NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1401, 12 August 1878, Page 3

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

[" Pall Mall Budget."] AFRICAN EXPLORATION.

A report from the African Exploration Fund Committee of the Royal Geographical Society, for the consideration of which a SDtcial meeting of the society is to be held next Friday, states that tbe council have finally determined to despatch a small expedition to explore the country between Dar-es-Salaam and the northern end of Lake Nyassa. Mr Keith Johnston has been appointed commander, and he will be accompanied by a second European. He will leave England for Zanzibar in October next. The council, at the same time, have made a second grant of £CCO to the exploration fund. The report of the committee, which is signed by Sir Rutherford Alcock, draws attention to the purport of the instructions framed for the guidance of the Belgian Mission lately 'despatched to Africa by the International Commission sitting at Brussels. These instructions are eminently pacific—as the committee think they ought to be in every case in which an exploratory expedition is despatched, whether scientific, missionary, or commercial in its object. They »re te the effect that in all their operations the head of the party must remember that his mission is essentially peaceful, and consequently that he will have recourse to force only in self-defence and at the last extremity. To this general principle must be added the instruction to pay for all that is required, whether labor, tood, or stations, and if need be for a right of way peacefully conceded ; and the Committee are of opinion that no better rule could be desired for the conduct of any exploratory expedition, and nothing more is needed than the faithful adherence to such rules of action to justify the continued prosecution of exploratory work, with all its contingencies. PROHIBITION OF UNDESIRABLE IMMIGRANTS. A Bill has been introduced into Congress at Washington by Senator Sargent " to regulate immigration," which will, if it becomes law, put an end to the Chinese "difficulty" on tho Pacific coast by a simple and effectual method. Tho first section makes it unlawful to bring to the United States any pauper, lunatic, convict, criminal (uot including political cmvicts or criminals), any idiot, deaf and dumb, maimed, or infirm person, or one unable to support himself, or any person kidnapped or transported against his will, or any person under a contract for the labor of sue h person, or any person brought or coming for the practice of immoral trades or occupations, or any person or persons by or through whose presence in the United States the fee institutions thereof would be endangered. The pecond section provides that anyone of the United States having intercourse with foreign countries shall be authorised from time to time to enact such laws or make Buch police or sanitary regulations as may be necessary to prevent the bringing or 1 aiding of any of the classes of persons mentioned to or at any port or place within the jurisdiction of any State ; and any such State is to be authorised to provide by law or regulation from time to time for the return of any person or persons belonging to such classes to the place of his embarkation, and to prescribe penalties and fines, to be administered and recovered in any State court or any district court of the United States, for any violation of the Ist section of the Act, or for any violation of any laws or regulations made or prescribed by any State under and by virtue of the authority contained in the 2nd section of the Act. A BALLOON ADVENTURE. The voyagers by a |balloon which ascended recently from the Pomona G-ardens at Manchester met with what is termed in the accounts given of the affair a " most exciting adventure," but which almost merited the title of a lamentable accident. The intrepid aeronauts made a most successful ascent, but their descent was very much the reverse of successful. The balloon was wafted gaily along by the wind in the direction of Huddersfield, and was somewhere is the sky not far from that place when it was turned over by a series of squalls. The two voyagers managed by grasping the ropes to avoid immediate death, and one of them ultimately succeeded in climbing to tho valve and opening it. The balloon rapidly descended, and when about forty feet from the ground the heroes of the adventure either fell or dropped to the ground, fortunately escaping with their lives, but not without severe injury. In the meantime a balloon, supposed to be the same, is reported to have come down somewhere near Leeds, to the surprise and alarm of those who witnessed its descent, and whose bewilderment was increased by the fact that the car contained only a " dog, two overcoats, and a pack of cards." The story is an illustration of the risks attendant "on balloon voyages in unsettled suasons. Such weather as we have experienced lately is not favorable for terrestrial expeditions, still less for flights into celestial regions. niS MAJESTY OF DAHOMEY. News from the Cape Coast says that the King of Dahomey intends to refuse payment of the balance of the fine imposed by the English. Her Majesty's ship Pioneer has gone lip to Fernando Po to bring Consul Hopkins to palaver with the King. The steamer Congo brings news that on the 13th of May three English mon-of-war were at anchor off Whydah. Tho captain of the Congo was instructed to call there to take on board 200 puncheons of oil, the balance of the fine imposed on the King of Dahomey, but the surf was so heavy that no communication cmld be made between the steamer and tho shore. It was generally understood, however, that even if the Congo could have taken the oil on board, it would not have been sent down by the King for shipment. It is rumored that the French are treating with the King with a view of bringing the whole of the coast of Dahomey under the French protectorate. A NEW CARBINE. A carbine, the barrel of which is made of a specially prepared bronze, has been recently submitted by a hardware manufacturer in Vienna, with the sanction of the Minister of War, to tho Technical Committee of the Austrian army, and experiments with it are being made at the present time. The calibre, length, system of rifling, and pattern generollv of the new weapon are exactly similar to "those of the Wcrndl carbine ; the only difference between the two being in tho metal of which the barrel is constructed. Compared with the steel, it is claimed for tho bronze barrel that it possesses greater elasticity and toughness, with equal hardness; that it is more durable, the grooving being less rapidly deteriorated by the passage of the bullet; that it is much easier to keep ' clean, and that, as tho metal does not rust, it

is not liable to become injured by neglect ; and, finally, that while costing originally no more than the steel, the bronze barrel is always worth, as old metal, 50 per cent, of its first cost. Before the weapon was laid before the committee 300 rounds had already, according to the statement of the inventor, been fired from it; but no deterioration of the bore could be discerned. Five hundred more rounds were afterwards fired from the carbine, by order of the committee, in rapid succession, the cases of some of the cartridges being purposely torn before they were used, and the barrel being cleaned after every twenty-five rounds. At the conclusion of this trial the carbine shot as accurately as at the beginning, and the interior of the bore was found on examination to be practically uninjured and in as good condition as ever. The inventor of the special bronze used, which is a mixture of pure copper and tin, chemically cleansed from all oxides by means of phosphorus, has taken out a patent for its employment in the manufacture of all fire-arms. CANADA AND THE ENGLISH PREMIER. Some resolutions passed at a meeting in Canada approving of the foreign policy of the Q-overnment were recently sent to Lord Beaconsfield. In acknowledging their receipt, Mr Algernon Turnor wrote : —" In accepting with sincere gratification these resolutions, the Prime Minister rejoices to feel that one bond of loyalty, patriotism, and affection unites this country to her colonies, and that the honor of the British Empire is as sacred to Canada as to England. The sympathy evinced by the Dominion has touched the hearts of Englishmen, and England may well be proud of the spirit which animates the people of her distant colony." THE POPE'S HEALTH. A telegram from Eome says the Pope is daily declining in health and strength, and the physicians have pronounced his removal from the Vatican to be indispensable to his recovery. The majority of the Cardinals, nevertheless, opposed his departure. The Roman correspondent of the " Cologne Q-azette" writes that the Curia intends, from fear of European conflicts, to withdraw onehalf of the Peter's pence which has been deposited in English Banks, and to propose to the Pope to employ it in the purchase of landed property.