ADDITIONAL MAIL NEWS.

Evening Star, Issue 7485, 2 April 1888, Page 4

ADDITIONAL MAIL NEWS.

Marie Rozc, the prima donna, was presented at Liverpool, on March 2, with a necklace of diamonds as a birthday gift. The Queen sent congratulations to the singer. Mr Justin M'Carthy has declined to become Deputy-Speaker of the Hone of Commons, giving as his reason that he is near-sighted, The subject of the Newfoundland fisheries has become subject to negotiations bat ween England and France.

Karl Stanhope, Secretary of State for "War, on March 1, issued a memo, relative to the Army Estimates. Deficiencies exist in the defences of Portsmouth and the Thames which render Tiingland's position dangerously insecure. Earl Stanhope proposes that measures be immediately passed by Parliament in order to remedy this weakness. He further states that the system of organisation recently prevailing at the War Office appears singularly liable to promote comprehensive examinations of the whole subject, and explains the contemplated reforms. Lord Charles I'eresford made a statement on March 1 before a committee of Parliament, and after hearing his views on the maladministration of the navy, tho committee adopted a resolution demanding that the Governmei t appoint a Commission to inquire into the condition of that branch of the service.

A great number of documents have been discovered in a hidden chamber in the Stratford-on-Avon Guildhall, and they will be examined with the hope of securing some new light concerning the life of Shakespeare. The Queen held her first drawing-room of the season on February 24. Lord Hamilton, First Lord of the Admiralty, lias issued a statement regarding the navy estimates for 1888. Tho net decrease is shown to bo J/)ir>,sßl, including the special cost of the Australian squadron, L 900.000. During 1887 twenty torpedo boats were added, making a total of eighty of the first class and sixtythree of the atcond class. During the coming year six fir.it class and ten second class torpedo boats will be ordered. On March 3 Mr Gladstone returned thanks to 150 clergymen of the Church of England for a memorial drawn up by them in favor of Home Rule. He said he believed it would have the effect of greatly widening the growing conviction that neither honor nor advantage can be gained by the continued refusal to accord the moderate and constitutionally-expressed demand of the Irish people. Mr Balfour has declared that tho statement made in the famous libel case, that orders were issued from Dublin Castle to the magistrates trying Irish ca.es, is false. Sir Henry Burke has granted 25 per cent, reduction to his tenants, and Mr M'Carlon, M.P., 50 per cent. The eviction of tenants on the Ponsonby estate at Coughlan was resumed on February 2. Father Keenan and eighty farmers were convicted on February 3, and sentenced to two months' imprisonment for attending a meeting of a suppressed branch of the National League at Newmarket, County Clare, on the 25th. James C. Flynn, M.P. for North Cork, was also sentenced to gaol for three weeks, without hard labor, for inciting to conspiracy. The Dublin ' Express' of March 3 affirms that there arc internal dissensions in tho I'arnellitc ranks which will produce a rupture that will shake the foundations of the National League. AMERICAN SUMMARY. Claus Sprcckles, owner of the Oceanic Steamship line, proposes to build an enormous sugar refinery in some city on the Atlantic seaboard, probably in Philadelphia, to compete with the recently-formed sugar company. Henry George has cut his connection with Dr M 'Glynn, of New York. Hugh Cecil Lowther, Earl of Lonsdale, arrived in New York on March 3 en route to the North Pole. Ho proposes to penetrate British America from the frontier of the United States to the Arctic Ocean, thence proceeding by water to tho Pole, if such be not impossible. He starts from Winnipeg (Manitoba), taking for companions only his valot and his dog. Marcus Clarke's novel ' His Natural Life,' dramatised by Hugo Tyrell, an Australian actor, has been produced in San Francisco. It was well received.

The statement of the debt of the United States, issued on March 1, 1888, shows the reduction for tho month of February at 7,756,360 dollars. The total amount of cash in the National Treasury is 572,390,08!) dollars.

During ft concert at Wilkes, Penn., on February 2'J, Madame lima do Murska fainted away, and her condition is now precarious. General Phil. Sheridan has declined tho Presidential nomination tendered by the Republican party. Smallpox has appeared in San Francisco. Vast tin deposits have been discovered in tho mining section called tho Black Hills. English capitalists are attempting to corner all the mines in tho Hills.

