Clippings.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 232, 19 February 1876, Page 7

Clippings.

THE PRUSSIANS IN AMERICA. (Translated from the Cincinnati Freie Presse.) Frederick William will visit the Philadelphia Exhibition next year, the cable informs us, and at the same time it is announced that German war vessels will accompany him. This looks very suspicious, Bismarck has not gone to Italy, but has retired to Varzin, on the pretence of being sick, but all the world knows. that he is engaged in getting up a big coup d'itat. It is pretty well known that he for some time since has had an eye on America, and that he will seize the earliest opportunity to make a conquest of this country. It has not escaped the attention of this far-seeing statesman that Rome is laboring to obtain a permanent foothold in this country. This he seeks to prevent. Moreover, Bismarck is on a j sharp look-out for America. He has, no doubt, been informed, per telegraph, of the contemplated plot of "Mr. Hacke " against his life. Therefore, some important events may be looked for in the coming year. It is evident that a Prussian invasion of this country has been in contemplation for the past few years. During the past two years thousands of able-bodied young men, liable to military duty in Germany, have been swarming to these Bhores, and it is evident that they are sent here by the military authorities to organise themselves here secretly and be prepared to strike the moment the signal is given. Why, German military organisations, by the battallions, are openly formed in this country before our own eyes. The exhibition next year affords a welcome opportunity to smuggle thousands of German soldiers and officers into this country in the guise of workmen and persons employed for the exhibition. They will quietly await the arrival of the Crown Prince and the German fleet. It is quite significant that Krupp will send some of his heaviest and most dangerous guns to the exhibition, and most of the German space in the exhibition building has been reserved for the reception of arms and munitions of war. When everything shall be in readiness the Crown Prince will make his appearance with his fleet, and at once proceed to Philadelphia to communicate with the commanding general, who, probably, is already in this country in the guise of an agent for the exhibition. He will then start for Washington, and during a visit to the White House will suddenly distribute his numerous suite among the different departments, and before the people have time to realise the situation the President and his Cabinet will be taken prisoners. Military detachments will at once be forwarded to occupy Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati, and other cities, to prevent any uprising in its incipiency. The leaders of the radical element will be secured, and while the German battallions keep in check all revolutionary attempts, the whole country will become Germanised in a brief period. The American civil service will be effectually reformed bj filling the public offices with non-commissioned Prussian officers. The English- language will be abolished, and the Low German will take its place as the official language of the country.

With the application of the rigorous discipline of the Prussian army, Bismarck, in a brief period of six months, will be master of the new world as well as of the old. Of Course, the enforcement of this rigorous discipline will require the summary punishment of all rebels, who will each be promptly executed in accordance with the judgments of the courts of martial law. DANIEL WEBSTER'S FRIEND. (From the Detroit Free Press.) He wasn't such an old man, but his face was very sad, his hair was long and he was bent over. He entered a store on Jefferson-avenue Saturday, and after warming his hands at the stove he inquired of the proprietor : " Will you give me a little advice ?" " I guess so ; what is it ?" was the cheerful reply. The stranger backed up to the stove, wiped his nose on his hand, and after a moment continued : " If you wanted to die would you jump into the river or take pizen ?" " Well, I don't know about that. I guess I'd rather live on than do either one. Why, do you feel like dying ?" " I do, master !" said the man in a deeptoned voice. "Yes, I've stayed around long enough." " What's the matter—why do you want to die ?" questioned the merchant. "What's there to live for?" demanded the said man. " There hain't no such times as there used to be—no such men as there once was." " Well, the times are a little hard, but there's lots of good men left, I guess." " Purty good, maybe," said the old man as he felt of the stovepipe, " but I can't 'sociate with 'em ! After a man has knocked around with Daniel Webster and Henry Clay he can't come down on a level with these everyday plugs and feel good." "Did you associate with those men ?" " Did I ? I've shaken hands with Clay, Calhoun, and Patrick Henry more times than you've got hairs on your head !" " You have, eh ?" "And I knew General Lafayette and all those fellers, and now to have to come down on a par with these no-accounts is killing me by inches, I don't care if I die to-night." " I guess you could get along if you tried hard," said the sarcastic merchant. "You're a brazen image !" exclaimed the old man, spitting on the stove with great vigor. "I am as far above such sunflower men as you are as the eagle is above the chipmunk." " You get out of here P said the merchant, " Your are an ignorant old drunkard !" " I am, eh ?" shouted the