NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 267, 18 April 1874, Page 3

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

London, February 20. Mr. Edward Jenkins,- the new member for Dundee, has been appointed agent for the Canadian Dominion in London for emie;ration and other purposes. Mr. Letkeby retires from' the post of Medical Health Officer for the city. -Mr. Philip Cunliff Owen has been appointed director of the South Kensington Museum.

Dr. Beke reports the discovery, near the Gulf of Akaba, of the true Mount Sinai, with the remains of' sacrificed animals on the summit, and Sinaitic inscriptions lower dowhi

The Indian Government are at length awakening to the urgency of the famine crisis. Multitudes are already crowding to the relief works, and thousands are limited to one meal daily, and.depopulation lias begun. The natives are described as anxious, but wonderfully patient. The Government is making a prodigious effort, but past delay will prove fatal to myriads. Some of the most suffering districts are now inaccessible to carriage, and the railways are choked, with gramjbub : in the interior farms .are drying' tip, and cattle perishing. . ....•; ■■■-'] :,: . The gas companies of the metropolis having agreed to further raise the price of gas, a powerful opposition is organised to resist tlie application of the companies to the Board of Trade for' their permission.

On January 27, two great meetings were held at St. James' and Exeter Halls, to express sympathy, with the German Emperor in his contest with the Pope. In opposition to these Protestant demonArchbishop Manning organised a Catholic gathering, under the Presidency of the Duke of Norfolk, which was large and enthusiastic. Germany is grateful for these manifestations of sympathy, and a meeting'in response has been held in Berlin. The Catholics of Birmingham haWvoted an address of sympathy, with' the.'rArchbishop of Cologne. ■ ■:!'■-• Three terrible railway collisions have alarmed tlie public mind. .On the North British line, near Linlithgow, the Edinburgh express for the North ran into a mineral train while being shunted, killing fifteen persons on the spot, and injuring several severely. Following close upon this catastrophe the Aberdeen train, On the same railway line, came into collision with a goods train at Bonesia Junction, killing twelve persons, and mutilating others. The third collision' occurred on the Great Western. ..Railway, near West Drayton: the Exeter express train, containing 100 passengers, rushed into a luggage train, producing an appaling wreck. Several lives were sacrificed, and wonder is felt that the loss .was not greater. Captain Hayter, who had just been elected for Bath, and his wife, had a narrow escape. _• During an election meeting held In a warehouse at Bury the floor gave TCay, and 100 persons were precipitated into the lower storey. Eight were suffocated to death, and thirty severely injured; others were rescued by means of ladders and a fire-escape. By a fire which occurred at Messrs. Heaton's chemical works, near Dewsbury, £200,000 worth of property was destroyed. Chapel cotton-mill, at Oldham, which took fire three months ago, is now totally destroyed, with 12,000 spindles. By a fire at the British Embassy, at Lisbon, Sir Charles Murray and his wife narrowly.escaped suffocation. '

Great damage has been done on the Irish Coast, and elsewhere, by a gale in the Atlantic, and simultaneously high tides in the Baltic t have .inundated the shore and the easterly .coast of SchleswigHdlstein,"arid committed great ravages. - The prospects of 'the turf season are very unfavorable.. The entries for the spring handicaps have fallen off. The Australian.horse G-lendore is' to try his prowess against the champions of the mother country. The ritualistic party in Hhe English Church have been holding a ten days' mission in the metropolitan districts, under the sanction of the bishops of London, "Winchester, and [Rochester. The movement has occasioned some controversy. Ladj- "Wolsely has proposed a subscription list on behalf of the widows and families of those who fell in the Ashantee campaign. March 10. A grand state banquet was given yesterday at Windsor Castje in honor of the. Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh:—' Jtago Guardian.' ' ' •' ''

A Wise how auld will ye be ?" said a "sage" wife to Daft Jock Amos, one day, when talking of their ages. "O, I dinna ken," said Jock, "' il would take a wiser head than mine to tell you that." " It's an unco queer thing you dinna ken hoo auld you are;" returned the woman. " I ken weel. eneucb how auld I am," answered' t Jock; " but I dinna ken how auld I'll be."

■ " The company that owns this road shall never get another cent of my money," said an angry lady, on a train. How can you help yourself ? You've; got to travel oh the road, or move to some other part of the country," sneeringly remarked the. conductor, who had offended her. " Why," retorted the lady, " I'll pay, my fare to you, and then I'll be bound that the company will never g*t the money !"' " Looking forward to enjoyment," said an enthusiastic young ■'■ lady to a city man, .".is.the ch'anrn;'if^fiuman V it enables us to bear' b,ur; present burdens without repining in. the hope of a. bright fortune." The city man's reply was, "It don't pay. From what I know of it, I would as-soon chase butterflies for a living, or bottle up moonshine for cloudy nights?' A lecturer on " The Sanitary Conditions of Existence" sternly asked his audience, " Does one woman in fifty fill the lower half of her lungs with air," and was utterly disconcerted by hearing a squealing voice reply, " I guess if you'd ever heard the voice of your mother-in- law when she was mad, wouldn't ask that question,"

The friends of that indefatigable traveller, Paul B. du Chaillu, will be delighted to hear that he has emerged from the arctic obscurity into which he disappeared some months ago, and that he wiir soon be narrating to delighted audiences the story of his adventures in the Land % of the Midnight Sun. Mr. du Chaillu has made a thorough exploration of Sweden, Norway, and Lapland, extending his journey to. the extreme limits" of northern travel by land, the North Cape, and everywhere studying with the closest attention the features of the country, and the manners and customs of the people. Of course he is writing a book, in which he will tell us all about his wanderings by rail, by boat, on horseback, and in reindeer sledges, and we venture the prediction that it will be one of the most interesting and vivacious of all the books of travel lie has yet published. Mr. Du Chaillu's letter, announcing his early departure for this country, was written at Laedalsoren, in Norway, on the 21st of October.

A tradesman was served the other day with a schedule to make his returns In the column for noting the number of carriages with less than four wheels, he-inserted%- " A barrow, drawn by me in the garden, with one wheel." The assessor wrote, under it—-" Asses and one-wheel carriages are exempt from duty." °.