NEWS IN BREIF.

Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 148, 6 November 1886, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BREIF.

Attempts have been made in Ger f many to make cigar boxes out o paper instead of out of expeusivi 1 woods, and the result is said to b* I very satisfactory. They are made ' waterproof by being covered with t varnish, and the name of tho firn and the quality of the cigars are pui on the boxes during the process oi manufacture. The advantages oj these boxes are that they weigi little, last a long time, and cost little to. produce. The City people, who have the excellent quality of thorough loyalty, wish to replace the statue of theii Queen, which is now in the Royal Exchange, by another, which shall represent their Sovereign as she wa« fifty years ago, " young and lovely." This they want done in commemoration of the jubilee year. The statue that is now in the Exchange hag hardly borne the wear and tear of time as well as she has done whom it represents ; hence the decision for a new statue. Of tho 89,288 soldiers serving at home, 60,383 belong to the Church of England, 1G.905 to the Eoman Catholic, 7953 are Presbyterians, and 4247 Wesleyans. The King of Portugal was so well pleased with the Colonial Exhibition in London that he has determined to get one up himself. One of tho shortest wills on record is that made lately by Mr. Brockhardt, who died on the Matterhom. He wrote it in pencil on a small piece of card, addressed to his sister, a lady residing at Northfleet, in Kent. It was as follows: — "I am dying on Matterhorn. I leave all I possess to you, my doar sister. God Wess you." The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company have given Messrs. Caird & Co., shipbuilders, Greenock, an order to build a screw steamer of about 7000 tons and proportionate engine power, being by far thelargesteverbuiltand launched at Greenock. A lady named Mercer, of Philadelphia, has bequeathed an estate and £20,000 to provide a home for twelve aged and disabled Presby;erian ministers who do not use tobacco. In future Germany will only allow 3a- per cent, interest on its loans. Buddhism in Japan has been disestablished since 1871. Whilo there were 393,087 Buddhist temples in 1714, there aronow but 57,834. Few new temples are built, and many are going to ruin. At a meeting of tho Edinburgh Town Council, Sir Thomas Clark (Lord Provost) intimated that Mr. Carnegie had spontaneously increased j his offer for the provision of a free ! library from £25,000 to £50,000. Throughout France there is a determined opposition to the employment of foreign labourers. The city authorities at Paris have actually forbidden the contractors for public works to hire any foreigners. Robert Burns' last home in Dumfries has just been restored, as it was in a most dilapidated condition. The woodwork of the room where the poet died has been removed, and is to be used to bind some forthcoming fac-similes of the first edition of Burns' poems. It is stated that the flats at Paris at present unoccupied would accommodate 200,000 people. The will of Mr. Eobert Charles Ransomo, J.P., late of Ipswich, engineer and ironfounder, who died on sth March last, has just been proved in London, the value of the personal j estate amounting to upwards of £57,000. The population of the United States in 1880 was made up of the following : — Protestants of all denominations, 86,031,974 ; Eoman Catholics, 6,367,000 ; no religion, 700,000. The house of Krupp is stated to have completed a cannon 46ft Bin in length, weighing 125£ tons, and having a calibre of 16in. The monHter has been turned out to the order of the Italian Government. It is believed that in all about 200 persons perished in the earthquake in Greece lately. The damage to property is estimated at several million drachmas, the loss in the province of Elis alone amounting to two millions. The prinoipal consumption of frankincense at the present day is in the Eoman Catholic churches. About 20,000cwt of raw frankincense is imported into England annually from Bombay. The Rev. Nicholas Eigby, probably the oldest Eoman Catholic priest in England, "being 95 years of age, died at the Presbytery at Ugthorpe, near Whitby, a few days ago. American moneyocracy is startled by the unexpected marriage of the son of Jay Gould, the millionaire forty times repeated, to a Miss Edith Kingdon, a member of Daly's company of players. The annual production of sewing machines allows one for every 300 civilised people on the globe. The Arabic Bible, for which the United Presbyterian Board of Publication made the grant of £400, is completed, and is selling in Alexandria, Egypt, at a good rate. The number of dogs taken up by the Paris police last year for running about without a master was no fewer than 5060 ; horses to the number of 1732 were brought in, of which 1618 were harnessed and 114 barebacked; 7 bulls, 26 goats and sheep, 1 donkey, 1 pig, 123 species of poultry, 44 hares, 28 Bquirrels, aud 1 monkey. While out doer-stalking in the forest of Strathvaich, Eosshire, Col. Leyland, a tenant of shooting, was shot dead by his eon. The son had been removing the cover from the weapon, when, the trigger being at full cock, the gun went off. Col. Leyland, who had handed the gun to his son in this condition, was struck by the ball and fell down dead instantly. According to the Lancet, the English Commission on the Pasteur theory of inoculating for rabies have arrived at the general conclusion + hat the French scientist is warranted in all his assumptions. At the same time the Commissioners have been not a little staggered by the deaths which have recently occurred among il. Pasteur's patients, and they have determined not to publish any report until they have made further investigation. At Newcastle-under-Lyme a dirtylooking individual, calling himself Charles Stuart, and stating that he was King of Scotland, was recently committed to prison for seven days for being drunk and disorderly. A despatch from New York reports the town of Haric, in Sonora, ] to have been entirely swept away by floods, not a house being left stand-

