NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 124, 23 June 1870, Page 7

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

A lady named Mrs. Esther Morris, has been made a justice of the peace at "Wyoming, in America. Madame de Lesseps is in a condition that will "permit" the constructor of the Suez Canal to hope for an heir or heiress.

The stoppage is announced of Messrs. Adatnson, ship -builders, of G-rangemouth. The liabilities are estimated at £23,000, and the assets at about £6000. The Corporation of Salford now receive £2000 a year for what they formerly paid a large sum — to have ashpits cleared out. This is managed by tlae absorption system. Late one Saturday night, John M'Quire, of Glasgow", was attacked by four young thieves, who threw him down. He drew a knife, and stabbed one of them, David Kelly, in the left breast. Kelly is not expected to recover. Brigham Young is looking out for a new territory in Arizona, which borders on the Mexican line. As soon as arrangements can be perfected, all those who live in polygamy will be removed from Salt Lake to settle in this new State of Zion. Thirty thousand deaths from cholera are reported to have taken place in six weeks in the island of Zanzibar and neighbouring mainland. The numbers are those as given by telegraph. The disease is said to have broken out in its most terrible form. The four-oared rowing match for 5000 dollar** and the championship of the world has been definitely arranged between the champion English crew of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the Paris crew of St. John, N.B. The face is to take place at Lachine in July next. The " Leeds Mercury " believes that when the York and Doncaster Extension of the North- Eastern Bailway opens (which will be about June), and when the Tram Valley Extension is completed (which will be some time next year), the East Coast Boule will be pretty nearly all straight running between London and Edinburgh, and the distance will be done express in a little over six hours. The screw steamer India of 1100 tons, drawing 13 feet 10 inches water, has arrived in Victoria Docks. She is consigned to Messrs. G-ray, Daws, & Co., with a valuable cargo, consisting principally of tea and indigo, and is the first vessel to arrive at this port via Suez Canal. She left Calcutta on the 24th January, and Malta on the 26th February, completing: the voyage in 48 days. — " Shipping Ghazette." A religious iinposter in lowa, calling himself Walter Christ, and representing himself to be the Son of God, undertook to prove his divinity by fasting for forty days and forty nights in the wilderness — that is, iv tho Missouri Biver bottom. To the astonishment of credulous observers, he seemed to be growing fat on his fasting, when some sceptics undertook to watch him flyly. They gave him no intimation of their intention, and the consequence was that they caught him sucking a cow's teats ! , Another ray of light has "been shed on the mystery of the conversion of Thames mud into butter. It seems that the banks of the river swarm with animal life — worms and so forth — and these are alleged to be the source of the chemical products added to the material supplied from the dairies of Holland. In order, however, to set the question at rest, we have placed a specimen of the Thames butter in the hands of an eminent analyst, and hope shortly to publish his report. — "South London Press." A pastoral from Cardinal Cullen was published on Sunday. He says, " Last year one of the greatest impediments to Ireland's happiness — the State Church — was removed. The great statesmen who conferred that boon have manifested their resolve to remove other grievances. > It 13 only by peaceful agitation and temperate discussion that we can hope to cooperate with them. I hesitate not to say that never was there a period when the axiom that he that commits a crime gives strength to the enemy, was more unquestionably applicable." The Cardinal cautions people against Fenianism and Freemasonry !

A company has been formed to recover the ingots on board of four ships sunk during the sea fight that took place in 1702 in Yigo Bay between the English and Dutch naval forces and the French squadron which was conveying a flotilla of thirteen Spanish galleons laden with gold. A letter addressed from Yigo to the G-ronde states that the divers have now recommenced their operations, the weather having become calmer, and that a great number of curious objects have been brought up, although not of much value. The galleons themselves have been found, and the work of ascertaining their exact position and disengaging -them from tho sand is being actively prosecuted. The "Waverley Novels are selling at the rate of sixty thousand yearly, and the centenary edition is likely to reach a much higher figure.

Private Michael Byrne was committed to Armagh Jail by a court-martial, for 168 days, for shouting "To hell with England." Professor Alexander has completed the survey and a map of the crater of Holeakla, one of the Hawaian volcanoes. The area of the crater is about

sixteen square miles, and its depth is 2750 feet. Mr. David Lang states that about two vessels now pass through the Suez Canal daily, whereas in January a ship went through ifc on an average only every other day. Most of the vessels are English. A letter of George "Washington's oceupping twenty-two pages, was sold in London for thirty-five pounds. Twenty-two pages ! surely it was sold by the pound as well as bought with it. Sixteen passengers of the Samaria complain that while in the Atlantic guns were fired and signals made to the ship Manhattan, G-uion line, that assistance was wanted, but that the latter, though acknowledging the signals, passed on without rendering any assistance.

