General News.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 232, 19 February 1876, Page 18

General News.

It has cost, says a writer in the Marylebone Mercury, £16,000 to establish the Hornet. The proprietors of the Pictoral World have spent about £IO,OOO. The World is said to have only cost £SOOO. The Daily Telegraph was bought by its present proprietors "for a song;" it pays £70,000 a year. A Melbourne telegram in the Newcastle papers says that the lighthouse-keeper at Wilson's Promontory has found on the beach a strange animal as large as a horse, with a covering of feathers instead of hair, and a fluffy tail. Of. course, it has been popularly accepted as a specimen of the bunyip. The Manchester Guardian's London correspondent states, that the Government is giving effect to the circular in which it was intimated to the heads of departments that no more Civil Service writers were to be employed, but that "my Lords" were ready to sanction whenever needed the appointment of a lower grade of established clerks instead. This new class is to begin at a salary of £BO, with a reduced annual increment, and a maximum of £2OO a year. They are to be shut off entirely from entering into the higher ranks of their respective establishments. Several appointments have been recently made upon the new terms of service.

Paris was horrified on November 24 by the report of an accident at the winter circus on the previous night. A gymnast named Mayol had inaugurated an innovation in the trapeze exercise—instead of merely swinging himself from one trapeze to another, he had himself shot out of a mortar by a small charge of powder on to the trapeze bar. On the 22nd he had performed the feat successfully, but last night he did not manage to clutch the bar properly, or the charge of powder was too strong, and he was projected headforemost on to the balustrade in front of the boxes, and was picked up senseless. He recovered in about twenty minutes, and is said to be none the worse.

The Leader, under "Scientific Gossip," has the following :—Mr. Thomas Hargreaves, of Auckland, has communicated to the English Mechanic a description of his plan for utilising the tides and waves by communicating their lifting power to engines on shore. The tidal machine would be very bulky, and the wave machine subjected to great wear and tear. Of course, these objections apply to all applications of the same principle, and perhaps less so to Mr. Hargreaves' plan than any other. He fastens his hollow float, in an 18ft. tide, till the water has risen 9ft., then loosens it, and uses the power while it ascends and the tide continues to rise. He then lets it fill with

water, and uses its descending force. A counterpoise weight brings the float to a position ready for the next tide. This counterpoise is also lifted by the tide. The power is, in proportion to the bulk, very small, and the expense would be considerable. Local considerations may render the application o£ value.

The Empress of Austria has been pleased to send to Mrs. Burton a magnificent gold locket with her Majesty's monogram and Imperial Crown in diamonds as a mark of her appreciation of Mrs. Burton's work, " The Inner Life of Syria," thus keeping up the traditions of the favor shown by the Imperial House of Hapsburg to the Arundells of Wardour. Rodolph of Hapsburg made Mrs. Burton's ancestor, Sir Thomas Arundell of Wardour, in 1592, a Count of the Most; Sacred Roman Empire, with all the privileges and honors of an Austrian noble, oa account of his having joined the Hungarian, army and distinguished himself in a long campaign against the Turks, in the course of: which he took a standard from them with, his own hand at the siege of Gran. We have been shown (reports the (S. A, Register) by M. A. Hardy, M.P., a sample of cork, nearly an inch thick, stripped from a cork tree grown by him near Mount Lofty, at an elevation of about 2300 feet above the_ sea level. In 1864 the then Government obtained, from Spain a number of acorns of the genuine cork tree of commerce. Many of these were distributed through Dr. Schomburgk, and MrHardy obtained 25 plants, of which 20 are now in a flourishing state. The tree from which the bark referred to was taken is over 12 feet high, and is 18 inches in circumference at one foot above the ground. The sample will be sent to Philadelphia, and will no doubt form a noticeable addition to the list of our products. It is evident, too, that the cork tree could be profitably cultivated here on a. large scale. A shocking revelation was made in the Beudigo City Police Court lately, which presents one or two points worthy of pointing out in aparagraph. An old hag (says the Advertiser) was brought up before the Mayor, charged with being an idle and disorderly person, without any visible or lawful means of support, and a mass of evidence was brought forward, in support of the indictment. She had loafed for drinks at various shanties in the city, begged off numerous tradesmen for money and provisions, and when they refused her, turned round upon them and abused them in the choicest Billingsgate. " Next to, colonial beer her great weakness was black and one butcher in particular received her delicate attentions to such an unconscionable degree that he at length threatened to give her in. charge. On one occasion, when the day was warm and the sun was at its meridian, the drunken female, under the combined influence, proceeded to undress herself in the very middle of a street thickly populated. arrestingconstable in giving evidence upon this particular matter, said " An' your worship, his 'anneir the praste was passin' at the toime, and he had to put up his parasole to avoide the cantact. 1 ' The bench and the court, as may well be imagined, were convulsed on the instant, and the old offender received sentence with quick despatch. .7'. A very curious state of affairs, in which a well-to-do farmer who resides in the directiou. of Turkeith is mixed up, came under the notice of the Colac police (the Colac Herald, "Victoria, states) a few days ago. The sister-in-law of the farmer in question was brought into Colac by two female friends, and taken to the police station, where she was examined by senior-constable Flahive. On the clothingbeing removed, the back of the unfortunate wonian was found to be in a dreadful state, being covered with blood and bruises from the shoulders downwards. The poor woman stated that the bruises were caused by her brother-in-law; that she was half-starved, and that when he found that she was not out thistling and keeping the land clean, the manwas in the habit of horsewhipping her with great severity. This often took place. What makes the matter worse is that the poor woman is of weak intellect. The clerk of courts, Mr. Greene, considered the case sufficiently aggravated to justify the issue of a free summons against the brother-in-law, the woman, being quite destitute of means to pay. She was then taken away, and application was made to a justice of the peace to get the summons signed. The justice, however, persuaded the parties interested to let the matter drop, as he considered no good could be accomplished by summoning the man. In the Melbourne Argus of January 29 are published the following particulars of a case of which a telegraphic notice has lately appeared: —" Mr. John Edwin McDonogh, actor, and Mr. Hartley Anderton Eamshaw, theatrical manager, appeared in the City Police Court yesterday, to answer the charge preferred by Mr. John Bennett, lessee of the Victoria Theatre, Sydney, of stealing playbills. From the statement of Mr. E. Stephen, the evidence of Joseph Bennett, brother of the prosecutor, and Detective Mackay, and documents produced, it appeared that Mr. John Bennett and the two prisoners were partners in the showing of the Marrionettes in the Australian colonies, Mr. Bennett agreeing to find theatres and do all the advertising through, newspapers, posters, playbills, &c, but that recently in Launceston, Tasmania, there was a disagreement, and the partnership was broken up, on terms stated in a written release. The printed playbills, both, for posting on fences and for chstriDUtion among the spectators, belonging to Mr. Bennett, who had them printed in advance. There were some thousands o£ these-bills at Mr. Broadbent's warehouse nz Melbourne, and when the partnership .was broken up, Mr. Bennett wrote to Broadben*, directing him to send them on to Sydney, but one of the prisoners went to Broadbent s overruled Bennett's order, and took away the bills in a truck. The detectives found the luggage of the prisoners, who were going to New Zealand by the Omeo, iu trucks on the

