ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4381, 5 April 1875, Page 3

ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

From the journals to hand by the mail we make the following extracts ; ENGLAND. A gentleman, whose name is unknown, has given ,£IO,OOO for promoting University education in Nottingham. An extensive robbery of jewellery took place lately, at the residence of the Count and Countess of Morelia, Virginia Water. The theft was committed while the family were at dinner, and gold watches, chains, brooches, necklaces, rings, anti trinkets of various kinds, amounting in value to .£IOOO, were stolen from the Countess’s dressing-room. Two strange men were noticed later in the evening at the Virginia Water station of the London and South AVestorn railway, and these went on to London. The lock-out in South AVales commenced on ■ Monday, Eeb. 1, when 120,000 hands -were thrown idle, involving a loss of money in the district of not less than half a million weekly. There is, it is said, an evident determination on the part of the men to go on with the contest and measure their strength with the masters.

The President of the Royal Society has received an intimation that Her Majesty’s Government are prepared to grant £IOOO to secure observances of the total eclipse of the son in April next. Constance Kent, the Hoad murderess, is still alive. lu a paper on female prison life in England, the Daily Yews special correspondent relates a visit which he paid to Woking prison, and says:—“ Passing a file of stocking knitters on my way out of the prison, I noticed a woman of about thirty standing at the end of the row. She was full-featured, of sallow complexion, with dark eyes, and had her short, dark hair pushed back under her cap. She was noticeable amid the crowd because, whilst all the rest curtsied as the Lady Superintendent passed, and looked eagerly for the everready smile of recognition, she, after casting one sharp, angry glance at the approaching visitors, stood sullenly regarding the floor. ‘ AVho is that ?’ I asked Mrs. Gibson, when we were out of sight and hearing. ‘ That,’ said the Lady Superintendent, ‘is.Constance Kent, and a very hard subject she is to deal with. She is one of the few women in the prison whom I cannot get at.’ ”

All the counterfeit coin which has come into the possession of the London police during the last fourteen years is to be melted down in the Eoyal Laboratory at Woolwich. It weighs about i cwt., and represents several hundreds of pounds of current coin. The great bulk consists of half-crowns and florins. At the Cardiff Quarter Sessions, Lord Aherdare (Mr. H. A. Bruce) opposed the motion of Mr. F. C. Fowler to memorialise Parliament for power to enable administrators of justice to flog wife-beaters. However gr?at the provocation, he would ask them to consider the effects of flogging a husband at the instigation of a wife. A man who had been imprisoned for an act of violence done on the provocation of his wife returned, and might become reconciled ; but a man who had been flogged would, they might be sure, never live with her again, or if she lived with him again, would be in hourly danger of her life. That was not the sbrt of thing they wanted. If a husband 'was occasionally a brutal kind of fellow, they knew that the woman would rather have him with her than seeking his fortunes elsewhere, and forsaking her. The current of popular feeling on this question was running the very highest at the present moment, and he only expressed these opinions because he had been specially requested to state his views on the subject. He wished to say that whilst he thought that the powers of the magistrates might be extended, whilst he thought an alteration might be made in respect to the punishment of offences, he would not vote for the proposal to make a very large increase in the powers of magistrates, and to give the powers of flogging to the Judges and the chairmen of quarter sessions. AN ACTUESS IN A NEW OHAKACTEB. At the Clerkenwell Police Court, London, Elizabeth Goodson, aged twenty-five, described as an actress—a debauched-looking woman, who said she had, no home—was charged with being drunk and disorderly, and causing a crowd to assemble near the Angel publichouse, at Islington. From the evidence of Police-sergeant Rolfe, 30 N, it appeared that in the morning, about eleven , o’clock, ho found the defendant near the Philharmonic Theatre, surrounded by a crowd consisting principally of boys, drunk, and dancing the “Can-can” in a most indecent manner. He with some persuasion got her away, but she had not proceeded far before she again commenced to dance. Again ho persuaded her, and she then proceeded to nearly.opposite the Angel, where she began to dance and posture about as above described. He then took her into custody, and with assistance conveyed her to. the police station, on the way to which her language, and demeanor were very bad. The sergeant'stated that he had known the defendant for the past three years as a disorderly woman, but she had been an actress, and he understood held a very respectable position. The defendant, in reply to the charge, said tha6 though she' was passionately fond of dancing, and though she could not deny having drink, which had to some extent overcome her, she was certain she could not have behaved in the manner described by the policesorgeant. She had been well brought up, her father holding a position in the City at £iso per year, and her mother was now well to do at Hoxton. The little drink she had taken had been given to her by friends who commiserated with her in her misfortune, for she had not tasted meat for nearly a fortnight, and had to walk the streets the whole of Christmas Day. The magistrate asked the defendant if she would like to go to a Home, and give up the improper life she was leading ? The defendant replied that she should, for she was disgusted and tired of the life she had led. She felt most miserable, and would readily do anything to improve her position, and he what she once was. The magistrate discharged the defendant, and directed that, she should he taken to Miss Stride’s Home for Fallen Women, which was done. 'SCOTLAND. . Captain Markham, 8.N., who has been appointed to the second command in the Arctic Expedition, reached Dundee early in the month from London, for the purpose of engaging icemasters. Six in all are wanted—three for each vesS el and it is expected that in the course of a day or two the whole will be filled up. From inquiries made by Captain Markham, he has ascertained that there arc about 125 men, including captains, mates, and others who are possessed of considerable experience in navigating the Arctic regions, and who have signified their anxiety to occupy the post of iccmaster. • Captain Markham has already made one appointment. He is very particular in ascertaining the experience of the men, their qualifications, and also in learning whether they would be fitted constitutionally to undertake the arduous task they would have to discharge. Tho terms he is offering are very liberal. . _ Captain David Koger, of Pathhead, commander of the ship Marchmont, of Glasgow, who some time ago saved the crews of two vessels in mid-Atlantic, under circumstances of exceptional daring, is about to receive a tangible recognition of his meritorious services. Hearing of Captain Itoger’s daring, tho Emperor of Germany has forwarded to the Marine Board at Leith a handsome telescope, in mahogany case, to he conveyed to him by the

