Statesthe same advantages with respect to patents, designs, trade marks, and commercial names of other countries as are acceded to their own subjects. England held off.

In the case of Bonteux and Eider, President and Manager of the Union Generale Bank, the Court of Appeals, on review of the case, has reduced the imprisonment to two years, retaining, however, the fine and costs. The Constitutional League of France published its programme on March 22nd. It attacks the present constitution framed in the interest of an oligarchy, and declares that reform or a durable Government is impossible with two hostile Legislative Houses.

M. Leon Say, writing from Lyons on March 30th, strongly advocates the opening of the fresh outlets for her commerce as more advantageous to France than protection. France, he says, should be kept en rapport with her offshoots, and even with those not now under the Tricolor. Amercan artists in Paris met on March 30th, and denounced the clause in the new United States tariff that imposes upon the productions of foreign painters an ad va orem of 30 per cant. Foreign countries throw open their Art Galleries to Americans without cost, and it is but justice that the United States should recognise their liability, and place foreign equally with American on the free list. A petition to that effect was sent to Congress. Louis Michel, anarchist, surrendered herself at Paris to the police on March the 29th. She did this rather than subject her mother to any further annoyance from the police. By the explosion of a boiler at St. Derizer on April Ist thirty-one persons were killed and sixty-fiva injured. A St. Petersburg correspondent writes on March 22nd that the Czar has received letters threatening him with death if he does not pardon imprisoned Nihilists. As elaborate preparations for the Czar’s coronation progress, the activity of the Nihilists increases. ' Hundreds 'of arrests are being made, and the deepest appresion, both public and officially are There is no concealment of the intention of the Nihilists, and large numbers of

police are endeavoring to evade the duty at Moscow during the period of the coronation, and are being discharged in consequence. • , , Prince Gortschakoff, ex-Charicellor of the Russian Empire, died on March 11th. Owing to the suspicion that he had been poisoned, the body was subjected to an autopsy, and the medical enquiry was instituted by the authorities of Baden Baden, where the distinguished statesman died. It was thought that the circumstances attending the death would reveal one of the moit startling political crimes of the age, but although the enquiry was searching, nothing was elicited, and n i evidence of poia -n was found. The whole matter proved to be a little bit of repdrterial sensation. The revolutionary party of Russia issued a proclamation on April 2nd, announcing that preparations are complete to meet the coronation of the Czar, and have every hope of success in fully carrying out its long devised plans. The proclamation contains a warning to all persons that they shall, if valuing their safety, keep at a safe distance from the Czar during the ceremony of the coronation. The proclamation concludes with the words, “ We will strike once more for the freedom of Russia.” It is imprinted in letters of red and bordered with stripes of the same color. The coronation is postponed till June.

Admiral Yon Stotche tendered his resignation as German Minister of Marine on March 19 th.

A decree has been gazetted in Berlin prohibiting the importation of American hogs and pork. The salvors of the wrecked steamer Cimbria make a sorrowful report to the authorities at Berlin. The divers found a number of bodies of victims jammed against the gear of a life buoy on the deck. The entrance to the cabin was

closed by a compact mass of bodies. To save the cargo the three decks had to bo removed by explosives, and the explosions shattered the 400 corpses in the hold.

The Prince of Wales, in answer to a

request of the King of Denmark that he would use his kindly offices with the Prussian Government in favor of the Danes living in Schleswig, declined to interfere. The recent demonstrations at Vienna of students in memory of Wagner have led to twenty duels, the combatants being German on one side and Austrian on the other. One of the duellists was severely wounded. The emigration from Switzerland to America is alarming. A despatch of the 21st says several districts are becoming depopulated. The exodus is owing to the bad harvest and American competition. Don Carlos issued a manifesto on March 22, advising his partisans, as Catholics, to place themselves at the head of the struggle against Socialism and anarchy.

British America. A riot occurred at Lingin, Cape Breton, on March 19. It was originated by some 80 Unionist miners, who wished to prevent non-UnionistsJ working in the coal mines. The houses of the latter wore attache i, and the inmates dragged out and cruelly beat. n The magistrate and police were overpowered. The latest reports from Nova Scotia give the details of a widespread disaster from inundation by freshets. In nearly every county bridges have been swept away. The Canadian Minister of Agriculture is the authority for the statement that 30,000 Canadians have returned from the United States during the present year. The Canadian Government have granted a subsidy of 24 ; 000dols a year for a monthly line of steamers to Antwerp. Sir Alex. Galt, Canadian Commissioner to London, tendered his resignation early in March, but, by request, will retain office till spring. Archbishop Tuschereau, of Montreal, has ordered the Faculty of the Medical School in that city to separate from the Victoria College under pain of anathema in case of refusal lie has also forbidden the students of the Protestant Colleges the privileges of the Hotel Dieu Hospital.

United States. Mrs Meeker, the first woman ever condemned to public execution in New England, was hanged at Windsor, Vermont, on Friday, March 30th. William Lane Beeker, for 20 years H.B.M. Consul in San Francisco, has been transferred to New York as ConsulGeneral. The underwriters presented him with a magnificent, souvenir. The Lost of the Vanderbilt Hall in New York is figured up at 250,000d015. This is the affair Herr Moat, Socialist, proposed to invade by dynamite on account of the discharge of some of Vanderbilt’s railroad employees. The wool growers held a largely attended meeting at Columbus on March 30ch, to express their indignation at the recent action of Congress in reducing the duty on wool. Resolutions were adopted to support for office only those who seoeg-,

n ise the rights cf wool growers, and a committee was appointed to confer with other organisations, and form a National Association.

The first performance of Salini Morse’s “ Passion Play ” took place in New York on March 30th. The theatre was jammed. He had flanked the municipal authorities by having his building consecr ted for divine service, and therefore avoided the necessity for a license. The Apache Indians in Arizona and New Mexico have again taken the war path, and are robbing and murdering in all directions. A number of citizens have' organised a company to exterminate them, and ask the Governnienc to stand aside while they do it.

The London Times says the new American tariff is only atowards step free trade, the prospects for which might be close if the prosperity of the country were checked, or if the Democrats were to shrink from their position on the question. The alarm of protectionists indicates that the prospects of free trade are at present brightening. A commifette of the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopalian Church, New York, have completed their labors in changing and enriching the Book of Common Prayer. The proposed changes are not yet made public, Wtmg Chin Foo, editor of the Chinese American, New York, has translated into English, and will soon publish, an original Chinese drama called “ Fanton, or the Royal Slave.”