ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2108, 12 January 1886, Page 3

ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

Tui R.M.S., Maripota arrived at Auckland from San Francisco on Saturday, bringing the European and American mails. From our files we make the following extract* :—: — It is announced that Madame Patti, who in now staying in Pari«, will be inurried in Juno next to M. Nicolas, who is better known by hi 1 * stage name of SignorXicolnu. The ceremony will be imm formed at Craig-y-No?, the biido's Welsh residence. In June ten mouths will have elapsed fn.m the date of the decree of divorce between Madame Patti and the Marquis de Caux, the interval prescribed by the French law. Beneath it Turkish iin«iue in Constantinople a subterranean church has been diicovered. It 1 ? dimensions and arrangements have not yet been ascertained, but there appear to be several small \ united passages corresponding to the descriptions of oratotia in the catacombs at Rome. The remain? are still visible of religious paintings which once profusely adorned the walls. Among them are the Ecce Homo, tho Virgin and John the Baptist. A young opera binger. named Venay, lately died of grief at Cette from being hissed when attempting to play her part while suffering from fatigue and indisposition. Audiences are sometimes cruel toward artists. A few years ago Marguerite Prioln, » former prima donna at tho Paris Opera Comique, met with a similar fate. She was singing at Marseilles, when one night her voice failed her and she broke down in her pait. She .vas hissed from the stage, and she took thi-* insult so much to heart that she was seized with brain fever and died. Tho doath of King Alfonso, tho young Spanish monarch, will probably be productive of domestic troubles in that countiv for some time to come. The Spanish people have of late years, m their own lethargic way, exhibited a iestle-s spirit and an inclination toward Republicanism. The masses ot them, however, are not sufficiently educated to be capable of selfgovernment, and the difficulty will b<3 to find a ruler who will satisfy them. It will bo little short of miraculous if the Regency of Alfonso's widow lasts for any length of time. ShB is an alien, cold and distant in her manner*, and not particularly popular among the Spanish people. An Irish landlord says , '" I inherited my estate heavily encumbered. For the first few years there was a small balance left for me after paying mortgage interest and other charges ; but of late, owing to reduction in rents, my agent has found the greatest difficulty in making both ends meet, while I, of course, received nothing. The tenants appear to do their best to pay, and, were it in ray power, I would gladly reduce their rent fifty per cent., for times are very hard with them. As it is, I am very helpless. I have repeatedly tried, but in vain, to dispose of the property by sale ; indeed, in the present state of affair-*, nobody would accept it as a gift. The mortgagees are, of course, its virtual owners, but they would lose rather than gain by taking it into their own hand.s." An authenticated story comes from the Scotch Highlands to the effect that a donkey died recently, the property of Mr Ross of Cromarty, in whose family it had been for 10G years. It can be traced back to the year 1779, when it passed into the hand* of the then Rosa of Cromarty; though what was its age at that time no one can say. Furthermore, its death was the result of an accident, for it was ' halo and hearty" when a kick from a horse ended its career.— Court Circular. Dundee whaling captains, just returned, report that this season a tribe of Esquimaux were met at the Prince Regent Islet, many of whom were dressed in English clothes and plentifully supplied with tobacco. It turned out that they had obtained the supplies from the depot formed at Beechey Inland, by ships of the Franklin search expedition. The Yacks were very proud of their European dress, and especially of the boots. It is announced as " a great fact " that at the last Court battue the German Emperor slaughtered twenty-one head of game " with hi* own breech-loader," which, the obsequious chronicler adds, was no bad achievement for a man of eighty-eight. It is not much of an achievement to butcher deer and other game at the Imperial battues, as the Empeior sits in an easy chair, and the creatures are driven by him within a few yards, and on their approach being notified by the blowing of a horn, a chasseur hands his Majesty the weapou, and he has only to fire it into the side of tho quarry. It reminds one of