NEWS BY CABLE

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3183, 18 April 1889, Page 2

NEWS BY CABLE

London, April 18. Correction.—ln the Budget speech Mr Gosoken's proposal was to raise £BOO,OOO by increasing the beer tax one-fourteenth of a penny, .not one fifteenth of a penny, . In the course of tho Budget speech Mr Gosohen questioned whether paper money could bo considered side by side with gold ooinage, and said prudence forbade making any large economy by the sale of paper money, which was not represented by gold. The Chancellor declared his intention of clinging to the postal authorities, not in a miserly way but with tenacity. He referred shortly to tho expanding prosperity of the country, and to the really grave condition of European politics, In the course of the Budget speech Mr (jpschen remarked that statistics shewed that the drinking oustoms of the people of England had not increased jn proportion to the increase of population, and that there had been a notable decline in the consumption of spirits and heavy wines; The olcction for the Birmingham Central seat, rendered vacant by the death of the Right Hon. John Bright, took place to-day, when Mr Albert Bright, son of the deceased statesman, who stood in the Unionist interest, was returned by a majority of 8050, having polled 5621, whilst his opponent, Mr Phipson Beale, who stood in the Home Rule interest, only succeeded in polling 2561, The election was quiet aud orderly. The Tongariro arrived at Rio de Janeiro on tho 11th inst, all well, Her cargo of frozen meat was in'a good condition. " Tenders for. the Tasmaiuan'lbim of £1,000,000 inscribed 3| per cent were opened' to-day. The total amount tendered was There were iGO tenderers. Tenderers at £9718s 6d receive 25 per cent. A syndicate tendered for £850,000 dt £9718s Cd, Obituary -Lady MacArtlnuv

• A Big Prophecy; The Rhv. Mr Baxter, editor ot the Christian Hwald, has been trying to ; .terrify, the people of Birminghapv In the Grand Theatre, in lectured on a Sunday afternoon loir' crowded audiecce of both sexes, the drop scene is stated to have been decorated with a painting of .: an enormous winged dragon,' " with ton horns-and many beads." In the centre was anothar picture portraying " the., woo pf demon scorpion locusts stinging men for twice "five month's and adjoining this watt representation ■ 'off:} ■ the :,woe j million.jfire breathing ; demqh's hprsa? third ' part of'-man-kind," while to the rigkt appeared a picture showing the people of the . earth worshipping images, with, a sckffold.inthes background,'ra which r* j Christians were being guillotined A Besides these stirring symbols, "hor-1 rible images of black horses spreading famine'and desolation," and white horses mounted . by. skeletons ornamented other portions of the house, Nor did the discourse fall short of the rich promise of these displays. Mr Baxter bade his Jhearers prepare for stupendous things preparatory to the millennium, which ' he".'was_ gjfejb enough to fix at tbo conveniently date of 1901. 'The.leading.item in' the fateful bill of fare appears to hayo beon a tremendous tragedy in Europe, in which BismSrck,. koltke, Boulunger, tlie King of Italy,' and the Czar will be prime movers. All. the European nations are to be ultimately involved, Austria is to lose all her Danubian provinces, arid Great Britain will only be "let off with the , loss of India and Ireland. At' the same time Mr Healy was careful to warn "Parnell, Tim Healy, and Michael Davitt," that separation would not be -attributable Jo. them, " but to the fact that Ireland did not form part of CsesarVßoman Empire." • Up to this point the lcoturer's hearers 1 appear to have teen 'thrilled anU i attantive; but.anluokily Mr Baxter went on to desoribo, in rather minute I detail, " the horrors that are about to. ■ overtake .mankind" whereupon his i hearers are reported to have given ■ vent to "loud expressions;of disapprobation." The report concludes ' with the significant observation > 11 in the evening he continued bins!! t tare before a very diminished i audience." 3. . ~ 3 Sayedirom Hungry Eats-

Owing to the heavy rains at Ellenville, New York State, water ratß have been driven to seek refuge in barns, outhouses, or wherever they could find shelter from the pelting . rain and resistless torrents. A great regiment of hungry looking rodents that make their home along banks of the Delaware arid Hudson Canal ' sought refuge one day recently in an outhouse adjoining the premises of a man named Simpson, who resides north of here on a knoll close by, where a landslide oocured some time ago. Becoming hungry the rats left the outhouse, and, boldly invading the dwelling;, attaoked a babe that was . lying asleep in a cradle. The mother rushed to the infant and () tried to drivo off. tho ferocious m when they at once fiercely attaoLvL her. The woman's screams atnMK v the attention of Charles Jones, who has charge of the mail and express coaoh running between Ellenville and and Kingston. Seizing his whip, Jones (lashed into the house, and a horrible eight mot his gaze. Hundreds ,of hungry rats with gleaming eyes jumping wildly at- a woman who held a bleeding infant aloft in one arm, while with the other sho tried ineffectually to "broom" the sharpfauged rodents that were climbing over her garments to get at her child. " It was a blood-curdling sight,". Jonos says, and ono which I shall never forgot, 1 snapped my whip at the rats, but not until a great dish of hot ashes and coals was thrown over them did they pretend to beat a retreat. I made good use of my whip, watching moanwhile to see that nothing was in danger from the coals that were scattered lavishly about, One grey veteran returned over and over again to the charge, but I finally gave him such a out with my whip, that he, too, disapappeared, to return no more. Bpth mother and babe were severelyAUten and scratohed. The woundMled profusely, but no serious results'fo'ave followed thus far.

. Insanity in Royal FamiliesTho most roally senpational arliole on the Buicide of the Crown Princo Rudolph appears in the etaiJ columns of the London Economist, The striking statements which it sets forth are made without the smartness of the" Saturday Heviow or tho tawdry rhetoric of the Pall Mall Gazette. But if the manner is not sensational, tho alleged faols are, Insanity (says tho Economist) is so much on the increase m the Royal families of Europe as to ben menacetomonarchicalinstitutioDß, One assigned reason for tho unhappy circumstance is that heira apparent are mostly over-educated for'their brain power. This was distinctly the case with the Crown Prince Eudolph,' who read and wrote all the "isms" in five languages, though neither his bodily nor his mental powers W6re of the robust type. But the great cause, it is asserted, is that ''the two reigning families ot Europe—the •fljftolic and the non-Catliolic—-cousins aud kinsfolk so regularly that if any hereditary disease enters the Royal line escape is almost beyond hope." There is too much reason to fear, we are told, that the most transmissuble of all disoases, an ejection of the brain, has entered wto ' both tho Royal clans. The Economwt has a list of twenty Eoydnrinces and princesses who are, or 'Mve "been, under treatment (or mental disease, and the number show's a tendency to increase. Tho remedy proposed by the journal in question is that a number of the old families of Europe should be admitted to tho marriage circle, and then, in a generation or two, tho danger would disappear.