ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2074, 22 October 1885, Page 5 (Supplement)

ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

The following items of English and foreign news and gossip ure t.iken tioin h'le.s to hand by the P.M.S. City of Sydney, winch arrived at Auckland from Ran Francisco on Sunday :—: — There are in the United States over 45,000,000 head of swine, which are valued at more than K22(),000,C90. A pressed-paper chimney, about fifty feet high, has been built for a Breslau manufactory. A woman, 105 years of age, named Catenna Gambetta, hasjustdiedatSavoiia, near Genoa. She wa» an aunt of the late M. G&tnbetta. A member of the Bible Revision Committee received a touching plea against the changing of a veise in the pi o verbs, " which," said the writer, " was always a great comfoit to my husbands, both deceased."' Whrro will the English annexation of the Alps stop? The latest achievement is the planting of an English chinch on the top of the Eggischorn, 7,200 feet above the level of the sea. An Knglishmnn named Carter, accompanied by two gulden, has jmt ascended a summit in the canton of Vail.us, nearly fifteen thousand feet high, which hud never beon ascended before. Sir John Hal!, the late Premier of New Zealand, has settled dow n neai Maidonhead for some time at least, the state ot his health precluding any idea of an early return to the colony. It is not likely that Sir John will ngam take an activo { ait in public life. In Liverpool, lecently, a returned convict who was charged with unmercifully flogging his child with a belt, gay c as his excuse to the magistrate that by so doing he hoped to pre\ ent the child fiom following in his own footsteps. He was fined. An ancient burying giound was recently unearthed in Paris while digging a trnich in the Rue Salande. The cofh'ns of stone and plaster found there have been traced to the seventh, eighth .md ninth centimes. Not less than 2,000,000 flowering plants are probably bold m New York every itpring. These retail from 10 conts to SI each, averaging, peihaps, !>.") cents, ."nd making a grand total of *'>00,000. The number of inhabitants in sumo of tin principal cities of Europe in 17<W \wu. London, 1,000,000; Tans, 800,000 ; Marseilles, 200,000; Uublm, 200,000; Rome, 157,000. Germans do n»t seem to value the ielie> of their great ir.en. The s.ibr^ which Blucher wore and wielded at Wateiloo lias been sold in Berlin bv auction for $20. M. K'ichefort continues his invectives against England in tho Intiansigeant, The Paris Morning News lately printed an article saving that if Pain had really been •hot by the English he would only have suffered a w ell-merited punishment. H«>ienpon M. Rochefort lufotms the editor that " several sticks, loaded with lead ..nd otherwise, are already inued over his head, and they are only awaiting the favourable moment to fall upon it.'' The rooks, which for many centuries have frequented tho spires of the ancient cathedral of Katisbon, have suddenly disappeared, and not a bud is now to be seen in the \ icinity. This circumstance ban excited the utmost consternation in South Germany, as the last tune that the rooks took flight fiom Ratisbon Cathedral their departure heralded a very severe outbreak of cholera. The arming of British war-ships with quick-hring guns, which are intended to prevent the approach of torpedo-boats, is proceeding rapidly, and ship after ship is being supplied with them. The numbei for each vessel vanes from four to six. A writer in the " Leisure Hour" states that there hay c been discovered, up to the present, only three printers' errors in all the editions of the rev ised Bible, and these are of a most obvious description. The King of Bavaria has been placed under a Council of Regency. His early education was so rigid and overstrained that he was not allowed a single boyish amusement. When he grew up he naturally indulged to excess m games from which he had been debaned, frequently playing marbles for five hours at a utrctrh. Hn knew nothing of real life, and, putting away toys, ho did not become a man of ordinary intellect. The wheat crop of Italy for this season has all been gathered, and is placed ,it 121,0J!y,K33 bushels. The grapes prunisf well in ceitam localities, but the vineyards in other paits are affected by cidiuni. Th< prospects of the olive orchaids aiu good. and the promise in regard to oth> r staples is that the production will not fall behiuu previous years. Englishmen ventured to play tennis at Schwnlbnch without their coats. This so shocked the native sense of morality tint an influential deputation of ladies requested the Mayor to forbid the indecency But tho Mayor declined to interfere, giving it as his opinion that indecency was an indispensable part of .ill English games This is a slice out of the verbal pait of a recent examination for a good Civil Service post in (Jruat Biitain : "What i« the principal property ot heat?" Answer: "To expand." "And what of old?" Answer: "To con ti act " "(Jive me an example?" Auivver : "The d.iys are lon>: in Summer and slunt in Winter."