MISCELLANEOUS.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 987, 22 January 1883, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

v The Prefect of Police lias decided to have telephones fitted up between-.the fire engine stations in, Paris and a number of - different places from which the alarm can be given, in case of fire. •/ .

.The oldest General in the British army is said to be General George: Macdonald, who completed his 98th year the other day. He entered the army in 1805, and became a General in 1871. . '

Insurrection has again broken out in the Herzegovina, where many of the conscripts have deserted 1 ‘to: the 5 insurgents/- carrying their arms with them. The revolt is said to be gaining'strength, * It is .stated that recent analyses' of the water from the Holy Well at Mecca, .which is so eagerly drunk by pilgrims, shows this water to be sewage, about ten times stronger than average London sewage.

Pigeon races are so popular in Belgium that in the province of Libge alone. 31,250 carrier pigeons were sent by: rail in March, 362,250 in April, 382,500 in May, 269,500 in June, and 96,000 during the first three weeks of July, making a total of more than a million for less than five months. More than a thousand railway vans were required to carry them to their destination.

It is stated that next year, at which time the British Government will have occupied Cyprus for a period of live years, it is intended thoroughly to overhaul the administration of that island. The complete separation of the military and civil departments is one of the changes contemplated. The population arc said to be growing impatient for the reforms promised by Lord Kimberley. Military arrangements of a very elaborate character are being carried out 'at the Ticeregal Lodge in Dublin. Commanding officers have been directed to advise their men not to leave barracks except in couples. In some casesthis has been interpreted as an. order” At Portobellb; and elsewhere confidential directions;have;been given thafatlleast onehalf of the available force should be retained in barracks at one time.

An auction of coffins is a spectacle not met with every day,-'however appropriate some grim humorist might find the auctioneer’s “ Going ! going'! gone !” to the occasion. According to a German contemporary, this im probable' circumstance is likely to becdtob a reality at Berlin,. . A coffin factory being in liquidation, and the attempts to realise the stock by private sale having- proved unsuccessful, it is said that a sale by auction., is aboufttf take place. ■ V :: 1* ; : _ Sapid Pasha,Vthe Khedive’s agent, who has been, staying at Constantinople for a long time, has left for Egypt.’ 'Previous to ‘his departure the Sultan presented him vdth a valuable’'gold watch and chain.

Incendiary placards have been posted in Paris, in the Faubourg St. Antoine calling upon the worknicn to rise in revolt against the tyranny of the middle classes., ; The placards are signed in the name- of the Revolutionary Committee.

Private neWs'frQin Riga states that a plot to burn do\viv the Imperial Theatre has been discovered. Tin boxes containing petroleum and gunpowder were found by some workmen. Political 'motives-'are ’said to have instigated the attempt, as the lower classes in the Baltic provinces are much; excited, in consequence of the .Government measures against the population. ,lii an address delivered at the marriage his-brother, the Rev! Mr Spurgeon said they-never regarded marriage as a religious ceremony at all, yet, nevertheless it was a very important event in .life, and involved SO : much that they- felt it was right,;pot only to offer private and family supplication, asdhey. should upon the incidents of daily life, but to go up to the special place of devotion and ask for the ; prayers of God’s people. : ■-■ • / : 5 !

News ‘from Teheran received in Constantinople represents that affairs oh the frontier are injan iextremelyicritical: state. The Sheib-Obeidullah has issued a manifesto tovthe -Kurds, urging! them to arm and shake offfhe tyranny of Persia. ■ : ;He is still hear Sekiari with 17,000 men. ; He is alleged by the Turks to be supported by Russia, which is certainly massing troops on the frontier. Turkey, fearing serious complications with the Shah, has ordered troops to march against’the* Sheik. ’ Some time ago a little American township .decided to hold a- mammoth negro camp meeting, advertising that “ more: amusement would be furnished than .at any camp meeting ever held in'Georgia.’’ This naturally brought up thousands of negroes in anticipation of unlimited fun and whisky. The meeting became excited, a ( quarrel . arp.se,, apd a negro was shot dead by a white. A dramatic incident followed. A near relative’ of the *<pead man—a drunken negress—fell across thedead body, and exposed his'’death-wound to the crowd, as Mark Anthoiry the body of Cassar’ l Plunging her hand into the wound, she rose erect, with the blood dripping from her fingers and-called for vengeance. : A general light commenced? and a/while ?was, ; shoi/ ) After some shooting, order was restored, and a number of peop’e were arrested, five' ofwhom were sentenced to death. A curious defence was made on their behalfTo sell bad whiskey is criminal. The whiskey in ' this case awas bad. Therefore, the men who sold the whiskey were the murderers. They ought to suffer. One wi'ness, indeed, declared that “ he didn’t blame any one for committing murder after he drank it,” Inf spite of this, however, four men and one woman were hanged together—for the first time in the history of Georgia,.