General News.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4516, 26 June 1883, Page 2

General News.

ES PIONAGE ; liV BQSSU.-

Life in Russia is sabject to many annoyances. No one is allowed to enter Russia without a passport, duly- vised,.or to leave the eoCintry without permission from the authorities. These passports are, however, of little gw for--detective. * purposes, as they simply cautain the name „■ but give no description of the traveller! J The hotelkeepers at St. Petersburg are obliged, under heavy penalties, to report to the police twice^a day;tbe names of ail travellers who enter or'leave their hotels/ Each householder ,^itH»: city ig compelled by the Government to have a "dvorriiok" to watoh his premises. ' These dvornicks aretneii of the peasant' class who sit day aod night wrapped in their sheepskins at the'ventranee of the houses, their offiaa betnc apparently that of half watchman,, half-spy;. An order " was issued a short time a«o that no one should walk in the street* of Bt. Petersburg without a passport, but the -absurdity and annoyance of proceeding were such as to'coiapel the withdrawal of the order. Newspaper editors are, only allowed to give, on certain subjects, such views as meet with the approval of the Government, and some questions they are pro! libited discussing. Foreign newspapers are stopped at the post office, often held back altogether, and when delivered at all, havA any objectionable parts or paragraphs stamped out and made illegible. The London "Times" frequently appears with paragraphs or portions of the columns blocked out in this manner. A Gentleman received birtnrirypaper a short time ago with the whole of it «nY away vvith ths exception of the advertisements It would take too long to enumerate the many petty and other annoyances whioh the official zeal'imposes on the ordinary life of the Banian'peop?*, and wnicK have to be accepted without public remonstrance or criticism.

What Dickens" calls the "narrowness of tho wori^. was once illustrated in this -wijr :--Th(Hirte—Bishop -Selwjrfi "spoke Maori with as much facility as ko diet W English, and so did his wife. Travelling ™ by traiu from London they commenced a, conversation in this foreign, tongue upon some matter, but almost immediately a gentleman in the corner of the carriage said:—"lt is only right that 'I should inform you that yonr conversation is not Peivate \, (° r * understand the Maori tongue. This suggests the story of an occurrence which, I had from one present, andwhichit is possible 1 hare mentioned I before. Whilst the: curtain was down between the acts at the Grand Opera, Paris , a citizen of Melbourne (who served in Parliament) recognised at some distance i trom him a Victorian whom he knew By way of attracting the attention, of the- ' latter, he sounded a low " Coo-ec " The effect was like that of a BoderickDhu's whistle, for about a dozen bearded Australians, m different parts of the house, sprang to their feet, startled by the to O^onovan fossa's followers met at w*BI ?\k U *%$& and denounced the werk.of the Ph!Udelphia convention. , Bossa boasted that he caused the Westminster explosion, and threatened more dynamite work during the next few months. The meeting decided to form a new■revolutionary body under the name of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood "Horace Walpole tells a%tQ^f!SSotd. J.r*u f *-Lo? do11 in his tiiae *h °' w;' heard that a friend had had the smalNpox twice, and died of it, inquired if he died the first timd or the second.