GENERAL SUMMARY.

Southland Times, Issue 923, 27 March 1868, Page 3

GENERAL SUMMARY.

London, Jan 27. The Autsralian November mails via Marseilles were delivered in Londen on the 13th, and via Southampton on the 18th January. Her Majesty is well, and remains at Osborne in comparative retirement. The Princess of Wales is rapidly recovering strength, and has returned to her usual avocations. The Queen has published another book, entitled " Leaves from the Journal of our Lives in the Highlands, from 1848 to -1861." Of the first edition 150,000 copies were sold. Charles Kean died on January 23. The Queen wrote a letter of condolence to Mrs Kean. Fenianism is nearly quiet. The effective measures taken by the authorities have prevented further outrages. Burke and Casey have been committed. The man who fired the powder-barrel at Clerkenwell Prison has been captured. The other prisoners have been further remanded. It is now ascertained that seven persons were murdered, and mutilation and injury weie suffered by forty other persons. This was the net result of this outrage. The editors of the "Dublin Weekly New Irishman" have been arrested for publishing seditious articles. Eighty-four thousand special constables have been sworn in to keep the peace and j protect property in England and Scotland. Cteorge Francis Train, on his arrival frqm America, was arrested as a Fenian, but has since been liberated. A public dinner of Australian colonists now in England took place in London on January 25, to celebrate the eightieth anniversary of the first British settlement in Australia. Sir W. Denison was in the chair. The Duke of Buckingham was present, and in responding to the toast of " The Ministry," the Duke said that since the seals of the Colonial Office had been 'entrusted to his care, he had not seen any question that had arisen which ought not to be settled calmly and readily, if only it was met at once, and disposed of before it had time to grow into a sore grievance. Mr Corry, the First Lord of the Admirality, who was also present, stated that £B'o,ooo had been placed on the Estimates for the completion of the ironclad for Victoria Another alteration of the postal arrangements has been made. At the instance of the Post-office authorities, the Peninsular and Oriental Company have altered the departure of the English April mail from the 17th to the 24th. Mr Childers has decided to accept the post of Finance Minister of ; India. At the Conservative dinner at Bristol, Lord Stanley stated that the Cabinet have & comprehensive education scheme under consideration which they wish to be allowed to introduce. The question is attracting much attention. Mr Lowe has spoken on the subject in a provincial town. The "Standard" denies that the Viceroy of Egypt has made an offer of intervention on behalf of the Abyssinian captives, and says that the Viceroy, yielding to the representations of Lord Stanley, ordered the withdrawal of the majority of the Egyptian troops from Massowah. A terrific gale passed over England and Scotland on the sth January. It resulted in serious loss of life and property. In Edinburgh great damage was done, and four lives were lost through the falling of a chimney of a six-storey house in Dukestreet. A chimney of Osborne Palace fell through the roof, into the apartments formerly occupied by the Queen. Several fishing boats belonging to Newhaven are missing. Nineteen vessels, chiefly brigs and schooners, were wrecked on the coast of Glamorgan. Fifty-two lives are j supposed to have been lost. For miles the coast is strewed with wrecks. Mr Charles Adams, the American ambassador, has resigned. Arrangements have been made for a line of telegraph to India, via Russia and Persia. . Distress prevails in the east . end of London, owing to the decline of the shipbuilding trade on the Themes. Attempts have been made to reduce wages to enable | the employers to compete with the shipbuilders on the Clyde, where there is great activity in the trade. Meetings' have been held at Millwall on the subject. A compromise is expected. Complaints are made at Madras that persons who arrive there in charge of Australian horses pass clevery-forged bank notes. The Bishop of Lichfield is about to return to New Zealand, to wind-up matters in his diocese there. He has gratified everybody by many addresses on the occasion of his inaugaration. Mr Thornton is the new British Minister at Washington. Lord Bloomfield, our ambasador at Vienna, has gone to Italy on a political mission. ; The Eev Mr Mackvie has been induced to take the responsibility of the see of] Natal, in room of Bishop Colenso, who has been deposed. There are legal difficulties, however, in* the way of nis ordination. "■■""' !

