GLEANINGS FROM THE PAPERS.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 2, Issue 71, 8 February 1879, Page 3

GLEANINGS FROM THE PAPERS.

Considerable sensation has been produced by a telegram in the Times from Berlin, stating that General von Kaufitnann has delivered a costly sword to Mundscoa at Tashkand, to be trans nittod through him to the Ameer of Citbul. When presenting the swordGoueraULuwi maun delivered the following aduruM»: "My illustrious Sovereign, in whose empire the sun never sets, ami who...' raised linger caused millions ol soiiiifcis to take up arms, sends this pledge ol friendship and unchanging ati'ection to his friend and ally, the noble and chivalrous ruler of the Afghans ; and the lieloocliees' history teaches that Russia ever espoused the just cause, and that she always knew how to protect her allies from the attacks of the enemy, however powerful. Whoever sides with Russia need not fear that a hair of his head will be injured. The power of the Russian sword is great. This is a fact known to the enemies of Russia as well as to her allies. Hay God protect and preserve the two powerful sovereigns, the Czar and the Ameer. May God promote the welfare of the two allied countries ti. the benefit of the Afghans, Russians, and humanity at large. May the echo of these words awaken consolation and hope when opposition and tyranny are paramount." Tho blade of the sword has the following inscription in tho Persian tongue :—" May God give tho victory over tho infidels." The I'all Mall Gazette in a leader on the subject of Kaufl'iiian's letter says, " It seems to call imperatively for some sort of ollicial notice."

Commodore Wilson, who recently hoisted has penant on board the Wolverine, made an inspection of the available land foee.i on Tuesday. The seamen and marines to the number of .">SO were formed into lino near Fort Mttcqunrie, and marched to the Inner Domain, the order of inarch being us follows : —Two field nieces and a Catling gun, band of the Wolverine, bluo jackets, marines, and ambulance party. Mere the force was inspected by the Commodore, and a number of movements gone through, thochief of which was an attack on an imaginary position. A feint was made on tbo right by the marines, but the real attack was made by the blue jackets from the left, the guns or course supporting the attack. Captain Townsend was in command, and Commander Bridges, of tho Wolverine, was present in charge of the battalion; Lieutenant, Atkinson had ohurge of tho guns, and Lieutenant Dower acted as bligode-major.—'l'. &. C. Journal.

The Mormons have laid oil' a new town on Hilver Creek, Yavapai County, Arizona.

A tombstone in the island of Jamaica has the following inscription ;—" Hen liith the bodjf of Lewis Guldy Esq., who died on the 22nd of September, 17:17, ugod t>o. He was born at Montpelli.r, in Franc- which place he left for his religion and settled on the island where, in the great earthquake, I 1i72, he was swallowisl up, and by the wonderful providence of God, by a second shock, was thrown out into the sea, when be continued swimming until he was taken up by a Ixiat, and thus miraculously preserved. He afterwards lived in great reputation, and died universally lamented."

A important case bearing on the right . siii (olmasters to beat their pupils was heard in the Greenwich County Court yesterdav. A schoolmaster named Smith sued Mi. Moore, a city merchant, far £2ft in lieu "f notice. The plaint ill'said thut the defendant sent his two sons to school last September and refused to send them back after the Easter holidays, because one of them had been flogged for misconduct. The boy, it was stated, had bitten an ther pupil 00 the hand and received four cuts with a cane in consequence. The father said the boy was bruised about the legs, and walked lame. The schoolmaster denied that this could have been caused by the cauing. The Judge, having questioned the boy, who admitted the offence, said that had he been in the master's place he .should have done as the master did, as the boy deserved punishment. He added that there must bo a very strong case of ill-treatment against a schoolmaster to justify a parent in removing a child without notice. A schoolmaster was justified in using a cane, and it rested with his discretion to use it properly. Judgment was therefore given for plaintiff for the £2S and costs.

