NEWS BY THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LI, Issue 5608, 14 February 1879, Page 5

NEWS BY THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL.

GENERAL SUMMARY. [By Tex-kgeaph.] [TIMES' SPECIAL WIRE.] (Per s.B. Australia, tift Auckland.) • j..Lokdon, Jan. 20. In the colliery explosion in the Bhondda Valley, near Pontypridd, 60 perished. Sir W. G. Hayter has been drowned. The Cornish Bank has suspended payment. There is great distress in consequence. The Marquis of Tweeddsle is dead. The Town Council of Cork refuse to receive General Grant in consequence of the antiCatholic sentiments expressed by him in Dublin. He was presented with the Freedom of the City, and magnificently fisted in Belfast and the north generally. Dean Stanley announces his intention to return again to America. The Oldham cotton strike is over.

The American steamship Bulgarian was totally wrecked on the Welsh coast, and the Louisiana was lost at the mouth of the Lough Sonne, on the Irish coast. The distress in England is increasing. 6500 persons are daily relieved in Manchester alone.

Sir James Stephen has been appointed Judge of the High Court of Justice vice Sir Anthony Oleasby, resigned. Mr Gladstone proposes to contest the next Midlothian election.

Five thousand English emigrants sailed for New Zealand recently. The Oxford Boat Club declines to row the American Harvard College Club. The Duke of Edinburgh is to be appointed Admiral of the North American station, and the rumour is revived that the Duke of Connaught is to be Viceroy of Ireland. The Birmingham Literary and Mechanics’ Institute has been burned. 80,000 volumes were destroyed, including the largest Shaksperian collection in the world of 8000 volumes, . Mr Ward, of London, on artist has committed suicide. There are heavy floods in England and Scotland. The Thames is filled with floating ice. and traffic in parts is suspended. Princess Caroline of Hesse u dead. Lord Beadbhsflold has fully recovered. Prince Bismarck is preparing a Bill authorising the opening of all letters on the frontUThe German Government intend to send a naval force to Samoa to demand alleged is interfering to prolong the time of occupation. The heavy run on the London and County Bank was caused bv the assembling of a mob in front of the building to listen to a dispute between a cabman and his fare. The reserves of the bank were not affected. Twenty persons were recently killed by a collision on the Warsaw railway. Two thousand and forty-five Communists have been pardoned by Marshal M’Mahon. if Oonvasa and Co., London merchants, have failed for , , , The Oxford University boat crew declined to row the Harvard crow because of the lateness of the date. _ The Bight Hon W. H. Forster, speaking at Bradford; «aid they did not know the strength of protection in the United States. He thought that no threat of imposing Custom duties would have any effect. The United States would only thereby be provoked to see which side was strongest j besides, such a policy would bo impracticable, because to bring serious pressure on the United States it would be necessary to tax such vital necessities as wheat and cotton. . The North Wales Quarrymen’s Union has

offered the same premium to its members who 4dll emigrate as those offered by the North Wales Minors’ Association, namely, £7 to those emigrating to America, and £l4 to those desiring to go to Australia, The Quarrymou’s Union offer £2 additional to members emigrating west of Chicago. It is believed that many will accept, as the smaller quarries mostly remain closed. The cotton mills at Preston have given notice of the reduction of wages from 5 to 10 per cent. Prince Bismark has written, and caused to bo published, a letter appealing to the agricultural community of Germany to afford him their united and vigorous support in his work of fiscal reform. He refers to the new duties to bo imposed upon imported corn and cattle, and expressed an opinion that such taxation has become an unavoidable necessity. At Berlin the police prohibited the collection of funds by the Socialist leaders, and arrested a man for soliciting in violation of the prohibition. Prince Bismarck is preparing to submit to the Feudal Council a law for the regulation of railway tariffs. Herr Bemingsen, President of the Land Tax Commission, lately protested his inability to protect outsiders from rhetorical insults by .members. He thereby undoubtedly played, designedly or not, into the hands of Government, and the North German Gazette exultingly declares his protest to be an intimation of the bankruptcy of disciplinary power. _ The Czar of Russia has ordered the authorities of East Siberia to immediately despatch an overland sledge expedition to ascertain the whereabouts of Norden-Egold’s expedition. Major St John, of the British army, was fired upon in the streets of Candahar, by a fanatic Native, but not wounded. The man was hanged. A lieutenant of the Royal Artillery was severely’wounded, and two soldiers slightly stabbed with stilettoes. The assembling of the Bulgarian Notables to, elect a * Prince has been postponed for a wrek. ■ • ■ :

Mukhtar Pasha has decided upon Jarmard os the meeting place of the Frontier Commission. :

. The Greek delegates have been instructed to insist on the cession of Jarmard, and the Greek journals urge Government to remain firm on this point. The steamer Oberon, from New Orleans to Liverpool, went ashore in a gale in White’s Bay, entering the harbour. The vessel had previously lost her propeller. The popular vote throughout Switzerland resulted in a large majority in favour of a subvention to the St Gothard and other Alpine Railways. A dispatch "from Vienna hints that the delay in signing the Convention is due to the revival of Russian influence at Constantinople and intrigues to prolong the occupation. It is semi-officially stated that the exchange of views relative to the joint occupation of Eastern Roumelia has been without result. It does not at present appear likely that such a scheme will be carried out.

