ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 37, 16 February 1878, Page 3

ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

''■■•-■' li»Nfiox, 21st December. Speaking at Edinburgh on the 20th, the Secretary of War said he thought the great danger to pe-jice arose from the large reserves, numberiag nasin^r millions of then j collected- on the Qpn tinent. B^aconsSeld has contradicted the reports that the ' Pope c had written ah autograph letter to the Queen, thanking her for. the freedoni of action m connection, with the establishment of a Catholic hierarchy m So land. Five vessels are stated to have safled for Australian and New Zealand ports during the last twV months, witli quantities of gunpowder varying from 20 to IGQ tons aboard. The City of Berlin, which brought the Australian mails via San- Francisco, was 33 days crbssirig the Atlantic, having broken her propeller. She was met and taken m tow by the City of New York. Twenty guineas premium was'paid on her. .' The masons; strilce continues, both masters and men still declining to give way. SeveraL fights have occurred bei iween the English and foreign workmen .

.Chief-Inspector Clark, "who was acquitted at the late detective trial, has been restored to full pay and reinstated, but .will.forth.with retire on a pension. The new fortifications m Germany are being^'rapidly completed.' The commercial treaty between England and Austria is to be prolonged. Queen Isabella arid the wife of Don, Carlos have exchanged visits m Paris, and there is a prospect of the 40 years' Carlist feud being ended. The Emperor of Russia has conferred orders of the highest class on the Grand Duke Nicholas, Prince Charles of Roumania, and General Todleben: Many other officers have been decorated. An anti-Russian meeting, attended by 8000 persons, mostly students and laborers, was held at ' Pesth on S undayv .> Violent speeches were made, and as M. Lizza declined to receive more than ten or twelve persons, to. present the resolutions agreed tOj the. mpbv broke into his dwelling,,, driving; back , the? guard 6n. duty. *" Tlie windows were ; smashed, and cries raised of ".Down with. Andrassy," "Down with Lizza." Order was only restored by calling out the troops.; The " Tremedenblatt the following day stated that such manifestations would have no effect on Austrian policy, and added: "If we were; ttryo ©ry "Jtalt" to Russia* we should simply plunge ourselves into a . war .'.with Russia, and increase the hostility of German j and Italy." ' A hundred! and/ four -cannon 1 were found buried at Plevna. . > ~~ -'-—; In the engagement on the Lorn, on the 13th, the Czare witch was- so much exposed to the Turkish force- that a ball grazed his head. ' The flight of the ex-Khan of Ehokand from Orenberg is expwfecj! to cause serious difficulty to the JRussiansin Cen-tral-Asi*. '' ; . . • ■-.':'/ '-'■; ;. \ . CsxLOJfj. January; 11. Tbe famine, distress is rapidly subsidi ing it* Madras and: Bttniwiy, ' Much satisfaction i* expressed at the handsome way m -which the colonies liave ires-; ponded to the call for aid. '„./ Sip John Straehey has announced his Budget for 1878. The famine i cost was j nine and a quarter millions m five years. A famine insurance fund is now to be formed out of the surplus revenue to be raised by additional taxation, a license •tax; and an addition,, on laud m North India. '„"■'■'■ ■'■ ' ':.' ■]■".' ,/' : ': ''. ; Lord Lytton favors a policy of decentralisation* increasing, the. financial power arid responsibilities, of Madras and Bombay. . . • v The frontier wars still drag ojb, Disturbances h»ve occurred m China between missionaries and natives.