FOREIGN MISCELLANY.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 5, Issue 265, 15 May 1865, Page 3

FOREIGN MISCELLANY.

TTonkong is now lighted with gas. Telegraphic communication between England and India was completed on the 17th inst.

Telegraphic communication between Bagdad and India isopen. The first telegram was “sent t*y the Governor of Bagdad to the Governor of Bombay on the evening of the 29th ult. The amount of absinthe drunk in Paris, with fatal effect on intellect and nerves, is hardly to bo calculated. Switzerland alone sent last year 7,500,00(1 gallons to Paris. Pr nee Couza, the virtual Dictator of the Principalities, has declared the National Church independent of Constantinople. It will be governed nominally by a synod, practicallyby himself. A photographer who has been employed by tho Dutch Government to take views of the most beautiful points on the island of Java has discovered an entire city buried beneath the lava of a volcano close by-which has been extinct for several centuries.

Tt is reported, by two distinct authorises, that ■be Vatican believes the Encyclical a mistake, and that a letter is about to be addressed by Cardinal Antor.e'li to all nuncios directing them to explain that it was only intended to have a religious meaning, and not to conflict with the laws of any country. ■ J

So great is the excess in numbers of women in Massaclinsetts, that the Governor has called public attention to this serious disproportion m the number of the sexes, recommending the surplus women to emigrate to the Western States, whore their presence would tend to restore the balance of the social scale.

A Polish prince was attacked in the streets of Rome, the other evening, by footpads. The P'iuce happened to be armed with a pair of of knuckle dusters, with which h* replied victoriously to the summons to “stand and deliver.” Fie knocked down one robber smashed the second’s front teeth, and only received a slight dagger-wound in the thiglit from the third. ° Don Fernando of Portugal, the father of the reigning king, has just sent to the Society of Aqnafortistes of Paris a proof etching exhibting great ability. It represents a funeral oration pronounced by a cat over a deceased brother; around the I i r is a crowd of other cats expressing their grief in various ways; some wipe their eves, some look upwards with resignation, while others’ seem transfixed by despair; but all stifle sobs, and listen to the orator, who is seated with intense gravity on a tub. The arrival of letters at Barriah from Saigon, Cochin China, was recently delayed by a singular incident. The native who acis as courier being some time over-due, the commander of the place sent a detachment to see what had become of him when, after an hour’s inarch, the troops found the unfortunate Indian perched at the top of a high bamboo, while two enormous tigers were at the foot roiling over the letter-box. The courier was then released from his uncomfortable position, and enaM d to continue his journey. Tne Pall mall Gazette is'announced for Tuesday evening, *he 7th inslait. Its price is to be twopence. Its proprietor is Mr Smith, the bookseller of Cornbill; and amongst its contributors will, it is said, be found Messrs Harmay, Kebbeil, Greenwood, Higgins (Jacob Omnium), and Anthony Trollope.

A ragpicker has just died in London, of starvation. On examining his room, a bank-book was found in which £3(K», was placed to his credit; besides which, a parcel, wrapped in rags, when mfolded, revealed a heap of silver and copper coins, to the amount of thirty pounds. A gentleman got into a railway carriage at the London terminus of the Londonand South-western Roilwav, and found therein a gentleman and a lady with an infant; the Jatt.r gentleman got out at an intermediate station ; at Weybndge the lady begged the gentleman to hold the infant for a few moments whilst she got out; he complied, and as the mamma did not reappear, he has adopted the child.

An eccentric character, named William Howell, has died suddenly at the Leominster Union Workhouse. Ihe deceased has been an inmate of the workhouse for forty years, and when a young man all efforts to keep him out of it were *' useless. Some years since £3OO. was left him by a relative, but he handed the whole sum over to the parish authorities, and toot np his quarters for life in the workhouse, refusing to leave it. Front remarks which have fallen from Sir James Wilde more than once since the trial of Chetwynd v Chetwynd, it is highly probable that a bill will be introduced in the next session to allow of the principals in a divorce suit being themselves examined upon oath. In every other suit prin* cipals are now competent witnesses, and the inconvenience arising from the exception was strikingly illustrated in the Chetwynd case.—lt is stated that there'are 156 petitions to be heard in. the Divorce Court during this terns.