GENERAL SUMMARY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9064, 26 May 1888, Page 6

GENERAL SUMMARY.

San Francisco, May 5. ,The Canadian Club, of London, gave a banquet on the evening of May 4th to Lord Stanley, of Preston, appointed GovernorGeneral of the New Dominion. Gold has been discovered at Festing, North Wales. The quartz assayed yielded soza of gold to the ton. The international ten-mile race at Manchester, between the American cowboys and horses against English horses and riders, on May 4th, was won by the former. Time, 21 minutes. It was reported in London on May 2nd that Russia is moving additional troops to wards the Austrian frontier.

The new Egyptian loan was issued in London on Thursday, May 3rd — bonds amounting to £233,000, at 9i per cent. Professor Huxley, who has been seriously ill at Bournemouth, has been ordered to Switzerland for his health. Mr. Gladstone opened the new library named after him at the National Club", London, on May 2nd. The clubhouse is the largest in England. Ihe Cambridge University appointed on May Ist Dr. Doane, Bishop of Albany (N.Y.), select preacher for the commencement exercises in June. All the eminent literary and political pereonages of London have concurred in the proposal to raise a memorial in Westminster Abbey to Matthew Arnoldj and also to found a scholarship in his name in Oxford University. The Bill introduced in the Commons to close shops on eight o'clock in the evening for five days in the week, and ten o'clock on Saturday evening, was defeated on May 2nd by a vote of 273 to 95. Sir John Lubbock moved the second reading. Bradlaugh denounced the Bill as absolutely immoral in principle and absurd in detail. The London Standard and Morning Post give much space to Ignatius Donnelly's book, "The Great Cryptogram "—attempting to prove Bacon the author of Shakespeare's plays. Both papers speak respectfully of Donnelly and his scholarship, but disparage his conclusions. Sir Alfred Phillips Ryder, Admiral, was drowned in the Thames on May 1. The Admiral suffered from insomnia, and his death was an accident.

Augustus Harris has obtained possession of the Italian operatic field in London, and will have everything his own way this season. Seventeen prima donnas have been engaged. The Barings have declined to proceed in the business of floating the stock of Walker's Brewery, Liverpool. The trade increased more than £125,000 since the idea of selling the stock was first made public. The London police give out that they are informed a group of dynamiters, sent by the Clan-na-Gael from America, are on their way to Great Britain. A special watch has been placed at all points. A report finds credence in London that the Prince of Wales proposes visiting America in 1889, accompanied by the Duke of Sutherland.

The second of the three bicycle races between William A. Rowe, of America, and Richard Ho well, of England, for the championship of the world, was run at Wolverhamnton on April 2S. Howell was winner, for the second time. The distance was one mile. Howell won by twenty yards. The ship Smyrna was sunk in a collision with the steamer Mota off the Isle of Wight, April 29. Thirteen persons drowned. Ignatius Donnelly's Shakesperian cypher story has been endorsed as sound by George Parker Bidder, Q.C., one of the most eminent English mathematicians. A panic occurred in the London tin market on April 30. The French syndicate ceased buying, and the cash price dropped from £1(36" to £105 por ton, and little changed hands at that price. It is stated that the Society des Metaux of Paris lost £1,000,000 in their tin speculations. A despatch from London, April 21st, says that Jem Smith has accepted the challenge of Jackson, the Australian champion, to fight for £1000 a-sido.

An address signed by 600 scientists and authors of Europe and America was presented to the Rev. Dr. James Martineau, of London, on April 21st, on the occasion of his 83rd birthday. The London Times of April 24 prints a joint letter, in which Drs. McKenzie and Hovell announce that they have brought a libel suit against the Cologne Gazette and the Kreuz Zeitung. The suit grows out of criticisims concerning the treatment of the Emperor. An important emigration movement has been started by Lord Lothian, Secretary of State for Scotland, for the transfer and settlement in the Canadian North-west of families from districts in the Western Highlands of Scotland and the Scottish Isles. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has consented to advance funds for one-third of the expenses if the other two-thirds are raised by private subscriptions. The scheme is experimental. If successful, it will be carried out on a larger scale. Helen Crosmond, a prima donna, daughter of Madame Rachel, committed suicide by shooting, in London, on April '25th. She had signed a contract with the Drury Lane Company, but owing to a misunderstanding tore it up in a fit of temper. Attempting to reopen negotiations, she found a substitute had been engaged, grew despondent, and took her own life.

A Gatling Gun Company, with a capital of £200,000, subscribed in London, has been formed, with the object of transacting the business of the Gun Trust in the eastern hemisphere. The Lanark election, on April 27th, was a victory for Mr. Gladstone. The vote stood : Phillips, Liberal, 3^47; Bousficld, Tory, 2917. The Labour candidate received 617 votes.