A COURT SCANDAL.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 434, 13 February 1875, Page 3

A COURT SCANDAL.

A Court Bcandal is promulgated by the Paris correspondent of a New Orleans paper, who states that the visit of the Empress of Austria to the Isle of Wight is not for the benefit of her health, but in consequence of a quarrel with the Emperor. Ho says : — "The Empress suddenly quitted "Vienna some weeks since, travelled 'day and night, took the belt railway which girdles Paris, and, without stopping more than five minutes there, proceeded to Havre. Here she rostod one night, and sailed early the next morning, for the Isle of Wight. Inquisitive eyes kept watch on royalty. They saw she took no bath, little exercise, went nowhere, not even to the curious places of the island. She looked grave, sad unto death. The English papers announced that the Emperor of Austria had qnitted Vienna to join the Empress in the Isle of Wight. Ten minutes after these newspapers reached the island, the Empress's chamberlain was negotiating the chartering of a steamboat to take her to Southampton, and the steamboat chartered, he wtiß at the Telegraph Office making arrangements for & special train from Southampton to London. As soon as fires could be lighted and steam got up, her Majesty was off for London. She did not stop at the embassy, refused to see the Austrian Ambassador, went to Clairidge's Hotel, and began to visit the public monuments with the untiring perseverance of a college boy. A telegram seems to have been sent to the Kmperor of Austria, announcing his wife's further flight, for he seems to have stopped on his journey. They say that she had declared that if he pursued her to London she would fly to Scotland ; if pressed, from there to Norway. She is still in London. He is at her home in Bavaria. Their marriage was a love match. The families wanted him to marry her eldest sister. He went to Munich to see her. The youngest sister took possession of his heart at tirst sight, to the surprise and vexation of the families, and especially of the elder sister, he announced that the younger sister would be his wife. Her position at Vienna was not without its drawbacks. The Emperor's mother was imperious, and strove to extert great influence over him ; there wer« political and financial embarrassments which at times brought the Emperor to the verge of despair. But they loved each other devotedly, and the happiness of their married life was nnchequered, save by those summer clouds which will occasionally overcast the sunniest homes.

At Melbourne, a few days since, an old woman named Connor, who lived in a small tenement in North Fitzroy, was found dead in bed. The place was in a very dirty state, and contained scarcely any furniture. Nevertheless, the woman appears to have h;id plenty of money, and to have been too misorly to make use of it, as two deposit receipts for sums amounting to £450, and about £20 in money, were found, in a box in the woman's bedroom.

The application of a novel cure for snakebite is mentioned by the Lancefield " Mercury." A young lady at Cobaw, Miss E. Ritchie, was bitten last Wednesday on the bare toe by a black snake. She told her parents about it, when a young calf was got and the bitten toe placed in its mouth. The calf, believing it to be the veritable teat, at once commenced sucking with all its might until a vehicle was procured, and the girl was conveyed to the Kyneton Hospital, where she is progressing favorably.

Speaking of the new india ru'»bor boats, the " Sydney Morning Herald " of January 12th says: — '"'The iirst importation of these very ingenious machines arrived from Melbourne by the City of Adelaide, being a speculation of Mr J. Sutherland, who will take an early opportunity of practically illustrating the advantages of these novel boats. The miniature vessel is composed of air-tubes constructed of india-rubber, is shaped like an ordinary boat, and is about 12ft. long. The appliance for filling the tubes with air is a small bellows, shaped like an accordeon, which is easily attached to the air-tube, and, with 20 minutes' ordinary exertion the boat is fit for service, and will float with ease 20 persons. It is supplied with a jointed keel and bulwarks, as also oars, thwarts, &c, and the whole when packed up cau easily be carried by auy ordinary person. The idea is a most valuable one, and will doubtless be appreciated, especially in the interior parts of the colony, where floods may occur."

If any of your lady readers consider that they are deprived of their "rights" by the ruder sex, I am happy to be able to tell them of a ljnd to which' they may emigrate if they wish to turn the tables on their tyrants. lam indebted for the information to to an address delivered recently to the members of the Edinburgh Literary Institute, by Sir George Campbell, who lately occupied the office of Lieut. Governor of Bengal. Sir George .stated that among the Khassia tribe, inhabiting the hill co.untry in Eastern Bengal, the ordinary relations of the sexes are reversed. The woman is the head of the house. She marries the man instead of * the man marrying her, and if she doesn't like him on trial she divorces him. The husband comes to the wife's house, and her property goe3 to her relations, not his. So far all is in favour of the woman, but there is something more to be told. ''The' women having the chief dignity have the chief responsibility, and with that responsibility come to .have the chief share of the work. " In other wb^a, the woman has to maintain the house aswell as to rule. She is the bread-winner, and like the man elsewhere, she eats her bread in the sweat of her brow, by performing the manual labour that elsewhere devolves upon the man. In illustration of this Sir George related an amusing anecdote. A friend of his, wishing to have a grand piano carried up a hill, offered the strongest man he could get a high price to perform the required service. The man, after testing the weight of the piano, said he could not do the job, but that his sister could, and on his fetching her she actually did it. The wamen are very strong in consequence of having to work so hard, and the orthodox mode of travelling in that regior^ is in a creel on a woman's back. So much for women's rights in Khassia Land. The rose has its thorn even there. — "Times Correspondent,"

A Dr. Symes, a physician in practice in a fashionable part of London, has just obtained a divorce from his wife, on the ground of her cruelty to him. Among the charges brought against her by him was one of threatening to murder him with a New Zealand war club, which was produced 'in court, and was described by the reporters aa "a very formidable weapon."