Board as a mark of his Majesty’s appreciation of his humane conduct. The engineer of the Greenock Harbor Trust, having been directed to consider how additional accommodation for the repairing of ships and the laying down of a patent slip on the Trust's property could be obtained, has submitted three schemes for the consideration of the hoard —the largest involving an outlay of £90,000, the second of £50,000, and the third of £35,000. It has been resolved to discontinue the free week-day breakfasts in the Drill Hall, Glasgow', and to give no more dinners, the “ free breakfast fund” being now nearly exhausted. Subscribers will be gratified by the information that their subscriptions have provided close on 40,000 rations. On Thursday, when Dr. Cameron, M.P., and other leading gentlemen were present, 3000 persons had breakfast, and later in the day 200 had dinner. The Glasgow police have ascertained that amongst a numerous body of the lower grades of the working classes there exists a kind of insurance society against punishment for assaults. If any one of the members of the body is fined for assault or disorderly conduct, the hat is sent round, and the requisite amount is collected in sixpences and threepences. Another reduction of from 2s. to 2s. Cd. per week has taken place in the wages of operative iron manufacturers in the Motherwell district, and it is expected the movement will soon be general in Lanarkshire. AMERICA. During the last few' weeks (says the American Journalist, of December 30) no less than two hundred daily and weekly newspapers have suspended publication in this country alone; and it is estimated that §8,000,000 have been lost during the year in the publication business. How many of the newspapers suspended because of the failure of subscribers to promptly pay their subscriptions will never be known with any degree of certainty. That a large majority of them owe their failure to this neglect is undoubtedly true, although negligence on the part of advertisers to punctually settle their bills may have much to do with the extraordinary-number of suspensions. Among those marked for discontinuance at the close of the year is Appleton’s Journal, which during the five years of its existence is said to have lost over §IOO,OOO. AVilliam Barry, an actor formerly connected with the New York stage, but for the last twenty years a resident of San Francisco, was found dead in his bed in that city on the 2nd January. He was, years ago, connected with the old Maguire theatre, aud afterwards with the Metropolitan, in San Francisco. More recently he was a member of the Californian Theatre Company. He was an actor of considerable merit in small parts, and Charles Kean paid him the compliment of saying that he was the best “ first gravedigger” in “ Hamlet ” with whom he ever played. He was horn in Pennsylvania, aud died at the age of sixty-one years. A MISSISSIPPI BENEDICT OUTWITTED. A marriage was consummated in Yazoo city, which, from its inception to the grand finale, was the most extraordinary that has occurred in any community. The facts are these - Some months ago Mr. Blank wcoed and won a buxom widow of some fifty summers. The widow possessed, beside “ other charms,” a pile of greenbacks, which the “ gay and festive ” youth also had a hankering after. As soon as the ceremony was over, a friend to the “ family ” hastened to headquarters to prepare for their reception. The happy pair wended their way homeward. They scarcely crossed the threshold when he commenced a search for the old woman’s treasure. He soon found it, and on the double quick darted through the back door. The daughter, also a widow, had been watching the movements of her new-made “ dad,” took after him through the corn, and captured the flying fugitive near the house. Having a rope, she downed aud tied him securely to the root of a large mulberry tree, and with the aid • of a good hickory administered a castigation to the “ parieut ” ter-" rible to behold. The bride soon staggered to the scene to assist her daughter in the work of “ reconstruction,” and as the licks would fall heavily upon the back of her truant husband she would exclaim, “ Oh, ray dear, how I love you ; but you precious rascal, you stole my money !” The piteous cries and lamentations of the now unhappy groom soon reached the ears of the ever vigilant policemen, Atkins and Collins, who hurried to the spot. The scene, when they reached the trio, baffles description. Tied to the roots of a tree was the husband of only a few hours’ creation; the step-daughter, with her night clothes torn into shreds, stick in hand, and rapidly repeating the licks, while the bride was punching him in the ribs with her fists, calling him thief, robber, Ku Klux, using cuss words, &c., and demanding her money. The groom would look up imploringly at the police and claim their protection—adding, “jack, untie me, these darned women have got me foul.” The ground around the conflict, and sticks also, were covered with hair, dry goods, buttons, &0., belonging to the young widow. To end the melee the police released the gay Lothario, and separated the parties. Thus ends their honeymoon at least for the present.—Mississippi Democrat, July 21,