Sam Weller's story to Mr Winklo of the individual who intended to practice shooting by aiming at a stuffed partridge, but, commencing at a distance of two yards, the object was blown to atoms at the first attempt, " and nobody ever seed a feather on him afterward." The new rifle for the British army is to be far superior to any weapon in use amongst other nations. Tho MartiniEnfield, as it is called, has the same breechaction as the present rifle ; but the barrel is different, and the bullet much lighter. Although the same charge of powder is used, the recoil is considerably lessened. It is also proposed to have a magazine to fix on when required, by means of which several shots could be fired without reloading, as in a repeating rifle. Of the many eccentric characters that the recent elections have brought to the fore, one of the strangest is a Marchand dv yin named Hude, who in his politics is of course as " red " at the liquid he makes it his business to sell. This person's chief claim, as one of the Radical candidates of Paris, is simply that he intends demanding from the Chambers of Deputies the right for wine-sellors to put water in their wines, j without incurring tho present penalties of fine and imprisonment.— Court Journal. It has not been noticed, notwithstanding all that lifts been written on the subject, that Mr Donald Crawford, the petitioner in the Dilke divorce case, wag a Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, England. And not only was he so, but lie actually succeeded to the identical Fellowship which had been held by the late Master— whose widow is now Lady Dilke— and by him vacated when ho was elected to the Rectorship four-and-twenty years ago.— Vanity Fair. In the churchyard of Hughenden there is a dilapidated grave. The iron railing around it is rusty, and owing to the kerb having sunk, is broken and crooked. Beneath this dirty, neglected, and ruinous ■pot repose the remama of Lord Beaconsfield. The dead roan occupied such a position- in the world, and his name now holds ■uch a prominent place in history, that his final resting place should be better looked after. The hanging of Louis Riel, the Canadian insurgent, has excited a good deal of very slobbery sentimeutalism of the most disgusting type. An attempt has been nude by the French-Canadian people to metamorphose this criminal into a patriot and a martyr, and, naturally, the attenipt has ended in a ridiculous failure. A silk purse cannot be made out of a sow's lug. The law of physics is immutable on that point. Riel was hung for treason ; properly speak« ing, he should have been hung for having committed several murders— murders of the moit brutal nature. It would be as idle to try and pose " Captain Jack," the Modoc renegade, an a patriot and martyr, as it is to posture Louis Riel in that capacity. As a consequence, the only effect of the sympathy manifested for the dead criminal by the French.Canadian* has been to throw the electric light of public inquiry upon the sympathisers, and that is an ordeal for which they are not very well prepared to undergo. The fact of the matter is, the French-Canadians are about as ignorant, depraved, and worthless a class of people as exist on the face of the globe today, and their sympathy with a worthless criminal is simply an illustration of that fellow-feeling whlqh wakes us '•wondrous kind. They oonstitute an instance of arrested development. They belong to the pant rather than the present century. Any progress they have made baa been forced upon them by their enterprising Anglo-Saxon neighbours, and, with the exception of what progress has been thus forced upon them by an association with a more intelligent nationality, they are pretty muqh in the same primitive con : dition their forefathers were when they landed in Canada between one and, two centuries ago. An excellent illustration of the extent to which they are sunk in the igno. rant superstition! of the past ages is foqnd in their recent riotous objection to vaccination during the smallpox epidemic, while they were, at the same time, rushing in mobs to their churches to pray for divine protection against this terrible scourge. Religious faith is doubtless a very good thing in its way, but, outside of all sectarianism, there are different brands of religious sentiment. This particular brand exhibited by the French-Canadians bear* a close respmbjanpe tq the feeling which animates the lavage when he beats his tomtom in order to. d,r»w rain from ti)Q cloudy *bovo, or that

which animates tha Chinaman when he burns* punk in order to icure away the evil spiritK.

