ARRIVAL OF THE SUEZ MAIL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4603, 21 December 1875, Page 2

ARRIVAL OF THE SUEZ MAIL.

(PER press agency. V Bluff, Monday. The s.a. Arawata left Sandridge at 2.15 p.m. on the 3 sth iust, proceeded to Port Phillip Heads, and awaited the arrival of the P. and O. Company’s s.s. Sumatra, already telegraphed off Cape Otway with the English mail. On the arrival of the above steamer at 7 p.m., she transhipped the mails and proceeded on her voyage ; cleared the Heads at 8 p.m., and passed Swan Island at 1 p.m. on the following day. Experienced light head winds and fine weather throughout the passage. Passed the Solanders at 4.37 p.m., and arrived off the Bluff at 9.45 p.m. on the 19th. On leaving Sandridge the Arawata steamed the distance between the lights in Hobson’s Bay in Hi. 28min., being the quickest time on record. She brings 52 saloon, and 45 steerage passengers; also 375 tons of cargo for all ports. She sails for Dunedin at 10 a.m. ! CABDE TELEGRAMS, UNDATED, Believed to be London, November 30. It is rumored that Parliament assembles on December 14. There has been an extraordinary rainfall, and the storms have flooded vast tracts of country in England, causing much damage, and on the coast there have been many wrecks. The floods are now partially subsiding. The ironclad Iron Duke narrowly escaped foundering in the Channel, through the sluicevalve being left open and flooding the engineroom. The Admiralty state that the accident has been exaggerated. The English Government has bought in from the Khedive of Egypt all his Suez Canal share for £4,000,000, cash down. The Khedive held 177,000 out of a total of 400,000 shares in the Canal Company. The journals unanimously approve of the purchase, which has caused much agitation in political and financial circles. Thirty thousand Dundee mill workers have struck against a notice for a reduction in the rate of wages. All the rumors respecting the Eastern question are unfounded ; but an ugly feeling respecting the attitude of Russia continues. It is believed, however, that the Alliance of the three Northern Powers has precluded the probability of tranqnilising isolated action. An article in the Russian official Gnzcttc refuses to acknowledge the apprehensions of the foreign Press, and says that a good understanding between the great powers renders a disturbance of peace impossible. The Russian Press is pacific, and the English Press generally indifferent to the fate of Turkey, but insists on the necessity of preserving communication with Egypt «.uJ maintaining the nationality of Persia and Afghanistan. ' The insurgents of the Herzegovina have defeated the Turks at Gotschkoege. Eight hundred Turks were killed and six hundred wounded. The Times recommends, and the Austrian Press opposes, an Austrian occupation of Bosnia and the Herzegovina. The Austrian forces, on the Turkish frontier have been reinforced. Montenegro despatches an envoy to the Northern Powers to explain to them the JUH.mlty of preserving neutrality. The Spanish reply to the American note of the 2nd of November concedes the legal privileges to American citizens in Cuba, and this amicably settles the Hispaua-American difficulty. It is proposed to prosecute the Count v on Arnim for treason. The Government intend sending a special commissioner to Cairo to examine into Egyptian finance, and to advise the Khedive. The Ereuoh Press, though regretting the check given to French influence in Egypt, admires the decisive action of England, and considers it unlikely to lead to political complications. The German and Austrian Press approve England’s action in the matter. The Prince of Wales left Bombay after visiting Baroda, but he has not visited Ceylon. Obituary.—Cardinal Ranscber, Archbishop of Vienna, the Grand Duke of Modena, Henry Wilson, Vice-President of the United States ; Mr. Derrip, successor. London, November 26. The opening rates at the wool sales were well maintained. Anstraban maintain closing rates of last series ; Capes, Id. to 14 J. lower. The Australian proportion is 50,000 bales. Wheat, 51s. to 535. 800 bales of New Zealand hemp were sold at £l9 a ton. Arrived : Sterlingshire. Sailed ; Somersetshire, s.s. December 3. Sir Julius Vogel sailed in the Somersetshire. Sir Alfred Stephen has been gazetted Governor of New South Wales. Mrs. Childers was killed by an inadvertent inhalation of chloroform. The city inundation fund amounts to £14,000. In wool competition continues extremely vigorous. Australian rates are firmer. Wheat is quiet. Adelaide, 645. to 555. ; New Zealand, 51s. to 535. London, undated. The Queensland mails were delivered on the 6th. Tenders for the Queensland 4 per cent, loan of a million amounted to a million and a quarter, chiefly at 91-10. The minimum was 91. In the wool sales competition continues extremely vigorous, but without advance. Prices are firm. The com market is easy ; foreign arrivals very large. Obituary.