ENGLISH MAIL NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume VII, Issue 465, 7 January 1869, Page 3

ENGLISH MAIL NEWS.

(Correspondent of Neiv Zealarul Sun.) The other day a Mrs Bishop was convicted at the Middlesex Sessions of fraud, and sentenced to a term of imprisonment. It turns out that she is a daughter of the late Sir Henry Bishop, the eminent composer, and she has two daughters, who are destitute while she ia in prison. A subscription has been started for their benefit. The banquet to Sir James Fergusson, the new Governor of South Australia* takes place to-morrow, Nov. 3, in Willis's Rooms. The Earl of Mayo starts for India on the 6th. I would not fancy heis welcome there. Rather late in the day, the freedom of the city of London has been presented to Field-Marshal Sir J. Burgoyne. The old hero is in his 86th year. During the month, we have had a succession of heavy gales, that of 24th Oct. being especially destructive to the shipping. In St. George's channel, vessels have been lost in dozens, but on the east as well as on the west coast, the disasters have been very numerous and severe. One of the most melancholy losses is that of the Government lighter, Devon, which met her fate on the south coast. Seventeen lives were lost. This mishap, however, appears to have resulted from carelessness or neglect, rather than from stress of weather. He who was the oldest man in England is dead. The inscription on the coffinplate is, "Richard Purser, died 12th October, 1868, aged 112 year 3." We have further news of that intrepid traveller, Dr Livingstone, and now, according to Sir R. J. Murchison, we may reasonably expect him home very shortly, and probably himself the bearer of evidence of the certainty of his. own safety. We cannot well have stronger or more-to-be-desired proof . Mrs Maria Terjsa Longworth, otherwise Yelverton, is not yet disposed to be satisfied with the judgments of our Courts. On the 29th October, the lady • sought, by an action raised in the Edinburgh Court of Session, to have the judgment of that Court, and of the House of Lords "reduced,"— that is, annulled and declared void— on ihe ground that the Scotch Courts had not jurisdiction to entertain actions in which neither of the parties were domiciled in Scotland, or had even forty days' residence before citation. The Court seemed to think that, as the lady in the present action of reduction appealed to the same Court, whose jurisdiction to deoide^he former case s] • was denying, her case amounted to a contention—that it had not jurisdiction to decide wrong, butthatit had jurisdiction to decide rightly, and repair that wrong. The action was therefore dismissed. The lady, on the other hand, may say that this decision amounts to an acknowledgment that all the judgments in the former action were pronounced by Court without jurisdiction. I think the lady unfortunate in this decision of the Edinburgh Court of Session, all the while quite concurring in the remark which Lord Ardmillan, with evident horror, made use of — " This litigation will never end!" The Emperor of all the Russias is said to favorably ontertain the prospect of a general disarmament, to be initiated by France. His Government is still engaged in wiping away all traces of what once was Poland, now completely part of Holy Russia. Drunkenness prevails in St. Petersburg to a frightful extent. The public houses number one to every 200 souls. The Government is to shut up nine-tenths of them forthwith. The accounts we read of the present condition of Russia are most melancholy. The harvest is insufficient for the wants of the people ; and incendiary fires are rife. Great thefts continue to be made from the Government coffers, and the forged money in circulation is to an immense amount, and leads to great hardships. The Eastern Bishops decline the invitation of the Pope to attend the Ecumenical Council, considering it an insult. As a counter move to that of his Holiness, who writes to effect the union of the Roman Catholic with the Greek Church, the Czar has placed all matters relating to the latter under the control of the Ministry of public worship, The army of Austria is to be kept up at 800,000 men (nominal), as necessary for her safety. The peace establishment is to be about 250,000. In Bulgaria, revolutionary intrigues are still said to continue ; and France is watching their progress with jealousy. Russia twits her with a desire to re-open the Eastern question for her own purposes. Russia denies having anything to do with it. We deplore the news from India, but we hope that the statement of the commencement of famine is at least premature. The Gaulois, General Prim's Monitexir • de la Revolution, has said that an attempt was recently made to shoot the General, but that the ball glanced aside. He ordered the release of the would-be assassin. Very theatrical, but I can't say if true. The Emperor Napoleon has intimated to the Pope that the recent events in Spain will make no change whatever in the conduct of France towards the Holy See. The protection of France will be continued ; and apparently it is necessary, for Rome swarms with revolutionary Italians. Arms and ammunition have been discovered in large quantities ; and an explosion at any moment would not surprise many. By the way, an accident, which might have produced consternation in Europe, happened at the last shooting party at St. Germains. A servant of the Due de Caumont Laforce, whilst loading his-mas-ter's gun, fired accidentally and wounded the Due, xoho was standing next to his Majesty the Emperor. It appears that the shots lodged in the Due's arm and side, but the injury inflicted was not serious. The most careful and complete secrecy continues to be kept with regard to the manufacture of Hie Mitrailleuses or portable guns invented by the Emperor. His task will be completed early next month. The most stupendous tunnel enterprise has lately been accomplished at the silver mines in the German Harta mountains. The mines were over 3000 feet deep, and scarcity of fuel prevented the use of steam for pumping, which was done by waterwheels, aided by tunnel drains. But the great depth reached in 1859 precluded further progress in that manner, and a tunnel was commenced for deep drainage, which is just now finished. The tunnel is twenty-two miles long ; two million cubic

yards of solid rock were excavated; tei thousand pounds of powder used, and tlu lineal extent of blasting-holes drilled is one hundred and eighty miles. Naturally, on. the successful completion of this colossal work, thirty-two thousand miners, whose livelihood is nowassured for twenty years, celebrated the event with grand rejoicing. The mines can be worked until 1887 without steam, and they have been operated since the year 92<J,4n continuous profitable production. The contract for carrying the mails between the termini of the Central and j the Union Pacific Railroads has been j recently given out. Last year the mails were carried by Wells, Fargo, and Co. for about seven hundred thousand dollars. The length of the route is constantly diminishing, and when the bids were opened, the lowest was found to be by a Mr Spades, who offered to do it for three hundred thousand dollars. That of Wells, Fargo, and Co. was twelve hundred thousand. The contract was awarded to Mr Spades, but for some reason he did not appear to complete it, and other bidders being out of the way,' it was awarded to Wells, Fargo, and Co. for uearly a million and a-quarter dollars, half a million more than last year. ■ Now they have again thrown up the contract, and a demand for seventeen hundred and fifty thousand dollars has be.en acceded to. The consequence is that the Government pays more than a million dollars more this year than last for mail service on a route that has been shortened .eight hundred miles during the year. It is proposed to ostablish in the metropolis a hospital for the treatment of diseases strictly in accordance with the principles of temperance'and the laws of health. It is held by the promoters that those practitioners -who prescribe neither alcohol nor poisonous drugs have greater success in the treatment of diseases in all respects. The committee have endeavored to induce the governors of the various hospitals to place one ward apart for a test of the new system, but the invariable answer hag pointed to a lack of facilities, and an appeal is now made for assistance in establishing an independent institution.