— Court Journal. Surely tho age of cheapness has reached it* climax. The streets in London wire recently flooded with a penny edition of Charles l)ickens' novels — " Niehol.fi Nickleby." Altogether the book consist* of 21l> closely-printed pages, demy-octavo in size, and by no means badly, got up. A profound sensation has been caused in "the social circlos "' of Ocolo, I'ln., in consequence of the sudden mani.igc of a wealthy wid.iw, who lecently celelu it r) her eightieth birthday, to an English cloij?\ roan who is in his twenty-fifth ye u. Seventeen yeais nifo the tljath p M.ilfy for minder in the first decree w u ahol ' ■ d by Minnesota, an,d, life imprisonment was

I substituted, l>ut the gallows has jiiit boon ie elected. Alicln>»an tried the same expeniiiiMit, and not long since a bill was passed by the Lower House of the Legislature ri' enacting the hanging policy, although it failed of adoption in the Senate. Maine did no hanging for si\ yeai«, and then went back to capital punishment. As cool a person as was e\er heard of wan a young nobleman who, aftei a ternble railway accident, missed Ins man-sciv.int. One of the guards came up to him and .-aid, "Myloid, we have found your seivant, Lut, unfoitunately, he is dead— cut in two in fact." "Aw! is lie ?" 1 oplied the young man, in a Dundieaiy di.iwl, but with the greatest anuety de|)icted on hi> countenance. "Then, will you bn good enough to see in which half he Ikib got the key of my portmanteau V ' A singular lawsuit has just been brought to a conclusion in Lippe-Detmold, after neaily thuty ye irs of litigation. It was an old custom of the pi incipality that, whenever » princes of the reigning house or of the collate? al branches wa-< about to marry, a sum of about the value of 57">,000 rt ' as raised an a marnage gift for the princess by a, tax on all persons liable to direot taxation. Hence this mamage gift n'coived the natno of the "princess tax." In 18.">7 the Countess yon Hasslingen, born Countess of Lippe-Weissenfels, commenced a suit against the Government and Ch<uub'jr» of the principality for the mainage gift to which «he contended she was entitled, according to immemorial usage. The Supreme Court of the puueipahty has recently decided against the Countess, who, however, may yet take her case befoie the Supreme Appeal Couit of the empire. Another tiuifCi is to be built in the arsenals of Spain. She will ha\e 4,300 tons displacement, and will be built of steel, having also a steel deck of fiom mx to ten centimetres thick. The full .speed is to be 1') miles an hour. The armament will con-si-t of fom gniKs, system Hontona, weighing twelve tons each, six guns (same ty-item) of four tons, each, six Noidenfeldts, fuur nntiailleuses, and other small guns. She will also be pumded with toipidoes and toipedo appaiatus, and will carry a c <-w of 300 men. A remaikabla case of longevity is lepi>ited fiom the village of Kheop^liLd, in L 'tcestorslme, Knglaml, where amauied couple- llichaid and Kluabeth Wortley— have celebrated their diamond wedding. Tho registry of the uiamage in the parish church is dated in July, 1813, or when the news of the Bittle of Watciloo was still ringing tluough the countiy. Twenty ye lib ago the golden wedding of this couple was celelnated, and they have now com Dieted the extraordinary term of seventy yeaiH of iii.il ried life. Dm ing eight centuries — say to the time of the Nounan conquest— one's direct ancestors amount to a far greater number than would at firM; be contemplated. Taking three generations to a century, one has father and mother (2), grandparents (4), great-grandparents (8). At the end of the second centuiy the nunibor of ancestors springs to (>4. Following the calculation you will find that at the end of eight centuries one is descended from no less than 1G,000,C00 ancestors. Intermarriage, of course, would reduce tins estimate, and there is no doubt it must have largely prevailed. Cotopaxi, a volcano m Ecuadoi, began a nenous eruption before daylight on July 23rd. Streams of lava, with ashes and stones, overwhelmed part of Chimbo, situated near Cotopaxi, and 100 houses were desttoyed. The number of killed la unknown. Repoits from