NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4852, 29 July 1884, Page 2

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Several counties of California are threatened with the grassbopper plague. The gardens and grain fields in Mariposa are already stripped. ..;■>.'•';'■•■■. -Eecent statistics give a start!iag view of the decay of farming in England and Wales. There;;w£re. 25,964, or ten per cent, fewer, farmers in 1881 than in 187^ and :eighteen per cent, more farmers' bailiffs. There were also ten per cent, fewer farm laborers^ . .

I [Seven men < were executed at Jurez,Spaiu, by garrotte, For Black Hand Socialist outrages. The sentence of five others has been commuted to imprisonment for life, r One has become iuEanoy'- and one who bad turned informer has committed suicide. - ■ .-. '■'■ ' .!V:^'-;'.:\ : ;' . . ..

Mrs Langtry cleared lß,CPo'd6ls. by a two weeks engagement in San Francisco.

A very stringent measure entitled, "The Utah Bill," designed to control Mormonism, has passed Congress. It make 3 adultery a crime, abolishes female suffrages, changes the role of evidence in polgamy cases, and requires marriages to be recorded.- • ' \ : ;

The Australian ■ Eleven seem to be doing their utmost to revive the old prejudices against them. A correspondent writes to Truth stating that though they received the whole; of the gate money (£1344 17s) for tli£: two great matches* at Lords,' 10/telher wilh,free luncheons and every comfort that could be suggested, they never even^said "thank you " to.the Secretary for his,.cheque, and when asked for a subscription to the benevolent antiother funds, the M.C.O. patroniEe^ avoided replying. Such meanness and -lack of good breeding are sorely much to be deprecated. .

The New Zealand-grill at the Ke:.lthqrif;.J {as the Exhibition is now styled in contradistinction to the Fisheries) has proved a palpable hit. They now sell from BCO to 10C0 chops daily. The butcher's shop is also doing a roaring.trade; in fact, many residents at South Kensington have taken season tickets to the Inhibition, solely in order to be able tobuy mutton there. The freezing chambers are row lit up with tbe electric light at night, and crowds flock rouud the barrier and gaze through the glass.: The takings at the butcher's shop, .average £160 a week. -

Notwithstanding the drerd of choler?, the season in tDndon is uproariously gay. Marriage succeeds marriage in bewilder ing rapidity, and while the (rightful be it, which has suddenly set in, interferes with balls, athletics offer compensation in being turned into gigantic picnics. Hellam Tennyson's wedding followed tbe novel fashion in England of being in the after' noon, and marks the gradual disappearance of the wedding breakfast, which is now loudly denounced from all sides as breaking up the whole day, while at an afternoon: wedding guests can do as they did after tbe Tennyson marriage—take a comfortable airing in • the park. Oscar Wilde and his bride have returned to London, and he is reported as letting his hair grow again.

New-York Directory, issued June 271b, contains 300.C00 names, and indicates a population of over 1.500,000.

Mr McCullagh Reel, late of Auckland, lias arrived in London, after enduring a somewhat "hard" journey across tbe American Continent. He intends to change the name of his new weekly paper devoted to the colonies from the AngloNew Zealander i 6 the Australasian Gazette, a decidedly judicious step, as it also involves the enlargement of the scope of the jouvrair For the week ended May 24 there were 2627 births and 1427 de.iths register-1 in London. Allowiug for increare of populr.tiou, the births exceeded by 84, while the deaths were 114-below, the averaging numbers in the corresponding wc-aks of the last ten yep.rs..

68,800 emigr«nls landed iv the United States during the month of Aprih r i Speaking recantly at Ottawa on the wisdom of confederation among the provinces of the Dominion, the Canedian Minister of railways pointed out that since the confederation, the trade of the Dominion bad'increased from 131,000,000' dols. to 231,000,C00d015 M and savings bank deposits had risen from 1.000.000d015. ta 28,CC0,00adols. He further ob -erved that the letlers mailed in 1867 numbered 10,000,000, and during the pust year 75,000,000. The number of immigrant, he added; who landed in Canada in 1867 was 14,000, and in .1883 there were 133,000. Finally, the value of Canadian fisheries in 1879.wes only and had now increased to 17,000,000d015.

A dock with an area of 54 acres, which cost over £200,000, was recently opeaui at Maryport, Cumberland, England. A great assemblage of N,ew Zealanders in London was expectcdat the great soiree of the Colonial Institute at South Kensington on Junel9ib. Two famous bands were* engaged, the Guards (Grenadiers), under Godfrey, and the .Red Hungarians. The latter play dance music almost as well as the Strauss' or Gungi's b^ad. *'* Mr Gardiner, a fruit grower, who imagines he has discovered a special process for the refrigeration of fruit, potato, :■?, &c.,goes out in the lonic to st::rt business in Auckland. -■.-.

Tlio Cholera i^. France.

The exodus of frightened citizens from Toulon continued on June 26th, on which day eight deaths took place in the hospital. Fires vr^re lighted ;in the streets for purificuliotJ. Business both in Toulon and ilarseilles had come to a standstill, and the 14th of July Teta had been abandoned. The mountain passes of, France were narrowly guarded to prevent the passage of iufected persons, and a military cordon established along the Spnnish frontier. The mosquito plague at Marseilles increased the gloomy prospect. A. thousand bonfires were kindled in various parti of the. city to destroy the pests., , Arrangements were made on Jal.v Ist to fumigate the travellers at the Paris railway stations. Earthier, a Parisian actress, while taking part in a play at Marseilles on July Ist, heard that one of the audience had been seized with cholera, and thereupon immediately fled to Paris in her theatrical cos^ tume. The audience had the admission money refunded. At Toulon, on the seme day, the captain and entire crew of the steamer Mistral abandoned thd vessel and took to the woods. The. gendarmes searched for them in Vain.- The Pops has ordered the priesthood in all; cholera infected districts to remain at their posts, and has placed funds at the disposition of the. bishops if need is urgent. Adviceg from Toulon; July 2nd,gtate:that^ve c^s's of cholera "were cured by inhaling pure oxygen. > The eflfect of this it l immediate, and consists in restoring warmth to the system and making the pulse normal. The Times, commenting on the cure, says :— Nervoai persons may henceforth tiUßt in the existence;"of.a oure for choleriN '"'' : v