Major Gardiner, secretary to the (?° vernor of the Island of Jersey, w - cwe 5 convicted of embezzlement, fvgery, and the mutilation of books. c has been F sentenced to Beveri ye** 8 P enal servl " 1 tude. ; . /, . Mrs Yelver^ " as rai3Q d a new action ia the Edi'^S* 1 Court of Sessions for the 'purree of setting aside the judgments M the former litigations. B'^ring the past year 740 South London shopkeepers have been fined for using unjust weights, acales, and measures. The Metropolitan police force has been increased by 1,000 men. The fortune of the late Mr Crawshaw, ironmaster at Merthyr Tydfil, has proved to be over £7,000,000. Lord Justice Rolt has resigned. Professor Wheatstone has been knighted. The Eadical Reform League has got into sad disrepute, so-ne of its . leaders showing sympathy with Fenianism, Mr Beales has apologised, and made matters worse. 1 The Duke of Edinburgh's reception in Australia is regarded with much satisfaction,. " Punch " has commemorated the event by representing the Prince shaking hands with a handsome girl as ia, shepherdess, to whom he says : — " Well, Miss Australia, I knew you were a great girl, bat I had no idea that you were so beautiful." Prince Lucien Bonaparte has been made a cardinal, in reward for the Emperor's services on behalf of Rome. The remains of Maximilian were interred with great splendorin the Church of the Capuchins at Vienna. It is proposee to lay down a submarine cable between Callao, Guayaquil, and Panama. A large portion of the military college at Sandhurst has been destroyed by fire. Sir Culling Eardley has been sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment for bigamy. ■ France is about ro raise upwards of £20,000,000 to meet the deficiency in the revenue. Some uneasines is felt as to the Emperor's ultimate intentions. Another case of rattening has occurred in Sheffield. 1 The American mail steamer Chicago ha 3 been wrecked off Cork harbor. The crew and passengers were saved. The express night train to Edinburgh was fired at near G-rantham. Among fche passengers were the Prince and princess Teck. No injury was done. Extensive defalcations are believed to have been committed by the secretary of the London Limited District Foresters' Society, amounting to several thousand pounds. ; Mr Dickens. has received £1000 for writing twenty pages in the "Atlantic Monthly," and a similar sum for writing thirty pages for "Our Young Folks," with the wright of republication in England in both cases. . ; Mr Gladstone has consented to receive a deputation to discuss the subject of trades unions. Reporters are permitted to be present. Captain Sherar'd Osborne has proposed a new Artie expedition for the discovery of unknown land, supposed to be some-; where in the Artie seas beyond the polar ocean. A French expedition is being prepared for some unknown objuct. It is reported that Cuba and Porto Rica have been offered for sale by the Spanish Government to the United States. ■ . , . Congress has passed a resolution ordering the Committee on Foreign Affairs to take immediate action on the subject of the maltreatment of American citizens by the British authorities in Ireland. The Serapis has embarked the 85th Regiment at Alexandria for Queenstown. Money is plentiful. Discount 1% to 2 per cent. V Australian securities are steady at about last month's quotations. "Wheat shows a slight improvement ; 2s to 3s -.-per quarter for Austaliari. The "average" price of fleece wool has declined considerably. Exports "for the month show: — To Victoria— £4B3,34l, increase, £51,388. To Sydney— £2l6,l3o ; decrease, £792. Vessels on the berth for Melbourne, 27; Sydney, 24. , ;. . ; Obituary^— Lord Bridport, Prebendary Bland, Pastor Coquerel, and Henry Tatham, L.L.D; '■■■ ,- At a meeting of the English, Scottish, Australian Chartered Bank, a dividend of seven per cent per annum was declared, with £5,000 to the reserve fund. Colonial Barik dividend twelve per cent per annum. Union Bank dividend eight and a half per cent, for the half yea? . Tenders for the' New South "Wales loan were opened on Jannary 14th. The minimum; ' ; price '„ was < . fixed at £94. Tenders above £94 3s were received. An aggregate of a million and a, quarter were teridefecl f for^ of which nearly a million were above the minimum. ; The ! reconstruction; of.nthev London and Australian Agency Company is satisfactorily completed, under. tlie style of the* London'- and Australian .Agency Corporation Limited ; capital £500,000, in £10 shares. ;•; , ; .■■''.. ■"■'•' The report of the affairs of the Caledonian Railway Company has been, issued. It states that, though some irregularities have been committed, the property is in first-rate condition. The wool market shows no improvement in pirce. The demand is good. 64,000 bales more -of Australian wool were catalogued this year than last. Australian tallow— Sheep, 435. 6d; ; beef, 425. 6d. Australian hides are readily sold at an advance of a farthing on former .rates.