SUEZ MAIL NEWS. General Booth's Visit to the Colonies.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 60, 26 July 1884, Page 6

SUEZ MAIL NEWS. General Booth's Visit to the Colonies.

" General " Booth, iho head of the Salvation Army, is expected shortly to make a torn* of Australia and New Zealand. The " European Mail " thinks, perhaps rightly, thai this determination on the part of the "Genoral" to visit our colonies has been prompted by tho success of the lledmond mission through Australia and New Zealand. More funds aro required to keep the Salvation Army going, and the " Goneral " no doubt feels that tho colonists are the most likely pooplo to help forward a movement which has received so much support amongst a certain class of philanthropists at home. A now company has just been registered in London entitled ''Tho City of LHinedin Suburban Gas Company," the object of which is to manufacture and supply gas for public and privato purposes in the boroughs of Caversham, Koslyn, Mornington, and St. Kilda, near Dunedin, and to do all things incidental thereto. The capital required is £100,000, in £10 shares.

; Fire at East London Aquarium,— Wild Animals Roasted Alive. Early on the morning of June 3rd a fire ; was discovered to have broken out on the ground iloor of the premises known as tho East London Aquarium, the entrance to ■which is in Bi.shopsgato -street. An alarm was at once £ivon, and detachments of tho : Fire Bvigado arrived quickly fiom tho neighbouring stations, but the flames had 1 already obtained such a firm grip of the build- ; ing that the greater part of the live stock '' was destroyed and the promises were com ' plotely wrecked beforo the fire could be ; subdued. The building consisted of five 1 departments. On the ground floor, which ' wab known to the public as" the waxworks 1 {section, there weie caged an elk, three [ Russian bears— those in reference to which ! a prosecution was recently instituted at the ' instance of tho Koyal Society for the Pro ! vention of Cruelty to Animals — a North . Sea seal, and some aquatic birds. I\Jost of tho animals in this portion of the building escaped with slig!>t injury, but tho collec- ! tion of waxw ork* models soon succumbed to * the heat. In this section were a number !. of articles which had formerly belonged to ; Man\ood, the late hangman, includ- ' ing the ropes and other apparatus used by him in his official functions. j These were destroyed, but his Olad- ! stone bag-, together with a presentation 1 sword, u ere saved. Upstairs, on tho iirst- ' Hoar, there was a large room, which was ; used as a shooting gallery, and another ' adjoining, set a<-ido as a picture gallery. 1 The contents of both of these were com- | pletely destroyed. On tho same floor was the menagerie of tho establishment, con1 Hned in a series of cages, arranged in two ! smaller rooms. This was at the rear of the premises. In the room communicating with the shooting gallery there were four or 1 live parraquefcs, twoinacards, an Austialian magpie, a number of monkeys, and two civet cats. These all fell victims to tho flames, and lie in various positions partially covered by the charred debris. But it was in the next apartment that tho greatest amount of destruction was effected, lleic was confined tho five-year-old lioness Nancy, sister to the one which was alleged to have been poisoned. When the firemen were able to penetrate to this part of the building, they iound her lying lifeless on her side, the apparent causo ot death being suffocation, inasmuch as the greater portion of her skin was not scorched. In the next cage lay a female cub, the offspring of the animal last mentioned. This appeared to havo suffered more severely from immediate contact with the flames, as every vestige of skin had disappeared. Next to this, in a cage by itself, lay the carcaso of a full-grown North Ameiican bear. The position of the animal bore testimony to the intense agony which it must have suffered, its limbs being extended to their fullest tension, and the flesh in many places being laid bare. On the opposite side of the room lay the calcined remains of a Siberian wolf and about a dozen monkeys. The second floor, which extended over the whole area of the premises, and was used as a theatre, is completely gutted. It may be mentioned that many of the exhibit.-*, so long an attraction at tho old Polytechnic, were purchased by Mr Sim, the propiietor of the East London Aquarium, and have been destroyed. Among the^e \\a3 much of the apparatus used by Professor Pepper in his popular entertainments at the former establishment. The damage is estimated at about 1 5,000, the animals alone being valued at about £1,000. It has not tianspired how the tire originated, but the evidence is conclusive that tho outbreak commenced on tho ground floor.

Arafoi Pasha on the State of Affairs in Egypt. Mr William Scrcdwick, who has just returned from Australia broke the journey by calling at Ceylon, whore he obtained an interview with Arabi Pasha. In the course of conversation Arabi said he exceedingly regretted the recent events in Egypt and the Soudan, but they wero the inevitable outcome of an unwise policy. The grievance in the Soudan vas more of a religions than of a political nature. Feelingran very high among the lower classes at what they considered an unjustiliable interference with their civil and religious rights. 110 added that as one man he would bo powerless to avert tho angry feelings of these people, and nothing could be done to restore order except clemency to the leader, and an impartial investigation into their grievances. The Mahdi had tho faithful allegiance of the majority of Egyptian Mussulmans, but he (Arabi) declined to say if ho believed the Mahdi was a true prophet. He was sure no overtures of peace would como from the Mahdi, who would fight until he was either captured or killed, lie knew of no English dealer in slaves in the Soudan, and was of opinion that British interference by war was a groat mistake. The Soudan was fairly swarming with supporters of the Mahdi, and frightful bloodshed must ensue before the end was brought about. lie entei tame d the highest regard for tho British, and hoped to sco the day when Egyptians would be placed on the same footing in their land as the English were in England.

