GENERAL SUMMARY.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 373, 15 July 1874, Page 6

GENERAL SUMMARY.

tiONDW, MAT 15. Speaking of the Royal Academy dinner, the Prince of Wales paid a warm tribute to the memory of fcir Edwin Landieer, aid proposed the health of Sir Garnet Wolseley. Fronc the series of recent papers written by Dr i ivingstone, extracts from which were read before the Geographical Society, hapes were expressed that, with Mr Wain- [ Wright's assistance, a connected narrative) of | his late history might possibly be compiled. Dean Stanley's sermea on the following day was based on the lessons derivable from Dr Livingstone's life. The Queen, Baroness Coutts, Lady Frere, and others furnished wreaths to deck the explorer's bier. A J"«conciiiation between Messrs Kirk and Stanley took place over the grave. The Queen and the Royal Princes Bent carriages to join the pro* cession. A deputation has memorialised the Government to make sem« provision for Dr Livingstone's family. The application has been favorably received. A report is current that Mr Stanley is -under instructions from Mr Bennett, proprietor of the ' JN«w Tork Herald,' to attempt the discovery of the sources of the Nile. Proposals have been made to erect a memorial to Dr Livingstone, at his birthplace, near Glasgow, and a statue im Edinburgh. -The following new baronets have bean treated : — Henry Wm Peek, Philip Robo, (solicitor), George Elliott, John Kelp. Mr Arthur W. Peel resigns the duties of Liberal whip to Mr Adam. Mrs Mina Jury, an Australian witness in the Tichborne case, has been arraigned on a oharge of stealing articles from her lodgings and pawning them. She has been remanded en bail.

At the annual grand lodge of English Freemasons, the Marquis of Bipon was installed Grand Master.

Mr Gladstone is spending a few weeks near Snowdon, and is dcvo r ed to literary pursuits, tie is contributing articles to the ' Contemporary Review.' George Elliott will shortly issue a new collection of poems. Stung into activity by their recent defeat, the Liberals of the city of Lon ion are about to form a Liberal club, with affiliated branches in the chief provincial towns.

There is a split in the ranks of the Home Rulers.

The annual exhibition at South Kensington will be discontinued after the present year, owing to the want of public support. The budget remissions were voted by Parliament after some important discussioß. Mr Gladstone disappointed everybody by declining to explain and vindicate his pro* jected financial policy. Apart from a mild -protest againßt the concession in relief of local taxation, he praised the scheme of Sir Stafford Northcote.

In introducing the Naval Estimates on the 20th of April, Mr Ward Hunt made a decidedly sensational speech on tbe deplorable condition of our navy. Onr ships were phantom ships ; our fleet existed only, on paper, of our ironclads only eighteen could be considered effective. He reproached the , late Government for their culpable parsimony, and while adopting Mr Goschen's estimates, intimated that supplementary estimates would be necessary, lhe farliament and ceuntry were alarmed, and every* body feared the Burplus would be absorbed. The whole thing turned out a foolish scare. The Chancellor of the Exchequer soothingly declared that only L 150,000 extra would b& required. Messrs Goschen and Cbilders were spurred up to an exhaustive defence of the policy of the late Admiralty, while the new First Lord has covered himself with ignominy, and his colleagues abandened him.

The Grand Duke Alexander is likely to visit Australia next year with the Russian squadron. Should the annexation of Fiji be decided upon, the governorship will probably .be offered to Captain Glover. Gold has been found in the Bokkeveld district, ninety miles from Cape Town. The quartz yields four ounces per ton. 'lhe mails via San Francisco from Sydney on the 14th March were delivered here on the 4bh May, three days late. The delay was owing to the slow passage of the steamer across the Atlantic. The White Star line has offered to empl >y fast steamers to carry the Australian mails.

On- the 28th April important experiments in a new process of meat-preserving were commenced at the rooms of the Colonial Meat Supply Company. Several fresh joints were placed in tins and the lids soldered down, a small hole being left for the introduction of a few drops of a composition which is the secret of the inventor. The tins are to be opened after a lapse of three weeks in the presence of the same party.

Orders have been given at the Royal Arsenal to manufacture 17,000,000 of Mar-tini-Henry cartridges during the present year. The condition and management ef the dockyards has been condemned by Admiral Elliott.

The troops engaged in the Ashantee war have been rewarded out of the Indemnity. The Paria correspondent of the 'Times' has published the substance of Bismarck's conversation with King Victor Kmmannel on the visit of the latter to Berlin last year, in which he confesses to two' mistakes in connection with the war of 1870. He overestimated the military resources ef France, and under-estimated her financial resources. The German troops should have over-r»n the * hole country and have demanded an indemnity of 500,000,000. He suggested that Italy might reclaim Savoy and Mice, and that Prussia, on plea of inability to desert her ally, might commence a final war with France. King Victor declined the bribe. The official Press both, in Berlin amd Rome have been instructed to contradict the statement. It is stigmatised as a bold invention, intended to discredit Germany's pacific professions.

An important discovery has been made in County Kilkenny, Ireland. An English Company purchased property from Mr Brian, M. P., and at once commenced sinking a shaft, A splendid seam of best Jarro coal, upwards of live feet in thickness, was reached, and, it is said, promises an almost exbaußtlesa supply.

building in San Francisco having 500 rooms, is to be provided with a clock having 560 iiials — one in each room — to be operated upon by condensed air.

" The Mill Wheel," a recently published novel, by Miss Helen Dickens, a daughter ef tbe late Charles Dickens, is pronounced by English criticsjas being far from an ordinary book. r lhe mortal remains of Adolphe Brideau, a French Communist of the wildest type, were lately interred at Finchley. The coffin, wrapped in red flags, was borne through the streets, followed by about 200 Frenchmen. The procession was also headed by a- large crimson flag.

A recent issue of the • Cooktown Courier ' says a very large number of men have left town during the past month en route for the Palmer. The stream of swagsmen, pack-hor.-es, and others must be almost continnoc along the entire road if we were to judge bj the uumber of. people that have left Cook town the last few days. On the other hand the number of returning diggers has fallen off very considerably, so that~we may expect to hear news shortly ef some good finds',- as the country will now receive a thorough trial