NEWS FROM HOME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8064, 4 October 1887, Page 5

NEWS FROM HOME.

THE LANGWORTHY CASE SETTLED. £20,000 AND AN APOLOGY. LETTER FROM THE INJURED WIFE. DESPERATE FIGHT WITH A SLAVER. .BURIED ALIVE. AFTER THE FIRE. TRADE REVIVING. [FROM OUR ENGLISH FILES. J London, August 12, In the London Bankruptcy Court on Wednesday, before the Official Receiver (Mr. K. P. Harding), the action brought by Mrs. Langworthy against Edward Martin Langworthy lor £28 GOO damages for breach of promise of marriage, was brought to a close. HE WITHDRAWS EVERYTHING AND PAYS. Mr. Luinloy said that negotiations had been satisfactorily arranged between him and Mr. Brandon for the settlement of the case. The terms were thai; Mr. Langworthy was to pay his client the sum of £20,000 upon the execution of deeds of release by Mrs. Langworthy and Misn Long for libels writton by him upon them. Mr. Langworthy was to give a written anec[iiivooal withdrawal and apology— The Official Receiver : Ample apology ! Mr. Lumloy: Ample apology for the libel on Mrs. Langworthy and Miss Long. Mrs. Laugworthy, Ben., was to give assurances for the due payment of ohe £500 to be paid for the maintenance of the child, Gladys Langworthy. Mr. Langworthy was also to pay the costs of Mrs, Langworthy, juo., and in the ovent of any dispute arising, the matter was to be referred to a barrister of standing. Mrs. Langworthy, sen., undertook that the terms of the agreement should be carried out, and the money paid within a month from this date, upon the deeds of release being handed to her. MRS. LANGWOrtTHY THANKS HER FRIENDS. The following letter, signed Mildred Langworthy, appears in tho Pall Mall Gazette "My Dear Sir, —From my heart I thank you and your generous readers for tho support extended to mo at an hour when al! hope seemed to have gone. Almost ms welcome to me as the substantial provision made for myself and my dear child was the outpouring of sympathy which reached me by every post from the subscribers to the fund that was raised to enable mo to prosecute my suit, if need were, in the courts of the Argentine Republic. After four long years, during which I had experienced little but scorn and insult, it was indeed refreshing to receive from all parts of the kingdom and from beyond the limits of the kingdom, such warm assurances of kindly feeling as reached me every morning for weeks after the facts were made known to tho public. Thanks fortunately to the skill and perseverance of my lawyers, to whom I can never be sufficiently grateful, and the invariable refusal of the Courts to listen to any of the misleading pleas put forward by Mr. Langworthy's lawyers, there has been little need to draw upon the fund beyond those subscriptions which were personally sent to mo as from friend to friend, in such a way as to render it impossible for me to refuse their acceptance or to suggest their return. Whatever other money has been withdrawn from the fund I must be allowed to repay as soon as 1 come into possession of my award. I should like the Defence Fund to remain intact, to be dealt with according to the wishes of the subscribers. Some, no doubt, may prefer to have their subscriptions returned ; others, however, may profer to have the fund raised for my defence used as a nucleus to afford timely help in future for other women who may find themselves deceived and deserted like myself. If such should be the desire of the subscribers, I need not say how much I should rejoice it my temporary troubles should lead to the establishment of a permanent source of relief and succour for others overwhelmed with sorrow the bitterness of which I know, alas, too well.—l remain, ever yours most gratefully, Mildred Lajng worthy."

