British and Foreign Items.

Hastings Standard, Issue 426, 15 September 1897, Page 4

British and Foreign Items.

Madams Sarah Bernhardt is going to play Haiiiici, at the suggestion of the Prince of WV;..s. The Novoo Vremya announces tho piuvhase by the Russian Government of the Sevastopol t-hipb'dlding yard for 1,900,000 roubles. As th e result of an agreement between the French and British postal and telegraph administrations, two new cables have been laid across the Straits of Dover. The Queen's Diamond Jubilee was celebrated at Antananarivo, Madagascar, by the English residents. The Amboclitsira Gardens were placed at their disposal by the French authorities. From Madagascar comes the intelligence that the banished Queen Ranavalo has applied for admission into the Roman Catholic Church, aud regularly attends Mass at St. Denis, Reunion. The heat was intense in London on August sth. The shade temperature rose to close on DOdeg, and more deaths were recorded as a consequence of the heat. Severe thunderstorms broke over various parts of the country, and a number of persons were killed by lightning.

The latest American church contrivance is said to be an electric contribution box in the shape of a little car which runs along a rail at the back of each pew when the minister touches a button. By this means the minister is able to forestall that absentminded habit of people who slip out of church just as the churchwarden is making his way towards them. "Do not alight from your pew till the train stops " will soon take the place of mural texts in American churches.

The Noveo Vremya learns from the Anglo-Indian press that Ishak Khan, formerly Governor of Afghan Turkistan, and now a resident of Samarkand, has asked permission of the. Ameer Abdurrahman to return to Afghanistan, because the pension granted him by the Russian Government is too small. The Novoe Vremya peremptorily refuses to give him up, aud protests against any proposal to allow this " extra trump card " to slip out of Russia's hands into those of England.

The Convention for the delimitation of the French and German possessions in the hinterland of Dahomey and Togoland was signed in Paris on a recent date. According to the Temps, concessions have been made by both Governments, Germany obtaining Sansanne Mangu, and France retaining Gurma. The Marquis Ito, the Japanese exPremier, who has been on a visit to Vienna, has expressed the opinion, in reply to questions put by a Vienna journalist, that liussia would not soon get ahead of Great Britain in Asia. Bo far as Japan was concerned, the trade of other nations was of secondary importance compared with that of England.

The inhabitants of Berlin, in the neighborhood of the Potsdamer Station, wore startled on a recent occasion by aloud explosion, which injured a postman and partially destroyed a trolley lie was handling and the packages in it. It appears that the package which exploded contained I"bicycle bombs," an invention for the protection of bicyclists from dogs ! On most rocky shores there are marchants vailing to bay, as a speculative investment, the wrecks of vessels which have come to grief. It is, as a rule, a good business, but the Mauritian trader who gave 17,000 francs for the remains of the ill-fated troopship, the Warren Hastings—wrecked under circumstances which must yet be fresh in the minds of newspaper readers—is, metaphorically, if not actually, tearing his hair. The purchase was hardly completed when a terrific storm completely broke up the vessel, At a meeting of the subscribers to the Archbishop Benson memorial, the committee presented its report, which showed that about £2OOO had been subscribed, and that the Governors of Wellington College had offered to add the further sum of £SOO, to make up the amount estimated to bo required to build a new aisle to the school chapel, which is the work intended to be carried out in commemoration of the great services of Dr Benson, the first head-master of Wellington. William Johnson, said to be the last of the sailors who fought at Navarino, was buried at Portsmouth on July 17. Johnson, who was 85 years old, was a powder-monkey at Navarino, and subsequently fought at St. Jean d'Acre and other engagements. For several years he had been an inmate of the workhouse where he died, and it was only through inquiries instituted by the medical officer upon his death that his record was discovered. The expenses of the funeral were covered by subscriptions among the guardians. The coffin, covered with a Union Jack, was drawn to the grave on a gun carriage by bluejackets from Hev Majesty's ship Excellent, who volunteered for the task, A large procession followed the coffin. The meeting of the Foresters' High Court at Norwich on August 4th was marked by a disorderly scene, arising from the proposal to send an address of congratulation to the Queen. The motion was opposed amid much uproar, but was eventually put and declared to be carried.

The dispute m the engineering trade in England bids fair to be of long duration. The Employers' Federation have issued a manifesto explaining and justifying their policy. The manifesto states that the masters are determined " to resist to the utmost of their power the demand now made upon them, and are convinced that in so doing they are acting in their own interests, in the true interests of their workmen, and in the best interests of a great national industry." The English poets have experienced a bad time lately from American critics. The New York Mail and Express speaking of the Poet Laureate, gays ;—" Alfred Austin met the op-

I port unity of bis life am! made a mess !of it. The unequalled occasion failed to lift the Laureate above tho level of | the commonplace. But to the comj nature assigns;! hhn. Therei cannot condemn ; we can only ue-ilore thai the hand of that other Au:ed lie.s n-Tw-ess in an honored tomb, and that his gia;)t sonl, departing, left pinnies to ptrfona a task fit only for such genius ns his. 'He should have died hereafter.' Poetry turns her face to the wall in the presence of Austin, and Art groans in memory of Tennyson." At a sale in Inverness recently of Culloden furniture and relics, a dining table used by Prince Charlie was sold for £392 to the Mackintosh of Mackintosh ; an antique cabinet for £400; and a carved armchair, made from Rebel Tree, for £SO. The relics connected with the battlefield realised especially high figures. Bullets sold at 25s each, cannon balls at 2-J- guineas, swords and dirks at as much as £SO. Two curious figures, Aclam and Eve, made of lead taken from the old castle of Cullodeu, £152, were bought in for the family. An old brass cannon mounted complete, dated 17G9, with the original rainhome mop and other appurtenances, £IOO, went to the estate trustees. The Prince's bedstead went to Mr Johnston, C'hicigo, at £750. A walkingstick, left by the Prince at his bedside on the morning of Culloden, was bought for the Queen at £IGO. It is understood that the trustees of the estate are to make Her Majesty a gift of the relic. A magnificent pearl necklace, the property of the seventh Duke of Manchester, was (says St. James's Gazette) put up for sale at Missrs Christie, Mason, and .Wood's rooms recently. It is an historical lelic, aud was displayed in a painting by Van Dych. It is made up of seven rows of 860 very fine graduated Oriental pearls, separated by small ones, and fastened with an engraved gold snap. The bidding was disappointing. After some hesitation £IOOO was offered, and this rose by thousands to £IOOO. Then £SO and £IOO advances were made till the figure reached £5209, beyond which no bid was made. As this was below the reserve price (£11,000) tho necklace was withdrawn.

In the latest number of the " Cyclist," (English) an interview with Mr P. 11. Gormullyis published, relating to the dellection of the Pope Manufacturing Company for standard prices, Mr Gormully (of Gormully and Jeffrey, Chicago, one of the four leading cycling firms) denies that there was ever a cycle combine in America, and says the cut is only the result of ordinary competition. lie explains that to evade the list prices machines nave often been taken round a block and then called "second-hand," or a tool-bag has been removed and the machine has been sold as " incomplete." The action by the Pope Manufacturing Company will render these devices unnecessary, and all discounts, etc., will be given above-board. Mr Gormully did not think there would be anything in the " price war " beyond the usual competition.