BREVITIES.

Evening Star, Issue 11725, 7 April 1902, Page 1

BREVITIES.

The Cape Parliament has been further prorogued to August 1. Custom-houses aud post offices have been established in China. The inland postal rate is one farthing per half-ounce. A fresh plague case reported from Sydney yesterday. The War Office has published a precis of the facts connected with the Australian executions, aud Lord Kitchener, in a cable to.Lord Hopetoun, declares that there were no extenuating circumstances. Picton, one of ' the cashiered officers, strongly supports Morant's account, and declares the shooting of the Boers to have been justifiable. Revenge for the inhuman treatment of Captain Hunt was the sole motive. 'The Times' asserts that the official explanation is meagre, and says that the country has a right to know the exact truth. The scene of Kitchener's encounter with De la Rey on March 31 was at Roschbuit, a few miles to the south of where the same Boer general defeated Lord Methuen. The British casualties were three officers and twenty-four men killed, sixteen officers and 131 men wounded. The Boers acknowledge having had 137 killed and wounded. The Canadians, who suffered so severely, were commanded by Lieutenant Bruce Carruthers, an ex-Austraban. Honors and conflagrations on a magnificent scale continue to come from that land of big things, the United States of America. The latest is a fire in Atlantic City, New, Jersey, which destroyed three blocks, including twelve hotels. The damage is estimated at one million dollars. A Welliirgton man who made a book on the Easter and Autumn double at Christchurch, offering the odds of £lO to ss, and when " struck" pleaded his inability to pay, was charged on Saturday before the magistrate with the theft of ss, the taker of the wager having paid his liability when accepting the bet. Mr Haselden, S.M., held that he would have to be convinced that defendant made the wager with intent to. defraud. As this had not been done the charge was dismissed. The wdl of the late Mr Rhodes is as remarkable as was the man. To the advancement of education he bequeaths two millions sterling; devotes £4,000 a year for the upkeep of a national in which shall be buried al! persons deservingwell of Sonth Africa after the accomplishment of Federation ; £4,000 for the establishment of a national park at Bulawayo; and £2,000 a year 'for the. encouragement of irrigation and forestry, as well as towards the endowment of an agricultural college in Mashonaland. Mr Rhodes's homestead of Grooschur, with its wealth of articles of vertu, is dedicated as the hdma of the future Premiers of Federated South Africa, and £I,OOO a year is given for the upkeep of the "establishment." Till Federation "is accomplished the extensive grounds are to be used as a public park. To his Alma Mater (Oxford) Mr Rhodes makes very substantial bequests. To Oriel College, where he studied, he has given £IOO,OOO, of which £60,000 is to be devoted towards improving the emoluments and comforts of the Fellows. Two scholarships of the value of £3OO, and likewise tenable for tltree. years, are thrown open to the youth of the , United States and her affiliated Territories; while fifteen scholarships of £250 a year are made the gift of the Kaiser, in recognition of his promotion of the study of English in Germany. Mr Rhodes says in his will that, a good understanding between Germany, England, and the United States will make for the peace of the world, and educational relations between the three countries will be the strongest tie to that end. Sixty colonial scholarships at Oxford—of the yearly value of £3OO, and tenable for three years—are funded by Mr Rhodes, who recognises the value of colonial assistance to South Africa in the present war by expressly nominating New Zealand, >iew South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Westralia., Tasmania, and all the provinces of Canada, besides the West Indies, for participation in the benefits of the endowment. The Winter block sysiem was displaced by the tablet system on the Waitati-Mos-giel section of the Bluff-Huruuui line today. The Seddon ''National Purse" will be presented at Christchurch to-morrow evening. Wakeful, by her last week's performances at, Randwick. has proved herself a racehorse worthy to b<j clashed with the doughty Carbine. During the past eighteen months she has Avon a Newmarket Handicap, a Doncaster Handicap, Sydney Gold Cup (establishing an Australasian record for two miles), was runner-up for the Caulfield Cup, a.nd has " scooped the poo!" iu the weight-for-age events ou the V.R.C. and A.J.G. programmes. James Walsh, a. sailor from one of the warships, was sentenced to one month's imprisonment at Auckland oil Saturday for assaulting Constable