ITEMS BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1858, 3 June 1884, Page 3

ITEMS BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

A London special cable of May 3rd says there is a very general movement among the large English landowners to break the force of impending agitation, to which the labours of Henry George have given such a impetus, by making important reductions in vent. The latest landed proprietor who is making a move in this direction in the young Earl of Scarborough, who owns immense tracts of fern land in Lincolnshire and large estates in the Isle of Wight. He has announced to his tennants a voluntary reduction of 15 per cent, of their rent for the next five years It is estimated this concession will reduce his income of above £3000 per annum, but he will still receive about £20,000 a year. The majority of large landowners have adopted Scarborough's course during the last eighteen months. The position of affairs in the Soudan is certainly' very grave, but the news which comes to ns is so conflicting and so full of flimsy and transparent falsehoods that one finds great difficulty in arriving at any satisfactory opinion as to the actual facts. If it is true, as reported, that ths British Government has obtained suggestions from its principal military officers as to the best method of rclie\ inj» General Gordon and Khartoum, then the action bears too close a resemblance to that of the man who began to dig a well for water when his house was on fire, to be creditable to the Ministry. Such an action, taken in connection with other ciicumstances, implies that Geneial Gordon is in danger, and if that is so the time for action has come, and that appropiiate for suggestion and discussions has passed. One of the traditions of the Libeial party in England for the past century has been to a\oid the use of physical foice as far as possible, and when avoidance was no longer possible to use it with a timeliness, carucss and capacity, which would be creditable to the nation, and tl Tiie flag that's bia\cd a thousand years, the battle and the bieeze.' lt is difficult to concehe of the Giadstonc Government pioving untrue to this admirable paity tradition.— S F. News Letter. Thcic ha\e been no new developments in the Tonrjuin, and France shows no disposition to withdraw any of hei ttoop*. China is actively engiged m making defensive auangemeuts tlnoughout the provinces, paiticulaily at Nunkiu and at the mouth of the Y.mg T-e Kiang. A peaceful settlement of all these difficulties, however, is moie thah probable. The Socialists and Nihilists aie displaying renewed acth ity, In Russia a great number of the latter have been arrested, and a plot to assassinate the Czar discovcied. In Germany a very severe antisocialistic law is pending before the Leqiblatiuc. It it is not passed the Government intends to Older a dissolution, and expects that conseivatne sentiment will be largely increased by an appeal to the country on this issue. Intelligent observers of passing events must admit that the time has come when the safety of humanity demands that a distinct and broad line of dcmai cation between liberty and license, should Le diawn, and when the Government of the civilized woild should unite upon pioper measutcs for the piotection of oiganized society against the actions of teckless men who claim to be the apobtles of hbeity, but who know not the meaning of that word. Simultaneously with the announcement of the Morganatic marriage of the Grand Duke Louis IX, husband of the late Pi incess Alice, comes the news that the bill pennittintf mairiage with a deceased wife's sister has again been iutioduced into the House of Commons. This bill has passed the Commons, and been defeated in the Loids each session foi some years past. The Piinre of Wales and his royal bi others, as peers of the lealin, were in their places the last twice the bill was up, and voted for it, the general understanding being that their interest in the measure aiose out of the fact that the Grand Duke Louis wished to mairy the Princess Beatrice. The Oriental Banking Corporation, one of the laigest financial institutions in Great Biitain, suspended payment last week. The suspension was owing to unproductive assets in Ceylon and Mauritius. This bank was incoi porated in ISSI, and at one period ranked next to the Bank of England. It is becoming comparatively clear that Geneial Gordon's position at Khartoum is not one of immediate peril, and it is equally clear that his mission is a pronounced failure. He went to the Soudan to overcome, by peaceful measutcs, and with his own peisonal influence, El Mddln's lebellion. In this ho has not been successful. In fact, he has been so unsuccessful that the whole country surrounding him is in open revolt against Egyptian rule, and he is liow, and has been for some time past, closed up in Khartoum with a g.unson and population, a part, at least, of which are disaffected.