GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9452, 24 August 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

THE SYDNEY ORGANic large organ just completed bv \f Hill and Son for the Town Hall s f s "' has been exhibited to favour®! ydne >', before its departure for its I&Seu " a recital given lass £ Hoyte, the resources of its f, vp S ' sand 126 speaking stop, w„e <2 ***** most remarkable feature of the in,- The however, is its 64ft slod, a striker nttrue length on the petUd o r( , an of est note of this stop, exposed builders language as "CCCCC " • ° aa " octaves below the lowest Conf h c l; u - u and as it E iv« only eight second, it cannot be perceived a* , a'* all Its effect lies only in the excrao£ & ' richness and power of its unner harm 7 by which it reinfoice-s notes <nv<m higher pipes. ° " J thehats of THE REVOLCTIQK. Not the least interesting amonw r>,= ibits at, the Champ de Mars' if e if' collection of historic hats. The inl u generated in the fertile brain of'a K Paris hat manufacturer, who, it Ls 'aid 2 ? 13 spent ten years in researches b-vl could properly organise his unique sV». < " tiles." The hats exhibited are those wV°' were worn by the principal actor, "in th* great drama of the French Revolution r f articles are only thirty-four in numb'--- kf! they are real and genuine, and include \>? head-gear of Louis XVI., Mirabeau, Dant.-'f Carnot, Napoleon Bonap arte, Marceau "i' Fayette, and others. The collection ■ worthy of French ingenuity and' 1 "' verance. " AN ALLEGORICAL WEDDING CEP.KMO.VV The Rev. John Jasper, a coloured parson of Richmond (Virginia), is nothing if n ' sensational. Recently an allegorical wed fling ceremony was performed in hi* r'hurca' Ten virgins with their lamps burning walked down the aisle to meet the » r . a ~ at the door, and when the lamps of' th» foolish virgins went out, they were s UQ . marilv shown the door, and forced to wait outside until the ceremony was over' Meanwhile the five wise virgins escorted the groom up the aisle to meet the bad? while the choir sang, " Behold, the Bride! groom cometh." A MARVELLOUS FLOWER. Quice a crowd of visitors have lately been attracted to Kew Gardens to see th--marvellous solitary flower of the Araorpho" Phallus. The plane belongs to the liitribe, and comes from Sumatra. It his been at Kew for ten years, but has never before shown itself, and is now creatine considerable interest in the botanical world. In the day-time its huge creamy-white am unfolds and measures some 6 feet across while one immense stamen stands erect like a pillar of ivory, at least 4 feet hbh. Towards evening it, closes, and then its shape and folds cause it to resemble a lovely whit? fluted porcelain vase. THE ANNIVERSARY OF BAX.VOCKBCP.X. In connection with the 575 th anniversary of the battle of Bannockburn, an interesting ceremony took place on June "24, on the battlefield, when the Scottish standard and the British ensign were unfurled from the Borestoue flagstaff in the presence of nearly 10,000 persons. Professor Biackie, who performed the ceremony, said he wished a real union between England and Scotland, not a usurpation. There was a great danger of a small nation like Scotland losing its nationality when united with a large nation like England. He wished some changemade in the constitution of the things and that a Scottish Parliament should meet in Edinburgh and do business in a national way. MR. KEMP AND THE HIGH CHURCHMAN. Mr. Kemp, who is junior counsel for the Bishop of Lincoln before the Archbishop's Court, has, the London the Birmingham Post says, given great offence to the High Church party, which is employing him in that matter, by his recent decision as Chancellor of Newcastle that in no case can a second communion table be set up in a parish church. This, it is claimed, is contrary to the decisions oi Chancellor Espin, of Liverpool, and Dr. Tristram, Vicar-General of Canterbury and Chancellor of Lincoln ; and the legal validity of the questions put as to a second altar at Grindal's Visitation, which appears to have been the ratio deridendi of Mr. Kemp's decision, is seriously disputed by some High Church lawyers here. SMOKING. Statistics