AUCKLAND.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1996, 28 May 1875, Page 2

AUCKLAND.

Thursday.

The mail steamer Mikado, arrived in Auckland from Honolulu to-day at 4.40 p.m. She left San Francisco on May Ist. On the 25th she experienced a heavy, gale, ami lay to for fifty hours. Passengers—For New Zealand: Mrs E. Southerland, Miss Longmuir, Mr and Mrs Smith, Miss Smith, Marion Smith j

Messrs Butt (mail agent), Trafford, J. Anderson and Turner, and two steerage. Three cabin and 15 steerage, for Sydney; one cabin" and two steerage, for Melbourne.

The passage of the Mikado outward from Sydney to San Francisco, via Auckland, notwithstanding a delay at the latter port, only occupied 29 days 17 hours, being the fastest passage by 18 hours ever yet made. The delivering of the malls was 8G hours ahead of contract time. The passage from Honolulu to San Francisco, of seven days thirteen hours, is the quickest on record.

rl he late arrival of the English .mail in San Francisco in this particular instance was not occasioned by any delay on the part of the Atlantic steamer, she haying arrived at Boston one day earlier than her usual time, but unfortunately owing to a portion of the Dnion Pacific Eailroad in the neighbourhood of Green Eiver, Wyoming, having been washed away, caused by the melting of the accumulated snow of the past winter in the canons or gorges of the mountains, through the weather having become unexoeplionally warm all at once. The most energetic and untiring exertions were required to repair the li-^e cufficiently to enable the immense number of passengers and accumulated freight and baggage to proceed. It was done in an almost incredibly short time, without a single accident to life.

The Mikado's passengers to San Francisco were* owing te the above cause, detained some eight; days on the passage to New York. For the same reason the passenger list of the Mikrdo is much smaller than it would have been, as many not having received their luggage at the time ot' her departure, prepared themselves to remain for the Cyphrenea. The voyage of the Mikado has been prolonged partly by unfavourable winds, but principally by the trim she is in owing to there being no freight offered in San Francisco and her long delay of nine days there having caused her bottom to foul considerably. The British and'- Foreign schooner : argaret Crockard, 169 tons capsized at Pp.^ete on the 25 th of February, and 17 I.V3S were lost/ The.news was brought 1: oan Franciscoby the Marama, which r.r ived on the 80th April, The vessel was bound to San Francisco, fend had Captain Cottier and the crew of the wrecked ship Airy Force and one passenger. The calamity is due to a sudden squall which struck her about midnight, and turned her bottom upwards instantly. Captain Cottier made his escape through the companion:way, aud Captain Godfrey through the sky-light. The rest, who were below, perished. The? survivors endured great privations ,on an uninhabited island. They started for Tahite, and fell in with the schooner Island Belle, which put thorn straight for Papeete, where she arrived on the 22nd March, with a cago of oranges, fully insured. The vessel was valued at 15,C00 dollars, and was partly insured. Lord JEEobart, Governor of Madras, Sir G-illery Pigott, baron, of the English Court Exchequer, are dead.

Legal proceedings are commenced by the Prussian Government for the removal of the Prince Bishop of Breslau, for violation of the ecclesiastical laws.

A violent demonstration was made against Don Alphonso, residing at Gratz. The mob attempted to. 1, enter the villa. The police were called to protect the place, and several rioters were arrested. As. a final act .of reparation for the Gustav outrage, tlie Spanish commander at Guature, on the arrival of the German fleet, fired a salute of 21 guns. A terrible colliery disaster .occurred on April 30th, in Staffordshire, by an explosion of coal-gas, in the Jack-q'-the-Hill mine. Thirty miners were killed, and others wounded. At midnight, 12 bodies were taken out. Of 23 still left, it is not anticipated that any are alive. The One Thousand Guineas Stakes were won by Lord Falmouth's Spinaway by 2 lengths ; Persee was the favorite. In the House of Commons, April 30th, SxMichael H. Beach, Chief Secretary for Ireland, said, that arrangements made, prevent interference with the American rifle team in Ireland.

