NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1601, 30 June 1887, Page 3

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

The will of the late Mr J. D. Perrins, of the firm of Lee and Perrins, of Worcester sauce fame, was proved at Worcester last week, and the personal estate amounted to £666,000, the whole of which is bequeathed to his widow and children. When the Prince of Wales was leaving Manchester (says Truth), a member of the Town Council pushed himself forward, and in a burst of loyalty said: “ Bring the old woman with thee next time.” The Prince looked surprised, not exactly understanding to whom this civic dignitary was referring. Observing this, the latter said: “I mean your mother!” for in this familiar and local fashion had he alluded to Her Majesty. Sir William Gull is to succeed the late Dr Wilson Pox as Physician-in-Ordinary to the Queen. The salary of this office is £2OO a year. The other Physicians-in Ordinary are Sir William Jenner and Sir George Burrows; but Dr Beid, who is permanently attached to the Court, usually attends to the Queen, Sir William Jenner being only summoned if Her Majesty is really unwell,

The promised “additional estimate ” for civil services under the head of “celebration of the Jubilee of Her Majesty’s reign ” (says Truth of May 19th) has been issued. The sum asked from the House of Commons is £17,000. The only detail as to the “ head under which this vote will be accounted for by the Office of Works ” is the following“ Preparation of Westminster Abbey, &c., £17,000.” It remains to be elicited what is included in the “ &c,” Mr Labouchere, however, has expressed his intention of moving the rejection of the vote for Westminster Abbey if it exceeds £2OOO. Messrs Puttick and Simpson sold by auction the other day an interesting collection of autograph letters of notable personages, but the prices obtained were not at all fanciful. A number of letters addressed to the editor of the Literary Gazette including epistles from Thackeray, Charles D'ekens, Sam Lover, George Gruikshank, Lady Bleasington, Hogarth, Mrs Landon,and many others fetched £5 10s. Two letters of Sir Walter scott’s, addressed to James Ballantyne. md relating to corrections in “Rokeby” md “ Quentin Durward,” were sold

for £1 6s, while a long and important letter of Robert Southey’s, dated April, 1818, brought 19s. Seven letters of Macready on various subjects went for £1 4s, and many other letters by Samuel Rogers, Marie Anton ette, Louis XYI-, and Charles Dickens were sold at merely nominal prices. The cold-blooded cruelty of a young woman named Antier, who was condemned in Paris a few days ago to seven years’ solitary confinement for the murder of her infant is it is to be hoped, exceptional When called on for her defence, she said she starved the child because it cost too much to keep. If she had strangled it, she would certainly have been arrested, whereas, when the child died the death she had chosen for it, she thought she might rely on no one observing anything suspicious about it. It would have been no good. What was done, was done. It cannot be said that the sentence passed on this unnatural mother was too severe.