ENGLISH AND FOREIGN ITEMS.

Southland Times, Issue 1237, 15 April 1870, Page 3

ENGLISH AND FOREIGN ITEMS.

1 ■■ — There are 1018 Latter Day Saints in Scotland. Garibaldi is said to have arrived in Paris on his way to London. There have only been 57 executions in Paris in the last 40 years. Many thousand men are wandering in the streets of San Francisco, vainly seeking employment. In Savannah, dogs trot about the streets -covered with blankets, on which advertisements are printed. . , jQh^MidnigJit Scorpion and the Noondaty. Avenger is the name of a Woman's Rights paper just started in Texas. Europe is at peace, yet her armies ■ number close on six millions of men, costing some ninety millions sterling a year. The railroad from Kbarkof to the sea of Azof was completed on the 4th inst. , thus effecting uninterrupted communication from the Baltic to the Black Sea. The construction of the line, which is upwards of 400 miles long, was only •completed last summer. ■* The gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society has been this year awarded tonM. Delaunay, one of the greatest of living mathematicians and astronomers, for his many important investigations. The Nile has risen this year to a greater height than on any occasion within living memory, <and the results are likely to be disastrous. Dykes, villages, railroads, and telegraphs have^ been swept away, and the damage is estimated at 200 million of francs. The Right Hon. John Bright has announced that the demand for cotton in England is likely to exceed the possible supply. . The circumstance (observes the Melbourne . Weekly Times) is the more interesting to the Australians from the fact that a "Calcutta Merchant " has pitched upon Port Darwin, in Northern Australia, as a fit place for growing cotton. . It is rumoured that, iramediatelv after the assembling of Parliament, Government will bring in a measure to extend the Betting Act to Scotland, whither some of the principal agents have transferred their business offices; and to •prohibit the publication of advertisements appertaining thereto tn'newspapers, under pain of penalty or imprisonment. ' The State of Ohio is one of the most flourishing Western States, but it seems that, with over forty thousand more men than women, its statistics of immorality have become alarming.. A convention of all the mayors of the State has just been held to consider the best means of checking this evil, and has arrived at the conclusion that a system of regulation similar to that adopted in many of the continental cities of Europe is absolutely necessary. The trigonometrical survey of England and Wales, on the scale of one inch to a mile, which was begun about 80 years ago, has just been completed. Three members of a German family at Belvidere, Illinois, died recently from trichinae, communicated by eating ham. ..Eight others were affected,, and it was thought would die. A San Francisco paper puts in a claim for the California State Prison, contending that it has more convicts than that of any other State in the Union in proportion to population. One Hadji Athanassi, a Greek, has just died (says the Levant Times) at Vourla, Smyrna, at the patriarchal age of 125 years, having lived in the reigns, of nine Sultans! He preserved all his faculties to the last day. His regular diet was fish and vegetables j meat he never ate except at Easter. A special commission of experts is about to be despatched from Russia to England, in order to inspect the construction and qualities of the " narrow gauge" railways, with a view to the adoption of the' same system in Russia. j Petitions are being* prepared (according)' :the New York Post) asking the --Pennsylvania legislature to re-enact the Ten Commandments, the people, so far as the conduct of a good many of them show, having forgotten their existence. Mr David M'Cubbin has, within the last day or two, concluded the purchase of that block of buildings at the southwest of Buchanan and St. Vincent streets, facing the Western Club, at a price of somewhat about £30,000, or upwards of £50 the square yard. This is, we believe, - the highest price yet paid for ground in Glasgow. The site, however, is one of the most valuable in the city. The Patent Laws formed the subject of an j important discussion at a meeting of the Manchester Institution of Engineers on Tuesday. The meeting unanimously passed a resolution affirming that " the trade in invention which is founded upon the grant of patents is of great advantage to the country in promoting its industrial prosperity, and that any abuse that exists in the present system may be rectified by available amendments." Whatever may be the merits of the ballot, it will almost certainly be adopted by the present Parliament ; and the class which has become the most powerful in the country is for the most part favorable to secular and compulsory education. Minnesota farmers have raised this year 6,500,000 bushels of corn, against 4,807,477 last year, and 12,000,000 bushels of oats, against 7,582,461 last year, and both crops command better prices than last year. They also raised 20,000,000 bushels of wheat, against 15,250,000 last year, and although the " pjice of this is low, the four crops will realise nearly $2j000,0j3Q more than last yeak> „ ' ■ -The following note from a M.S. volume of the 16th century* on the " Manners of the Irish" proves that what has been called the latest development in ideas about tenant- right can at least boast a respectable antiquity: — "Lett'them. a farme — the grandfather, father, son, and they clayme it as their own ; if not, they goe to rebellion." Tenure at will has always been the most popular tenure; but then it mast be at the will of the tenant.

