NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Thames Star, Volume XVI, Issue 5133, 30 June 1885, Page 2

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

The latest bulletins as to the condition of General Grant say he is getting worse again.

Hanlan has accepted the challenge of Teemer, of Pittsburg, to row him on any course in the United States or Canada.

A fierce cyclone occurred at Aden on June 3, the most disastrous that ever visited the region.since British occupation in 1835. The wind destroyed nearlj every bungalow in the place. The iron roof on the Government shed on the jetty was blown away. Great damage was done to shipping at anchor in the port. Many barges were sunk, and a number of steam launches and men-of-war boats driven ashore. The men-of-war Turtle and Reindeer were driven by the force o-f the wind bo hard that they both broko their moorings, and narrowly escaped being wrecked. .Eastern telegraph lines were all broken. -.- > --

Mr Bnsden, of the History of New Zealand, is still residing in London awaiting conflict with Mr Bryee. It appears that the progress of the libel action is at present delayed by the seoei*

■ity of having evidence taken by com mission in New Zealand.

The'will of General Gordon was.proved on the 23rd April bj his brother, Sir Henry William Gordon, JLC.B., the value of the personally being under £2 .300. He bequeathed the whole of the property to his sister for her life, and on her death among his nephews and nieces. The Afghan Crisis.

A London special, May 27th says :— The Russian censors of Press despatches are exerting themselves to the utmost to suppress the fact that notwithstanding the favorable prospects of peace, Russian war preparations are still being pressed on with extraordinary vigor. The news, liow«Ter, reaches London by various roundabout routes, and it is known that. there is an immense movement of troops towards Central Asia. Large bodies of infantry, cavalry, field artillery, and railway and telegraph builders, are pressing | forward in an almost continuous stream, | from European Russia threugh the transCaucasian provinces, across the Caspian Sea, and eastward toward the Afghanistan frontier. The work of strengthening the Russian defences on the Black Sea is actively progressing, and the fortification of Sebastopol os|Tci}ially is being pressed on with feverish energy. London, June I.—The Standard s St. Petersburg despatch confirms the Daily News statement with reference to the settlement of the Afghan frontier question. Many European papers consider Russia's acceptance of the English pro poßals prompted by a desire to prevent the overthrow of the Gladstone Cabinet. Advices from Sinjon say it is reported that the Russians have objeoted to the Afghans occupying Kharawul Kham, where the Hari Bud branches off halfway between Maruchak and Bala Murghab. The building of the Central Asian Railway is proceeding with extreme rapidity. Thirteen hundred Russian navvies had left Baku to work on the road, and six thousand more were to follow immediately. _ Sir Peter Lumsden arrived at Vienna OB June 5, and proceeded on his journey to London, In an interview he said that Colonel Alikanhoff had openly boasted to the Afghans that Russia wanted to take Herat, and a great deal more., He further said Eussia would never have urged her absurd demands if she had believed England was in earoestin resisting them. Later despatches from London say the Government is in despair over the fierce and outspoken denunciations of the Afghan break-down which Sir Peter Lumsden has scattered along his path from Constantinople to Paris. He is thoroughly exasperated, and he does not care who knows it. He arrived in Paris on the sth, where almost the first greeting he received was a telegram from the War Office ordering him to see no more interviewers. Efforts are being made to. cashier General Lumsden, but it is known he has great influence in the highest quarters. The Indian Government has submitted to .Earl Kimberley, Secretary for India, a proposal to raise a regiment of native troops, to be officered wholly by native chiefs and princes.

