GENERAL SUMMARY.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3565, 12 December 1882, Page 4

GENERAL SUMMARY.

The steamer Westphalia, of Hamburgh, an American liner, from New York, put into Portsmouth with a hole in her port bow, received in collision with an unknown steamer off Beachy Head the same morning. The other steamer is missing, and is supposed to have foundered with all on board. The collision took place before daylight, and it was intensely dark at the time, -with, a heavy sea running. Mr Bradkugh went to the House of Commons on the 13th of October to try and take his seat. He had a brief personal consultation with the Speaker, and was informed by him that the order of expulsion was still in force. He then withdrew without making any further effort. The great firms of Fir William Armstrong and Co., ordnance makers, and Mitchell and Co., shipbuilders, have amalgamated, and willestablish works on the river Tyne with a capital of 2,500,000 dollars. The first severe snowstorm of the season in England occurred on the 16th of November. A heavy gale prevailed around the coast, and several casualties to vessels were the result. A brig was lost off Stowe with all hands, and another total wreck occurred at Hojle. The newspaper compositors in London struck for higher wages on November 13th. Some of the papers conceded the demands of the men, but in general the proprietors stood out, and the printers being equally firm a deadlock has been the result. A project has been brought forward at Rome, and is likely to be carried out at once, to establish at Oxford and Cambridge Eoman Catholic Colleges for the purpose of preparing students who desire to enter those universities. Twenty-five anarchists (three foreigners among the number) were arrested at Lyons on November 18th. They are charged with fomenting strikes among workmen, advocating n, general division of property, and destroying the sentiment of. patriotism, among the people. The illness which has compelled Sir Stafford Northcote to go to the Mediterranean is weak action of the heart, not immediately dangerous. Mr Cross temporarily succeeds to the leadership of the Conservative party in the House of Commons. The Marquie of Queensbury's sister, Lady Gertrude Douglas, has scandalised London society by marrying her baker. Her ladyship is old and the baker twenty-one years or age. The affair was made public on the 10th of November. Mr Parnell's action in evicting tenants from his estates in County Wicklow has caused some comment. They were in arrears to the extent of £900.

The Criterion Theatre, built some years ago in London by Messrs Spiers and Pond, formerly caterers in Melbourne, has been condemned by the Board of Works as hopelessly unsafe, and •will be closed permanently.

Mr Clement Scott's action for libel against Mr Sampson of the Referee has terminated. The jury awarded £1500 damages to be paid by the defendant. The plaintiff waived his claim for cost 3, and the Referee engaged to publish a full apology and retraction. It will be remembered that Admiral Glynn and the name of the late Adelaide Neilson figured prominently in this matter. A disastrous fire occurred at Margate. The assembly rooms, vicarage, and one •whole side of Cecil-square were burned. The loss is estimated ab £300,000.

The Home Kule League are considering the policy of merging the league into the Irish National League.

Earl 'Granville instructed the British Ambassador at Madrid on November 18th to ask the Spanish Government to return General Maceo and two other Cuban refugees who were surrendered by the police magistrate at Gibraltar without proper sanction. The Spanish Government refused on the ground that the prisoners on landing at Gibraltar were put outside the British lines through a mistake

of the police magistrate, and were immediately arrested by the Spanish authorities. They were in fact arrested on Spanish, soil, in Spanish territory,, and by duly authorised Spanish power. They were not and had not been within English jurisdiction. The Parliamentary committee appointed to inquire as to the imprisonment of Mr Edmund Dwyer Gray, Sheriff of Dublin, reported that Mr Justice Lawson did only his duty in the case. Mr supported by the Irish members in the House, purposes to move an address to the Crown, praying for the removal of Mr Justice Lawson from the bench.

The first annual report of the Irish Land Commission was made on November 14th. The report speaks of the indisposition of tenants to purchase their holdings, though a number of landlords are anxious to sell. The arrears clauses of the Act are not operative to the extent expected, and the amount of assistance applied for is insignificant considering the large sum due to the landlords. Agreements for fair rents between landlords and tenants with the intervention of the Courts are increasing. Under the machinery of the Act fair rent cases are disposed of at the rate of 4600 per month. Laborers are not availing themBelvcs of the Act.

Mrs Langtry made her American debut at Wallack's Theatre, New York, on the evening of the 6th of November, before an extremely large and fashionable audience. She appeared as Hester Grazelbrook, in Tom Taylor's " Unequal Match." She was called before the curtain twelve times. The London World considers her reception as creditable to the American Republic from every point of view, and at once enthusiastic and discriminating. Mr Bradlaugh made application to the Court of Queen's Bench on the 6th of November to have the indictment against himself for blasphemous libel quashed. At the instance of Sir Henry Taylor the application was refused.

