GENERAL NEWS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 203, 25 November 1879, Page 3

GENERAL NEWS.

(From ear Exchanges.) The following additional particulars respecting tin- Cabul massacre will be read with interest ; —Further details of the inaspacrve at Cabul state that tinroof of tire Residency was commanded by other houses, and consequently untenable by the beseiged, who made, a trench outside. Colonel Cavagnari in the afternoon received a wound from a ricocheting bullet in the forehead. Leiut Jenkyns, Colonel Carag navi’s assistant, sent a letter to the Ameer for help but the barer was cut to pieces. Leiut Hamilton shot three mutineers with a revolver and sabred two. Colonel Cavagnari’s body has not been found but it is supposed to be burnt. Leiut Hamilton sent a letter by a trooper to the mutineers, promising them six months pay. The bearer was thrown from the roof of a building and rendered insensible. The body of Leiut Hamilton was seen lying across a gun, and Dr Kelly’s was found in the residence. Colonel Cavagnari was stabbed in several places. The. bodies of the dead were mutilated. Air Jenkyns is presumed to be alive, having escaped with the natives. “You make me think,” John Wi liam said, dropping upon the sofa beside the prettiest girl on North Hill, last Sunday evening,“ of abank whereon the wild thyme grows.” “DoI !” she murmured. “Itis so nice, but that is pa’s step in the hall, and unless you can drop out of the front window before I get through speaking, you will have a little wild time with him, my own, for he loves you not.” But John William didn’t quite like it, and now you can make him grow wild rime and time again by simply asking him what makes him go lame when he walks. He, knows, but lie won’t tell. The Povory Bay Standard has been hauled. down from the ramparts of Gisborne, and the Herald stands, colourless, alone in its glory ; the following is our defunct contemporary’s dying speech : —“After this issue the Standard will suspend publication for some time. Opportunity is required for breathing and recuperation. We have in the past advocated justice for all liberty of opinion, freedom of speech ; that titles should be settled upon an equitable basis ; that Maoris whose land had been illegally taken from them under various {retexts —such as a consideration of Turn, false signatures, and dozens other like means—should be compensated ; that disputed titles should be settled once for all ; and have unswervingly striven for what we deemed the best interest of the district. In thus pursuing our duty we have incurred the bitter hostility of certain unscrupulous, dishonest and deceitful men—men who stoop to anything however base, to vilify, and no means, however dirty, to crush those whom they dared not encounter in fair argument. And why ?■ Because they were engaged in transactions which could not bear the searchinginvestigation of the eye of Truth. But the principles we have advocated—justice an I fair play, be it for black man or white—are eternal and we shall yet be to the forefront when the flag of battle is raised. We only slumber ; the following extract from a sacred writer is commended .to cert fin persons to be studied and noted by them; we hope they will learn wisdom while there is yet time ; the passage is : ‘I have s<en the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a greeir baytree. Yet he passed away, and was not : yea, I sought him, but he was net to be tound.’ ” A duel has just taken place at St. Germain, France, resulting in the death of one of the combatants. A quarre' broke out at tabic between two non-commis-sioned officers tn consequence of one aski? g the other for repayment of a debt. Then and there they repaired to the riding school, accompanied by their seconds and the maitre d’ armes. After each had received some trifling scratches, the lender asked Ills adversary to retract the word, in which case ho would give him his hand, hut the other preferred to continue the fight. He speedily received a formidable thrust which would have run him through had not the maitre d’ armes hit up the sabre. As it was, however, he was seriously wounded in the neck, and although taken to the hospial, where every attention was paid to him, he died soon after. The colonel of the regiment put the surviving combatant and the seconds under arrest, but he soon liberated the former on learning how he had behaved, though he condemned each of the latter to a fortnight’s imprisonment for their share in the affair. The superior authorities have, however released the offenders, as, though unwise, their conduct is stated to have been loyal and correct. The colonel has warned his non commissioned officers to be more careful in future, and with this mild recommendation the matter will probably end. This is the way the Auckland Free Press gives the “ straight tip ” to its defaulting subscribers:— “ "We beg to intimate to our subscribers that we are posting some hundreds of account, each of which will cost us twopence. We trust the accounts sent will be found correct, and will receive prompt attention; there is no help at the hack of the Free Press except our own energy for present work and faith in the future lesuH, and Saturday with its wages sheet comes knocking at our door every week.” An editor being asked, “ Do hogs pay ?” says a great many do not. They take the paper several years and then have the postmaster send it back marked j “refused.”

j Wfi are informed that in the Otama di-( riel rabbits are becoming a fearful p -st ; the crops, othewise so very promising, are being destroy'd wlmlesrde, in far! wo hear nf several cases of fanners having actually to re-sow their paddocks. The phosphomns-rhodium cure is to be tried and we sincerely trust will prove efficacious in abolishing the nuisance. An undertaker advertising in a goldfield’s paper says : —“ I beg to disabuse the minds of those who would or did say that they would give me the -preference if I had a hearse, through a lame excuse or their ignorance of the fact, i have made arrangements by which I can furnish a real hearse, not wooden feathers, and on reasonable terms.” According to the 56th annual report for 1878 of the Berlin Society for the promotion of Christianity among the Jews, the total number of the Hebrew race today is about what it was in the days of King David —between 6 and 7 millions. There are in Europe to the latest statistical information, about 5 millions ; in Asia, 200,000 ; in Africa, over 80,000 ; in America, from a million to a million and a-lialf. More than half the European Jews ( 2,621,000) reside in Russia ; 1,375,000 in Austria ( of whom 572,000 in the Polish Province of Galacia) 512,000 in Germany ( 61,000 in the polish Province of Posen) ; Roumanians credited with 27-1,000, and Turkey with 100,000. There are 70,000 in Holland, 60,000 in England, 19,000 in France, 35,000 in Italy ; ■‘''pain and Portugal have between them 2000 and loco ; 1800 in Sweden, 25 in Norway, Nothing is said about Denmark or Switzerland. The number of Jewish residents in Berlin is given is gmn at 15,00 cas many as in the whole of Prance and more than in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, and the Scandinavian Peninsula altogether. The majority of the African Jews live in the Province of Algiers, but they are to be found in Abyssinia and all along the north coast, and even in the Saharian oases, frequently acting as intermediaries between the Mohamedans and Christians. Of the Asiatic Jews 20,000 arc assigned to India and 25,000 to Palestine. The population of Jerusalem is given as 7000 Mohamedans, 5000 Christians, and 13,500 Jews ;'these last are classified as German, Spanish or Arabic Jews. The report gives no details concerning America except that in New York there are So synagogues. A rumour was current on Friday evening to the effect that the Florae ship Dunedin had been wrecked on the Snares, and a large number of passangers drowned. After making all possible inquiries, we could obtain no reliable information on the subject. Nothing was heard of it at Invercagill, our agent there telegraphing in reply to inquiries—“ Not a whisper here about it. It must be a canaid. I have just seen Collector of Customs.” One version of the story is that a boat from the vessel reached Gatlin’s River yesterday. Considering that a strong north-east gale has been blowing for four days, this cannot be true. Even a steamer coming from the Bluff had to remain in shelter for nearly two days ; the Dunedin started from Glasgow on August 30th, and has consequently been onfy 83 days out. She brings passengers equal to 380 statute adults, one-third of whom paid their own passages. —Dunedin Morning Herald.