old man, and he backed the merchant over a box of palm-leaf fans. The clerks hauled him off, and threw him out of doors, and as the police took him the old man said—- " I'm ready to die ! Daniel Webster is up there with the angels, and I hear him calling me to get out o' this one horse crowd." A DEADLY SNAKE OF CEYLON. (From the Ceylen Friend.) A bite from the mapila is more to be dreaded than that of any other venomous serpent, as its poison operates insensibly to the patient, carrying its deadly inflnence throughout the entire system, when its presence and vitality are felt by the intolerable pain it occasions, until the person is rendered insensible by the coma which supervenes. If death ensues, it is generally by an arrest of respiration through paralysis of the respiratory organs. Besides the pain in the parts wounded, the patient complains of a chilly sensation which brings on a trembling of the wounded part. These tremors gradually become more universal. The patient complains also of giddiness, dimness of vision, and thirst. There are several varieties of this snake, some resembling the garandiya {Coryphoden Blumeribachii) both in color and size, others closely approaching the ordinary .shade and spots of the cobra (Naja tripudians) —one, which is'called mapil-sabarala, is green. Whatmay be their color and size, there is an all but unanimous concurrence of opinion that they are all venomous. The principal characteristics of these reptiles are the compression of the head, its lozenge form, and the .disproportionate length of the tail, which is no doubt prehensile. These reptiles are partial to the water, taking to it as their natural element. A mapila will cross a l'apid stream with the greatest ease, and is most commonly found on marshy land, twining itself on the branches of mangrove trees or other marshy plants. These snakes are also found in the hollows of large decaying trees, and herd together in large numbers. If one is killed in a house, frequently many more make their appearance in the same locality, and probably this indicates that they are polygamous in their habits. If a mapila takes his abode in a house, it generally lies coiled between the roof and the main beam for the sake of concealment, and roams about in the night for its prey. Its presence is, however, soon discovered by the unusually large quantity of excreta it deposits under the place where it lies concealed. Another curious fact which has been verified is that when the mapila is wounded the quantity of blood which issues out of its body is so large that it seems quite disproportionate to the size of the animal. The first case in our note-book is that of Gajasinghagey Davit Silva, of Kurana, in the Negombo district. He is now about fory-five years of age. He stated to us :—" About midnight I felt something pass over my body making a hissing noise. In the morning I told the children to examine the fishing nets in the room, thinking that it was a rat that passed over my body, and that it would destroy the nets. At the time I was not aware that I was wounded, and- proceeded to the town of Negombo, as I had a case in court to attend to. When I walked about three miles, I began to feel that my arm was swelling, and experienced

a pain at the arm-pit, with a sense as if the nerves were being contracted. I hastened home, and I felt so exhausted that I fell powerless on the bed. I felt a cold sensation creeping over my body, which caused my whole body to shake without any power to . stop it. I felt my mouth and tongue quite parched, and I had an agonising feeling of thirst. I was giddy and powerless to rise. At the alarm made by the children my neighbors and relatives soon assembled, and brought the doctor of the village, Philippo Vederala. Soon after I left the house in the morning, in compliance with my desire the children had made a careful search of the room, and found instead of a rat a snake about two feet long of a brown color, which they killed and kept to show me on my return. It was a mapila. The snake had bitten me in the night and I was not aware of it. The doctor examined the swollen arm and found three punctures. I goon lost all consciousness, but at about three in the afternoon, when consciousness returned, I for the first time felt intense pain in the place bitten. I was better towards the morning of the next day. The doctor warned us to expect many more of the same kind to enter the room, and accordingly we killed two, one on the fifth and the other on the seventh day after this occurrence. . The medicines which were administered to me, as I learned subsequently, were a pill dissolved in liinejuice and a congee taken internally, which caused violent vomiting and perspiration ; a medical oil was poured into my nose and applied to my eyes, and the yam of the wal-habarala {arum macrorhizon) applied as a plaster into my head." These particulars were mentioned to me in the presence of many trustworthy eye-witnesses, and my brother, the Rev. P. B. Pereira, who was then the .minister stationed in iNegombo, saw the man in violent convulsions, and despaired of his recovery. He also saw the snake. The next is the case of a woman at Dalupota, also a village in the district of Negombo. I have taken down the statement of the father, the head man of the village, and his son, an intelligent teacher of the Wesleyan school. On the night of the 18th of July, 1875, Sarah, for that was her name, was bitten by a mapila, but felt no pain at the time. In the morning, as she was sweeping the compound, she complained