Several Plymouth biiilders complain of having received threatening letters bidding them prepare for death for employing men from the workhouses, although, as they allege, they are being paid the value of their work. The relieving officer has also been threatened.

A remarkable case of tranco has just occurred in Newcastle. A few days since the wife of a blacksmith, who had been ill for a short time, was supposed to have died, and a coffin was procured. As the coffin was beintf screwed down, the body was noticed to move, and the woman was saved from being buried alive.

A little while ago Mr. Henry Kingsley left London for the Modern Athens, where he was to conduct a journal ("Daily lteview ") that was to shake the arsenal and fulinine over Greece. The experiment does not seem to have answered. The gentleman in question, it is said, will abdicate the editorial chair. — "Literary World."

In the Divorce Court, London, the unprecedented number of sixteen cases were down for trial. In the case of Gree v. Heath, the petitioner, a hatter in Manchester, married the second time his wife's niece, not knowing it was illegal. Lord Ponzauce decreed a nullity of marriage. The other cases were of little interest.

A patent has been taken out in England by Messrs. Leighton for " Surface Printing " and it is already in successful operation at Paris. Hitherto we have had hard types to print on soft substances, but now we have soft types to print on the very hardest. So thoroughly are they said to have mastered the application of it, that they are as ready to print on tho inside of a bottle as on the pavement of the London streets.

A youn^ man of 22 and a young woman of 19, both employed as teachers in Trinity School Blackbui-n, have eloped. Tho affair is made worse by the fact that the youth, Harwood, is married and has two olive branches. He packed up his clothes iv his wife's absence, and stole away with his dearie in a train to Yorkshire, but no trace of the fugitives has been discovered. Both parties are respectably connected.

The " Builder " says:— "The King of Prussia recently visited a needle manufactory in his kingdom, and was shown a number of superfine needles, thousands of which together did not weigh half an ounce, and marvelled how such minute articles could be pierced with an eye. The eye-borer a ked for a hair from the Kind's head. He placed it under the boring-machine, made a hole in it, furnished it with a thread, and then handed the needle to the King." At the Middlesborough Police Court, Michael Kelly, an Irish labourer, was charged with indecently assaulting Catherine "Flynn, a child four years of age. Prisoner lodged with Diglan Flynn, in Lower Commercial Street. One Saturday afternoon prisoner had some beer, and Flynn went into the bedroom and found him on the bed with the child indecently assaulting it. Kelly's trowsers were lose and disorderly, and Flynn was so overcome with the disgusting behaviour of the prisoner that he was unable to chastise him then. The police were scut for, and Kelly was given into their charge. Their "Worships were of opinion that the prisoner deserved the heaviest punishment they could inflict, and sentenced him to gaol for six months.

Mr. Joseph Payne, for many years Deputy Assistant-Judge at the Middlesex Sessions, died of apoplexy one morning, after but a few hours' illness.

The Home Secretary has ordered returns from Metropolitan coroners of inquests held since 1868, on persons alleged to have died from starvation, specifying whether parish relief had been applied for, and, if refused, upon what grounds.

On the 25th March a raid was made by the police on several betting-houses in Newcastle, at one of which they found a " sweep " being drawn for. They seized the betting cards, &c, and took the names of all present, who will be summoned to answer to a charge of gambling.

The Bishop of Exeter, in addressing 'the Diocesan Board of Education at Exeter, said the question, most worth fighting for was that religious instruction should be given by the schoolmaster. He thought they should come to a compromise and use the Bible, but no distinctive formulary.

A breakfast, followed by a conference on the evils of intemperance, was

given at the City Terminus Hotel. The Eev. W. Pennefather was in the chair, and many metropolitan clergymen we re present. Besolutions. were paaaed urging upon the Horae Secretary the necessity of closing publichouses on Sundays, and of imposing increased restrictions as to the liquor traffic.

Mr. Henry J. Byron has written to the " Telegraph " to protest against the present system of " first night " dramatic notices, which, he contends, operates unfairly towards managers, authors, and actors. He suggests that several nights ought to elapse before an opinion is come to, in order that the artists may become more intimately acquainted, witk tlieir several parts.