Guayaquil utato that the eruption began at 1 a.m., sounding like incessant discharges of heavy aitillery, shaking tha eaith and tattling windows and doors. At times there was a continuous roar. Guayaquil is 130 miles from Gotopaxi. Fiom observations recently made on the traffic in the Broadway, New York, at a given point, it appears that the number of vehicles that pasned in eleven hours was 22.308, or at the i.itt» of 2000 per hour. Among these were 2,370 public com eyanccs, 10,022 cabs, 038 peddleis' waggons, 324c0al carts, 378 race tuicks, 3."54 private cairiages, 44G pi ounce waggons, and 300 street sullern' carts. Coming down to a lower «cale of particular*, the ash caits numbered lWand iiu«t carts 73, while tho^e devoted to gaib ige weie (>4 and to dead hogs 73. The end >f the list w.ib closed by two ainbulanceH uid three funerals. It is possible sometimes to dei ivo amuseuunt even from tho tyiannies of tlio Uus--tan press censoislup. There were iccently <>nt to the censoiship the proofs of a novel 'i!lwl " In Troubled Times "—those of the Rusvi-Tuikish war. The author, in describing the tents of one of the Grand Dukes, stated that among its ornaments was " the oororait of a certain actiess." The censor iltered the phrase to " a large map of the theatre of war." The novelist objected that Ins description "was historical," wheroupon •lie censoi'.ln)) roplied that " in Russunothing is historical except what appeals in the official journals." Compared with tho conesponding period last year the official statistics of expoitsof hog products from the United St.ites during the fii^t nine months ot the packing year show an increase of 20,000,000 pounds of bacon, 49,000,000 pounds of laid, 22,000,000 pounds of pork, and 7,000,00J | pound* of hams— in all 100.000.000 pounds, l'hw gam ainountb to over 20 per cent., and, judging by the movement of the past month, it is mote than probable that tho inn-oase for the entire year will bo at least 25 per cpnt. The prosecution instituted against the publisher of tho Tall Mall Gazette and others who were associated with him in j demonstrating tho impuuty of social hfo j in London, cannot be legarde as anythiug i i r- or less than a burle«que of justice, i" I i dissrnicc to the Government which permit*! it. This piosecution, or lather pcißccutinu, it manifestly mspucd by those influential blackguards w.mse bestial indulgences have been exposed, anU tke fact

I thai such people itiii miUieuee tint governmental action of a great and civilised nitimi is in itself sh uneful. It would Met. Mii fi oiii those lecent developments tint, in London, it is a crime to endeavour to mippiess bestial excesses, but th«t is not a ciime to commit them.— S. F. News Lettei. Tlie seizure of unwholosnmc fruit and lottcn fi-h in Now Ymk has been enormous the pa^t foitnight On one day theie w.ib a scum oof 12,000 ijouuds of unwholesome fnnt and 2,000 pounds of rotten fish. Two days l.itei the health olficcis can led away about 4,000 pounds of lotten or uniipe fi nit and CiOO pounds of decayed h-.li. And >.till later the inspc-ctois and the police sei/ed and destroyed about 20,000 p-ninds ofioften fruit, and about ],000 pounds of rotten fisli. The gie.it political quostion in Fiance just now is as to who will bo the next president. The Cliamhois which air to )>e chosen next mouth have the selection in their hands. M. Un'-vy's term expiies in .Tannaiv, and ho does not desire .i le election. The three most likely candid ites are M. Fieycmet, M. Flon.net, and M. Feiry. M. Fei'iy, although without cmh 1 , is still in disgiace ovei the Tonquin fiasco. M. Floquct hi 1807 wan a vung advocate in Pans, and at the time of the Russian C'/ai's visit insolently called out to that potentate, " Vive la Pologne, Monsieur."' As in the piesent state of international complication it is necessary for Fi nice to icniaiu on veiy good terms with Russia, M. Floqnet's election is almost an impossibility. This reduces the list of available^ to one, unles i M. Brisson be reg.uded as one. He is a weak man, and has meiely served as a stop gap head to the piosent Ministry in the absence of anything which at all icisornblcd a statesman. A young American lady lately Waited ftoin New Yoik fi>i a summer toiu in Mexico and Texas. She happens to be very wealthy, and she wished to take a plentiful supply of cash to those regions of highwaymen. So .she caused a tiavelhngdiess to bo made in New Yoik, liberally tiiinmed with laige-»i.:Rd buttons. The cheaper ones held gold pieces, neatly laid between the wooden molds, which were then coveied -with cloth in the usnal way. The inoic expensive buttons weie sinulaily