MAIL NEWS.

Evening Star, Issue 4207, 21 August 1876, Page 4

MAIL NEWS.

In the House of Commons, on July 16, a monster petition, said to be signed by 102,000 persons, praying that' no further grants be made to members of the royal family until some statement has been made of it 3 present income, was presented by Mr Burt. The cuormons roll, swathed in broad red tape and resembling a bale of cotton goods, was brought in with a bearing rod passed through, and carried up to the table by Mr Burt and Mr Macdonald amid much laughter and ironical cheering. Referring to the Champion Boat Race, the 'Home News' says:—"We must swallow the leek. Tuesday last, June 27, was a fatal day foi the Champion of the Thames and of the world. Edward Trickett, of Sydney, has beaten the Englishman, and that pretty easily. His opponent, to do him justice, was suffering from a bad cold, while, thanks to Harry ivelley, Trickett had been admirably trained and was in splendid form. Old England, that is to say the spurting and ' aquatic part of Old England, is weeping over her failure, but without malice uid without ill feeling. It was a fair, straightforward race, honestly conducted and gallantly won. London newspaper readers have been reminded that when Champion of Australia, tried manfu'ly, but in vain, thirteen years ago to defeat Bob Chambers, of Newcastle. The proudest of aquatic laurels now graces an Australian brow. Long may this generous rivalry in every act of courage, skill, or virtue exist between the Mother Country and the Colonies. Let us not say that a Colonist has beaten an Englishman, but that one plucky Englishman has beaten another." At the present time Germany has thirteen ironclads afloat, three of which are turretships—viz., thePrcussen, Fredrich de Grosse, and the Grosse Kurfurst. An account of the execution of six of the men concerned in the murder of the French and German consuls at Salonica is sent by a correspondent. They were undoubtedly (the writer says) the actual murderers of the consuls, but they were notorious asassassins, and consequently men more likely to be employed by the others than to originate such a deed. The Avife of one, as ! he struggled in the air, expressed her ! pleasure in his death, rejoicing in her I freedom from such a monster. Another j had recently extorted money from his own | mother with a violence which caused her death. All of them died with a false heroism which great brutality seems to give. They were executed by the sea-shore. Each of them, as his turn came, refused the assistance of the officials, and, tracing the rope around his neck, kicked the stool from under his feet.

The ' Era' winds up a long review of Mr B. L. Farjeon's domestic drama, " Bread and Cheese and Kisses," by saying that the piece Would better have' suited tho Surrey or the Britannia, rather than the Olympic Theatre—the scene of its production. The other London papers are also veiy severe on this drama. Among'the curiosities on view at the Newark Art Exhibition is an autograph letter written in 1557 by Charles Dickens, in reply to a request that he would offer himself as-a candidate, for Newark. Mr Dickens •wrote that no consideration on earth would induce him to become a member of that incoherent assembly, the House of Commons. The ".vhrde ot.the specie, which went down in the (1/ 0,000) has been recovered, exceptftig-'ttbout L!,tiGo, and J tiio:.":salv'fflg" has been brought to a close. . ;.

According to a recent return obtained by Mr Bti'usford Kope, 'as many as 1,7-7 churches have been built since the year 18-10 in England and Wales, .and 7,144 restored. The expenditure amounted to L23,0i8,700, including c-.thedrals. - '■ r Great alarm prevails in South Shields, owing to .the-underground tire having again broken out in that town, The tlooring of pne dwelling-house which had beeu previously deserted was in flames, and the lire threatened 1 the destruction of all the buildings. Measures were taken to subdue the fire and prevent its extending Most of the jdwelling-houses in Kile street are deserted, and two pVblic-houses are in a dilapidated state through the .lire, which has. now been burning for about four years. Already the destruction of property, in the neighborhood has amounted to several thousand pounds. • A desperate attempt at suicide has just been made at the village of Marlesford, in .Suffolk. A tradesman's wife got up in the night, and, haying proceeded some distance from lier house,'placed kalf-a-pound of gunpowder in a circle around her and set lire it to ; but it did not i:ijure'heiv She-then'procee ed to ber shop, obtained a pound eanistcr of powder, placed it in a bucket, and held her head over it and set .lire to it, ..The result was that the outhouse was bloVn to pieces and the woman frightfully burnt aboui the face. She next procured a shoemaker's knife and stabbed herself in the throat. The villagers having congregated, they attempted to secure her, when she turned upon one. o£ them and followed him some distance. M edical : attendance was - prooured, and the woman now lies in a dangerous state , The three months' " Butcher's Bill" of the railways of. the United Kingdom, from January 1 to' March 30, of the present year, amounts to 315 killed and 1,583 wounded. Of the killed thirty aro passengers, half by causes beyond their own control, half by their own carelessness or negligence. The companies' servants killed numbered 185, of whom 160 had themselves to ..blame. fhe coupling and uncoupling alono killed 13 and injured 102. I

• A sad fatality occurred on June 19 on the Liverpool and Southport Railway, near Hightown Station. Miss Meek, a young lady residing at Bluwlell Sands, was sitting upon the sloping bank of the railway when the Liverpool 11.20 express came in-sight. Either through fear or in a fit she fell down the embankment and was cut to pieces by the passing train.

A Boarding Establishment.—A carpenter's Buop.