NEWS BY THE MAIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8289, 23 June 1890, Page 3

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

THE EUROPEAN SITUATION. King Leopold's visit to London recently was for the purpose of conferring with Salisbury and Gladstone with reference to European affairs. Leopold fears another Franco-Prussian war, and that the neutral position of Belgium will bo endangered. A JUDGE HACKED TO PIECES. The houso of Judge Domes, at Demenzin, Hungary, was entered by burglars on May 21, who hacked him to pieces in the presence of his niece. They then bound the girl, hand and foot, and robbed the house at leisure. ATTACK ON CHRISTIANS. During Holy Week the Kurds in a district of Armenia rose against the Christians, and attacked them while at worship, burned the churches over their heads, and shot them as they attempted to escape. A FAMILY MURDERED. In Madrid, May '29, a servant who had been denied permission to attend a bullfight, murdered his master and four other members of the family, and then fled. DANCERS BURNED TO DEATH. The Grand Spring Palace, at Fort Worth, Texas, was burned to tho ground on May 30. A splendid ball was progressing at tho time. It is estimated that six persons were burned to death, but fears are entertained that there is a greater number. SEVERE FAMINE IN CUBA. The drought in Cuba has assumed alarming proportions, and the misery and want of the inhabitants is reported to be awful. The tobacco crop is poor ; tho corn crop is totally lost, and the country people are without food or money. On May 19 an entire family in Vuelta Abago suicided because they had nothing to eat. Cattle are dying in great numbers everywhere. THE QUEEN AND THE PEERAGE. It is rumoured that the Queen wanted to make her daughter Beatrice Duchess of Sussex, but Salisbury declared he would resign if such a step were taken. The English people, he said, regarded the peerage as no longer a mere appendage of the Crown, but a rank created by the British Constitution only to bo conferred as a mark of Royal favour under the most exceptional cases. MRS. langtky's FREAKS. Mrs. Langtry, the actress, is causing a sensation by the freedom of her actions with the " swells" of London. Her latest achievement was organising midnight sprinting matches with her guests after a late supper. Tho races took place in St. James' Square. MR. GLADSTONE ON THE LICENSING QUESTION. Mr. Gladstone predicts an early general election. In the course of a speech made at Hawarden, May 27, he denounced the Bill for the compensation of publicans who were deprived of their licenses. The whole control of the license system, he said, ought to be vested in the local elective bodies. It would add £300,000,000 to the internal debt to purchase publicans' licenses. LORD SALISBURY AND THE EIGHT HOURS SYSTEM. In reply to a delegation concerning the eight hour question that waited on him, May 21, Lord Salisbury declared the limitation of a day's work to eight hours impossible. The system meant ruin to small concerns. Time and wages should be regulated in accordance with the capacity of capital. He was opposed to anything like compulsory measures. SEVERE HAILSTORM IN PARIS. Paris was visited by a hail storm on May 25, unexampled in fury. The day had been sultry, and at lh o'clock the sky clouded, followed by a fall of hail, so that objects at a short distance were hidden from sight. Limbs of trees were cut, and people caught out had their clothes ruined, besides suffering excoriation of the skin where the hailstones struck it. Hail simply fell in sheets. END OF THE GILP.EKT-SULLIVAN COMBINATION. W. S. Gilbert, the playwright, has seceded from the literary partnership with Sir Arthur Sullivan and D'Oyley Carte, after a violent, altercation, induced by Carte's financial methods. Ho will probably collaborate with Arthur Collier, while .Sullivan will work in conjunction with George R. Simms. THE O'SHEA DIVORCE CASK. A despatch from Loudon, May 17, says O Shea's lawyers intend to move in a few days for the Purne.ll divorce suit to be set down at once. If this is done, the case may be disposed of before the end of July. There are many conflicting stories as to Parnell's defence. One prevalent report is that I'arnell will not defend the case, and the upshot of the affair will be that he will marry Mrs. O'Shea. A SIBERIAN HORROR. The city of Tomsk, Siberia, was reported, May 10, almost destroyed by flood and tire. Many lives were lost. A cyclone attended the lire, and a heavy snow-storm