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Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3495, 26 April 1890, Page 2

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The mail from China brings news of a ourious and unpunished murder in China. On Ho, a wealthy merchant in that city, had two sons, the eldest of whom -was a dissipated youth, who consorted witii thieves and gamblers, and was driven away from homo after wasting his share of the patrimony, He was reduced to beggary, and was in the habit of soliciting alms from his father's servants at tho baok door of his residence. Tlio second son, however, had an excellent character. At last the eldest, with a band of companions, broke into his father's house and

stole tho money chest. A few weeks later, the son's participation in the robbery having, been discovered by the father, the latter sent a trusty servant to him to say that if he Would promise to lead a better life in future ho would be forgiven, and might return home, whore after a time he would be married to a young girl of respectable family. The servant saw the young mm, who was again reduced to penury after spending his share of tho robbery, and advised him that now or never was the time to reform and' better himself. The son agreed to the terms, and accompanied the,servant home, whore ho was received with every appearance of joy by his parents; and a banquet was prepared to celebrate tho reconciliation. But the dish was poisoned with arsenic,

and during the night he died in great agony. Nothing had been, or will bo, done to call the father guilty Of tbo crime to. account, as it scem s that in Chiuese law the son i B regarded part of the father, and th e latter can do as lie likes with lii B sous. Had the latter killed hi B father, whether by accident o r design, he would be sentenced to th e " slow process," or slicing to death (

Russia and China. The apprehension of the growing offensive strength of China, said to . be felt in military circles in Russia, | irresistibly reminds nne of the fable ] of the wolf and the lamb. China | cannot fight a great European powor | until she has opened up her territory , by means of railways. She must be , able to mass troops at a givon point, | to provide them with everything j necessary for effective movement in the field, and to send.up as quickly ■ as may be required, reinforcements, material, and provisions. It is not enough that she should connect her capital with the frontier of Manchuria, she must be able to draw upon her provinces generally for both men and material, If she were in a position to do this, she' would, indeed, be a very formidable antagonist; for, though her resources are undeveloped, her population is bo vast that she could hurl army after army upon an enemy, and scarcely feel the loss of life. The opening up of her territory by means of railways, too, would rapidly develop her great' natural resources, increase her wealth, and augment the productiveness of the taxation. No doubt her army is not properly organised, properly drilled, or properly armad, but thero would be little difficulty in obtaining the vequieito arras of precision; and if she were' engaged in a lile-and-death struggle she would consent to purchase- the skill of Europe, as she did when her Government was threatened with destruction bytho Taeping rebellion. Genoral Gordon showed that when properly organised and ' disciplined the Chinese make splendid soldiers; and if the Chinese Government were again seriously threatened, it would, of course, consent to use European intelligence and skill. But even European leadership would not avail until she has a network of railways. In the meantime, it is idle on the part of Russia to affect apprehension. Yet, upon the other hand, it is difficult to believe that Russia is contemplating an unprovoked .quarrel with China. Being face to face with so many dangers in {Europe, it would be an unwise polioy on her part to engage in a conflict so great a distance from her baso of operations.—Statist,

Nicely HadMarriage advertisements are very frequently bat traps to catob the anwary, but it does not often happen that one advertisement of the matriinouial order makes over 200 victims. From San Francisco, however, comes the intelligence that over 200 persons, including a numbei of poverty-stricken noblemen in Europe, have been cleverly taken in by a swindler, who scut an advertisement to certain European newspapers, especially to those of Germany. It was stated in this advertisement that gontleraen of position—noblemen, officers, and so forth—wishing to marry very ricli well-educated American ladies, had only to put themselves in communication with the advertiser in order to attain that end. Amongst the ladies in tbo list some were mentioned as possessing property amounting to 20,000,000 dol., and the way in which princes, dukes, barons and counts were taken by this alluring bait is stated to have been really remarkable. It goes without saying that, before being put into communication with any of the heiresses, there were rather heavy advance fees to bo paid; and the.author of the advertisement had pockoted a very considerable sum of money before suspicions were raised, and the post office authorities refused to permit him to tako any more registered letters until ha was properly identified by some reputable business man, (Since tliiß little hitch he has |iot heon beard of.