NEWS AND NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume XVII, Issue 548, 28 June 1879, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS AND NOTES.

The Empress of Russia is a confirmed invalid. France ia to have an Academy of Tailors! The academy's chief function, it seems, will be to save the public from the unskilled hands of makers of clothes who unfairly assume the title of tailor. The value of the exports of the Victorian manufacturing goods has increased from £98,745 in 1870, to £609,920 in 1878. Therf has been a considerable decrease in the exportation of Victorian candles. The novelty for the ensuing season will be " colored dances ;" which, being translated, means dances at which ladies must appear in green, red, or whatever color of In California it has been enacted that nothing but the English language shall be taught in the primary, grammar, and common schools, and also that no public money Bhall be granted to sectarian schools. Statistics have been published showing the good results of the prohibition of pub-lic-houses on the Moonta mines, South Australia. Although there is a very large population there, scarcely any drunkenness exists. The Governors of Australia and New Zealand have received a oircular from the Secretary of State, to the effect that, should ex-President Grant visit the colonies, no official honors, but all proper conrtesies, should be extended to him. The Pall Mall Gazette states that the Admiralty have issued regulations that all candidates for the naval service, whether officers, men, boyi, or marines, mußt produce a certificate that they are able to swim, or they will be ineligible. Oxford is to follow the example of Cam* bridge in fornishing the means of higher education for women. A ladies' hall Is to be established in Oxford, under the super intendence of Miss Wordsworth, who is to be the first lady principal. The smallest living in the Church of 'England is that of Shipton, near Ludlow, in the diocese of Hereford, which is valued at £3 per annum. The present incumbent is the Rev. D. More, who has been in the Church for more than half a century. Miss Lavinia Goodsell, a Wisconsin young woman, having drawn a bill and procured a passage through the Legislature authorising the admission of women to the Bar on the same terms as men, has been herself admitted, and has conducted several cases successfully. A leader of fashion in San Francisco has had her chairs and sofas and the cushions of her carriages stuffed with aromatic herbs, in imitation of a practice prevalent among Oriental nations. It need hardly be said that she lives in an atmosphere of constant perfume. Among the English-speaking people of the world. Episcopalians rank first in number with 17,750.000; Methodists are next, with 14,000,000; aud then come Roman Catholics, with 13,500,000 ; Presbyterians, with 10,000,000; Baptists, with 8,000,000 ; Congregationalists, 7,000,000 ; and Unitarians, with 1,000,000. On dit that Mr. Albert Grant is going to seek a fortune in America. It can hardly be said that the great speculator has been reduced to a state of penury by tho misfortunes which have fallen upon him. Many years ago he settled on his wife £250,000, and it is currently reported that Mrs. Grant enjoya a private income Of £40,000 per annum. Sir Walter Trevelyan has left his fine cellar of wines to Dr. B. W. Richardson, F.R.S., for scientific purposes. It is rumored that the eminent apostle of total abstinence contemplates carrying out the intention of the bequest by selling the wines, which are estimated to realise at least £4000, and founding a model hospital with the proceeds. The weather in London on May Day was bleak, and the wind was biting, but in Scotland there was a powderiug of snow on the Grampian and other mountain ranges, and the Campsie Fells were completely covered with a fresh coating. The wind was bitterly cold from the east, with occasional showers of sleet and snow. In North Worcestershire snow fell, and the Clent hills were covered with the fall. Subsequently the weather haa been fine, though cold winds still prevail. Mr. Wynans, the American millionaire, is building in the Clyde a monster cigar ship, at a cost of olose upon £200,000 She is to be of 4000 or 5000 tons burthen, and it is believed by her owner that she will be able to cross the Atlantic in five days. This will be the third vessel of the same type that Mr. Wynans has built. The other two are much smaller, and are well known to all who frequent the Solent in the summer. It is understood that the three vessels, from first to last, will have cost over £400,000. Every day makes it more apparent that the expenditure on account of the Zulu war will be something enormous. South Africa is being ransacked for horses and mules, and two steamers are b«ing diapatched to Monte Video to bring across 800 of the latter animals. Upwards of three hundred ox waggons, each of which carries three tons, are in regular employment, at the rate of £80 a month. Men are being enlisted and equipped wherever possible at the rate of 5s per diem and everything found, aud there must be some twelve hundred of this expensive cavalry now serving with the army in the field. The waste of commissariat stores is very great, and one of the principal causes of the bad health of the troops is s»id to be fchd^ smell arleiug from the bags Of rotting grain which hare been pat on the ground at infinite trouble and expense. Altogether the original estimate for the war, viz., ten millions, is already spoken of as too small, and those well qualified to judge speak now of a possible twelve millions to be expended on the reduction of a tribe numbering at most 60,000 men— or, in fact, at the ! rate of £200 per Zulu. Mr. Bignell, of the Argyll Rooms, das got over at least a portion of his difficulties. Last year he not only lost his dancing license, but also his license for Belling wines and spirits. Since then he has evidently been trying to curry favor with the Middlesex magistrate*. At once transforming "the Argyll" into a respectable restaurant, he took special pains to look after the character and comfort of his patrons, and he made it well and widely known that on the night of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, as well as on the evening previous, his rooms would close at 10 30 punctually, thus avoiding all chance of a disturbance late at night on his premises. Whether it ia for this good behavior, or whether the Middlesex magistrates on second thoughts considered that the popular Bignell had been too hardly dealt with, we know not, nor do we now care to inquire. Suffice it to say that at the last meeting of this "worthy Board" BigaeWs appeal was duly considered, and after a long argument the recent decision was reversed, and the license for selling intoxicating liquors granted. Thus Robert Riohard Bignell, Esq., will be able, if not to realise another fortune, at least to recoup himself somewhat for the many and heavy expenses he has lately incurred in connection with hla well-known ert»bliihm«nt, i