Statisticians estimate the total popula- .j tion of the globe at 1,228,000,000 souls. Mr Palmer, the celebrated Arabic scholar (travelling Fellow of the University of Cambridge), has arrived in Arabia, where he and a friend will spend some months among the Arabs of the unknown district of Sinai. The object of Mr Palmer is to learn and record the legends believed to be still existing there as to the passage of the Israelites and their sojourning in the neighborhood. Mr Palmer has undertaken this difficult task for the Palestine Exploration Society. Sir David Baxter, Bart., of Kalmaron, has given £3000 towards the erection and endowment of an institution for the education of young ladies at Cupar-Fife. The Glasgow Customs Eevenue for the year amounted to £1,185,753, being a decrease of £166,493 as compared with 1868. The revenue for December alone shows a decrease of £37,970. ; The Morning Herald, which was | established in 1780, was published for I the last time on 31st December, and is I merged in the Standard. A large steamer, 300 feet in length and 2600 tons register, ia in the course of building on the Tyne for the navigation of the Suez Canal. This year monkeys are become the favorite pets in high life in Paris. The larger and uglier the monkey the better, only he must not be wicked. He is generally dressed in a variegated tunie> and colored pants. The Emperor of Russia is suffering from hypochondria. He shuts himself in his Cabinet for entire days, refuses to receive even the members of his family, and takes as hiß only food during this seclusion a few biscuits steeped in. Bordeaux wine. . The Kelso Mail contains the following remarkable announcement :-r" By the death of Sir C. Hood, the office of medical visitor of fanatics is at the disposal of the Lord Chancellor. The salary is £1500 a-year." The Colonist, a weekly journal, devoted to the promotion of Colonial interests, and the integrity of our "Colonial Empire," is announced to appear, so soon as sufficient encouragement may offer. " Bryden believes he has found the birth-place of cholera, in what is described as 'endemic of Lower Bengal.'. Carried thence by the Monsoons, and rendered active by the heat and moisture, it behaves in a way that may be predicted, and in which water and human being's play but a subordinate part." ~ ' The .Record describes the National Education League.; the object of which is declared to be to secure the provision of education to every child in the kingdom, " as a mischievous agitating body." We note, however (the Record adds) that there is a hopeful division in the 'body." " The yield of the diamond lands, during the quarter ending September 30th, was 17,276,460 dole. Like game preserves in England, diamond preserves in Brazil cost considerably more than the yield, without counting the need of. annually carrying fire and sword into squatters' settlements at Lencoes." 1 The Coßsul-Gfeneral of the Transvaal, or South African Republic, has addressed a letter to the Directors of the Highland and Agricultural Society, advising them of certain steps which he proposes to take with the view~ of attracting emigrants to that part of the globe. A commission ■appointed by the Republican Legislature is to be in England shortly, and on their arrival the Consul-General will propose that one agriculturist from each county* or one nominee from each farmers' club, shall be allowed to purchase, on special favorable terms, a farm of 3000 to 6000 acres of G-overnment land, in order that the capabilities and healthiness of the republic may be made manifest to those who are on the look-out for a new home. !The republic lies to the north of Natal and the Orange Free State, and is rich in mineral wealth, and the Consul- General declares that the population is rapidly increasing ; so that those who settle there to cultivate the soil would be richly rewarded for their labor and capital. John Alexander, post-runner between Nairn and Cawdor, has proved himself to be one of the most astonishing mental calculators perhaps in the kingdom. As a specimen of his powers he gave the correct answers to -the five following questions in less than a minute, in presence of Mr "William Raitt, Free Church Institution, Nairn, the other day :— " Two chests tea, each 801 b., at 3s 6|d ; 12 bars brown soap, each 3|lb, at 4§d ; 17 bars white soap, each 41b, at s?d; three bags sago, each 271 b, at 4|d ; and 7 bags barley, each 19lb, at lfd." He answered the following questions correctly without noting down a single figure, and that, too, in a few seconds : — " Find the amount of £500, from March 1 to Jan. 9, both days inclusive, at 4f per cent. ? Answer, £519 19s l|d— 66-73d." He was asked by Mr Raitt how-many letters there would be in a year's file of a daily newspaper of eight pages, each seven columns, each 190 lines, each 42 letters ? The answer, 139,873,440 was given in a few seconds. A pretty little story comes from Berlin. In the Industrial Exhibition in Wittenberg there was a box of soldiers which excited the envy of every little boy who saw it. This ultimately came into the possession of the Queen of Prussia. One little fellow, however, about eight years of age, had quite lost his heart to the gaudily-painted soldiers, and he began to wonder whether he could not even yet ] secure them. The Queen's grandchildren, he argued, could not possibly stand in need of an addition to their stores of toys, and who could say but the good Queen might let him have the treasure if he were; to ask it ? Naturally his parents did nottake quite the same view of the matter ; ; but he was not to be daunted by this. He went off secretly to his room, and wrote a letter to her Majesty, in which he j expressed the desire of his heart, beginning " My dear lady Queen," and writing on the outside, " To the Queen of Prussia