packed with United States notes. Whenever this lady requires money sliO i will cut off these ornaments, always replacing them w ith buttons of the same outward pattei n. — Vanity Fair. The Rajah of Ti.u mcoic us dead. This is the gentleman who was lecontly weighed igiinst a mass of pine gold, in older that the gold might be distubuted in charity — that is to say, amongst the Court officials. It is, of course, ti.itui.il enough that these gentry «hould wish to have a new Rajah as often as possible, foi the weighing piocess is undergone by eveiy occupant of the throne. The next Rajah of Travancoie .should take caie not to bo weighed until he has ainvedat a peuod of existence when life is beginning to lose its charms. It is arliimed that a pea-serpent has been actually captuied, and is a tmsoner in Dublin. Accoi ding to the Irish papers, he was caught off the Island of St. Kittn, in the West Indies, by Captain S. Ascall, who had a perforated box made for him and towed him, thus cnged ali\e, across the Atlantic. The specimen is small, being only 24 feet in length and 6 feet in giith ; but ho eats a hundredweight of h'sh. daily, and he was able to keep up the feaisome reputation of Ins tribe by killing sexeial of the men who weie concerned in its capture. The present attitude of Russia towaids France and Germany is pietty plainly infer, able from the presence of the military attache of the Russian Embassy in Pans at the reefcnt unvailmir of the monument to General Chanzy. This Goneral, in the war of 1870, made a faiily good stand, with the Ai my of the Loire, against Prince Frederick Charles, and it was to be expected, tbeiefore, that violent anti-German speeches would maik the ceremonies alluded to. All the other embassies and legations knew w hat was coming, and in obedience to a recognized rule of comtesy in diplomatic cncles i chained fiom sending their military attaches. Col. Fiedereeks, the Ruf-sian military ittacla', w , is there, how- | ever, in full uniform, too, and was loudly cheered. He was also hailed with cries of " Long Live Russia !" " Uown With Germany !" etc. The incident is strongly indicative of a firm alliance between Fiance and Russia ; outside of that it looks like a pieic of vciy foolish bravado, of which Prince Bi&maick i& not likely to be at all foigetful. A " character " lias just died in Dublin at tho ago of '.13. Tho deceased, Mr Hugh Blayncy, caniedon business as a wine and spirit meichant. He was in tho habit of boasting that ho had worn the same coat for HO ycai.s. and ho fioquently expiessed I the opinion that cobwebs weie a better mdi- | cition of good trade than elaborate decoia | tions. He. had only been onro in tho Phu'iir: Paik in his life, and had nevei travelled in a railway tiain. He did not believe oven in the modern system of organisation, for on one occasion, when asked to subscribe to the Licensed Grocers' and Vintiii'is' Association, he restricted his contiibution to the sum of two shillings, which, it was said, the collector immediately handed to a passing mendicant. He at one tune offeied to give a laigc sum of money to build a wing to the Mater Misoncordi.e Hospital on condition that it should be called the Blayney wing ; but Cardinal Cullen declined the ofiei under the stipulat on, and Mr lilayney kopt his mnnov. The e<q>e"se of the Frnperor of Austria of the llupeiial meeting must have been something awful. It must, in fact, have b^en the most costly thirty hours in the whole com I history of Vienna. Tho immense Kihloss was cleaned, redecorated as far as possible, and i etui niched, while the grounds weie pu* in older; the vast com t yards woie foiuiod into a garden. There weie sent from Vienna .loo beds with bedding, dO court carnages, 150 horses, 100 pieces of garpet, paira of cu,rta«M,

<W0 complete breakfast seiwco--, f,iM)Ners of silver folks and spoons, 400 coffee pots, 300 tea pots, 10,000 wine-glasses, 10,000 plate-, l,r>oo buttles of the finest Rhino wines, 2,.")00 bottles of claiet, 3,000 bottles of champagne, 300 bottles of liquors. 