NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6255, 3 December 1881, Page 7

NEWS IN BRIEF.

An explosion of petroleum occurred on board the Italian bngantins Armenia, bound, from Barcelona, for Marseilles. The vessel sack, and eight persons were drowned. From a public document just issued it appeara that in the year ended Much 31st last the stamp duty on patent medicines amounted to as much as £139,762 18s 10£ d. The Glasgow News states that the Queen has sent a donation of £200, in aid of the movement for completing the capital fund of the smaller livings of the Church of Scotland.

The Jewish population of the world is estimated as follows by Richard Andrie: 5,166,326 ; Africa, 402,996; Asia, 182,847; America, 307,963 ; Australia, 20,000. Total. 6,050,132.

Two of the ten crocodiles which were sent from Egypt to Mr. Paul Bert have died. The rest have been transferred to the Jarden des Plantes, where they have been placed in a special park.

The trustees of the late Mr. Harris have intimated their intention to devote £40,000 of the fortune of their disposal to the establishment and maintenance of a Technical school for Preston.

Lord Rosse's tenants in Ireland seem to be in revolt, not one of the 500 or more on his property appearing to pay rent. A number of farm houses which Lord Rosse has on his hands have been burned.

A constable volunteered to watch a store which was to be robbed, at New Sharon, lowa. He slept at his post, and the burglars took away his money, pistol, and clothes, leaving him covered with molasses.

There is now an evangelical church of 1400 souls at Ur of the Chaldees, the modern Urfa. An American weaver waß converted at Aintab, and, returning to Urfa, combined evangelical work with his daily toil with the above result.

Morocco has been suffering from a heat that is described as all but insupportable. It was so great that the fast of the Ramadan could not be kept, and in the last removal of the Sultan's camp over 200 camels perished of excessive heat.

The unveiling of the monument erected at Falaiseau to the memory of Joseph Bara took place amid great rejoicings. The statue of Bara, the drummer lad of thirteen, who died during the Vendean war, a victim of his fidelity to the republic, is the work of M. J. Lefeuvrc.

Thomas Taylor, mycroscopist, will exhibit at the meeting for the advancement of science, at Cincinnati, an oleomargroscope for the detection of oleomargarine. Under this instrument fatty substances assume all the colours of the rainbow, while the genuine retains its natural colour.

A congress of the Alpine clubs of different countries in Europe has been opened at Milan. The president (Siguor Sella) delivered an inaugural address, in the course of which he dwelt upon the advantage of A lpine climbing in promoting physical and moral energy. A similar congress will be held next year at Biela.

It is stated that the first process of silk manufacture, which has hitherato been admitted into America without duty, is about to be brought within the tariff. It is feared that, in consequnnce, the trade which the silk manufacturers of Yorkshire have with America will in future no longer be able to be conducted with profit. First they invent a torpedo th.it will destroy anything and then they get up a contrivance that will make a ship invulnerable. The Inflexible of the British navy is to be fitted with nets for defence against torpedos at an expense of £3,000, Now it is the turn of inventors to contrive something that will make the defensive nets useless.

The geysers of Iceland are dying out, like thousands of others whose remains arc scat tered around the field on which they now are active, writes a correspondent from Iceland. To-day there are but two geysers, unless you thus dignify the dozen little bubbling streams that struggle up through the brick-coloured mud in the neighbourhood. When the law against the Socialists was first passed, it is said that Prince Bismarck tmrst out with " Now off we go for the pig sticking !" And apparently the chase has been tolerably active; for 163 cluba and societies and 58 periodicals, as well as 210 no-periodical publications, have been suppressed. In addition to this 262 persons have been banished.

An archery club went out to practice at Ensign's Mountain, Mo., recently. Miss Mathews had a lovers' quarrel with Mr. Grace, and when it came her turn to shoot at the target a few minutes afterwards she sent an arrow into the young man's breast. It was all an accident, she said, and was ever so sorry, but he believed she meant kill him and had her arrested.

Sir Gilbert Edward Campbell, Bart., was charged at the Marylebone Police-court on October 6 with threatening to commit suicide at the Langham Hotel. It appoared thatthe prisoner had written a letter to the Alliance Insurance Company asking for an advance on the security of his policy of life assurance, and threatening that if the money was not forthcoming he would mature the policy by committing suicide. A startling discovery of eight cartridges was recently made in a bale of cotton at the Abbey Spinning Company's mill, Chaderton, Oldham. The cartridges had the stamp of " U. 5.," and were discovered by the mixers who were preparing the cotton. Had they been placed in the machine for cleaning the cotton, the cartridges would have exploded. It is thought, of course, that Fenianism is at the bottom of the affair.

In a small agricultural village called Wrestlingworth, in the county of Bedford, an extraordinary wedding took place in the parish church recently. The bridegroom was in his 77th year, and the bride in her 81st His Christian name is Thomas and hers is Mary. This is the third Mary that Thomas has selected as his partner, and the third Thomas to whom Mary has been united. Both receive parish relief of 2s. and a loaf each per week. A provision storekeeper's servant at Williamsburg, U.S.A., opening a barrel of eggs from Tennessee, found a request written on one of them that the finder, if a lady, would write to an address appended. She complied in fun; but in five days came a very matter-of-fact request for her portrait; a proposal of marriage followed, and very soon the sender arrived to urge his suite in person. He turnt i out to be a thriving young farmer in Tennessee, and the girl accepted and married him.

People who have any reason to fear that their dogs are going mad, should adopt the ingenious expedent of a dentist in Paris. Ha has a dog which lately went mad and bit a child. The wound was cauterised, and the dentist was told that the animal must be destroyed. But he said that having had his suspicions of the dog's sanity excited sometime before, he had taken the precaution of providing it wilh a Bet of false teeth, which were, of course, harmless. How this waa managed is not stated, but people who have got pet dogs had better see their dentists without delay. A Brimingham coachman, considerably advanced in years, who was i n receipt of £1 a week, has just been left £2000 a year. Hia parents were very miserly, and he ran away from home some years ago. His mother has since amassed a large fortune, and has left it all to her son. The most curious part of the affair is that, although he now finds himself a wealthy man. the lucky heir has grown so fond of his avocation and his home that he is quite distressed lest he should have to give them up. When he heard of the windfall he went to his master and begged of him not to discharge him from his service. A hammerman named Francis Conway was apprehended recently at Govan, near Glasgow, on a charge of having caused the death of his wife by throwing her out of a four-storey window. The woman was found lying below the window, about one o'clock in the morning, her husband, in his shirt sleeves, holding up her head. The couple, who are little over 20 years of age, were only married two months ago ; but they do not appear to have lived happily. The alligation is that the woman was thrown out of window by her husband, but the latter asserts that she jumped out in a fit of temper. "When the doctor arrived Mrs. Conway was unconscious, and died two hourj afterwards.

One of the most remarkable sportsmen has just attained his eightieth birthday. It is now more than half a century since Mr. Horatio Ross, of Rossis Castle, Forfarshire, astonished the sporting world as a steeple-chase-rider on his famous horse Clinker against Captain Douglas on Radical over Leicestershire ; and, indeed, steeplechase-riding, as now practised, may be said to date from that event, it being the first steeplechase on record. Although advanced in years, Mr. Rossis still a marvel of physical strength ana endurance. No man living has killed so many stags ; nor is his score in this respect complete, for even now, during the season, lie sallies forth each morning after an early breakfast for a stalk on~Ben Wyvis, and seldom returns without a head or two 3 for his hand is almost as steady and his eye as true as in those earlier days of his life when he earned for himself the sobriquet of " the deertalker. 1