immediately followed. The cathedral fell on the hospital inmates. The latter were crushed, and then roasted. The garrison brutally refused to render assistance, and the list of victims is therefore very largo. THE PROPOSED CHANNEL TUNNEL. Buneau Varitta, a French engineer, proposes to value the international difficulty with England in tunnelling the Channel, by building a pier or viaduct half-a-mile long from both shores. Through this descent and ascent, may be made by means of elevators. Then in the event of war each country would be able to destroy the use of the tunnel by the other by cutting off connection with the pier. His scheme for building the. tunnel could be carried out in six years according to his computations. AFFAIRS IX BRAZIL. The new banking laws instituted by the Brazilian Minister of Finance caused an uprising of the people at Porto Alegro against the Government. ft was suppressed with some difficulty, and a great many people were wounded. Another violent demonstration took place at the same place on May 21, in which 20 soldiers were slain and 41 wounded. The Governor of Cahia was deposed on May 20. He called on General Fonsec.i, a brother of the ['resident, to interfere, but the latter refused, and the provisional revolution was quietly effected. A widespread plot has been discovered to overthrow the Government. Two arrests have been made. Papers have been discovered inculpating Colonel Solon, a prominent figure of the revolution, saying that the so-called Executive Committee had a scheme in view to upset the Government, and replace Fonscca by Colonel Solon. Solon has made his escape. MURDER OF AN ENGLISH TOURIST. A despatch from Montreal, May 28, says the Kimber mystery has been cleared up by finding the unfortunate young Englishman's body in the large reservoir which supplies .Montreal with Hater. His throat was cut, and a towel tied around his neck. Kimber came to Canada last February, and was known to have been in the possession of a good deal of money. He suddenly disappeared. An investigation showed that his razor was covered with blood, that blood stains were on the floor, and there were other evidences of foul play in his room. A DOUBLE LIFE. In St, Louis, Mo., May 8, a burglar was shot while attempting to enter premises on Wintall Avenue. When the body was examined at tho morgue, it was found to be that of a young man named Kunolt, who had been regarded as ultra-respectable. lit; was about thirty years of age, and in prosperous circumstances, a prominent member of St. Matthew's Church, presi dent of the Singing Society, leader of the church choir, and was also director of the branch of the Young Men's Christian Association. He had led this JekyllHyde life for years without being suspected. As his widow confessed, Kunolt was often flush with money, which came from sources to her unknown. She always thought him an exemplary man. A GERMAN EAST AFRICAN COMPANY. The contract between the German Government and the East African Steamship Company provides for the payment of a subsidy of 900,000 marks annually. The company undertakes to maintain for ten years a line of steamers from Hamburg to Delagoa Bay. None of the steamers will be below 3200 tons, and the speed not less than 10£ knots. The steamers will call at ports in either Belgium or Holland, and at Lisbon, Naples, Port Said, Zanzibar, and Dar-es-Salaam. The company will also establish coast lines from Zanzibar. THE KAISER AND PRINCE BISMARCK. The Emperor hearing that Bismarck intended to make public the complete story of his dismissal front the Chancellorship, together with the events that led up to it, has sent him a letter reminding him that ho

is liable to severe punishment, under an amendment to the penal code, of his own makjng, if he publishes knowledge regarding State matters gained by him during his official life. The Prince has received Despoux, the French journalist, and it is probable he will write a sensational account of Bismarck's dismissal from office. The Vienna correspondent of the London Times says the removal of Bismarck has induced the Czar to reverse his policy of an alliance with France, and revert to a German alliance. THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION'. When debate on the licensing question was resumed in the Commons, May 15, Sir Wilfred Lawson characterised the Government's position as pensioning those who were active in killing their fellow-country-men. Home Secretary Matthews defended the compensation clause. Mr. Gladstone