ROUND THE WORLD.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2088, 7 September 1885, Page 2

ROUND THE WORLD.

t jfe 'J'm going to get married,' saiff he ut. he placed a hand upon'the counter as large as a Dutch cheese,' and I want a wedding cake.' l lt is customary,' said the pretty' ; bakery girl,' nowadays to have the materials of the cake harmonise with' the: calling of the bridegroom, For a musician, now, we have an oat cake; for a man wjro has no calling and lives upon his the sponge cake; for a newspaper paragrapher, spice cake; and so on; what is your calling, please ?' 'l'm a pugilist.' ' Then you want a pound cake.' A singular instance of there being many. a slip 'twixt the cup and lip (sayß the " Napier Telegraph") is afforded by the collision between the Waihora and the May. The Union Steamship Company gives a bonus of a month's pay to each captain in its service who for a whole twelvo month manages to escape having any accident or loss. When the Waihora left the wharf on her last trip northwards,' Captain MeGee only wanted Borne six hours of the complete period to earn the bonus, Of course the collision off Point Halswell has deprived him of it, as well' as involving him in other losses.. In eleven months in the year 1830 no less than eleven rulers of thjLearth ceased to reign—some dying, somejftsigning, and some being deposed. George IV. of England, died; Charles X., France, was deposed; Mahomed, of Algiers, was •kicked out; Pius"VIII., Rome, died; King 'Anthony was deposed from crown of Saxony; King Francis, Naples, died; William of Orange retired from ruling Belgium ; Charles Felix, of Sardinia, died; Duke Charles of Brunswick was deposed; Capo d'lstria retired from ruling Greece; and Don Pedro I. abdicated the tlnone of Brazil, Such a " smash up" has never beon known before or since,

Eight yeara ago the Congo was little more than a geographical expression. Up to the falls it had been explored, and below this barrier various tiaders had established themselves. The upper course was, howe-er, only known from the narrative of Mr Stanley, while the littl« ascertained regarding the habits of the tribesmen on either of its stretches were not pleasant enough to encourage a closer - acquaintance. To-day the river itself and the land which it drains occupy more, space in political literature than anydiher region of East or west Africa, ® f A recant Berlin telegram says; The : " Militair Wochenblatt" of the 11th- of July, the official military journal, con--, tains a long article upon the use r English •Volunteers in war, the SB artical devoted by the German PIHHL the British military system withinHMHjjß&L days. The great bulk of the simply a reproduction of the mai|sffiWß from articles by General Hainley ! Archibald Forbes in the " i}jneteeritl\Century, " The critic, however, " .finds the demands made on our Volunteors in regard to training too insignificant, and sums up his opinion as follows: ' • Although we must allow the zeal of the Volunteers, and cannot deny that they would form capital material for a levy ■ mm, yet, so long as discipline in bq. ; limited and their training so slight, they cannot be regarded aB capable of fulfilling what is expected from them. The ima»i. nary scenes described fifteen years ago. in the 'Battleof Dorking' are still by no means entirely exaggerated," On China and the Vatican the Pekin correrpondent of the London "Times" ■ writes;— The letter from the Pope tQ the Emperor of China commending tho missionaries to the Imperial protection, has elicited a gracious answer. tjShia reapproachment between the ' Government and the Holy See i? pregnlat with important results. The Chinese ■' . have long resented the French claim to : the protection of Catholic missions at being subservient to the politicalpurposei, . and causing recriminations and aggreaeiofl —witness certain in Baigon and Tonqnin. The missionaries them- • •elves, are embarasaed.by the protection, of the Republic-always capricious, and mission interests are felt to be merely pawns in the game of diplomacy. The churches of Kwangtung, Kwangsi, and ■ Yunnan were identified by the Ohineus with their enemies, and they suffered much during the war. The missionaries would, in short, feel safer without French . patronage. TJie' Chinese Government, tolerant to all religions, now perceives, that the . position of • the Pope supplies a solution of the missionary question, It will probably accredit a Minister to the Vatican, receiving in return a Nuncio at Pekin, speoially charged with Oatholio ■ interests generally—thus severing the connection of the Church with a military State. The Papal Legate in Pekin, Monaijjnor Cerbani, is an able man Afro evidently has sufficient influence to cSJ&I many prejudices which keep China aloof : from Western nations, and even to improve the status of Protestants,