Fatal Railway Accident. On Juno 3, a terrible railway accident, resulting in the loss of five lives and injuries to more than sixty persons, occurred on the Salisbury and Wimborne branch of the London and South-Western Railway. The train to which the accident occurred was one leaving Salisbury at 4.30. It consisted of two engines and some six or seven carriages, which, owing to it being Salisbury market day, were well filled. The train left Downton, the next station to Salisbury, all right, but did not reach Broamore, the next station. On a bridge over the Avon tho whole train, but not the engine, left the rails, while running round a long curve at the rate of 40 miles can hour. It proceeded some hundred yards after this, and then, still going at a fearful speed, rushed down an embankment. Carriage mounted over carriage, and the whole train became a complete wreck. One of the carriages was partially embedded in a email

siroam or ditch by the side of iho line; the rost went into the field beyond. In one case nothing but tho floor of a carriage was left; in others roofs and sides were crushed in. The rails of tho permanont way twisted abput like pieces of wire. The cries and shrieks of the wounded for help wero heartrending, and the scene was one of terrible excitement.

The Irish National League. It is understood that Mr W. Kedmond willshorbly re-visit Australia, and that on this occasion ho will bo accompanied by one of thomosteloquentoftheNationalisticbrotherhood, Mr Soxton. Mr Parnell's Irish land purchase and settlement scheme will bo principally benefitted by any funds which, may be raised on the tour. According to the " Times," Mr Parnell's company are understood to bo in negotiation for the acquisition of an estate of 4,000 acres in the county of Mayo, which it is intended to re-sell to tenants in small holdings. Steps are now being taken for furthering the financial interests of the scheme- among tho Irish of tho United States, Canada, and tho Australasian colonies, from which, chiefly through the intervention of tho Roman Catholic clergy, important support has been promised. Besides nearly £15,000 collected by the Messrs Redmond in Australia, a contribution of £2,000 to the Parnell tribute is now on it.s way to England, and the authorities of the Irish National League have been advised that a collection has already been set on foot for the payment of Irish members of Parliament, each of tho Australasian colonies to contribute sufficient for the payment of one member. Mr Parnell, M.P., has received from Mr Walsho, the National League organising agent, a telegram, dated from Sydney, announcing that New South Wales has already provided £400 for the payment of one Irish member, and that a similar amount will bo forthcoming annually.

How to Checlcmato the Fonians. A trustworthy correspondent wiites to " Lloyd's" to the eil'ecfc that the cliicfs of the London police make no scci«t of their opinion that such outrages as those committed on May 30 will recu r from timo to time, and each time in a more alarming if not do structivo shape, untiltheyare armed w ith the power of the purse, which is possessed by all the continental police, and is not corruptly udeel anywhere, except in Russia. Experienco ha<3 shown that public authority is helpless against secret and assassination societies, but when secret service money can be obtained and be secretely supplied, 09 per cent, of the conspirators "will sell themselves and their confederates to the police. There is always a very small remnant of earnest and sincere fanatics, but they can be circumvented, if only the sinews of war are forthcoming ; and it is found everywhere that when conspirators will not even for a great consideration betray their accomplices, they will furnish in time the information upon which authority can act to prevent outrages such as those which have newly alarmed the country. If the contention of the police can be suppoited by proof, no cost should be suffered to stand in the way of ballling the atrocious Fenian conspirators.

Anti-Parnellite Movement. Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, K.C.M.G., lato Premier of Victoria, who was associated with a past Irish Revolutionary struggle, and has | for some time been residing at his chateau near Nice, is about to issue a series of Irish .Nationalist publications, based on the lines laid down by the young Ireland party of IS4S. The object of the forthcoming publications is to infuse anew national spirit into the Irish people, while not openly opposing Mr Parnell and his party. Sir 0. Gavan Daffy considers Mr Parncll's movement too selfish in its principles, and advocates a simple restoration of the College Green Parliament. He has secured the services of well-known Irish writers and politicians. Mr John O'Leary will contribute to the series two volumes — " Tho Life of Theobald Wolfe Tone," and a sketch of Fenianism. Thomas Clarke Luby, one of the 1.R.8. Council of Three in 1565, will be another contributor, while Sir Charles himself is preparing a life of Thomas Davis, the Irish Notionalist poet. It is understood that theso gentlemen, or at least some of them, contemplate starting, later on, a newspaper in Dublin for the propagation of their particular ideas. The " Daily Telegraph " fears that the Young Ireland chief working again on Irish soil will find himself like a ghost revisiting tho glimpses of tho moon. " History," it observes, "has swept by and put the literary, gentlemanly, sentimental sedition of the past entirely out of date. Men of coarser type and lower aims stir the Ireland of to-day.' 5 '