GENERAL NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 865, 23 September 1871, Page 2

GENERAL NEWS.

The " Nelson Mail" thinks that the news of the continued rise of wool is of the greatest importance to the colony. It has been calculated, and we believe upon a good basis, that a penny per pound affects the incomes of the sheep, farmers of New Zealand, in the aggregate, to the extent of a a little over an eighth of a million; therefore, the rise in price which has taken place within the last few months, and which now amounts to threepence per pound as compared with it was at the time when the greatest depression prevailed in the wool market, means an addition to the wealth of the colony of £IOO,OOO, supposing it to be maintained.

A machine has recently been perfected in London with which a writer, using a pen in the usual manner, can at the same time produce a duplicate so small as to be invisible to the naked eye, yet so distinct that a microscope will reveal every line and dot. A most useful application of the apparatus will be for the prevention of forgery, as private marks can be made on notes and securities legible under microscopic power, but which no imitator could see or even suspect the presence of. The inventor, a Mr Peters, states that the entire contents of the Bible can, with the aid of this machine, be written twenty-two times in the space of a square inch. Tho Queen of Prussia noticed last year that a good deal of her valuable jewellery disappeared in a mysterious manner, and all efforts to discover the thief proved fruitless. It was finally] ascertained that one of her little i grandchildren had taken the diamond rings and bracelets, and concealed; them among its toys in order to play with them. It is believed in Berlin that this affair had something to doj with the suicide of the Queen's mas- j ter of ceremonies, who shot himself] some time ago at Berlin, and for whose suicide no satisfactory reasons have as yet been given. A small experiment in cheap railway construction is mentioned from the United States; which seems to surpass! previous similar attempts in thati country. The line in progress is i

length of thirty miles in the State of '/Elissouri, of which one mile is finished. The cost of this mile, laid with T rail, has been ,£I3OO, and the cost of the entire thirty miles is estimated at £53,000, allowing £3,300 for culverts, bridges, &c. The road bed is six feet on the top, following the rise and fall of the ground where it does not exceed seventy feet to the mile, and winding round high hills and steep grades in curves of 200 feet radius, less than one-third of those required for the ordinary gauge. The medical officer of the Privy Council has proved that typhoid fever, which in England kills alout 18,000 persons annually, might be prevented by taking care that drinking water was pure. The following circular has been addressed by the Colonial Secretary to the officers of justice throughout the colony ••—" Attention having been drawn to the fact that magistrates •acting under the " Lunatics Act, 1868," have in several instances committed to gaol, sending enquiry, persons suspected of beiug insane, although there was a lunatic asylum within a convenient distance from the place at which the justices were sitting,—it is thought expedient that it should be pointed out that the place of committal should in such cases be a lunatic asylum, if there be one within -a convenient distance.

Among other papers presented to Parliament is one relating to the introduction of the Scandinavian immigrants. These, it will be recollected, arrived in two ships, the Celaeno and the England. Those by the former ■vessel, men, women, and children, equalled in numbers 40£ statute adults, and those by the latter 65j. Their cost is as follows : —Mr Morrison's account for passengers from the North of Europe to London, and again to New Zealand, and various other incidental expenses,' exclusive of remuneration for himself, £llOB 2s 3d, Expenses incurred after arrival in the •colony, and placing on the ground the sfirst batch," £289 10s 4£d; ditto of the second, £529 <3s 3d, in all £1,926 18s 161-d.