of giddiness. She soon took to bed and began to complain of thirst, contraction of the heart, and pain in the arm bitten. She lost the power of speech, and complained of dimness at four in the afternoon, and died at seven o'clock. A GOOD EXAMPLE. A "Washington telegram in the Z<Teio York Herald of November 15, details the following case, which sets an example that might be well followed:—"Mr. Gatchell, President of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, lately, acting under a writ of habeas corpus, took possession of a child, aged about seven years—one of the members of an acrobatic combination called the • Poole Brothers,' now performing at a variety theatre in this city—the purpose of the seizure being to prevent further performances, their character being denounced as cruel and dangerous. The writ was brought in the name of the child, ' Zana Poole, by his next friend, Theodore F. Gatchell,' and was made returnable before Judge Wylie. The case excited much attention. The proprietor of the theatre and the Poole Brothers contended that there was nothing whatever dangerous in the performance, and that every precaution was taken to prevent accidents. On the other hand, Mr. Gatchell and others contended that the performance was dangerous and brutal, and was such a 3 to cause apprehensions of great personal danger to the child. At the conclusion of the arguments of the counsel Judge Wylie made a decree that the child should remain in the possession of Mr. Gatchell until further orders of the Court. Upon the rendition of this decision the child and its custodians set up a general sobbing, and created quite an affecting scene, the excitement becoming intense. Whereupon Mr. Gatchell stated that he had no desire to separate the parties, and that if one of the brothers chose to accept of his hospitality he could remain with the child at his house. This offer was accepted, and Mr. Gatchell drove to his home accompanied by his temporary ward and one of the brothers ; consequently they gave no performance last night. A plea of appeal from the decision of the Court was denied by the Court, who stated that it had final jurisdiction." THE BOY IN CHURCH. He was playing at the gate when I went past, and I heard hi 3 father call out: " Boy, you want to gallop in here and get ready for meeting." "Shi !" briefly replied the lad. " Shi ! I'll shi you, young man, if you don't trot in here lively. You'd be as bad as Jesse Pomeroy, if left without a father for three months." " I would, hey !" " No sass, young man—it's ' time you were getting ready for church." The minister was giving out his text when the boy and the father came in. There was considerable improvement in the boy's looks. His hair had been greased and combed, he had on his Sunday jacket, and there was a religious look in his eyes as he fell into the pew. I ought to have listened closely to the sermon, but I did not. The boy and his father were in the pew next ahead, and I couldn't help but watch him. I have my opinion about forcing boys of 10 or 12 years of age to listen to sermons which not one adult mind in five can fully grasp, and I was willing to chance my theory on that boy's actions. He got along very well for the first 10 minutes. Then he asked his father what time it was, and when the parent replied with a warning shake of the head, the boy cast round him for something to interest his mind. The preacher settled down to his discourse, and the boy settled down to his plan of wear.

ing away the coming hour. He reached over and got hold of his father's silk hat, and was trying to remove the band, when the parent took it away and bent over and whispered : "Boy, if you don't pay attention to the preacher, I'll bx-eak your neck when we get home." The- lad fixed his eyes on the clergyman. He saw that the good man had auburn hair, blue eyes, florid complexion, and was well dressed. He heard him make use of such words as " fortuitous," " unexampled," and "repellant," and without being able to tell whether they referred to a new kind of stringbeans or the gospel of Christian light, he reached out and secured his father's cane. He punched at several flies, crammed the silver head into his mouth until he turned purple in the face, and finally reached over and jabbed a woman under the left shoulder. His father then grasped the cane, laid it away, and whispered : " Young man, I'll tan the hide off'n you when we get home." The words were intended to make the boy pay strict attention to the balance of the sermon. He straightened up, looked at the preacher again, and tried hard to understand the discourse. The good man was trying to explain the difference between theoretical and practical Christianity, and in two minutes the lad's eyes were fixed on the chandeliers. He counted the number of burners over and over, and, forgetting himself for a moment, he began to sing. * His father gave him a kick, and leaned over and whispered : "O, my boy ! I'll make you jump the moment we get into the house." Knowing that his father would keep his word, but yet hoping to break the force of the prospective "peeling" by being really good for the next half-hour, the boy faced the clergyman again. He knit his brows, and plainly showed his determination to understand and interest himself in all that was said. The good man was drawing a parallel, and a dozen of the church members were half asleep. It was discouraging, and after two or three minutes the boy got hold of a piece of paper, wadded it up, stuffed it in his mouth, and chewed it awhile, and then balancing the wad on his thumb, he elevated it 10 feet towards the ceiling. The law of gravitation applies to paper-wads as well as to iron weights. This one came down in a short time, and, as luck would have it, struck the bald pate of the half-asleep sexton. The victim gave a start of alarm, and the boy's father pinched him savagely and whispered :

