General News.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 226, 8 January 1876, Page 8

General News.

A remarkable article—fish flour—has lately been introduced into the market. It is prepared from dried fish of first quality ; it is thoroughly desiccated, and then ground in a mill.

It is reported from Vienna that the Duke of Connaught has been betrothed to the Archduchess Marie Christine, daughter of the Archduke Karl Ferdinand. The rumor requires confirmation.

At the laying of the foundation stone of a new church at Luton by the Duchess of Bedford, it was announced that the Duke of Bedford had sent a contribution of £IOOO to the building fund. Mr. William Talley, a solicitor lately practising in Windsor, who opposed Mr. Disraeli in Bucks at the last general election, has been convicted of an attempt to pervert the course of justice in a criminal trial, and sentenced to twelve months’ imprisonment. Alderman Knight, while dealing with a case of felony by a boy at Guildhall on Saturday, complained of the great harm done by the circulation of tales of the “ Jack Sheppard” type, and said magistrates ought to have the power to stop the publication of such abominable trash.

There are four pensions in the “first-class” for political services of £2OOO each, and others in the second, third, and fourth classes. Mr. Disraeli enjoyed £2OOO a year to his appointment in March last year. The other first-class pensioners are Sir George Grey, Mr. Thomas Milner Gibson, and Mr. Spencer Walpole. The Alliance News has the pleasure to announce the adhesion and enrolment of another noble lord, the Marquis Townshend, who has now become a member of the Alliance. The News adds, “We are informed that the noble Marquis has suppressed all public-houses upon his estates.”

A chess match has been arranged to take place in London early in the ensuing winter, between Mr. Blackburne, the noted blindfold player, and Herr Steinits, the winner of the first prize at the Vienna International Tournament in 1873.

It appears from a Parliamentary return just issued that since the year 1862, when flogging garotters was authorised, up to the present time, 2806 persons were convicted for offences punishable by flogging, and of that number only 339 Were flogged. Recent statistics show that there are in France 324 colleges, with 69,500 pupils. In addition to those public establishments there are 657 private institutions, providing for about 43,000 students, and 278 ecclesiastical ones with 34,000, the total being nearly 150,000. The £13,000 recently subscribed for the erection of a monument to the Viceroy of Egypt, will, says the School Board Chronicle, be used in a somewhat different direction. By the Khedive’s own desire aDd instructions, the whole sum will be devoted to the establishment at Alexandria of a great public school, open to children of all nationalities and denominations.

The second great fete of the Foresters was held at the Alexandra Palace, at which about 30,000 persons, chiefly members of the order and their friends, were present. The profits of the fete will be given to the funds of the widows and orphans’ fund of the London United District branch.

George Marples, an ostler in the service of the Sheffield Carriage Company, has narrowly escaped a horrible death. He has had care of a pair of entire Flemish horses. On Saturday last he was putting corn in a manger, when one of the horses seized him by the arm, tossed him to the ceiling, and then dashed him to the ground. The animal then knelt upon him and was worrying him, when his cries for assistance were heard and he was rescued. His left leg and arm were broken, and he was otherwise frightfully injured. The sending of an invitation to Queen Victoria to attend the Centennial Celebration ia strongly urged by the New York Sun. The editor says that the coming hither of this Royal lady would make the cords that bind the two nations not merely an electric wire, across which commerce sends his messages of mutual interest, but a living bond, palpitating with blood fresh from the heart of the American people. The journey across the Atlantic is not now an affair of moment, and sure of such a greeting as not even her most loyal and attached subjects could give her, Victoria would come as the messenger of peace and impersonation of the dignity of the honored matron, equally respected in the two countries.

The threatening aspect of affairs in Europe, the unprotected state of our principal ports, and the certainty that, in the event of England taking part in the fray, her opponent would take steps to invade her Indian and Australian possessions, render our position (says the Darling Downs Gazette) one of a doubtful character. “ What assistance are we likely to receive from Home ?” is the question frequently uppermost in our minds; and the only reply we have been able to obtain is this, “England will have enough to do at Home, and it would tend to your safety and preservation were you to take steps towards your own protection. ’ War having been declared, and a score or two of our wool and gold ships captured, our leading men would awaken to the value and importance of federation, and would proceed—too late, we fear—to provide for its accomplishment.

The Jewish Chronicle affirms that Herr Soloman Rosenbaum, a co-religionist at Ludenscheid, has lately attained the age of 103 years, and is still in the enjoyment of great bodily vigor.

The Rev. S. H. Gregg, rector of East Harbone, Birmingham, has written a pamphlet advocating disestablishment. He contends that the Church is not deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and needs such reforms as disestablishment only can effect. Several further meetings of the committee of the Plimsoll statue fund have been held, and steady progress is being made for the advancement of the object in view. About GOO subscription books, each representing £l, are now out, and inquiries for more are being made daily. Mr. R. Bell, the sculptor commissioned to execute the statue, will shortly have a model ready to lay before the committee.