The transfusion ef blood as a remedy for impaired vitality was recently attempted with complete success at a Berlin hospital. The subject was a ■soldier on whom amputation had been performed, and who became so weak from the consequent loss of blood that his life was despaired of. As a last Tesource of one of the attending surgeons selected a healthy Bavarian, and took from him the proper quantity of Wood, which, after being freed from albumen aad raisen by filtering means to blood heat, was injected into the ■veins ofthe dying soldier. He began ■at once torecover. 4 THE TROOP-SHIP MEGGER A, H.M.'S. Megsara commissioned id last at Sheerness to bring ■out fresh officers and crews for H.M. :S.S. Blanche and Resario, on the Australian station, left Plymouth on the February ?.5 with 33 officers, 350 men, •a new set of sails for the Blanche, and 400 tons <of stores, in addition to pro- • ■visions and stores for the nase of the •officers and men during the passage out to Sydney. Captain Thrupp,, the •commander of the Megara, on being ordered un the evening of the 25th February to sail, finding his vessel's -deck lumbered with stores and luggage, ■which there had not been time to secure and having noticed that the barometer ■was unsteady, went on shore and informed Admiral Codrington that he did not think it judicious uuder the •circumstances to proceed to sea. The Admiral, however, put great pressure •on the captain, representing how displeased " the lordships would be if the Megara did not sail in accordance with their instructions." Asa consequence, the vessel went to sea in her unprepared &tate, and meeting with heavy weather began to leak, and was compelled to put into Queenstown, where •on unstowing the cargo it was discovered that a great proportion of the stores and baggage had been spoiled. While in Queenstown the cargo was restowed, and such alterations made ■as to enable the Magsera to continue her voyage, and she accordingly again set sail on the 14th March last. The •communication Captain Thrupp received from the Admirality for simply having done his duty was " disapproval of proceedings" and an intimation that they entertained serious thoughts •as to whether he should not be superseded in his command. THE BERKSHIRE CAMPAIGN. .("Army and Navy Gazette.") The force to be engaged in the autumn manoeuvres will start from Aldershott about thelOth ofSeptember, will march in three columns, and will he absent 16 day from Aldershott. The whole -corps d'armee will be concentrated at Lockinge. the beautiful seat of Colonel Lloyd Lindsay, V.C. The army will then be divided into a, nearly equal attacking and defending force, a battle will be fought every day, and the umpire, some General (high in command), will decide which force has had the best of the fight, which must retire and renew the combat the next day. Soldiers of all arms are looking forward to this novel and interesting "outing," and it is hoped real service, not picnicking, will be carried out. Each officer is to take only 40 pounds of baggage. ! In a country newspaper appears the following passage ; —A number of deaths are unavoidably postponed.

A SHOCKING NECESSITY. The " Temps," of Juno 19th, says that " the exhumation of the bodies of dead Federalists and incineration of the temporary cemeteries around Paris are being continued. The Bois de Boulogne is the usual recepticle for bodies exhumed in Paris, the cemeteries being no longer available. No attempts are now made to remove the bodies, which have been burnt in the various casemates. The process of incineration is now being carried on between the gates of Versailles and of the Point du Jour, where the atmosphere had become badly tainted. From personal observation at the Quai de la Conference and the banks below the Pont de la Concorde we can attest that thesed angerous operations are performed with the greatest precaution. Eor some days after the 9th June great volumes of smoke, occasionally lit tip by flames, rose upon the horizon to the south of Paris, upon the slopes of the hill which faced the redoubt of Haute Bruyeres and the l?utte de Chatillon, and to the left of Fort Vanves. By day nothing but smoke was to be seen, but at night fire, dull and red, appeared. There had been heavy fighting on those points, the lime, coke, and phenic acid were being employed to destroy the bodies—Prussians, French soldiers, and Federalists—which were thickly strewed about tfoose places."

