Mail Items.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 226, 8 January 1876, Page 22

Mail Items.

First-class coal mines arc reported to have been discovered at Badajos. The work done by convicts in England in the year 1574 was of the gross value of about £240,000. Mr. Sparrow, the bicyclist who had undertaken to run GSO miles in seven days, gave up the task after riding two days. This is Josh Billings’ epitaph on a. friend: Here lies John Feigusson, Esq., died worth half a million—less the kingdom of heaven. A school of medicine for ladies, due .to private initiative, will be opened at Brussels on the Ist of next month.

Two women of bad repute were tarred and feathered by the virtuous male populace of Vergennes, the other night, says the Springfield Republican. Alice Day has been examined by the solicitors to the Treasury, and will be subpoenaed to give evidence in the Wainwriglit trial.

The hatmakers of London are now all out on strike, excepting those employed at three or four manufactories. They are now forming themselves into a trade union. The Jesuits at Marseilles are about to create a great college in that town, and have purchased for 400,000 f. a large piece of ground near Notre de la Garde. The drawer of the great prize in the last drawing of the Paris Loan 1869 is a Parisian working woman, who had entrusted her ticket to a small pastry-cook. The lucky woman gets £SOOO. The Leek (Staffordshire) Improvement Commissioners have refused to have in their cemetery the epitaph on hlrs. Newall s tombstone:—“2l years a dutiful daughter, 3 years a chaste and virtuous sweetheart, and 40 years a loving wife.” The wonderful commercial activity of France is again attested by figures which have just been published. Though nine months only of the financial year have yet gone past, the direct taxes amount to 47,000,000 francs, or £1,850,000, and the indirect taxes to 69,000,000 francs, or £2,760,000 more than the original estimates. The annual cost of the German Imperial army now amounts to about fifteen millions—pretty nearly the sum Great Britain annually pays for her much smaller force. The German estimates for 1876 show au excess of £350,000 on those for the previous year,, but the coimnissariat department is held principally responsible for the increase. Notwithstanding the recent “ act of repudiation,” the Turkish Government have obtained another loan with which to pay a past debt. The loan, however, is not a large one. for Turkey. It amounts only to £40,000 ;it is guaranteed by the revenue from lighthouse dues, and its object is to complete the payment of the last ironclad built in Great Britain for the Sultan.

The plan whereby all the German railways would be acquired by the State is assuming a definite shape, through the deliberations carried on at the Prussian Ministry of Commerce and the Office of Chancellorship of the German Empire. Prince Bismarck has intimated in a most decisive manner that the question has reached a point at which it requires to be settled, both on Prussian and Imperial grounds, and that he has therefore ordered negotiations to be opened, which have resulted in a resolve to go at once into the matter. The action of Wainwright v. the Sun Insurance Company, instituted by Henry Wainwright to recover amount insured under a certain lire policy issued to him by the Sun Fire Oflicc, is set down for hearing, and stands first in the list of special jury cases of the Common Pleas division of the High Court of Justice, Middlesex. The action, is brought in reference to the fire in the Whitechapel-road spoken of so often in the proceedings in the charge for murdering Harriet Lane, wherein the company allege incendiarism, and dispute the payment. If the case is tried at all, it is expected to be on or about the 3rd oE November, and "Waii.-wright will, as a. matter of course, be examined. Mr. Serjeant Harry is instructed for the plaintiff ;. Mr. Hawkins, Q.C., will represent the defendants.

The Bishop of Manchester, speaking at the Church of England Temperance Society’s meeting at Manchester, expressed an opinion that Sir Wilfrid Lawson, to a considerable extent, endangered the cause of the alliance by his overflowing wit and humor. Another proof of the rapid recovery of tx-ade in France is furnished by the return of the Bankers’ Clearing-House, which shows that 55,000,000 of francs passed through it in the month of October in excess of the amoxxnt in the corresponding month of last year. A Central News' telegram says :—The parishionei’s of Williamstown offer a strong opposition to the recent appointment of Father Loftus by the Archbishop of Tuam as their parish pi-icst. Last Sunday, when Father Loftus entered the chapel, the people made a rush, and were only prevented from getting at him by a guard of police that stood around the altar rail, and who were ultimately obliged to fix bayonets.

At an inquest on the body of the Parish Clerk of Denbign, a very deplorable state of affairs was discovered to exist in the household of the deceased. His wife was too drunk on Wednesday to give evidence at the inquest, and on inquiry it was found that there was neither bed nor bedclothes in the house. The family consisted of five children, including an adxxlt imbecile daughter, and all slept in the same room on filthy rags. The parents had at one time occupied a respectable position, but they were ruined by drink.