Belgium has answered Germany's last note of explanation in regard to correaponderice. The Emperor "William has. signed a bill abolishing monasteries in Germany. This action is said to be due to the influence of Prince Bismarck, who threatened to resign unless the bill passed. The examination into^ the alleged Duchesne conspiracy against Bismarck began on April 22. Duchesne thrice re-_ fused the names of accomplices. ...,,. ■ In the House of Commons, Mr Sullivan announced that to. terminate the misunderstanding between the Press and the House, he would nightlj call attention to the fact of strangers, in the ! ".-. ouse. Ilie steamship Oceancia sailed for; Miongkong via the Suez Canal,- She is H3 largest boat ever sent through. ; xhe unusual increase of dementia; amongst the inmates of the Liverpool workhouse is attributed to religious excitement. = The colliery owners of South "Wales: agreed to thrdvropen the pits at a reduc-l tion of 15 per cent, wages. The police authorities in Berlin have notified that all Ursuline Sisters in the district not natives of Germany must leave the country within two months. The German Government has addressed a circular to the Europeon powers renouncing the project of regulating, by an international conference,: the ;position of Europe. ■-■■■■■ The report published by tho Standard that the Marquis do Caux, husband of Adelina Patti, was killed in a duel at St. Petersburg, is wholly untrue.

The Moody and Sankey meetings are well attended. Mr Gladstone and Lord Kinnaird were present bii April 25.

Obituary.—Esv. Dr . Win. Selwyn, chaplain to the Queen; Henry W. Pickersgill, portrait painter. It is rumoured that Bismarck sent a note to Luxemburg Similar to that sent to Belgium. ; ;; . In a duel at Paris, between the editors of the Union and Pays,, both, were wounded. ; ' - : • v : ■

Paul Boynton is to make another attempt to swim the English Channel, to start at Cape Griznea, on the French coast, and push for Dover. The day appointed is the 27th May. -„;■:.. The Paris Univers publishes letters of sympathy from the Catholic bishops of Great Britain to the bishops of Germany and Switzerland. ; , : .•:.-. ,

The Lord Mayor of London is to go to Dublin in state to attend a banquet given to the American riflemen on their arrival. He will give a dinner at the Mansion House in London to the team after the ;>.ternational contest.

Lafayette, the President of the French Commission, Philadelphia Exhibition, states that encouraging letters have been received from all parts of France. The Marquis of Tavistock (Liberal) is elected for Bedfordshire. No opposition Dr Feathorston was present at the meeting of the Cospatrick distribution committee. £500 was awarded to two daughters of Captain Elmslie, £865 among dependents on the crew lost, and the remainder among the dependents on passengers. The Daily News' correspondent atSt Petersburg reports a plot being discovered at Khiva for the massacre of all Russians in Knanate. The Russian papers accuse the Emir of Afghanistan of complicity. It is thought that millitary operations will be undertakeri by Russia, john Bright, at a reception given to Cjevalier, the distinguished . French economist, at Birmingham, said it was ludicrous for the United States to invite foreign manufacturers to compete at the exhibition when the protective tariff prevented them from competing in the American markets. The Kidderminster carpet manufacturers do not send exhibits for the foregoing reason .

A report is circulated that an arrangement has been made between the Belgian Liberals and Bismarck to bring about the downfall of the Clerical Ministry. Two steamboats caught fire at the wharf, New Orleans. The burning vessels were cut loose and drifted down the river. The people jumped overboard. There was'a great loss of life. The steamen were valued at 180.000 dols.

A fire at Oshbosh, near Chicago, burned over a square mile. Two million dollars', worth of propety was destroyed. Two men were killed by falling walls. At 10 p.m. the fire broke out in Morgan Bros.' saw-mills, burned that and half-a-dozen other saw-mills and shingle-mills, and millions of lumber, and a hundred houses, all the printing-offices, Harding's opera house, and Beechworth's and Adam's hotels. Hundreds of families are homeless. Nearly all business houses are burnt, including all the banks. There is not a dry goods store left standing on the north side. ... The city was afterwards taken possession of by mob-thieTes, and extra police are ; on duty. The Beecher-Tilton trial continues. The defence i» concluded, and rests mainly on an alibi. Mrs Tilton was not called- . Two passenger trains pa the Baltimore and Potomac railroad came into collision near the eastern branch. Both trains were badly.' wrecked, and eight or ten persons seriously injured. Both engines and four cars were demolished.' The cause of the accident was one train running off the switch ahead of time. • A s trouble is anticipated at Asp?nwall, it has been deemed advisable to send a vessel of war to that port at once, and Bear-Admiral Mullaney is instructed to keep a vessel there as long as necessary.