THE ENGLISH MAIL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4165, 27 July 1874, Page 3

THE ENGLISH MAIL.

ARRIVAL OF THE CYPHRENES. By the s.s. Cyphrenes, which arrived about one o'clock p.m. yesterday, we have English files of the sth of June, and San Francisco journals of the 20th ultimo. From these we make the following extracts : ENGLISH. The Duke of Connaught (Prince Arthur), appeared as a member of the House of Lords for the first time on the night of June 8. Paris dates of June 10 state that the Great International Colt race was won by the English colt, Trent. Fourteen horses ran. Betting at start was four to one against Trent. Stephen Glynne, brother-in-law to Mr. Gladstone, is dead. W. H. Gladstone, son of the ex-Premier, inherits the estate of deceased. The Ironmonger, a London periodical, says : —-We regret to find it necessary to caution our readers against talcing spurious gold coin, as it appears that the usual tests of musical ring, milled edge, or even weight, are no longer reliable tests. That "all is not gold that glitters" is now clearly demonstrated, for scientific roguery has now so far advanced that tokens of platinum alloy are being produced so exactly resembling the precious metal as to deceive the most careful and experienced business men. So close, indeed is the imitation, that a specimen taken recently by a London tradesman was only suspected on clipping the edge, and specimens being shown to the officials at the Bank of England, were put through the ordinary tests and admitted to be perfect in form and weight. The discovery is anything but pleasant, and the natural question arises, how are we to guard against such scientific smashing ? It is said that there is a probability of the Intercolonial Congress not being a success, as the Governments of England, France and Austria have raised objections, and Switzei-land gives it but feeble support. The Ascot Plate was won by Lowlander. Ten horses ran. The Alexandra Plate of 1000 sovereigns, added to the sweepstakes of 25 sovereigns each ; second horse to receive 200 sovereigns out of the stakes ; third horse to save stakes, was won by King Lud. Five horses ran. The betting was two to one against King Lud. Alderman Proctor, of Bristol, has presented to the town his mansion at Clifton, to be appropriated as the " Mansion House for the future Mayors of Bristol." The gift is valued at quite £20,000. A prisoner has been killed in Manchester Gaol by falling through the wheel of a treadmill on which he was at work. The Irish Home Rulers, members of Parliament, have been blackballed at a ballot for members of the Reform Club, London. One received fifty-one, and the other was favored with forty-two of the polite hints. Mr. Lionel Levy, proprietor of the Globe Theatre, in London, has presented the Duke of Edinburgh, as a wedding gift, a dessert service of solid gold. Its value is between 3000 and 4000 guineas. Councillor Hamilton, Port Glasgow, lately wrote to Lady Burdett Coutts, directing her attention to a newspaper paragraph stating that Mr. Moody, the xVmerican Evangelist, had received a cheque for £IOOO from her ladyship, but had declined to accept it. In reply to Councillor Hamilton, who asked if the statement was true, the Baroness wrote that it is entirely without foundation. The Scotsmtin's London correspondent understands that the result of Mr. Hardy's decision to pension all the old Peninsular and Waterloo veterans who were still surviving and in want of relief, has been to bring to light more than 400 old soldiers whose services commenced sixty years ago. Most of these will be awarded, under the late wan-ant, half a guinea a-week. Besides the £IO,OOO to the Manchester Grammar School, the late Mr. E. R. Langworthy has left £IO,OOO to the Owens College to endow a professorship of experimental physics, and £IO,OOO for the extension and improvement of the Peel Park Museum and" Library. Mr. Langworthy's personality will, it is estimated, amiunt to about £1,200,000. Barrow-in-Furness can boast the possession of the largest crane in -the world. It has been recently erected at the docks of the town by Sir W. G. Armstrong and Co., and at the experimental trial, held on the 22nd ult., lifted 100 tons of rails with ease. Mr. Robertson Gladstone, the ex-Premier's brother, well-known as a public-spirited citizen, of Liverpool, advocated at a meeting of the Water Commission yesterday, that Liverpool should adopt a gigantic scheme, and take its water from some part of Scotland. He pointed out that in the counties of Forfar and Kincardine there were many rivers whose waters are running to waste. A supply could be taken from them by means of aqueducts, and doubtless many towns along the route would purchase a supply from Liverpool. Mr. Gladstone is certainly not deficient in engineering imagination. It is stated that Rochefort will publish La Lnnterne in London. The sugar manufactories of Greenock have resumed work, after a stoppage, in some cases, of six months. Over a dozen houses commenced on one morning, and about 3000 men who were thrown out of work have again obtained employment. It is expected that the effect of the new Government measure will be a great impetus to the Clyde sugar refining trade. Captain Joliffe, the conservative member for Petersfield, England, has been unseated by the scrutineers of the polls, and the seat given to Mr. Nicholson, the liberal candidate. By a return issued recently, it appears that the total consumption of sugar in Great Britain, for the 'year ending September 30 last, in breweries, was 03,111,229 lbs., of which 26,705,293 lbs. were consumed in London, and 31,780,969 lbs. in the Provinces. In Scotland the consumption was 574,3031b5., and in Ireland 3,960,667 lbs. The excise duty on sugar used in breweries from this date forward will be lis. 6d. per hundred, instead of 7s. 6d., as formerly. EUROPEAN. Tho steamer Esquimaux has returned to Dundee from tho seal fishery. She has upwards of 10,000 seals, calculated to yield 130 tuns of oil. According to tfie Dundee Advertiser, some Bteps are likely to be taken to establish a " closo time" for seal fishing. Tho packs of seals, it is stated, wero not nearly so large this season as on former occasions, while tho slaughter was oven more indiscriminately carried on, tho proportions of old seals on tho ono hand, and of very young seals, apparently ' only just cubbed on tho other, being unusually