Sandridge Railway Pier, and had it opened by men whom the prisoners hired for the job, on being shown the search-warrant. They Sound a small bundle of the bills only, which Mackay said McDonogh tried to conceal -when it turned up. Subsequently they found the rest of the bills at Broadbent's store, and Mr. Earnshaw admitted that these bills were taken out of the luggage that morning at the railway station, and sent back to Broadbent's. Mr. Stephen asked for an adjournment until Monday, to enable him to produce evidence that McDonogh and Earnshaw were taking away the bills to New Zealand, till, Ending a warrant was out, they took them out of the luggage, and sent them back to town. Mr. Duerdin submitted that there was no case of felonious taking made out, and said the delay was only required to enable Mr. Bennett to clear > out to Sydney, so as to avoid an action for malicious prosecution. Mr. Joseph Bennett said that he would stop till the case was decided. Mr. Sturt, P.M., said there, was no case, and dismissed the charge. Mr. Stephen said this hasty dismissal had thrown Mr. Bennett open to an'action for damages, though lie was not afraid of what would be the result. Detective Mackay asked what he should do with the bills. Mr. Sturt said he bad better take them to where he got them, and let the parties settle who was to have them. During the day Mr. Bennett was served with a writ for £2OOO damages, but he soon after started by steamer for Sydney." The Ballarat Post recently asked: "Where -will intolerance end? To-day being the last occasion upon which the children meet separately in the State schools at Ballarat, the Bishop and the Dean made it convenient to -wait upon Mr. Spring, at the Roman Catholic State school —if we may be allowed the term. The two rev. gentlemen first pointed out to the teachers the enormity of the offence they were about to commit in-accepting lucrative appointments under the Government to impart secular instruction ; all the horrors likely to follow this diabolical course were vividly depicted, and denunciation ad nauseam was poured upon their devoted heads. Then the little children were taken in hand. They were ordered never to set foot inside the doors of the abominable State school; they were admonished, cautioned, and threatened in turns, and then the order was issued to smash up a little testimonial which they had purchased as a mark of the kindly "esteem in which they bad held their head teacher, Mr. Spring." In advertising the approaching arrival of the Rev. Charles Clark at Launceston, some amusement appears to have been caused by the manner in winch the billsticker did his work. The Cornwall Chronicle says :—"Mr. Smythe gave instructions for briefly announcing the advent of Mr. Clark here. The bills merely bore the words, 'Rev. Charles Clark,' leaving the rest to the intelligence, imagination, or inquiry of the passers by. These bills are not large enough to cover the full length portraits used :for advertising the Baby Benson troupe and the Marrionettes, and the billsticker contented himself with placing thenf at the foot of those very prominent figures. The result is a grand success. In Cameron-street, opposite the public buildings, we have a gigantic clown in a scarlet costume, and cheeks of the same color, labelled as 'Rev. Charles Clark.' In George-lane, off Patterson-street, a remarkably :fiash Donnybrook-Fair-looking son of the Emerald Isle, with shillelagh under the right arm and a sucking pig under the left, is bonored with the dignified cognomen, ' Rev. Charles Clark,'"

