GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9368, 18 May 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

POPULATION. According to the latest official report, from America, the population of the Unite ] States numbers no fewer than 61 7(y> (X 1 souls. Up to the year 1888 the number J persons of different nationalities who ro many causes, had ceased to find a foothoS upon their native soil was given as follow! —Of Englishmen in the United sZ"/ there are 114,000; Germans, lionflrf Italians, 46,000; of Norwegians ther* * ' 18,000; Swedes, 51,000; of Austrian- 8 20,000 ; and of Bohemians, 14,000 « 0 The number of Frenchmen who "have"e ' grated to the States is comparatively and the major part of these went on t n . ' Plata. 0 U

THE AMERICAN WHALING BUSINESS The annual review of the American \v) l fishery shows that there are loij whali f vessels owned in that country, of which 'M are laid up at home. Prices for the ducts, except whalebone, have been lo°" and the right whaling in the Arctic Oce where most whalebone is taken, is becon ' ing more and more popular, so that i m " about half the total tonnage of whal] vessels is employed in that branch of th? service. In the Arctic last summer the'« were 47 whalers, a slight increase from rV' year before, but their average catch \ v 6 only about half that of 1887. Of J l3 American whalers now in service, 03 a owned in New Bedford, '23 in San cisco, 8 in Provincetown, 4 in Edgarton-,l' 8 in Boston, 3 in New London, and 'J Stonington. THE JURY'S DILEMMA.

A coroner's jury at Bolton was greatly bothered about the evidence of the medical experts — was so flatly contradictory The inquest was on the body of a youni man who was found dead at his lod"intr.° Five doctors swore that some sedimw found in a phial appeared to be strychnin' and that the body showed indications o'( strychnine poisoning. An analyst, J tow . ever, contradicted this evidence point blank ; and, after long deliberation t,h» jury returned a verdict of " Death' froia natural causes." MARRIAGE. The Lord Chancellor thinks that books attacking the institution of marriage are more mischievous, because more insidious than the impure literature recently tie! nounced by Mr. Samuel Smith, M.P., and others. What struck his lordship on this subject as most remarkable was the extraordinary and inconceivable ignorance oi the critics. It will be interesting to hea» what these gentlemen have to say in reply" Some might ask, If marriage is so very desirable a thing, why is it parents so rarely recommend it to their children?

BEAUTY IN' PARIS. Paris will be veritably invaded by beaming beauties in a few weeks, when the great International Concoure de Beaute opens in the new Circus. The secretary oi the show has already received three hundred applications accompanied by photographs. Most of the fair candidates hail from Austria-Hungary and Spain, while there are numerous competitors from England and Italy. The Parisiennes who are to display their personal attractions will also be many, and the exhibition is to he open every evening from nine to eleven, while on Sundays there will be a kind of matinee. The prize-winners in the competition are to have a struggle for championship in the matter of beauty at or about the period of the fetes of July. The result of the Riviera Beauty Show, at Nice, ha-: created some surprise, as well as considerable chagrin, in feminine circles here, because the successful lady was not only an American and a foreigner, but was, moreover, in turf parlance, "a complete outsider." To be just, however, Mrs. Pews, the pretty prize-winner in question, was amazed when the stewards called out her name and offered her the £40 prize, which she forthwith handed over to the poor. THE ELEPHANT MAN. The Freeman's Journal London correspondent says -.—London society is at present forming parties to inspect the elephant man. Some leaders of fashion appear to have taken this unfortunate man under 1 their special patronage. He is a Mr. Merrick, a native of Leicestershire, and he bears a general resemblance to an elephant, having instead of a hose what is actually a rudimentary trunk. He lives at the London Hospital in a special room that has been built for him in the yard, and the doctors are utterly baffled in their attempts to offer an explanation of the extraordinary freak of nature, which makes their patient's life one of intense misery. Mr. Merrick is intelligent and fond of reading, and though his appearance is strange, ib is not by any means repulsive. The Princess of Walts has interested herself in him, and provides him with books.

THE BISHOP OF LINCOLN ON HIS PROSECUTION. The Bishop of Lincoln has issued a Lenten pastoral letter, in which he refers to what he terms " our present trouble" in the following terms : —" Oar Heavenly Father knows how weak we are, and how easily we excuse ourselves from the discipline to which the Church year by year invites us. Therefore, He gives us from time to time, as tokens of His love, special opportunities of suffering through what seemed to be the mere circumstances of our lives. So it is just now in our own diocese. God has allowed trouble to come to us. I say ' come to us,' because, thank God, it has come from without rather than from amongst ourselves, but still it is upon us."

FAMILY PRAYERS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. There is one custom which will probably be observed in the White Hou«e for perhaps the first and only time, and that is family prayers in the morning. Air. Harrison ever since his marriage has never failed, except when confined to his bed, to hold family worship just before breakfast. The hour for the matutinal meal has usually been & o'clock, and at 7.30 the family has always collected in the library, where the General read aloud a chapter in the Bible, ami after a few words in comment or explanation, he and his whole family have knelt and joined in saying the Lord's Prayer, after which he made a special .petition, either impromptu or from a book of prayers. And it is fal(i that neither the President or his wife have any intention of pretermitting this observance in the Executive Mansion.

THE HUSBAND'S HOME DUTY. According tc our ideas on such subjects,, it is just as much the husband's busine-; "to make home the brightest and most alluring haven of rest and peace upon all t"earth" as it is the wife's. The idea that a mother who has been " worked and worn? 1 to death" all day by the cares and an noyancof a household, perhaps with a sick chiwW nurse, and in feeble health at that, have to go beyond her powers of in order to " make home attractive" s °® e great lubber of a husband, with the rou- cl ® 5 of an ox, the health of a whale, aU'l digestion of an ostrich, is utterly absW and inhuman. Let him go to work a"make home " attractive" to ner. Or, not run the extremes on either side, lethusband join with the wife in mutual etwt = to make their home pleasant for the «' nLU family. A CLERGYMAN CONVICTED OF FORGERS' _ At the Leeds assizes, William lhom->-Twamley (30), clerk in holy orders, ® IIT dered to his bail on the charge of = forged a banker's cheque for £8 at Harrog®'< on the sth December. After the case the prosecution had been opened, counsel for the defence withdrew a p lta "Not guilty," and made a. statement as the prisoner's past history. He sau at one time the prisoner was in a cIW o house in Liverpool. With the and advice of his friends he went mChurch. He obtained a license from _ Bishop of Ripon, and his last appoi" jj 3 was a perpetual curacy at WakeOe • , got mixed up with politics, joined » clubs, and contracted intemperate _ Convicted of drunkenness before the 1 trates ,he lost his curacy. He had • glasses of whiskey on the day that , £ mitted the fraud. The learned ~ passed a sentence of six months i 1 ment with hard labour.

REMARRIED AFTER DIVORCE. fhp law lb Where love is strong even tee powerless to keep apart. A coup > ere known in the Sheffield di» n- •$ recently separated in the usual w)• w bliss that was broken by divoice •; , { - orc e have come back to them in re ' en & and during their self-imposed estran differen0 6J they have nowarranged all the wp and been married again. * i ld pars, which appears in one of thebh thJ peait, appears that the husban ' j uu [ "no tioner. Though a clergy" l ' posiw° cure of souls," _ but occup h ' 6 int i ffl ate which brought him some t(J relations with those who had SO educated.