Letters from Ireland dated November 10th state that famine is impending in the counties of Donegal, Clare, and Roscommon. The potato crop is a failure, while storms have devasted the fields and cabins of the poor. The guardians of the workhouses declare that the prospect is the worst since the famine of 1846.

A party of forty armed men attacked the house of Mr Kedinond Roach, magistrate, at Magnas Castlo, Ireland, on the night of the 16th of November. They fired several Bhote and carried away two guns. During twenty-four hours ending o c " tober 29th incessant rains prevailed in several parts of England. Large areas of country were flooded, bridges carried away, railway lines blocked, and in the Midland Counties only the roofs of farm houses -were to be seen in many places. The floods along the Thames were very serious. At "Windsor the inundation was immense, and the consequent loss and suffering great. Again, on the Ist of Nov., a great gale, accompanied by floods, visited England, this time devastating the western and southern sections. A dozen houses were swept away at Borough Bridge, and the railway track "was torn up in Devon and Somerset that

the trains were stopped entirely. The damage was severe, but no loss of life has been reported. At Exeter the canal broke its bank, and the whole country in Cheshire, Warwickshire, and Somersetshire was flooded. The traffic of some parts of such towns as Canterbury and Reading was carried on in boats, and the country upon each side of the railways looked like a large lake. Sheep rot has also appeared in many places, so it is nob surprising that the English farmers are more anxious and depressed than ever.

The Mansion House fund for the relief of the Russian Jews has closed. The total received is £108,759, and the amount expended £94,144. Dispatches received by the ActingSecretary of the Navy at Washington on November 6th from the commander of the United States' ship Alastha, report a serious state of affairs in the Hawaiian group, growing out of the dissatisfaction among the sngar planters. They have formed a protective union and made a protest to the Eing against the selection of his Cabinet. They urge a more liberal and progressive policy than was indicated by the King's movements. The King in replying recognised the rights of all to make suggestions if they entertained any grievance, and assured the members of the union that their appeal would be considered. In the meantime there is no change in the situation, and the King has issued a proclamation that he would be crowned on February 12th. The report further says that the matter probably will drift along until coronation day, when indications point to a disturbance if the alleged evil is not remedied. The complaints of the members of the union appear to be that the general policy of the Government is not sufficiently liberal, and they urge that better opportunities should be afforded for bringing in labor. They also urge the adoption of a course to ensure the maintenance of the reciprocity treaty with, the United States, which it is acknowledged has added largely to the wealth of the planters. Samuel Wilkinson, publisher has sued Henry Ward Beecher for §10,000, money paid to the reverend author in advance fora promised "Life of Christ." Mr Beecher took the money but never finished the copy, although frequently promising to do so, and now Wilkinson losing confidence in the matter wants his money back. The New York wool dealers are apprehensive that the California trade in that article has seen its best days and the supply from the State will gradually grow less. Athelia Gilchrist, a member of the Salvation Army recently arrived in New York from England, confessed in Court that she had three husbands.

Henry G. Abbey's Park Theatre, New York was totally destroyed by fire on the afternoon of October 30th. .Mrs Langtry, who arrived from London on the bunday previous, was to have made her American debut in that house that evening. She watched the fire from the balcony of Albermarle House, two blocks away. Mr Abbey's loss is estimated at 100,000 dollars. Mrs Langtry had just finished packing her wardrobe to send to the theatre when the fire broke out. She therefore escaped any loss. Christine Nielsen was not equally fortunate, for a large case containing her costumes and valuable jewels was consumed. One of the stage hands named Leo is supposed to have perished. Harry Clark, stage carpenter, died from injuries received at the fire.

Mrs Scoville, sister of the assassin Giteau, was adjudged insane by a Chicago Court and immediately after disappeared. It is supposed she fled to Canada. The dairymen of California propose to meet in convention and organise a campaign against oleomargerine. They have already pledged themselves not to consign dairy produce to any city firm dealing in the objectionable article. There can now be no doubt about the fate of Captain Gill, Lieutenant Charrington, and Professor Palmer, who went into the interior of Egypt to purchase camels and were reported to have been murdered by the Bedouins. Colonel Warren wires from Alexandria that he has ascertained that they were led to a precipice and offered the alternative of either jumpiug over or of being shot. . It is believed that Captain Gill jumped over, the other two taking the alternative.