THE VASTNESS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1313, 3 April 1883, Page 2

THE VASTNESS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE.

Tho Queen of Great Britain is now sovereign over a continent, 100 peninsulas, 500 promontories, 1,000 lakes, 2,000 rivers, and 10,000 islands, At the command of her Government 500,000 warriors march to battle to conquer or die. 1,000 ships of war and 100,000 sailors perform her bidding on the ocean, She rules 160,000,000 of human beings. The mightiest might kneel before the Queen of Great Britain and acknowledge- the superior extent of her dependant provinces, her subjected kingdoms, and her vanquished empires, The Assyrian Empire was not so wealthy. Tho Roman Empire was not so populous. The Persian Empire was not so extensive. The Arabian Empire was not so powerful. The Carthaginian Empire was ; not so much dreaded. The Spanish Empire was not so widely diffused.

During 1882 fourteen wills were proved with personal property exceeding three hundred thousand pounds, In 1881 there were only throe wills over three hundred thousand pounds, A sflbscription of £SOOO has been given by Mr Andrew Carnegie, of New York, a.native of Dunfermline, N. 8., in support of the fund-being raised for the National College of Music. The gift has been acknowledged by the, Prince of Wales in cordial terms, It was resolved at a meeting held at the Mansion House on-January 23 to raise a fund for the relief of the sufferers by the recent' disastrous fire in Jamacia, by which. 7000 persons have been rendered; destitute. Subscriptions amounting. to, oyer. £4OOO have already been handed in, and the sum of £2751 has been forwarded to Jamacia, . One out of every, ten of the inhabitants of Chester, England, has,;it is asserted, joined the Blue Ribbon Army. : ' There are eighty-four Sabbath schools in Syria, with 3794 pupils.