BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

Evening Star, Issue 3511, 25 May 1874, Page 2

BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

• ... . . Auckland, May 23. ■ A public meeting ia to be called to protest , against the education tax. The difficulties con- | nected with .the valuation will render the tax hard to collect. ;

■ Orahamstown, May 23. The lodgment of gold in- the Bank of Now Zealand was 2,0000z for the week. EjThe share market is dull, and most stocks hare declined a trifle. The prospects of the Colonial Bank are favorably spoken of. .

New Plymouth, May 23. In the Provincial Council, the Education Bill has passed, fixing a LI tax upon householders. A. steam tug is to be subsidised for Wailara, ■Major Atkinson made a financial statement, and said the General Government had handed over I to the Province one hundred and ten thousand acres of land, which it was proposed to open up by means of a loan. An emigration agent is to be sent to England. The claims of Militia scripholders are to be liquidated. > The revenue for 1874, including the amount spent by the General Government at Patea, is L 21,316; the estimated expenditure is L 23,000. L 17.000 is to be spent on roads 'add public works, L 1,200 on education, and, 5L5.000 for carrying on the Government. The immigration agency is to cost LI,OOO per year. !

, ’ Christchurch, May 23. There Was a crowded house at the theatre last night, on the occasion of Miss Alice May’s benefit. Numbers were turned away. Between the pieces Sir J. O. Wilson presented Miss May with a handsome and valuable gold necklace and locket. :

ARRIVAL OF THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL AT AUCKLAND. ; . Auckland, May 25. • j of Adelaide, Captftin Brown, ar- ' rive d shortly before eight o’clock this morningwith the English and American mails. She. left Sydney, for Kandavau, at 3 p.m. on the »th, with fifty saloon and thirty-seven steerage passengers ; arrived'at Kandavau after a pleasant passage d 2 p.m. on the 17th, and found H.M.S. Rosario in port. About 8 a.m. on the 1 19th the Cyphrenes and Tartar arrived from th ®. lr , l 5«« s P ective ports. Transhipped mails and thirty-five saloon and forty-fire second' and third cabin passengers in the Cyphrenes,; and received the New Zealand mails and' passengers from the Tartar, which then sailed for Sydney^ 1 at 130 p.m. Coaling the; Oyphrenes ; made it impossible to tranship, the’ New Zealand cargo without detaining the 1 attar and City of Adelaide too long. Com-! pleted the coaling of the Cyphrenes early on the 20th. Left for Auckland at 2 p.m. The Gyphrenes, for San Francisco, and H.M.S.' Rosario, for Levuka, sailed the'same day. The City of Adelaide experienced fide weather till - the 24th, when it blew rather fresh with a heavy sea. '■ .« .•• _Passengers: For Auckland—Mr 'and Mrs Banks, Messrs Williamsbn, Johnson, Agnus,’ Brown, Meenestzhoyer, and two ih 1 the steerage. For Wellington-Mr G. R. Johnson; Mrs Johnson,’ servant, and child; Messrs Bridge, Caldwell, Hodgkins, and Hoggard (mail agent). For Lyttelton. -MrTaylor. For Port Chalmers—Mr and Mrs A. Barr, ENGLISH NEWS. , London, April 22. The Grand Duke Alexis is the enly member of the Imperial family who will accompany the Czar oh his visit to England. ■ In the House of Lords the Marquis of Salisbury, Secretary of State for India, said the harvest in India promised to be abundant, and that the present provisions against famine were undoubtedly ample. In the House of Commons, Mr Smollett moved that the suddenness of the late dissolutel*o4 Parliament was deserving of the censure of the House. He characterised the act as a coup d ctcitjay which the last Government sought unconstitutionally to retain power, ahd declared Mr Gladstone bad resorted to. a stratagem which was ungenerous' to his friends, insolent toms opponents, and Barely honest to the nation. Mr WhaUey seconded the motion. Mr Gladstone stigmatised the assertion that the dissolution was secretly planned as untrue, absurd, and impossible, and challenged a repetition of the word “ trickster” applied to him * and, upon the refusal of Mr Smollett to repeat it, charged him with a lack of decency and manliness. He defended the act of the dissolution, which he declared would have been more inconvenient had it been postponed. Upon concluding his speech,- Mr Gladstone left'theJjlouse. ihe motion was negatived without a division. Much excitement, was manifested during and at the close of. the debate. ’ The death <jf M!r John Phillips, geologist is announced to-day, He w*g seventy-See yekrs old, and his death was caused by an accident. A prospectus has been issued ip Lfiudon containing proposals for the formation of a company to take over Mr Hall’s Australian! steam- ?* . ? r <?P°sed capital is L 600,000 in 30,000 shares of L2O each. The seven promoters take one share each. Four of them including Mr Hall, stipulate for a salary of LI,OOO a-year. A lock-out of fifteen thousand miners in Cornwall is expected. The amount of bullion withdrawn from the tlo noil England since last balance day is ji i r!f amount of bullion gone into the Bunk L 20,000. 1 _The expectation of another rise and overflow of the Thames caused thousands of persons to I^S d™ks and fill the bridges which crossit. ihe water did rise an immense height but no damage was done. Placards have been posted up in the agricultural districts of England, cautioning intending immigrants to United States, on the authority of Consul Archibald, of New York, that 40,000 parties are ready to return to England, FOREIGN NEWS. The Cavlist General Saballo, commanding Giupuscoa, issued a proclamation decreeing the punishment of death to all persons furnishing lood to the cities of San Sebastian, Keutira. and Inin. ) Ihree millions of reals, intended for the ! Garhsts, have been seized in Santander. I

