MAIL NOTES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4405, 3 May 1875, Page 3

MAIL NOTES.

From the Home journals to hand by the English mail, via, San Francisco, we make the following extracts The promoters of Messrs. Moody and Sankey’s visit to London have secured her Majesty’s Opera House, in the Haymarket for the West-end meetings. This is a shrewd step. The fashionable society will be able to attend the services in-opera fashion, and Lord So-and-So, in his private box, need not be afraid of its being known to cymes of heterodox turn that he has given his countenance to the American evangelists. , ,The Chief Constructor of the Navy and Mr. Plimsoll, with other gentleman of -were present at Captain Boyton s exhibition of his swimming apparatus in the Paddington Baths. During the evening, Mr. Distin, a cornet player, donned the apparatus and executed upon his instrument while floating in Harris, a fashionably dressed young woman, who haa only been married a week, has been committed for trial by the Banbury Magistrates, on a charge of having forged a will of James Howard, a gentleman whose housekeeper she had been, and who resided at Hastings. Mr. Howard had promised accused some money on his death, and as it was not forthcoming the prisoner produced a document in which £l5O was; beqeathed. to her, but it was discovered the will was a forgery. The name of Mr. Boss, a former major, of had been forged as attesting the will.

At the Beading Bench a young woman, , aged seventeen, named'Baxter, daughter of abuilder at Devises, was knocking at the door of Dr. Leslie (musical .composer), of Beading, and annoying him. When apprehended, she stated that the; son of Dr Leslie was the father of a child to which .she had, given birth five months since, and that he had thrown it into a pond near. Bristol, immediately after birth, and had drowned - it.: Inquiries made showed that the body of a child had been discovered in the pond at: the time stated: The young man was apprehended, and he admitted that the girl’s story was partially true. , , , George Hambleton was charged before the Stockport borough magistrates with kicking .Thos. Thornton, a railway station booking clerk. In the course of a fight in a beer-house the prisoner kicked the complainant twice on the back of the head, producing wounds. The defence) that it was an open fight, and that Thornton was the, challenger, seems ,to have had its’ weight with., the magistrates, who thought, however, that “ excessive violence had been used, and committed Hambleton .to gaol for a month.. Lord Aberdare’s advice to his coal-digging friends in South Wales is very different that given by the, President of the Miners Union. ’ His Lordship publishes a letter in the Cardiff papers, iu which lie states that ne has been confidently informed of the prices have been paid for coal to each firm during the past twelve mouths,; and he finds that he must report “most emphatically that the prices not only give no profit, but in moat cases involve loss.” Success , for the, mep .is therefore impossible ; and he earnestly advises them to their foolish struggle, and .starve themselves and their families no longer. The Kev. Mr. O’Malley has replied to , Mr. Bright’s letter,, expressing surprise at the “narrowness..of. the view’’..which .it,betrays,, and,saying, “I thought that broad chest of yours was the home of. a larger and nobler spirit.” . '; I". A meeting of the Communists exiles haa been held in London, to . ; arrange for a commemoration of , the fourth anniversary; of the Paris Commune—March 18. It was resolved to .hold. a great “ demonstration ” in London on that day, , and to have a banquet in the evening. , ; A Sheffield correspondent writes An extraordinary .instance.- of; the unparalleled depression in- th& iron and- steel trades is afforded by; the report of Brown, r Bayley,' and Dixon, Sheffield Steel and Iron Works,. Which' was issued on Monday. The balance-sheet shows a loss of £123,874.2a ?d, for the year ending -March 31, 1871, and for-the nine months ending December' >3l) there appears" a' profit- on trade of £3069 18s. 9d. But the profit and loss account for the same period shows ;a net loss of £9859 13s. Id.