The details of the scheme for the retirement of officers from the army will shortly be published. Amongst other things, it will stipulate the following : —No retirement until an officer has completed seven years service. On completion of seven years’ service an officer, if allowed to retire, to be granted a lump sum, according to scale, in proportion to home and foreign sei’vice. The scheme sets forth provisions for captains, majors, lieutenantcolonels, brevet-colonels, &c., and the grants of these officers will be proportioned to the length of service. The London correspondent of the Manchester Guardian writes: —I hear that the Crown costs in the Baker case amounted to £6BO, but that on the defendant’s solicitor subjecting them to taxation, they were reduced to £IBO. Among the charges that were disallowed was one of a heavy amount to detective officers who had watched the defendant when he was out on bail to see that he did not escape, and anothei' fox’ inquiries made into the previous character of Miss Dickenson, to ascertain, I suppose, Avliether the case ought to be persisted in. The defendant’s own costs amounted to about £ISOO.

A hot potato (says a London correspondent) is a good thing in its way, but one scarcely expects to find a nugget of gold inside. This, howevei', has been the experience of one lucky man. Years ago he hit upon the idea of those portable hot potato carts, which are so well known in London, and lie found the invention so successful, that he soon made it a large business by supplying, on certain conditions, the hawkers who undertook to sell the popular tuber. lam told that lie has amassed a fortune of £40,000 out of his potatos. This wise man, like others, came from the East. He is a native of Norfolk.

£t the Royal Mint, Birmingham, a Government order has just been received for .100 tons of new bronze coins for circulation in this country. There will be 50 tons of pennies, 30 tons of halfpennies, and 20 tons of farthings. The total number of coins included in the order will be as follows :—SO tons of pennies, 5,376,000; 30 tons of halfpennies, 5,376,000; and 20 tons of farthings, 7,168,000; or altogether 17,920,000 pieces. The execution of this large order will occupy about three months, and then the coins will be put up into £5 bags and £2O boxes, and will be despatched from Birmingham, according to the orders of the Master of the Mint, to Scotland, Ireland, or wherever the accommodation may be required. Mr. Gladstone, when distributing the prizes to the students in the Greenwich science classes, spoke at some length regarding science and art in their connection with industrial processes. He argued that sound technical education would do nrmch to elevate the tone and promote the happiness of the industrial classes ; but protested against the idea of the pursuits of industry and knowledge and the triumphs and glories of art as being in any sort a specific for the sorrows and evils of human life. The true remedy for these was “ the old, old story.” The first thing a man ought to do was to elevate his vocation ; a workman ought to strive to raise the character of the work that he performed, and in doing that he was doing more to raise himself and his family and class than by hurrying out of his ixosition. Hand labor was progressively and rapidly rising, whereas head labor was falling. An animated discussion took place at the Leamington Free Library Committee meeting on accepting the Swedenborg Society’s offer to present Swedenborg’s theological works. A sxxb-committee reported that, although xxnable to object to the tone of his writings, there were reasons which rendered the acceptance of the gift undesirable. The general committee declined the works as a gift, but decided to purchase two called “True Christian Religion,” and “ Heaven and Hell.” The mayor and two dissenting ministers supported the purchase, which was opposed by a clergyman and other prominent members. At Newcastle Sessions, Chai’les Fox, barman, was convicted of soliciting Thomas Bell, telegraph messenger, to disclose the contents of certain messages. About October last year Fox accosted Bell in the street, and, as a consequeneeof his solicitation, Fox was twice or thrice a week, from October to July, supplied by Bell with eai’ly intelligence of results of races, to which he had access as a messenger in the Press Association and Central News Department. Bell generally received a shilling or sixpence, and occasionally bi er. It was px'oved that other messengers had given Fox similar intelligence. F o ox was sentenced to eighteen months’ hard labor.

The feat of paddling in a cauoe from Wind-sor-lock to "Westminster bridge, a distance of 421 miles, in eight hours and ten minutes, was pei'formed by Mi'. E. TI. Rhys. The parish church of St. Michael, ITughenden, was reopened lately, after having undergone almost entire l-econstruction. The services were fully choral, and the Bishop of Oxford preached the sermon. After the reopening a luncheon took place, at which Mr. Disi’aeli presided and spoke ; Sir W. Vernon Harcoixrt, who was present as the Premier’s guest, also making a speech in reply to the toast of his health.

The Central News is informed that Messrs. Krupp have proposed to the War Office a trial of one of their guns against one of the Woolwich pattern of similar calibre. This proposal will enable the War Office to ascertain the relative merits of their ordnance as compared with that of Prussia, which they have for some time been unable tc do, owing to Messrs. Krupp declining to let them have a gun to experiment upon.

