ARRIVAL OF THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1186, 3 June 1884, Page 3

ARRIVAL OF THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL.

The mail steamer, City of Sydney, arrived at Auckland on Sunday last, one day behind contract time. The following items of news are selected from the budget biought by her : b'AN Francisco, May 16.

A cable despatch on the situation of the mercantile marine in England sa>s the depression in that branch of trade amounts almost to paralysis. The destitution and suffering among the unemployed men is on the increase, and public subscriptions aro being organised at Newcastle-on Tyno, Liverpool, Shields and Sunderland.

Mr Gladstone has announced his positive refusal to include a clause enfranchis ing women in his Frauchise Bill, The proprietor of the Ship Tavern, in the vicinity of the Strand, seized the effects of an absconding lodger, on the 2nd, and discovered a box containing

twelve pounds oF dynamite cartridges and gun cotton. The lodger is being hunted by tha police, who, howevor attach but little importance to the discovery. New cavalry barracks in course of erection at Portsmouth suddenly fell, on April 28tb, and injured thirty convicts engaged on the building. An English Railway Company, owing to the depression in trade, discharged 2500 employees on the 7th, and reduced the salaries"of its clerks 10 per cent. Ten women were blown to pieces, and two others wounded by an explosion of dynamite at Nobel's factory on May Bth. Lord Colin Campbell youngest son of Iho Duke of Argyle, from whom his wife recently obtained a decree of divorce after a private hearing, moved on April 22nd for a new trial.

The tunnel under the Mersey, to connect Birkenhead and Liverpool, will be formally opened in June. By consent of the Dutch Government, an English force will be sent against Rajah Tonom of Sumatra, to rescue the crew of i the wrecked British steamer Nisero.

Lord Rowson, Earl Beaconsfield's literary executor, has found no memoirs among bis effects, only a masa_ of parliamentary notes and letters, selections from which will ba published in the autumn. It will take two years to prepare a memoir of tha deceased Earl.

Balmoral Castle, near Dundee, was burned on April 21st, and many valuable paintings were destroyed. The bell Tavern, near the Old Bailey, Loodon, was burned on the 22nd, and two barmaids perished. A London cable special published in N«w York on Apiil 27th sayp the memoirs of Princess Alice throw a painful on the small miseries of the great. When she was married her dining-room was so small and stuffy that she co.uld not invite anybody to dinner, and when she had her first child the Queen had to send baby- linen mid pay for the doctors. She could not visit her mother nor keep a governess, and when the Emperor of Russia paid her the compb'ment of a visit she was almost. beside herself at the expense of entertaining him. The Queen had at iast to come to her relief by spending £20,000 on a new palace, and as the English nation all the time was giving her £6OOO a year, beside? her dowry of £30,000, the German Prince could not have contributed much to domestic expenses. The book contains her complete correspondence with the Queen till the Princess' death, and the work excites greater interest than did the Qjoen's book. Fifteen thousand copies were issued for the first edition.

Prince Louis of Battenburg was married to Princess Victoria of Hesse on April 30th. Ths streets were profasely decorated with flags and thronged with sightseers. The relief expedition to Khartoum starts in July, and will probably number 8000, including the Indian contingent. It is supposed that the main expedition will proceed up the Nile, the other to the Bed Sea. A camel depot has been established at Assouan.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer introduced his Budget on April 24tb. The revenue for 1883 amounted to £87,205,184 and the expenditure to £86,990,000. Ihe beer duty alone exceeds the estimate by £200,000, while the spirit duty fell off. The income tax produced £453,000 beyond the estimate. The national debt, up to the present, has been reduced by £7,268,000, aad it now lower than sine--1811, while the interest is lower than 180;>. The Eight Hon. Mr Childers said it was difficult to forcast the revenue for 1884.' Trade and agriculture were unsatisfactory, but the working classes were comfortably off, and pauperism was declining. The revenue was estimated at £65,550,000, against £77,866,000 last year. In connection with the Post-office Estimates, he was sorry to say that after months' experience the parcels post had produced only £155,000, against an estimate of £340,000. It was therefore proposed to defer the system of 6d telegrama until Agust 1885. Owing to the .smallness of the surplus, £462,000, Mr Childers only proposed to reduce the tax on carriages, which would absorb £220,000, and the remaining £243,000 was not too much to keep ahead. It is proposed to coin new half-sovsreigns, containing 10 per cent less gold, inns effecting a net profit of £1,330,000, which sum put out at interest will suffice to maintain the gold coinage in the future in a satisfactory condition. It is also proposed to convert 3 per cent, consols into 2J per cents. Sir Edward Walker, M.P., offered, Ton the 23rd, £IOOO towards the rescue of General Gordon. He asked the London papers to open a fund for this purpose, when he says £200,000 would be collected in a few hours.