200 clocks, 200 lbs. of coffee, 50 lbs of ten, 3 cwt. of sugai and 800 lbs. of wax candles, as, well as scores of waggon-loads of furniture, plctuies, plate an-J china. The suites and retinues numbered nearly 800] >en>ons. A fiie brigade was also dispatched fioin Vienna, as well as three military bands, and the company of the Vienna Imperial Theatie. The f.ict th.it Loid Haitington has indorsed the idea which underlies the proposal tn divide up the United Kingdom of Uio.it Britain and Ireland upon natural political ,vnd geographical lines aud give to e.teh section a legislative body to look after it-> local wants, leaving Parliament to deal with mipciial affairs, is significant. It practically pledges the Whigs, of which he is leader, to this puuciplc; the Radicals are alie.idy committed to it, and very many or rho Conservatives would support it. The new electoral law adopted by the Beltri m Cliambet «>n August I:2th w consideied a heavy blow to the futnie prospects of the LibeiaK. That it was finally pas-.ee! by a vote of 74 to 41, almost all the Independents voting with the Clerical-, shows how far dimensions havij demoralised the antt-Cleiic.il phalanx in the Legislatuie. To nnlvc its lecovery fiom this condition a task of almost insurmountable ditticiilty, is the very object of the law. It ih an ingenious piece of p.utisatiship, calculated, both by extensions and limitations of tho sutfiage, to dimmish the vote of uiban classes and localities favoiirihlu to the Libeial cau«o, and to ineiei-e th.it of the I iui.il populations, almost completely c mtioiled by the Catholic cleigy. The Liberals of Bnihsels, who sufftMi'd so nne\])ected &. defeat in June, ls-U. liur counted on a J revanche in the next elections, will find it now very difficult to raver.so the last electoial \eidict. Thcie is a spirit of unrest abroad in Em ope at present that bodes ill for peace. One mtei national difficulty is »eiucelv settled before another takes its place, and the laiger Powers aie watching each other's movements with ill-concealed suspicion and jealousy. There is, although it has not exactly taken an official form, an inclination to a dangerous fiiction between tho Germans and the French, and the indications th'it this feeling may Ivcome veiy much moro pronounced before long aie quite pi omitting. It is announced that the new Governor of Al«ace, Lorraine, will inaugurate his administration by piomulgatint,' a decier which will practically expel all French citi/ens now residing in that province. Count Zamoisky, a naturalised Fieneh citi/en, has been expelled from Posen, and l'Vonch repuials may natm lUy bu expected. Then the tension between Spain and Germany, over the Caroline Islands, although unimportant in itself, may yet lead to complication* of a serious nature. In this connection the pronounced sympathy of the French people for Spain is significant. The .signs of the times in tho southeastern States of Europe, too, are ominous, and troubles are commencing which nre cuiiously like those which preceded the Turko- Russian vv.ir. Servin, ii.w indulged in the commencement of a rebellion, Kulgai la is in a condition of almost chaotic disoidei, and political manimn its aie dit>tuibmg Roiunania. Then thero is the old, old btoiy ot biigandage in Epirus, and of tho apathy of Tuik'sh officials and troops on the frontier. These little kingdoms and piincipalities, although insijninVant of themselves, are geographically so located that out of their contemptibly petty affairs may easily spring the spark which will set all Euiopo m :i blaze of war. Most of them contain about as worthless a population as could well be conceiv ed of, all of them are in a state of chronic bankruptcy, and their statesmen aro for the most part political adventurers, who find larger oppoitunities for personal enrichment during pei tods of umest. The difficulties between Russia and England, too, although they appear nominally, to have been bridged over, aie btill alive, and may at any moment again become active issues. Not a single point in them lias been leally settled. Tho pretext which somo months ago was about to be Used as a cause of war, has, by mutual consent, been put to ono sido for tho present. That is all. Indeed, it it an oi>en question whether those who are guiding Russian affan* have not simply changed their base of action from the Afghan frontier to the Tuikish frontier, and whether the disoideis of Beivia, Bulgaria and Roumania have not been fomented by Russian agents, and with sv purpose. One thing is certain, and that is if the British fleet is again compelled to anchor in front of Con.stantiI noplo m oidor to keep a Russian army out, j the Russians will bo in a much better position to letahate on the Indian frontier than they were in 1878. The Kolonial Politische Correspondenz, in an article upon the German stations in Eastern Africa, states that the German East African Company has succeeded in bringing under the Geimau flag 4000 squaie miles of feitile and salubrious territory in a eential situation. The expeiiment of establishing a. factory and a first agricultural station at Usagara has already been made, and the company now proposes to establish hvo military stations, two intended for tho domination of main caravan routes from the coast to tho lakes, two others on the Pan^uii and Ruhji nvcrs, and tho fifth m Centie U.sagara. It is proposed to arm thorn with ivrupp guns and garrisons of black troops commanded by German officers. One Burpiising development of tho British political campaign, f-ofar as it has gone, is the fact that Hodgo is not such a fool as he was taken to bo. Electioneeiing agents lcpoit that they hud a wonderful amount of bhievvdness and information among the new voters. They, as a rule, fully appro ciute their new responsibilities, aud have