.-.'■>■ Serious Riots•On the afternoon of May 13 a riot occurred between a mob and the police for the possession of Nelson Monument in Trafalgar Square, London. About 1000 men had assembled in the Square to make j a demonstration against the Government's Budget proposal to increase the duty on spirits and beer. The crowd was very uornly, a large proportion of it consisting of an element in search, of sport. The police found themselves unable to maintain order, and through the pressure on the speakers and resolution readers, compelled thrm to mount the pedestal of the Nelson Monument and from this eminence the speeches were resumed. They were rendered inaudible" to the audience addressed by the uproar among the roysterers. The police intervened to secure silence for the orators, and a great struggle ensued between the mob and police for the possession of the monument. ' The row lasted nearly an hour, and the promoters of the meeting and the police were finally forced to retire, leaving the crowd singing in triumph, " Rule Britannia !■"' Soon after the mob had compelled the speakers to leave, it surged down to the front of the National Club which faces Trafalgar Square. . Every person noticed entering or leaving the club building was mobbed. The attitude of the mob WBB so menacing that the club doors were closed, and a messenger despatched to Scotland Yard for additional police. At nine o'clock the square and Northum* berland Avenue were occupied by a mob of many thousands. The police—by this time having been largely re in forcedcharged the mob a number of times, mad© several arrests, and finally dispersed it. •' ■ .•.■■■■■ ■'■ . May 24 being the anniversary of the fall of the Commune, the Communists of Paris attempted to hold a demonstration at the tombs of their comrades in Pere la Chaise, but the police interfered and prevented a display of neditious emblems. A serious conflict ensued, in which several men were wounded. The police finally dispersed the rioters, thirty of whom f «ere arrested^-Et^ appears the polica ordered the: Communists to surrender ( their red flag, but the latter refused and , figbtiDg ensued. The police drew their * swords and drove the rabble against a ;heap of atones 7; they, in turn used the , stones as missiles, one policeman was ■ knocked senseless and another had his 'jaw* broken. The Republican Guards, [ with fixed bayonets, charged the imob wounding several in the forePmost 'rank, one fatally. Several reI porters were arrested, but afterwards !- released. One anarchist received five ; sabre cuts, and others were fearfully gashed. The police were unusually severe, * showing no quarter. The scene resembled •' the outbreak of a revolution. The shops 1 in the vicinity of the riot were hurriedly ■■ closed, and the utmost excitement pre* -' vailed till a late hour. Vengeance on the i police and the Government is vowed by I the Communists. The report at mid* night was that five persons were killed and ! wounded during the riot. The -'-demonstration on the 25th was quieter and ; more orderly, the Government ignoring < the proceedings altogether. The dis« »: iurbance, however, led to a long and r gtormy debate in the Chamber of Deputies I on May 26, and the result was a vote of / confidence in the Government, by a tally I of 338 to 16. Many newspapers regard ! the vote as a doubtful victory.

i Mr Peter Duryea, of the United States, has issued a notice which in substance is the same as that Riren by himlast August* I when William Beecb first defeated Edward j JJaolan. It is as follows :—" I will giro

a purse of 60G0dols. to be rowed for on th Lachine Course, fife miles, open to th leading scullers of the world, bnt with tin understanding that William Beach. Edward Harilan, and WallacoEoss are to enter and start. Money to be divided as follows: 50' per ceut to the first, 25 to the second, 15 to the third, and 10 per cent to the fourth. Entries to be made on or bofore July 20 at the office of the Turf, Field, and Farm, with Hamilton Bushby, who ie to act as stake-holder, and appoint refe.rer in case parties to the race cannot ngrce upon a referee. Race to be rowed in August, 1885, the day to be named ivhcn other conditions are settled. Etitranc free to Beach, but all otherfc will be charged 5 per cent, of purse. Thejarmies of the feudatory Princes of India form an auxiliary force by no means to be despise 1. Without eutering into detail the totals are:—Mahratta States, 59,600 men, and 116 guns; Hindoo Stutes, 188,475 men, 3,096 guns; Cashmere, 27,000 men 160 guns ; Mahomedan States, 74 660 men, 865 guvs ; total 3d9,835 men, with an artillery composed of 4.237 gens. During the.British naval manoeuvres in Bantry Bay, Ireland, Admiral Hornby, who has been appointed to the chief com« mand of the fleet of fifteen ironclads which will take part in the'demonstratioDs, will have sealed orders for service iv a foreign station. Iv order to be prepared for auy eventuality, should occasion arise for the departure of Admiral Hornby's fleet to a foreign station, he will be relieved of his present command at Ports mouth.

The United States Minister, Mr Phelps, was banquetted by the Lord Mayor of London on June 3rd. In responding to the toast of " The President of the United States," Mr Phelps assured his hearers of the pleasure with which Americans viewed the settlement of the questions at issue between England and Russia, and eulogised the British Judiciary, : whose decisions were revised in America. A fire broke out in the Margaret Pit, Philadelphia Colliery, near Durham, at nooa on June 3rd, caused by an explosion, and by which twenty two men and boys were killed outright. The explosion was followed by a rush of water in immense volumes, and the whole mine overflowed, notwithstanding most strenuous efforts to prevent it. The steamer Missouri has arrived at Liverpool, bringing the captain' of the barque Themis, his family and the crew, in all sixteen persons, who were six days and nights in a small boat before being picked up, and discovered iv an exhausted condition, owiDg to their terrible suffer* ings. Tho Themis had been wrecked in a collision with an iceberg.