A despatch from Cairo of May 2nd says the Egyptian Government had offered a Soudan chief £SOOO to briug General Gordon from Khartoum.

An Arab journal affirms that El Mahdi demands £500,000 ransom for General Gordon, the sum to bo paid the Arab leader within three months.

The earthquake that took place in England on the morning of the 22nd was the severest experienced for 200 years. Immense damage was done. IRISH AFFAIRS. A number ot dynamite cartridges were found near the Four Courts, Dublin, on April 22nd. The officers of the Courts and jurors had received threatening letters, A notice was also found in Phoenix Park near where Cavendish and Burke were assassinated declaring the Invincibles impregnable. American remittances to Ireland for the purpose of political agitation have fallen off of late, una the police think the recent ominous notices from the Invincibles found about Dublin is a trick to stimulate arrests.

The jury in the Smytfie murder case, the trial of which closed in Dublin on April 23id, returned a verdict that Elliott, Swords, Bryne and Fitzpatrick were morally and legally guilty of the murder of Mrs Sinythe. The Judge concurred, and sentenced each to ten years'penal servitude. Sword-j and Elliot protested their innocence.

The Dublin Express of April 26th says James o'K.elly, M.P., who went to Cairo as correspondent of the London Daily News after the death of Edmund O'Donevan, has been taken into custody by the Egyptian authorities, and suspicious documents were found in his possession, Hmonir them letters from the French to El Mahdi.

A cannister of powder was exploded on April 26th, in the area of the barracks in

Sheep street, Dublin. The windows were ■shattered, but.several officers dining in a room directly above, were -uninjured. Some clockwork was found in the vicinity. No arrests have been made in connection with the outrage. >. M<chael Davitt has abandoned politics. He purposes taking up his residence in Australia for the future. At the trial of Invincibles in Dublin, on the sth, the prosecution stated that Jan. Lyons and Patrick Reynolds, now in the United States, were.local leaders of that organisation, and Moran deposed that P. J. Sheridan had visited Tubbercully in' the garb of a priest, and formed an ' inner circle.' The English authorities ' proclaimed' a meeting of the National League on Sunday, May 11th, near Limerick. AMERICAN STJMMAKY. Truth says Archbishop Gibbins, of Baltimore, will be the next 'Cardinal created. Frederick Fuller, of London, has purchased 378,500 acres of grazing lands near Los Regas, Mew Mezioo, and is negotiating for 300,000 more on the other side of the Rio Grande. He is agent for an English syndicate, who propose to raice cattle for the American market. Nearly all the operative force of the Union-Pacific railroad struck, on the Ist May, against a reduction of salaries of from 10 to 15 per cent. The strike is extended oyer all the Union-Pacific lines. In Colorado the Btiike was so general that the directors restored the origiual rate at once.

The silk weavers of New Jersey all struck in the same way. The employees say the trade is ao depressed that it is impossible to continue the business with profit. A big pedestrian match in New York was finished on May 3rd, Fitzgerald firwt," and Rowell, the Englishman, second. The amount taken was 25,000d015, of which Fitzgerald gets 12,500d01s and Rowell 5000dols, the balance being divided among minor contestants. Rowell is much disgusted by his defeat, and in speaking of it said, ' I will race any. man in the world for 5000 dols. Let me tell the public that temperance is no good. I ran this race on temperance principles and got beaten. A man wants to drink to keep up his strength. People may hold up their hands in horror, but it is as I say. Of course I don't believe a drunkard could win, but from this time 1 advocate moderation.'