GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7650, 29 May 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

SUNDAY CONCERTS IS LONDON*. I shall not be surprised to see smoking Sunday concerts very common in London clubs. One fashionable club has oven introduced a kind of dramatic entertainment, beginning after twelve on Saturday night, and some of the " unco guid" are in much tribulation because the Prince of Wales was there one Sunday morning. At this moment (Sunday evening) a smoking concert is going on at a well-known club in Adclphi Terrace, but it ia only fair to say that tho music is strictly confined to classical.- I doubt, however, whethor that restriction will ba long observed. ANOTHER MIRACLE AT K JOCK. Archdeacon Cavauagh, it is said, vouches for the accuracy of another miracle at the celebrated Chapel of Knock, in County Mayo. Mrs. Murphy, a mill operative, of Lisburn, County Antrim, has returned home from a pilgrimage to the chapel, which resulted ia her being perfectly cured of disease of the spine which compelled her to walk on crutches. Her crutches now hang in the chapel. A celebration will shortly take place in honour of the Virgin, and a large gathering of pilgrims at Knock ie expected, A HAEEM AT SEA. The Ville de Saint Nazairo has just left Marseilles with a harem, consisting of the wives of Mustapha lien Ismail, 3 favourite of the ex-Bey of Tunis. The most prominent lady in the group was the Princess Mustapha ; aai next in order were the Princesses Leila G-ermiua and Leila Mina, with six Moorish women, whom Prince Mustapha, who 13 still in Paris, had brought with him to the capital. They were not remarkable types of beauty, and appeared ill at ease in their European drees. The harem waa under the charge of a stout Soudanese, Chatoum Gaelti, chief of the eunuchs, who wore a decoration of the Nicham Order, He evidently faced his duties sternly, glancing severely to the right and left, and not even sparing M. Cambou himself. The French Resident Minister was returning to Tunii with Mdme. Cambon and his younger son Henri. As socn as the steamer weighed anchor the eunuch led the women into tho staterooms aud personally mounted guard at the doors. THE DEPARTURE OF "ALICE." On March .SO the elephant " Alice," for which £"JOO has been given by Mr. Barnum, waa moved from her house in the Zoological Gcrdeiw to the car which has bocn prepared for her removal to the United States. The keepers made a quiet move at first, and enticed Alice, at half-past two, out of her house by a plentiful supply of biscuits. Without shackles she walked up to the entrance to the box, but there .she became angry, and bolted back to the house. She was then hobbled by chains on her fore feet, but over an hour elapsed before she was safely housed. Between thirty and forty men were required to pull her into position, and onco the rop3 broke. When she was close to the entrance of the box alia became very angry, broke some of the sido poles, one of the bottom planks, and sat down ou her haunches. The application of a pitchfork reused her up, and she was hauled into the bos, and fed and fastened in. On March :!1 Alice was successfully shipped on board the Egyptian Monarch a!; Mil wall Docks. A BAXEK KISSING A PBINCEBS. Did he kiss the Princess, or did he not? is the important question that has been agitating German society lately. The Vienna New Free Pre»a says " No ;" but the BadenBaden journals, which may be supposed tt contain the report of eye-witnesses, say " Yes." On the other hand, the New Free Press may draw its information from the lady herself, and she herself should know. Let us explain. During tho Carnival, the Empress of Austria, who has been atayinij at Baden, was walking in the Lichtenthaler Alles, accompanied by her daughter, the Archduchess Valeria, and her sister, the Countess Irani, with her danghter, the Princess Marie Theresa of Bourbon. Tho party were walking two and two, the young Princess in front, and the Empress and her sister behind, A carnival procession came past, and the IJoyal visitors stopped to look i'.n it. Suddenly from the rauk3 of tho procession a youth dressed like a circus clown darted forward, rushed among the spectators, threw his arms round the Princess Marie, and appeared at least to kiss her. Before the lady had recovered from her surprise and indignation, the man had regained his place in the procession, and the Empress laughed the whole athir off as 'i seasonable joke. The clown, however, got himself arrested later on for some other prank, lie was taken before the magistrate, and recognised as a journeyman baker ; but &a it appeared that ho had no idea of the rank of the ladic3 he had treated so lightly, he was dismissed with a reprimand and a caution. —World. STRUCK DUMB. A strange case of hysteric;;! dcmbncßß has just come before the Paris Lav/ Courts. A. woman named Goffaux, who had sent the dead body of a newly-born child to a priest named Iviasaieur, became speechless when she was detected, and was unable to reply at the trial except by writing on slips of paper, Dr. Brouardel, who examined the prisoner, declared that the case, though rare, was perfectly intelligible. The accused was only condemned to three years' imprisonment, although the evidence went to show not only that the child had been born alive, but that the woman had murdered another child, CHANGING HIS MIND AND PAYING. At the Liverpool Court of Passage a few days ago Harriet Ellen Jarvis, dressmaker, sued Charles Vogel, shopkeeper, for breach of promise. Through the medium of a common friend defendant, who said he had fallen in love with the plaintiff, obtained an introduction, and after an acquaintance of three years, promised marriage. The day was fixed, when he suddenly ceased visiting, and on being asked for an explanation, said he could change hia mind and pay, Tho jury awarded£loo damages. DEATH OF A CHILD FROM OVERFEEDING, At an inquest on the body of a child at the TotDes Workhouse, the medical officer stated that the deceased died from being overfed, and he strongly condemned the system of giving infants solid food. The matron stated that unless the orders of the Local Government Board were to the contrary, she was compelled to allow three ounces of bread each day to all infants. The coroner remarked that a child so young could not digest solid food, and that he was utterly surprised at the Local Government Board. KILLED IN HIS DESIRE FOR BEER, An inquiry was held on April 1, the cause of tho death of George Mason, aged 60* Deceased lodged at a house in Pocock street, Blackfriais, and was a road sweeper, in the Vestry of St. Georgo the Martyr. He had been ill for some time, and was attended by Dr. Matcham. When he was in a dying state in spite of the remonstrances of his landlady he insisted on going into the street, as he desired some beer. He took a jug, and announced his intention of going to a neighbouring hotel, to get some 41 ale, some giu. and port wine. He also told his landlady that he would have some boiled pork for his dinner. He went into the street, but had only walked a few paces when he fell heavily ou the pavement, striking his head with great forca upon the edge of the kerb. A bystander raised him and found that he was dead. JEWISH M.P.'S AND THE SABBATH, The Jewish World draws attention to the fact that, on a recent Friday evening in the Commons, the division list included the names of two Jewish members of the House, who had paired for and against a certain motion, thus enabling each other to agree to perform their Parliamentary duties, and to observe their Sabbath. But what would a Jewish member do on a Friday if he could find nobody to pair with. THE JUBILEE OF THE QUEEN'S REIGN. Mr. Kettlewell, of Hawthorn House, New Leeds, Yorkshire, who has interested himself in a proposed celebration of tho (Queen's Jubilee, received a letter from Sir Henry Ponsonby, stating that the Queen decided 3ome time ago that tii( event should not be celebrated until after ♦ he 50th anniversary o£ her accession—nanioly, on tho 20th of June 4 ISS7. ._