FANCIFUL ATTACHMENTS. (From the Sunday Times.) Locke tells a story of a gentleman who had learned to dance in a room where an old trunk was part of the furniture. —“ The idea of this remarkable piece of household stuff had so mixed itself with the turns and steps of all his dancing, that though in that chamber he could dance excellently well, yet it was only whilst that trunk xvas there ; nor could he perform well in any other place unless that, or some such other trunk, had its due position in the room.” Akin to this infatuation is that of an illustrious woodman, Mr. Gladstone, who in the full torrent of his impassioned rhetoric keeps perpetually twilling a bit of red tape, which towards the close of his harangue ho coils into a circular form about the size of a shilling. His speech being over, he generally sits down “flop” upon his hat. I have a friend of the female pei’suasion, an old Scotch lady of very ancient lineage indeed, who invariably makes punch in a teapot. Her attachment to that teapot is as fervid as fanciful ; yet, strange to say, she attributes to it the low condition of her pecuniary estate. It appears that one of her ancestors paid £25 for the article in question in the x’eign of Queen Anne, and my Caledonian kinswoman, for such I am proud to say she is, argues that, if that money, instead of having been expended upon a teapot, had been allowed to accumulate at compound interest, she and I, and all of us, might now be riding in our carriages and running over our enemies. I dare say she is right enough. Apropos of pipes, it was only the other day that I witnessed a curious instance of a man’s misdirected affection in that regard. I was going down to Bi'ighton by the five o’clock express ; a rigid silence was observed, according to the genial, sociable custom of our country, each man scowling at his neighbour as though he were an enemy, as is the practice of true-born Englishmen, until we had passed Gaterham Junction, when a small fat gentleman, with a face like an apple dumpling, drew solemnly from his pocket as _ ugly a little pipe as was ever seen. Having .surveyed it over and over again, and patted it repeatedly upon its bowl with such a tendei’ display of fond and tender emotions as a man of a very affectionate nature might evince in caressing a beautiful child, he held up this beastly pipe to the height of his nose, and then observed, in tones the most comjilacent, I suppose no gentleman would object to my smoking this” —as though it could make the slightest difference to a man who disliked tobacco out of what particular sort of pipe the fumes might issue. A smile stole over every countenance, but not a word was uttered; so our stout friend, taking silence for consent, lit up there and then. He continued smoking till we got to Burgess Hill, when he put back his horrid little darling in a leathern case, simply observing the while, “ I wouldn t take £2O for it!” Another and yet more unaccountable form of fanciful attachment is the prevalent mania for pug-dogs and bull-dogs, probably the most hideous animals in creation. Then, again, there are people who are so fond of their fire-screens that sooner than lomovo them they will endure any extremity of cold, until the terrors of the word “November” compel them, for very shame, to take away the tinsel rubbish and substitute a comfortable fire. But of all the fanciful attachments that ever dethroned intellect and made humanity in the female form ridiculous, the most inci edible is the attachment which at least one woman feels for her husband. I positively know a woman who is fond of her husband ! DEATH OF AN ECCENTRIC FRENCHMAN. A gentleman of a peculiar, if not eccentric character, has just died at Douglas, Isle of ]\/[an. His name was Pierre Henri Baume. Born at Marseilles, in France, on the 17tli of October, 1797, lie at a very early age went to Naples, where his father sent him to a military college. His great abilities soon brought him into ° notice with the diplomatic authorities there, and he entered the service of Prince Castilcilia, and subsequently was promoted to the position of private secretary to King Ferdinand, of Naples. During the eventful periods extending from about 1815 to 1822, he, by means of his official position at the Neapolitan Court, became fully conversant with and took part in the secret intrigues .which were successfully and otherwise carried on between the French and Neapolitan Governments. About the year 1825 or 1526 lie came to London, where he conducted himself m a most eccentric fashion. At one time he was a preacher, holding peculiar ideas on theological question ; then he became manager of a theatrical company; and subsequently a curator in connection with a scheme lie got up for the establishment of model gardens. He took a very lively interest in the various charitable institutions, and he became governor of several which then existed in the metropolis. . With the view of establishing an educational institu-