THE VALUE OF THE MITITIA. A military correspondent, Sir Alexander Shafto Adair, supports the " Times " in its opinion that no foreign armada could be successful in a descent on the coast of Suffolk. The " Times," in its chapter of the future, descriptive 1)f an attempt to inyade these islands in 1874, and also the writer of the ""Battle of Dorking," in giving their accounts of the resistance on the British side omitted all mention of the militia, and it is to panegyrise this force that Sir Alexandar Shafto Adair has ventured to correspond with the " Times."'' The regiments that manned our Mediterranean garrisons during the Crimean War, though somewhat eclipsed by the popularity of the volunteers, still afford a force, he says, which stands high in everything except current esteem. He refers with pride to the fact that there are fourteen militia regiments of artillery in England and Wales, five in Scotland, and twelve in Ireland, and that these are supplied by 30,000 gunners. Military preparations by sea and land are doubtless most necessary for England, and the Government has no time to lose by remaining reticent; but meanwhile the country is sufficiently armed for any invader, and as for a landing on the south coast, it would be absolutely impossible, now that Harwich is rendered impregnable, and while 1300 well trained gunners keep watch upon the shore during peaceful times. » BARNTTM'S LATEST. Barnum's latest " sensation" is a child with two heads with distinct intellectual faculties; two chests, four arms, and four legs. She is able to converse intelligently on different subjects with two persons at the same time ; can sing a duet charmingly in two voices; can dance gracefully without the necessity of any other partner than herself; and, as seen under ordinary circumstances, presents the appearance of a pair of pleasantfaced, quick-witted, cultivated negresses, linked together by some partial attachment. In reality, the members which seem to belong to twin bodies, spring from, or possess only one trunk ; and though endowed with a dual, brain, this extraordinary being exhibits much greater unanimity of volition and sentiment _ than is ever found in the case of separate persons. Her organisation stands apart, altogether unique, and suggests a variety of considerations physiological and psychological, which are sure to engage the deeply interested attention of our anatomists and other men of science. Christina Millie is between eighteen and nineteen years of age, having been born in North [Carolina of parents who, as we have been informed, are now the proprietors of the plantations on which, prior to the great civil war, they worked as slaves. She has a peculiarly bright, and amiable expression of countenance, and appears to enjoy life quite as keenly as the majority of those whom no extravagance of nature has removed from the ordinary conformation of their kind. * THE BATTLE OF DORKING! The clever writer of the Battle of Dorking writes thus to the editor of the Spectator :—May I ask for space to thank you for having pointed out, as you did clearly in last week's Spectator, that " The Battle of Dorking is not intended to be a Tory alarmist article, or a political article in any sense." Although, not the person for whom you have done me the honour to mistake me, I may at least say that I an nothing if not a Liberal, while if the Army Regulations Bill does not carry us very far on the road to Army reform still, as Mr Disraeli himself admits, the present Government has at any rate been the first to attempt to deal with the matter at all. And with respect to what I would venture to characterise as the very feeble criticism of the Times on the subject, I would observe that I am one of those who think the present rate of

