MISCELLANEOUS NEWS BY THE MAIL.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 51, 13 January 1872, Page 15

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS BY THE MAIL.

The " Liberte " informs us that Lord Lyons is to be shortly relieved by Lord Loftus, and to accompany Prince Alfred to Calcutta in the quality of subGovernor of India and the Australian colonies. Prince Alfred, we are assured, has been appointed Viceroy, and Lord Lyons is to reside at Melbourne ! The "Athenseum" records the discovery of what it describes as the largest diamond yet found in the South African diamond fields. In July last two adventurers, Messrs Stevens and Raath, are said to have discovered on the first day of working their claim, a diamond weighing 194 carat. Of the quality of the gem there is no information. A municipal deputation asked the Emperior of Germany during his late stay at Baden, to grant a prolongation of the time fixed for closing the gaming establishments. The Emperor simply answered that the law passed by Parliament has fixed irrevocably the supression of gambling for the end of next year. The Japanese Government has issued a decree wiping out the position of Hans or Daimios. This reduces people who have been rulers for over 300 years to the position of the common people, and immediately annexes their territories to the Government. It appears from the results of the inquiry instituted by the Hungarian Government into the working men's agitation at Pesth, that this agitation was conducted by men who were in direct communication with the International, and that the latter proposed to make Pesth the head-quarters of the society, on the ground that " Hungary has a very inefficient police, if any." At Emly, on Friday, where Whittington's travelling menagerie was exhibiting, the son of a local publican having put his hand through the bars of a cage containing bears, it was seized by one of the animals, and nearly torn off. A mob then attacked the menagarie. One bear was shot dead, another escaped, and the proprietor received a very bad beating. Seven rioters have been arrested. Catastrophes continue to occur on the lakes of Oberland. On Tuesday week a boat, containing eight persons, was overturned on the Lake of Thun, and

four 'of the number were, unfortunately, drowned. The accident occurred near the bridge of Scherzlingen, and those who were saved drifted down as far as the Allmend on the capsized boat before they were rescued. Mr Henry Kingsley writes to the " Echo," saying :—Mr Longfellow, in the preface to the volume of poems entitled " Miles Standish," says .that to prevent the shameful piracy of American books by English publishers, he had got an English poet to write part of the book, and to secure copyright in England. Has Mr Tennyson ever resorted to a similar 'cute ruse ? The singing master Rubini has just discovered at Boulogne a working cooper with a magnificent tenor voice. This man, whose name is Devilliers, was one of the singers at a concert of Orpheonists and their friends, given in aid of the widows and orphans of the victims of the commune. Rubini chanced to be present, and being greatly struck, proposed to give him a musical education and bring him out on the stage, which offer was naturally accepted. A Bermondsey " Steeple Jack," we are informed, has written to the Governor of Strasbourg, proffering to take down the vexatious French flag that still flaunts defiantly from the flagstaff of the Cathedral, defying the prowess of all who have yet striven to haul it down. He only asks for his travelling expenses to be paid, and will do the rest for the honor of the thing. He detests the French, he says, because they eat frogs. Why the Government officials at Washington have for a long time past made the employment of " Seneca" stone compulsory in the erection of Government buildings is no longer a mystery. The Seneca stone quarries are worked by an " association," of which President Grant, his brother-in-law (General Dant), General Meigs, General Rabcock, General Eaton, Governor Cooke, Paym aster-General Brice, Surgeon-General Barnes, and John W. Forney are heavy .shareholders. A Belgian named Nyst has proposed an ingenious mode of levying the tax on stuffs when purchased for home use. It is to affix along the piece a narrow slip of paper of some material divided into metres and centimetres, and which would be sold by the State at one franc per 100 metres. As these bands would cost about 15 centimes, the profit would be 85 centimes. The measure would be a guarantee that the seller obtained the right quantity from the manufacturer, and the purchaser from the retailer. The inventor has been presented to M. Thiers by M. Batbie. The French papers, under the heading of " the last of the Mohicans," give us a painful account of the death of a poor man who rejoiced in the appelation of the Great Serpent, and who used to play the red Indian at the fairs round Paris. A touching letter was found in the pocket of the deceased, who committed suicide a couple of days ago. In it he said, u I kill myself because T am too poor. I recommend my wife and six children to the charity of the 6th Arrondissement; they are at this moment engaged in performing tableaux vivants at the fete of Brie-Comte-Robert." The Great Serpent had hardly any clothing on him when found by the police; he was tattooed all over, and had only one lock of hair on his head. The " Army[and Navy Gazette" hears that officers have sent in their papers " by hundreds and hundreds." In one cavalry regiment one major and six captains and several subalterns to retire. The Dublin Brigade Office is reported to have had 400 applications to retire, and we are afraid to mention the number reported to have been received at head quarters. There is, indeed, " an ugly rush" to get out of the army. The new regulation as regards adjutancies of reserve forces will shortly remove some eight or nine officers of artillery to the Supernumerary List. It is intended to effect a considerable reduction in the half-pay list, and a large number of the captains whose names appear in the closely packed columns, occupying pages 149, 150, and 151 of the Army List, are, during the next few months, to have the chance of full-pay employment. The Tichborne claimant's popularity is showing itself in the usual absurd way. We have hardly got over the "Lome" mania—Lome ties, boots, scents, pickles, and dog-collars—before