—making a total loss of £133,733 Os. Bd. ■ ; This sum is proposed to he reduced to £53,733 -Os. 'Bd. by the transfer to the company of the vendors’- -shares, representing £BO,OOO. ’ The directors believe their property sound,’and look forward to a profit being realised in ordinary, times. ■ .. : ■ " ‘ A*‘whole family have been poisoned at-El-Stepd, Surrey. A police constable, -hearing; that"suoh7W , as'the' case,':went , tq‘ the ’Woolpacjt -Inn,' and saw' the landlady, Mary Chandler, dead in her., chairin. the ‘bedroom. -Theland.-, lorii wap sitting on a stool; with his head rest-’ ing on his arms, in, a dying condition. - The cbfidren—WmV Chandler, ,'aged ( ten'; years ; Edith Chandler).eight'years ; Thos.',Chandler,., six years.; and AEyedHhahdler, rikteen'months -_werh all '.m from the, effects of poison;': In'reply[tq : ihquiri6s madq .by‘the constable, Charlotte Denyer stated that' her father-in-law, Henry Chandler (dfead), mixed a quantity’ of poison "with some flour, a,nd put it on a plate to kill rats. . She saw the. flour on the plate,, but thought it was aU right, and put it into a siiet l pudding; She did not partake of' any'.' herself; More' deaths , arc hourly expected) and, the event,‘has caused the’ utmost coniiteniatibh in'thb village; ' , A painful incident has occurredht Bethesda, nelr Bangor. A dispute exists ■ clergy about burial fees, which'the’ panehjdnefs of iLlandegai and Llanllqcjiid wish to .substitute for an old Welsh ch'stom called''“Offer-., jngs.” At the funeral of Biohard Hughes, of Llanlleohid, the sexton, by the vicar’s orders, refused to allow the use of the parish bier except on the payment.of a sovereign. This demand was resented, and the coffin was brought to jthe churchyard, gate in trap, aid'.ivas buried without'the Beryioe ,being read. At the Manchester’ ’ ’ Police*' Court' Bpbert Smith and George Marshall, two Manchester agents, were charged .with uttering', a .forged cheque for £6OOO. It .was stated On behalf of, the prosecutibh’ that the cheque was accepted by-Messrs. Carlton, Walker, Watsoh and Co., and backed. by Messrs. Tootal, Broadlmrat, Lee, '(fad/C0.,, of Manchester.' The , cheque’ was presented by. the. prisoners to q yarn agent in Manchester, and it being found to be a forgery, they were given.into custody. The’ case was adjojimed. . ; , -m i At Worship-street :, Police Court, a ; .man known as “Lord de la .Hayo” was committed for] trial on several charges of obtaining money under false pretences.. ~ ; : • The Bombay ffazette states .that, the man whb personated Naha Sahib died at Gwalior a few days after he had been given back to Scihdia. " JLL.’. I'—L—i-l.' .... , It is currently reported in well-informed circles in Liverpool that a sum of £30,000 has been subscribed towards a fund for the establishment of a Conservative club in that town.

The gigantic clock exhibited by Mr. Benson at the Exhibition of 1862 has been purchased for St; -James’! Cathedral in Toronto. The chimes of this clock were a modification of the celebrated Cambridge chimes. J Two workmen engaged in soldering a pipe in the iron casing of HiM.S. Black Prince in Key ham .Dock;' Plymouth,, had a' very: narrow escape from death recently. To get at their work thdy had to creep through a succession of manholes leading from one compartment to another of the space between the inner and outer casing of the ship. In the dark and confined space they .had to use a "charcoal 'fire, and by' its fumes they were overcome. One became whblly inscnsible/hot the other managed to crawl through the; man-holes to the Open'air,’ and although speechless;, he succeeded by signs to indicate that something was wrong.- The task of bringing out Ms.wholly insensible comrade by means-of ropes was very difficult and tedious. ’ 1 At ~a" general court' ,of the Highland Society, held in tho Scottish Corporation Hall, London, it was, after a long discussion, resolved to give at once £6O towards Professor Blackie’a scheme for the establishment of,a Gaelip'Chaif in the Edinburgh . University, with the understanding that a second £SO will be given for the same object next year, making a total grant of £IOO from the society.