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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 242, 12 October 1877, Page 4

The School Board Chronicle hears from, Stockport of the first case of a child earning the right to an " honour certificate " under Lord Sandon's Act. He is under eleven years of age, has passed his fourth standard, and has made 350 attendances per yeariu the last two years. He is therefore entitled to three years schooling, for which the fees will be paid by the Education Department.

An exciting race took place from Dover to London between the Continental mail express traiu aud a carrier pigeon conveying a document of au urgent nature for the Er_nch police. The rails, carriages, and engine of the express train were, as might be expected, of the hest possible construction for power and speed. The pigeon, which was bred byMessrs Hartley and Sons, of Woolwich, and "homed" when a few waefcs old to a building in Canuou-street City, was also of the best breed of homing pigeons, known as " Belgian voyageurs." The bird was tossed through the railway carriage window by ft, French official as the train moved from the Admiralty pier, the wind being west and the atmosphere hazy, but with the sun shining. For upwards of a minute the pigeon circled iound to an altitude of about half a mile, and then sailed away towards Loi.djn. By this time the train, which carried the European mails, and was timed not to stop between Dover and Cannon-street, had got up to full speed, aud was tearing away at the rate of sixty mites an hour toward Loudon. Tl-e odds, at starting, seemed against the bird ; and the railway officials, justly proud aud confident in the strength of the iron horse, predicted the little aerial messenger would fail ; but the race was nob to the strong The carrier pigeon, us soon as it ascertained its bearings, took the nearest route, iu a direction midway between Maidstone and Sittiugbourue, the distance, as tbe crow flits, between Dover and Loudon, beiug seventy miles, and by rail seventy-six aud a half miles. As the Continental mail express came puffing into Cannon-street statiou, tho pigeon had been home twenty minutes, having beaten her Majesty's Royal mail by a time allowance representing eighteen miles.

In addition to the items which have already been published in our telegraphic columns the following j information appears in the' Melbourne papers: -At a public meeting he'd at Madras, the famine statistics read were appalling, and showed that oue million aud a half were receiving relief, and that over half a million of deaths had been reported from December to July. According to the Home papers a second year of famine is dreaded. London advices state that slocks are buoyant, it being considered that the Turkish victory iu Bulgaria will lessen the chance of foreign intervention. It is announced that a special Turkish Imperial Guard camp from reserves will be foruiod to protect Constantinople. August 12.— Lord Derby, replying to a question, said that the report in the Austrian Press, tbat England's policy would be to await and participate in the partition of Turkey was wholly unfounded. A Turkish army corps of 35,000 u , , i: e - cal!ed to Constantinople from Bagdad. Consul Webster, at Cherson, aud Consul Mansfield, at Bucharest, have been expelled from the local clubs for reporting llussian ill-treatment of the Uniat Christians. An increased revolutionary tendency on the part of the Tirvophils has alarmed the Government, and Maksakoff, of Moscow, the leader of the party, has been ordered to travel aboard. In Ceylon, Bishop J. Copieston has excommunicated oue, if not two, church missionaries. Chinese emgration to Queensland is being discouraged, if not stopped. '