in Berlin.*' In due time the letter reached its destination, and her Majesty was so pleased with the simplicity of her youthful correspondent, that she at one© caused the envied box to be packed up and sent to his address, accompanying it with an expression of her, hearty good wishes. The Queen keeps the letter as a curiosity. t. The Bussian Government is making a very important experiment. The Oxas now flows into the Sea of Aral. It once flowed into the Caspian, its old bed being still visible enough to be a feature in maps. If it could be brqught baek^.the ßussians would have an unbroken and impregnable : water communication from; the Baltic to ( the heart of Khiva, and with further improvements to Balkh ; would, in fact, bo Able to ship stores at Cronstadt for Central Asia, and send them without land carriage. The addition to their power would be enormous; for instance, they could send 10,000 riflemen 'almost to Afghanistan by water, and without any sound audible to the "West— and theie engineers think it can be secured. An energetic officer, with 1800 men, is already on the south bank of the Caspian, the natives are reported " friendly," that is, we suppose, quiet, and the Russian Government has the means through its penal regiments of employing forced labor on a great scale. "We shall hear a .great deal more of this engineering enterprise.— Speetatdr. At Port Onelda,' on Lake Michigan, p slives, it is said, "the smartest girl iA Michigan." She is a German, about seventeen years old, and the oldest of a family, of an even dozen, living in a little double log cabin on the shore of the lake. She delights in outdoor life and employment, especially boating and fishing, and for the last three years has been " master ' _ of a handsome fishing craft and Set df "gill-nets." She puts them out early in V April and continues them till late in the fall. She is out every morning at daylight, and again in the evening, except in the roughest weather.; She takes a younger sister along with her to lielp to draw in and set nets. She often brings in two hundred fine trout and whitebait at a haul. She dresses them, tries out the: oil, and packs and sends them away to market. Her August and September catch amounted to ov|r 300 dollars.* Besides her fishing receipts she has taken" over 170 dollars this season for berries, picked at odd hours by herself and sister. Danger and hardship seem unknown to her. She will go out in any blow, and come in with full sails. Her white mast and bide pennon are known by the people far along the coastv Boats salute her in passing ; boys swing their hats in proud recognition. .■ . . - Things a FAukEit should not bo.~^ A farmer should not imperil bis title to land he already possesses by overv anxiety to obtain an additional number of adjoining acres. He should not attempt to . cultivate more land than he can attend to in season, or keep ' more stock than the, farm will supply nutriment for. He should not put off. for to-morrow what needs to be done to-day ; should not wait until a farming implement is wanted before ascertaining whether he has it, j£. not whether it is in a condition to bV. used. He should not let his stock run down so in winter that half the summer will be wasted in placing the animals where they should have been at the commencement of spring. He should not, when a field is planted, leave the Btrag* gling shoots to contend with weeds till the latter become a prominent feature of the field. He should not go to sleej* over-night before first having determined what work he and his men are to com.* mence with in the morning, with means provided to make it effective. He should not rely too much on those whom, he may employ ; every household wants a head, no matter how faithful its hired members may be. This position belong! to, the owner of the farm; and he should occupy it. He may labor or not, as suits his inclination and means, but the direction of affairs should remain with him. He should not seek to get extra work out of his laborers by turning day into twilight or night. Laborers regard ; this practice as an imposition, and become , ' morose and discontented at the exaction. Besides, exhausted nature requires a" suitable time to recruit its' energies, and should have it. He should not give way to passionate language because of mistakes made or errors committed by his workmen. These are annoying, certainly," but the use of vile language will not tend to repair the fault nor lessen the chances of a repetition of it. Premeditated wrong-doing should involve dismissal from service. He should not, if lured from his business by some trivial sport, be much surprised to find that his men have been enjoying a, partial holiday, during his absence. He should not be indifferent to the physical comfort of those who serve him. None are exempt from sickness. Let him be kind and considerate to those who suffer. They will repay by extra exertions when restored to health. Finally, the farmer who makes a mild decision the rule in his household ; who plans his business properly ; attends to each department in its season; is satisfied with sore and steady, rather than spasmodic and doubtful gains, will pass through life serenely, and leave, as a legacy to his children, a competency of this world's goods, and an unsullied reputation.— Lyttelton fames'. Goldsmiths' Wouk. — The progress of fiaeTart manufacture in this branch of trade is strikingly exemplified in a little -work published by J. W" Benson, of 25, Old Bond Stree^andof the City Steam Factory, 58 and 60, Ludgate BSIL It it enriched and embellished with designs (by Italian, French, and English artistes) of brooches, bracelets, ear-rings, and other articles, suitable for personal wear, or wedding, birthday, or other presents, with their prices. • Btr Benson (who holds the appointment to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales) has also published a Tery interesting pamphleton the rise and progress of watch and dock-making. These pamphlets are sent post free for two stamps each, and they, cannot be , too strongly recommended to those contemplating* purchase, especially to residents in the eduntry or abroad, who are thus enabled 'to select any article they may require, and hare it forwarded with perfect safety. _. : O