declared that Mr. Goschen's measures were futile and dangerous. He described the Bill as a barrier to the Temperance Bill, bad in principle and unsupported by precedent. He compared the scheme with that of purchasing slaves from slave-owners, though the Government's plan had not the merit of releasing the slaves. It would retard the progress of the temperance cause, which was sure to triumph in the future. The motion to reject the amendment was defeated by a vote of 339 to 200. The Bill then passed the second reading. THE LONDON SCANDALS. The Cleveland-street scandals came to an important conclusion on May 17. The Crown joined in the request of Sir Charles Russell, the counsel for solicitor Newton, for clemency. The latter pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to thwart justice by getting Hammond, tho proprietor of the i leveland-streot den out of the country to shield certain of his clients in high life. Public opinion is strongly expressed at the Government protecting some- high personages, especially as no attempt has been made to outlaw Lord Arthur Somerset. The Attorney even took occasion to say there was really no evidence against anybody. Newton was sentenced to six weeks' imprisonment. THE SILVER QUESTION". At the Bankers' dinner, Hotel Metropole, London, May 14, the President of the Board of Agriculture, and a member of tho Cabinet, said that; owing to tho action of tho United States silver had begun to rise, but whether it would continue the upward tendency or not depends upon tho fate of the Silver Bill in Congress. " We will," he said, " watch the progress of the Bill with interest, and for my part, and for my colleagues in the gold and silver commission, 1 hope it will become a law. With free coinage in the past, the two metals were practically steady up to 1873, and I believe with free coinage now, a like result will follow." SHOCKING CRIMES. A series of crimes of a most horrible nature (a correspondent of La France says) has been discovered at Constantinople. A barber, aged 70, and his wife were long in the practice of alluring to their house young persons whose embonpoint suited their purpose. These they killed, and with their fat, when boiled, composed an unguent which was sold at a high price. When discovered by the police they were in the act of cutting up a plump Armenian of 10 years of age. Both the miscreants after a short interrogatory, were hung up at their own door. HKKIt KRUPP AND HIS WORKMEN. Heir Krupp, a large manufacturer of metal goods in Borndorf, received a few days ago a threatening letter, in which he was informed that his factory would be set on tire. He did not allow his equanimity to bo disturbed by this friendly notice, but called a general meeting of his workmen and read them the letter, which ho had no doubt had come from one of them, and then he added : — " If anyone wants to burn down the factory, he is welcome to do it ; but I beg to inform you that I shall certainly not build it up again. I've got enough to live on." TWO CHILDREN SUFFOCATED. A shocking occurrence took place at Old Hill, Staffordshire, late on Saturday night, May 10. A Mr. and Mrs. Darbey, returning home from market, found their house lull of smoke, and going upstairs they discovered their two little boys, aged six and three, lying dead. Their daughter, aged seven, lay insensible at the head of the stairs. Upon recovering consciousness, she stated that her brother John, the elder of the two boys, threw a lighted match upon the bed, setting it on tire. They were very frightened, and ran into an adjoining room, into which, however, tho smoke came and suffocated her brothers. COUNT VON MOLTKE ON THE PROSPECTS OF PEACE. The German Army Bill came on for discussion in the Reichstag on May 14, the principal speaker being the veteran General Count von Moltke. When lie rose to speak, writes a correspondent, a general hush fell upon the House, and the nonagenarian Field Marshal began his speech amidst the most perfect silence and breathless attention from every part. Although Count von Moltke said nothing of a very startling character, it was certainly the most interesting part of the day's proceedings to hear the veteran strategist deliver a speech of about half an hour's duration with the most perfect precision, and in a clear voice winch was audible throughout the Chamber. Of course lie pressed upon the Reichstag the advisability of agreeing to the proposed increase as a necessary provision for the security of Germany, and a further