"Oh ! I'll fix you for this.. Just let me get you home once." I couldn't see how the boy was to blame. He couldn't understand one word in ten of the sermon ; he saw a dozen men around him. asleep ; it was a hot day ; he was a nervous boy and used to moving around, and his own father had been gazing out of the window in an absent way for a quarter of an hour. He made a last grand effort. He braced his nerves, shut his teeth hard, and sat erect as a new hitching-post. The clergyman seemed to look right at the boy_ as he -used twenty bigs words in succession, and the lad gave it up. He opened the pew door, and was trying to entice a small dog to come in, when his father awoke and whispered : " You wait—oh, you just wait!" The exercises closed just then, and the boy walked home behind his parent %o get a dressing down for not having the mental calibre of a full-grown man, and for not sitting still and going to sleep like his father. THEATRICAL MATTERS AND THEATRES. I fear (says Mr. Byron, in the London Magazine) I am talking "shop" to an alarmingand a wearing extent, but I must here refer to the very general green-room belief that when a play is " read " to the artists, and iB received with " cheers, tears, and laughter," it is bound to produce an opposite effect when performed before the British public. This idea is, Tam firmly convinced, cherished not so much for its intrinsic worth, as that it suggests a sort of negative value intheparrallel superstition that the play which is not productive of mirth when read to the actors is pretty sure to succeed in consequence of its melancholy reception. As most plays read to the artists are received in gloomy silence, the latter theory is, of course, a soothing one to the management. Certainly occasions happen when, from the personal popularity of the reader or his artistic delivery of his own dialogue, the drama is not only heartily received, but vehemently applauded ; but generally the task is a thankless and depressing one, and the author only too often closes his manuscript with a Bigh of relief, which is loudly echoed by his small, select, critical, and not altogether unselfish, audience. But do plays which amuße the performers fail generally on production ? No. Actors are the best critics in the world when their personal feelings do not affect their judgments. As a rule—if there can be a rule in things theatrical-—a piece which amuses a, dozen intelligent persons is more likely than not to entertain a thousand. The silly notion that the actors who are amused at a preliminary reading of a play know nothing about it, and their appreciation means prospective failure, is rubbish, and is and childish superstitions clinging to the skirts of the "profession." With a word or two upon the popular professional belief that certain theatres are lucky, others unlucky, and that certain authors, actors and managers are the like, I will bring my too lengthy observations to a close. How often have I heard (and do I hear) the remark, "That theatre can never do; it's unlucky." How frequently is that sweeping assertion disproved ! A manager came from abroad a little time back and took an establishment of the worst repute financially. He crowded it to the roof during the season he held.it, and migrating to another "unlucky" house did the same. If ever a theatre had the reputa-

tion of being unlucky it was for years the Ijyceum. Look at it now. One of the most popular dramatists of modern days was within my recollection (and not so very long ago either) considered—as an actor—so unlucky that I remember a provincial manager telling me he wouldn't let him enter his theatre. His two first pieces showed no sign of the remarkable ability he displayed in later years, but the "luckless" one lived to found a (school of dramatic writing, and his works brought a fortune to the management he served so well. Certain towns, too, labor under the imputation of being "unlucky," notably a large bustling town in one of the midland counties. I recently saw the " returns" of a travelling company who had played conversational comedy instead of " The Maniac's Last Curse but Two" class of drama, which it was supposed was the only kind of entertainment -welcome to the locality in question, and was as much surprised as pleased to find that the money received was equal to that gained in such cities as Manchester or Edinburgh. There is, of course, such a thing as ill-luck, and it manifests itself in an inability on the part of the unfortunate speculator to discover the kind of article required by the public ; or, having discovered it, an inability to supply said article in a satisfactory manner. These are the sort of people who when they pass under a ladder and are struck by a falling brick, blame the ladder and not the brick ; indeed, they take a melancholy sort of satisfaction in exhibiting the bruise, "as evidence in favor of the superstition of their childhood. THE ART OF WALKING. (From the Globe.) A good walk is a more important element than some suppose in a person's character. Prom the time when Achilles, bravest and noblest of the Greeks, was best known as the fleet-footed, the art of walking in its perfection has been attributed