NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 110, 9 May 1879, Page 2

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

A box containing small fragments of I human remains, each piece being wrapped in brown paper, has been fished up from the Thames. The mutilated remains have been recognised as those of Mrs Thomas, who lived alone near Richmond. The supposed murderess, Catherine Webb, alias Lawlar, was Mr Thomas's servant, and it ia be-

lieved she made away with the identifiable parts, and threw the rest into the Thames, and theu sold the contents of the house. She afterwards went home to Ireland, where she was arrested. The Titnei recomniends the creditors of the City of Glasgow Batk to accept a composition of las in the pound. The same paper says that the call of £2250 per share portends ruin to nearly every shareholder, Au English company is about to start at Flushing, Holland, for the importation of Auieridan meatj dead and alive, for the German market. . The entrance wall of the S.W. JDdia Dock, London, has fallen in. Vessels will be unable to dock there for several months, and those in the dock will be unable to leave till the obstruction is removed. A London correspondent represents society as still discussing the singular proceedings of the Queen in the recent marriage of the Duke of Connaught. Tradesmen complain bitterly of the privacy with which the wedding was Conducted. The writer says that anybody who saw the Condition of London 1 streets on the evening of the wedding could perceive that the shopkeepers were in their sulkiest tttood. There were aittidst nCi illuminations. The otnission of an invitation to Mr Gladstone is widely commented on. It is certain ! that the omission wds not an act of forgetf ulne's3} and that it was brought to the Queen's notice, when it is said that her reply was— " It is my son' 3 wedding, and I shall pay all expenses." The story has been in circulation for several days, and repeated at every dinner tdbie, and at every reception, while nobody has as yet contradicted it, and nobody seems to doubt that the words the Queen is alleged to have uttered do, in fact, represent her real feeing in the matter. Thia want of personal regard for Mr Gladstone is said to be shared by the heir to the throne and other members of the Royal Family. It is due largely to his independence and firmness in advocating reforms. Mr David M'lvor, one of the proprietors of the Canard line of steamers, and member of Parliament, writes that he does not know of any nation whose tirade prospects are so gloomy as those of Great Britian • but the Times points out that nowithstanding thia the country has been paying its way, and devoting more than three million pounds annually to the reduction of the national debt. Some -sharp correspondence has passed between < Sir Bartle Frere and Sir Michael Hicks Beach. The latter writes :— "The Government are unable to find any evidence of the urgent necessity which alone could justify your taking, without their full knowledge and sanction, a course almost certain to result in war, which I had previously impressed upon you, every effort should have been made to avoid. The Government with great regret, adopt the above views, and do not doubt your future action will prevent the recurrence of the complaint. They have no desire to withdraw their confidence in the present crisis." Sir Michael Hicks-Beach further writes :— " Though their views are subject to modification by future events, the Government, when it becomes possible to decide upon peace conditions, will be indisposed to sanction annexation, or any further interference with the internal affairs of Zululand than is necessary for securing the safety of the colonists." Lieutenant-General Besset, now in South Africa, will, it is said, be Lord Chelmsford's successor. Egyptian officers have been sent to break up the slave depots at Bahr, Egozal, and Kordofan. They report an engagement with Sulieman, a chief trader, and owner of 25 depots, ia which women to the number of 10,000 are waiting importation into Egypt The Egyptian forces numbered 3000. The party, armed with improved rifles, were entrenched, and Sulieman, with 11,000 Arabs, made several assaults, but was completely defeated, and fell back in disorder, leaving 1087 dead on the field. The Egyptians lost 20 men. On the day after the battle 5000 deserters came over to the Egyptian camp. The Egyptians followed the retiriug enemy, and killed 10 chiefs and 2000 men more. Still in pursuit. At last advices capture of all slave depots considered certain. The damage to the submerged city Szegedin is estimated at £150,000. 