guarantee for the continuance of peace. Nothing, said the Count, but a powerfullyarmed Germany, with her allies, has been able to preserve peace for so many years. The better organised our forces, on sea anil on land, the more completely equipped, the readier for war, the more, perhaps, may we hope to preserve peace still longer, or to wage the inevitable conflict with honour and success. Gentlemen, all Governments, each in its own country, have tasks of the highest social importance before them, vital questions which war may postpone, but can neve; - solve. I believe that all Governments are sincerely trying to maintain peace. The only question is whether they will be strong enough to do so. I believe that in every country by far the greater part of the population wish for I>eace, but that not they, but the leading parties, hold the issue in their hands. Tho pacific assurances of our two neighbours in the East and in the West—though, for the matter of that, their warlike preparations are going on without stay or pause—these peaceful demonstrations are certainly of great value, but we ourselves are our best j safeguard. MISCELLANEOUS. The international lawn tennis champion match between Saunders, of England, and l'ettitt, of America, which took place at Dublin on May 30, was won by tho latter scoring 7 to Saunders' 5. The Queen has created Prince Albert Victor Duke of Clarence and Avondale and Earl of Athlone. The new British gunboat Thrush, under command of Prince George, second son of the Piince of Wales, sidled on May 22 to join tho fleet on tho North America and West India Station. A stone was thrown into the courtyard of Marlborough House on Saturday, May 24, wrapped in a paper bearing the words, "Give us bread, if you would reign," and signed, Thousands of Starving Englishmen. " Timber labourers on the Liverpool Docks struck on May 27 for an advance of 6d per day in wages. Leopold, King of Belgium, went to Balmoral on the anniversary of the Queen's Birthday, and presented Her Majesty with a huge bouquet, three feet in diameter, composed of mauve coloured orchids. The Prince of Wales and Count Herbert Bismarck had a long conference at Marlborough House on May 24, and dined together in the evening. The English market was reported on May 24 glutted with beef, and 7000 head of cattle awaited slaughter at Deptford. American steamers had abandoned cattleeai lying charters. The statute of "Chinese" Gordon was unveiled in London on May 19 by the Prince of Wales. In London, May 14, the betrothal of the Marquis de Leuville and Mrs. Frank Leslie (widow of the proprietor of Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, N.Y., was formally announced. Steamer Harold, from Bilbao for Glasgow, foundered on May 17 off the Irish coast. Six persons were drowned. A successful experiment with electricity for tanning hides was made at Bermondsey. London, on May 14th. The time required for the process is five days. The American swimmer, Davis Dal ton, swam on his back from Putney to London

Bridge, May 18, with his clothes on, and wearing a high silk hat, he using neither legs nor arms. He lost ground several times, through his inability to steer himself. He did the distance in 12 hours. lb was hinted in political circles, May 10, that Mr. Gladstone would probably sacrifice his own hope of returning to power by joining Lord Salisbury in an effort to make a Land Purchase Bill that will be acceptable to Ireland, and secure for it the support of the Liberal party. Sir James Fergusson, the Parliamentary Secretary for the Foreign Office, answering a query in the Commons, May 10, said in effect that the McKinley Tariff Bill would measurably deter official and commercial participation by England in the coming World's Fair at Chicago. Pettitt, the American racquet champion, beat Latham, of England, in the great game at Kensington, May 10. The will of Junius Spencer Morgan, an American banker who died in London, was probated there, May 10, value of estate, £2,022,034 ; probate duty, £80,854._ Trustees are forbidden to invest in Irish real estate, but not in American public bonds. The Irish Times, of May 7th, says that rich gold mines have been discovered at Dunnode, in the western part of the county of Cork. At the Atram colliery, near Leigh, Lincolnshire, May 7th, the winding house was burned and the hoisting machinery wrecked. There were 250 miners in the deeps, all of whom were rescued unharmed. The steamer Po-ching, trading between Chinese ports, was burned on May 29th. Twenty-two