General News.

Thames Star, Volume XVI, Issue 5042, 11 March 1885, Page 3

General News.

A Vienna telegram of Feb. lOtb says :— Daring a ball at the town of Wit.kowitz, in Bohemia, a dynamite cartridge was exploded in the basement of the building. »The staircase was demolished and several persons injured, but no one was killed. It is understood that the Home Government will consent to bear part of the ex- . pense of sending out the Highland crofters to Otago.. ■ All the dead animals that float down , the Seine, seawards, are the property of a company who collect their bodies for the , skins and to make manures, etc. I The North German Gazette now ad- | miti that many officers who. have seen | ■erviee in the German army have lately been flocking to China to accept commis- • stons in the Chinese army now operating against the French. The Gazette claims, however, that they are all retired officers, •nd that, therefore, the German government has no power to prevent them seeking service under a foreign and friendly power. German officers in the Chinese •erviee, it is reported, are of little use, owing to their' ignorance of the Chinese language, and cause grea*t confusion on Chinese-men- of• war. A fatal railroad accident in America was. prevented by two boys, who stood for four hours on the track, in the bitter cold, I to wave the train down. A bridge on the Alabbama & Great Southern road, near Chattanooga, Tennessee, was washed I away, and had the boys not stopped the ; the train in time, it would have been I dashed to pieces. A collection was taken | up for the brave" lads. : " The Washington monument will not long enjoy its pre-eminence as the highest structure in the world. An iron tower of the astonishing height of 10C0 feet isjto be erected in the gronnds of the French exhibition in 1889. An elevator, the safety of which is guaranteed, will communicate with the summit, and visitors to the ex-' hibition will be taken to the top for a small fee. Those ■ who have the courage to make the ascent will enjoy an almost uninterrupted view for nearly a hundred miles all round. .The tower will also be utilized for astronomical and meteorological ©hAisvations, for experiments in optic ' signalling, for the investigation of certain problems in experimental physics, and for various other scientific purposes. More damage was done to London - Bridge by the recent dynamite explosions than was at first suspected. It is now evident that the jpeculiarities of the i structure of the bridge had been most carefully studied; The damage done to the foundation of J;he pier is not considered so serious. aa to endanger the safety of the structure, but it is certain that unless the pier is immediately cofferdammed and the masonry repaired and re-cemented, the scouring action of the tide will enlarge the gaping fissures and play havoc with the masonry. Two heavy baulks of timber resting on and bolted to th« lowest course of the masonry have been pulled bodily from their places. The timber originally formed one huge beam, but was cut in* two by the explosion, of the terrific force of which indeed it showed many other palpable traces.