ing. The population of the town . numbered 700. f j Intelligence has been received 313 1 from America of the death of Professor Calvin Ellis Slowo, the husband of Mrs. Beecher Slowe, and himself a writer of repute. The largest pumping engine in the world is used to pump water in Pennsylvania. In one minute it forces 20,000 gals of water out of a mino to a height of 1 30 ft. Tho greatest balloon in the world has been lately constructed at San Francisco by a Mr. Van Tassol. It will hold 150,000 cubic feet of gas, and hns been made for the purpose of traversing tho American continent from ocean to ocean. From the bottom of the car to the top of the inflated balloon will be 119 ft, and when filled the diameter will be 68ft. Fifteen persons can be seated in it. William Boach, the champion sculler, is an adept in other sports besides rowing, having in Soptembor last carried off a 500 dollar prize, with a Bilvor cup, at pigeon shooting. It is understood that the outcome of Mr. Gladstone's visit to Munich, and his meetings with Lord Acton, Dr. Dollinger, and othors of tho old Catholic loaders will be a series of articles on tho ecclesiastical situation in Europe. It is indeed reported that an arrangement wa3 made for their publication in the Nineteenth Century before Mr. Gladstone left for the Continent. A procession of butterflies, which took hours to pass, is reported to have been seen at Salzburg recently. Mr. George Francis Lockwood, cutlery and steel manufacturer, Sheffield, has been formally installed Master Cutler of Sheffield, with the ' usual formalities. During her long reign Queen Victoria has had to appoint no fewer than 21 Prime Ministers. Japan is said to have less than ten thousand paupers among her 37,000,000 inhabitants. Three sailors who went on a fish- .• ing voyage to Greenland in 1869 have just returned to Dunkirk, Frauce. They report that their vessel was wrecked, and that they had since been held in captivity by the natives. Their wives, supposing them to be dead, have since re-mar-ried. Tobacco cultivation in England promises to be a success. The experiments made, with Government sanction, in Norfolk and Kent have, so far, beon attended with satisfactory results. Some of tho plants have reached a height of sft, and tho leaves aro iv splendid condition. An entirely new vegetable is being introduced by a Fronch firm, which is exciting some interest. It is oalled choro-gi, and is a native of northern Africa. It belongs to the mint family (botanical name Stachys affinis). Its fleshy roots or tubers only are eaten, dressed like string boans, or fried like fritters, and are said also to make excellent pickle. Mr. G. Kirk, Albert Hill, Darlington, has in his possession a brood of four rabbits, a month old, which have come into existence with only one ear, placed in the centre of the head. The animals have been inspected by large numbers of persons. All claims having been satisfied on the patriotic fund which was raised in New South Wales when the Soudan Contingent was despatched, it is now proposed to give back to those who subscribed 85 por cent, of their money.