ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4977, 6 March 1877, Page 3

ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

On board the ship Great Queensland, which left London for Melbourne on 6th August last, and which has not since been heard of, there were shipped 50 or 100 tons of gunpowder and about 200 tons iron. She was last spoken oh the 12th of August, when she had just completed the passage down the British Channel. A month ago a lifebuoy marked with her name was picked up off the harbor of Fowey, in Cornwall. Thirty-five passengers were aboard.

The Berlin correspondent of the Daily News says it is probable that Germany and England will soon send men-of-war to the Philippine Islands for common action against the obstacles which Spain puts in the way of their commerce with the Sulus. The sovereignty of Spain over the Sulu Islands is not conceded by Germany. It appears that there now resides at Brook Haven, N.S., the Hon. George Essex Montifex, Lord Drummond, the grandson of the present Earl of Perth, and heir to the title and estates. Lord Drummond, who is now in his twentieth year, seems to have gone to this country recently, after one of his grandfather's domestics. He, with his wife, occupies an old cottage at Brook Haven, and their sole means of sustenance comes from the results of his skill as a sportsman. A contrast drawn between British and Chinese seamen, in a report by Consul Lay on the trade of Chefoo, is much to the disadvantage of the former. It is a noticeable feature, be says, that the crews of nearly all vessels employed on the coast, whether steamers or sailing vessels, are almost exclusively composed of Chinese. The only Europeans on board a sailing vessel, for instance, are the captain, chief mate, and a boatswain, the rest being Chinese. It is a very rare thing indeed to see a British vessel there with a crew of English seamen on board. The reason for this is not so much what it might at first sight •bo supposed to bo—viz., that Chinese can be got for lower wages, the average rate of wages for able-bodied' seamen being £3 10s. to £i a month—as shipmasters find less trouble in

dealing with them than with Europeans. There, is less lof bringing them before the Police Courts for drunkenness and disorderly conduct, or absence-without leave. ' ' A visit to the convict Orton at Dartmoor was paid lately by Mr. Guildford Onslo w, Mr. Helsby, and a Mr. Stubbs, whose family have been tenants on the Tichborne estates for the past two hundred years. Instead of the vi,sitors seeing the prisoner in the deputy-gover-nor’s office, as on previous occasions, the newly-appointed governor insisted upon the prison rules being observed, and the interview taking place in the ordinary three-compartment room, with a warder between the convict and his friends. Orion was more downhearted than on any previous occasion, and complained that he was treated cruelly, and expressed a hope that the matter would be brought before Parliament, so that there might be a commission of inquiry into his case. He seemed to be in good health, but complained of an affection of the head and throat resembling erysipelas. The Home Secretary had declined to allow more than the regulation twenty minutes, and at the expiration of , that period the visitors quitted the prison. The number of pilgrims who assembled last year at Mecca is stated by Consul Beytz, in his commercial report on Jeddah for 1875, to have been 110,000.

The declared value of steam engines exported in the last eleven months was 41,817,904, against 49,455,695 in the same period in the preceding year. A registrar of a pariah in the west of Ireland, says the Sanitary Record, states that the absurd custom still prevails with the peasantry of dipping infants in cold water to harden them, “ and (he sarcastically remarks) so it does, for I registered two or three this quarter-, killed, I am sure, by the'same thing.” The New Free Press reports what it rightly terms a “ charasterictic” saying of Prince Bismarck’s. While discussing with the German Chancellor the effects of the new United States law of settlement, an American diplomatist is stated to have expressed his surprise that the Imperial Chancellor, at the head of a State of rigid military organisation, should have so readily assented, to the new rule, which, by acknowledging immigrants into the States as American citizens, deprives Germany of a number of conscripts every year. Prince Bismarck is affirmed to have replied, “The friendship of forty millions of free citizens is of more value to me than the gain of a few recruits.” There are at present fifty cases of typhoid fever at Barrowfoi-d. A farmer who had been supplying the people with milk had typhoid in his house. In Glamorganshire the rapid spread of canine madness is causing much alarm, six mad dogs having been shot in Cardiff within a few days. Six Russian war vessels, corvettes, or gunboats, are now at San Francisco. Five more are expected to arrive. Eight out of the sixty prefects accused of being hostile to the French Constitution have been removed from office, and replaced by undoubted Republicans. , According to the Printers' Register, there are now published in the British Isles 140 daily newspapers, of which eighty-four are issued in the morning. The Lancashire and Cheshire Band of Hope Union now embraces 215 societies with a total of 29,000 members, while the parent union consists of 192 societies and 28,000 members.

The Wiltshire Times states that a short time ago a brewer in the southern part of Wiltshire, having advertised for a clerk at 30s. a week, received in two days 670 applications. The Parliamentary grant of £2OOO a year for scientific investigations into the “causes and processes ” of disease is in future to be placed at the disposal of the Royal Society. Heretofore this endowment of research was controlled by Mr. Simon, as medical officer of the Privy Council. A general order has just been issued from the War Office giving the names of about 2500 non-commissioned officers and men who are to be at once presented with the medal for long service and good conduct, together with the usual gratuity of £5. Some of these rewards are considerably overdue. The Plymouth Board of Guardians offer £25 for a chaplain, and are .surprised that .they have no response. Marshal Von Moltke has intimated that he will not sit in Parliament after his present term expires. A correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette writes ;—During the last 153 years the cold had not been so severe in St. Petersburg as it was during the last days of December. On the 80th the thermometer fell to 32deg. (Reaumur) below zero, and several cabmen were found frozen to death on their seats, while cats, pigeons, and even sparrows, were found dead in the streets, and at night large fires were kept burning in the public squares for the benefit of the police. In the town of Vologda, in the interior, the thermometer sank as low as 44deg. below zero. Political economists who tell us that France can never prosper unless her population increase, should award a prize to a certain farmer’s wife at Nancy. She has just been confined of her 23rd child, and has only been married nine years. She has always had triplets, all are living,. and all are girls, much to the father’s discomfiture.-