SIGHTING FREEDOM'S BATTLB. Last night's London Gazette contains a despatch from Captain Woodward, R.N., irenior naval officer at Zanzibar, describing the capture of a slave dhow, and consequent release of 53 slaves by Lieutenant Frederick Fegan, in a pinnace of Her Majesty's ship at Pomba, on May 30. On the dhow attempting to run down the pinnace with the intention of boarding her, Lieutenant Fegau rushed forward as the dhow caught the pinnace's forestay with her bowsprit, to repel the Arabs, seven of whom were ready to board her. He shot two with his revolver, and ran another through with his cutlass, receiving meanwhile a very severe sword cut on the right arm. Fegan, bravely supported by the remainder of his crew, three in number (three other! being already badly wounded), fought hard until the dhow got clear, by which time nine Arabs were already killed. The dhow then endeavoured to escape. Fegan gave chase, maintained a running light until the dhow's helmsman was shot, when she broached to and capsized in shallow water. The fonr unwounded men then proceeded to rescue the slaves. It appears that of thirteen Arabs on board nin? were the most notorious slave dealers in Pemba. In all therb were twenty men armed with Snider rifles and words. Eleven Arabs were killed. This will, doubtless, deal a heavy blow at the slave trade. Two Arab* reaohed the shore, one dying shortly after of his wounds. The other escaped, Captain Woodward says :— "I cannot speak too highly of the brave and gallant behaviour of Lieutenant Fegan and his crew." He then enumerates the disadvantages under which the pinnace was placed, and appeals to the Admiralty for recognition of the gallantry of his subordinates. This recommendation has been acted upon, Fegan being promoted to the rank of commander, arid promotions have also been granted to six seamen and a marine. A GHASTLY STORY. Another case of premature burial has occurred in France. An elderly woman, who lived at an old-world place called St. Ouou La Rouerie, recently fell ill, and, as her friends thought, died. The funeral took place, and as fcho gravedigger was preparing to lower the coffin into the earth ho heard moans issuing from inside the lugubrious four boards enclosing the presumed corpse. The gravedigger left the coffin in the care of the mourners, and went off with his aombro story to M. le Maire. That rural dieuitary, having duly donned his scarf of office and summoned - the village doctor, prooeedod to the local " God's acre." The coffin was then opoued, and it was discovered that the woman had just died from fright, having awakened from a trance to find herself hommcd in between the terrible deal planks. THE GREAT BIRR IN LONDON. The scene in Westbourne Park after tho fire is somewhat piteous. Mr. Whiteley employs some 6000 (lands, and hundreds of them are out of employment in consequence of Saturday night's (ire. His shopmen and his shop girls have been walking'to and fro all the morning with sad, anxious faces. They do not know what is to happen to thorn. Mr. Whiteley's loss is so enormous that he can hardly keep all these hands between now and Christmas, and the position of some of his shop assistants is likely to be serious indeed. The belief that araoti has been committed is almost universal. Mr. Whiteley'a views are those of the public. They are those also of the police. As a matter of fact, this is tho seventh fire upon Mr. Whiteley's premises which has' happened since the first on November 17, ISB2. The magnitude of most of these disasters is due to the fact that every shop communicates with its follows. A lady could enter Mr. Whiteley's premises and buy everything she needed from a ball dress to a ham sandwich, from a carpet or a piano to a dog collar, or the last new novel, without leaving the shelter ot a friendly roof. .Naturally, therefore, when a fire has once got a hold it runs from shop to shop with free vent, and with very little let or hindrance. Mr. Whiteley does not show the white feather. He intends forthwith to establish anew the destroyed buildings. TUAI'IS IMPROVING. Trade seems really to be improving. The Jubilee came in. June to cause a decrease— the Jubilee and tho Easter holidays combined. But the recovery has been sharp a. «l quick. There is a sudden spring. Ln*t month showed an inoreaseof exports amoun - ing to £700,000. There was a decrease in only o:ae single item. In article* of food aim drink we exported nearly £40,000 less, but

in everything else there was an increase. The increase in manufactures exported amounts to nearly £600,000 upon the month. Mr. Goschen is altogether in luck upon his exports. Dutiug the seven months of the year just finished there is an improvement in export goods amounting to £1,635,149. Our imports, however, do not keep up. Customs fell behind last month, bat Mr. Goachen will hardly bo made unhappy by that circumstance, for he had an increase of nearly £8,000,000 in imports as a margin.