MAIL ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XV, Issue 5309, 21 November 1878, Page 3

MAIL ITEMS.

The Prince of Montenegro has strongly pressed the Porte to surrender the territory ceded to him by the Berlin Treaty. Sir M. Hicks-Beach, speaking at the annual diniitT of the Winehcombe Agricultural Society, referred to the " irreprebsible" Eastern question, and asked those who were moat forward to criticise the policy of the Government to wait and see the result of what was now passing before they formed their ultimate judgment. He also observed that the Treaty ot Berlin was not specially the work of the British plenipotentiaries, although they had their share in framing it, but he thought it was at least a more satisfactory arrangement than the Treaty of San Stefauo.

Not"ithstanding the st?ictest investigation of the Hoedtl aud NuLcHnj* cases at Berlin, no ttaee of couspiiacy has yet been dif-covt red.

The Court of Assizes at Palermo has tried and convicted a baud of brigands, with the exception of seven, and au active search h being made for three who recently escaped, and who have been sentenced iu default.

At Staffordshire, a widow named Sophia Beutley has just died, at the aye of 101 years. Up to within a short time of her d» ath she Mas in pt.ss<.sfcion of all her faculties.

The Lord Mayor has remitted to Admiral Farshaw, the Naval Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth, the aum of £5490, the amount reeeivtd at tho Mansion-house for the relief of the necessitous relatives of the men who perished in the Eurydiee. The volcanic forces of Vesuvius arc on the increase, and the lava is rolling down the sides of the mountain. •

'Ibe King and Queen of the Belgians, following the example of several of the ancient rulers of the couutry, have just presented to the Cathedral of Antwerp a stained glass wiudow, desigued by M. Vander Ouderan, and executed in Antwerp by MM. Auguste Stalius and Alphonse Jauroscus. A monument of Frederick William 111., father of the German Emperor, has been unveiled at Cologne by the Emperor, amid manifestations of popular enthusiasm. The general elections in Canada has resulted in the complete defeat of the Mackenzie Ministry. Tho resignation of the Government is already in contemplation. The Opposition arc pledged to a protectionist policy. The Duchess of Norfolk laid the foundation. stone, at ShcUield, of a large drill-hall intended for the loc.il corps of Artilhry Yohmte.rs, of which the Duke of Norfolk is honorary colonel.

Tlie Carysfort, the fifth of the steel corvettes now l)i iug constructed by contract for tho i!o} al JS'iivy, has been launched at GlasS»»'. Tho Ministry of Commerce and .Agriculture in i'gypt has been suppressed from motives of economy, and tlie Customs will, in future, be under the control of the Kiuatice Minuter.

'I tie P.<pc has addressed to Caldinal Nina a letter explaining at length the policy of the Holy See, and protesting against the growing hostility of the Italian Government towards the Church.

Turkish nflicial despatches announce that tlie in.-urreotiou in Cieilia is nearly sup-

pressed. It i'i stated that Dr. l'nscy lias iu the press a letter to his Grace the Archbishop "f Cant' rhury, entitled " Habitual Confession not discouraged by the Resolution accepted by the Lambeth Conference." i lie Republican party ill Wasfai-liuset's have adopted resolutions strongly in favour <jt* the resumption td specie payments, and denouncing General Butler as a repudiator. 'I lie revolt of the Armenian* ill the districts of K"z:in and Ha lsch n again-t the imposition of fui tlier taxation is reported to be increasing. The Latin Archbishop at Constantinople Ins lie. II dir-'C'cd by the Vatican to request the Porte to put a stop to the ma-saeies of Roman Ca'.holies ia the Western Provinces.

According to the news from Vienna, the Porte seems to be strengthening its forces considerably oil the Greek frontier. Tho troups iu ! lie-sally are now estimated at 25,000. and iu lipirus at nearly the same number.

The amount of parental contributions for the maintenance of children in reformatory schools iu Great Britain in the last year was £23.030 13s Sd, and iu Ireland £13U9 2s lid.

The negotiations of the Porte with the local bankers for raisiug a new loan have proved fruitless. Both Servia and Montenegro have assured the Austrian Government that they are scrupulously disarming and interniug all insurgent bands scekiug refuge within tbeir respective frontiers. Isabel Grant, who was condemued to death for the murder of her husband at Glasgow, has been respited, and her sentence commuted to penal servitude for life. Midhat Pasha has received permission to return to Turkey, on condition of not living at the capital, and a pension has been granted him.

Two persona were poisoned, and several others seriously injured, at Barnsley, through eating a bread pudding made at a refreshment house. How the poison got into the pudding is scill a mystery. The inquest on the disaster in the Thames shewed that the polluted state of the river tended to swell the number of victims.

Montenegro asks Servia to unite with her in resisting the Albanian insurgents—a course strongly recommended by General KomarofF. Ho!>art Pasha has submitted to the German Crown Prince a plan for raising the (Jr isser K.urfurst. The House of Commons has at length realistd the fact that a man who is addicted to habitual drunkenness should be liable to detention in an asylum where he would be d alt with by curative means. Dr. Cameron mentioned the ease of an habitual drunkard whose brain was so saturated with alcohol that after death it was lighted with a candle. He also referred to apo.ii viorUm examination of one of Barclay and Perkins's drayman, whose body was fearfully distended with carburetted hydrogen caused by driuk, and on Sir William Gull and his assistant puncturing it in fifteen places and applying a light jots of tlamo issued from the corpse until the gas burnt out. If, the next time a similar postmortem takes place, a hundred or two tipplers could bo induced to attend, the apectaelc would doubtless exercise a wonderful influence orer them.