NEWS BY THE SUEZ MAIL.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 1033, 17 October 1877, Page 3

NEWS BY THE SUEZ MAIL.

EXTENSIVE PREVALENCE OF POTATO DISEASE. MILITARY RETIREMENTS. DISASTROUS FLOODS IN WALES. Bluff, October 16. The s.s. Avawata brings English mail news to August 31st. Thomas Hendley, barrister, who lately died in Northumberland, bequeathed £200,000 for the endowment of a bishopric for that county. He was a largo colliery owner. A commission has been appointed, consisting ef the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Selborne, several of the judges. Sir W. Harcourt, and Mr Torrens, M.P., to inquire into the workings and effect of the laws and treaties for extradition.

A strike is imminent in the spinning trade at Bolton.

The potato disease has broken out to a terrible extent in the neighborhood of Goole. It is thought that there is every prospect of a potato famine, which can only be met by importation from abroad. The disease has also appeared in Belgium and Holland. In a discussion upon the Colorado beetle at the British Association meeting, it was generally considered that the English climate is too damp and cold to allow of its hybernating here. The present outbreak of the disease has been caused by the late heavy rains. Letters patent have been granted raising St. Albans and Truro to the dignity of cities. The Prince of Wales has sold off nearly the whole of his farm stock at Sandringham, reserving only a few choice animals for breeding. On the Ist of October all general officers who have attained the age of seventy will be placed on the retired list. The list includes all the surviving vtterans of the Peninsula and Waterloo carap&igha, and nearly all brigade and divisional commanders in the Crimea. Amongst the G-enerals are Sir Richard England, Sir W. Codrington, Lord Lucan, Sir W. Knolly, Sir W. Williams, of Ears, Lord Rokeby, Sir Edward Sabine, Sir Patrick Grant,' Lord Airey, and Sir Thomas Simpson Pratt, who commanded the forces in New Zealand some years ago. The Channel fleet arrived at Forbury, from Vigo, on the 27th of August. The trial trip of the Shannon, a new powerful ironclad of the new class, came off at Plymouth on the 20th, and was not a success. She is overmasted, and her engines do not work satisfactorily. The Duke of Edinburgh is visiting Athens. The Duchess is still in Russia. The most disastrous floods known for years have devastated South Wales. Railway traffic is suspended, and the crops for a circuit of fifty miles are destroyed. ADDITIONAL MAIL NEWS.

HOME RULE DEMONSTRATIONS, j CAUCASIAN EXODUS. j COURT MARTIAL ON A RUSSIAN GENERAL. HUNGARIAN SYMPATHY WITH j TURKEY. Home Rule demonstrations have been | frequent since the prorogation of Parliament, j On the 18th a procession two miles long took place through the streets of Glasgow. At a meeting on the same day Mr. O'Donnell, M.P. for Duntroon, one of the lending obstructionists, said Irishmen had conciliated the Government long enough, but that now they must stand upon their rights. Some very incendiary speeches were made, and it was urged that Mr. Butt's policy fo the last four years had failed ignominiously, and that Messrs Parnell, Biggar, and O'Donnell's policy must now prevail. A Parnell-Bigiiar demonstration came off at Dublin on Sunday, 21st, presided over by Mr W. H. O'Sullivan, M.P. Letters were read from Dr. Danin, Roman Catholic Bishop of Down, and Connor and numerous Catholic clergymen, approving ef the demonstration The building was thronged, and the doors were bolted and padlocked, several thousand persons being unable to obtain entrance. On the 26th, Messrs Parnell and Power had a meeting at Bradford, and expressed their determination to carry on their obstructive policy. Mr Eorster, M.P. for the town, was alluded to in very uncomplimentary terms. The annual Convention of the Home Rule Confederation of Groat Britain was held at Liverpool on the 27th, Mr Butt, M.P., presiding. The Convention adopted resolutions in favor of a more active and vigorous policy on the part of their Parliamentary representatives, and endorsed the action of the members of the Home Rule party who were termed obstructionists. At a large meeting in the evening, Mr Butt's name, he not being present, was received with loud groans. The obstructionists were warmly greeted. The inhabitants of the Caucasus are leaving for Asia Minor. A million are said to be taking their departure. A Russian attempt to interfere with them has been unsuccessful. The Ottoman Bank has negotiated a loan of £5,000,000 for Turkey. General Scholden, who was in command of the Russians at tho battle of Plevna on the 20th July, has been sent to Moscow to be tried by court martial. A telegram to tho t: Daily Telegraph" f-om Pera, dated August 27th, states that two months ago Mr Gladstone wrote to an influential Greek merchant at Constantinople, urging that the Greeks should unite with the Slavs in attacking Turkey. A reply was sent saying that the oest policy of Greece was

rather to fight the Russians than the Turks. Mr Gladstone wrote again, saying he had given his opinion, and was astonished to find the Christians of the East disinclined to make common cause against the Mussulmans. The correspondence has been submitted to the Diplomatic corps at Constantinople. The statement having been brought under Mr Gladstone's notice, he has written that his opinions were fully given in the " Contemporary Review*" last December, and he is not aware of having added to them in any letter. Kossuth has made an appeal to the Hungarian nation to take up arms against the common enemy, Russia. In many of the Hungarian churches "Te Deums " have been sung in honor of the Turkish victories.