ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6001, 10 February 1881, Page 3

ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

The gross revenue of the United Kingdom for ISSO was £53,290,390. All prisoners for debt in Scotland were released, under an Act of Parliament, on January 1. Hanlan and Ross on January 1 issued a, challenge to any two .oarsiucn in the world for a double-scull race for £500 to £1000 a-side. The race to come otT earlv in the season. The population of the United States is unofficially given at 50,152,559. Mark Twain, the famous humourist, is going crazy. An extensive band of forgers, of all nationalities, were arrested in Milan on " January 1. They made specialty bonds of different countries. Mr. Scott, champion shot of England, has signed articles of agreement with Dr. Carver for a match to shoot at 100 pigeons each for £200 a-side. The authorities sent a detective to Bradlaugli to inform him that they were in possession of sworn information that there was a plot to assassinate him. The person who gave the information stated that he overheard a party of foreigners arranging to kill Bradlaugh on his way home from the House of Commons. It is reported that the Tory tendency of the Queen's Speech from the Throne is entirely due to the personal persistency of Her Majesty, who is said to have refused her consent to the draft of an Address as it was drawn up for her by Gladstone. The new Ballot Act, if passed by the present Parliament, will throw the cost of elections on the electors, instead of on the candidates, as has been the custom heretofore. John Ray, a fellow-prisoner with Daniel O'Connell and member of O'Conucll's guard, is dead. Previous to the issue of the War Office circular, directing that a strict guard be kept over armories of volunteers, over 100 rifles were stolen from one place in the vicinity of London. It is said that the marriage of Baroness Burdett-Coutts with Ashmead Bartlett, will take place, and the clause of the will of the Duchess of Sealbaus, by which the Baroness would forfeit her interest in the bank in the event of marrying a foreigner, will be contested in the Courts. The Mennonite settlement in Manitoba, 30 miles south-east of Winnipeg, contains 34 villages and GSS families, and this year they have harvested 135.559 bushels of wheat, about 90,000 bushels of other grains, and 20,920 bushels of potatoes. Besides, they have 17.057 acres of hay land, 1077 horses, 919 oxen, 1047 cows, 1333 head of young cattle, 2022 pigs, 215 mowers, and 213 reapers. The Poet-Laureate's denunciation of vivisection in his recent volume has created the indignation and enthusiasm respectively of a section of the profession and of the AntiVivisection Society. His portrait of a wellknown disciple of the cruel school, though seemingly severe, is hot over-coloured. A Paisley publisher announces a sketch byMr. William Jolly, entitled "Robert Burns at Mossgiel, with Reminiscences of the Poet by his Herdboy," which Anil contain, aix etching of the original cottage at Mossgiel. The presidency, of the Gaelic Society of London, vacant by the death of Mr. J. Cameron Macphie, will be offered to Mr. Campbell, of Islay. The "New Gleanings from Gladstone," which appeared last Christmas, and had a" sale of 70,000 copies, is to be followed this year by " More Gleanings from Gladstone." Mr. John Bright, in a letter which he has written to Mr. F. G. Heat!\ to thank him for a copy of his " Peasant Life in the West of England," says that "the subject is one of great and growing interest," and that " the question of the land in England as well as in Ireland cannot sleep." It is said that Lord Beaconsfield is so well pleased with the success of his new book, '' Endymion," that he is about to set to work to write another, which will be more of a political character than the last. The ex-Empress Eugenie has caused a very stringent clause to be inserted in the deed oE sale of her villa at Biarritz, which will compel the new owners to have masses held in the chapel on the anniversaries of the deaths of her husband and son. The Government has under consideration the propriety of adopting the system of grand committees as a means of relieving the pressure of business in the House of Commons. In some degree this would be the re-adoption of one of the old customs of Parliament. The Ritualist controversy will probably come before Parliament next session in more than one form. It is said that Mr. J. B. Talbot will bring in a Bill for the repeal of the Public Worship Act, and rumour has it that the Church Association have asked an lion, and learned member to lay a bill before the House of Commons enacting that when a beneficed clergyman declines for six months to obey the orders of a court of competent jurisdiction, he shall forthwith be deprived, i December 21 was the seventy-fifth anniversary of the birth of the Right Hon. the Earl of Beaconsfield, K.G., who was born in London on December 21, ISOS, though some accounts make ISO 4 the year of his birth. His lordship (Benjamin Disraeli) is the eldest son of the late Isaac D'lsraeli, D.C.L., author of "The Curiosities of Literature," &c., by his. marriage with Maria, daughter of Mr. George Basevi, of Brighton. Mr. Dale was released from Holloway Gaol on December ISth in accordance with the decision of the Court of Appeal, pending the hearing of the appeal. Mr. Dale has gone into the country for a few days' recreation till he is summoned to appear before the Court Mr. Enraght, it is reported, declines to avail himself of the opportunity of recovering his liberty on the terms offered him by the judges, and'clects to remain in prison. Two new expeditions are about to be despatched to the Congo River. The first, sent out by the Geographical Society at Vienna, is to start from the Cape, and after crossing the Zambesi to explore the sources of the Congo, returning homeward by way of Egypt. This expedition will, in a literal sense; traverse the African Continent from south to north. The command of this expeditionary party has been given to Dr. Holub. The second expedition is to start from the French colonies in tiie Gaboon country and to push southwards towards the basin of the Congo River. Besides these two projected expeditious, there are three others already engaged in exploring the Congo—the Belgian, the Portuguese, and the American expedition under H. M. Stan- ■ ley-