THE SUEZ MAIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6424, 20 June 1882, Page 6

THE SUEZ MAIL.

Bγ ' the ; arrival of the mail steamer, last night, we have English papers to the sth of May, from which.we take the following terns':— .. : . ~...-..-..

The Empress Eugenie is living at Nic 3 •until the termination of her lawsuit with the Marseilles Corporation. A private letter from Epirus states that the Turks intend to remove the capital of that province from Janina to.Berat. •Recent frosts have nearly ruined the prospects of a rich harvest entertained by the wine-growers on the Rhine.: The Czar has accepted the offer of the St. Petersburg andvMoscow noblemen to protect the Imperial Family and maintain public Order. ' rr , ■■ ■ . Ihe German papers regard Mr. Gladstone s concessions, to Ireland as incomprehensible, and as indicating a blindness which threatens the very existence of the Union. It is stated'that the French Government is disposed to renew negotiations with England for the conclusion of a Treaty of Commerce. " •■ ' '■:■ : ■•'■'■• The -Nihilists have found means tc inform the Czar that they intend to suspend all attempts on his life after his coronationat Moscow, in the hope that their constitutional demands will then be satisfied. ... Said Pasha, formerly, Governor of the Archipelago, has been'appointed chief of a newly-created Ministerial department for the carrying out of reforms in Asia Minor and Eastern Roumelia. , He will be assisted by Akif Pasha, and Abdur Rahman Pasha. The : festivities at- the British Embassy at Berlin, in honour -of the marriage of the Duke of Albany, were of a very grand eharaeter. All the 'members, of the German Royal Family residing at Berlin and Potsdam were. present at ar banquet at the King's Palace. - . ; .-- ■'.-.'- -:;■■-.-■ '-.'

From the Tyrol" severe snowstorms are reported, whole! districts being covered, with snow,-severalfeet deep. The locomotives on all the lines are running with snow ploughs, while-locomotion in the town has again to be carried on with sledges,, as in the depth- of a severe winter. ; '• , . .... .-.- '.' ,

: Prince Bismarck has apparently taken advantage of the welcome opportunity afforded, by Russia making complaints respecting theattacks proceeding from the press at Ham-, burg, to insist on tfis abolition of diplomatic representatives being sent to the "minor German States.^'- ; . -~ ' An extensive strike at Nantes is. announced. Every trade connected with iron manufactures is concerned. In all, 5000 men have abandoned their work. The strike is due to a proposal of the masters to deduct 40., centimes" on every; 100, francs wages' towards • the' payment 'of for the" insurance of men against accidents. •.'.. " ~ A private meetirig, convened; by invitation,. ■was held.in Berlin a,few iL daya ago,, with the object of assisting the' emigration of Jews from Russia. / Some 250 gentlemen,, well known in the political and social world, "Were present. A resolution was adopted expressing warm sympathy with the endeayoars that had already been made to afford, aid to the Jewish refugees from Russia. -■ .'.. ".. The directors.of the Orient Steam Navigation Company, Limited, in their annual report state that the net profits in 1861 were £46,040. Of this, £27,649 has teen added, to the. reserve fund as a proportionate provision for the .cost of the steamersj leaving an available balance of £13,391, from which it is proposed to pay a dividend at the rate of 5 per cent, per annum free of income tax. The snmoi £300.0 .has been charged against tke. reserve, as being a portion of the cost of fitting the Graronne with new boilers, and"that fund, with the above addition, now; tands at £83,959. . .;

The "Anglo-Australian in London,"writing in the says :—.''Much ■sympathy has been expressed for the Hon. John Hall, Premier of New. Zealand, on account of his continued ill-health, and more particularly because, he has been compelled to relinquish bis post as head of the Government. This, of; course, .without any reflection upon the-Hori. F: : Whitaker, who has nobly, leapt --'into tb.e breach, and. whose policy will doubtless be conducted upon the same lines as that of his predecessor." ; • -

SUGGESTED BURNING OF LONDON.

A' Russian' chemist, called Professor MezzerkdiT, iisis been delivering a lecture, at a meeting of Irishmen in New... York, on the interesting subject of r the " Burning of London,!" and ,the ease and trifling cost with which he could carry out. his noble -project, haying madeja study of .war arid of explosives; used for destructive purposes. He said that at a cost of : 150. dollars he could annihilate an English ' war vessel that had cost 11,000,000 dollars, and was coated with iron armour 22inches in thickness. He could go into London, Paris, Berlin, Constantinople, or St. Petersburg with twenty men, none of them burdened with anything inore bulky than an ordinary satchel, and in 24h6ura would "deetroy He could, not then explain the means he would use; but there were others present who understood; and 'who could tell how effective they were. He could fora few thousand dollars stretch a double line of dynamite torpedoes before every harbour in Ireland, and so make a worse than'impassable barrier for every English ship. He could stand in an outskirt of Constantinople, in a space of one-fourth the size of the room-in which he was speaking, and with means now at his command destroy the entire city. The professor then explained a few objections which might be made to warfare prosecuted in this manner, but insisted that the means he had named were, legitimate weapons for Irishmen against their English tyrants. The meeting, being composed of Irishmen, at once resolved to subscribe towards the cost of the proposed friendly suggestion for the "burning of London." PRINTING BY ELECTRIC CURRENT.

