General News.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4887, 8 September 1884, Page 2

General News.

The greatest whispering •' gallery." in the vrorid is that of the Grand Canon, Colorado. For years this chasm has been a matter of great surprise to the* prospectors and miners on account of its wonderful transmissions of sound, and it has only been since the advent of the railroad that any definite idea has been entertained of the great distance it travels within its walls. A train of cars crossing the bridge at the Needles can be plainly ~1 heard on a quiet day at Cottonwood Island, a distance of eighty-four miles. The fife and drum at Port Mojaye is distinctly heard at Bull's Head, a distance of eighty.four miles. The report of the sunrise gun at Port Mojave can be heard at El Dorado Canon a distance of ninety«six miles.

Several persons living in the interior of Madagascar have written freely respecting the discovery of gold and precious stones in the interior. One gentleman, writing by the last mail received, says:—"Gold has been found to exist in considerable quantities, and diamonds also; the diggers are beginning to move in units, but there is danger of a rush." Another says that " the prospects of the country are good, as gold has been found, and {precious stones also."

Surely America is rapidly becoming Anglicised. The New £ork Herald is in future to be edited in London. The new Atlantic cable, laid by Bennett and Mackay, is now in operation, and all the news of the world will be collected * in London and then despatched by wire to the office in New York. But this is not all. In addition to the collection of new?, the articles will be prepared in London, so that in fact the paper will be edited in a country thousands of miles away. Only a few local matters will be supplied by the editorial staff in New York.