NEWS BY THE MAIL.

o GENERAL SUMMERY. (Dates from Europe up to July 22.) [Per Press Association.] AUCKLAND, August 15. Charles Dickens, sou of the novelist, died at Kensington on July 20 of paralysis. The Humber Bicycle Works at Coventry were burned on July 17, and 4000 unfinished bicycles in the factory were destroyed. The total loss was .£BO,OOO. A painting by Alma Tadema and one by Constable were purloined from a van en j route from the city to Paddington on July 15. The Scotland Yard authorities believe that they have been taken to New York, which they allege contains a " fence ' for such property. A whaler of 300 tons burden and a small steamer of about 70 tons are now being fitted out, and it is intended that they shall leave London on Sept. 1, on an Anfc&MJtAc expedition, comtLning the two- j

research. Mr Borchgrevink -will have charge of the expedition. Mr Gilbert Bowick is chairman of the committee. .£SOOO has been found sufficient for the expenses. Mr Henry Cockayne, editor of Mr Aster's Pall Mall Gazette, started on July 4; on a journey which he intends to make from one end of Africa to the other. He will begin at Capetown, and will reach Alexandra overland if possible. South Londoners, on July 11, were surprised to see the Duchess of Albany riding on a fire engine, clinging to the brasswork, while the horses were galloping at a great pace to a fire. She wished to see the practical working of the department. Linton, an English bicyclist, at Catford, on July 7, covered thirty-one miles five yards in an hour, thus beating the world's record all the way from three to thirty-one miles. The previous record for an hour was twenty-nine miles fortyfour yards. Her Majesty Queen Victoria has introduced telephones into Windsor Castle that communicate with Lord Salisbury at the Home' Office, Maiiborough House and Buckingham Palace. It is proposed to add electrophones also. In that case the Queen will be put in the hearing of all the latest entertainments in the London theatres and concert halls. The Fourth Hussars, the " Queen's Own," are being raked fore and aft by the London Press for snobbish exclusiveness. A subaltern named Hodge and a lieutenant named Bruce Price have been compelled to resign from the regiment by "mess-table persecution" because their incomes did not enable them to "keep hunters and racehorses." In Price's case the father of the young man intimated that his son was driven from the regiment in order to make a vacancy for Lieutenant Winstone L. S. Churchill, son of the late Lord Randolph Churchill. r An animated picture of this year's Derby, with the Prince of Wales's Persimmon as the winner, is the feature at the Alhambra Music Hall, where it is nightly received with roars of applause