The Philadelphia Public Ledger says that railway trains are. pot,to be permitted for the future to run on' Sundays in Canada. The Dominion Government have issued orders that no trains are to be run on Sundays excepting in cases of great._emergency. Of this emergency the authorities, are to be the judges, no Sunday train being permitted except on direct Government ordpr. 1 The Punjaub,College has been raised to the status of a) University, and is empowered to grant degrees. The Court of Aix has set aside a lady’s will because she was under the influence of a belief in Spiritualism. Scandal appears to be very rife just now in the Lilliputian principality of Monaco, where one or two strange gambling cases have caused considerable sensation. A dispute has arisen between the husband of the Duchess d’H and the keeper of the table' about a sum of 12,000 f., which both allege to have won, but as sonje mistake seems to have been made with the cards, it is difficult to say who is in the right. The matter was referred to the/aye de paix, but he declared hitnself incompetent to settle it, and it now lies before the superior tribunal. The day after this case occurred the Casino was upset by another incident. Monsieur L , a young swell from Nice, was refused admittance pour cause de mauvaises manieres. What this really meant everybody was at a loss to guess, until it transpired that Mons. L having ruined‘himself at the table, had no more money to lose. ‘He has brought an action against M. Blanc, the keeper of the casino, which promises to be amusing. Prince Demidoff was one night refused admittance to the opera on account of his dress. The next day he sent liis valet with a variety of suits and costumes to the manager, and requested him to be kind enough to say which rone he considered necessary for the opera. Perhaps Monsieur L-- would have done better to follow the example of Prince Demidoff instead of going to law. No game of cards, aside from the exclusively gambling games played formoney, and mostly in gambling houses, is ao popular in America as euchre. Not so complex or pressing in its demands upon the.attention of the players as whist, and yet affording considerable latitude for the exercise of judgment and skill, in many thousands of homes it affords a staple 'resource of evening amusement. Not many instances of so prolonged a contest at the game can, however, probably be given as is instanced in the experience of four gentlemen of San Francisco. In 1870, seven years ago, they made an agreement to organise a euchre party, playing one night a week at their alternate houses. The agreement has been kept up almost without -a break; only the moat pressing engagement or unavoidable causes being allowed to interfere with “ euchre nights.” The meetings commence each year in the fall, and are continued through the winter months. Since 1370 they have held one hundred and seventeen of these meetings, and have played two thousand

nine hundred and nineteen games. The same two are. always' opponents, and the score, which is accurately kept, now stands —A and partner,- 1489 ' games ; - B and partner, 1430 games. The contest is still going on, and is likely to continue, as the parties take as much, interest in it, if not more, now than at any period of, the. ‘ struggle. It should also be mentioned that it is played only for the honor of beating and the amusement of the game. No betting is allowed or has ever been proposed, consequently there has been no disagreement beyond amicable discussions as to the best mode of playing. At a service in St. James’s, Hatcham, after the Rev. Mr. Tooth had been inhibited from preaching, there was a procession more elaborate than any which has yet been witnessed at St. James’s. Two cross-bearers were followed by acolytes and choristers, and at accustomed points six very beautiful banners were carried in the procession. One of these was a white moire-antique banner, edged with blue, having in the centre what might be called a monogram of the Blessed Virgin, and on the top the words embroidered, “ Sancti Dei genetrix.” Another banner represented the chalice and the host as both are known in the Roman Catholic Church, and the other banners bore portraits of Our Saviour and the Virgin Mary. The vicar wore a chasuble of silk, of the color of that which is worn in the Roman Catholic Church as a sign of rejoicing. On this occasion nearly all the acolytes wore the scarlet scull-cap of a Roman Catholic cardinal. After the Creed, Mr. Tooth divested himself of his chasuble at the “ altar,” and ascended the pulpit, theinainfeature of his discoursebeingthe special characteristic of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which, he said, was her self- restraint. The text was, “ Mary kept all these things, and pondered in her heart.” From that great characteristic of the Blessed Virgin Mary they should all, he said, learn a great lesson in this season of their troubles, and that lesson was not to be cast down by what people said against them. Then the Communion was proceeded with. Nine acolytes came out from the sacristy to the steps of the altar, and at the elevation lifted immense wax candles, as high as they could hold them. Bells were at the same,time ringing, and the whole chancel was filled with incense. The altar itself was lighted by six wax candles, and on it was a profusion of beautiful flowers. At the close of the service Mr. Tooth turned his face to the congregation, -and gave them his benediction, making the sign of the Cross after the manner in which it is done at the Mass in the Roman Catholic Church. A great deal of Gregorian music was used during the service, with which the whole congregation appeared evidently to sympathife. At the Liverpool Police Court lately, Captain George Drevar, of the barque Pauline, which had just arrived in the Mersey from Akyab, after a voyage of twenty months, appeared before Mr. Raffles, stipendiary magistrate, and expressed a desire that himself, officers, and half of the crew should make an affidavit as to the truth of their having seen the great sea serpent. Captain Drevar informed the magistrate they had seen it on three occasions, and it had evidently followed the ship, which, owing to a broad white streak around it, might have been mistaken by the sea serpent for another of its kind. Each time they saw the monster it was sporting itself by catching and crushing whales in its coils. The captain further mentioned that he had been invited by several scientific societies in Loudon to relate to them what he had seen of the mysterious and, as hitherto supposed, fabulous creature, and it was his intention to go to London in a few days for that purpose. Mr. Raffles told the captain to prepare his affidavit at length, and appear before him the next morning.