GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4939, 20 January 1877, Page 2 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

Tim native Christians of Travancore, m South India, have recently started a, journal of their own, called the Tritraneorc limes. Of Charaha, one of the Punjab bill States, with a population of 1130,000, it is stated that there was not a single caso of violent crime m 187-1. . , , , In alluding to the investigation of the charge against 1 >r. Slade, for imposture, The Times reports that “ several ladies, reputed Spiritualists, were in attendance, standing patiently the whole time, and occasionally giving utterance to their views on the evidence given ; indeed, all attempts to suppress the applause or laughter of the public were quite unheeded, aiuf were at last abandoned as useless.” It is added that, after a certain point, “ the character of the inquiry became absolutely farcical.” It is difficult, says the Saturday Review, to conceive a statement more discreditable to a magistrate who, with a police force at his command, tolerated such an outrage on the decencies of a Court of Justice. It was the duty of Mr. Flowers not only to try the ca-e before him, and to check an improper line of examination or ■ cross-examination, but also to see that sonic respect was paid to the laws which ho administered, and to prevent the Court from becoming a mere place of amusement for idle men and women. It is necediess to say that if the spectators in a Court become disorderly and obstruct public business, the magistrate lias full power to turn them all out. This is what Mr. Flowers ought undoubtedly to have done. A police court is not a theatre or a judge and jury club ; ami it is for the magistrate to see that the dignity of the law is not degraded by the Court becoming a beargarden. Mr. J. 'Wheeler writes to The Times : “Just now, when his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales has recently made an alteration in his plume, it may he interesting to your readers to be told that the Royal plume of three feathers is of Mogul origin, and probably of very remote antiquity. The Mogul Emperors of Hindustan wore a plume of three black heron’s feathers when they took the field —a fact of some polit cal significance now that her Majesty has become Empress of India. Sir Thomas Roe, who went on an embassy to the Court of the Emperor Jahangir, in the reign of James 1., describes the plume worn by the Great Mogul when leaving Ajmeer for an expedition into the Deccan. A celebrated traveller describes a similar plume worn by the Ottoman Porte. It was doubtless borrowed from the Moguls, who were the itiling tribe among the Tartars, and probably the descendants of the Royal Scythians described by Herodotus. The plume had a military meaning ; it was the symbol of command. On taking the field, the Ottoman Porte gave one of the plumes to the Grand Vizier, who was then acknowledged as Com-mander-in-Chief. The identity of the Prince ■if Wales plume with that worn by the Great Mo :ul is also of ethnological interest. In the fourth volume of my “ History of India ” 1 have ventilated the theory that the Moguls are descendants of the Vedic Aryans. I may add that, tile Mogul people of Burmah still cherish the traditions and worship of tiie Vedic deities, and preserve the sacred language of Pali, which is distinctly Aryan.” Among .tiler ch inges which have been made with regard to the bayonet of the Mar-tini-Henry rifle, says The Times, the following are the most important :- The ordinary bayonet which lias been sanctioned differs both in length and fo-m of blade from others previously approved. The blade is 22Jin. lung, it is equilaterial, and has no outward ca-.t when fixed on the.rifle. . The bayonet weigbs, with loclciiig-rhig and screw complete, 2-lozs. The new scabbard is somewhat larger than the f irmer pattern, and has in addition to the Spring ill mouthpiece, a long flat spring inside, which is fixed to the leather by throe rivets and washers. A saw-backed sword bayonet has also been approved, of the following dimensions :—Length of bayonet, 2-lgin.; width of blade, Tin.; length of blade, 20.}iu.; weight of bayonet, 11b. Dloz.; weight of scabbard, hn. Madame Nilsson has been received in Norway quite as enthusiastica.ly as in Denmark. At" Christiana, a few days ago, a crowd of 10,000 people assembled in front of the hotel where she was staying, and a choir of students serenaded her, when she suddenly came out upon the balcony ; and, after thanking the students, sang an old Norwegian ballad, her voice in the stillness of the evening being heard all over the square-. The crowd became so enthusiastic that several ladies were crushed bv the rush of the people behind them to get near the hotel, and were carried away fainting. The popular artiste is now at Gothenburg, whence she will go to Copenhagen, to give a couple of concerts there, previous to setting out on her great Continental tour. A marriage in high life is of great interest. Count Augustus Lranicki has lately espoused Mdlle. de Stolopino, who thus becomes the possessor for the rest of her natural lifetime of the two finest sapphires known in this planet, and forming part of the family-jewels of the bridegroom. One of them was given to Jean Sohieski, kin" of Poland, when, in 1683, he was called to the°aid of Austria, and delivered Vienna, besieged by Kara Moustapha, whoso baggage and treasure had been sacked by the victors. The BrauSkis became allied to the Sobieskis by marriage, and thus came into possession of this wonderful stone. The other sapphire was purchased some eighteen or twenty years ago, by the mother of the present Count Branieki. It was obtained from the plunder of a Hindoo temple, after tlio taking of Delhi, during the Sepoy revolt. The sapphire had formed the navel of the divinity of the shrine ; and, when sold, the condition was imposed by the seller that it should i.ot appear in England for a certain number of years. That period having expired atthe moment of the last Exhibition m London, the jewel was shown there. The two gems were also seen four or five years ago, at the time of the marriage of one of Count Brauicki’s niece-. They are both of the size of a five-franc piece, and having no known equals, their commercial value cannot he estimated, though they would fetch, if in the ■market, an enormous price.