In connection with, the electric exhibition a short time since, -Messrs. Dickens and Evansi printers, of Great New-street, London, had one of their printing machines, which is at ■workin their office in the Palace, connected •with the! electric current to try its success in printing. This is the first record of a printing marVrne being driven by the electric power, and nil be referred to by oiir det;. rough, all ages as we progress. From thi3 twinkle of science will grow such a blaze of change that we may reasonably expect to get any number of horse-power of the. current laid on to manufactories and printing offices, to the ultimate exclusion of • eteam-engine3 and boilers, with their dirt and grit and danger, while the current will .also- give a pure light instead of the foul oxygen-consuming gas flame, and electric bells and telephones will complete the new arrangement. Light and! sound have been dealt "with, and now power is to the fore, and when/we remember that thcpower which drove thia little printing machine and a dozen Brush lights was generated a mile away, and conducted along a wire, we cannot guess the limit to which this new and startling stride in science will take us. Central stations ■srill doubtless soon be erected, and the power there produced will radiate in all ; directions along the numerous wires; supplying any firm or dwelling-house.with as much as their owners want. ■ The storage of this force for -use at a future time is another marvel lately^ .perfected, but long ago touched.'.'. We must not pretend-that, we shall .see 'ihe end. of this..' mighty; influence.lin, our day. It ■would;rather appear that'we have been climbing upward since the world began, *nd hare met at various stages different

things. Wβ stumbledon steam and gas, and now the altogether better and vaster servant, electricity, ,is working Jprjus. What will supersede that at present no man can tell. Its adaptability is universal, and when we find a printing-press, the first moved round by the electric current, working well and 'lighted'by-the same power; we must be. prepared for such exaggerated developments of its' usefulness as will make great changes in our modes of living, far surpassing those that have been wrought by steam, .and if any of the little handbills printed at the Crystal Palace by this process are to be got at in a hundred years' time, they will be eyed curiously indeed. A proof of the handbill printed by the prqeess here described has been forwarded to us, and there is no perceptible difference between the specimen and those turned out on the ordinary job machines by the usual process. As the first work executed by electricity, the handbill must, be considered a great curiosity.— London Press News.

THE BULGARIAN DIFFICULTY. The only portion of the Balkan peninsula in which there is any reason to anticipate trouble is Bulgaria. Just a year ago Prince Alexander made a coup d'dtat, destroyed the constitution of the.country. Hβ did this after having paid a visit to Russia, with the object, there can be no doubt, of gaining the support of the Czar and his advisers. He is now once more in Russia, and it is shrewdly anticipated that he may be bent upon repeatifig his former action. The Bulgarian people are openly opposed to their ruler,, and nothing has been done by the National Assembly, specially elected to consider the whole question of- the administration of the country. Meanwhile, a powerful body of resistance to. Prince Alexander's designs has been 'organised. The Conservatives who helped the Prince to his cc up d'etat have', made common cause with the Liberals who withstood him. The jaew party, thus formed, demands a National Assembly, a general reduction' of expenditure, and a foreign policy conducted in a way which will secure the friendship of Russia and the sympathy of the three Powers. Yet, thougli it is true that Prince Alexander has done much of which the .Russian Government disapproves, there is little reason to suppose that, in- the event of an open struggle between himself. and his people, the influence of Russia would be thrown into 'the scale hostile to himself. Prince Alexander is closely connected' with the Imperial Russian house; and in the long run he may be trusted to be its faithful' instrument. .Whatever,- therefore, the results of the present agitation in Bulgaria, t&e influence'of Russia is not likely to be ranged against 'Prince.Alexander.-—Home News. I The engagement of : Prussian officers by the ; Sultan for the purpose of drilling his troops 'is naturally "considered in" Germany to be a proof of great discernment on. the part of His Majesty,-as all: those officers under engagement to proceed to Turkey are spoken I of as most efficient - and experienced; and i indeed the very pink of the army. i RUSSIAN POWER IN THEPACIFIC.