to the gods. A host of passages will occur to the readers of Sanscrit, Greek, and Latin literature. Nor is it necessary, perhaps, for the benefit even of the unclassical scholar, to quote the famous passage in Virgil where ./Eneas recognises his goddess mother : And by her graceful -walk the Queen of Love is known. In these unheroic days we do not even on desert shores fall in with errant goddesses, and the most storm-tossed of travellers can tell us nothing of the appearance of Diana or "Venus. But there is nevertheless in the gait of a well-bred woman a vast deal of that dignity and grace which the bright mythology of the ancients ascribed to divinity. _ Its charm is very easily seen and felt. It is not necessary for a lady to walk far —further than across her own drawing-room—to show whether she possesses it or not. If she does is worth all the velvet and pearls and lace with which less favored women strive to conceal their awkwardness. If she does not it is ten chances to one she will never attain to it. For the art of walking is, like poetic genius, inborn, and not acquired. Possibly there are milkmaids capable of performing their part in a minuet and country dance with the air and step of a duchess, but if not no amount of teaching, no accession of wealth, dignity, or honor will ever make them so. And yet, although that highest art—which is rather a natural gift—of walking with easy grace and unconscious dignity is unattainable to the many, there is not the slightest difficulty in removing by artificial means the hideous gaucherie in which the actions of many men and women are made ridiculous. The French, even of the lowest orders, have a manner of walking which pleases when it does not actually fascinate the insular beholder. It is a brisk and cheery step, betokening at once the lightheartedness familiar to the race and-their quick activity of mind. But besides this there is the immense advantage that the Frenchman, and still more the Frenchwoman, pay attention to his or her attitude. A nation of actors, they are exempt from that slovenly carelessness which inspires the slouching walk of the low-born islander. It would be too much to expect young ladies at school to learn gracefulness from those abominations, the lessons in *' deportment." But the mistresses of these establishments may perhaps one day learn that instead of the artificial affectation of a manner prescribed by fiddling "professors," a natural ease and quiet dignity of step is one of the most telling "accomplishments" with which their pupils can be adorned. As for the rest of society, if anything at all is to be hoped, it is from a revival in good taste. The artistic instinct for a long time almost quenched in our population, may possibly revive. And if it does it may correct in the attitude of those who walk along our streets, in our ballrooms, and along our piers, the prevailing and too evident failing summed up in the simple word—regularity. MR; GLADSTONE ON ITALY AND HER CHURCH. (From the Newcastle Daily Clironicle.) The article on Italy and her Church which occupies the place of honor in the " Church Quarterly Review," will be read with interest by all who have traced the progress of the controversy into which Mr. Gladstone has flung himself with characteristic ardor. It is aiot the business of the journalist to advocate theological rancour, but it is quite within \ns sphere to examine the bearing of theological opinions upon the political future of Europe. In hi 3 contribution to the " Church Quarterly Review" Mr. Gladstone furnishes a vast amount of information as to the progress of Free Church principles in Italy. There seems little doubt that if not checked by external power, Italy will be quite able to solve peaceably the theological problems now perplexing Europe. There is, however, some fear that the Italians will not be permitted to work out this peaceful solution. The aim of Ultramontanism is to baffle the success of Italy in this direction, and Mr. Gladstone has very properly called attention to the dosma in

which Ultramontane hostility is concentrated. Efforts are made to impress upon Catholics throughout the world that they in some special and transcendental sense are citizens of Italy, and in virtue thereof are entitled to interfere for the re-establishment of the Pope's temporal power. Grotesque as is this doctrine of possession by the Catholic world of a territorial interest in Italy, it is nevertheless widely diffused. Mr. Gladstone has called attention in the article under consideration to the facility with which Ultramontane ideas on this subject created that quadruple alliance of the Latin Powers, before which the Roman Republic fell. Far greater crimes have been committed in modern times. Happily the abettors of that act have nearly all met with the reward their political turpitude merited. But it is quite possible that should the contingency arise we may once more see an attempt made to perpetrate a similar atrocity. At the present moment there is fortunately little prospect of this, but where pernicious ideas are not dead they are dangerous. In these circumstances, Mr. Gladstone has not only discharged a public duty, but performed an important service in drawing attention to the fact that this idea still lives, and living exerts a plastic or formative influence over the Catholic mind Mr. Gladstone has drawn attention to a use of the temporal power which no friend of freedom of thought could sanction, and no friend to the liberty of the clergy can regret being no longer