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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 901, 24 December 1870, Page 2

A Canterbury contemporary of the 16th inst. says :—Yesterday morning the head-quarters squads competed for the selection of men to represent their respective corps in the firing for the colonial prizes in Auckland. The weather was fine, and there was a very strong wind from the north east, and the result again was that none of the men reached the minimum number of points. The highest score was made by Lieut. Pevitt, of the Engineers, who made 38, only two pointa short of the required number. Only one man now remains to fire— Gunner Johustone, of the Artillery—-and it is thus impossible for Christchurch to send more than one representative, even if that is accomplished, for Johnstone may not be more fortunate than his comrades. According to a Melbourne contemporary, intelligence has been received by the last English mail of the death of BrevetMajor Strange, H.M, 2 14th Re»t. for some time stationed in Melbourne. The deceased officer arrived in New Zealand with the head quarters of his regiment, in 1860, and from that time to the close of the war in 1886, was actively engaged, in the various encounters with the enemy. Major Strange was present at the battles of Kohera and Rangariri (where Colonel Austen and other distinguished officers full), and served for some time under Major*General Sir Thomas Simson Pratt in the Waitara campaign. At the con-, elusion of the war he went to England on leave, and rejoined his regiment is Melbourne, where he made many fast friends, It appears that when the Empress Eugenie uiaJe her way out of the Tuileby the Gate next the Seine she was escorted by Prince Metternich and by one or two other gentlemen, but unfortunately the crowd was so great that she was almost immediately separated from them.. While thus alone in the mob she was recognised by a i little gamin, who no sooner cried outi ** Voila lTmpfiratrice, ,k than some of the crowd exclaimed, in a threatening way, •* A la guillotine I" "A la guiilotiue I" Just at this moment* however, fortune stood her friend, for as the crowd surged this way and that, the Empress dived into the thickest of it/and those who raised the savage cry lost all sight and trace of her. Eventually she found her way to the house of a friend* but it was not such an easy thing to e#ecs her exit from Paris. She was advised, and she resolved not to try the railway,, for fear of being recognised ; and at length she was giad to iiud a market cart which was returning into Kormandy. Iu this cart she secured a seat, and in it she spent the best part of three days and two, nights before she saw the sea in the neighborhood of TrouviUe, where she. was at once received on board the yacht of Sir J. M. Burgoyue. The Emperor of Russia has conferred the order of St. George—:the highest of the Russian military decorations—-on General Von Moltke. His had previously conferred the same distinction* on another of the German generals.—the Crown Prince of Saxony. What would Germany have said if Queen Victoria had forwarded the Grand Cross of the Bath to Marshal Bazaiue or General Trochu ?