ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4430, 1 June 1875, Page 3

ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

The Christmas total of the paupers in all England and Wales was 838,636 in 1872, 781,470 iu 1873, and 750,415 in 1874. The death is announced of Maximin Giraud, the shepherd of La Salette, one of the two witnesses of the alleged appearance of the Virgin Mary, on the 19th of September, 1846. Arrests have been made at Metz of a number of men found selling bones which they had collected from the battle-fields in the neighborhood of that town.

The Council of the Social Science Association has fixed October 6th to the 13th as the period for holding the Congress at Brighton this year. At Hull, Henry Martell was fined £4OO for having manufactured cigars without a license, and for having in his possession a quantity of lime tree leaves with which to adulterate them.

The coroner’s jury have returned an open verdict in regard to the death of Mrs. Percy, the actress, who drowned herself at Aldershot to escape the provisions of the Contagious Diseases Act.

Cardinal Cullen has been presented with a cheque for £3500, and an address, by the clergy and laity of Dublin, in commemoration of the '2sth anniversary of his elevation to the espiscopacy. Mrs. Elizabeth Limbrick, the wife of an agricultural laborer, of Maisemore, Gloucestershire, has just died at the age of 103. Till within twelve months of her death sho retained full all her faculties. The Central News is informed that the Khedive of Egypt has just established three judgeships, to be held by English lawyers, in his capital. Two. of the English barristers selected for the new appointment are said to be Mr. Scott and Mr. Law. The foundation stone has been laid of a new town on the Lancashire coast, named St. Anne’s, situate about three miles from Lytham. A limited liability company, with a subscribed capital of £20,000, has purchased the estate from Colonel Clifton, lord of the manor. The Tnrquie of Constantinople has received a warming from the Government,, on account of an article in which it criticised in an unbecoming manner the Queen’s Speech from the Throne, especially the passage relative to the Brussels and St. Petersbnrgh Conferences. The Gazette of Yoddo states that the Empress of Japan has decided on causing a new college to be built for young girls who wish to devote themselves to the career of teachers, and has given the sum of 3000 yon from her private purse, towards the expense of ’the construction of the college. At a meeting of the clergy of the see of Westminster it was agreed to present Archbishop Manning, as a congratulatory gift, with a handsomely-bound volume containing the signature of every priest in the diocese, and a printed statement of the benefits conferred by him on the working classes. The Shakers have received a letter from Mias Wood, who is in the Laverstock Lunatic Asylum. She says she is kindly treated, and is very comfortable, but hopes soon to bo liberated and return to the community. She has been pronounced, on medical examination, to bo suffering from hallucination. The Holy Week ceremonials in Madrid have concluded after greater pomp than has been common since the revolution. The King, who was accompanied by his sister, presided at a bull fight on Monday. Sixteen thousand persons were present. Seven bulls and a dozen horses were killed, with the customary horrors of such spectacles. . At the Royal Geographical Society lately, a paper was read, compiled from diaries sent Homo by Lieutenant Cameron, on the subject of Lake Tanganyika. The height of this lake above the sea level was stated to bo 2701 feet. Cameron saw on the shores of this lake two monkeys, which appeared to bo much larger than men, and which were said to build a now house every day. It is in serious contemplation to form in Europe a Catholic League to defend the rights, the liberties, and the interests of the Church, and especially to support the persecuted Catholics of Switzerland and of Germany, threatened not only with the withdrawal of State grants, but with the confiscation of the endowments provided by individual munificence or by the aid of the various Catholic associations. Eor three days 1200 convicts at Dartmoor were closely confined to prison, in anticipation of a visit from Dr. Kenealy, who had obtained the Homo Secretary’s order to vxsrfc his client. It was apprehended that Dr. Kenealy would come accompanied by a great mob, and that an emeute would be attempted. Greatly to the relief of the authorities, Dr. Kenealy returned without using his order. Orton has become a favorite among _ the warders, several of whom favor his pretensions. The following is a list of obsolete wooden vessels ordered to bo sold to Messrs. Castle

and Son, for the purpose of being broken up:— Neptune, 78 guns, 4579 tons ; Koyal George, 72 guns, 4205 tons; James Watt, 71 guns, 5157 tons ; St. Jean d’Acre, 54 guns, 5290 tons; Ootavia, 35 guns, 3832 tons; Constance, 35 guns, 3832 tons; Mersey, 35 guns, 5643 tons; Melpomene, 28 guns, 3829 tons; Phcebe, 28 guns, 3584 tons; Diadem, 22 guns, 3803 tons; Cossack, 16 guns, 1951 tons; Lyra, 7 guns, 675 tons; Speedwell, 5 guns, 570 tons; Icarus, 3 guns, 861 tone. They are all screw vessels laid up in the steam reserves, six being at Devenport, five at Portsmouth, and three at Chatham.

The Saturday Review, reviewing the work of the session up to the beginning of the Easter holidays, observes that we know now tolerably well of what Mr. Disraeli’s Cabinet is capable, and of what it is not capable. It is an industrious Cabinet and it is an agreeable Cabinet, but it is the most irresolute Cabinet that has made itself well known to the present generation. It wants backbone. It wants to be less like a better sort of jelly-fish. It wants mind and purpose. It decides on nothing, faces nothing, means nothing. Its Bills benefit no one, and hurt no one. They are like stuffed figures, with rusty muskets, shamming to be a regiment of soldiers. If any one pushes them, these Bills topple over, and lie in placid impotence on the ground. The number of horses, asses, and' mules devoted to food in Paris was 2152 in the year 1867, 2658 in 1869, 5732 in 1872, and 7184 in 1874. This progress (says the Journal de Paris) shows that the public is by degrees losing its prejudice against this description of aliment. With the design of promoting hippophagy in France, and to lead to the opening of shops for the sale of horseflesh in England and America, a grand banquet of viande de cheval will take place on Saturday, April 3, at the Grand Hotel, in the French capital. The price of admission is to be 25f. each person.

From a catalogue published by M. Otto Lorenz, we ( Athenceum) see that 754 periodicals are published in Paris. Theology can boast of about 63; law, 63; geography and history, 10; amusing literature, 56; public instruction and education, 25; literature, philosophy, philology, ethnography, and bibliography, 53; painting, 11; photogi'aphy, 2; architectui'e, 8; music, 17; theatres, 8; fashion, 61; technology, 78; medicine and chemistry, 69; other sciences, 47; military matter's and navy, 23; agriculture, 18; and horsemanship, 12. There are 19 miscellaneous journals, 37 daily political papers, and 11 political reviews.