MAIL NEWS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2358, 20 August 1887, Page 3

MAIL NEWS.

TIIK following extracts have boon tak. « from the 'Frisco N'ens RM. r, which arrived hy tin - mail Mariposa mi Thursday : - It u said that Cardinal N"»m in C’>n<«'-u plates publishing a volume "f aulubiogra phieal reminiscences in the autumn. The value of tl.e gold raised from the Russian soil in I J'SIp was eompnb d M 20,73‘i,0tXl roubles, as compared with ;tO.«i!>,000 roubles in 1 «!?■'); T.'.flM.OOh roubles in IMI; 21, Mi,ooo roubles in IhM ; ami lb,010,(XX) roubles in ISS2. .Mr (1. A. Sala has transferred Ins “L oes of the Week " to the Kiitcrtaina meet I la/.ette, tied this, no doubt, wnl be • Kreat feature in that newspaper, which is “A Weekly .Inurnal of London jMitcrlaiu nirnt.s, Music, Art, Fashion, Literature--1 >■ .Kilt). Sport.” An experiment, tare, if not unprecedented, was tried on Jubilee Day at lass, a village on the London and South Western Railway, in (lauipsliiie. Kuglami. _ It consisted in boiling a bullock wbole, in addition to one roasted the evening before. The situation in Bulgaria presents many

alarming features, ami it seems as though the h'-nr of reckoning is at hand in Hut 'piarter. The fine hand of Russian diplomacy can he traced in [he hostile demonstrations against. Prince Ferdinand, mid slightly in favour of Prince Alexander, The hitter's name is being used as a bait. Two Bavarian mountaineers celebrated the Kmprrnr of Germany's birthday in a unique manner ; they dragged the materials for a bonfire on to the summit nf tile Ilavarian Alps, an altitude of 7,000 feet. They had intended climbing to the top of the Gatzmann, but deep snow prevented, and the bonfire of wood and petroleum was lit on the Fabzkopli. (Joe of the men, who is 70 years old, relates that the ascent of the mountain often brought the climbers np to their shoulders in snow, but they were determined to perform the feat, and did it.

Twelve year old Orepnn lad has been .sent to the Reform School for endeavoring to murder his brother, who had been giving him good advice. The extent of the provocation was not taken into consideration by those web-footed Solons, because*, if the devil has any choice in tormentors, it is in his selection of good advisers. Thiscily is full of them- -fellows who, with the whisky dew yet damp upon their lips will warn one against the clangors of intemperance, and who will pause on their way to an assignation to implore a friend to keep aloof from the fascinations of lewd women.

J)r. Tanner, the notorious if not distinguished member of the Parnellite party, has made another exhibition of his blackguardism. The doctor happens to bo a fool, audit is h\s folly to imagine that by making disgusting exhibitions of rudeness in the august assemblage of which ho is a member, ho is covering himself with glory. This time lie lias gone so very far that oven his colleagues will not support him. it can, therefore, ho readily supposed that he must have far overstepped the bounds of ordinary decency.

Speaking of the jubilees of the English Monarchy ; ot seventy-five Kmgs, (Queens, and Prot-ctors exercising sovereign authority in England from i arly in the ninth century to far into the nineteenth, the reigns of only three were prolonged to the jubilee period of fifty years. The three reigns of fifty years or more wore those, of Henry 111, VM\ '1?1; Edward 111. 1327 R*77 : and Gorge 111, 17<KMSH0. If Queen Victoria's reign is continued till next month rthe will be the fourth English sovereign exercising full royal authority for the full jubilee period. Contrary to expectations the anniversary of the taking of the Baslilt; parsed over in comparative quiet in Paris. That France is in an excited condition is undoubtedly true, but it is rpiite evident that the excitement is not near so hysterical as was supposed. The failure to get up a demonstration against (Ircvy shows that the conservative feeling i.> the most powerful.