Skinner, who had to get assistance to secure Walsh's arrest. A man named Messenger had a narrow escape at Rotorua on Thursday. He entered the manhole connected with the sewage system without, taking the necessary precautions, and succumbed very quickly to tho sulphur fumes, which in Rotorua collect, in addition to other obnoxious ga*es common to sewerage. On seeiug Messenger succumb a Maori entered the manhole aud fastened a, rope around the unconscious man's body. The fumes almost overcame the native" but he managed to reach the surface before be fainted. Messenger was then drawn up, and found to be in a bad way. He was conveyed to his lodgings in great agony, and attended to bv Dr Kenny. The treasurer of the Free Kindergarten Association acknowledges receipt of a subscription of £1 Is from Mrs Sinclair Thomson. The Mayor of Lawrence, Mr Winn, will be a candidate for the Tnapeka seat next December. From the commencement of the present plague outbreak till March 21 the total number of rals destroyed and burnt in. the Government, incinerator at the foot of Bathurst street. Sydney, was 43,886. On most of these, the Kew South Wales Government paid a capitation fee of 3d. At. the conclusion of the Beaumont nice meeting on Monday (reports the 'Courier') proceedings were conducted by candle light. The tote house and refreshment, booth were lighted with candles, and in the last race Ihe judge had great difficulty in placing the competitors. The letters in the alphabets of the different nations vary in number. The Sandwich Islanders have 12, the Burmese 18, Italian 23, Bengali 21. Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldee, and Samaritan 22 each, Latin 23, Greek 24, German, Dutch, and English 26 each, Spanish and Slavonic 27 each, Arabic 28, Persian and Coptic: 32, Georgian 35, Armenian 38, Russian 41, old Muscovite 43. Sanscrit, and many of the Oriental languages have 50 each. Judging from tho report of the Chief Commissioner of Police, London people must be extereroely careless whenever they travel in public conveyances. During 1901 no less than 41,010 articles were left by passengers in cabs, 'buses, or warns, being an increase of 1,459 on the lost ftrticies deposited by tbe finders in the preceding twelve months. £2,965 in rewards to cabmen and conductors were paid by the losers on the recovery of their property, one lucky fellow getting £ls, two £l3, ane each' £10, £B, and £7, and six £5. Bermoncisejj London's .parish sacred to

tanneries and other enril-aneilling industries, ha* just followed the Shoreditch, and erected a. dust and refuse destructor, the potentialities of which are worthy of a passing thought by Dunedia's City Fathers before they "take on" additional tramway schemes. From the house refuse,, which has hitherto cost the Bermondsey Corporation' a harge sum each year to remove, the electric light needed in the district will he generated, while at the same time there will be heat enough'to supply <he bath? *Jid washhouses close by. Even the clinker formed by the cremation of the dnsfc is to be utilised in the manufacture of flags for paving. The clinker is ground fine by an electrically-driven mill, mixed with cement, subjected to a pressure of I.ooolb to the square inch, and then allowed to dry. Thus, from the worthless and objectionable house and trade refuse, light, heat, power, and paving stones are being evolved. The greatest of .American railroads are tearing down many of their metal bridges, and building in place of them stone arches, which will not rust, and will defy the agesi That is a notable going back to the best work of ancient days. The Raman arch in imperishable rock has known no superior. Lord Roberto is inaugurating a system of canteen reiorm for the Army at home, based on arrangements similar to those which have been found beneficial in India. The object the Commander-in-Chief has in view is stated to be an endeavor to promote temjjerance amongst the men by improving the system unuer which regimental institutes are conducted, in order that they may Iks rendered more attractive to the troops, and that the recreations and comforts which, are provided may be dissociated as far as possible from tie consumption of alcoholic .liquors. The Gisborne Liberal Association have decided to strengthen the hands of the Government in any anti-trusts legislation. Burrows, who escaped at Wellington on the magistrate on a charge of forgery, is still at'large. The Gisborne branch of the Auckland Teachers' Institute will, if the details bear out the case as telegraphed, make a levy to assist the master at Hikutaia, who was fined £5 and costs for chastising a boy for bathing with girls after being expressly told that separate bathing spots were pruvided in the river for the