A lady correspondent, writing from Eondon to the Brisbane Courier , says : —“ Contrary to the predictions of the Press, the success of Mr. Irving’s Macbeth is brilliant, unequivocal, and increasing. Crowded houses, audiences hushed to utter stillness, and the tribute of pale faces, form the nightly-repeated tribute to his extraordinary impersonation of the most wonderful creation of Shakspere, save one. I am told that he intends to act the part of lago as soon as he can find an English actor who can play Othello to his satisfaction. I have no doubt that Mr. Irving would be the best lago this generation has seen, or shall see, but I fear the Othello will not be forthcoming. He is, at all events, on his ti’avels as yet, and will have to be sought for amid the ‘ antres vast.’ ” The Philadelphia Times remarks: —“ It has been stated in the leading papers of Europe, that in order to arrest emigration from Germany, Prince Bismarck has been offering imperial lands for sale in small lots at low prices. This, it was hoped, would stop the tide by showing the working classes of Germany they could live as well there as in the United States. But the plan did not succeed. The lands were not taken. Even the agricultural hands that remain at home are not disposed to till the earth when they can find more remunerative employment. A letter was lately received in New York upon this subject from a highly intelligent gentleman in Prussia, in which the writer says that field hands just now can make more by working upon forts and railroads than in rising the plough and scythe, and, therefore, the sale of land is extremely dull and languid. Not until all these improvements are completed can it be seen whether the men of Germany prefer Government lots on the Bismarck plan to the advantages obtained under the homestead law of the United States. One thing is certain, that at the present time the sale of imperial lots in Germany is not brisk.” The London correspondent of the Queenslander, writing of the Whitechapel murder case, says :—“ The evidence in the examinations before the magistrate reads rather like the sort of evidence given in Prance than like the testimony of ordinary English witnesses ; and the skill, celerity, and completeness with which the police have hunted up the case will go far to condone the offences of omission with which they have been charged of late. I saw yesterday a friend who had been present all day during the final examination of the prisoners Wainwright’s brother being now charged as an accessory to the murder—and he told me that the appearance of Wainwright was wretched in the extreme. * I have seen men look like him after imprisonment au secret in Prance and terrible prolonged interroyatoires by the French legal authorities,’ he said, ‘ and I have always wendered how, under that system, they contrived to keep their senses at all; but I never saw an English accuse look like Wainwi*ight. I suppose it must be the horror of the constant reiteration of the details of his crime.’ He will be tried soon. I do not think anything so ghastly has occurred in England since the confrontation of Corder, the murderer of Maria Martin, of ‘Red Barn’ celebrity, with the skull of his victim ; or even in France, since Maria Leforge saw the vases with the dreadful remains of her husband placed on the table before the shuddering court, and the appalled spectators.” According to an Australian contemporary, serious disagreements have lately occurred among the officers of the New South Wales Artillery Corps. In the encampment at Long Bay, during dinner hour Lieutenant Le Patourel, in the midst of what was described as rather a chaffing or general joking scene, took up a black bottle (an ordinary sherry wine, bottle), poured the remaining contents into his glass, and threw the bottle to or at Lieutenant Russell ; it struck him or fell on his thigh. In the act of throwing or passing the bottle in this fashion, Le Patoui’el said, “ Take a glass of wine, Russell.” Enraged at this, Russell raised the bottle, and with great force threw it at Le Patourel, striking him on the temple. He fell senseless, and was carried outside ; he remained insensible for a considerable time, and it was not until the following morning that Ur. Bedford was enabled to pronounce him out of danger. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Russell was placed under arrest. A court of inquiry, consisting of Colonel Richardson, Major Baynes, and Brigade-major Christie, assembled at the Artillery Barracks on the 26th October, and after a full investigation it was recommended that Lieutenant Russell be severely reprimanded, and placed at the bottom of the list of lieutenants ; in other words, he changed places with his junior, Le Patourel, who from that time became his senior in rank. Subsequently Lieutenant Russell brought charges against Le Patourel and Major Airey. The charge against the former for annoying Russell in the mess-room, &c., was withdrawn. He, however, charged Mr. Airey with a breach of the Queen’s regulations in not maintaining order in the room, i.e., allowing Le Patourel to continually annoy him (Russell); and generally for incapacity in maintaining authority as commanding officer. The court of inquiry, consisting, as before, of Colonel Richardson, Major Baynes, and Major Christie, were occu-

pied for three days in investigating the matter, and they reported that the charges made against Mr. Airey were unfounded. His Excellency the Governor, in Executive Council, having concurred with the finding of the court, and considering that the charges had been preferred in a reckless manner, and in an insubordinate spirit on the part of Lieutenant Russell, that officer’s commission in the New South Wales Artillery has been cancelled.