The construction of barracks for 15,000 men in Constantinople in the lines of defence has been ordered.

The following fires are reported :—The Lecture and Sunday School Booms of First Presbyterian Church, New Market, was burned on the morning of Jan. 20; loss, £20,000; Emmanuel Congregational Church, Boston, Highlands, loss, £50,000; Woollen Mill of John Brown and Son, Philadelphia, loss, about £15,000; W. L. Bidders’ Flour Mill, Gensce, Illinois, loss £37,000; Occidental Hotel, Omaha, which cost £20,000. A Bill, granting an amnesty to Mormon polygamists will be introduced into the Senate.

Senator Edmonds delivered an elaborate speech on the resolutions submitted by him, which provides for terminating so much of the Treaty of Washington as alludes to the fisheries, by giving the notice required by its prohibition. The resolutions were referred to the Foreign Eolations Committee. According to present appearances they will bo adopted by the Senate without opposition, and the President will promptly give the required notice to the Government of Great Britain.

Mr G. Harrison, formerly of Auckland, will bare a publio roooption at San Pranoiaco, in recognition of his services with regard to the Beaconsfleld testimonial presentation in England. The Council of State of Geneva has asked for 10,000 francs to relieve destitute workmen.

It is stated that Prince Bismarck has decided to withdraw the Parliamentary Discipline Bill, leaving the matter to the Beichstag. The Arcade block in Broad and West Grand streets, Elizabeth, Hew York, caught fire on the morning of Jan. 26 in the Italian Opera House. The National Bank, Savings Bank, Post Office, Masonic Hall, four stores, and a number of offices in the upper part of the building, including the Opera House, were ruined. The money and securities were rescued from' the Banks, and the letters and papers from the Post Office. The structure Cost £250,000.

The liabilities of the Gottesburg Commercial Co. are £200,000. The failure was caused by advances to Swedish lumber merchants and paper mills. The German Conservative journals agree in expressing scruples about the articles In the Parliamentary Discipline Bill, which provide for handing an offending member over to the Courts. This is interpreted to mean that Government will sacrifice that provision because a constitutional difficulty has been discovered, and not as a concession to the Beichstag. Up to the end of last year the total number of injunctions issued in accordance with the Anti-Socialistic law was 437, and they wore applied to 189 clubs and societies, and 68 periodical and 210 non-periodical publications. The number of persons expelled from the Empire under the same law was 63. It was semi-offioially announced that the Parliamentary Discipline Bill was brought forward by direct command of the Emperor William.

It is credibly reported that the Crown Prince Frederick William has given an assurance that Prussia does not intend to incorporate the Duchy of Brunswick. It is rumoured, however, that a project exists for making Prince Henry of Prussia Duke of Brunswick. The present Duke has consented t o a Bill which will shortly be summitted to the Diet, whereby, if the succession is not ettled within a year from his death a Begont shall be chosen from princely families in Germany. ... The Berlin journals publish a semi-official note, which says that the reported statement of the Crown Prince that Prussia does not intend to incorporate the Duchy, must not be assumed to be authentic because it is not officially denied. The Foil reproduces a statement of the Chicago Qaxette that, according to the lino now adopted by Prussia, the Duke of Cumberland must renounce his hereditary claim to the throne of Brunwsiok as well as of Hanover to obtain restoration of his sequestrated orlin journals state, under reserve, that as Boon as the Socialist Democratic depu* ties come to the opening of the Reichstag they will bo expelled, in virtue of the existingpetty state of siege. . „ An Encyclical letter from the Pope ooouSics seven columns in the Ostervatore lomano. The Pope inveighs against Socialism Communism and Nihilism, which militate no longer secretly but openly against the Civil State, rupturing the matrimonial tie, ignoring the rights of property, claiming everything, however legally inherited or honestly acquired, and attempting even the lives of kings. These agencies spring from the Eeformation, which opened the sluicegate of scepticism, till Godless Governments have arisen where the Eodeemer of the world is ignored, and the youth are trained to believe that man’s destinies are bound by the present, not by any hereafter. Hence an impatient and aggressive spirit, which seeks its gratification at others’ expense. Previous pontiffs from Clement XII. to Pius IX. had directed upon this in their allocations and encyclical, but churches’ warning is more than ever required. The equality desired by these sects is contrary to scripture j there arc distinctions between angels in heaven, and must bo distinctions between men on earth.

Where tyranny prevails the Church shields the oppressed/ and when tyranny is too strong she enjoins resignation. The Pope justifies marriage, and the subservience of woman to man, of the child to the parent, and of the servant to the master. Such independency, rightly observed in a State as in a family, would operate on earth as it does in heaven. The poverty of which socialism is impatient is corrected by the Church, which besides her own charities enjoins almsgiving on the rich to whom she thus reconciles the poor. Such is the sola* tion of the evils for which socialism seeks a revolutionary remedy. Let, therefore, all principalities and princes accept the Church—the safeguard of earthly and surety of heavenly things. The Eiioyclical is regarded as an appeal to all Catholics to organise a crusade against a murderer's institution, and with that object to participate in political elections.