! everything is assuming the " Tichborne 1 * designation. The greatest offenders in this way, to my knowledge, are the Brighton Town Councillors, who have just altered the name of a wretched street in their town from " Pimlico" to " Tichborne stveet." Readers will have seen how the name of " Tichborne" is being applied to lozenges, blacking, and other luxuries. They cannot, however, all have seen the advertisement of a Yorkshire upholsterer who proclaims the merit of a new couch in this wise : " The celebrated Tichborne Bedstead ! Warranted to withstand the flop of 26 stone! A marvel of combined cheapness and strength !" Upwards of one hundred thousand hadjees, or pilgrims, have visited Mecca this year. Mr Michael Bass, M.P., has prepared a bill, which he intends to introduce next session, to abolish process of recovery for any debt under the value of 40s. Intelligence has reached New York of great excitement prevailing at Winnepeg in consequence of a reported discovery of gold near Lake Shebandowan. A Spanish correspondent informs us that a panic has been caused among the inhabitants of Ronda by some brigands, who have seized the son of a magistrate, and demanded a ransom of -3000 dols. The Atlantic Telegraph Companies, in addition to their gift of £2OOO to the Chicago Fund, have (the " Observer" says) agreed to send all messages relating to the fund free of charge. The Queen of the Belgians has been summoned by a dress maker to pay her bill, amounting to 67,000 francs. Her Majesty refuses to discharge it, on the ground that the prices are exorbitant. A decision has teen given in fho Abingdon Revision Court, according to which a married woman living apart from her husband is entitled to vote at municipal elections. Louis Kossuth has reappeared in the political arena, as he has addressed to the Magyars and Wallachians a manifesto, having for its object the organisation of the Danubian provinces as a free Confederation. It is said that the formation of a new society to regularly investigate spiritual phenomena is contemplated, and that Mr Serjeant Cox and Mr C. F. Varley, C.E., F.R.S., are among the promoters. The Pope has directed to be entered in the records! of the Vatican the whole of his correspondence with foreign Courts and with his bishops in all parts of the world. This is usually done only after the death of a Pope. The " Italie Finauciere" has come to the conclusion that Italy will have to import this year at least six million hectolitres (two million quarters) of wheat to meet the deficiency shown by the agricultural returns. The "Kensington News" states that the Righ Hon Mr Stansfield, President of the Local Government Board, is a defaulter to the parish of Kensington, and has been summoned for non-pay-ment of his share of both poor and local management rates. A Guild of Ladies is proposed to be formed to promote modesty of dress, to do away with extravagance, and substitute the neatness and sobriety suitable to Christian women. Miss Harrison, of Swanage, Dorset, is acting as organiser of the Guild. The " Levant Herald" contains particulars of the famine in Persia, showing that the deaths are more numerous than ever. In the district around Shiraz numerous villages are depopulated. The insurrection is not very serious, the people being too enfeebled to take part in it. A native paper says that nearly twothirds of the inhabitants of several villages in the neighborhood of Hindoo Shrine of Tarrekessur, Bengal, have died of cholera, caused, it is believed, by large quantities of rotten fish sold among the poor people. A Wexford paper confirms a rumor circulated recently, to the effect that Mr D'Arcy, M.P., for the county of Wexford, has given leases to his tenants in perpetuity, based on a fixed standard of prices—the rent to rise or fall according to an average of prices spread over 20 years. A ticket-of-leave convict, who had neglected to comply with the terms of his license, by omitting to give notice of his removal from one police district to

