General News.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 319, 23 March 1878, Page 19

General News.

The very latest “ Turkish atrocity” (says an English exchange) is to be seen in Oheapside, London, where a peripatetic vendor of penny wares is carrying about a trayful of “Bulgarian ears” made of flesh-colored india-rubber, and intimating with frightful fidelity a human ear severed from a human head. It is the most horrible pennyworth ever seen. On Tuesday, Jan. 26 (says Public Opinion) communication was established between the House of Commons and the office of the Daily News in Bouverie-street by means of the telephone, which is specially attached to the ordinary telegraphic wires running between the Houses of Parliament and the Daily Nietos office. Conversation was distinctly audible despite the noise from the. other wires, and part of the Parliamentary debate and summary iu Wednesday morning’s Daily News was received by this novel and interesting agency. The chaplain to the Bishop of Lichfield, the Rev. F. C. Beaumont, was set upon and robbed on the highway on Christmas Day. He had been officiating for the Vicar of Weeford, and was on his way back to Lichfield. At the time the robbery occured three men advanced to meet him, one of them asking for money. Air. Beaumont drew out his purse, and as he was doing so, one of the gang struck him on the head with a stick, and another snatched his purse. The three then ran away. Information has been given to the city and county constabulary, but up to the present time without result. An eccentric individual named John Rhodes, of Pomono-terrace, Hounslow, was buried in Hounslow cemetery a few days ago. A-l though possessing immense wealth, lie dressed like a tramp, and was exceedingly parsimonious, so much so that he often denied himself the common necessaries of life. He has left the greater portion of his fortune, amounting to £100,009, to vaiious metropolitan charities. Mr. Rhodes was nearly eighty years of age. His wife died some years since. He has left no issue. He was a chemist iu early life, and derived most of his wealth from successful investment iu gas companies. An invention (says an American jr aper) has recently been perfected and patented in Boston, Mass., which certainly deserves the notice it is getting from the foreign and American Press ; we refer to “ Mason’s Charts.” The instrument consists of a frame which will fit upon any piano or organ, with four movable charts attached to this frame. It is as simple as a child’s story book, and enables everyone, even if they have no taste for music, and no musical education at all, to play almost at sight ; iu fact, a child ten years old could understand them, so extremely simple and practical are they. They have been called by one of our most popular musicians the greatest musical invention of any age ; and they are highly endorsed and recommended by the highest musical authrities in this country and abroad. Lord Charles Beresford has been the victim of his own good nature and confidence in the probity of the Heathen Chinee to the tune of £I4OO. A few years ago he imported to England, and took into his service a native of the* Flowery Land, by name Tom Fat, to whom, amongst other things, he entrusted his cheque-book. Tom Fat soon became aware of the value of a solvent signature appended to one of those oblong-shaped bankers’ orders, and acquired a remarkable degree of skiil iu forging his master’s name. His plan was to tear

out the counterfoil iu the cheque-book, and to keep the pass book out of Lord Charles Beresford’s reach. So successful was the scheme that Tom Fat soon embezzled the sum already named. He lias been found out at last, and has been sentenced to five years’ penal servitude. This may, or may not be, a warning not to employ Chinamen. It is certainly a warning to gentlemen to examine with some care the items of their current expenditure. Last week, says the Home News of January 31st, a house which was being built at the junction of the Haymarket with Pautou-street fell in, and carried with it the house adjoining, a well-known oyster-shop and supper rooms, in the occupation of Mr. Barron. The now building, which had been in hand for about six months, was being erected by Messrs. Newman and Manns, and the workmen had been employed in roofing iu the house. The builders do not agree with the theory which has been promulgated that the old foundation had been disturbed and that the masonry of the superstructure was too heavy, for the best materials liatl been used, and every precaution taken to ensure the safety of the erection. Exaggerated rumors, too, have been made public as to a serious loss of life and injury to many persons, but as far as we can ascertain no loss of life beyond that of Mr. Barron, who was buried in the ruins of his house, and whose body was recovered the next day. Mr. Stanley, the great African explorer, on his arrival iu London, met with a warm reception. At Folkestone (says the Home News of .1 an nary 31), where he landed, the little dark-skinned man, with his high cheekbones, grizzled locks, and bent, shrivelled frame, was received with cheers and a municipal address from the Mayor and Corpora* ion —a thoroughly British welcome. At