ENGLISH ITEMS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 169, 4 May 1871, Page 7

ENGLISH ITEMS.

The Bill legalising marriage witli a deceased wife's sister, has j>;i3sed iLs second reading. A. woman recently appeared before the Bristol Magistrates for the 251 st; time on a charge of drunkenness. According to the <% Chemist and Druggist," Americans are manufacturing golden syrup with sulphuric acid and starch. It is said to blacken the teeth and chaw up the gizzai'd. From the same land of innocence we read of curraut jelly being made out of old boots. — " British Medical Journal." The personalty of the late Mr. Brassey, the railway contractor — exclusive of his vast estates — has been proved at j the enormous sum of, six millions and j a-half. The '" Standard " has been informed that it is intended at onoe to abolish the purchase of any rank above that of captain. I Eng, one of the Siamese twins, is ' reported dying. ' Among the curiosities of the iVmeri- j can census is the reported case of a j lady who died .in Connecticut at the! age of seventy-four in childbirth. ! From the " Lifeboat Journal," we learn that the number of lives saved on the British coast by means of its boats during the year 1870 \v:\s 7SI.

The Duke of Newcastle has finally settled matters with his creditors The deed of compos.tion whereby he covenants to pay ss. in a pound has passed the Court. xYecording to the " Baptist Handhook," the Baptist churches in G-reat Britain and Ireland number 2565, with a membership of 233,675, a decrease of membership on the year of 3510.^ It is stated that another marriage between royalty and English nobility has been arranged — namely, that of the Duke of Norfolk with the Princess Margueritte of Orleans, daughter of the Duke cle Nemours. The Bishop of London has admitted Miss 0. Hart to the office of deaconess in the Church of England, and has appointed her visitor in the di.trict parish of St. Gabriel, Pimlico. The ceremony took place at Fulhatn Palace. Joe Stockwell the celebrated pedestrian of Kenrungton, lately attempted to walk 7f miles in an hour, for £100 a-side, at the Fulhain Grounds, but was beaten by 2 minutes 3S seconds, j accomplishing the diatauce only in 1 i hour 2 minutes 38 seconds. The master cotton-spinners of Bolton, at a large meeting held lately, agreed to give the operative spinners, numbering about 1200, the advance of 5 per cent, upon their wages which was taken from them in November 1 869. The advance began on March' 2. A Cable telegram, dated Washington. Monday, announces that Gen. Butler introduced, and the House of Representatives, by 172 votes against 21, passed to-day a resolution welcoming Mr. O'Donovau Boasa and the other arrived Fenians in the United States. The Eev. Honry Ward Beecher. having reconsidered his refusal to have his salary increased, will now receive 20,000 dols. per annum, and is considered the beat paid preacher in the world. A member of his church has given 10,000 dols. to establish a " Beoche:- Lecturealiip " iv Yale Col- j lege. The Government according to the "Broad Arrow," has no intention, for financial reasons, of embodying the militia this year, but will order tho force out for six weeks or two months instead of the customary 23 days. The force will be so affiliated to the line that it will practically servo as second or third battalions, as the case may be, and thus each regiment will be recruited in its own county. Mr. Humphrey Nicholls, o' Manchester, presented to Mr. Itobert Gladstone, the treasurer of St. Mary's Hospital, tlie sum of £9000 to be applied to the funds of that institution, and an additional sum of £9000 for the Barnes' Convalescent Home at CheaclleHuline. These donations, with others previously given, make a total of £20,000 given by Mr. Humphrey Nicholls to the above-mentioned institutions. There are twenty-nine batteries j around Paris, and if we take the aver- j age of six guns to each we get an idea of the battering pieces in position, which does, not include guns in fieldworks and the field artillery in emplacements. These 170 or 180 guna were ordered to fire 50 rounds each instead | of 30 rounds per day, which represents a shower of 8000 to 9000 shells per day. But of these 300 only were directed against the city. According to the '* Printers' Registers," there are at the present time 110 daily newspapers in Groat Britaiu and Ireland, distributed as follows :—: — London, 20; provinces, 57 ; Wales, 2; Scotland, 11; Ireland, 19-; Channei j Islands, I—total,1 — total, 110: Of this number j Gl are published afc id,, and 3-1 at l\d. I each.

Emigration of Factory Operatives. — In the course of a few days upwards of a dozen mill-workers are to leave Imierkithen for Otago. They are to be taken out by Mr. Arthur Burns, a grand-nephew of the National Bard, for the purpose of introducing the imnufa^ture of tweeds into that province. One set of carding-machines. with a corresponding quantity of tha other machines necessary to complete the manufacture, ia also to be takes out. — " Dunurmline Press," -January,