General News.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3772, 29 January 1881, Page 2

General News.

Mr John Bright, one of the M.P.'s for Birmingham, speaking to a meeting of his constituents in the Town Hall, amongst other things, said:—" We hear that the Afghan war certainly has cost twenty millions, and good authorities say that before all the accounts are made up and everything is settled it will hare cost thirty millions. (Hisses.) I will assume twenty millions. That is a large sum—a sum that slips glibly off the tongue, but of which none of us has the-slightest idea how much it is. If there be anything to be done in Afghanistan or in JJululand— if there is some very foolish Ministry picking up quarrels in the East of Europe, they can bring you thousands of men from Bombay to Malta (laughter), spite of Acts of Parliament and epite of Constitutional usages. Is it conceivable that a British Government or a British Parliament, omnipotent within a great Empire, cannot come forward, and by a strong will, strong hand, and a strong resolre, do whatever is necessary to be done with regard to the condition of Ireland."

A cable message the other day stated that the proprietors of the Sydney Bulletin had offered £1000 reward for of the fate of Leichhardt. The offer is as follows:—"The fate of Leichhardt.—One Thousand Pounds reward.—The proprietors of the Bulletin have much pleasure in announcing that they are prepared to pay a sum of One Thousand Pounds for the first conclusive and substantial proof of the place where Dr. Lud wig Leichhardt, the Great Australian Explorer, met his death—subject to the following con. ditions:—The information to be unchallengeable. The same to be kept absolutely secret until communicated ;to and published by the Sydney Bulletin. All relics or objects recovered and produced in support of the evidence offered to be handed over to the proprietors of the Bulletin, who will undertake to; present them to the Australian Museum. The sum of One Thousand Pounds has been deposited in the Australian Joint Stock Bank, Sydney, to pay the reward above offered. !

The last new scheme to make racing boats buoyant is (the^Home News says) to fill them with hydrogen gas. The idea of this is to enable scullers to go faster and stay better than in the ordinary shells. Mr Marks, a Newcastle gentleman, has made many experiments, and spent much money with,this object. His last invention is a boat in which bags filled with hydrogen gas have been fixed, both fore and alt, inside the craft underneath the, ordinary canvas covering. The hydrogen is supplied through small pipes from the cockpit. ,- This gas boat was tried by Elliott, one of the champion rowers whom Hanlan beat so easily last year. It is said of the' new boat that althbugh? " she did not stand so prominently out of' the water as had been expected,'she '* seemed full of life, and leaped to each i stroke in a surprising manner." This boat when tried against another due to the oarsman. It is undoubted that ifc aat more firmly on the water, and that * while its competitor "dipped a good deal at the catch," it never yielded in the slightest. The results of these trials go to prove that there is something in the employment of gas, but it must be carried further before it is very generally adopted, and it will never probably equal the advantages of a good sliding seat thoroughly^ well used. ;

The coolest thing ever done by a bankrupt was, I should imagine, the exploit of a certain gentleman not unknown to political fame, who recently called his creditors together to make them a " satis- 5 factory" proposition. " Gentlemen," he said, " I am in your debt, and I can't pay. I have no money even for my sorest need. • I have a libel case which is certain to yield me £2000; but for lack of funds I cannot prosecute it. Gentlemen, if you wish to be paid, - advance me thY money to conduct my suit, and then I shall be able to give you something ig the pound. Gentlemen, I can make no fairer proposal." He was quite serious; but somehow his creditors did not see it. London Correspondent. A Belgian plough horse in an awkward situation will obey readily as many as five separate aud distinct orders, the singl«