—Still although he is not in any immediate danger, it is probable that any attempt on his part to retire from his position would be attended with very great peiil. The condition of affairs cannot, of couise, last forever. While Geneial Gordon is in no immediate danger, his position must eventually become hopelessly dangeious, unless the Biitish Government send him relief or the whole condition of affairs in the Soudan changes, and the latter alternative is an exceedingly impiobable one. As Geneial Gordon went into the Soudan as the agent of the British Government, the duty of relieving him is on it, and Gladstone's Ministry seems inclined to recognize its obligation. But the tedious elaborateness with which it is preparing to get ready and begin to make up its mind to send forth its expedition is, even after making due allowance for the climate and other difficulties to be surmounted, baldly creditable. The financial condition of the Mexican Government continues to be exceedingly shaky, and it is haul to tell what a diy may bring forth. The stamp tax, which almost precipitated a revolution, until the Government announced its intention of withdi awing it, will be put in force on the 1-ith instant Some.tnodifications in regard to the manner of applying this will be- made, but the thing itself will remain substantially the same, and wi'l bo an exceedingly irksome burden for commerce to bear. It is not risking too much to say that, in the present condition of public feeling in " the sister Republic," a popular leader would experience no difficulty in placing himself at the head of a movement antagonistic to the existing Government. The hour is at hand, but the man seems to be missing — and that is a most unusual occurrence in Mexico. The marriage of Queen Victoria's granddaughter, the Princess Victoria of Hesse, to Prince Louis of Battenberg, took place at Darmstadt in the presence of the Queen, Prince and Princess of Wales, the Prince and Princess Imperial of Germany, and quite a crowd of lesser royal lights, on Wednesday. By a curious coincidence, the Memoirs of the bride's mother, the Jate Princess Alice, were published ia London a few daya before the peremony, aud they throw a painful light upon the small miseries the royal lady endured in trying to keep up royal appearances without a royal income. As the lady received a dowry of £40,000 from the English Parliament, and an annual income of £8,000 it is to be presumed that her German spouse contributed a healthy appetite as his share of the family resources. Mexican affairs seem to be a very shaky , couaition. The oldest financial institution in the City of Mexico, ths Bank of Mote de Piedad, has beeu oblided to close its doors in order to protect its creditors and prevent the Government from robbing it. Of course," in Mexico they do things in Mexican ways, aud Mexican ways are, notio p'lt^ too fine a point upon it, a trifle oniois. This .proceeding may, therefore, , be all right and orthodox, but we beli«v« we

— y , — ,■ ■ q 7 r are warranted in intimating that it'wiis^ simply a bold attempt 'at higliway rolv* bery in a desperately hard up Government. Vanity Fair says : There is a great conflict going on in the bosom of the Cabinet with regard to Egypt. Mr Gladstone, Lord Granville and Lord Derby are determined to carry on their presnt policy of expediency tending t»war.d evacuation ; and being the chief authorities in the Cabinet they have hitherto had their way, being supported by the submissive majority. Sir Charles Dilke, Mr Chamberlain and Lord Northbrook take, however, a different view. They press for an English protectorate of Egypt, either permanent or for a fixed term of years, and are daily becoming urgent in their demand that the Ministry should take up a ' strong ' and definite attitude in thss sense." The Queen has appointed Sir Henry Smith Parkes, G.C.M.G., X.C.8., Her Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Emperor of China, to be also her Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the King of Corea. Ax event which reminds one of medi?eval times and the horrors of the Inquisition, occurred recently in Madrid. A carriage with two gentlemen drove up to the house of a mason, and desired the man to accompany them immediately on pressing business. He complied, and made no objection to have his eyes bandaged on consideration of an ample douceur. Ultimately he found himself in a room where a lady was lying, gagged, bound, and weeping piteously. The mason was then threatened with a terrible death unless lie built up with bricks the alcove in which this woman was lying. His story is that he had no choice but to consent, and that ho was afterwards conducted Lack to his house witli the same precautions as before. He lost no time in informing the police, who are now searching for the place of the crime. A Luge stoic of <!} n.unite and glycerine lias been found at Faxoriten, near Vienna, at the lodgings of a .stranger. The loflgin^s were opposite to the mansion of Baron Rothschild, and the police believe that it was intended to blow up this mansion by laying a mine in the sewers leading to the house. Another fi»id of dynamite was made in the subuib of Simmering. The Duchess of Albany will reside at C'arcmont "until after her confinement, which is expected in about five weeks. The Princess of Waldeck-Pyrmont will probably remain with her daughter, but if she is unable to do so Princess Christian will take her place The Duchess will go to Germany eaily in the summer, and will pay a lengthened visit to her parents at Aiolsen and at Pyrmont. The House in which the Duke of Albany died, the Vilh Nevada, is one of the trost delightful