All offer of £.s:>o,ooo sterling lias been made for tin* London Telegraph and declined by its proprietors, Messrs. Lawson, Levy, and Co. As the Telegraph is roted fourth in value among the London ncw.-papers.it would appeal that thejournal)-' :■• market is at ir-ast " firm " over there The Times is roughly valued at £5,000,000, the Standard at £2,000,000, and Daily News at £ 1,200,000. The price asked for the Telegraph is a round million. The circulation of these journals is given at 85,000 daily for the Times. 145,000 for the News, and 200,000 for the Telegraph. In point of advertising patronage the Times exceeds all the other three combined, the Standard surpasses both the News and the Telegraph, ami the former leads the latter. The paper of least circulation has the most advertising patronage, and vice veisa. The Deuiliquin correspondent of the Riverina Herald tells (lie following story: —".The subjoined information was given to me by a gentleman of undoubted veracity at Deniliquin. A resident hero has an" artificial trout pond with at least 3000 fish, eaeh weighing from Mb to 31b, more or less, lie also has a little girl Kve years old, who has succeeded in training the fish so that she can go to the edge of the pond, and with a handful of crumbs, feed the fish from her chubby ''amis. They also learned to jump out ol the water, and snatch worms from her , ogees, and tiny are extremely fond of r mistress. One day last' week she ■ , t „»i balance and pitched headlong into the |>ind where it is deep. She says t.,al wheu she went 'away down' she called lustily for help. Her cries quickly attracted her parents, and they were horrified at seeing the little darling floating upon the surface of tho pond. The father rushed to the water and reached out for his pet, and as he raised her from off the water a perfectly solid mass of trout wore found beneath her, and thus showed their love for their mistress by bearing up her body until aid arrived, thus preventing her from finding a watery grave. I think snake stories may now cease, or only play a second fiddle."

The following extraordinary scries of wrecks are recorded as having occurred on the Australian coast in 1820: —The Mermaid, colonial government cutter, left Sydney for Raffles Bay, but on entering Torres Straits she got on shore and was lost. All on board were saved upon a rock. In three days after the Swiftsure, Captain Johnson, which sailed from Tasmania, hove in sight, and took on board the captain and crew of the Mermaid, but in three days she also got on shore and was wrecked. Two days afterwards, the Governor Ready, also from llobart Town, Tasmania (April 2) passing within sigld, took the shipwrecked people belonging to the Mermaid and Swiftsure mi board; but was itself wrecked'on May IS, but all the people saved by taking refuge in the long boats. The ship Comet, also from Tasmania, soon after took the whole of the collected crews of tho lost ships Mermaid, Swifture, and Governor Ready on board, but was herself wrecked, but all hands saved. At last the ship Jupiter from Ta«mmia, came in sight, and talcing all on board, steered for Port Rattles, at tho entrauco to which harbour she got on shore, and received so much damage that she may be said to have boon wrecked. T. &. C. Journal.

Krupp's establishment nt Esson employs in the foundry alone NSOO won. In the works nro 2'JS boilers anil as umny steam- engines, having together 23,000 homo-power. Nils-ton's earrings lmvn given out, to the delight of t li>> mimical puhlie, as it compels her to retain to the stogo to procure her daily bread.

From '•Cyprus," a new weekly journal now published iu the island in English mil Greek, we take the following items ■if uews:—"The Land Commissioner's Court, 4 tribuual for regulating and investigating the titles of teal estate, has already made great progress. We are assured that the Sultan has seut over an agent to purchase a large portion of the State lands, and that he has proposed to the English Government to establish on miiih land a colony of Mahomedun refugees from Bulgaria, who would be sent hither and established at the cost of the Turkish Government. We trust that the English Government will be able to aecede to the request, and that new Cyprus will prove itself as hospitable as any other part of Her Majesty's dominions, We areWifanucd that the Laud Commissioner's Court has annulled several of the

sales that were made just before the ccssion of the island. None but the purchasers can, we think, object to this. We all know that in every country in Eurojie there are persons who have made fortunes by buy jag up land which they have by some private means discovered would shortly be required for some railway or public %>rk. But then the prices given wire mostly very fair ; here the ease was very different. Many of the people had been driven almost to despair by their burdens; in some cases even semi-official pressure was brought to bear upon them. In these circumstances, though the sale may have been legal in point of strict law, the court only performed an act of equity by rejecting the validity of some of these transactions." It is not, however, to he imagined that in minor matters of administration tho Government has been inactive. Sanitary provisions in the towns have already, notably iu the town of Tarnaca, wrought much improvement. The organisation of the police force is also well advanced. Captain Grant, who had come out from England to undertake the command of the force, has unfortunately so Sliffered in health as to feel it necessary to resign his post and return to England. Lieutenant-Colonel Brackenbury. R.A., has been appointed in his stead and is actively at work. The force is to consist of 300 men—:!">o marching men and 150 mounted. The foot police are to receivo one shilling a day, and to find their own rations, while the troopers are to receive two shillings a day and find Loth their rations and forage for their horses. The force will Wear the uniform of a West Indian regiment of a Zouave character. There wdl be for the present six English officers attached to the force, but it is hoped that these after a time, when the drill and organisation of the men is completed, will not be required, and that Turkish officers will be found competent to fill their place. Recruiting commenced yesterday, with the most successful results. Some forty men were enlisted, all of very fine and some of truly magnificent physique. An oath that they will truly serve the Queen of England in Cyprus will lie administered to them. —London Times, Sept. 4th.