available. Ecclesiastics not sufficiently obedient to the voice of the Vatican were summoned to Rome, and under various pretexts detained practical prisoners in Italy, while the Popes territorial sovereignty existed. This trick of the Papacy has now become inconvenient, if not indeed impossible. But the exercise of power in the form now described is not a true exercise of spiritual authority. Bishop Thirlwall never wrote anything truer than this description of Rome, written only the day before he died:—"The history of the Papacy is, from first to last, a simply human history, and that, not only in the sense that every step of it was due to_ merely natural motives, without any indication of a supernatural interference, but also in the further sense, that these motives were only those of ordinary selfishness, without anything truly noble and heroic, even when measured by any human standard, much less heavenly, but, on the contrary, of the earth, earthy, and such as could not be ascribed, without blasphemous folly, to the workings of the Holy Spirit." The tactics now being employed by Rome to recover the. power she has lost are a vivid illustration of the Bishop's strictures. ._ It might have been expected that a politician like the late Mr. Maguire would have treated the question of the temporal power with befitting candor and moderation. But in that most elaborate of all his works, " The Pontificate of Pius 1X.," the subject is treated with the exaggeration characteristic of a thoroughgoing partisan. The letter of the King of Italy, in which Victor Emmanuel endeavored to depict the political situation, is denounced as the "kiss of Judas," and everything said in favor of the cessation of the temporal power described as scandalous hypocrisy. Such a mode of treating the subject might befit a partisan pamphleteer, but it is utterly unworthy of a grave historic record. The fact that not very long ago an address was signed by not a few Englishmen, in which the sophism respecting the necessity of the temporal power got solemnly indorsed, shows the necessity that there is even here room for enlightenment on the subject. In these circumstances, Mr. Gladstone deserves the gratitude of the country for his persistent efforts to instruct Europe. What he has already written is something more and something better than merely an exhibition of his "candor and ability." Both have now been fully known, and it needed not that it should be impressed upon the country by any tractates on Vaticanism. Sir William Stirling Maxwell speaks of Mr. Gladstone's work as only a fresh illustration of " Dame Partington and her Mop." That mop has flourished so often in political satire that it has now grown decidedly the worse for wear. It is, therefore, a little surprising that a gentleman of such abundant literary resources as the member for Perthshire could not hit on anything more original to edge his sarcasm. It may be doubted if, with all his ability, Sir William Stirling Maxwell thoroughly understands Mr. Gladstone's character, or possesses anything approaching to a just conception of the tendency- of--his public work. It might not be amiss for Sir William Stirling Maxwell to remember, when he taunts Mr. Gladstone with the lateness of his study of Rome, that long before the ex-Premier intermeddled with the Irish Church, he had furnished evidence of a very perfect study of the nature of Vaticanism. Mr. Gladstone's book on "Church Principles," published in 1840, written beneath the shades of Hagley, and dedicated to Lord Lyttelton, a work evidently the fruit of solid study, exhibits a very perfect conception of the character of the peculiar theological system which he assails. STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. The following letter appeared in The Times of 25th November.*— The safe and easy route between the Atlantic and the Pacific by the Strait of Magellan —thus avoiding the delay, icebergß, and stormy seas of the passage round Cape Horn —is year by year becoming a more important ocean by-way. In view of this, the announcement in The Times of this morning that the long impending difficulties between Chili and the Argentine Republic, touching territorial rights in the Strait of Magellan, are assuming a serious character, is not without interest to some of our countxymen. When in New Zealand last year I found a large and influential party—in Otago more especially —supporting a proposed line to England, via the Strait, and though this has been postponed in favor of the present transAmerican route, via San Francisco, there is

little doubt that it will ultimately be carried out. For such a line the importance of an abundant and cheap supply of coal in the Strait is obvious, and fortunately, the country down to the very beach teems with thick and extensive beds of fair steaming coal. And yet it will hardly be believed that a product of such vital necessity for the profitable navigation of the Strait has been placed under a monopoly. Chili, pending the dispute with Argentine, coolly assumed proprietary rights over the debateable territory, and granted to one individual the exclusive privilege of working coalmines in the whole of Patagonia and Terra del Fuego, with the exception of some few acres round the little town of Sandy Point. This princely concession, which has still about twenty years to run, and extends over a tract of country larger than all Germany, has been conveyed by the original concessionaire to a Chilian company, who have worked a coalmine in the neighborhood of Sandy Point in the easy way