Concurrently with the development of the Russian military power in the Amoor region, it has now been considered advisable to add to the regular naval - force located in and abolit Vladivostock. This has hitherto eonsisted'of 2000 seamen and marines, one-half being -usually afloat, and the other half ashore. By a decision recently arrived at by the Russian. Government, however, the number, afloat will be increased to 1750, by the despatch of extra seamen from Cronstadt; and, later on in the season, 500 men will be added to the.force ashore. These ; 3250 sesmen will belong to what is known as the ''Siberian Flotilla," and will be altogether apart from the Pacific Fleet. '

A WEALTHY JUDGE. Of all .recently' deceased judges ViceChancellor Malins seems to have died ; the .wealthiest. His will has been proved at £96,000' personalty. Lord Justice Thesiger's was only £80,000. Chief Baron Kelly's was £60,000, h'e having lost a great deal in the great Crash when Overehd and Gurney -went down; Sir' Alexander Cockburn's was £40,000, but then he was rich in realty; Sir.W. -M. James's wa3 £36,000. The per : sonal property.of the late Lord Robartes has been proved to amount to upwards of £570,000. • '-.-.

■■ ■"• MAGNIFICENT GOLD SERVICE. -The banquet given at Windsor in honour of the royal marriage was upon a scale of extraordinary splendour. No sovereign, European or Asiatic, possesses such a service of gold plate as that which was placed before the royal guests ; its value is estimated; : at'not-leas .than £2,000,000. Arnong its contents are the lyre-bird, whose body and tail are composed of solid gold, ornamented with brilliants, rubies, emeralds, and' pearls, and the tiger's head of. silver and gold, which were taken from Tippoo Sahib- at the storming of Seringapatam. Only three toasts were given—the health of the bride and bridegroom, of the Kiug and Queen of Holland, and of the Queen of England. The Royal wedding has received a certain reflective, touch of sorrow from the death of the bride's, sister, which took place on the Monday previous, causing the King and Queen of Holland summarily to leave England, and involving the postponement of one or two public and official banquets in honour of the banauet.

SIR HENRY PARKES ON THE ■"/..... . .. COLONIES. At a banquet given to Sir Henry Parkes in London, H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh presiding, Sir Henry Parkes in reply to the toast of the ecening said :—"lt was twentyeight years since he was first elected to the local Legislature, and during.those years of Parliamentary and official life, while con ; fessing his sins as he freely • did, he thought he should be a much worse man if he had not offended a great number of people. He did not believe in those excellent characters •who had no enemies. As for himself, he had made such a bountiful cz-op of enemies that though he had gone through some twentyfour elections, he never was allowed on going back to his constituency to walkover the ground. Having referred to the questions with which it had been his duty to deal—education, the-amendment of the representative system, local self-government, and the.liquor traffic—he observed that since he had been

in London he had been told by various voices that New South Wales was a free-trade country. In connection with that subject, he desired to say that, whether in Government or in Opposition, whether Minister, or member of Parliament, or citizen, he had striven to keep steadily in view the example of the Mother Country. Not that he slavishly copied all that the Mother Country was doiDg. He hoped he should not offend anybody by saying that he should be sorry to copy all that the Mother Country was doing. If New South Wales was more in accordauee with the commercial policy of England than some of the other colonies, it was because, to his mind; it was undeniable that every man iu ooquiring property by his labour had a right to expend that property in obtaining what suited his convenience best or ministered most to his tastes, without any legislative interference whatever. If he now assumed for a. time to represent the whole of the Australian colonies, he was sure he would not be misunderstood. He only wished to speak of the whole rather than the section of the country which he more particularly represented. New Zealand, which, speaking generally, ought always to 'be classed with the Australian colonies, covered an area of 105,342 square miles. Adding that to the

greatisland continent known as Australia, theyhad an area":'consisting'"of 3;127;588 square miles, which might be. said.to be equal to the area of the United States or the, vast possessions of . the Canadian Dominion. When he first went out to New South "Wales the population of'that vast territory was sot more than 200,000 ; it had expanded today to a population of nearly 3,000,000. In thirty years their trade had risen from a value of £6,000,000 to £63,000,000. In 1871 it was £63,000,000 ; in 18.80 it had risen; to £94,000,000. The average of their trade for every inhabitant was £12 higher than in Great Britain, five times higher than in Europe as a whole, and five and a half times' higher .than in the> United States. The gold extracted in thirty' years amounted to £292,000,000. In IS7O their wool crop was, 193,000,0001 bs.; in 1879itwa5392,000,0001b5. In.lßßo the shipping entered and cleared was 8,500,000 tons. ■ They had one million and a quarter 'of horses, eight million and a quarter of cattle, and 75 million of sheep. In conclusion, the hon. gentleman again returned thanks for-, the warmth of the welcome he had received. Loud cheers greeted the close of this excellent speech. . •;. ,