Char-ing-cross, again, he was loudly cheered, and tie has since been invited to dine by the Geographical Society, and give them an account of his proceedings. But although he has done great service to civilisation in general, and to this country in particular, by his discovery of the sources and course of the Congo, lie is at this moment rather under a cloud. It was a desperate enterprise of course, and he carried his life often in his hand, but there is reason to fear that more blood was shed than was required simply for self-defence. Iu plain English, his whole progress, if his own letters are to be believed, was stained with butchery, for which the urgency of supplying “ copy” to the papers he represented can hardly be pleaded as sufficient justification. These are the rumors that obtain credence more or less, and it is to silence them conclusively, or establish the case against himself, that the Geographical Society have asked him to speak in full. A Swedish paper publishes an interesting article under the heading “Is the climate of Europe growing colder?” It states that iu the Bay of Komenok, near Koma, in Greenland, fossil and very characteristic remains of palm and other trees have been discovered lately, which tend to show that in these parts formei'ly a rich vegetation must have existed. But the ice period of the geologists arrived, and, as a consequence of the decreasing temperature, this fine vegetation was covered with ice and snow. This sinking iu the temperature, which moved in a southerly direction, as can be proved by geological data, i. <?., the discovery of fossil plants of certain speecies, seems to be going on in our days also. During the last few years the ice has increased far towards the south; thus between Greenland and the Arctic Sea colossal masses of ice have accumulated. On European coasts navigators now frequently find ice in latitudes where it never existed before during tlie summer months, and the cold reigning upon the Scandinavian peninsula this summer results from the masses of ice which are floating in the region where the Gulf Stream bends towards our coasts. The London Times, in refering to the death of King Victor Emmanuel of Italy, says : By the death of King Victor Emmanuel, at the age of fifty-eight, one of the most memorable and dramatic careers of modern times is prematurely closed. It is closed, moreover, at the very moment when its full satisfaction seemed on the point of being achieved. A few weeks ago no one would have supposed that the Spiritual Monarch of Rome would have outlived the Temporal. To all appearance the Pope was gradually fading away, and in a short time Victor Emmanuel might have hoped to enter into relations with the Papacy which would not have been embarrassed and prejudiced by tlie immense personal authority of Pius IX. He had seen everything else in old Italy pass away like a dream, and Pius IX. alone remained as the embodiment and the relic of that former world. Had the Pope died first, Victor Emmanuel would have been freed from his only remaining opponent, and the last word would have been spoken in the great drama of his reign. But it is the Pope, after all, who is destined to see the world of his early manhood pass away, and he now remains in the Vatican the sole survivor of thirty years of revolution. There is something striking and pathetic in the fate which brought so near together on what are, after all, two deathbeds, tlie representatives of the spiritual and the temperal power; and the fact that their last communications were those of goodwill ought to be a presage and a symbol of future relations. The King has long lain under excommunication on account of his usurpations of Papal authority and Church property; but in his last hours these censures were waved. Two Papal Chamberlains were sent from the Vaticau to the Quirinal with the Papal benediction, and the King received the last sacraments. The Pope is even said to have exclaimed tliat were it not for his own malady he would have gone to the King and given him the last sacraments himself. Jt is a pity that so gracious an act of conciliation was unavoidably hindered by physical infirmities, but the will eam.ot fail to be taken for the deed. It is worthy of two men who, whatever their faults, have been both great in their way, thus to close their stormy careers in mutual forgiveness; and the incident emi-

neu iy bespeaks that real harmony of Italian feeling which has been too strong in the past, and will prove too sti’ong in the future, for the artificial barriers of a priesthood. Dr. Keuealy again wails over the apathy ol the expected subscribers to his Election Eund of a Million Sixpences, and in a manifesto just issued upon tlie subject says:—-“ For aught we can tell there may be a dissolution of Parliament and a general election before another mot tli passes.” And then he asks, “ Are we prepared for tlie momentous was England in such deadly peril as now—brought to the verge of ruin, imperial and internal, by the wild waywardness of Mr. Gladstone and liis Russians in tlie auburn of 187 G; by the weakness, vacillation, and utter lack of statemanship shown by Disraeli and Lord Salisbury since. Thus Wliigs and Tories are equally conducting this kingdom to destruction ; our trade is dying, our honor is dead, our people are starving.” Coming to the main point, the learned member asks, “ Where are tlie million of sixpences with which we could have returned thirty members to the House of Commons ? Where is the third party which the Magna Gharta Association promised to organise ?