of the election in Switzerland indicate that the plebiscite on the revision of the Federal Constitution resulted in a majority of 100,000 in favor of revision. The German Tribunal of Severn has condemned and imposed a heavy fine, on the Bishop of Nancy for his charge to his clergy* issued in ’ ast July. A rumor is current that the Carlists have asked Marshal Serrano for an amnesty. Senor Castelar has written a letter in which he declares himself in favor of a federal' republic. The French steamer Amerique was wrecked near Brest, and the chief officer drowned. The remainder of the crew and 180 passengers were saved. Subscriptions are being made in all parts of the States. Eighty thousand dollars were soon subscribed in New York. Honolulu advices state that the King has returned from his tour through the islands, during which he sought to make himself intimately acquainted with the people’s condition. He was everywhere cordially received. The session of the Legislative Assembly was opened by the King. In a speech which Was highly spoken of by the Press, he urged the desirability of economising the public expenditure ; spoke of immigration, of free labor, of a scheme for irrigation, water supply, and of encouraging steam communication with Australia. ; A San Francisco submarine cable between America and Honolulu is projected by American capitalists. i The French steamer Amerique sunk near the Island of Ilshant, twenty-six miles from Brest. The passengers and crew were rescued by English, Norwegian, and Italian vessels. One :of the latter arrived at Brest, with the crew.' ■The Amerique was not a new vessel; she was formerly the Eugene LTmperatrice, one of the finest ships of the line. The loss of this fine ship, following so close on the loss of the Europa, created great excitement in New York. |THe Amerique was somewhat smaller than the iVHIe du Havre, but;of similar build.,

AMERICAN NEW&" From fif teen to twenty, thousand people have been driven from their homes by the breaking of the protection works oh the banks of the Mississippi in Louisiana. A large'breadth of thebest’ cotton lands were overflowed and the crops ruined or greatly damaged. From Gape Girardeau to Red River there are seven or eight million acres of cotton larid ranking as the most productive cotton land in the world. The product of this fertile tract in good season is worth four or five hundred million dollars. By the last accounts several thousand people, occupying these alluvial lands, were not only driven out, but were in a starving condition. • New Orleans telegrams state that most gloomy reports continue to be received of the inundation in various points. The .whole Amitd Valley was submerged; houses, barns, implements, and animals were washed’ away, and the inhabitants fled to the highland, where they remain in a destitute condition. Letters from the Red River coutry say “We are entirely over; flowed, and all bankrupt; have ho provisions, and no money. Many are starving. The water over the country is still rising. Cattle not drowned are dying for want of food. Sheep and hogs drowned by the hundred.”, , ’