Lately there was launched from the shipbuilding-yard of Mr. John Elder, Govan, the Italy, an iron screw steamer, 4200 tons gross, and ,vith engines of 600 horse power 'nominal, thus being the largest merchant steamship afloat with the exception of the Great Eastern. The Italy has been built to the order of the National Steamship Company of Liverpool, and is intended for their Liverpool and New York trade. Her dimensions are: — Length, 400 feet ; beam, 42 feet ; and depth, 38 feet 2 inches moulded. She is barque rigged. She will carry 3300 tons of dead weight, and will be ikted v/ith very powerful machinery for loading and unloading the cargo and coals. She will have accommodation for 100 first-class passengers and 1500 third-class, and the whole of the passenger accommodation will be made portable, so that it can be cleared away on a few hours notice, and the space used for cargo. The launch was appointed to take place at two o'clock, and shortly after th.it hour the dog-shores were knocked away, and the huge vessel glided slowly and grace fully into the Clyde, where she was brought up by means of a number of immense chain cables fixed to anchors embedded in tho earth. There are at piesent building in Mr. Elder's yard the Liberia, Volta, and Loanda, screw steamers, of 1320 tons each, for the British and African Steam Navigation Company ; two screws of 2050 tons, for the Royal Mail Packet Company of London ; two screws of 1075 tons, and four of 3100 tons, for the Pacific Steam Navigation Company of Liverpool, and ono of 900 tons, for a company at Marseilles. There is a million and a-half of revenue for every penny of the incometax. Mr. Morley, M.P. for Bristol, is said to pay of annuities to old workmen m Nottingham no less than £2000. Mr. Charles Green, the celebrated jeronant, died suddenly on Saturday, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. Madame Aglae T has just died at Toulouse at the advanced age of 104, having a magnificent beard the length of a sapeurs and handsome curly black whiskers. It is said on good authority, as a proof of the fertility of the fancy of M. Gustave Doree, that since he was fourteen years of age he has made no less than 10,000 drawings, great and small. * A placard appears in tho window of a public-house in Campden Town, with the following announcement: — "On view for a few clays only, the head of Tropmann, preserved in spirits." There is a rumour that another cavalary regiment is to be sent to Ireland, and that the Scots Greys will be sent out in detachments to small towns and outposts in the west ami other dis turbed parts of the country.

Mr. Sommer propounds a new theory of sleep. His idea is that sleep is simply a result of the deoxygonation of the system, and he believes that sleepiness comes on as soon us the oxygen stored in the blood is exhausted. According to a table published some years ago by Professor Forbes, the following are the relative heights of men twenty-five years old : — English, 5 feet B*9 inches ; Scotch, 5 fest 9*3 inches; Irish, 5 feet 10-2 inches. These heights included the shoe, so that about half an inch must be deducted. Nine hundred English "Wesleyan ministers are stated to have signed a protest against the Education Bill, in regard to the power proposed to be conferred on the local boards over religious teaching, the provisions regarding the Conscience Clause, and the interference of inspectors with religious instruc tions.

The "Host" says that it is the intention of the Government to send an expedition, comprising of a steel battery with a thousand men, to the Bad River Settlement in the event of the insurgents continuing opposition to the incorporation of the territory in the Dominion of Canada.

A life-size portrait of Her Majesty, attired in her robes of State, has been painted by command, in commemoration of Her Majesty's gift to Mr. Peabody. Her Majesty has sat several times for the picture, and the Princess Louise has given it a few finishing touches. It is to be engraved by Mr. Samuel Cousins, R.A.

There is at present in full flowor at the nursery of Mr. R. T> Mackintosh, at Murray field, Edinburgh, a specimen of rare rhododendron, said by the best authorities to be the finest of its kind that has flowered in this country. It is the same plant tlvxt Mr. Mackintosh flowered for the first time two years ago, coming from a climate and belonging to a tribe of rododendrons exeejsd-

