MISCELLANEOUS.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 871, 7 October 1871, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

Of tho first number of the Housebold. Edition of the works of Charles Dickens, 80,000 copies have been issued, In addition to the famine, Persia is being depopulated by typhus, cholera, and the plague. Tho census of the population of France, which was to nave taken place in 1871., is postponed to next year. The personalty of Sir John Eolt, who was at one time counsel for the notorious Yelverton, has been sworn under £400,000. A Dorsetshire farmer has been sentenced to six months' hard labour for savagely beating an old woman under the belief she was a witch. A Bill, providing for a system of compulsory and gratuitous education throughout the country, has been introduced into the French Assembly. It is decided that the rank and file of the British army are to be armed with a Martini-Henry rifle, of the same length as the present sergeant's fifle. The " Q-auloia " alleges that a considerable fall has taken place in the level of the ocean on the French coast in consequence of the tropical heat. M. Rouher is about to be called to the bar, and make a fresh start in life. M. Jules Favre has resumed practice as a barrister. It is asserted that the assassin of Marshal Prim has been arrested, and that he had in his possession documents revealing a terrible plot. The post-office at Lochgelly, Fife, was set on fire by lightning, which travelled along the telegraph wires. The select Committee of the House of Commons on Baby Farming state that, next to London, the worst places for that practice are Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Greenock. An extensive strike of masons has taken place in Berlin. A number of the men have been sent to prison, but the rest, some 6000 or 7000, continue to hold Socialist meetings. The Liverpool School Board has decided, by a large majority, not to admit the Boman Catholic Bible, but only the authorised version, into the schools of the Board, According to the Police Gazette of St Petersburg there have been 5125 cases of cholera there between the 17th of August, 1870, and the 22nd of June, 1871, 2090 of which have ended fatally. A good deal of talk has been occasioned by the circumstance that the Imperial Prince and Princess of Germany, while in London, were the guests of the Prussian Ambassador, instead of the Queen. By a recent decision in the law courts the Marquis of Bute comes into an additional income of £40,000 and arrears to the amount of £IOO,OOO. The Marquis's trustees are about to run a line of steamers from Cardiff to New York.

Earl Russell is about to publish a historical essay on " The Foreign Folicy of England, from 1570 to 1870." The strike among the South Wales eolliersjis still continuing, miners have been brought over from Belgium. Each division in the House of Commons costs the country about £5 for printing and publishing the result. A meeting of the Drake family took place in New York the other day. They claim to be the descendants of the famous Sir Francis Drake, and to be legally entitled to property, chieflv in England, to the value of £25,000,000 sterling. Strikes in trades of all kinds are prevalent in many towns in Scotland. The Pone complains of those who talk of his illness and predict his death.

A large number of churches are in course of erection in Glasgow. The Emigration Commissioners have presented their 31st General Report. It states, among other things, that a large proportion of the emigration from Ireland continues to be defrayed by remittances from friends abroad. In 1870, £727,408 was sent from North America, and £12.804 from Australia and New Zealand. At Limerick a man on trial for murder has been twice remanded because the jury could not agree. The Eoyal arsenal at Eio de Janeiro has been consumed by fire. The loss is estimated at £300,000. . An eccentric Englishman, recently deceased, has left a large fortune to the Government of the United States. Mr Laurence Oliphant has published a letter denying that he has withdrawn from the " Brocton Brotherhood." During the continuance of the great heat in Paris, the asphalte paving was melted like butter. The American Government are making vigorous efforts to put down the Kn-Klux Klan. Mr John Euskin, the art critic, has been seriously indisposed, but is now better. The total value of the presents received by the Pope on the occasion of of his Jubliee, is said to be £1,800,000. Camphor water is said to cure gapes, spasm, and other little ailments in chickens. It is easily made by taking a piece of camphor|the size of a filbert, and pouring upon it about a gallon of boiling water. When cold it is fit to give to the birds. It will keep any length of time. At Buenos Ayres the wool clip is a large one this year. By the explosion of the magazine on board a Greek steamer, near Athens more than 100 persons perished.