okeck>rein meanwhile remaining; attached to the plough handle, leaving the diiver's hands free for the harder task of guiding the plough. This certainly illustrates the economy of .hating trained animals for farm work. By the census just taken in England it is found that the Joneses carry the day, and are more numerous than the Smiths. After the latter comes the sweet Williams, Taylor, Daviaf, and Brown. Johnson stands tenth, Robinson eleventh, Wilson twelfth. Thompson, with a " p," takes only twenty-fourth place, knd Clark',without an " c," twenty-eighth. Clarke. with an " c," is thirty-eight. Among the strange names are AJbertbina Regina Victoria Gotha Boult, Turnerica Henrica Ulrica dv Gloria de Lavinia Rebecca Tnrner and Hostiliana Ophigenia-Maria Hypihile Wadge. Here is a short history of baronets out in these parts. In Victoria there is one, , n storekeeper at St. Arnaud, who styles himself, even at a Governor's levee, Sir John Warren White, Marquis d'Abille. Neither of the "handles" are to be found in "Burke"—not even in the "Chads" list, which enumerates those claiming rank not acknowledged by the authorities. Another of our baronets is Sir Arthur Nicholson, whose name, does not appear in either of the above lists. But there does appear in Jißurke" the name of Sir John Farmer, l»k, of Mount Pleasant, Co. Sussex, and he is alive in a small settler's way at Bacchus Marsh, in Victoria. But he does not assume the rauk rightly here, wisely preferring to be a simple Mr. when he has got no coin wherewith to do justice to the Sirship and himself. There is also in Queensland another " Burke "-recorded baronet —Sir John Macartney, a nephew of our Dean Macartney. You bad one in New South Wales, but he has left.— Sydney Bulletin. he agony column of the Argus still swells with the weak warblings of lovers. One of those strange creatures who cannot. keep her sentiments locked up, advertised under the name of " Eunice " that she required the " lend of a fellow during the Christmas holidays." The advertiser received letters from a host of " fellows," ■elected one, and, in the Argus of the frth instant, intimated that she condoled with the unlucky "fellows" and quietly advised them " nil desperandum." We have heard of a "loan of a lover," " a marriage by-proxy," but "a loan of a fellow " is beyond our grasp.* The following appears in the Bulletin ■:— " , " Sometimes pleasing, often time's teasing, In tb,e centre hung, Both ends nagging, never flagging,— Such is woman's tongue. None can atop it, 'less they lop it, . All that's said or sung, Gravely, quaintly, can but faintly Paint that awful tongue. Strange, too, it is, diseases visit Heart and chest and lung, But nought I know of stops the flow of That perpetual tongue. A shrewish wife wrecks many a life, The sons of men among: Unhappy man ! you never can Escape a woman's tongue. But perhaps I'd best let matters rest, Or mayhap I'll get stung By some elastic, keen, sarcastic, Everlasting tongue." . In reviewing Lord Beaconsfiald's new novel."Endymion," the World says— " It is written throughout in the peculiar English of Lord Be*eonsfield —Stilted, slipshod, sesquipedalian, with much affectation of correctness and abounding in grammatical looseness and inaccuracy." It speaks of the novel as a " silly book, a Tulgar and tedious one" and a book written for snobs by one of their number." Notwithstanding this severe criticism, we do not suppose the sale will be effected by a single copy; in fact the chances are rather otherwise. . There is a great deal of significance in the fact of three dissenting ministers joining the Anglican Church in Sydney the other day. The significance is that the 1 Church is absorbing Wesleyanism., A prominent -minister of that persuasion, well-known for his eloquence, remarked to a gentleman recently that Wesleyanism is dying out; most of his brother ministers who could better themselves thinking it not respectable enough for them.- This is rather an unpleasant thing to publish of any., denomination, but the Wesleyans may be assured that we give only the words of a minister dear to them all. On the other hand, an Anglican clergyman apologised for Bishop Barker's low church proclivities by saying " Well it opens'the way for Wesleyans to join ÜB, aad they are the only additions we get nowadays." The Earl of Fife, Captain Gentleman-at Arms, who represented the Home affairs of the House of Lords, has resigned his appointment in H.M.s Household.