clo<u uewN legardmg the political principles at issue between the two great parties, particularly those relating to the land q>iesturn, and entertain no bitter , feelings against owners as such. It is even said that when there is strong opposition among laborers to .1 continuance of the Established Chinch, the opposition is one of principle and finds no personal vent against the cleigy as state pensioners. More than thin, the new voters are reported to be fairly well educated on the question of the relation between capital and l.ibnnr ; able to approcute the need of capital, while less willing th.mexeito be influenced by money ia ttiou political opinions or action!". The manifesto issued by Mr Gladstone List week was ono »f the most shrewdly conducted political documents aver put before the B.itish people. The occasion was one which called for a display of the most acute judgment and the most accurate utilisation of the resources of the language I in (,'mng expression to the conclusions which rlio e\eicise of that acute judgment pointed out. The two element* of whiih | the Liberal Party were composed were pulling m diffeient directions, and the I pie it difficulty was to put beforr the country, in Kenei.il terms, such .1 declaration of I policy in legard to the issues of the day an would unite the ducoidant factions and at the same timo be satisfactory to the people. It would appe.ir that Gladstone hm succeeded in this, and the achievement is one of his many great triumph". His manifesto appears to h»vo been advanced enough to satisfy the Radicals for the time being, and at the same tune Miit the more cautious and conservative spiut of the Wrigs. Both of thi'-c factions may, therefore, be expected to woik tojjpther until the new Parliament is elected. Tins manifesto must, in view of tlio poculi.u conditions under which it wan | issued, be read a good deal between the i linos. Naturally there ii a good deal more implied by it than is actually expressed. Read in this spirit its remarks concerning primogeniture, entail, the House of Lords, and the Established Church are significant. All he a«ka for the Peers is " a reasonable nh.ira of power for principles of birth." Tins may easily be whittled down to the simple iijjit to exercise the franchist, at general elections, by the gentlemen who now represent the sepulchres of their forefathers in the British Parliament. This Caroline Islands, over the possession of which tlieio has been such a heated dispute between Spain and Germany, are of | no gieat .strategic importance, since they he on the road to nowhere in particular ; but, from the point of view of the archieologist, they are interesting in the evtreine. Certain Dutch navigators, who visited them nearly a generation ago, returned to Europe with wonderful stories concerning the gigantic nuns that had been discovered on some of the smaller islets at the eastern end of the archipelago ; but it was not until 1883 that anything approaching to a systematic sur\ ey of the group was undertaken. In that year Her Britannic Majesty's ship Espieglo touched at many of the islands ; and those officers who went | ashore found that the magnificence of the remains had not been exaggerated. The most imposing ruins are at Metalanim Harbour, in Ponape, and at Clubrol Harbour, in Kusaie, and an idea of then grandeur may be formed from the fact that some of the .stones of the buildings measure as much as 3.") feet long by 20 feet broad and 1.3 feet thick. They are ornamented with rude sculptures, which bear a family resemblance to the well-known sculptures of Easter Island, in the Southern Pacific ; yet Easter Island and the Carolines are fully 0,000 miles apart, and, so f.vr as is discoverable, thore has nevi»r been any communication betwern them. Tho object and origin of the monuments are alike unknown. It may bo added that the Caioline group, which was discovered by Spam in 1526, has hitherto, even by Gorman geographers, been regaided as a Spanish possession, although for years there ha.\e been no Spanish residents on any of tho island*.