ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5504, 16 November 1878, Page 3

ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

» From the European Mail we hear that Mr. David Riddel), of Blackhail, the well-known stock breeder, recently despatched from Paisley for London, for shipment to New Zealand, a stud of nineteen splendid animals. They were purchased from Mr. Riddell by Mr. Russell, of the New Zealand Bank, London, and comprised the entire horse Star and Garter, by Royal Prince, aged two years; one colt, and eight fillies ard mares, from one to four yeara old. Should they arrive safely at their destination they will bo a valuable acquisition to the colony. Tho animals excited much admiration at the Btation when being put into the horse boxes.

The daily papers are, says the World, very deficient in their lists of the articles deposited in the base of Cleopatra's Needle. In addition to Mappin's shilling razor, and Bradshaw, there were a box of Cockle's pills vouched for by Captain' Burnaby ; a box of Holloway's pills vouched for by Sir Samuel Baker ; a bottle of the Royal Lochnagar whisky ; a copy of The Times newspaper that contained the Mayday article ; a cake of Pear's transparent soap in compliment to Mr. Erasmus Wilson ; a complete set of tho acrostics of the World, with all the wonderful names of the competitors ; a few h's dropped by the Lord Mayor ; the cambric handkerchief which Lord Beaeonsfield holds in his hand while ho speaks; one of Mr. Byron's puns ; one of Lady Blank's garters; Major o'Gorman's last speech in metal of the phonograph ; a pair of ladies' high-heeled boots ; the end of a cigar smoked by Mr. Spurgeon. AH this for tho benefit of the New Zealander to come.

The latest intelligence from tho United States (says the Spectator) is most serious. The elections have been held for Maine, and the "Greenback Labor Party," which proposes largo issues of inconvertible paper, legislation on behalf of labor, and a Poor Law of the. kind advocated by M. Louis Blanc, has shown unexpected strength. The party has polled 33,000 votes, against 23,000 Democratic votes and 47,000 Republican. It will, it is known, coalesce with the Democrats, and the two together will appoint the Governor and control the Legislature. To understand tho significance of the vote, it must bo remembered that the State is in New England, is full of small proprietors, and ia without a great city. If tho new party can win in Maine, what will bo its success in New York, Pennsylvania, and, we fear, in Massachusetts, where tho shoemakers throw such a powerful voto. Tho leader of the party is General B. Butler, and although its ideas are still misty, thoy all point to laws for taxing bonds, for securing a minimum rate of wages, for severe limitations on the hours of labor, and for restrictions on tho immigration of competing

workmen, especially Chinese. The vote will seriously affect the November elections, as very few of the ."politicians" suspected the extent to which somi-Socialist ideas have Bpread in the Union during the general distress caused by the war, by protection, and by the corruption of the political leaders.

We learn from " Nature" that modern chemistry has succeeded in preparing synthetically noue other than common indigo, the weil known produce of the Isatis tinctoria, aud Ncrium tinctormm, of India and South America. This discovery is due to a German chemist, Professor A. Beyer, the genial successor to tho chair of Liebig at Munich, one of the most indefatigable and successful investigators of our day. For a score of years he had been seeking to solve the problem of the constitution of indigo and its synthetical preparation Slowly and patiently he has gathered together aud elaborated one fact after another, until finally, at the last sessiou of the German Chemiol Seciety, be was able to announce tbe completion ef the long research and the discovery of the last link in the chain of synthetic reactions leading to the formation of indigo. Nothing further has transpired as to the aecideut to the frincess Alice, except that it was more disastrous than was believed last week. No less than 623 bodies have passed through the hands of the police, and the total of the dead will probably reach 650. The number unidentified is still very great, thousands of persons living in London whom nobody cares enough about to notice whether they have disappeared. The public, at last awakening to tho fact that each death of a father or mother whose children had remained at home involved misery to some household, have been this week most liberal in subscribing, and an unprecedented amount of cash, £IOO a day, has been left in a box fixed outside the Mansion House. Much of this money is in silver, and there is ether evidence of the unusual degree to which the catastrophe has attracted the sympathy of Londoners. In two separate instances at least, enormous crowds, in one iustance 5000 persons, have forfeited half a day's work to attend tho funerals of neighbors who were among the drowned. Offers to adopt orphans too — not a U3ual form of charity—come in from all sides.— Spectator, Sept. 14. The Constantinople correspondent of The Times points to a danger which is believed to be threatening that capital. The Russian army is being withdrawn over sea week by week, and will shortly be gone, and the British fleet is retiring from the sea of Marmora. The populace are therefore relieved from all restraint, except that of the Turkish soldiery, who may sympathise with them, and of the police who are inefficient. Swollen as this populace is by thousands of refugees and deserters, and harassed as it is by want of means, by the price of bread, and by the excessive depreciation of the paper-money—now 75 per cent, below its nominal value—it will be dispused to commit outrages, and perhaps to favor revolution. "Very powerful persons aro known to be discontented, the Sultan's authority is shaken, and it is deemed necessary even now to take the most jealous precautions for his'safety. All the signs, in fact, point to an outbreak in the winter, which, unless the soldiery are strictly faithful, may amount to a revolution. Even without one, there are certain to be massacres in the neighborhood of Constantinople, only to be averted by a European force.— Spectator. "Atlas" in the World says :—"The utility of electric lights for ocean Bteamers was forcibly illustrated during the last voyage of the Faraday from New York. It would seem that during a thick fog near the banks of Newfoundland, at ten o'clock at night, she suddenly discovered a large emigrant sailingship immediately under her bow. The brilliancy of Dr. Siemen's electric light revealed the danger just in time to enable the captain to reverse the engines, and the two ships passed each other at a distance of a few feet. The screams of the women and children who had hurriedly collected on deck, indicated the hopelessness of the situation in so far as they were concerned ;"and it is morally certain that the lamps ordinarily used by Transatlantic steamships would have failed to penetrate the fog sufficiently to have made it possible to avoid a collision, and more than a hundred lives might have been lost."