NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 107, 23 October 1878, Page 3

NEWS IN BRIEF.

The foremost novelist ;in England today is iJeorge Eliot. She is not only the firs%|aEngland, but since the death of Geor^Sand,. she is the first lady novelist m existence. As a check upon the Chinese m Queensland an Act was passed limiting the number of passengers, and taxing each one £10. Then the miners' right was raited to £3. Now no Chinaman is to work on a goldfield until three years after its discovery. It is reported that Patti has abandoned the legal proceedings com--menced with the view of proving her marriage with the Marquis de Caux as illegal. A " Sympathetic Club," composed of young men who have been unfortunate m their dreams of love, has been organised at Madison, Georgia. Out of 95,500 deaths registered m Ireland m the year 1877, m sixty-seven instances the deceased was described as aged 100 years or upwards. A growth of human hair, the longest on record, is among the curiosities at the Paris Exposition. It came from the head of a poor Norman girl, and is seven feet long, and of exquisite golden colour. It appears that John Bright, who sneered at Lord Beaconsfield for being of Jewish descent, had a greatgrandfather who married Martha Jacobs, a Jewess, so that Mr Bright bit off his own nose to spite his face. The captain of H.M.S. Sappho warns all Europeans against proceeding to New Guinea. The place must be a perfect charnel house, as he says four out of ereey five Europeans will certaiily die. Ninety-six pounds of ice per man is daily consumed m the lower levels of the Consolidated Virginia and California mines m cooling the drinking water for the miners. Barmaids having been abolished m one of the American States, the publicans now-emplby young ladies whom they term ** conversationalists," whose only duty is to chatter on the topics of the hour. •* Chalk sermons " are the- latest • novelty m America. The preacher is accompanied m the pulpit by an artist who illustrates the discourse by sketches m chalk on a large black-board fitted up at the side. , In the London police there are 7917 Englishmen, 820 Irishmen, 145 Scotchmen, 13 Welshmen, and 23 foreigners; of the latter, 12 are Germans. With electric candles there can be no fire, no explosions, and the light can be laid on some three to fifteen times cheaper than gas or pi] light. A portion of the Novar collection of pictures, formed by the late Mr Hugh Munro, were soldby auction m London . The gem of the collection— Raffaelle's "Virgin with the Candelabra "— was tut op by the. auctioneer at £15,000, and bought m at £19,500. The picturewae formerly brought from the, Broghere Palace by Lucien Bonaparte,' and sold by him to the Queen of Etruria. A large serpent from Java— Tythan mplurus-~htL& arrived at the Paris Jar_"»w d«?s Plantes. The reptile has a girth 20in., and weighs 661 b., while it m considered a most rare event for so large a specimen to ' reach Europe alive. The Melbourne correspondent of the " Ballarat Slar, " says that " Miss Go. ngen (Mrs. Constable) is about to visit Victoria, if not as ah actress, at all events as a spiritualistic lecturer. B&itholdi'g colossal statue of" Liberty Lighting the World, " intended to be placed m New York harbour, is coming out piece by piece, from the immense workshops established expressly for its construction.