AMKHIOA » TMADE WITH THE ANTIPODES. Tin* San Francisco News Letter of the 2Sth November, .snys : — Now that the steam line to the Australian Colonies is as^iiied, it is tune to reconsider our relations with those enterprising und prosperous cilonic", to the end that reciprocal trade advantages may be cultivated and enlarged. They and their trade are matters worthy of cniMtlei.ition. They aie, next to India, England's best customers, whilht they are our comparatively near neighbors. As 'they produce largely of the precious metals and of raw products, their purchasing power is unsurpassed. As they manufacture but little their requirements are considerable. It is needless t-> say that with a people who buy largely, and are able to pay for wh »t they buy, » close commercial relation is desirable. We think that dining the past fifteen ye.us of strain connection with that country, our trade relations with it ought to have amounted to a very great deal more than they do. It lias not been their fault, but ours, that the volume of trade has not been greater. They have done their part. They established and paid for the strain communication that has existed during that period. They conveyed our letteis to the Hawaii in Inlands, New Zealand and Australia, greatly to our profit and advantage, but we contributed ii..t a dime toward the co.st. They take from us full cargoes every time, but we receive nothing from them in return. They come to us to see what we ha\e to sell, but we do not go to them to ascertain what we can buy. Thi.s is not because they have nothing we want. Boston sends a large sum eveiy year to England for tine wools that are not produced in this countiy, but come from Cape, New Zealand, the Argentine Republic, and Australia. Why should we not deal directily with the Australians, and t-ave the freight, insurance, etc., which a roundabout route involves? The more we buy the more we should sell. That is the way foreign commerce is built up. The Australians cannot understand our sujiineness in these matters, and thcie nothing is more common than the saying that "there are no merchants in San Francisco." This may be unduly har.-h, but is there not a little too much truth in it to be pleasant? It is complained that business cannot be conducted with our merchants upon the business principles that prevail in the principal exchange* and commercial entrepots of the world. An Australian merchant scuds to Liverpool for a lino of goods ; if he is not known to the trader with whom he wishes to deal, a bank reference is given, and, if that proves batisfactory, the goods are duly shipped, and accompanying the invoice is a draft drawn at sixty or ninety days after sight. In thin way hundreds of millions worth of business is done with satisfaction alike to the buyer and the seller. In San Francisco the rule is that the coin must be paid every " collection day," which is twice a month. Collection, or " steamer day" is a relic of ether and very different times that ought long since to have been abandoned. Foreign commerce cannot be built up uuou any such method. Until we fall into line and consent to do business as the business world does it, it is idle to talk of winning trade from people accustomed to coin* mercial ways. In consequence of our prejudicial adherence to unprecedented methods, we have won but little of the China trade, and still less of that of Australia. In the latter country there are 3,233,041 Europeans, who are the best buyers in the world. They import and export to the amount of $000,000,000, which is the largest foreign business, per capita, ''•hat any people can sho«v. Next to the Pacific Coast States and Territories they are the largest gold producers in the world. They have 7,485 miles of railroad, owned by the Governments, in most profitable and successful operation, and 1,885 miles are in course of construction. Their agricultural products for the last year foot up 37,357,837 bushels ofwhe.it, 18,125,624 of oats, 2,925,075 of barley, 390,008 tons of potatoes and 1,132,185 of hay. The live stock foots up 1,272,020 horses. 8,178,745 cattle, 74,345,954 sheep, and 939,081 hogs. That all means money, and the possession of money means the capacity to buy. These capable purchasers reside just across the Pacific pond ; our continent separates them from European markets ; they come to us with steam lines, which do much of our work that we refuse to pay for ; they buy considerably in this market, but we do not so much as ask if they havo anything to sell, and, in short, fail to push trade in any way. Aud yet we talk about new markets, foreign commerce, encouraging American ships, and floating the American flag in every harbour. It is time we began a new* and better way of doing it.