villas in Cannes It is quite a cottage, but the giounds aic chauning, and from the terra je, to which the windows open, there is one of the finest views on the Rivieia. The villa is on the upper slopes of the Cahfornie Hill, on the east side of tho town. It belongs to Miss Perceval, the aunt of Captain Percival. The Duke passed an afternoon with them directly after his ai rival at Cannes, and ho seemed so pleased with the place that his host and hostess begged him to stay with them for a shoit time ; and he enjoyed so much the kindly hospitality of Captain and Miss Perceval that the visit was prolonged into one of weeks. The Morning Post says :— " It is possible that our fellow-subjects in Australia and New Zealand may obtain unexpected assistance fiom the giowth of a feeling in France itself against tho present system of transporting criminals to New Caledonia. Complaints have been made in many quaitcit> that even fiom the point of view of French policy the experiment, so far as has been conducted down to the present, is hardly a success, and if this opinion spieads it cannot fail to affect the prouosal to cany out a vastly exaggerated scheme of transportation. T he system, as it at present exists, is accused of being a double failuie. It docs not terrify intending criminals at home, and it does not reform sentenced criminals when they an ive at their place of punishment. It neither detersnorameliorates. To go to Now Caledonia has become a positive object of ambition among French convicts, and prisoners sentenced to minor terms of punishment than would entitle them to tiwuspot tation actually commit fresh offences in prison in order to obtain the requisite degree of atrocity. As ciiminals who have been found guilty of muider almost alwajs have their sentences commuted into transportation, it may be imagined how slight is the awe which such a prospect excites among the classes which supply the laigest number of assassins. Information appears to have come across the seas, by some of those channels of communication which are mysteriously opened to convicts in spite of precautions and penalties, nnd this information goes to shew that convict life in New Caledonia can be very endmable from the hardened ruffian's point of appreciation. This is a grave condition of things, and under the circumstances it is not surprising that a good deal of public attention has been diawn to a recent article in the Nouvelle Revue from the pen of M. H. Denis, lately sub director of the penal settlement at Noumea. The article deals at considerable length with the subject, I and contiasts and desciibes some of the various systems of administration which have been tried by successive Governors of the penal colony in the hope of improving the situation. Admiral Courbet employed severity. His successor believes in philanthropic treatment of the convicts. The result under both systems appears to be practically the same. Utter want of classification and an apparently incorrigible laxity seem to render all expectations of improvement futile." The Transvaal delegates at Amsterdam are trying to form a syndicate of bankers to raise a now loan, which is to be devoted exclusively to the construction of railways. Not very long ago such a proposal would hd\ c been impossible. An English administrator who once visited that territory, endeavoured to convince a Boer— one of the oldest inhabitants and largest farmer in the country — of the enormous advantages that would accrue from tho construction of railways. "It would double the value of your land," said he. " Well," said the Boer, "so much the worse for that." "What," said the Englishman, " do you not think it would be good to have the value of your land doubled?" ''No," said the Boer ; "no respectable Boer ever sells his land. What he has to do is to buy fresh farms for his younger sons ; so that the more valuable the land is the more he has to pay for it, and the worse it is for him," "Then you would not even have a telegraph?" said the Englishman. " No," said the Boer ; " what's the use of a telegraph ? If the news is good it will keep ; if it's bad it had better not come at all, let alone coming in such a hurry." — British Trade Journal. Mr R Laishley, jun., of Auckland, who, since his arrival in England, has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Fellow of the Royal Hiatorioal Society, a Fellow of Royal Geographical Society, a number of tbe Philological Society, and a Fellow of the Royal Colonial Institute, delivered, by invitation of the committee of the Working Men's College, Great Ormotfd Street London, on April S, a lecture at that institution on "New Zealand—espeolally as a Field for Emigration." The chair was taken by Mr'F. J Furntvall, M.A., a noted litterateur, and the'founder of the New Shakespeare and other societies. The lecture room was crowded, ahd there seemed very 'great interest taken in the lecture. < Although theUecturer spoke for two hours (instead of the usual hour), the way in whidh he was besieged for information in the room- for at^ least an-, hour, after the, lecture wkslJover seemed to show that he had not spoken long enough. He divided his lecfiirfe into three parts : — 1. General 'detforiplion of the colony, with, statistic! va» to iti present condition and oirbumitaHQWi '2.