3000 farmhouses in the adjacent country have been destroyed, about 23,000 inhabitants removed, and 1000 persons drowned. The tliirty-aixth race between Cambridge and Oxford University crews on the Thames River, over the usual course, about four miles two furlongs, resulted, as expected, in a victory for Cambridge by two lengths. There was little betting; to-day 5 to 1 on Cambridge was offered, but 6 to 1 was wanted. The time of the race was 21mins 28secs The Cambridge crew led from the start, and the result was never doubtful. Oxford won the choice of positions, and took the Surrey side. At Hamaiersmith Bridge, one mjle and three-quarters from the starting point, Cambridge was three length ahead, going as they pleased, 36 strokes to the minute. The race was virtually over at the top of Cbiswick, about six furlongs further on, where Cambridge was five length ahead. There was some surf in the corner reach, which slackened the pace, and Oxford steering better might have come up, but the crew appeared exhausted. Cambridge steadily maintained their advantage, quickening their stroke to 38 in the last quarter of a mile, and won by 6 or 7 leugths. The New York Sun's special Montreal correspondent says : — A great change has come over the face of affairs here since the arrival of the Alarquis of Lome. You may depend upon it there is trouble ahead of the Marquis, if he persists in his course ; he has already proved himself utterly a misplaced official, and has shown incapacity to fill any position of, trust or responsibility. Advices from Paaama state that the situation in Bolivia is unchanged. Chili holds Bolivian ports and will not give them up without a fiuht. The latest news was that three Peruvian ironclads were ordered to proceed to Iquique immediately. Three thousand soldiers were under orders to proceed there also, as soon as transports could be obtained. Peru has an old humiliation to avenge, and this is her opportunity. A storm of the severest nature swept over Memphis. Cotton and woollen mills entirely destroyed. The mills were valued at 90,000 dols., and employed 125 persons. Mirazoane, West Indies, was destroyed by fire on the night of the 18th March. Colonel Marsh, commanding the Canadian Mounted Police, writes that Sitting Bull and his 2000 warriors, well armed and equipped, are showing a very ugly insubordinate disposition. At a banquet given at Madrid by advocates of abolition of slavery, it was resolved that the society for promoting the total disappearance of slavery from Spanish colonies should be reorganised. The ship Niobe, which sailed from New York for Australia, took nine locomotives, S9 organs, 403 packages of clocks, and a large assortment of agricultural implements for the Australian Exposition. Another ship follows. Terrific prairie fires have recently occurred in the Republic and Clouds Counties, Kausas, and extended over an area of 10 miles long and 3 miles wide, sweeping everything before them. About 100 homes were consumed, also large quantities of graia, farming implements, hay, and other property. The winds were so high, the fire so fierce and hot, tbat the inhabitants were obliged to take refuge in cellars, dug-outs, or underground habitations. But one life is reported lost, several severely injured. The loss is estimated at £30,000.

Salsbey and Sons, manufacturing warehousemen in Melbourne, have failed. Liabilities, £31,000 ; assets, £34,000. A Sydney telegram of Wednesday says :— A man was robbed on Suuday by two men representing themselves as Ned and Dan Kelly, near Wilcanniit. By an Old Bachelor. — When two girls meet they kiss. When two young men meet they don't. That shows who wants kissing the worst. The N. Z Times of Wednesday says :— The vacancy in the Mayoral chair was quite the gossip yesterday, and the question " Who has failed to-day ?" had to give place to " Who is to he the new Mayor ?" The net profits divided by the eight partners in Bass and Co.'s brewery last year amounted to £420,000. It is not often so large a postage fee has been paid as that for the transmission from Lyttelton to England of the Harbor Board's debentures. This reached the respectable amount of £70. The Southland Times says :— " According to a letter read at the last meeting of the Harbor Board, the purchasers of the Ann Gambles are already £3000 out of pocket by the transaction. As one of the members remarked, if this be true, she has not proved to be such a lucky purchase as at one time appeared probable," Some people choose to marry amid the clanging of belis, the pealing of organs, or the felicitatioos of relations and frieads ; others prefer to do the business secretly. A young employee of one of our big local factories (says the Dunedin Star) elected the latter mode the other day. She went up to overseer with a pitiful tale about a troublesome tooth. Would he please spare her for a little while, so that she might go and get it drawn ? Of course he