MISCELLANEOUS.

Southland Times, Issue 1330, 1 November 1870, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

In Russia the telegraph is now chiefly worked by women, and they have proved Iso efficient that the Minister of the Interior has laid befora the Imperial Council a scheme for their, further employment in the public service. A recent account of some American mines says that the deepest excavation in the United States is the copper mine of Minnesota, near Lake Superior. Ifc is 1300 ft deep. Small-Pox. Ef Paeis.: — The mortality for the week ending July 9 shows 1119 deaths, including 267 Svnm awii-p^-. The weather mßrcloutty'and oppressively — — The Isish Exodus. — It |appears from the quarterly statement of the Irish Registrar General that the Irish population fell in number by 1120 in the first quarter of the present year. Don't Beuit this About. — A grumbling old farmer lately expressed a wish that his cattle were endowed with human intelligence. He complained that he was compelled to drive them to drink. Loira Shots.— Some of the French papers publish the most wonderful stories of the performances of a couple of mitrailleuses near Paris. According to this account 300 wretched horses, bought from the knackers, were placed at 2)600 metres (about a mile and a half) off, and in less than three minutes not a horse was alive ! The next day another trial took place, this time with 500 horses, and in less than a minute and a half they were all destroyed. This story looks uncommonly as if it had been fabricated in order that the Prussians might read and tremble. The . range alone is quite unheard of, mitrailleuses being generally supposed to have little or no effect beyond 1000 yards. The Thiesty Bismabck. — The French papers are eagerly- .circulating every anecdote against the hated Bismarck. The Gaulois reproduces from ISHistoire the following : — One day some one called to inquire how long Count Bismarck would be absent, having heard he was from home. A son of the Count asked the visitor to wait and he would tell him in a minute, and inspecting the cellar, he returned with the news, " My father is sure not to be away more than thirty days at the outside, for he has only taken thirty bottles of brandy with him." According to the Gaulois, the Count is equally thirsty for beer, and at the Paris Exhibition drank seven glasses in no time. Some one wondered how he could swallow so much. " Oh, that's nothing," said he ; " when I'm at home I always take eighty een or twenty glasses after dinner, but here I dare not." Terrible Power op the Bombs intended to destroy napoleon iii. On one occasion an experiment was made by the French conspirators with a bit of nitro-glycerine no larger than a pea, which, being placed under ten large paving stones, and ignited, threw the stones to a height of 45 feet in the air. It was considered necessary to make use of this fulminate, because the Emperor " always wore one of Muratori's cuiriasses," which protected him against being shot with a pistol unless the bullet was fired true at his head. This was thought i no easy matter to insure, so the Emperor's destination was to be blown up with nitro- glycerine as he passed along the streets in his carriage. ! Factories dt Q-eeat Britain; — A return issued contains a quantity of interesting information in reference to the spinning and weaving factories of Great Britain and Ireland. The total number of such - factories in the United Kingdom, including cotton, woollen, shoddy, worsted, flax, hemp, jute, rope, horse hair, elastic hosiery, lace, and silk factories, is 6416. These employ 845,066 persons, of whom 327,653 are men and boys, and 517,413 women and girls. The number of male children under thirteen, years of age included in this great army of " hands " is 41,332 ; the number of such female children, 43,889. The cotton factories alone employ nearly half tLe total number mentioned, or 401,064, of which only 161,029 are maleß. The woollen factories employ a greater number of men in proportion — 59,771 males out of 118,004 persons of both sexes, and only a small proportion of these, or 3658, are children under thirteen. The silk factories employ a large proportion of female labor — 28,840 women and girls, against 12,177 men and boys ; and but few children are engaged in this industry. The total number of spinning spindles in the cotton factories of the United Kingdom is just over thirty-two millions. The Late Charles Dickens. — The forthcoming memoir of the illustrious novelist will be entitled " Charles Dickens : the Story of his Life. By the author of * The Life of Thackeray.'" It will contain Leslie's portrait of Dickens in the character of Captain Bobadil, with numerous views and facsimiles; also studies of the chief characters in the novels drawn by " Phiz " the artist who originally delineated them. It is understood that some curious particulars relative to the first hint of " Pickwick " will now be published for the first time ; also an account of a 3 vol. novel, upon which the great novelist was engaged some time before " Pickwick " was commenced, but which novel was never : published.