GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXV, Issue 31, 10 December 1897, Page 20

GENERAL NEWS.

Winkfield's Pride, the well-known Irish horse, has easily won the Prix dv Couseil Municipal at Longchamps. Curiously enough in the accounts published of the race it is described as " a British victory," and we are informed that cries of " Vive, l'Angleterre " were heard everywhere on the course. Fontenoy might as well have bsen claimed as a British victory because the Irish won it. The Prix was won by an Irish horse, which beat both English and French rivals, and the •' British victory " on the occasion (says the Freeman) only exists in British conceit, which is so ready to appropriate everything Irish that any glory can be extracted from. The unenviable title of " Champion Whiskey Drinker of the World "is claimed by a Kentucky doctor of the name of Charles M ooney ; and if his record is correctly given he is in no danger of losing his cherished distinction . This bibulous doctor claims to have disposed of twenty glasses of whiskey every day during the last fifty years, or an aggregate of 305,000 glasses. Assuming that each glass contained one gill he must have drunk 11,406 gallons, or 181 hogsheads of spirits. If these thousands of glasses had been placed at a distance of 100 yards from each other they would have made a girdle of spirits round the earth at the Equator ; and the probability is that with such recurring temptation for exercise the doctor would have established a new record for a journey on foot round the world. Is it necessary to add that the champion's health is failing? The duel of the Prime minister Badeni caused a very painfnl impression among the Catholics of Austria. The Nuncio at Vienna, Mgr. Taliani, was not slow in representing to the Premier that the Holy Father was deeply pained to learn that an Austrian Minister should so wilfully disregard the laws of the Church. This remonstrance had a good, effect. Count Badeni instructed the Nuncio to beg the Holy Father to remove the sentence of excommunication which had been ipso facto incurred, and on Sunday he received the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Eucharist. Although the duel was highly reprehensible, it must be admitted that this atonement goes far to wipe away the deplorable impression which it had caused. The biggest deal in tea the world has yet seen has just been accomplished by T. J. Lipton. On Monday, 20th Sept., he handed over to the Custom House a cheque for £50,513 11s sd, being the duty he had to pay on one week's clearance of tea. This means that in one week Lipton takes out of bond 1,300 tons of tea. This is appalling, and makes one inclined to ask, " Where is Mr. Lipton going to stop ? What is Lipton going to do next ? As to the £50,513 11s .Id cheque Mr. Lipton has just paid to the Customs, it in the largest duty cheque ever paid before, and being for a week's clearance of tea from bond represents close on two-thirds of the entire tea trade of great Britain, which amounts to an average weekly consumption of 2,000 tons. In thus paying the world's record duty cheque Mr. Lipton has succeeded in beating himself ; he previously held the record. A late decree of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences grants an indulgence of a hundred days to all who recite the following prayer : '"Most merciful God grant through the intercession of the Blessed and Immaculate \irgin, that by the tears of our penitence we may expiate the guilt of this expiring century and so prepare for the opening of the coming century, that it may be entirely consecrated to the glory of Thy name, and the reign of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, whom may all nations obey in one Faith and perfect charity. Amen." Reports have been received at Lyons from the Catholic missions in China stating that the Chinese in the Yao-Peng district in the province of Kwang-tung are persecuting Christians, burning- houses, destroying crops, and inflicting tortures on the catechumens. The missionaries have requested the French Consul to intervene. The Irish Bishops assembled at Maynooth for their October meeting unanimously adopted the following resolutions on the distrebs in Ireland and with reference to the annual payments under the Glebe Loan Acts. " We. the Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland, deem it our duty to submit to the Government of the country the statement of our conviction, founded on the personal knowledge of several members of our body, that the failure of the potato and cereal crops in many districts ot the country, particularly on the Western and Southern coasts, must lead during the coining winter and spring to very acute distress amongst large numbers of the population, and, unless wellconceived measures of relief are taken in good time, may result in disastrous consequences. '• The Bishops warmly sympathise with the efforts of borrowers under the Glebe Loan Acts to get a reduction of the annual instalments payable to the Board of Works, and recommend that, with a view to procure concerted action in the matter, a priest should be named in each diocese to organize the borrowers and urge the question on the attention of the Government." A very regrettable, not to say disgraceful, incident recently occurred (says the Catholic Times) in New York, lister Maria Rosa, of the Convent of the Sisters of Charity, Newark, New Jersey, was arrested and taken to the Police Court charged with begging. The prosecution was instituted by agent Fra^k Barclay, of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. It seems that the convent shelters a id cares for homelebs girls, and the food supply running short, the Rev. Mother had to send out some of the Sisters to solicit alms. The Financial Relations Committee are making arrangements for a series of rjublic meetings before the opening of Parliament on the subject of the financial grievances of Ireland, so that the Irish representatives may have a strong body of opinion behind them when they approach the question next session. The organization, under the auspices of the Committee, seems to be going on slowly, but ther'i is no lack of public interest in the subject, and the popular voice will no doubt make itself strongly felt when the appropriate moment comes.