go to show that the prop ortion of tobacco smoked in the Netherlands is a little over 71b to each inhabitant. Ia Austria-Hungary it is 3"Sib ;in Denmark, 3"71b; in Switzerland, 3'3ib ; in Belgium, 3"21b ; in Germany, 31b ; in Norway, '2'3lb; in France, 2'llb ; in Sweden, nearly '2lb; in Spain, l'7lb; in Great Britain and Ireland, 1'341b; in Italy, l"251b; and in Russia, l"21b. In the United States the proportion is greater than that of any European country except Holland. ENGLISH CHURCH UNION. On June' 27, the thirtieth anniversary of the English Church Union, after the usual series of services and meetings, was celebrated by a conversazione in Prince's Hall Lord Halifax, who was commemorating his twenty-first anniversary as President oi the Union, the Duke of Newcastle, the Bishop of Aberdeen and the Orkneys, the Dean of Durham, and others took part in the day's proceedings, which began with a " High Celebration" in the little Renaissance Church of the Holy Redeemer, Exmoathstreet, Clerkenwell. A feeling of elation was manifested at all the meetings in consequence of the increased numbers oi the Union, no fewer than 7000 additional members having been enrolled within the year, 5000 since January last, and 1000 within the present week, making a total membership of nearly 30,000. Lord_ Halifax attributed this increase to the disfavour prevalent among churchmen at the prosecution of the Bishop of Lincoln. THE EXAMINATION OF MR. PARNELL'S LETTERS. The Freeman's London correspondent says the work of inspecting Mr. Darnell vast, mass of correspondence from ISi9 to ISSS is still going on. Two of the Times counsel meet Mr. Campbell, M.P., daily in one of the rooms of the Law Courts, and each day from five to five hundred letters are got through. There will be for the six years about five thousand letters in all, ana everyone of them will be submitted to the Times counsel. The correspondence includes not only the letters received by Mr. Parnell and kept by his secretary, but MrCampbell's shorthand notes of the replies, the letters got through up to the present number, about 20,000, embracing a complex record of Mr. Partiell's correspondence :<?" three years of his most active work in connection with the Irish movement. TILE SCOTCH FREE CHURCH. The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which has just concluded its annual sittings, showed a stronger tendency than ever to unite with the United Presbyterians. A resolution inviting all Free Church ministers to promote local ana general co-operation with that body was carried without opposition. One speaker stated that in his parish the two_ bodies had agreed to carry on a united Sundayschool, and the mover of the revolution strongly urged that the two bodies shoul avoid rivalry in building. As the union 0 the non-established Presbyterian churches becomes nearer realisation, the hostility to church establishments grows more m . , ' Out of two hundred members ot General Assembly only twenty against the policy of disestablishment. MR. GLADSTONE AS A TYPE-SETTER. Mr. Gladstone, by invitation of the owners of the Linotype composing mac > inspected the working of the invention _ other day, at 37, Southampton Bui c' < Chancery Lane, Mr. Jacob Bright. -■ • •> and a number of other gentlemen = also present. The details of the echan y" were explained and demonstrated o - • Gladstone, and he expressed himself wiiil foundly impressed with the " achievements of the type-sett , q{ saves from 70 to SO per cent, in th composing, and from three-four"! q[ {he tenths in type. At the cone ' ,_ ~j examination Mr. Gladstone rem me a am greatly obliged by your g ■ Vent iva fresh opportunity of appreciating f America faculty, and the executive energy w hich as it is exhibited in a machine from exI cannot bub anticipate effect*i eq'This tensive and beneficial to man c3St brief speech was at once _ P thaQ into type, and printed in Jess nQtei would be required totra ' is( \ ] emaa into longhand The right hon. also himself, for the first J ,m words « The set up by the xr p " which Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone Ml -. were cast and printed » three or minutes.