MAIL ITEMS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5070, 23 June 1877, Page 2 (Supplement)

MAIL ITEMS.

There are uow between fifty and sixty skating rinks in London. The London chimney-sweeps had a dinner on the Ist of May. A piece of Gobelins tapestry has just been sold in Laris for the sum of £4OOO.

The Arts Exhibition just opened at Naples is described as the host ever held in Italy.

Mr. Hayes, the Xh-esident of the United States, and Mrs. Hayes are teetotallers. A committee has been formed in Italy for erecting a monument at Mantua to Virgil. An old woman named Maloney lias died in the Mallow Workhouse at the age of 101 years. The North Sea Shipping Disaster Fund at the Mansion House uow amounts to about £5600.

In stature the Scotch average more than one inch and a half over that of the average Englishman.

The Jewish Chronicle states that of the 125 members who compose the Turkish Parliament two are Jews.

Great Britain is still represented in the Mediterranean by 17 mon-of-war, besides several smaller vessels.

The consumption of beer in England last year was 35 1-10 gallons per head. In 1860 it was 39 2-10 gallons. According to some statistics on serf emancipation, published recently iu a Russian paper, there are still 2,000,000 serfs in Russia. From 11th December, 18G9, to 31st March, 1875, 179,001 persons were placed on the register of habitual criminals in England and Wales.

In the year 1873 the United States imported 159,571 net tons of steel rails, and during the year 1876 not a single rail was imported. The Irish members of Parliament presented O’Leary, the Irish pedestrian, with a massive silver jug with a complimentary inscription. The Church Times states that during Mr. Tooth’s recent visit to Romo he received an order for an audience with the Pope. He had not asked for the order, and declined to use it. The total present gross yearly income of the parochial charities in 110 parishes in the city of London is £101,380 125., showing an increase of £16,172 7s„ as compared with a return in 1870.

The ship Lady Turner, from Melbourne for Ceylon, 56 days out, has been lost by spontaneous combustion of cargo of bone dust. The captain and crew were rescued by the China steamer 100 miles off Ceylon. The area in orchards in America for various kinds of fruits was in 1875 no less than 4,500,000 acres. The shipment in apples alone amounted in 1873 to 1,185,803 barrels, and about the same quantity are retained for home consumption. Some of the Madrid papers are advocating the suppression of the bull-fights, and are publishing an eloquent appeal to the Cortes asking that it may be declared illegal to allow horses to take part in them. There are now one hundred bull-rings in Spain, and only twelve savings banks. Several of the towns which have recently built rings have no schools.

The French Commission of Historical Monuments has resolved to purchase the five principal tombs of the Grand Masters of the Order of Malta, which are in the island of Rhodes. They will probably be transported to the Lonvro.

The comparative statement of pauperism in England for tho month of February shows in the first week a decrease of 17,494, or 2'5 per cent, as compared with last year ; in the second a decrease of 18,146, or 2*6 per cent.; and in the third a decrease of 18,322 or 2 6 per cent; and in the fourth a decrease of 17,563, or 2'6 per cent.; on the whole a decrease of 17,881, or 2'55 per cenk It has been resolved to appoint an official custodian of tho British graveyards in the Crimea.

The German Empire has just concluded Commercial Treaties with Pern, Nicaragua, and Guatemala.

The expenditure entailed by winding and regulating the great clock at Westminster amounts to £lls a year. According to the Hornet, the little children engaged iu tho pantomime at Drury Lane earn about seven shillings a week. Six firemen of the London Fire Brigade are employed to protect tho London Custom House from fire. This involves an expenditure of £550.

