GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5059, 11 June 1877, Page 3

GENERAL NEWS.

The shipwrights of Glasgow have struck {or higher wages. The King of Dahomey has made overtures to the British for peace. Fifteen cabmen's shelters have been erected in London.

A girl has dierl in Edinburgh, it is supposed, from eating sweets poisonously colored. The Chinese in the United States number 10S.OOO. They all came from Hongkong. The governors of Queen Anne's bounty have augmented 132 poor benefices. The German Federal Council has adopted a Bill fixing the seat of the Supreme Court of the Empire at Leipsie. The Turkish Consul at Naples has been removed, because of some honors he paid Midhat Pasha during the latter's sojourn in Naples. Washington's body is said to have become petrified in its sarcophagus at Mount Vernon, Pennsylvania. Tho Pope has submitted the following question to some of the Cardinals: —Would it not be well to interrogate the Powers as to whether the next conclave can be safely held in Rome ? The only difficulty now in the way of Tweed's release is his unwillingness to divulge the names of legislators and others who received bribes from him in connection with the City Charter bills. A despatch from Alexandria says: The King of Abyssinia has declined to see General Gordon or an emissary of the Khedive, and refuses to release Mitchell, the American, who remains at Adowah. in a pitiable state.

Peace has not yet been concluded between Abyssinia aud Egypt, but pr,.bably will be. The King of Shoa has captured Gedna, and the Abyssinian army has in consequence been withdrawn from the Egyptian frontier. A special from Rome says : —The various Nuncios have informed Cardinal Simeoni that the foreign Ministers to whom they presented his recent circular, have promised to open communication with Italy relative to the independence and liberty of the Pope. Since President Hayes came into office, two clerks have been kept busy at the White House briefing and indexing applications for aud recommendations to office. Over 4000 applications have been received by the President, exclusive of those received by the Cabinet.

Soine figures given in the Journal of the Statistical Society of Paris relating to the fertility of marriages in England and Germany, show some remarkable results. Among 1000 married women in France between the ages of fifty and fifteen, there are 173 annual births ; in England, 2(iß ; and in Germauy, 275. The fertility of marriages in France shows, according to the author of this article, M. Leon Vaeher, the deputy for Gorreze, progressive diminution, and he explains this by the increasing subdivision of real property in Trance. A late issue of the Daily Neios says :—For several days past mysterious paragraphs have appeared in the journals about important public papers abstracted from a general officer's cabinet. There have been many denials and reiterations. But now the Bhn Public defies contradiction of the fact that General Berthant, the War Minister, is the officer robbed, and that the papers relate to the army of reserve and the mobilisation of the territorial army. It adds that the thief is probably by this time arrested. He is believed to be a Bavarian spy who had obtained employment in the War Office.

Mr. Gladstone, replying under date March 20 to a Liberal gentleman at Wolverhampton, who had written to him upon the abolition of capital punishment, says:—"The subject of capital punishment is not one which I am disposed, individually, to stir', or even at the present time to examine. It seems to me that other public duties are far more urgently incumbent upon the nation and on myself—for example, to labor that capital punishment and other much worse outrages be no longer, through or with our connivance, inflicted from day to day on the innocent sufferers subjected to the yoke of Turkey." I hear a commendable story of the Pope. The other day, at one of his Holiness's audiences, a lady poured into bis ear a pitiful story of poverty and want. '■' Commit your story to paper," said the Pope, and passed on. A few steps further down the circle was a devotee armed with a large bag of gold, which ho bestowed with much enthusiasm on the Vicar Apostolic. The latter instantly returned to the indigent female, and poured the whole offering into her hands, observing quietly, " Providence always supplies the wants of the faithful." Everyone seemed delighted save the devotee, who, willing to minister to the needs of a Pope, was by no means satisfied at seeing his charity transferred to a pauper. But this is human nature.— Vanity Fair. " Who's there ?" There was no answer, and the queer noise stopped. "Anybody there?'' No answer. " It must have been a spirit," he said to himself. " I must be a medium, I will try." Aloud—" If there is a spirit in the room it will signify the same by saying ay—■ no, that's not what I mean. If there is a spirit in the room it will please rap three times." Three very distinct raps were given in the direction of the bureau. " Is it the spirit of my sister ?" No answer. "Is it the spirit of my mother ?" Three raps. " Are you happy ?" Nine raps. " Do you want anything ?" A succession of very loud raps. " Will you give me any communication if -I get up ?" No answer. " Shall I hear from you to-morrow ?" Raps very loud in the direction of the door. " Shall I ever see you ?" He waited long for an answer to his last question, but none came. The spirit had gone ; and after thinking over the extraordinary visit, he turned over and fell asleep. On gettitig up in the morning he found that the spirit of bis mother had carried off his watch and purse, his trousers, and his greatc at downstairs in the hall.—American paper. Among the gifts presented to the Emperor William on his birthday there was an engraving by Prince Henry and a book bound by Prince Waldemar, the two youngest sous of the Crown Prince. Under the thrifty habits of the dynasty, each of its princes, it is well known, in order to become acquainted with the popular aspect of life, has to learn a craft. His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince is a compositor, and the German Emperor a glazier. A report ha 3 been received at the AdI miralty from Commander Long, of H.M.S. Fautome, giving a detailed description of the measures carried out by order of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty for the improvement of the site of the monument erected in Kealakekua or Karalcakoa Bay, in the island of Owhyee, to the memory of Captain Cook. The Admiralty, with the concurrence of the War Office, gave directions for 12 old 152-pouudcr guns, which were in store at Esquitnalt, being conveyed to the Sandwich Islands, for the purpose of forming a suitable fence. The monument is a plaiu obelisk of concrete, 27 feet in height, erected on the shore, and close to the spot where the great seaman fell. The expense of its erection was mainly born by English subscribers interested in the island, among whom were the late Lady Franklin, near-Admiral Richards, Mr. Follett Syne, &c. The seaward base of the obelisk bears the following inscription : —" In memory of the great circumnavigator, Captain James Cook, It.N., who discovered these islands on 38th of January, 1778, and fell near this spot on 14th February, 1770. This monument was erected in November, 1874, by some of his fellow countrymen." Mr. John T. Waller, M.R.C.S., writes to an English paper from Flegy Burgh, Norwich: — " I think it just possible that your readers may be interested in knowing that the last of the giants of East Anglia is no more. His name was Benjamin Daniels, and he was born and lived all his life as a farmer at Scratby, on the coast, about six miles north of Yarmouth, aud five miles from Somerton, the birth and resting-place of Hales the Norfolk giant. He died on the 6th of April, and on the 12th was buried in the adjoining village— Ormesby St. Margaret—the funeral being witnessed by a large concourse. His age was 54, height Oft. Cin., weight 24 stone, width from shoulder to shoulder across the back 20iu., I symmetry grand, strength great, frequently loading his own waggon with corn by carrying four bushels of wheat under each arm at one time, and he has brought wreckage off the

beach which had foiled three men. When in great haste to have his farm work done, horses being much engaged, I have seen him harnessed to one of his harrows and cultivating the land. He has left a widow, but no family. He was an exceedingly good-natured man."