ITEMS FROM PARIS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1547, 2 May 1887, Page 3

ITEMS FROM PARIS.

+ (FROM ODE PARIS CORRESPONDENT.) Parts, April 28. A curious instance of the Irony of fate fs recorded by one of the Paris evening papers. A workman named Jsan Kohler, who was found dead on the Ceintuie Railway a day or two a 30, was the legal heir to a fortune o? four million pounds. He was descended from an Anglic i general wh) diad m Indf^, leaving a fortune wh'ch wei deposited ia the Treasury of London until the ri^httul heiva to the propei : y cl dmeJ it, and h;>s ah;ce been aecuaiulaUo'jf at compound ij.tereit. Kohler had no mor :y, and although he knew that (he fortune was there and th.fc it belonged to h'm, could not obtnin the nee*..- ary me ma for an action aga'nst the Treasury, exoept from spoulatorj who made such ridiculous offers tint he declined them finally, worn out »ni desperate, he committed eu cide on the Oeinture Railway, A monetary panio has jas* occm/edin Swlizerland. All the gold suddenly dißAppeirod frcm circulation, and the batiks were forced to exerc'ao tb j right accorded by the federal law to only reimburse their notes after three day* advice. An amnging story is told of the ; administrative red tapeism m Geimany | The Empress of Austria, has a farm ne?r Sohoenbrunn and fs very proud, of the produce raised on it. She recently sent a fine ham, neighing 22 pounds, to her i BJBter addressed "To the Connteaß de I Trani at Baden, from her sister, the | Empress of Austria," but the certifica'e of origin which should have accompanied it was forgotten, and the Customs i*t Llmbach detained the parcel, and ssnt to the Inspector of Markets at Vienna a printed firm, whioh, fiUed up, read ?.<* follows: — U A parcel is lying at the Customs, addressed to the Countess de Trani. Please inform us if the sender, the ifmpresg of Austria, resides at Vienna, and is a pork butcher by trade V The Informal ion was returned, but ' the enquiry caused no Mfctle laughter at the palace. Telegraphic communication batweon the Bourses of Paris and Brussels was opened on the 27th inst (February.) More than 300,000 . persons have subscribed for the statue of Sainte Geneviere to be placed m the new Montmarte Church as expiation for the secularisation of the Pantheon . M. Bogius, who is to execute the work, has alreadj designed sculptures for several Paris churches, as also the memorial erected en the site of the battles fought round Metz m 1870. The^ Paßtoral letter of the Archbishop of Paris on the occasion of Lent this year, touches especia'ly on the observance of Sunday as a day of rest. "Ini he present . time," Monsignor Richard writes, " the moral sense of the people has been peroerted to such a degree that the working classes too frequently imagine that the precept of keeping the Sabbath holy ia an infringement of the libeifcy of the workng classes. No j the Sunday observance law protects the workman against the cupidity which preys on him, and is the charter of the enfranchisement of the labouring classes Compare the sanctified Sunday m a town or m a Christian village, with the profane Sunday m an irreligious town or village, and you will see where ib the real civilisation and the best guarantee for the moral and material interests of the people." Tiie letter was read m all the Paris churches last Sunday. M. Rosenthal's exhibition performance at the Cercle des Eohecß, wan a moat socaeaefal affair. PLyfng thirty simultaneous games of chess against Btrong amateurs, he won twenty-six, drew three, and only lost one. This performance )» the more remarkable aa he on y waß allowed one minute for each move. A terrible catp.jtrophe occurred the other night on the ica m the vilbge of Raincy, one of tho eastern suburbs of Paris. A number o r boys on leavitg the Commercial School at about five is the afternoon stopped to play, m spite of the prohibition by the master, on a frozan pond, on the green before the ohurcU. They were sliding and running after a ball, when the ice suddenly gave way, and four of them disappeared through a large hole, the water there being about bt'x foefc deep. Two brothers named Delaise and a boy named Gabriel Dan trerau went courageously to their assistance, and were leaning over the briuk of the chasm, to ee'za hold of their olottieß, when the hole enlarged ftnd they also were immersed. A workman named Collet came up and by entering the water waß able to reeoue one of the brotbera Delaise, but all the six others were drowned, their bodies were recovered, but rot until Ufa w; a quite extinct Among the victims wire two Holder.* namod Esiiot, aged eleven and fourteen. A very interesting experiment m electric l'ghting w»b made recently at the Ecolea de? Mines, Pari.v, with the row patent battery constructed by M.M. Perreuor, Llojd, and Etere. A lamp worked bj el»hh cupa of &m?U size burued without any interruption or change for 150 consecutive hours with a light equal to five candles. The ehc:ric power < f each cup is from two to two and a half volts, and according to aize. producing 100 to 1000 aoij. ere hours ; the cost being five centimes (\6) per kilogrammetre-hour, or half a centime par wat-hour. This batteiy shows a great improvement wi'h reference to duration, stability, and cheapness, and ia an important step towardß the practical application of batteries for the production of light and motive power.