General News

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4490, 26 May 1883, Page 2

General News

Italy was at one time regarded as the country par excellence which produced the great vocalists, but where are to be found great Italian names amoDg the vocalists of to-day ? We have Christina Nilsson, a Swede ; Albani, a Canadian; Adeline Patti an American; Maria fioze, a French* woman; Trebelli, a Parisian; Madame Patey, an Englishwoman; Sims Beeves, English; Tantley, English; Faure, French; the only Italian name which can claim distinction being that of Campanini. Estimating the amount of blood in the human body at 24 pounds, 12 pounds pas 9 through the heart every minute. An envious old maid remarks:—lt has been observed that a bride will scratch her nose with her left band, in a given period, four times as often as any other woman. A disgraceful affair happened at Carlton, near Melbourne, the other evening. A constable who had arrested a wellknown thief for larceny was followed by a mob of fifty larrikins, who stoned him ! and forced him to drag the prisoner into an hotel to obtain shelter. The doors of the Jbotel were at once closed, but the crowd, which rapidly increased, burst them open, and threw road metal into the building. The constable having handcuffed the prisoner made another effort to reach the watch-house, but the crowd again set upon him. A police sergeant went to his assistance and arrested the ringleader of the mob, but the sergeant was immediately assailed by stones, and his helmet was knocked off and used as a

football* Another constable who came upon the scene sustained bruises from heavy pieces of road metal, which were flying about in all directions, and received a severe kick in the groin. Ultimately both prisoners were lodged in the lockup. A young man named M'Carthy was attacked by a large alligator while crossing Annan Creek, Queensland, with his horses. He managed to reach a small mangrove scrub, and seizing a branch of a tree, swung himself beyond the reach of the alligator, which remained at the foot of the tree watching him while the tide was rising fast. M'Carthy's cries for assistance were at last heard by Mr Poole's bailiff, who was on an adjoining selection. He procured a boat, drove off the alligator, and rescued the man, who had a narrow escape The news created quite a sensation among the selectors, as a number of them are compelled to use this crossing constantly. Two fatal accidents have already occurred there from these reptiles. Mr M'Carthy'a uncle was attacked about six month's ago, ..but managed to frighten away the alligator by "^ firing his rifle.

Master John Kruse, who yearß ago was one of the juvenile musical prodigies of Melbourne, whose citizens supplied the funds to enable him to prosecute his studies on a wider scale, has now blossomed forth into a concert master at Berlin, and approving Royalty applauds his efforts. So glowing is the account given by Cap> tain Caesar Romano, of H.I.:MYS Europ^ of the manners and hospitable custom* of Victoria, that the Melbourne Argus se^s' grave reason to fear lest this brightly colored picture of Melbourne society should hare the effect, of alluring hither too numerous a throng of visitors with long black hair and soft velvety eyes, with invisible means and irreproachable manners, a redundancy of vowels in their names, and a subtle aroma of garlic pervading their utterance and habiliments. An old London pressman assures the Sydney papers that the expenditure of £1300 on the budget telegram to London was a masterly stroke of policy. The papers, from the Times downwards, ignore Australia, but they could not refuse so irresistible a cable message a column long offered to them gratis. Lord Randolph Churchill has no high opinion of the morality of Her Majesty's Ministers. "Never since the days of the infamous Cabal has this country witnessed such a set of political impostors iv the councils of the Crown. In their govern* ment of Ireland, however, they have abandoned the paths of political imposture, and have entered on the high-road of political crime. At a particular time, so base was their policy, that they forced the Crown to rely for their authority in Ireland on the assassins of the Phoenix Park." Lady Florence Dixie made a decided mistake (says the Wanganui Herald) when she said she fainted, and her dogs stood over her prostrate form and kept her savage foes at bay. Lady Dixie is undoubtedly a clever young woman, with a strong imagination, but it was too wide a stretch to ask the world to suppose that she knew what was taking place while she was in a faint; Now if she said it was feint, she might hare been believed, but she mistook the effect of a vowel. Perhaps she was only giving an excellent advertisement to her corset. maker, for the inventor of a corset that could keep Fenians at bay would be in a fair way of achieving a fortune. Lady Dixie's next romance ought to sell.