tion for the benefit of the youth of the poorer classes, he, by the most penurious living, amassed a considerable fortune. With this he bought in 1552 a property at Colney Hatch, adjoining the sight of the present Alexandra Palace, and at a later period he invested in a small estate in Buckinghamshire. Several obstacles arose to the carrying out of his project for the establishment of the educational institution, and he was ultimately induced to abandon the idea. He then removed to Manchester, where he took a great interest in the establishment of public houses without drink, and of Sunday lectures for working-men. While in Liverpool in 1857, he was induced by the cheapness of the fare to visit the Isle of Man, and there he remained for the rest of his days, living part of the time in an extraordinary erection of his own invention, at a place called the Archway, in Douglas. The entrance to his house he made almost inaccessible, and admission could only be obtained by those whom he had initiated into the peculiar knock to be given. . A certain number of blows on a certain portion of the door formed the “ open sesame” to the den in which he lived like a hermit, sleeping on a hammock slung from the roof, simply because the room was so crowded with musty and dusty books that there was no space left for a bedstead, or even for a table on which to take his food. He died on Thursday morning, leaving the whole of his real and personal property for charitable purposes in the Isle of Man, and has appointed trustees to carry out the objects he had in view. His property is valued altogether at about £54,000, viz., the Colney Hatch estate, £40,000 ; the Buckinghamshire estate, £4OOO ; and his real and personal property in the Isle of Man, £IO,OOO. Regarding Mr. Baume, Mr. Holyoake writes: —He always professed to be afraid that some one would confine him in a lunatic asylum, and yet he established himself in the neighborhood of one. There was not the slightest fear for him. There was no asylum which would have undertaken to manage him. He would have driven the governors and directors all mad in a month by the inexhaustible fertility of his projects. He was quite sincere in saying he would give the whole of his possessions away, as well as his “unrelenting life exertions,” for he appeared never to require anything whatever to live upon. A few peas, which lie commonly carried in his pocket, seemed to be his chief source of subsistence. With ample means, he would live in one obscure room, or rent a railway arch, and deposit himself there, and he did not, like the parties in Mr. Pickwick, select the dry ones, but took a damp one, as being the cheapest. He would carry about with him bundles of bank notes in a dress-coat pocket, and keep a small live monkey there ; so that if any adventurous hand found its way there, it would meet with a very unexpected remonstrance. His property, at the site of the Experimental Gardens, lay over what is nowknowu as the Caledonian Road, opposite the Pentonville Prison, and had he retained it a few years longer than he did, he might have derived an immense income from it. At that time his land was covered with furze and mysterious-looking cottages, in one of which he lived. It was known as the Frenchman’s Island, where very unpleasant visitors were frequently attracted ; but as he was known to go about at night with a pistol in his pocket, and as he was very likely to fire it, and knew perfectly well how to do it, a good deal of curiosity was repressed by the peculiar reputation. He had all sorts of projects for a community experiment there, and he brought more scandal upon the cause by his wild and eccentric proposals than any other man ever connected with the. movement. He had a scheme of lactation for mothers in community, whereby the children should not see to whom they owed their tender nourishment, lest the little ones of the community should acquire local instead of universal affections. SOME NOVELTY IN A SHOOTING DIFFICULTY. There is some novelty about the latest reported shooting difficulty in America, inasmuch as the persons chiefly interested in it were a gentlemen named Wells T. Clark and a lady who had formerly been his wife, until her position was altered by the finding of a jury in a suit for divorce. Clark was anxious to marry again, but the late Mrs. Clark disapproved of his engagement, and proceeded to the factory in Fairfield where he was employed with a view to adjusting the difficulty. The final argument which the lady proposed to use in case milder ones failed she carried with her wrapped up in paper, for as the journal from which wo glean these facts pathetically observes, “ the tyranny of man forbids women to wear garments susceptible of being provided with a hip pocket for a pistol.” Thus equipped the lady called upon Clark, and found him laying the joists of a room above. The opportunity seemed to the late Mrs. Clark much too good to be lost, so, unwrapping the parcel, she remarked that she “ had got him,” and fired. At this point it is generally considered that Clark behaved badly. He returned his exwife’s fire both with promptness and effect. Mrs. Clark fired but once, and failed to hit her game. Mr. Clark, on the other hand, fired three times, two of his bullets entering his assailant’s forehead, and both surprising and discouraging her. She was not, however, fatally injured, and we are told that she “has faith to believe that she will live to again make a target of Mr. Clark at some future time.” The weapon used by Mrs. Clark was an oldstyle single-barrelled, self-cocking pistol, which she secured at Enfield ; and the Fairfield Press adds, “ It is strange that a woman as intelligent as she is should go into an affray of this kind with such a poor weapon. Mr. Clark shot with one of the smallest revolvers known to the trade, carrying a ball about the size of a two-grain quinine pill. s pistol was one of the kind which an Eastern youth exhibited to a Colorado pioneer. The Western man who carried two large navy revolvers inquired what it was ? Being told that it was a pistol he remarked that if the Easternman

'* ever shot him with it, and he found it out, he’d lick him like smoke.” “On Friday evening,” the Fairfield reporter says, “ we called to see Mrs. Clark, and found her getting along finely under the circumstances. One-lialf her face and head was covered with cloths, but her visible eye was bright, and she was able to talk as rapidly and energetically as ever.” She had much that was bad to say of her late husband, and under the circumstances this seems scarcely surprising.