natural to those who have no competition to fear. At anyrate the supply is not equal to the demand, and passing steamers have from time to time been unable to obtain what they required. Whichever Government, whether by arbitration or other means, ultimately acquires possession of the Strait of Magellan, it is to be hoped that the maritime nations of the world will obtain the abolition of a monopoly so unjust and so opposed to the liberal commercial spirit of the age. Apart from its bearing on maritime interests, the present policy is adverse to the settlement and developement of Southern Patagonia;—a country which by personal observation of its grand ranges of long-wolled sheep country, heavily timbered forests, and other natural resources, I do not by any means find to be the barren, howling wildderness commonly represented by the few who have visited it. A VALUABLE PICTURE. The Paris correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald says :—" A sale which has excited some interest here is that of a chef d'eeuvre of Titian, the Danae, which has been on view at the Hotel de Ville of Nancy, where it has been purchased for something over £25,000 by the Russian Government, by whom this wonderful painting is left for a few days to be visited gratis by the public. It was painted in Bologna in 1530, and represents the daughter of the great painter's friend, Palma Vecchio, named Violenta, in all the glory of her youth and beauty. A magistrate of Bologna carried off this splendid picture, despite the ardent rivalry of a crowd of other amateurs, all eagerly outbidding one another, for the enormous sum of of twelve hundred gold crowns. In 1796 the heir of the successful purchaser, in order to hide it from the French invaders who, under Buonaparte, were stripping Italy of its art treasures, and had special orders to find and carry off the famous painting in question, had it painted over, in watercolor, with a scene representing a boar attacked by dogs. The heir having died in 1800, the two branches of his family quarrelled for the possession of this painting, neither of the claimants being aware of the treasure hidden 'beneath its surface, and the suits brought by them against each other only ended in 1866, when the painting was sold, by order of the tribunal, and the proceeds divided between the claimants. The picture then passed through many hands, and at last became the property of an Italian painter, who, having discovered traces of an oil painting beneath the water-colors, removed the superficial covering, and brought to light the magnificent chef d'eeuvre so long hidden from connoisseurs, and which will no— form one of the most precious art-treasui-es oi the Northern Colossus." STATISTICAL. The Statistical Abstract of the United Kingdom for 1874, shows that the declared value of the British and Irish produce exported from the United Kingdom to various foreign countries was £167,278,029, the exports to British possessions reaching a value of £72,280,092, giving a gross, total of £239,558,121 against £255,164,603 for the preceding year. There had been a decrease of £1,000,000 sterling in the value in 1873, as compared with 1872 ; but the decrease of 1874 as compared with 1873 was £15,500,000. From 1862, when the value was £123,992,264, there had been a steadily increasing rise in the annual value up to 1873, the increase in the ten years reaching an amount of £132,000,000. The reduction in the value of the purchases made from us last year was exclusively in the foreign countries, the value of the exports to the British possessions showing a large increase. Our trade diminished chiefly with Germany, where the value fell by nearly £2,500,000 ; Holland, where the reduction was upwards of £2,000,000 ; Belgium, where it was nearly £1,500,000 ; France and Italy, where the fall nearly reached £1,000,000 ; Egypt, where it fell by nearly £3,000,000 ; and the United States, where the fall was nearly £5,000,000. In a few cases there was an increase in the' value of the exports. Russia (northern p > h*) bought more than in 1873 by an amount of £148,730 ; Sweden and Norway by £369,764 ; Spain by £327,611 ; Greece by £16,742 ; and Brazil by £133,784. The purchases of our home produce made by the British possessions showed an increased value of nearly £6,000,000 sterling, as compared with 1873, and the value has risen from £43,664,835 in 1860 to £72,280,092 in 1874, being nearly £29,000,000, or £2,000,000 a year, in the fourteen years. Our North American possessions bought to the value of £9,332,119 ; the West India Islands purchased £4,283,764 worth of goods ; Australia, including New South Wales, Queensland, Tas•mania, and New Zealand, bought to the amount of £19,000,000 ; and the purchases of our East Indian, African, and Chinese settlements reached the enormous sum of about £37,000,000. British India's purchases reached

