ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 3, Issue 279, 21 March 1879, Page 2

ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

(From the. Home News.) A movement isliow on foot in Berlin for building a cJinrch to be called a " Church of Thanks," in grateful memory of the Emperor William's happy escape from two assassins' hands. A ■voluntary is being made, and the amount subscribed up to the present time is about 78,000 marks— that is, nearly £3<JUO. The Prussian Church.; Building Society has signified itsjjrfention of making a grant out of its'funds, raising the sum now available to about £ 5000. The church is expected to cost £15,000 or more. Some of the Roman Catholic priests banished to Siberia for alleged conspiracies against the Russian rule in the once independent kingdom of Poland complain bitterly of the cruel treatment to which they are subjected. Notwithstanding their advanced years and general debility they are exposed to great privations. A few priests, interned in the more southerly situated parts of Russia, were lately compelled to sign a document threatening them with deportation to the Arctic regions in case of any attempts at flight. Great dissatisfaction reigns among the Roman Catholics, not only at the cruel treatment of their priests, but also at the want of any proper spiritual aid to their fellow-be-lievers obliged to serve in the army.

The Morning Post publishes the following frorii its Paris correspondent :— " A curious case, exemplifying the glorious uncertainty of the law, has just been decided by the civil tribunal in Paris. I send you an abbreviated report from a Parisian journal, which I think will amuse and instruct your readers, more especially as it is generally known in Paris that an English firm, or, to speak more accurately, a foreign firm in your metropolis, is seriously implicated in the proceedings. In 1870 a certain M. Farraud contracted to furnish the Provisional Government with arms, ammunition, clothing, provisions, &c.; it subsequently cau.e out that by supplying inferior articles and falsifying the invoices, M. Ferraud had managed to defraud the State to the extent of 7,500,000fr. He was prosecuted, and condemned to three years' imprisonment and a fine of 500,000fr. When he had barely completed his term of imprisonment and was still liable to detention until the fine was paid, he contrived to ingratiate himself with the Minister of Finance, and escaped scot-free on, a verbal understanding to pay the 500,000fr by instalments. He then passed over to the hospitable shores of Albion, taking his plunder with him, and snapped his fingers at the law and its administrators. The present Minister of Finance, however, not being so complaisant and easygoing as his predecessor, instituted a suit against M. Ferraud to compel him to pay the money or return to prison. The civil tribunal has just decided that the law has no hold over M. Ferraud. He has been released from durance vile, and permission has been given to him to pay when he now pleases ; consequently the Minister of Finance may whistle for his money, and M. Ferraud has realised a very nice little competence. Either the Minister of Finance who was cajoled by M. Ferraud must be a very weak and simple Statesman, or the law mu§t be very defective. Collateral suits are shortly, I understand, coming before your law courts in London, so tbrittle sketch of M. Ferraud's short liant career may be opportune."

The public mind is certainly somewhat exercised just low concerning the Cape of Good Hope. The most alarming reports gain credence, and the - question is on every tongue—-" What do the Zulus mean to do ?" Considering what mischief they ha\ c done already in shaking Bishop Colenso's faith in the arithmetic of the Pentateuch, we may fairly object to their shaking our supremacy at the Cape. When we hear that Cetawayo is a kind ot uncivilised Bismarck who holds legions in the hollow of his hand ready to launch.them at our devoted heads, we may perhaps smile with self-satisfiiction, conscious of our latent strength. But if it be true that all South Africa is watching events intently, and that thousands would throw in their lot against us, if it should appear that the Zulus can hold their own—then the situation assumes an aspect of no little peril. The average African probably thinks more of the Zulu than of the White. The one is a tangible oppressor, the other only an impalpable philanthropist, whose Exeter Hall theories smack decidedly of fright. The time is not far distant when we must strike hard and give our enemies a lesson, unless we would face a future of perpetvial commotion, perhaps of disaster and loss. Fortunately, Sir Bartle Frcre is self-reliant and strong. Lord Chelmsford has also a fairly numerous army well placed to commence operations, and reinforcements are by this time close at hand. If a vigorous policy he decided uuon, there is no reason to fear the resuit.