considerable. Nearly a hundred vessels belonging to Dundee, Peterhead, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany are employed in the seal trade, and as almost every one of them has this year obtained a catch of some kind or other, there can be no doubt that many hundreds of thousands of seals have been destroyed. It is, in fact, impossible to calculate accurately the number of seals annually killed. Doubts are entertained whether the supply can continue to meet the annual drains upon it if the breeding seals are killed wholesale, and the young ones are slaughtered' indiscriminately without regard to their size. Corsica produces the largest quantity of wax of all countries in Europe, if not in the world. In ancient as well as in mediaeval times, the inhabitants paid their taxGS in wax, and supplied large quantities annually. Since wax is to honey as 1 to 15, the Corsicans must have gathered each year some millions of pounds of honey. The richest banks of coral and the most beautiful coral in the world are to be found off the coast of Algeria. In fishing for the product divers' jackets and diving bells are prohibited as tending to injure the bottom. Each bank is divided into ten parts, only ono of which is " exploited" each year. An attempt was made to assasinate the Prince of Saxe Weimar aa he was leaving his residence in London on the afternoon of June 1, to attend a levee. He was fired at by an unknown assassin, who escaped. He had previously received threatening letters, as had also the Duke of Cambridge and Mr. Disraeli. A destructive fire has just been extinguished in the forest of Fontainbleau, after destroying ten acres of timber. The text of the Pope's address to the Cardinals was published at Rome on the 19th June. The Pope renews his protest against the usurpation of the Papal States, the abolition of religious Corporations, and other acts of the Italian Government, so that the enemies of the Church may not be able to plead justification of undisputed customs. He was moved to allude to these subjects again because lie had recently received overtures of reconciliation, and had in his possession a respectful letter, urging that he pardon his enemies, and withdraw the excommunications pronounced against them ; but he declared that he cannot make peace with the enemies of the Church. In conclusion he exhorts the Cardinals to imitate the conduct of foreign bishops, especially those of Germany and Brazil. AMERICAN. Bald Mountain has a fresh fit of ague, and the North Carolinians are again in a fever of excitement. The volcanic influences that are supposed to agitate the venerable hill are as active as ever, and in due course of time we (New York Herald) may be able to chronicle the birth of a genuine American Vesuvius. Ruffianism in' Texas.—As the train from Hearne reached Goss' station, in this country, at four o'clock on the Sth of May, en route for Rockdale, the present terminus of the International and Great Northern Railway, several pistol shots were fired into one of the passenger cars by a gang of drunken rowdies. One of these took effect on Mr. James Scoky, of St. Louis, the ball entering his neck and lodging against the spine. The unfortunate gentleman was sleeping at the time. He lingered until last night, when he died. His wife had meantime reached his bedside, and he recognised and conversed with her. Mr. Scoky was a very large stock dealer, and was on his way to Rockdale with 100,000 dols. to invest in cattle. The International and Great Northern Railroad have offered 5000 dols. for the arrest of the perpetrators, and it is stated that Mrs. Scoky has offered an additional 1000 dols. Two brothers named Larkin, and one Crank, have been arrested, charged with the offence. The trade of supplying New York with beef killed in Texas, and conveyed in refrigerator cars, the journey taking five or six days, has, we understand, met with considerable success. Between the beginning of December and the middle of February the New York agent received seventy-five car loads of 20,000 lbs. each, and with little exception the meat arrived in good condition and found a ready sale, at from 6 to 7 cents, (halfpence) per lb. to retail vendors. New York, June 20. Alexander S. Finnie, the Assistant-Manager of the Bank of British North America, at Oakland, in California, has been arrested on a charge of embezzlement at the instance of his partner, who was also manager. THE UNITED STATES PUBLIC DEBT. The Secretary of the Treasury has issued his usual statement of the public debt of the United States, showing its amount on the Ist of April to have been the following Debt bearing interest in gold .. $1,723,900,000 0 Debt bearing interest in paper .. 14.078,000 0 Debt on which interest lias ceased 0,852,800 20 Debt without interest .. .. 510,944,407 77 Total debt, principal .. .. $2,205,381,808 3 Interest accrued and upaid .. 29,070,001 4 Total debt, principal and interest $2,295,058,559 7 Money in TreasuryCoin ?5G,121,379 26 Currency .. .. 