MAIL NOTES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4333, 8 February 1875, Page 3

MAIL NOTES.

Three fishing-smacks belonging to Great Yarmouth have been lost at sea, with all hands ; and grave fears are entertained for other two which have not been heard of for some time. It is believed that thirty persons have perished. At Mr. Murray's trade sale dinner on the 13th of December, at the Albion, Aldersgatestreet, upwards of 5000 copies of “ Dr. Divingstone’s Last Journals,” were disposed of. The work is expected to be ready next month. Of Mr. Gladstone’s pamphlet on the Vatican decrees over 100,000 copies have been printed.

Sad Fulfilment of a Dream.—ln the spring of this year, says the South London PrestT, a young married woman, residing in North Peckham, dreamt that she would die on the fix-st anniversary of her wedding-day. To her husband and her relatives she mentioned her strange dream on several occasions, and it seemed to prey upon her mind. At last the dreaded day came, and so impressed was she that it would prove her last upon earth, that she actually made a present to one of her friends of a sum of money wherewith to purchase mourning. Strange to say, before midnight arrived, the poor woman was a corpse. It may be mentioned that she had given birth to a child, which is living and well, eleven days previously. Tub Cost of a Collision.—The Army and Navy Gazette states that the owners of the vessel which sank in consequence of coming into collision with her Majesty’s ship Bellerophon on the passage out of the last-named vessel to the West Indies, have commenced an action against the Admiralty for her value, viz., £150,000 ; and in consequence, Captain Wells, Commander Fane, the Staff Commander, James S. Watts, and all the midshipmen who were on deck at the time, have arrived in England in order to bo examined as witnesses. Tlie New York papers have published a long account of the proceedings on the occasion of Miss Cushman’s retirement from the stage. On the evening of the 7th December Miss Cushman appeared for the last time at New York in the part of Lady Macbeth. The theatre was crowded, and at the close of the performance Mr. Cullen Bryant presented Miss Cushman with a laurel wreath. Miss Cushman was escorted from the theatre to the Fifth Avenue Hotel by a torchlight procession. The torches were borne, the New York Herald says, by men of wealth and eminence. Upwards of fifteen thousand persons took part in the demonstration. Mr. McDonald, M.P., delivered the opening address to the national conference of miners which is sitting at Barnsley, The district reports showed that the National Miners’ Association has at present a membership of 138,000, and that the cash in hand, irrespective of the general funds, is £107,387.

The next triennial prize of £3OO, under the will of the late Sir Astley P. Cooper, Bart., F.R.S., D.0.L., will be awarded to the author of the best essay or treatise on “ The Anatomy, Physiology, and Pathology of the Sympathetic Nervous System.” Candidates are informed that their essays, either written in the English language, or, if in a foreign language, accompanied by an English translation, must be sent to the physicians and surgeons of Guy’s Hospital on or before January 1, 1877, who are the adjudicators of the prize. The Leader is the title of a forthcoming London weekly. The price will be twopence, and it will appear early iu the new year. Mr. Compton Reado and Mr. S. Phillips will be the joint literary and art editors. — Graphic. Herr Von Canady, a Hungarian proprietor, has made a present of sufficient landed property to Kossuth to enable him to exercise the electoral franchise in Hungary.