The demonstrations in fiivimr of General Ballanger, which have occurred in France recently, show a great public danger. They point directly towards war with Germany, and they indicate the possibility of a military dictatorship. Geneial Boulanger has really done nothing to draw out this great public feeling. He has simply placed himself mi the top of a wave and allowed the wave to carry him along. As a soldier he has not particularly distinguished himself. Ax a statesman lie has simply got himself into the position of being tbo figure-head in the idea of a war of revenge with Germany. There his greatness or smallm-s ends. And yet France, in her present agitated condition, has turned this man into a popular idol. A correspondent writes to an afternoon contemporary ;—lt may interest yon to know, as an illustration of .Mr Gladstone’.-, accuracy when ho is in need id telling arguments, that there is no foundation for the statement he made in Wales, tie other day, that M. Ferry had written a book or pa in i hist upon the Irish question, strongly condemning the policy of the Government, and expressing sympathy with the Separatists. If he had done so, it would not, of course, affect the rights of the question ; hut, ns a matter of fact, hL own journal, the Rcpublique Fruncaise, protests strongly against Air Gladstone’s assertion, declaring that M. Ferry has never written a lino upon the subject. In British politics there is a comparative quiet, but it is that kind of calm which precedes a storm. The great and apparently unexpected victory of the Fmglish Liberals in the southern division of Lincolnshire, at a season, too, when the farm labourers arc peculiarly open to intimidation, seems to have infused fresh courage into the Gladslmieites and spread corresponding dismay among the Liberal-Unionists. The latter have apparently been flattering themselves, as the Tories did in W7H, that as long as they were approved by London society and tbc clubs they had nothing to tear anywhere else, lint the truth, we presume, is that tin; passage of a very truculent and perpetual coercion bill for Ireland as the one piece of legislation of the session is more than the provincial Liberals can stomach, whatever they may think of Gladstone’s Hellenic of Homo Rule. The present indications are that Gladstone is winning, unless the Irish blackguards come to the front and destroy his prospects. Between a woman’s virtue and a Ministry, the people of Ragland, as represented in Parliament, Have chosen, sharply and clearly. The Ministry may remain, but it remains with a loss of honor and prestige. It has been accused of assailing a fair and defenceless woman's reputation, and the assault has been substantiated. Mr. Mat thews and his colleagues have substantiated the fact that they allowed a good and virtuous young woman to he arrested and charged with a crime which impugned, if it did not destroy, her virtue. Subsequently it turns out that the charge was absolutely false. The oldlime Saxon spirit, which always placed a high value on woman’s virtue, has asserted itself, and now the Government is defeated. This defeat, however, is not vital; it docs not involve the fate of the Government. That still remains in tho position it was before, except that it is seriously damaged. It has lost prestige and character and contentment. It has become a suspected tiling; a thing which looks lightly upon a worn in’s chastity—if poor. The French Budget for tho present year (says a writer in tho St. James's Gazette) fixes tho total extraordinary expenditure for the reconstitution f the material of war at SbL’.Tb-'i.bOO. Of ibis amount a little over Sb’to,ooo,ooo has been expended upon the artillery, and ■''1150,000,000 upon the engineering department. The Budget be next year, introduced by tho Goblet Cabinet and upon which the Cabinet has just fallen, provided for s. further militarv grant of 115!) millions of francs, and for the marine to over SO millions of francs, making together ‘J7O.{ millions of francs, or not far short of 11 millions sterling. If there is a war, France will certainly find herself greatly inconvenienced by the magnitude of her floating debt; and of the debt for very short periods, tho six-year bonds, which the Tench Treasury has su much affected of late years, now amount to so largo a figure that they will certainly cause iiiconvenionc" in case of hostilities. The total amount issued was very nearly .T(i millions of F.nglisli pounds, of which there still remain current about 211 millions; but, in addition, for its railway guarantees last year and this year about Ifio millions of francs will have to be issued, raising the total issue of these six-year bonds to over L’S millions sterling. It is to fie borne in mind that these six-year bonds are distinct from the floating debt generally so called ; and it is evident that, whether there is a warm not, those bonds and the floating debt must very soon be funded. In other words, a large loan will have to be resorted to at ai: early date.