ingly difficult to flower ; but by skilful treatment it has again been brought to blossom finer than ever this time, there being no less oli.in 276 flowers produced on a bare stem of seven foot in height, v/ith only a very few leaves j thereon. | The size o? t'lo pre?ent sun-soot I is only 16,000,000,000 square miles. There are about one hundred members of the bar now in the House of Commons. It is stated that the Permissive Bill j will not be introduced duiing the present session. The "Tablet" states that G-aribaldian enlistments are going on actively, and drilling of recruits, at Terni. A series of'praver meetings have been " inaugurated" by a " lady of fashion" in a New York church, and are attended in demi-toilette." Lord Penzance granted decrees nisi for the dissolution of fifteen marriages. In thirteen cases out of fifteen the husbfin.ls were the guilty parties. Job Edwards, Wolverliampton, while in a pratr* of somnambulism, fell out of a third-storey window on Tuesday into the street, and was seriously injured. Donato is not dead — that is, with tho exception of one leg — and is about to marry another dancer — a female, of course — with one leg. In this case it will be les extremes se touche. Miners' Waives in ISouth Wales. — Tho South Wales colliers have, without exception, accepted the terms proposed by the masters for the settlement of Ihe v/a?es dispute — viz., to receive an advance of 10 per cent, from and after the Ist May. A case of suttee (self-immolation of a widow) occured lately at Journpore. The relatives of the deceased, who encouraged her to commit the horrid rite have been sentenced 1 to seven years' imprisonment ; and the villagers who looked on, to three years' imprisonment. A hi t,ck faced Scotch ewe, from the stock of Mr Henry Knowles. farmer, Foxup, nfjir Settle (and now the property of ilr John Armistead, farmer, Long Preston) save birth to six fullgrown lambs. The first and sixth oniy are living. Tho whole six were tups. The " WakM'iord Mail" appeared in mourn in. r, and in place of a leader had thf i'i)!ii>\vin^ :: — '• Death by violence. — On the 4th April 1870, seventy years after the Act oi Union, by the act of the British Legislature, the Liberty of fie Pre^y in Ireland. The Boys' Home Beformatory, on Waudsworth Common, was totally destroyed by fire, on Wednesday morning. It commenced, it is believed, from the wilful act of some of the boys in the workshops, a building about 190 feet lon^. A wesleyan Chapel adjoining was also injured. Miss Bye writes from her Western Home, Canada West, and states that every one of the seventy children confided to her care last October has found a home. tShe hopes to be again in England daring the present month, and starting to C.uiada by the end of M iy with another party of little emigrants, to fill the vacant homes Avaiting for them. Miss Louisa Pvne.whohas forao many years occuned such a prominent jHi.sition as one of the most accomplished English singers, has announced her intention to retire into private life, and arrangements have been made for four farewell oratorio performances, under the direaiion of the National Choral Society. Tie first portVinance of tha series will b«3 the " Messiah." on Tuesday, April 12, (Passion Week), at St Jamos Hall Conductor, Mr G-.W. Martin. At a Spiritualist seance in Michigan, to enliven the sitting, it wn« proposed to call upon his Satanic Majesty to appear, and, belohl, ho came, six feet I high, clothed ia black to fie tips of his finders, which were furnished with cruel claws. Unfortunately, however, for tho interests of science, the spiritualists lied before his terrible appearance, and thoso who would wish to know more about the gentleman have to content theaiselves with the above meagre particulars. — •" Echo." A. Tripoli (Barbary) letter reports the fall of a monster aerolite in the neighbourhood of Mourzook, weighing, it is said, 1300 okes (nearly 5300 lbs.) This must, of course, be only a rou^h guess, but if it be even tolerably approximate, the mass is one of the largest meteoric bodies on record. By its actual size what it may, tho Minister of Public Instruction has ordered tho fragment to be sent to the capital, where it will probably be placed in Mr Groold's museum. — " Levant Herald." As Mr. Bobinson, an English gentleman, was fishing in the Killin Hotel water, he observed as if two large fish were fi^htin^ on,, the surface of the water near by, but within the preserved water (Mr. Dodd's). Fortunately Mr. Dodd being near at hand was apprised of the fact, when he at once requested Mr. Bobinson to pull up his boat and ascertain if possible what kind of fish they were, and gaff them. Upon coming up to them, Mr. Bohiuson found they were two large pikes in a deadly struggle, the head of one being in the mouth of the other, which he could neither swallow nor disgorge, as his formidable teeth were firmly fixed in his neighbour's head. Bonald M'Pherson, one of the boatmen, gaffed them at once, as they were inseparable. After beinu: taken out of the water they lived in the bottom of tlie boat for four hours, such is iJie'r power of vitality, and weighed io?ether 201 b. The <aae was a shade

bigger than the other. They were both despatched n<;\t day to Lonlon to the " Fipld " Oifice, where, we uuderstand they aro to be stuffed. Mr. Alpiu M'Alpin, head boatman, says that he has fished Lochtay continuously for the last thirty years, and never met the like of this before.

