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Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 6, 8 November 1883, Page 4

The new portion of the University of Indiana, at Bloomington, was set on fire by lightning during a thunderstorm on the night of the 12th July, the electricity traveling along a telephone wire which served the institution. The laboratory, museum, and library were completely destroyed. The museum contained a collection of fishes, made by Dr Jordan, which was thought to be the largest and most valuable in the United States. There were 15,000 volumes in the library, besides the so-called Owen collection, the loss of which is believed to be irreparable. The loss is estimated at 230,000d015, of which only 33,000d01s is covered by insurance. A New York telegram says : —“ Mr Oscar Wilde’s play “Vera” attracted a large audience the other evening, who went out of curiosity. The tendency to jeer at the performance manifested itsi If early, increased steadily as the evening advanced, and culminated in a tumult of boisterous laughter at the close. The critics agree in condemning the play as wretched trash. The New York Times says “ The play is unreal, long-winded, and wearisome. It comes .as near to being a failure as the ingenious and able writer can bring it.” The Sun says—- “ ‘Vera’ is a good play to take on the road, and the sooner it is taken the better. ” The Herald calls it “ long-drawn dramatic rot; a series of disconnected essays.” The World says :—“The play opened well, but Wordily, and fell off in the last act and again, “ its distinctive merits are on the side of side of dramatic excellence.” The Tribune says: —“The piece poorly rewarded the public curiosity by the display of several queer scenes, picturesque at points, but mostly ugly, and by the exposition of a fanciful, foolish, highly-peppered story of love, intrigue, and politics, invested with Russian accessories of fur and dark lanterns, and overlaid with bantam gabble about freedom and the people.” Oscar Wilde, in an interview to-day, said he considered “Vera” a success, in spite of the critics. The only fault of the play was that it was too long, and he would prune it at once. He has finished another five-act drama, entitled “ The Duchess of Padua.” The period is the fifteenth century, and the scene is laid in Italy. The drama is in blank verse and prose mixed, the former being use I for the dramatic parts, and the latter for the comic portions.