THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 1001, 21 July 1883, Page 2

THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL.

The mail steamer Zealandia, with the English mails via San Francisco, arrived at Auckland at ten o’clock last evening, being three days before time table date. The following is a list of her passengers : —W. F. Elkington, F. B. Moore, E. H. Moore, F. Nelson, H. R. Lindsay, Mr and Mrs Fleming, W. Woodyear and child, Dr McGregor, daughter, and maid, . and seven adults in steerage. Saloon, in transit for Sydney, 21 adults and two children; steerage, 15 adults and one child.

Summary of News. San Francisco, June 30. A desperate attempt was made on the 28th, in a railway carriage between Calais and Paris to murder and rob the Rev. W. White horn, an English clergyman. The murderer attacked him with a chisel, stalling him five times. The assailant, an Englishman, was captured. The Pope is deeply disturbed by the state of affairs in Ireland and France. A large portion of Aix La Ghapelle was destroyed by fire on J .ne 29th. The French vmbassador at Shanghai, behaved with gieat rudeness towards Li Sung Chung. The Court of Enquiry in the case of the stranding of her Majesty’s ship Lively, dismissed the commander and the navigating lieutenants. The Prince of Wales is said to have won L 20,000 at the Ascot races. Mr Redmond guarantees LI,OOO for the Parnell fund. The Queen is stated to be in a morbid condition of mind, and is prey to strange fancies and superstitious fears. Strenuous efforts are being made to get her to go abroad. The reported set-to between Mace and Lord Charles Beresford is reported to be a hoax.

A report is current in Dublin that the Government will eventually send Carey to Canada. A cable despatch says he has been offered the alternative of safe con* duct to New South Wales or run the risk of staying in Ireland without a guard. Mr Parnell, in a speech t at Monaghan, said the object of his party was to improve the Land Act so that a majority of tenants would get a reduction of ten per cent. A large supply of arms and a annual* tion hive been forwarded to China by the American Government. The Waitara, which was in collision with the Hurunui, sank in two minutes. The Hurunut’s boats rescued sixteen persons who were struggling in the water. Among those was a lady saloon passenger, to whom a sailor, who was also saved, had given his life belt. All the second class and steerage passengers were lost. The captain of the Waitara was dragged on board the Hurunui by aid of ropes. The Hurunui struck the Waitara end on just in front of the saloon on the starboard side. The survivors state that\ no crash wa* heard, but the side of the Waitara gave way like cardboard. More of the passengers might have been saved had a barque and steamer, which were near by, heeded the Waitara’s signals of distress. The London Post of June 20th says thelatest received at the Foreign Office in regard to the Tonquin difficulty is that China has resolved to prepare for war. The tribes in revolt near Bagdad had a battle with the Turkish troops on June the 28th, in which 250 men were killed. The British shipowners held a meeting in London on Jane 28th, and heard eminent English counsel, the opinion of whom was decidedly against the monopoly of Count de Lesaeps of the work of construction of a new canal across the Isthmus of Suez. A committee of shipowners will forthwith demand powers to construct the canal. The Hon B. Bourke gave notice in the House of Commons on the same day that he would move that no arrangement for a second Suez canal would be satisfactory unless it provided for a reduction of rates and an adequate representation of British shipping in its administration. France aaya that Russia has consented to mediate, and China intends to ask the United States to do the same thing, but the recent an'i-Chinese legislation has made the two countries unfriendly. Queen Victoria has invited the painter, Professor Augelia, to England to taka a life-sized portrait, which she will present to the Emperor William on the 24th anniversary of his assumption of the Regency of Prussia In a violent thunderstorm that happened on the 25th June, four soldiers, it is reported, were killed by lightning at Chatham. Lord Oarlingford received an influential delegation on rhe 13th June, representing towns in England containing ten million of people. The object was to protest against the restriction of the food supply. Lord Oarlingford stated that the decrease in American cattle was duo to the fact that better prices wero obtained in America, and not from a system of compulsory slaughter at British ports. He said the Government will continue toa"t up to the spirit oi its laws, and nob strain them in the direction of further prohibition, as urged by the opponents of the importation of American cattle. With money won at the Ascot Races, the Prince of Wales paid off several of his old debts. He is in consequence quite popular just now. Government offers L 70,000 for the Ashburnham collection; L 90,000 is demanded. Germany and the United States will now contend tor it. A Bill passed the second reading in the House of Commons on J une 19 providing for the allocation of L 25,000 of the Church surplus fund to the aid of the Irish sea fisheries.

