NEWS AND NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume XVII, Issue 512, 17 May 1879, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS AND NOTES.

The imprisoned Bank director and manager at Perth are said to take but ill with their quarters and employment in the General Prison ; and I am told they look most miserable objects in the convict garb. It is most to be doubted, however, whether they are all leas comfortable than many of those on whom they brought such wholesale ruin. — The World. An extraordinary scene took place at Brackley petty sessions recently. About twenty persons were summoned under the Vaccination Act, and were defended by Mr. Ward, who addressed the Court for an hour on the evils of vaccination. He refused to stop, and eventually the whole of the cases had to be adjourned, this being the only mode of silencing him which could be adopted. Herr Holterman, a Sydney photographer, has achieved a wonderful feat. He exhibited at a recent meeting of the Berlin Photographic Society some large panoramic views of the cities of Sydney and Melbourne, consisting of photographs nearly 100 feet in length, made up of pieces which harmonised perfectly in tone and depth. One of the pictures, from a single negative, had the extraordinary dimensions of about 5 feet by 3 feet. Professor Pepper has accepted an engagement in the Australian colonies for the purpose of showing to the inhabitants of the Antipodes a new mystic*! illusion that he has just perfected, and which he says will rival in popularity his famous " Ghost." At the request of the directors of the Royal Polytechnic, Professor Pepper has promised before leaving England to devote one week (commencing on the 31st inst.) to showing his invention at the \ Polytechnic Institution. At Bleiberg, a village near Villach, in the Austrian Tyrol, an enormous avalanche has fallen from Mont Dobratsch and crushed nine houses. In one the corpses of a whole family of eight were found ; in 1 the others 25 killed and IS seriously injured, some of whom have since died, and 15 other persons are missing. The avalanche is 250 metres broad and 3S high. A second avalanche fell on a house, killing seven persona, and about 80 avalanches have fallen within an area of eight miles. A very curious instance of the evils of chloroform, says an English paper, has baen adduced within the last few days. The son of a well-known man in the social aud political world became afflicted with an affection of one eye, and although that optic nerve itself appeared to be in fairly good condition, the sight went &> rapidly that an occulist of great distinction advised that, in order that the other eye might be saved, the bad one should be taken out. Placed under the influence of chloroform, the patient submitted to an operation, only to find when he woke up that the surgeon had taken out the wrong eye. At 12 35 a.m. on the 22nd March an earthquake traversed Northern Persia, taking a direction from Tabreez to Zendjan and Mianeh, and shocks continued with more or less severity until Sunday, the 23rd. Several strongly-built houses were thrown down at Mianeh, and in others large rents were made in the walls. The most serious damage, however, appears to have been occasioned ti two villages off the road, abont four farsachs from Miaueh, named respectively Tark and Manan. These were totally destroyed, and of the 500 inhabitants in the one case and 600 inhabitants in the other, enly a few are reported to have been saved. Mianeh is situated in north lat, 37deg, 27miu., east long. 47deg. 43min. A despatch from Cleveland, Ohio, to the New York Times says : — Mrs, Arthur Dyson, whose husband was murdered by the notorious English criminal, Charles Peace, returned on Saturday to her home in this city from England, where she had been to testify in the trial of Peace. She bad been in the habit of drinking to excess since the murder of her husband, and her friends have kept a close watch upon her on that account. To-day being pleasant she desired to walk abroad, and was accompanied by her niece, 12 years old. As soon as she was fairly away from home she began visiting saloons, where she treated everybody with whom she came in contact, and wa3 having a good time generally until Bhe became drunk and quarrelsome, when she was arrested and locked up in the nearest police-station. She had nearly lOOdols. in her pocket, and was elegantly dressed. During the afternoon she became sober, and was remanded on bail. * She is a fine-looking woman, and evidently well educated. Poor Mr. Witt, the missionary (Bays a London correspondent), is going back to Sweden. I believe he is not quite Bare whether on the whole it would not have been better for him for the Zulus to have come up with him before he got to the bottom of that hill. He is an amiable, mild-mannered man, and since his arrival in England he has been bustled about as if he were a football. From the time ho was scrambled after by the reporters on his arrival at Plymouth till he was oh show at the Temple under the presidency of Dr. Parker, the poor man has not had a moment's peace, and the £11 4s which the circumnambient had brought in at the Temple is but poor recompense for his loss of rest. Perhaps the smartest thing done in connection with the unfortunate missionary was the feat performed by one of the news agencies. They got Mr Witt with his young Zulu in a room at their office, invited one or two unsuspecting M.P.'s to be present, got a few speeches made, and then reported them exclusively at so much per column. This is the smartest thing of the kind that has been done since the New York World sent an interviewer to Senator Conkling with the knowledge that he would be kicked down stairs, and with the certainty that they would have exclusive information of the details of the scene,