NEWS IN BRIEF.

Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 102, 27 October 1888, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Tho rapidity with which thn French army is being supplied with the much -talked -of Lebol riflo ia astonishing. The Groa rifle model of 1884 is filling up the arsenals, and now a new inventor, M. Fontaney, is Baid to have found out a way to turn all the Gros' into Lebela, or | something pretty nearly as good, using the sauio cartridge. France is surprised at the operation of its new divorce law. The fiiefe year such a thing as divorce was recognised by the law there were 1800 granted, the second yoar 4000, and the third year 4500. Sixty women demanded divorce for every forty men, and in moro than half the cases that came before the courts there are no children. There aro four divorces; for every 1000 marriages in France now, and in Paris tho rata is fortyeeven to every 1000 marriages. Brazilian negro froedmen become " sassy niggers " when they ask their late masters for pay, and aro threatened with army service unless they work for nothing. Bills iv tho Brazilian Legislature asking for compensation for the Blaves freed by the law of the 13th of May are not even reported from committee. A young German lady — beautiful, attractive, and only 20 — visited Monte Carlo. She lost 30,000 frai ca at^ the table. She at once took poison. Her condition was discovered in time to prevent the drrg having a fatal effect. However, she was not to be baulked in her tragic intention. The following day she committed suicide by drowning herself. London postmen will in future wear helmets like the policemen. | The helmet will be made of blue serge, bound with "Post office red.'* | Tennyson is to write a memorial poem in honour of the two lately deceased G< rman Emperors. The task has been set by Quoon Victoria. It is said that General Sheridan's death has left his widow and family in very moderate circumstance*. Mrs. Sheridan has not sufficient income to live in the house m Washington which was presented to the General by his Chicago admirorp. Congress has been asked to allow her a pension of £1000, a similar pension to that given to tho widew of General Grant.. It is probable that this Bill will be passed befo: c Congress adjourns. A family left Llandudno for Livoi - pool. A few weeks afterwards their cat which had been left behind, arrived at the door, having made the journey of eighty milesjand discovered its mistress amidst a population of 600,000. Some consternation has be(H created amongst the riverside population in the vicinity of Hamburg by the news that as many as thirteen crocodiles were enabled, through, an oversight, to escape from on board a steamer just returned from Africa, whence they had boon brought for saleto various Continental zoological gardens. These formidable reptiles are now all in the liivor Elbe. M. Maranhaj — a French authority — states that in examining the history of three thousand criminals undergoing sentences of various lengths, he found that of the vagabonds and beggars' 79 -per cent, were conQrmed drunkards ; of assassins and incendiaries 50 to 57 per cent. ; of thieves and swindlers 7 1 per cent. ; and of those convicted of violence to the person 88 per cent. An Englishman-named Greenwood has met his death under most re--markable circumstances. He made a bet that he would stay under water longer than anybody in Hereford, without being drowned. He swam out into the river and disappeared, while his friends on the banks held their watches to time him. When he had beaten th© record they became alarmed, and went after him, and dragged out his lifeless body. He had won tho wager in one sense, for tho doctors docided that he had not been actually drowned, but that death had resulted from the sudden immersion after a heavy meal. The Rev. Col well Price,- a coloured Methodist minister of Kansas City, aged 50, has just married Mr. Wylie Bell, aged 75. TMb iB Mrs. Bell's fourth matrimonial venture, and she wore the wedding dress that was given her 50 years ago for her fifat marriage. A Turkish journal in Constantinople publishes figures to show that 112 men and 100 women of Christian or Jewish faith have professed Mohammedanism during the past year. The " telephone disease " has been discovered by Professor Wilborstadt, of Berlin. The use of the instrument produces disorder in the vibratory chambers of the ear, generally in the left ear. • It is said that between three and four thousand pounds of caffeino aro annually made in Germany from damaged tea which has been rejected by the British Customhouses. It is said that the Bey. Giovanni •Righmo has constructed a church organ of compressed pasteboard, which is being exhibited in the oratory of Santa Christina, Milan. A dog was sent over Niagara rapids in a cask recently. Tho passage was made in fourteen minutes. The dog, although a little short of breath, was unharmed. The Kentish Observer has received reports from America rospecting 'the hop crops in the States, which show that the hot weather ia having rather an injurious effect on the plants, and that- the general estimates of the crops are from onethird to one-half less than last year. McVitties famous 102 has been beaten — and that by a Saxon, Colour-Sergeant Moore, of Beading. Shooting under conditions the same as those governing the first stage of the Queen's he made 1 03 out of a possible 105, finishing up with 17 bull's-eyes. The ranges were 200, 500, andj 600. A schoolmistress and some young girls, resident at Broadford, county Limerick, Ireland, could scarcely have comprehended what they did when they sat to be photographed with some policemen. Had not one given evidence in the prosecution of a clergyman under the Crimes Act ? Threatening notices posted on the chapel gate have warned. them of their crime.