—C. J. Latrobe, formerly Lieu-tenant-Governor of Port Philip. Arrived : s.s. Durham. MATT. NEWS BY THE SUMATRA. The Bishop and clergy of the Establishment are considering concessions to Dissenters, in view of early legislation on the burial law. Various church meetings have been held during the month. The Social Service Congress met at Brighton. Lord Aberdeen’s inaugural address was on crime and pauperism. Liverpool has been selected for the next year’s mooting. A sham fight has taken place at Wimbledon, and some other manoeuvres at Portsmouth. The attempt to float the Vanguard by large masses of cork failed. The attempt is abandoned till next spring. The Boadicea, an ironclad of the new type, was launched at Portsmouth. The Emperor of Germany, in receiving the President and Vice-President of the German Parliament, discussed the political situation, and expressed perfect confidence of a peaceful settlement. It is rumored that Sir Bartle Frere will have a peerage conferred upon him. Thu state of siego is to be discontinued in Pavia, Lyons, and Marseilles from the Ist of May. The Vagrancy Act is being evaded m Bombay by captains of ships from Australia shipping the grooms as seamen, to avoid the responsibility of taking them back after landing the horses. , . .. , The Prince of Wales returned the visit ot Mendian Princes, and held a numerously attended levee, and then proceeded to a fete given to the native children, numbering seven thousand. The Prince was greatly pleased at the novelspeotacloand the enthusiasm exhibited

by the children. They sang the hymn “ God bless the Prince of Wales” in the native tongue. The whole scene was most striking. The Prince visited a large marquee, where there were two thousand soldiers, sailors, and marines, and quite won the hearts of the men by moving among them, drinking their healths, and making short speeches. He laid the foundation stone of the wet docks of Bombay with ’Masonic ceremonial, and expressed pleasure at seeing the great progress of Masonry in India. He was taken to a dinner party, given by the Governor of Bombay in the Elephant Caves, which were brilliantly illuminated, and presented a fairy scene on the return voyage as the royal barge steamed up the harbor. The whole squadron • and the fleet of merchant vessels were brilliantly illuminated from the water’s edge ; bouquets of rockets were sent up from each frigate. The Prince afterwards proceeded to Poona, and had a magnificent reception. A large concourse, of spectators lined . the streetsAfter leaving this the Prince’s movements are uncertain, as accounts of the cholera in the southern Mahratta districts and Madras are alarming. The inhabitants of Poona presented an address to the Prince. The Prince replied, and afterwards reviewed the troops in garrison at Baroda. The Prince was received by the Guicowarwith great splendor, and conducted to the Residency, mounted on a gorgeously caparisoned elephant. A telegram from Madrid of November 17th states that Don Carlos has addressed a letter to King Alphonso, offering to conclude a truce. An Inman steamer has made the swiftest, passage on record between New York and Queenstown of seven days fifteen hours. The Pandora has returned from Baffin’s Bay, bringing favourable news. There is every prospect of the Arctic expedition reaching a high latitude before being frozen up. The Trades’ Union Congress held sittings at Glasgow. It assumes more and more the functions of a Parliament. All kinds of national subjects were introduced and discussed. Great excitement was caused by the race between Galopin and Lowlander, which was won by the former. Large sums changed hands. There was great loss of life by the gales and floods in all parts. In India, 20,000 persons were rendered homeless, and at Home a succession of gales, accompanied by heavy rains and sad marine disasters, followed by floods almost as alarming as the country suffered from in July. The Hon. Wm. Fox has been addressing a temperance meeting. Petrarch won the Middle Park Plate. The exports to New Zealand amount to £285,500. Shipping.— Arrived; October 11, Rangitikei, from Lyttelton. Sailed; Caroline, October 24, for Nelson; the Nelson, from Clyde, September 20, for Port Chalmers; October 20, Orari, for Canterbury; Roderick Dastle, October 7, for Auckland; Soukar, 7, for Canterbury; Glenlora, 24, for Auckland; Hadso, 20, for Napier; John Milton, 21, for Wellington. Loading at Liverpool: For Canterbury, Conflict, Enterprise. At Glasgow: for Lyttelton, Wild Deer, Jessie Osborne. Casualties : The Roderick Castle, from London for Auckland, is repairing at Falmouth, having received damage on October 13 in the Bay of Biscay. The Haron, from Middleshro’ for New Zealand, put into Shields on October 3, making water, having struck the Middleshro’ bar. AUSTRALIAN SUMMARY. Bluff, Monday. Melbourne, December 15. The Budget debate remains unfinished, every member in the House having a speech to make on,. the, subject 5 tut the division must be taken this week, when the Government is sure of a substantial