£2,701,526 ; Hongkong, £3,650,963 ; and theCape of Good Hope and Natal, £4,301,761. In the case of the foreign countries, the rise in the value of their purchases ha 3 been most remarkable during the past fourteen years. Russia, which in 1860 bought to the extent o£ £3,000,000, now buys nearly £8,000,000. France, whose purchases stood at £5,000,000 9 . has trebled her custom. Spain buys more than a third as much again as in 1860. The value of the imports to the United States has risen from £21,000,000 to £28,000,000, and thus English produce still finds its best market across the Atlantic—France, our second customer, scarcely buying to half the extent. Greece, which in 1860 stood at £348,500, now buys to the value of a million ; and Japan, which in that year scarcely entered into the competition, now purchases to the value of upwards of a million. The exports to the British possessions at the Antipodes have doubled in the fourteen years, having risen from £9,000,000 to £19,000,000, and the value of the exports to British India have increased in the same period from £17,000,000 to £24,000,000. , RECLAMATION OP THE ZUYDER-ZEE The reclamation of the Zuyder-Zee has long been contemplated by the Dutch people and Government, in whom the hereditary instinct of conquest from the sea still survives. At the late session of the legislative body an appropriation was made for soundage.and survey. It is now proposed to reclaim about half the surface of the inlet designated as the ZuyderZee by some geographers, or the whole of it according to others. An enormous dyke, forty kilometres, or 4"85 miles long, is to be constructed from Kampen, near the mouth of the Vessel river, on the eastern shore, to Enkhuizel, on the western shore. The dyke is to be23ft. above the water surface, with an upper parapet 16£ft. high and 10ft. wide on the top, sloping down to an exterior berme or bench 16ft. wide and 6£ft. above the water. An interior berme will serve first as a tow-path to a canal, and afterwards as a track for a railway after the reclamation shall have been finished. The dyke will cost 53,000,000 f., or over 10,500,000d01., and the entire expense of the whole work is estimated at 180,000,000 ft.,. or 87,120,000d01., allowing a value of one-tenth of a British- pound sterling for each florin. The area embraced in the project is about 401,864 acres, of which 46,950 acres will be needed for highways, canals, basins, etc. The remainder, 434,914: acres, will represent the amount of land disposable at a cost of about 260d01. per acre. Last December the Government sold 875 acres of land reclaimed from Wykermeer, at an average of 1051 -09dol. per acre. At this rate per acre the national treasury would receive a prompt reimbursement of the expense, with a surplus of 400 percent., or a clear profit of over 370,000,000d01. This, however, is somewhat excessive, but the surplus could scarcely be less than 200,000,000d01. There is a difference of opinion as to the time necessary to complete the work, the estimates varying from twelve to sixteen years. The average depth of the Zuyder-Zee is stated at 4£ metres, or about 14|ft., and the total volume of water to be drained at over 7,500,000,000 cubic yards. A steam machinery of less than 10,000 horsepower could expel the water within the embankments within two years. The new province of Zuyder-Zee-will be the tenth province* of the kingdom, and will cover an area of 753 square miles, a little less than two average counties in Ohio. It will constitute about one-eighteenth of the surface of Holland. It will be a welcome addition to the productive area of this industrious ldngdom, and will add greatly to the national wealth and resources. —" Bulletin of the Bureau of Agriculture. THE LARGEST PHOTOGRAPH THE WORLD. (From the Melbourne Daily Telegraph.) Of late years the art of photography has made rapid progress, but it has been left to a colonial amateur to produce the largest specimen of photography extant. Mr. B. O. Holterman, of St. Leonards, North Shore, Sydney, a gentleman who has devoted many years of patient study to the development of his favourite art, recently conceived the idea of producing, by a direct negative, pictures of figures, scenery, etc., of a size hitherto considered impossible. With this view he placed himself in correspondence with an eminent firm in Germany, and in furtherance of his scheme visited the Fatherland personally, where, under his own supervision, a lens was manufactured, capable of producing a negative in dimensions sft. 6in. by 3ft. 6in. After much trouble, and an expenditure of upwards of £IOOO sterling, he landed his apparatus safely in Sydney, and at once set to work to produce a picture of that beautiful city. In this object he was assisted by Mr. Charles Bayliss, and, as the result of their united efforts, a comprehensive panoramic view of the city and suburbs, extending over an area of nearly twenty miles, has been produced. 'A^ copy, of this magnificent photograph was exhibited in this office yesterday, and as a specimen of photographic art it has no equal. The -view was taken from the tower of Mr. Holterman's villa residence, at a height of 300 ft. above the sea level. The foreground represents the suburbs of St. Leonards, the buildings of which are shown with the distinctness of a carte de visite.' A portion of the harbor is then met with, and in a clear, beautifullytinted perspective the city is shown. Considering that a distance of several miles is included in one direction, and that almost every building is brought into bold relief, the picture must be regarded as a triumph of photographic art. Mr. Holterman being desirous of representing the Australian colonies at the forthcoming centennial'exhibition at Philadelphia, is about to proceed there taking with him many interesting views of colonial scenery Mr. Bayliss has been located in Melbourne for some weeks, and during his stay has taken a I series of panoramic views of the city from the

tower of Government House. The panorama comprises eleven views, each 18in. by 22in., which, joined together, form an exceedingly effective representation of " the queen city of the south." "Victorians may be proud of their representation at Philidelphia.