We lately (says the Democrat), received a notice from the postmaster at Napa City informing us that a copy of the Democrat, addressed to a supposed subscriber, " remains •dead in this office." We well remember that paper. When it left our office it was alive, alive with the imagery of the poet, the ideas of the statesman, the recounted experiences of the husbandman, and the selected thoughts of the great minds of the past and present ages, which live and never die ; alive with the narrative of the current events of these busy times ; and, last, with the honest though plain thoughts of its workaday editors. We paused as we read, and dropped a tear over its early demise, and were only consoled by the reflection that " Whom the gods love die young." A dead aiewsparer —unknown, impossible. Give it to some honest man, let him take it home to his fireside: in the family circle let him break the and there shall come forth, as the genii out of Sinbad's broken casket, a spirit that has a voice. It will find such utterance as shall, mayhap, bring contentment to pining spirits, rest v to weary souls, new thoughts to students, courage to the timid, hope to the despairing, riches to the poor, and teach charity to the rich. It may keep childhood's feet in -virtue's ways, cheer the mother's oft too sad and cheerless heart, lighten the father's dull and plodding toil, and lastly, as a common intellectual pleasure, interlock and bind the ties of family union. Postmaster, let that paper live. An extraordinary case of habitual venesection is reported by Dr. E. Warren Sawyer in ■the Chicago Medical Journal, for September, 1875. The subject of the narrative is a retired clergyman, aged eighty. His firm step and keen intellect show an unusual degree of preservation for his advanced years. He is a farmer's son, and during h:s entire life has "been unusually free from sickness. When seventeen years old, according to the custom of .the period, and not for ill-health, he was bled for the first time. This habit of spring bleeding was followed for the next six years. He then became a student, and the change from active farm work to a sedentary life caused a constant feeling of heaviness, to relieve which he resorted more frequently to the lancet, and during the next ten years he was bled from four to six times a year, always losing from ten to fifteen ounces of blood. The frequency of the venesections increased, and for the past forty years the patient has suffered the loss of eight or ten ounces of blood every three weeks. For the past nine months this man has been under Dr, Sawyer's

care, who has every three weeks bled him to the extent of from.eight to ten ounces. Ine demand for blood-letting. is shown > by a dyspnoea. Repeated ausculatory examinations of the heart and lungs have failed to discover any organic disease of the former, and but slight evidence of vesicular dilatation of the latter. The history shows that, for a time the bleedings were not actually demanded : but for many years past, in the opinion of Dr. Sawyer, it would have been detrimental, and perhaps attended with a fatal result, to attempt a reformation of the habit. The gay world of the Bois de Boulogne, says the Paris correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald, has just witnessed the spectacle of an elegant " break," going at the same rate of speed as that of ateam of first-rate horses, winding in and out among the stream of carriages about the lakes, stopping suddenly, or turning round with admirable ease, without horses ! The novel vehicle is a steamcarriage, just invented and constructed at Be Mans (Sarthe), by a rich manufacturer of that town, M. Ernest Bollee, for his own private use. Its progress through the streets of the capital, up the Champs Elysees, across the open Place de l'Etoile, down the Avenue de l'lmperatrice, and round the lakes, excited immense curiosity, crowds collecting to witness the novel sight all along the route followed by its owner. It crossed the lines of the tramways several times, passed innumerable omnibuses, carriages, and other vehicles, went in and out among saddle horses, showing itself to be as manageable as a .carriage drawn by horses, or rather very much more manageable than an ordinary vehicle drawn in the ordinary way. M. Caillaux, the present Minister of Public Works, and the well-known and wealthy sportsman the Marquis de Talhouet, having heard of the new vehicle, and desiring to see it at work, invited its inventor to bring it to Paris. The latter has accordingly done so, and the result of the examination which he has thus been enabled to make of it has been an expression of his conviction, by M. Caillaux (one of the first practical engineers of Prance), that the new carriage has effectually and entirely solved the problem of the application of steam to private vehicles and on ordinary roads, and he has consequently given M. Bolide the legal authorisation to sell carriages of his invention for general use in all the towns of France, Paris included. With this most ingenious invention the use of steam is attended by no inconvenience ; the new apparatus makes no noise, no smell, smoke, or vapor. The first use the owner of this marvellous vehicle has made of this authorisation' was to go back to Be Mans in it, instead of having it conveyed "per railway," as he was obliged to do in bringing it to Paris ; he and his son thus "did" their return journey at the rate of ten English miles per hour, with an expenditure of about three francs of coal. It was curious to note the evident surprise of the horses on seeing the new carriage go by without the. aid of one of their congeners, but, though clearly showing their astonishment, none of them gave any sign of fear. Whether they were conscious of anything like jealousy of an invention that threatens to take their place to a great extent, or of satisfaction at the prospect of being relieved of a large portion of their present work, our acquaintance with equine language is too limited to ascertain.