majority. The Opposition still hold to their promise of preventing the transaction of business and forcing a dissolution. The week generally has been barren of political events. The Commissioner of Railways has been feted by his late constituents at Ballarat, and received a purse of sovereigns towards the payment of his election expenses. The Penang and Madras _cahle still continues unrepaired, Put messages are received in some fashion by steamers arriving at irregular intervals at Penang and Singapore. The scarlet fever epidemic has not abated, and daily fresh cases are reported, some of the victims only suffering a few days’ illness. Mr. De Conroy Ireland applied for a cupias to arrest Captain Chapman, of HM.S. Dido, in connection with the action now pending, and as security for costs and damages, hut Judge Barry refused to sanction the arrest of the captain of one of her Majesty’s ships of war. The Mikado arrived at San Francisco on November 20. Another diabolical attempt was made on the night of December 9 to upset a railway train on the Geelong line, by placing an obstruction on the rails. Fortunately, no serious injury resulted, although the train was going between thirty and forty miles an hour. The Government have offered £2OO reward for the discovery of the perpetrators. Huptou, Shaw, and Co., the firm which evaded payment of duty on their imported jewellery, have had to pay the Customs’ £2500 in fines and duty. Pilot Gamison had his certificate suspended for six mouths for trying to influence the chief harbormaster in obtaining an appointment. The weather continues very wintry ; there is a constant rainfall. All incoming vessels report severe gales around the coast. The New South Wales cricketers arrived yesterday. They have a strong team. The Wagga Wagga Cup, with £IOOO of added money, was won by Cleolite, with Torchlight and Canterbury second and third. Time, 3min. 39sec. The City of San Francisco, which leaves California this month, comes via Kandavau. A private London telegram, of December 10, via Siberia, states wool is unchanged. The next sales commence on February 15. H. A. Clarke, a well-known auctioneer and City Councillor, has gone away suddenly, leaving his affairs unsettled. A boy named Michael Barry, aged 14, died in the hospital on Monday, while under chloroform for an operation by Mr. Beauey, one of the honorary surgeons. The Culzean Castle, 200 days from Liverpool to Melbourne, is reported missing. The F. W. Tucker, thirty-two days from Napier, hound to this port, was spoken by the s.s. Otago on the 10th inst. She provided’the schooner with provisions and water. All well aboard. The F. W. Tucker has since arrived. Commercial.—Wheat and flour improved ; Adelaide wheat, 6s. 6d. 20,000 bushels New Zealand oats were sold at 3s. 6d. to 3s. 7d., showing an improvement. Last sugar sales showed a decline of £1 on brewing and other sorts without change. Kerosene has advanced in the Home market. Heuuessy’s case brandy, 30s. 3d. SHIPPING. Melbourne. Arrived December 11, Estella, from Oamaru ; Firefly, from Timaru. 12th, Annie Moore, from Dunedin. Newcastle. Arrived —December 9, Peeham, from Dunedin. 10th, Edwin Basset, from Wellington. 11th, Henty, from Auckland ; Bohycito, from Dunedin. 12th, Emperor Garott, from Lyttelton ; Wave, from Auckland. 13th, Easby, from Wellington. Sailed—December 10, Adelphia Sea Spray, for Lyttelton. 12th, Helen, for Napier; Frederick Bassett, for Dunedin. Sydney, December 15. The Budget is very satisfactory. The revenue is in a prosperous condition, an increase being shown on all items except gold and Mint receipts, leaving a large surplus at the end of the year. It is proposed to remit duties on a number of articles, leaving only thirty-five articles on the tariff, which it was hoped would he still further reduced next year. The financial proposals of Government .have been generally well received. The proprietor of the Evening News was adjudged guilty of contempt of Court, for commenting on Treeves’ case, and was discharged on payment of costs.

A fire at the Ei'eniny News office on Monday night destroyed property valued at between £6OOO and £7OOO. Fully insured. The cigar manufacturers having pointed out that the increased duty on tobacco seriously affected then* business, Government expressed their willingness to consent to a reduction. ; A boat containing women and children was run down in Newcastle harbor by a tug steamer, but all were saved. Adelaide, December 15. Ernest'Giles, the explorer, reached Western Australia from Adelaide with ten men and sixteen camels. The expedition has been successful, yet the country for more than a thousand miles in a straight line was simply an. undulating bed of dense scrub, where waterholes were few and far between.. On one, occasion they travelled on a stretch of desert 325 miles without water. They were once attacked hy natives, but drove them off. ±he naturalist collected nearly 800 botanical and geological specimens, many of the former quite new.