thi'Mon? til nativ&tfMtfnPoPthe* colony offers to emigracfctSf a place of residence in preference to Great Britain. The lecture was illustrated by it large map of; the colony, on which the lecturer poipted: out various' placed of interest j by some very curious 1 -models of' Maori -heads, carved in kauri gum ; by portraits of the kiug, queen, king's house, his chief warrior, a representative Maori belle, and views of New Zealand scenery ; specimens of New Zealand woods artistically worked up into a table top, &c, all which seemed to be a source of great interest to the audience. Mr Laishiey, spoke, entirely without notes, merely referring from time to time to a Government official handbill for data. He expressed himself enthusiastically in favour of the .colony, and' commented 1 length on its system of government and education, instanced it as a land where merit was the sole passport to success. On the motion of the chairman a very enthusiastic and unanimous vote of thanks to the lecturer was, carried at the close of the meeting, to which Mr Laishley responded by circulating .a considerable number of official handbills issued by the Government, containing en abstract of information concerning the colony. These were eagerly sought for, and the. supply pioved very far short of the demand. Mr Laishley left England for Paria on April 10, for the purpose of studying, the con* tinental system of education.— .European Mail. ' The trial of the Jews accused of setting fire to the synagogue at Neu Stettin has ended in their acquitsal. On their return, however, from Kronitz, where the trial had taken place, they were set upon by the mob of Neu Settin and considerably hurt. The Great Wcbtern Railway Company of England have given notice that it,, will no receive any packages on deposit at the cloak rooms of tts stations unless it shall have the right to open and examine them, either at the time of their reception or at its c:nvemct.ci', anil to remove from them anything deemed likely to endanger the sci \ ants or passengers on the line. Cetewayo, pre\ ions to his decease, sent the follow ilig message to Mr Giant, lifs late adviser : " Durbad -I am dying. ..I, sey so. Toll m> Emo can fiunds I am dead forever. I leave Uilinuznlu (Cetewayo's son) in my place. Tins must be communicated to Queen Viu-j tona." ' Boydell's edition of Shakespeare,' extended to thirty-six volumes by the 1 insertion of 4..3G7 plates and drawings, , which belonged to the Harrison Library, brought only §2,556. It was bought by Brentano, and is said to have cost §18, 000.— Public Opinion. Piinbe Victor, eldest son of the Prince of Wales, on attaining his majority, which occurs the beginning of next year, ' will be raised to the peerage, with the title of Duke of Dublin, and will thencejorth reside in Ireland.

Thk agricultural returns for 1883 show that fruit and vegetable culture in the United Kingdom is stead ildy on the increase. Orchards are returned as occupying 190,708 acres, as compared with 187,300 acres in 1882 ; and market gardens as having 58,000 acres devoted to them, against 48,000 acres in the previous year. j A sheep-shearing table has been paten ed by Mr Joseph L. Addison, of j Quaker City, Ohio. The invention covers a bench \> ith a revolving seat, for seating the sheep on his haunches, and above the seat is a shoulder, neck, and head rest, with straps for securing the sheep, so the shearer may employ both hands and readily turn the se.it as debired. the fleece falling on the bench.