—the one party that could save the people.” He answers the question himself, as follows :—“ Both are nowhere. We have piped to the millions in the market place, and they ■will not dance. Can we wonder that their apathy has ‘ got its reward V What would sixpences have been to the million who are Tiehboroites and Magna Gharfcerists and true reformers ? Kothing. But they have kept their sixpences ; all but some noble men and women ; and now, when the moment lias come, we are undone for want of funds.” Lip to the present the appeal for the “ million sixpences,” now four months before the public, has resulten in the collection of £6O. The march of General Gourka over the Etropol Balkans to Sofia appears (says the Spectator) to have been a really marvellous feat. He abandoned the main road, and took a mountain path from Orkbanie to the westward of Kaba Konak, and tlience to Taschkesen. The road for tlie guns had literally to be made in the dark, for the sappers could only work at night, and the paths were so slippery that steps had to be cut with the axe, as in ascending a steep snow-mountain. The men, ill-fed, and subjected for several days to intense cold, were almost worn out, and after doing their work in the snow dropped down asleep “ like logs ;” but still tlie road was made, and the advance guard, after thirty hours of incredible efEort, scaled tlie ridge and slid down literally to the southern side. The whole force gradually crossed, and, as we know, Taschkesen was carried, and Sofia occupied on tlie 6th. The exploit was a most daring one, but its record will probably be forgotten iu the face of the triumph in the Shipka Pass. It is easy, too, to attract attention to the bravery of the Turks, difficult to attract it to the equal bravery of the Russian soldiers. It is expected of the latter. The Popular Monthly Magazine gives the following remedy for wakefulness : —To those whose brains will not subside when the time for rest has arrived, Dr. John L. Cook, of Henderson, Kentucky, proposes a very simple method of securing prompt and refreshing sleep without the aid of drugs. When the mind is active, the circulation in the brain is correspondingly active ; we breathe more frequently, and the movements of tlie heart are more rapid and vigorous. On the other hand, when the mind is at rest, as in healthy sleep, the circulation of the blood is notably diminished, the heart-beats are less l'apid and forcible, and the breathing is perceptibly slower. In the wakeful state, the mind, as a rale, is intensely occupied, whence we may infer an inci’eased amount of blood in the brain. Dr. Cook’s suggestion is to withdraw a portion of this from the head, or lower the brain-circulation, by taking deep and slow inspirations—say twelve or fifteen a minute. By this means the action of the heart will become slower ancl feeblei', less blood is thrown into the brain, and very soon a quiet feeling, ending in sleep, is induced. As by a slight effort of the will anyone may try this, we leave the question of the value to the test of actual experiment. In consequence of the rnauy fatal accidents to miners, resulting fi-orn the poisonous fumes generated from the nitro-glyeerine compounds in use iu mines ; also the serious injuries it is inflicting more or less upon the general bulk of minei's who are compelled to use it, especially in close or ill-ventilated mines, attention is again directed, says an Australian exchange, to the new combustible called “ tonite.” According to reports from the mines in the old country, its success has been thoroughly established ; for not only are its explosive properties equal to dynamite, in either wet or dry ground, but, unlike dynamite or lithofracteur, it gives off no poisonous fumes after exploding. It can be held iu the hand and ignited, a id beyond emitting a very brilliant flame it is perfectly harmless. It burns with such brilliancy that the light can be seen for miles. The blue lights for ships’ signals are likely to be superseded by it. For some time past most favorable reports have appeax-ed iu tlie Mining Journal and other papers. Some of these reports—the majority—have been written by practical mining managex\s after due trials, in some instances where tlie tonite lias been used for months. Each report testifies to its superior excellence as an explosive, besides a general approval oil accouuc of the entire absence of injurious gases after explosion. Yet, strange to say, whilst such favorable reports are almost constantly appearing in the Home papers, and extracts often copied iu tlie colonial ones, not one of our merchants have apparently endeavored to introduce it to our colonial mines. If all that is claimed for it is true, it must only remain a matter of time before coming into general use here ; but in tlie meantime there appears a splendid opportunity for some enterprising firm to procure the agency, or purchase the patent right, and circulate it amongst the mines.