Shakspere’s plays at one half-penny each is one of the latest of the many remarkable developments of the cheap press of the present day. Tile Government of India has resolved to appoint, so far as is possible, natives in preference to Europeans as headmasters of district schools. During the Easter holidays a number of the London Artillery Volunteer Corps took duty in several of the Thames forts, in the absence of the regulars. The City Press states that there are between 2000 and 3000 barmen and barmaids in the city of London at the present time. The die for the Arctic medal is completed, and medals have been struck, and wilt shortly be distribut'd to those who served in the late expedition. If report speaks truly, we shall shortly have a work from a royal author. It is understood that Prince Leopold contemplates issuing a volume of original poems. A telegram from Nice-in the Cologne Gazette states that Count Arnim has lost his sight through erysipelas, and that he is not likely to long survive. The Times' correspondent at Rome says that of the twenty Cardinals upon whom the hat was imposed the other day, nine only were able to take theirs away with them, for the Pontifical hatter had not finished the rest. The officers of the disbanded Pontifical army are subscribing spontaneously for the manufacture of a sword, richly ornamented with gems and brilliants, which will be presented to the Pope, that he in turn may bestow it on a certain exalted personage who is invested with the qualities of a sovereign. It is supposed to be destined for Marshal MacMahon. The Bremen Geographical Society gave a Siberian fish dinner on the 20th nit., when nyelma, muksun, and savok, all of them species of Oorcgonus, found in the river Ob, were served up. The fish was a present from Ivan Nikolayevich Kornilof, a fishmonger of Tobolsk. It was forwarded packed in ice, and after a journey of 3060 miles, arrived in perfect condition, though eighty-three days on the road.

Father Hyacinthe has lectured at Paris, the subject being “The Reform of Family Eolations,” which, he argued, were imperfectly constituted in France. He enlarged on the defective education of girls. The husband, not the priest, should bo the confidant of the woman. God had given man head, and woman heart, and the two should bo united by the synthesis of marriage. Cleverly alluding to existing circumstances, he protested against two morals, one for individuals, another for governments, and inferred that the right understanding of the commandment, “ Thou shalt not kill,” would prevent war. Hu did not presume to dictate a particular religion, hut was sure any religion was better than none. For himself, ho believed in Jesus Christ, yesterday, to-day, and for over. The prospect of a war in which England may have to engage or suffer disadvantage, not to say humiliation, is viewed with evident satisfaction by her enemies in this country. Their sentiments find expression in the congenial columns of the Irishman, which forecasts the issue in a prophetic tone, and predicts that Russia will indemnify herself for her expenses by taking, not tbe European principalities though they must be materially changed—but a slice of Asiatic territory from Turkey, which it seems will bo England’s “ crowning catastrophe.” Some day Russia may take Constantinople, but that is not her present object, as the Irishman thinks, and if not “ the English fleet at Constantinople will play a foolish part.” The pleasing conclusion at which the writer arrives is that “ this warfare against Turkey is an indirect hut most effectual warfare against England.” Lately, says the Pera correspondent of the Telegraph, every Turk turned over a new loaf. In other words, the whole Mbslem nation, at twenty minutes and live seconds' past seven