the military expenditure is sufficient, and more than sufficient, to give us a proper defence of the country, and that larger establishments are not wanted. What we need is organisation, and it is our painful deficiency in thiß respect, which extends from the cumbrous and over-centralized "War Office itself through all the departments under its control ; it is our conviction of the existing defects of our military system, of the imperfect condition of the reserve forces, and the defenceless state of our only arsenal and of the capital itself, that causes our anxiety. The " Times" say that the overthrow of our fleet is improbable; but the question is surely not one of probability, but of possibility. Unless an invasion is, under any circumstances impossible, then clearly the Volunteers nave no raison d'etre, for they are not wanted for offensive warfare. And if it be possible, then is it not the height of infatuation to grudge the trifling insurance of the national wealth needed for protecting London and creating a reserve arsenal in a central position, as well as the moderate trouble and self-denial requisite for properly organising our defensive forces ? When our dockyards were unprotected, it was they that used to be the source of panics; they have been fortified, and the nation is justifiably at ease on that score. But so long as London and Woolwich lie open to tempt a successful coup de main, and our final defence rests on an organisation which hardly works in peace, and would infallibly break down under the first strain of emergency, others may alternate between fits of panic and parsimony, but the state of the better informed, who know what is possible in war, must needs be that of permanent uneasiness, because they feel that the fate of the country is dependent on good luck and the forbearance of possible enemies. The " Times" says that we are safe because our army is larger than that which fought at Waterloo. It would be as logical to say that we are unsafe because Julius Cassar effected an invasion with three legions. In the present state of European armaments, the one precedent is about as apposite as the other. 1 . A GERMAN WARRIOR. A well-known resident of Echuca has favoured the Eiverine " Herald " with the following translated extract from a late German paper :—" An extraordinary instance of vitality, which has created a great deal of interest, is the case of Lieutenant Hess, of the Prussian Guard Artillery Eegiment, who, when before Le Mans, received a full charge of a mitrailleuse in his body, and still lives, and his medical attendant has every confidence that he will be able to save his life. This is what a visitor to the hospital, who saw the patient, writes to a Vienna paper: Hess received thirty-two wounds, mostly on the right side of the body. Nine bullets shattered his right leg so completely that it had to be amputated. This leaves him with twenty-three wounds, or, counting three lesser wounds, which he received in a previous engagement, with twenty-six wounds in the rest of his body. He is placed on a water-bed, which rests on a kind of turn-table, to allow his medical attendant, Dr Uhle, to handle and turn him when dressing his wounds, without causing much pain. Dr IThle, who accompanied him from Le Mans to Berlin, where he arrived,on the 10th March, is unremitting in his attention and care. ' I never," said the doctor, ' loved woman as I do this shattered body; and never should I touch probe again if I do not save his life. I cut his leg off, and dressed his twenty-six wounds, and when I went to see him next morning, I never expected to find him alive. Whon.some distance from the hospital 1 heard some one singing with a loud clear voice, " Die Wacht am Ehein." Wondering who this may be, I opened the door, and lo! it is my friend with the one leg cut off and the twenty-five wounds, who is as cheerful as if he were at his own camp fire after a great victory.' Eeally painful are only the wounds on which he lies, and this is much ameliorated by the water-bed and its arrangements." After this Munchausen and Baron Eagg surely may hide their diminished heads ! THE RING- MARITAL AND SPORTING CHARMS. The Telegraph says:—An extraordinary episode agitates Collins street, the title of which might very well be the " Ring and the Book." It concerns a young lady well known on the block, and is now open " town talk; but it is so singular that even wonder loving Melbourne people, when it was first stated, would hardly give it credence. Great as may be the regret, however, and deep the sympathy with the friends, the facts of the case are beyond denial. They cannot be circumstantially narrated ; but they are too public to be altogether overlooked. The lady is a relative living with one of our merchant princes, and has been accustomed to visit the Elemington Race-course, in addition to other places of fashionable resort. There she is presumed to have become enamoured with a well known member of ■"the betting, ring, while the latter was engaged in, "chaff "and "laying the odds " of his profession. Rumors of seini-ptiblic marks of the preference having been shown are not rife. On Thursday last a closely-veiled lady

alighted at the door of the house in which the gentleman in question—he may be called B—resided with his brother, and asked if Mr So-and-So were in. B <>pei>ed the door himself, but uot knowing who the visitor was requested to be told which of the male members of the family- (as there were three) she required. " Vou are the one I want," replied the lady in a timid voice," will you stop outside V This done, she raised her veil, and displayed the features of la dame aux courses. She told her tale of love, vowed she would never be separated from the object of her affection, and begged him to find her a home, as she had quitted the splendours of the Softgoodian mansion never to return, and all for his sake. Here was a pretty dilemma. He expostulated, and she implored. As a dernier resort B conducted the lady to his brother's house putting her for the nonce under the care of his sister-in-law. To the credit of the family, it must be said that they counselled the lady to return home and forget what they supposed to be a fleeting whim. She was obdurate, refused to go, and continued a guest in the house. The lady did not repent, however, and on Saturday they were' made man and wife with all the ceremonies of tho church. The young lady's natural guardians had sought her in vain, and were, it is believed, much astonished when B's brother on Sunday broke the extraordinary intelligence to them.