GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4513, 7 September 1875, Page 3

GENERAL NEWS.

The Tullamore guardians have granted outdoor relief (which, is" ih~lreland given only in exceptional cases) to an aged woman on her producing a certificate showing her to have been born in the year 1772. 'Those who take interest in billiards will be sorry to hear that Mr. Cook, senior, the ' father of Cooky the ex-champion, died on Sunday, in Bayswater. . For a long number of years the names of Cook and Roberts have been before the public. Whilst Roberts, senior, was champion, Cook, senior, was carefully bringing up his son as a billiard-player, and it is said kept him playing eight hours a day for most part of the year. At Luton, one Saturday lately, a young man named Frederick Brown was severely bitten by a lioness in Wombwell's menagerie. Doncaster, the horse which won the Derby two years ago, and "the Ascot Cup on Thursday, the 10th June," won the Alexandra Plate 'at;Ascot oh 'Friday,' the 11th ! June. He is said to have been, sold by Mr. Merry to his trainer, Mr. Robert Peck, for the immense price of £10,000.' Lord Dudley laid £IO,OOO to" £4,000 on Doncaster for the Alexandra ; Plate. He won £9,000 in" two days On Doncaster. .-.,.: The number of acres of colonial wheat under -culture in all the Australian colonies last year was over 1,500,000 acres, and the produce 18,000,000 bushels. South Australia and Victoria are the largest wheat-producing colonies ', the former producing six to eight million :- bushels, and the latter about five millions. New Zealand ranks next for about three millions, and New South Wales follows with two :. and a-half to three millions. » Prince Louis Napoleon will be attached to Major Ward-Aston's battery of artillery "during the coming autumn manoeuvres. The whole of the officers to compose the stiff for the manoeuvres have been ordered to join the ]. camp at Aldershot on the 24& June. The Vienna Tagblatt says that public opinion in St. Petersburg is favorable to an alliance between Russia and Great Britain. The semi-official press has been instructed to speak of the latter power in a most amicable manner. Mr. F. Buckland, inspector of salmon fisheries, is at present engaged inquiring into the crab, lobster, and coast fisheries of Norfolk, with a view of ascertaining what regulations it would be advisable to adopt for the better development of those fisheries. A Reuter telegram, dated New York, says ? —The champion swimmer, Johnson, who was prevented from fulfilling his English engagements, has accepted a challenge of Thomas Coyle to swim sixteen miles on the Delaware river. The speed of trains in Germany is given by a recent report as follows :—Greatest speed -■ per hour, including stops for express and fast trains, 34 miles ; for ordinary passenger trains, 25. Slowest speed were for express and fast „ trains 21 miles per hour .;_ ordinary passenger . trains, 16 miles. Average speeds per hour, for express and.' fast trains, 28 miles ; for ordinary passenger trains, 21 miles. The Surrey Advertiser states that the famous ...chestnut-tree in the grounds of "Weston House, " Albury, has been demolished by the recent storm. Upwards of' 200 persons have par- ~ taken of Lady Gage's hospitality under its branches at one time. * ■ The Golos, in an article on the Anglo-Rus- . sian alliance, states that the French indemnity 13 being used by Germany to erect fortifications along the Russian frontier, and contends that this .is a display of German distrust in Russian friendship. The Pope has sent to the Shah as a mark of respect some presents, which are to be de- - livered by the Archbishop of Heraclia. The Archbishop arrived lately in Teheran. The presents consist of a Florentine mosaic table, and a bronze model of the triumphal arch of Septimus Severus at Rome. " "■-..... All dividend defaulters among Governments and Municipalities, railway, bank, and other stock companies, figure on a separate stock • and share list of The Times from those which are and have hitherto kept their •-■■■. A Wrexham man Darned Walker is in custody at Northampton, charged with having four wives, all of whom are still alive. Ex-Marshal Bazaine has taken 6, Royal Crescent, Ramsgate, as a residence. On Sunday the Marshal was present at the morning service at St. Augustine's Catholic Church in that town. . The death took place on the 2nd June at Makeney Lodge, Milford, near Belper, of Mr. Anthony Radford Strutt, in his 84th.year. The deceased was reported to be worth three millions of money, and to be the largest shareholder in England. He was a TJni- . tarian. Answering a note from a Glasgow workingman upon some subject connected with trade unions, Mr. Bright says : —"A"book, and not a small one, might be made up of the strange doings of the trade unions. Monopoly is hard to teach, and I fear the working men will only learn through suffering, and they may do mischief which cannot afterwards be repaired." M. Saree, a Professor, Neufchatel, has, says .the Revue Scientifique, found out a plan for "keeping eggs. Whilst they are fresh he coats them with paraffin, and they are said to keep ..without any trace of change for two years. —. London Medical Record. The fifty-sixth anniversary of her Majesty's birth was celebrated with the customary rejoicings. There was the usual inspection of the Household Cavalry in St. James's Park, and a parade of all the troops at Aldershot took place in the Long Valley. In the evening banquets were given by the great officers of "State and the leading members of the Administration, and many of the public buildings and the houses of the Royal tradesmen were iHuminated. One of the latest discoveries in Pompeii is a small woollen manufactory, situated very near the house where the fresco representing Orpheus was recently discovered. Several charred fragments of tapestry were found in this place, beside various machines for carding and weaving ■wool. Fines of £2O and three guineas costs have been imposed upon two farmers, by the sitting magistrates and the Guildhall Policecourt, for having sent meat to the London market which was diseased and unfit for human food. An enumeration has just been made of the number of trees planned during the past season in the avenues and Boulevards of Paris to replace such as have died, and the total is found to be 178,000. The Apothecaries' Hall of Ireland have had to pay £ISOO as compensation to the family of a man who was killed through the explosion of some sulphide of antimony sold by the Hall in mistake for oxide of manganese. According to the South Wales Daily News a splendid vein of coal has been struck on the Mardy estate. It is at the depth of thirtytwo yards, and is two feet thick. The estate is 1000 acres in extent, and it is calculated that it will afford the raising of 2000 tons of coal per day for a period of 200 years. The Earl of Yarborough's ten thousand cigars were sold recently by auction, and realised above £BSO. About a shilling each was the lowest price taken, and some of the choice brands went at about two shillings a piece. Mr. Sankey (the Revivalist) is the son of the Hon. David Sankey, of West Newcastle, Pennsylvania, and the Democrat of that place sa y S . "Whatever may be said of him, no one can accuse him of ever having attempted to mix politics with religion. He is an intelligent Christian gentleman, a singer of the highest excellence, and in point of mental culture far superior to Mr. Moody." In reply to an appeal from the "Laborers' League," on behalf of the labourers on the Sandringham estate, Sir W. Knollys points out many advantages that the laborers enjoy, and states that there are only about eighteen men working at 14s. He declines to give the advance to 15. A telegram from " Rangoon, May 29," announces ■ —Colonel T. C. Hamilton, InspectorGeneral of Police, has been shot dead by Burmese Dacoits. Mr. Davidson was wounded seven days before, but is progressing favorably.

: The~National "Society for Women's Suffrage held its annual meeting. There were, as usual, several lady speakers. A Captain , Jones essayed te speak in opposition to the views of the society, but " hisses " speedily reduced him to silence. Those who are interested in the Arctic Expedition wiU like to know that Sir Charles Wheatstone has invented for the use of the expedition an instrument for telling the time in the dark, which will be very, welcome in the long Northern winter. The invention is due to some adaptation of the polarization of U S ht - ' '