Turkish time iu the afternoon, celebrated the advent of spring by eating a peculiar kind of sweetmeat, the object being to start well upon another epoch of Hfo free from all evil influences and all wicked ways. Next day the Greeks imitated their Mohammedan compatriots, and thus everybody went off afresh. We hoar that the grand piano, once belonging to Beethoven, is for sale. The instrument was made especially for lum by the piano manufacturer Graf, iu Vienna, at a time when the composer was already beginning to be deaf, and in order to increase the tone it was strung witli four strings instead of tho usual throe. After the death of tho composer, Graf took the instrument back again, and sold it to a lady iu Vienna. There appears to be no doubt ns to its genuineness ; and as an interesting relic it would bo worth purchasing for some public institution. Further particulars can be obtained from Messrs. Augoner, tho music publishers, of Newgatc-stroet.— Academy. We arc asked to state that there is another Admiral still living who was at the battle of Copenhagen—viz,, Admiral Arthur P. Hamilton, of Dorest Square.— Times. At a meeting of tho Birmingham Watcli Committee on Tuesday it was decided to abolish the special public-house inspection and leave it to the discretion of the Chief of Police to carry out tho provisions of tho Licensing Act as ho might deem fit. About twelve months ago six special inspectors were appointed on the suggestion of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, but the experiment not proving succcessful, the honorable member was not in , favor of the appointments being renewed. There is a rumor that in the course of the coming autumn another royal visit will bo paid to Ireland; but whether her Majesty will visit tho “ Emerald Isle ” in person, or depute the Prince of Wales (who, it will be remembered, is also Earl of Dublin) to represent her, is not yet settled. It is to be hoped, for the sake of the “ wild Irish,” who of late have been remarkably tame, and wonderfully free from political demonstrations, that her Majesty will visit Ireland in person. —Court Journal, It is well known that Byron handed over his autobiography in manuscript to Tom Moore, with the sole proviso that Moore was not to publish it till after its author’s death. Immediately after Byron’s death, Moore sold the manuscript to John Murray for £2OOO, but subsequently his own better feeling, and the strong pressure put upon him by Lord Byron’s friends, induced him te refund the money to Murray and obtain possession of the manuscript, which was burned in the presence of Washington Irving, who had himself carefully perused the chronique scandalcusc. In his latter years Washington Irving was fond of retailing to his intimate friends his reminiscences of the autobiography. One of those friends, recently deceased, has left behind him copious notes of these conversations, which his son, with execrably bad taste, is about to publish under the title of “ The Suppressed Memoirs of Lord Byron.” One would have thought that the howl of execration which greeted Mrs. Beecher Stowe’s abominable attack upon Byron’s memory would have warned all prurient literary scavengers for the future to beware of befouling the name of a poet whose works, with all his faults, the world will not willingly let die. —Sporting Gazette. It is proposed to publish monthly a Journal of Forestry, for the purpose of encouraging the (study of forestry in its many aspects, scientific, practical, artistic, and economic. The present ruler of Ethiopia, the successor of Theodoras, is King Yohannes, formerly Prince Hassa of Tigre, a prince who claims descent from Soloman and the Queen of Sheba, The salaries paid to the principal law officers in England are:—Attorney-General, £7OOO ; Solicitor-General, £6OOO ; and counsel to law officers iu Foreign Office matters, £2OOO. A most interesting collection of autographs, says the Examiner, representing a value of 2,500,000 francs, was sold the other day for tho ridiculously small sum of £260. The collection contained the ■ negatives of dukes, counts, barons, duchesses and countesses, artists, diplomatists, officers, and a host of the higher and lower ranks of plutocracy. The sale took place by auction at Homburg, the autographs being the property of the proprietors of the late gaming establishment there, and the signatures are attached to I O U’s for tlur various sums advanced to the unfortunate players to enable them to return home. There is some trepidation amongst the defaulters, as it has been rumored that tho collection will be published as a literary curiosity in case of nonredemption. An exhibition of chess playing sans voir was held at the rooms of the Oity of London Chess Club. Tho performer was Mr. J. H. Blackhurne, whose skill iu this curious branch of chess is well known. His opponents were Messrs. Adamson, Beardsell, Gastinean, Herzefeldt, Knight, Philp, Rabbeth, and Stevens, eight well-known chess experts. Mr. Blackburne has played twelve blindfold games at once, and believes that he could just as well conduct twenty. However, eight seems to be a more convenient number, as it admits of tho games being finished in one evening. Play commenced at half-past six o’clock, and terminated at 11.30. The blindfold player had then won five games, lost two, and drawn one. The scientific world will soon, no doubt, be indulging in all sorts of conjectures and expounding all manner of theories as to the apparently miraculous death of fishes on the shores of America. It was announced a short time ago that the coasts of Mexico and the States bordering on the Atlantic had been found strewn with heaps of tho finny tribe, and it is evident that some extraordinary massacres must have occurred somewhere in the ocean. Where it was that the lamentable event took place it will probably [be impossible ever to discover. But there can be little doubt that the slaughter was caused by some sort of magnetic influence, such as a subterranean volcano or earthquake. The New Yorlc JTcrald, reviewing the winter season at sea, states that the gales which have prevailed in the Atlantic, and particularly along the Norih American seaboard, have been the severest and most destructive to commerce that have been experienced for many years. Hundreds of sailing vessels have been dismasted and badly injured; scores have been wrecked, their cargoes destroyed, and crews drowned; many steamers have been delayed and disabled, seven have been wrecked, four were burned, and the fate of one (tho Colombo) will in all probability for over remain a mystery, ,: ko that of the City of Boston, tho Arctic, and the President. The losses are estimated to exceed 2,000,000d015,, the number of persons drowned is placed at 400, and the number of shipowners ruined at 350. The first storm of tho season began about the 18th of December, and left destruction in its path; others equally severe followed in rapid succession, and continued at intervals up to the beginning of April, when the equinoctial gales sot in.