HOME NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume 21, Issue 3044, 18 May 1878, Page 2

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■ ENGLAND. :' The notorious Surrey Gardens, near London, have been purchased for building purposes. , Mr John Morley is to write the long expected biography of Mr Cobden. Over LI6GO has been subscribed towards Sir Rowland Hill's memorial. ■ ;•; ; Mr Tennydon, it is said, has several new poems nearly ready for publication. Australian butter is one of the latest additions to Great Britain's food supplies. • The death -is announced in London of Dr Jas. Bluridell, the famous accoucheur, in his 87 th year. The sum voted for Royal Palaces last year was L 32.20 3; the amount expended was L 3 1183 7d less. The sum voted last year by Parliament for the maintenance of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade amounted to LIO,OOO. It is rumored that the strike of the London masons will come to a close soon. The cost of the strike is said to be L 30,000. The project for the completion of the new National Opera House on the Thames embankment has been de6nitely abandoned. Mr Alfred Steder.'s splendid monument to the memory of the Duke of Wellington

is at last set up in St. Paul's Cathedral, * London. The expenditure in connection with the Royal parks and pleasure gardens last financial year was L 114,500, being L 395 more than the vote. The annual dinner of the Caledonian Society, of London took placo on the 25th ult, in. the Freemasons' Tavern, in honor of the memory of Robert Burns. Nearly 200 ladies and gentlemen were present. Cleopatra's Needle is to stand on Victoria Embankment, at the AdelpM Stepa, where its proportions- will not be dwarfed by surrounding buildings, and where, as Mr Dixon says, the splendid grey granite of the Embankment, the solid grandeur of the Waterloo Bridge, the distant background of Somerset House, the river, and the Adelphi Gardens, form appropriate surroundings. : The Army Estimates for the British Empirej have been published. They amount in the . whole to L 16,675,000. From this, however, there has to be deducted L1,08Q,000, which will be voted for separately, and "which will be repaid by the Indian Government. These figures show an increase of L 492,100, apart from the special vote of L6,000,00U. The annual report of the RegistrarGeneral is published.; la two respectß particularly it presents a favorable picture of Scotland. The births for. the last I quarter of the year were far more, numerous than in the corresponding quarter for any of the previous ten years, whilst the death rate j was considerably below the average. This ia proof of health and progress. . ■ ; ......

IRELAND.

Shaw and Co, spinners at Belfast and Celbridge, .have failed. Their liabilities are about LIOO, 000. ,The grant for pauper lunatics in. Ireland last year was L 78,000, all of ■which was expended with the exception of L 93. The extremely dry season at this period of the year is unusual. The water on the Kilbarry marshes is nearly drained offThe market price of. salmon in Waterford is Is 3d per pound. Last year, at this period, it was 2s per, pound. The Waterford and Limerick Railway Companyjhave in contemplation a Bill to connect, by railway, Waterford with Wexford. The new screw steamer, North Western, which was built by A. and J. Inglis, of Glasgow, for the Ardrossan Shipping Co, has arrived in Belfast. Two Manx boats have recently been purchased by two men named J ohn Donohue and Patrick Burke, .both ot Cape Clear, the firat named having invested for the first time in the mackerel fishing. Cardinal- Cullen and the Roman Catholic Bishops of the province of Dublin have issued a pastoral letter,, exhorting the' clergy and laity to take steps to recover the educational privileges of which they say. , the Catholics of Ireland have been unjustly deprived. It is reported that last year, in connection with Spike Island Convict Prison, Ireland, the Roman Catholic chaplain received LSO from army votes as chaplain to the military, but he , states that out of this sum he paid L 25 to tlie assistant chaplain, and Ll3 as expenses. A great change has' been made in the programme of examination for appointment to Royal Irish Constabnlary Cadetships. Latin and two branches of the law having been added, a largely increased number of candidates being nominated for each vacancy; Thus the difficulty of the examination has been greatly enhanced. The Earl of Kenmore is about to dispose of bis Limerick estates, the most valued in the counby, being estimated as worth LI O,OOO a year. . It is stated that his Lordship intends adding to his Kerry property with the purchase money, the greater portion of his income being already derived from the latter county. The traditional love of the Irishman for " mountain, dew," arid his desire to enjoy it free of Government control, is exemplified in the return of „the Inland Revenue just issued. :In 1874---75 the number of detections of illicit distillation was 731, in the following year it rose to 796, and in 1876 77 it was 979, The detections in Scotlond in 1877 were 2; in 1876 the,re . was only 1. In England, in 1876, thsre were 8 detections ; in 1877 only 3. At the meeting of the Board of Missions of the Irish Presbyterian Church, which has lately been concluded in Bek fast, the Rev. *Dr Kirkpatrick (Dublin) read a lettei from the Rev. Dr Charteris, of Edinburgh, asking in what manner the Established Church of Secotland could co-operate with the Irish Presbyterian .Church in conducting services at Howth and, other fishing stations, for the. benefit of the Gaelic fishermen. Dr Charteris's letter was very cordially received by the Board. Ie was resolved to remit the matter to the convener of the Church Extension Scheme (the Rev. Dr Kirkpatrick) and the Dublin Presbytery. . SCOTLAND, - The attendance at the cookery classes in Wishaw has amounted to 380. The drawings of the Lanark Cooperative Society last year amounted tp L 19.000. - The demand for houses in Edinburgh is on the increase, and rents are advancing. ■ The wages of masons in the town and district of Dunse have been reduced from 9J to 8d and B£d per hour. . The Dumfries Town Council has resolved to petition Parliament in f ayor of giving the electoral franchise to women. At the Dumfries hiring fair on the 12th February there was a large attendance j , but hands were engaged at from LI to L 2 less than last year. . . The latest addition to the number of; -church organs in Dundee is that for the ;' congregation of , St. John's (Dr Grant): Established Church. ' ; As proof of the dullness of trade in the : Coatbridge' district, it is mentioned that in one day no less than seventy young men there enlisted in the army. The Glasgow Herald reports a meeting of thO committee entrusted with the workof obtaining subscriptions for the erection of a bronze statue to the memory of the late D, r Norman Macleod, at \yhich it was. stated that; subscriptions amounting to LBOO had been received, and that LfiOO more was required. The Free Church Presbytery of Tain had recently a consultation respecting the proceedings of Dr Begg, Dr Kennedy, and the ministers who follow their leadership, and declared their conduct in holding a private conference, and sending a deputation to the Lord Advocato to be "unconstitutional and divisive." Dr Kennedy is not disposed to submit to

this censure, and has written a long letter defending the course taken by himself and friends. In addressing a congregation at Greenosk, on the 17th February, the Rev. D. Macrae referred to the action of the Glasgow Presbytery in libelling and suspending the Rev. Fergus Fergusson, He said that if the right of direct appeal to the Word of God is refused, and Mr Fergusson deposed on the mere ground of divergence from .. the theology of the Westminster divines,'; another blow will be; struck at our boasted liberty ; the Church ; will make a backward step towards ecclesiastical despotism or downwards towards ecclesiastical pordition. An important concession has been made by the Education Department in favor of the Gaelic language. It ha? been resolved.' to permit it to be taught m Highland Schools at least two hours' a week, and to be utilised in the instruction of- -children in other branches. This is certainly a movement in the right direction ; and, recognising; its importance, Mr Fraaer Mackintosh has resolved to withdraw the resolution on the subject of which he had given notice in the House of Commons.