another, was last week sent by the Thames police magistrate to serve the unexpired term of his sentence. At Newcastle Police Court the Mayor, referring to the numerous assaults upon foreign workpeople, said he had received communications from the foreign consuls in that town to the effect that if such attacks continued « some explanation might be demanded by a foreign Government." • The following advertisement appears in the " Morristown Jerseyman:" — "To whom it may concern. —Whereas Parmelia Bush, a resident of Chester, did promise to marry me on the 19th inst., but instead of doing so did flunk aud run off, I brand her as a liar, and a person of bad character generally.— Edward Pratt." The Roman Catholic Bishop of Liverpool, Dr Goss, on Sunday condemned Mr Bruce for using the word " Popish" in his letters to the Renfrew electors. Even in Acts of Parliament the designation was "Roman Catholics. Catholics could* not be considered free till the Primer and the Queen were free to profess that religion. Louis Joseph Papineau, a Canadian political leader, who formerly attracted a large share of attention, has just died near Montreal, aged eighty-five. He was leader of the incipient rebellion in Canada in 1837, and went into exile to avoid arrest for high treason, but taking the benefit of the amnesty of 1840, has since lived in retirement. At a beerhouse called the Postman Inn, Norlhgate, Wakefield," a master painter, named Joseph Powell, was " holding forth" over his cups relative to the approaching municipal elections, when flourishing his arms about he accidentally hit Jas. Moorehouse/a tailor, who fell heavily on the stone floor, and received injuries that caused his death on the following morning. A terrible accident has just occurred on the plateau of Champigny, where combats of the Ist and 2nd December, 1870, were fought, The share of a plough came in contact with a bonxbshelf which had sunk into the earth, and caused an explosion. The body of the man driving was scattered about the field in morsels, the horses were killed, and the plough blown to pieces, A communication from Rome in the "Journal de Florence," says :—A troublesome cry has just sprung up amongst the lower classes of the people of this city. Bread is at 34 sous the ten pounds. The Ministers will do well to pay attention to that fact. Many people expect a famine, and perhaps this winter the Romans may experience the inconveniences which the Parisians suffered last year—minus, however, the Prussians. But is not hunger more terrible than war? During the past month (says a Cherbourg paper)"the passages of the Archipelago have been harassed by a Greek pirate ship/completely armed en guerre, which has already laid hands on many merchant vessels. Captain Dobbin, who commands the English gun-boat Growler, stationed at Rhodes, has been in close pursuit of her, but as yet he has not been able to overtake the pirate. Thanks to her light draught of water, the craft has hitherto found refuge in bays and creeks where the gunboat could not follow her. An old woman in England, who was lately convicted of stealing 97s from a sailor, stood weeping to receive her sentenco; when the judge, the Hon Sir Redmond Barry, addressing her m his blandest manner, said "Dry your tears, madam, and go to jail for 18 months."

The Nelson "Evening Mail" reports that great fears are entertained for the safety of Richard Townsend, a man in tho employ of the Bishop of Nelson, who has now been missing since Saturday last. For some time past Townsend's mind has been affected, and his conduct has been observed to be very eccentric ; and about a fortnight ago he left his home, and was absent'for nearly ten days, at the end of which time he came back in a very emaciated state. After. remaining at home a few hours, he, on Saturday, persuaded his wife to go out with him on the hills at the back of Bishopdale, saying that he wished to get some clothes he had left behind; but on arriving at the edge of the bush he disappeared in it, and has not since been heard of. Several persons have been out this week looking .for him, and to-morrow a large party will leave Bishopdale for the purpose of scouring the whole of the neighboring country in search of the unfortunate man.