4,520,451 31 Special deposit .. 01,720,000 0 Debt, less money in Treasury, April 1 82,152,090,723 50 Similar total, March 1 .. .. 82,154,880,000 90 Decrease during March .. .. §2,189,333 49 It will be seen from the above, that the revenue during March exceeded the expenditure sufficiently to allow of a reduction in the debt of over two million of dollars. Since the beginning of the fiscal year on the Ist July, 1873, a period of nine months, the debt has been increased $4,872,014. There m so much attention directed to the debt and currency just now, that a description of the items will be of interest. The gold debt consists of 1214 § millions of 6 per cents., and 509 J millions of 5 per cents. The currency debt is the Navy pension fund of fourteen millions, at 3 per cent., and 8678,000 at 4 per cent, certificates. The debt without interest, is 382 millions of greenbacks; millions of certificates of deposit, for which the " special deposit " is required to be kept in the Treasury, referred to above; over forty-nine millions of fractional currency, and thirty-seven millions of coin certificates. In addition to this circulating medium, there are also 354 millions of National Bank notes which are not enumerated" in the debt statement. SAN FRANCISCO. A ghastly scene was enacted in one of the bath-rooms connected with the Cosmopolitan bath-rooms. A large man, a stranger, and about forty-five years of age, entered the barber's shop and asked for a bath. He was shown to one of the rooms, and entering, he closed the door. No more was thought of the matter until two hours later, when the attaches thought it unusually long for a man to remain at a bath. The door was tried, but it was fast. The door was forced. A ghastly sight transfixed those who had gathered. There, in the bath-tub, half filled with water, lay the man a corpse, with three deadly gashes in his throat. On the edge of the tub lay tho razor, the instrument of death. The question arose as to his identity. Nothing in his pocket indicated his name, but in the spittoon there were fragments of a letter and envelope. They were taken out and pasted together, and there was given a clue to the unfortunate man's brief career in California. The envelope was directed to Thomas Donahue, at the Morton House, New York. The hotel being visited, one of the clerics gave information that a man of that name had registered his name on the 11th May, but nothing had been seen of him for two weeks. Disappointment in obtaining a situation seemed to have .led the unhappy man to suicide. Piatt's Hall was almost full on the night of Juno Ist, to hear the lecture of tho famous Victoria Woodhull. • The audience were perfectly satisfied that for obscenity and blasphemy it could not be surpassed. A second lecture was given the following night, but the reception of tho lecturer was not of a sufficontly flattering nature to cause her to renew it. The celebrated case of John J. Marks and his son Tom was commenced in tho Municipal Criminal Court on June 11, and after great difficulty a jury was selected to try the case. They are charged with conspiracy to

defraud the State of a portion of her revenues, while the first-named was Harbor Commissioner. They were found guilty after a two days' trial. The famous Sun and Chronicle affair has been renewed, and shooting is now the order of the day between the rival editors, but to the disgust of everyone, none of the principals have as yet been hit. Captain Blethen, well-known in the Colonies as commander of the steamer Nevada, is lying quite ill. His position as chief wharfinger has been filled during his sickness by Captain Edwards, a former harbor-master. ; The steamer Prince Alfred, carrying the mails between this port and Victoria, V. 1., was totally lost on the morning of the 14th instant by running ashore during a dense fog on the north shore, a little north of Potatoe Cove. Passengers, mails, baggage, and treasure all saved. CANADA. A Toronto correspondent of an American journal says : —"A breach of promise case at the Assizes Court to-day created much amusement. The defendant, a widower, named Hussey, wrote to England for the plaintiff, a widow named Everd, she said, to marry him. He declares he only wanted her as housekeeper. Mrs. Everd, who has seen some sixty summers, brought a son along ; but, though Hussey bought her a dress and a ring, he transferred his affections to another, whom he wanted, and the injured ' vidder' sued for 4000 dols. damages. One witness saw defendant kissing plaintiff, and thought them a pair of old fools. He also saw the old Hussey in company with a young dressmaker, not his present wife, though witness advised him to trade Mrs. Everd for her. Defence showed that the widow declared she wouldn't have Hussey 'if he were made of gold and every hair hung with diamonds.' The jury, after twenty minutes' deliberation, gave a verdict that the venerable deceiver should provide a salve for the widow's wounded breast by the payment of 1000 dols." CHINA AND JAPAN. The relations between Japan and China relative to the question of jurisdiction in and the possession of the island of Formosa are becoming complicated. The Mikado is engaged in organising a small fleet, which will be despatched with instructions to take possession of a portion of the territory and keep the marauders who plunder shipwrecked sailors in order. Several Americaus have accepted commissions from the imperial Japanese rulers. The Chinese appear to take the matter very quietly just at present. There is little doubt, however, but that it will produce an exceedingly serious Asiatic difficulty should the ruler of Japan persevere in his purpose.