MAIL NEWS.

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1127, 19 December 1883, Page 2

MAIL NEWS.

I The City of Sydney arrived, at Auckland at 10 p.ra. on Monday. She brings the following summary of newsr—

; Rowell, the English pedestrian, is in New York to contest with Fitzgerald, who defeated him last October, for 500 dollars and the championship of the world.

A son of Jay Gould, the American millionaire, is about to wed Miss Carrie Astor, of the famous Astor family, a union of wealth that is stirring New York society circles profoundly.

It is stated in the San Francisco papers that a delegation of business men from the Australian colonies, headed hy United States Consul Calho, of Sydney, will visit America next spring, with a view of making themselves more thoroughly acquainted with the methods of the country. The Marquis of Lome, in his Impressions of Colonial Life, writes that Canada is the least costly country and the least troublesome, and yet the greatest of British colonial possessions. The ’steamship City of Sydney reached San Francisco a day in advance of the schedule time. Her speed was due, it is said, to the new improved screw with

which she has ho'en recently fitted, Aylard, who gained fame as a lender in the Boor'side in the recent Trahsvaal war, was arrested in Chicago recently for being drank and .disorderly.: ; Sieve Raymond, an English forger, was sentenced in ,New York on November Istj.to life imprisonment for passing forged coapons on tile "Union Pacific Railroad.

Port Antonio Janivera was almost entirely destroyed by fire on October the 18th. It began in the dry goods stpj’e.of SntherlancLand Co, The total loss was over £200,000.

The Canadian Pacific Railroad having been constructed on the eastern side to within 35.miles of the summit of the Rocky Mon ti fains, it has been discovered that it may be impossible to cross via the Kicking Horse Pass. The engineers on the works got into a dispute on the subject, which became so serious that the matter was laid before the manager and officials, and the eonclnsion was to stop all work lor two years. Consequently between 4000 and 5000 men were discharged. Efficient engineers will be put to work at once to discover the best route.

Extraordinary precautions have been taken to guard the British men-of-war now lying in the ports of the Canadian seaboard provinces " against Fenian attack.

John Bright denies that he intends to visit America this winter.

A cablegram stales that thehealth of the Princess of Walcs.is not good. She has increased the cold caught in Denmark, and her deafness has so increased that her companions talking to her in the theatre arc hoard all over the house.

General Massey, at present in New York, and en route for Australia, is nearly broken down by bronchitis contracted in America, and from which ho hopes his trip to the colonies will free him. ;; s -- The Corean Ambassadors now in Now York have been purchasing so recklessly that they found Jthemselves short of funds, and have had to borrow money to pay their expenses home.,, A large and enthusiastic meeting of free traders was held in New York on the 22nd November, i Henry Ward Beecher presided.

Captain F. W. Dawson, «n Englishman, and editor of the Charleston News and Mercury, has been created Knight of the order of St George by the Pope, for the opposition he has made to duelling, and which has gradually led to the suppression of the practice .in South Carolina.

It is proposed shortly to confine the San Francisco and colonial mails to three steamers, which can be done by shortening the time of lying in port, but' correspondents“sn all parts of the country will be deprived of the opportunity of answering letters by the : same steamer that they receive them. The Southern Pacific Railway people ~afe~trying~' to control wheat carrying from this port, and the way they propose to do it is this :—-They have found that ships which go to San Francisco for wheat carry their cargoes of coal from England, Australia and elsewhere. In order to meet them at this port they have bought extensive coal deposits on Paget Sound, where they are building ships to freight their coal to San Francisco. In this way they could supply a large amount df the demand for coal, and render it unprofitable for wheat ships to bring coal here. William McCann Nealson, formerly of Victoria, Australia, now of San Francisco, was attacked and badly beaten on October 24, while leaving his dwelling, by two disguised men. It is thought the assault had some connection with the recent .suit against exSenator Sharon for adultery, in which Nealson was engaged for the prosecution. The affair is considered somewhat mysterious. Before he was attacked, Nealson had brought a personal suit against Sharon for slander, laying the damages at 120,000 dollars. The latter had stigmatised him as a blackmailer. This Sharon suit has also led to'an indictment on a charge of forgery of Mr Nealson and Miss Hill by the Grand Jury. Sir Henry Herbert Nude, the owner of Muckross Abbey, was*abont to marry Miss Rebecca Williams, a Baltimore heiress on November when her father discovered that the baronet’s estate was so heavily mortgaged that he was next door to a pauper. The wedding proceedings were prematurely Stopped. Mrs Langtry started on her second professional tour in America on October 25. She opens in Montreal, then goes to Chicago and San Francisco,; and will probably' continue her journey to Australia. She gave great offence to the people of Ottawa by rehearsing her plays on Sunday. Gebhardt is with her.

Matthew Arnold, who, arrived'in New iYork on the 21st October, is, reported j>s saying, that he hoped he would dike the country, but: after all he thought there was ho place to live in like smoky old London. ■ :

The iron mills of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, are generally closing down, owing to the depression of trade. Mrs Cornwallis West, the famous English beauty, has arrived in Washington, and will assume the management 6f the household of her brother-in-law, Sackville West, the British Minister. ! On account of the number of British subjects in the Rocky Mountains, Earl Granville has been petitioned to appoint a Consul at Dunbar, and an Advance Consul in Salt Lake.

' Canada has demanded the Imperial Government to pay part of the expense of maintaining the pauper immigrants deported from Ireland and landed in the colony, but there is no likelihood that the demand will be complied with. It is now suggested by the Ottawa Press that the destitute or unreliable immigrants be shipped to the place from whence they came, as they wore by the authorities at American ports. Monsignor Oapel delivered a lecture in Chicago on October 81st on “ Republicanism and the Catholic Church,” i William J, Ramsay, proprietor of the

London Freethinker, convicted on the fith of March last of publishing blasphemous libels and sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment, was released on November 24th. He was escorted from gaol by Bradlaugh and a largo crowd of sympathisers, who cheered him, and was given a public breakfast at the Hall of Science. George W. Foote, editor of the same paper, convicted of the same offence, has yet three months to serve.

Wolf, a member of the Advanced Socialist Glnb-of London;" was 'arrested on the,.23rd in his house, where wore found two infernal machines, placed there by a -FrenchmanRir.nme. , It tamed onion investigation to be a pnt-np job to obtain the reward expected to bo paid to the informer, and that no real conspiracy existed, as -was stated, to destroy the German Embassy, Ambassador, and-attaches,

Janies arid Co., merchants, of Manchester, failed on the 24tb. The liabilities are £IIO,OOO. Edward Hanlon, the Canadian oarsman, arrived in San Francisco on Nov. 23rd, m route to Australia. He will probably leave by the mail steamer of December; He carries with him a shell boat and a pair of Donaghne scnlls for the Australian races. * i .