In addition to the proposed appointment of several vioars-apostolio in the parts of America destitute of Episcopalian Churches, the Vatican intends to establish several new bishoprics in the United States, and institute a new hierarchy different from the present one. The Pope has sent circulars to the bishops outside Europe with a view of extending the collections of Peter’s ponce in all parts of the world. Mr Gladstone was presented, with a silver axe on his 69th birthday. The English papers are filled with the trial of the City of Glasgow Bant directors, A proposal has been seriously entertained to start a lottery on,a gigantic scale to yield nine millions. Tne scheme will take the form of a Company, in which the public will bo invited to tase shares. The leading Glasgow citizens will promote it. A Relief Committee and . soup kitchens are being formed in all the large manufacturing towns?

In Scotland houses have been embedded by snowstorms which are the heaviest known this generation.At Cork S father and three children were suffocated by on escape of gas, which penetrated their room at night when they were asleep. AMERICAN. San Feancibco, Jan. 21. A second vessel, fully laden, has left New York for Sydney with American articles for exhibition at the August Exhibition. The minstrel Abeceo, known in the Colonies, died in Chicago on Jan. 4. A delegation of Chicago merchants has gone to the. City of Mexico for the purpose of extending trade. Several earthquakes have been felt in Florida.

Miss Anderson, an Englishwoman, walked 2700 quarter miles in as many hours at Brooklyn. Caleb Cushing died of scarlet fever in New York.

The European steam ships are delayed in New York Harbour by the ice.

Archbishop Purcell, of Cincinnati, a prominent Roman Catholic prelate, has become bankrupt and resigned. He filed a deed of trust securing his creditors. Specie payments were resumed by the United States Government on Jan. 1. Paper is now generally preferred to gold. The Grant powder works at San Francisco have exploded, three men being killed, and oOOOdols worth of property destroyed.

Wm. H. Vanderbilt is about to start a line •of eight steamers between New York and Liverpool. A fire in Broadway, N.Y., involved a loss of 2,000,000 dols. A second one, in North street, did damage to the extent of 2,600,000 dols.

The Chinese question has become a Cabinet affair at Washington. The number of miles of railroad constructed in the United States was 2688, exceeding any previous year since 1873. Ex-Governor Bravo, who headed the rising in Colinia and Wichongan, Mexico, has been killed with 14 followers.

During the past year failures were recorded in New York with liabilities to the amount of £63,958,403, and assets given at £18,695,831. This exceeds any record in former years. The large number is mainly due to the repeal of the bankrupt law. Most of the weak firms are being wiped out, and the prospects for the coming year are much brighter than they were a year ago. The following occurred near Alson Craig, Ontario, on Jan. 14:—Miss Macker, residing at Burgon mill, suddenly expired. Her mother, on seeing the corpse of her daughter, dropped dead ; and her betrothed, Edward Cousins, hearing of her death, cut his throat. A terrfic snowstorm set in at New York extending from Enoxville, Tennessee, to the Atlantic. On Jan. 18, the severest storm of the season occurred, and traffic was interrupted. A number of vessels belonging to, or bound to or from ports in the United States are reported as totally lost or missing during the past month. They consist of 5 steamers, 4 ships, 5 barques, 5 brigs, and 41 schooners. The total value, exclusive of cargoes, is estimated at £900,000. The list shows 41 wrecked, 11 abandoned, 1 sunk by collision, 1 drowned, 2 burned, and 4 missing. The losses during the year 1878, of vessels belonging to, or bound to, or from United States ports, where 27 steamers, 22 ships, 101 barques, 59 brigs, 34 schooners; total value £9,462,000. A New York despatch states that another ship leaves this month with American exhibits for the International Exhibition, to be held at Sydney next August. The Eastern manufacturers are taking advantage to a considerable extent of this opportunity of introducing their productions to a new market. There was a great fire in North street, In., N.Y., on Jan. 17, which destroyed 12 large warehouses and their contents, valued at two and a half million dols. Several weak insurance offices are in trouble thereby, and the insurance rates were advanced the next day. A cablegram received at Halifax states that the Duke of Edinburgh will shortly be appointed Admiral of the North American station. He will come out early in the summer with the Duchess, accompanied by the Russian fleet. The strike of coal minors m Pennsylvania against the reduction of wages has ended, the men accepting 10 per cent, reduction. The Hormory cotton mills at Cahoes, New York, employing 8500 hands, and producing 300,000 yards of cotton per day, have reduced their working time to three days a week, in order to reduce production and stiffen prices. James Gordon Bennett’s yacht Jeannette, which is to attach the American flag to the North Pole, is lying in Marie Island Naval Yard, Frisco Bay, where she will undergo repairs for her adventurous voyage. She was thoroughly repaired at London before sailing to this country, and is in good condition. The scientific party which is to accompany the vessel has not yet arrived, but she will probably start op her arctic trip next June.