AN AMERICAN VIEW OK THK ENGLISH POLITICAL SITUVTION. The British elections arc now concluded. The result is that the Liberals have a majority of saventy-two over the Conservatives and Parneilites. The political situation is, therefore, a complicated one, and the present Parliament will, without doubt, be short-lived. Unless some unexpected developments ocour, and have the effect of produoing unnatural combinations, it seems impossible for the present Parliament to conduct the public business of the country and carry out progressive legislation. A Tory-Parnellite coalition seems on its face to be the natural outcome of the situation, but when the matter is examined a little clober, it is manifest that such a combination is almost an impossibility. Such a condition could only be sQcured at a price which would cauae a revolt among the Irish Conservatives, who far outnumber the beggarly majority which the fusion of these oil and water elements would produce. At this juncture, the nature of the demands and wishes of the Parnellite element become a matter of interest ] but u hen tho dispassionate and disinterested spectator turns to examine them, and submit them to a critical analysis in order to form an opinion as to their justness and propriety, lie finds himself in a strange position. He finds himself trying to examine and analyse nothing, or almost nothing. From the noise which this Irish olement has made, one would think that it had some clear, definite, and decided policy which it desired to see carried out. But this policy, when it is sought for, fails to materialise : it turns out to be fanfaronade, declamation, bluster, and idle accusation regarding questions which belong to the regions of past history rather than present exigencies. The only thing at all tangible which the observer can get hold of in order to examine, is a sort of indefinite outcry fop what is termed. " Hqjne. Rule," But when we try even to grasp Mr Parnell's theories in regard to " Home Rule," we again find that we are dealing with shadowy phanj tonis. '• Home Rule," as a political shibboleth, has a very seductive sound, but like almost all other party cries, it may mean anything, and it may mean nothing. What meaning does Mr Parnell himself attach to it ? Does he propose that Ireland, shall have a separate legjqlatjive qody to regulate jta own internal affairs, and shall retain its present representation in the Imperial Parliament, its members exerds. ing the right to legislate for England and Scotland, while denying the right of English and Scotch members to legislate for Ireland ? If this is his programme, it is upon its face manifestly unjust. Does he, on the other hand, propose that m re> turn from tho prjvelege of being left to regulate and legislate for hor own domestic affairs, li eland shall relinquish all olaini to a voice in tho affairs of the Empiro of which she is now a part, and which her conspicuous sons have largely aided in building up ? If this be his programme, then it is absurd and scandalously unpatriotic, But it is not strange, considering the nojsy aggressiveness of this man and his followers, that the principles for which lie and they are suppowd to be oontending should be soahtdowy thaUn honest, bonafide hunt for them is fruitless! Is this not suggestive of fraud and demagogism ? The Parnellites in Inland polled a tot#l vote 221,881, while thoso wh.p. ftW opposed to them polled m,l(tt. These figures show tqat Parnell does not, by a, very, very I(»ng chalk, represent tho sentiments of the united Irish people. On the contrary, ha only represents a section— and, in point of industry, intelligence. j,obj>iety, honesty, wlf : pe}lanpe, and all that goes to make up worthy manhood, not by any means the best seotion of tho population. And it is to be borne in mind, too, that a full third, if not more, of his vote is not a calm, dispassionate expression of intelligent individual judgment upou the issues, but is, qn, \\iq contrary, the result of coercion afld fear, In the. soutl} and. w-oat of Ireland, to-day no ordinary man daro vote againut the Parnelfite candidate. The figure** quoted show that much morn than a third of the voting population of Ireland is opposed to Pnrnell, «,qd a more honest and expression q( fwtuimMtyiaftfe

enced by fear— would show that more thnn a half of the voting population its oppot»ed to the assassins' friend. K\ pry self-respecting liiilnnan will read these figures with pleasure. Fiigid Iceland is growing warm in her efforts to .st>cuie a l.irgor bhare of selfgovernment. The Constitution of 1874, which was w rested from Denmark by the growing repuguancc of the islanders to royal rnle, gives the country n legislative Assembly, called the Althing ; but as tho Danish King nominates tho eight members of the upper branch, and exercises an absolute veto power regarding all measures pay-ed, the people have never been satisfied with it. To increase their discontent, the chief of the Icelandic Department of the Danish Government h;w been an Icelander who appeared to side against his countrymen, and who always took a onesided and illiberal view of the new Constitution. Tho leading nevv.>.papers of Reykjav lk, the capit.il, have fur years been agitating the question of a reviMon ; and at the labt sitting of the Altking a bill proposing such a levision was passed by a threefourth* vote in the lower brunch, and, more BUi pricing still, with but one dissenting voice in the upper. The principle at bottom is that Iceland shall be governed through a Ministry who shall be responsible to the Althing.