Mr Parnell starts for A merica in September. A despatch from New. York, June 16th, says a private letter to a gentleman in that city from an officer attached to the household of the Prince of Wales gives some interesting facts in relation to the condition of the Queen. He corroborates the statement already made of her morbid condition. She is a prey to strange fancies and superstitious fears. She appears to be in constant dread of the receipt of bad news, and insists on daily despatches as to the health of the Crown , Prince of Prussia and family. Apprehensions are excited that the Queen’s present condition may result in insanity like that of George IH. A despatch from London says Her Majesty’s health continues to cause grave anxiety. Since she* has been at Balmoral she has done little but make excursions to John Brown’s grave. She has put all the servants in deep mourning, and spends the moat of her time in a state of the deepest depression. The loss of her faithful servant has been a more serious blow to her than was supposed to be possible. A strenuous effort has been made to get her to go abroad, as her general health is beginning to be affected. The racing at Stockbridge began on June 21. The Cup, valued at 300 sovs., was won by P. Lorillard’s Iroquois, nominated by the Prince of Wales. The Prince of Wales congratulated Lorillard on his success in winning the cup. Cannon, the jockey, purchased Lorillard’a Sachem. The rest of the horses return to America, where Iroquois will go into , stud. “ Sporting society,” says a London despatch of June. 27, “ has been greatly scandalised ever since Peck won the Grand , Ascot. It is said that Peck felt so sorry '■ to learn that the Prince of Wales had; lost heavily by betting against the winner that he tried to make amends for his own good luck by compensating his Royal Highness for his heavy losses in present- <. ing the Prince with the very valuable cup as a gift. To make matters worse, it was alleged that the Prince of Wales accepted the cup and had it sent home. .

The story became the talk of the town, and it became a necessity for the Prince’s friends to make an explanation. The facts came out on the day that the despatch was sent, and it has been stated that, although his Royal Highness does at present possess a cup won on the turf by another mare, he did not obtain it as a gift, but paid LCOO for it in hard cash. This explanation has made matters much worse, and there is some talk in having both Peck and the Prince disciplined according to turf ethics for dealing in prises. Intelligence of a frightful calamity at a place of amusement in Derdio, on the shore of the Lake Como, reached London on June the 25th. When ihe performance was in progress at a puppet show, the structure took fire, and was entirely destroyed. Forty-seven persons lost their lives,'and twelve were injured. The show was held in a large hall over a tavern. There were ninety persons in the house. A Bengal light was used to represent a fire, and sparks from this set fire to a quantity of straw and firewood in the adjacent room. On perceiving the flames the showman shouted “Fire,” out the spectators thought the fire was merely a realistic detail of the show, and remained seated. The cry of fi e was soon raised ortside the hall, and the audience, thinking an affray had arisen in the streets burst the door leading from the hall. They did not discover their mistake till the flames broke into the room. After the fire was extinguished forty-seven corpses were found near a table. Included among the bodies were those of the showman and fits wife. A large number of the lost are women and children. The wounded were hurt by leaping through the window. A child was flung out of a window by its mother, and fell on a pile of straw. This is the only one of the spectators present in the hall not hurt.

Irish Affairs. An enquiry was Mullingar on June 21st in connection with the murder of Mrs Smythe on April 21st. The informer stated that an Assassination Society had been started by Michael and John Faghan, with the object of removing bad landlords. Among those named by the Society for removal were the Smythes, living in County Longford, and two of the prisoners were deputed to execute the sentence. The prisoners charged with comp icity in the murder of Mrs Smythe were present at the meeting held in March, 1882, outside of the house of the mother of the Faghans. Alderman H. Magher was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin.

, Bernard Mac Hugh has been arrested on a charge of complicity in the murder of Justice Young, who was shot some five years ago. An;affray occurred at the Curragh on the evening of June 24th between a party of North Mayo and Dublin military men. It originated in a gambling dispute, during which the Mayo men called the Dublin men “Careys” and “Invincibles. ” The fight lasted over an hour, each side using stones and firearms freely. The conflict was only quelled by the officers threatening to fire on the men. During the melde five men were killed, one a sergeant and seventeen wounded.

In the Commons on the afternoon ef the 26th the Attorney-General for Ireland stated that Carey should be pardoned. He said the Executive clemency would be coupled with conditions. .. The Lord-Lieutenant, replying to an address presented to him at the Limerick depdt on June 26th, regretted that greater respect was not paid to law and order throughout Ireland. The Chairman of the Loughrea Union declared on the 27th that he never knew the out-door list to be as high as now, and this necessitated an increase of the relieving staff In the Smythe murder trial at Mullingar on June 26th the prisoner Elliott was identified as the man who was seen going towards the scene of the murder with a gnn.