sexes. The South Canterbury branch of the Canterbury Teachers' Institute numbers seventyone members, including 61 per cent, of the certificated teachers in the district. It was reported that a special fund of nearly £4O had been raised to assist a teacher struck down by consumption, who was now reported to be recovering. An amended scale of subset Jons in live grades, from 3s 6d to 10s, was adopted. A deputation from the Wellington) Law Society invited the Premier on Saturday to make representations in London in order to bring about a condition of affairs under which New Zealand barristers and solicitors would be allowed to practise in English courts. • It was stated that the Law Society had no objection to the abolition of the condition requiring English barristers to pass in New Zealand Law before practising here if a concession were granted to New Zealanders. The Premier promised to give the matter attention. The international football match England v. Scotland, at G'nsgow, caused an unparalleled scene. Mounted policemen had to change the great crowd, in order to clear the playing space. Three persons were killed tnd .... more or less injured. The Rhodes scholarships number 175 in all, and are freed from religious or racial tests of any kind. They are to be awarded according to scholarship, athletic proficiency, mora] force and character, and the attributes of manhood, truth, and courage. The Rev. T. Quinton. addressing a. meeting of the Anglican Temperance Society at Melbourne, said his experience in the country districts of Victoria had shown hrm that, great evil 1 resulted from medical men prescribing strong drink for their patients, and that they had much to answer for m prescribing porter for women who were mothers. The following inquiries for missing friends appeared in 'Lloyd's' of February 16: Burland (Harry) last, wrote from Christchurch five years ago. Sister Maria asks. —Jones (Thomas JR.), known as Charles Love, of Stratford, Essex, last wrote from New Zealand in 1875. Mother asks.— Mackie (John) seeks his brother Charles. who sailed from London for New Zsilaitd forty-five years ago. A Sign of the Times. —Tnto the Parliament of Saxony (Germany) has been introduced a Bill which provides that if a;,v doctor be requested by a natienf w!,os." disease is hopelessly incurable to jhu him to a painless death, the medical man may comply with the request without incurring legal pains and penalties.. The Bill, however, will not pass, as a committee to whom it Wits referred reported that) the measure is in contravention of the Federal laws, and therefore ultra vires. A visit to the Seacliff Asylum was paid by the Dunedin Pipe Band on Saturday. Several selections were played by the bandsmen, and a dance was held, the Scotch reel appearing to be thoroughly enjoyed by the inmates. The admissions to the Dunedin Hospital last week were twenty-two, and thirteen were discharged, leaving 108 inmates in tie institution on Saturday. There were three deaths during the week (Maria Jane Cook, Robert, Sherriff, and Elizabeth Tyrie). A British parliamentary return states that there are 130,000 miles of street tramway open for traffic in the kingdom. The total capita* authorised is £41,877,046, and the total number of passengers carried last year was 1,198.226,758. China is the great slave country of th<? world. Of a, population of 40Q,000/)00 there are slaves to the number of 10,000,000. Every family of means keeps its girl slaves, and a man's position is usually gauged by the number he keeps. At any age from three to fifteen girls are sold, seven or eight being the age at which most, change hands. The girls are purchased to do housework, ft being cheaper to buy than hire. Slaves vary in price ; £2 is about the average, but much depends on tie girl's appearance. A good-looking girl will fetch £4 or even. £B. In the Alaskan fur market, Ixrodon quotations govern. These are fixed twice a yesT —in March and August—by a board of principal dealers in that, City, and prices ar* gauged according to thai scale in all parts of the world except Russia. The ' Novove Vremya' announces that the Czar has given permission for the city of 8t Petersburg to raise a per cent, loan of thirty million roubles. Of-this sum 4,100.000 roubles are to be devoted to the St. Petersburg telephones, 3,500.000 roubles to the building of a dam near the Tmizki Bridge, 6,500.000 roubles to the building of two bridges over the Neva.. 2,500,000 roubles to the improvement of arrange ments for the care of the sick, -,"v\ 1,700,000 roubles to the building of a hospital for children, while it is also intended to sjiend considerable sums on t!ie improvement of means of transit, fire brigades, canals, and schools, and the municipal slaughter-house.—Renter.