Sliero AM, the Ameer of Cabal, who has refused to allow the British Mission to enter liis territory, and against whom the British troops have been sent, to force him to terms, is evidently in no lack of the sinews of war, so far as money goes, and he is open in his hatred to England. Some time ago, in a public speech to his officers, he said :—" 1 have seven cores of rupees by me, every rupee of which I will hurl at the head of the British Government and 1 will roll the border tribes against them like blasts of fire." As a crore of rupees is about five million of dollars and a little money goes a long way with the natives of his dominion, Shere Ali is likely to cause the Empress of India a great deal of trouble and loss of money With the aid and comfort of Russia, also to sustain his cause, and the natural advantages his troops possesses in fighting in their own country, it will require a powerful army and a long war to overcome him. Meantime the chances that the efforts to subdue him will involve England and the Czar in hostilities are constantly growing more probable. The condition of affairs in Asia.J so as British interests are concerned, is rather gloomy.— American paper. On November 17, an attempt was made to assassinate King Humbert. A man poorly dressed, approached the royal carriage and endeavoured to poinard His Majesty. Signor Cariola, the Premier, in grappling with the assassin, was wounded in the thigh. His Majesty, wdio drew his sword, and also received a scratch. Tho mau, who is a cook, and twenty-nine years of age, on being examined, said he belonged to no society, but being poor had cherished feelings of hatred toward tho King. The poinard, with which the man was armed, was attached to a flagstall' which bore a small red flag with tho inscription, " Viva la republica universale.'' Later intelligence says that King Humbert has received more than two thousand tolograms, congratulating him on his escape from assassination, Passanante, it is asserted, reiterates his regret that ho did not succeed, and says he attempted tho deed in the full expectation that ho would bo torn to pieces by tho mob. Ho had no malice to the King, but loathed to monarchy, which had boconie so popular in his Majesty's person. Tho Pope was one of tho first to congratulate the King on his escape, and has since further dono so by letter. Cairola is recovering rapidly. It is stated that the Tope will shortly issue a social encyclical letter, denouncing socialism, with special roferouco to tho attempted assassination of tho Emperor of Germany and the Kings of Spain and Italy. His Holiness will also arnw tho attention of tho Government to tho crime committed against the State and society.

Cyprus has uot had long to wait for I the advent of the press. A paper has [been started at 1-u.rnaca, called Cyprus, after the island, printed half in Greek and half iu English, which is henceforward to appear every week. The new paper is sensible enough to say that it has uo politics to discuss, and Cyprus may theretore esteem itself happy, but it urges attention to agriculture and commerce. The British occupation has already done wonders for the island, and it appears that "At the port of Larnaca restaurants, inns, ship chandlers, and stores of every description have spraug up like magic." A Treasury Warrant has been published in the London Gazette, directing that the rates of postage and additional sums for registration now chargeable on postal packets to and from the island of Malta, shall extend to all packets conveyed to or from the island of Cyprus. The inland postage of Cyprus is to be the same as that of the United Kingdom. Iu the daily press there has been an animated controversy relative to the pay and position of mercantile clerks. It is said that the Germans are displacing the English in the City, and also greatly lowering the ordinary rates of their pay. One correspondent frankly admit* that the Germans are more efficient and much better linguists. Possibly, instead of grumbling, these discontented English clerks would find that persistently putting their own shoulders to the educational wheel would go farther to improve their state than writing weak complaints to the newspaper. The Russians are erecting at Erzoroum an enormous mouuincnt to the memory of the soldiers of the garrison who fell by the sword or disease during the Turkish war. The memorial is placed on the top of a mound in the Erzeroum Ceiueteiy, under which lio the bones of the Russian deceased. In form it represents a Russian sentry keeping watch over a series of tablets, on which are inscribed the names of the regiments which huve suffered much during the Russian occupation, and a list of the officers burricd beneath the mound.