W. J. Colman, a San Francisco merchant of eminence was nominated Commissioner of the United States to the Centennial Exhibition at Melbourne in August next, but declined. Walter Turnbull, a nationalised Canadian, is an applicant for the position. The Californian Theatre building in San Francisco, a leading place of amusement for twenty years, has been sold for 127,000d01, and is to be converted into a hotel.

It has been discovered that a large and increasing proportion of tho books issued by branch houses of English firms in New York are printed from plates made in the United States.

A haßty analysis of the Tariff Bill shows the following estimates of the reductions recommended :—Aggregate reduction, 5,000,000d0l (? 40,000,000dol). This total includes about 2,ol3,ooodolonaccountoffreelist;lß,7so,ooodol on account of woollen goods; 160,000d0l for ohina and glassware; 75,000d0l in tho chemicals schedules; something less than 500,000d0l in cotton; 100,000dol in flax, hemp, and jute; and in sugar 11,000,000d01. No internal revenue changes are proposed by tho Bill, this subject being purposely left to the consideration of the full committee.

The Union square Theatre, New York, with all its contents, was destroyed by fire on February 28. The damage ainountu to one-third (if a million dollar*,.

The Bishop of London and the chairman of the Ccmmitteo for the Prevention of the Demoralisation of Native Races by the Liquor Traffic, have written to Bishop Potter, of the diocese of New York, requesting that steps be taken to secure protection from the sale of liquor to Natives of the Pacific islands.

The ' Daily Union' office, Springfield, Mass., was burnt on March 7. Several employes lost their lives, and many others are missing. Mrs Parley, the society editor, was instantly killed by jumping from a window, and five compositors shared her fate from the some cause.

Rich deposits have been discovered in Blacks and Banks, which is situated on the coast near the mouth of tho Trapper River, about 700 milos above Juneen, Alaska.

The business portion of the town of Solcn Creek, Calefornia, was burnt on March 1. A. desperado named Gimbell, in broad daylight, entered the Bradford (P->.) National Bank, and after grabbing a lot of greenbacks and shooting the cashier through tho body he escaped into tho street. Being followed, ho shot a butcher dead and then blew out his brains.

The Government propose to build and operate postal and telegraph lines, and a Bill to that end has been made law. The Bill appropriates 800,000dol for the purpose. It places the general supervision of tho system under a fourth assistant Postmaster-general, the work establishing linos to be dono under tho direction of the Secretary of War. ITALY. Largo numbers of unemployed workmen in Rome engaged in a riot on March 1. A baker's shop was broken into and pillaged. The police, who attempted to arrest tho rioterc, wore driven away with stones. The mob waß disporsod by the troops without bloodshed. The anniversary of tho coronation of tho Pope was celebrated in Rome on March 1. Tho Pope received the congratulations of the Sacred College, and in reply commented more than ever on his position, which he said was unbearable.

THE PANAMA CANAL.

M. do Lessops, in a report on tho Panama canal dated Paris), February 20, eays :—" Tho company have been compelled to borrow money through tho ill-will of the opponents of the canal at a higher rate of interest than he expected, and that ia the only reason for tho increased cost. Owing to heavy rains ho can hardly ensure the completion of the canal in 1889, but by an arrangement of locks vessels of large tonnage may pass through the canal in 1891. On January 1 thero was in hand 110,000,000fr. M. de Lesseps has absolute confidence concerning the completion of the canal. The third issue of bonds of 100 francs each to tho amount of 600,000,01)0 franc 3 is to be pro ceeded with."

In the French Chamber of Deputies on March 5, a Bill was laid on the table which proposed to authorise the Panama Canal Company to istue a lottery loan of 2J0,000,000fr. The preamble urges the necessity of furnishing M. do Lesseps with means to continuo the construction of tho canal and to prove the enterprise feasible, and states that the time ib ripe to fix public opinion upon tho ultimate prospects of the canal, and settle the question one way or the other. The Bill proposes that the bonds shall not bear less than 3 per cent, interest; the prize money Bhall not exceed 1 per cent, of the capital borrowed ; tho nominal amount of bonds shall not be under nOOfr; and that the redemption of the loan and prize money shall be guaranteed in State securities ; the Company to deal only with French firms for all implements, supplies, etc., to complete the canal.