would, although pressed with work, for he had suffered from tooth-ache himself. She brushed back her hair and went. In the the course of half an hour she returned minus all symptoms of dental disorder and plus a wedding ring, which her confreres discovered as she ungloved her hands to resume work. The overseer vows that all his girls may all go mad with the tooth-ache before he allows any more of them liberty on such a plea. . A Christchurch paper says that at different times during the day lately there might be heard a considerable ringing of small bells in the vicinity of the City Hotel, and to those who do not understand the meaning of it the effect is slightly puzzling. The explanation is this:— Some little time since the City Council resolved that all cabs should contain signal bells in the same way as the omnibuses in large cities at home. The intelligent Jehus who, perhaps, do not relish this additional regulation, however useful it may be considered by the Municipal authorities, have taken a way of showing the effect of the bell-ringing apparatus. Whenever his Worship the Mayor makes his appearance in front of the Auctioti Mart all the cabs on the stand in that locality set up a tremendous ringing in concert. In fact, the civic head I cannot now make its appearance without being saluted by a ;bell. la another and differently worded sense, perhaps no civic head would object to be so saluted, but from a musical point of view it would seem to require variety. Judging from the following advertisement 1 in the Tuapeka Times the heathen Chinee is just as alive to the advantages of high wages as his pale-faced brethren:— "Notice to Europeans employing Chinese. — Notice is hereby given that any European who may require the services of the Chinese shall be expected to pay the usual rate of wages; and if any Chinese are not worth the full rate, the employer is requested to discharge him or pay him the full rate— Thoa. Chin Sing, agent." This is rather smart when ° oa ~ i sidered in all its bearings. A Samoftn correspondent writes iv Auckland : — " Business is excessively dull j many storekeepers don't take a dollar a-day, and the publicans are no better off. The natives talk about fighting again and with the prospect of an early outbreak of civil war they ! will neither work to earn money by copramaking, &c, nor spend any they have, except for firearms and ammunition. There is no further news." New Zealand will have to look to its laurels or California will serious affect her trade in many articles of natural products. Some years since Nelson hops were never worth less than 2s per pound; now (says the Wanganni Herald) they are a drug in the market at is, owing to the large importations of Californians, which are much stronger, and contain more lupulin than those growing in New Zealand and Tasmania. Now we have California pouring in barley, which is selling at 3s and 3s 3d per bushel in Auckland, whereas New Zealand grown samples have been selling as high as 7s previous to the arrivals from 'Frisco. With an immense agricultural area, genial climate, and cheap labor our Californian friends have natural advantages which more than coyer the cost of transport between their ranches and a market. New Zealand barley this season has been the famers' best crop, as it has ranged fully 2s per bushel over wheat lately.— New Zealander. There has been almost a total cessation lately in items of news from Australia respecting the Kellys and their movements. Prom a private letter received in Dunedin, written by a farmer residing in the vicinity of the Strathbogie Eanges, the haunt of the gang, it appears that the prevailing impression in that locality ig that the Kellys have made their way through the interior to Queensland. A writer in the Advocate suggests the following explanation of the difficulty which has resulted in catching the Kellys, as far as the sympathy of the inhabitants of the district is concerned : — " We are told that is it an ill wind which blows no one good, and the truth of the adage is verified in the case of the Kellys. It appears that there are now some 300 policemen and a large number of horses in the Kelly country, and that the provisioning of this small army has proved quite a mine for the farmers, selectors, and business people of the district. All they want, it appears, is more men and horses just to carry them through the winter months. After which, it is suggested, that the whole force, Chief Commissioner and black trackers included, should be sent after Weiberg, just to give the Gippslanders a share of the Government pickings. Whatever may be said of the inhabitants individually, there can be no doubt but that, taken as a whole, it suits the district better to have the Kellys at large than to have them arrested."