In the London Divorce Court, the case of Gordon v. Gordon was heard. This was a very painful case. The parties were married at Elgin, Scotland, in 1856, at the Episcopal Church in that town — the lady's maiden name being Manson. She possessed a fortune of £2000, and an income, in addition, of £400 a year. The respondent was Captain Rowland Hill Gordon, late of tlie 42nd Highlanders, and immediately after marriage the £2000 was handed over to him. It was shown that the husband had communicated a loathsome disease to his wife, and, in fact, his adultery was fully established. He did not put in an appearance, and the Court pronounced the usual decree.

A frightful tragedy has just takeu place at the barracks of Bethune, Pas-de-Calais, France. A corporal, in a fit of jealously, discharged his musket at a trumpeter, whom he believed to be a favoured rival with a young woman. The ball missed the man for whom it was intended, and struck mortally another petty omcer standing behind. The murderer then drew his bayonet, and stabbed repeatedly the musician, the object of his hatred, and also fired two shots from a revolver at a soldier who attempted to secure him, and who was wounded in the arm and hand. The corporal was, however, at length overcome and lodged in prison. The man htid for some time past given signs of mental derangement. Once upon a time a pretty little lady went out hunting. She had spared her horse in every way ; he was a good hor.se, and worth sparing. She had him. clothed and well-attended by train the night before. She arrived at the meet herself one minute to the appointed hour, likewise well clothed <n I attended. In that one minute her practised eye ran over every detail connected with her horse. "He looks splendid," she said, and she was just rising to the saddle, when their family doctor came up to her, heated, travelstained, agitated, a marked contrast to the exquisitely-appointed horse and rider. He only came up to tell her that her little boy was dead of the disease that had struck him the night before, and that if she took half as much care of her children as she did of her horses, there might be a chance of her husband's name and race being extended beyond her generation. — " The Graphic." Mr B.W. Crawford' M.P., was on Tuesday elected Grovernor of the Bank of England, and Mr GK Lyall, DeputyGovernor. On Friday morning a woman named B »ker, wife of a bargeman at Rochester, while temporarily employed as a charwoman an a b3crshop, killed herself by a fearful blow on the head with a hiLchet, inflicting a large wound on the top of the skull, exposing the brain. Shft had taikrd and behaved in a strange manner earlier in the morning, and a girl in an adjacent house saw her flourishing the hatchet. The deceased was supposed to be about 35 years of

A Ballarat journal states that an old man with "a strange, eventful history," has been admitted to the Benevolent Asylum there. His name is John Flood He states that he arrived in New South Wales as a prisoner, in the year 1817, when he was twenty years of age. He came out in the Chapman — the murcleiing Chapman as he called it, as there were 200 of the prisonors killed out of 340 that were being brought out. Some supposed revolt amongst them one Sunday morning had caused the officer in command to order the marines to fire volley after volley upon the prisoners, killing the number named. In the above Colony he was a servant of Sir Thomas Mitchell's, and was with him during his exploring journeys. The old fellow has been frequently attacked by the wild natives, and hi 3 skull appears to be one mass of fractures from their wadciies, while his back bears the marks of numerous spear wounds. He is very deaf now. The writer of "Town Talk," in the " Wan^anui Chronicle," contributes the following amusing paragraph: — By the •>vay, while speaking of oiiicials, I am, reminded of a good story of agentiemau holding very high office in the neighboring province of Taranaki. He was travelling hereabouts not very long ago and had to take his ease for a short time at an inn at Turakina. He is temperate — all officials who are indulging in expectations are very temperate at present, — and called for a draught of pure water, and a very small quantity of bread cheese. Mine host supplied the wants of the traveller, who by-and-by sought his bill. He was told that a snack of that kind was not charged. " But I prefer paying," said the great man. "Oh, very well. What you please," was the rejoinder. Whereupon the high official took three pennies from his pocket, and laid them down upon the table. "That," said the landlord, with a sly twinkle in his eye, which however, was lost upoa the traveller, "that is too muck. Allow me co return you one of the pennies." The superfluous copper was graciously receive.! back again, and the gentleman went on his way, in the full <consci<*iuh ness of an oyßrilowing liberality-"