persons missing. Dispatches from Rome, "May 29th, say that Etna is active, and an eruption is feared. The French Government has caused to be sounded several of the European Powers on the subject of taking united action against the anarchists, but prefers that Austria should initiate the movement. Rochfort said to a London interviewer, on May 10th, that he believed Boulanger's' star had fallen for ever ; as he himself had little hope of returning to France, he had concluded to apply for papers of English naturalization. The ammunition factory at St. Etienne received an order from Russia, May 18, for a quantity of cartridges loaded with smokeless powder, equal to a supply for 1,000,000 rifles. Francis Harte, youngest son of Frank Bret Harte, the novelist, has been mulcted in 10,000dol. by a ftew York court for alienating the affections of James Jay Smith's wife. Harte made no defence. The Chenango (Mew York) poorhouse was burned on May Bth, and 30 of the inmates perished in the flames. O'Donovan Rossa has had to pay lOOdol. by verdict of a New York court for calling Patrick Sarsfield Cassidy, one of his countrymen, a British spy. German engineers are looking over extensive tracts of land near the city of Mexico with a view to the location of extensive smelting works. A hardware shop in which was stored a quantity of powder blew up in Havana, May 17. Over lifty persons were killed or wounded. Thirty-four mutilated bodies had been recovered. The Government proclamation forbidding the Tippcrary meeting was openly defied on May 17. A troop of hussars was called to charge. The affair then assumed the proportions of a riot. Many were injured by the police and soldiers, and some of the latter were also hurt. Mr. Joseph Hatton Ins been appointed editor of the Sunday edition of the New York Herald in London. " A.D. 2000 ; or, Woman'-" Destiny," by Sir Julius Vogel, has readied a third and cheaper edition. A terrible tragedy occurred at a house in Garmoyle-street, Toxteth Park, Liver}>ool, on May 8, when a woman named Leah Charlton, wife of a clerk in the Customs, murdered her three children by cutting their throats, and then endeavoured to take her own life in the same manner. Advices from Senegal, at Paris, on May 19, report the capture of Segon and another strong position by the French forces. The Boulangists arc preparing a new party. French military operations in Dahomey have been temporarily suspended. Bernhardt is rapidly recovering from a serious illness. Pasteur proclaims the fact that inoculation will not cure leprosy. Lightning struck a church at Nuremburg on May 10, killing four persons and injuring several more. A ferryboat was capsized near Ralisbon, Silesia, on May 16, and thirty-six persons drowned. A servant in Berlin, afllicted with homicidal mania, has been arrested for decoying children from their homes, filling their mouths with dirt, and then strangling them. The German Government has determined to continue the steamship service to Samoa. General von Caprivi will submit a measure imposing a tax on all Germans ineligible for service in the army, and all German citizens residing abroad. The Berlin Yolks Zeitung, the Socialist organ, declares that Prince Bismarck is insane. Lightnintr struck a church at St. Mahlen, May 22. Four persons were killed, twenty injured, and four permanently blinded. Von Witten, a German general, committed suicide, May 23, in the Sanatorium at Wiesbaden, by shooting. Sixteen persons were drowned in the floods at Alvenslebin, Prussian Saxony, May 26, and five killed by lightning at Saplingen. Dr. Yon Seholz, Prussian Minister of Finance, resigned suddenly on May 27, and took his departure from Berlin. No reason is given for his retirement. The Emperor decorated him witli the Black Eagle when lie resigned. ITerr Stuebel, formerly German Consul at Apia, has been made Consul at Shanghai. Six officers and several ladies were drowned while boating at Potsdam, May 27. The vineyards in the valley of the Rhine are being devastated by worms, which infest the vines in such numbers that their extermination is impossible. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of vines have already been destroyed, and the destruction of the entire crop is threatened. A portion of the work on Allsises, a fort now being rebuilt near Namur, Belgium, collapsed on May 11, and twenty persons were buried in the debris. Five dead bodies were taken out. The King of Senegal was reported (May 11) murdered by his subjects, who objected to his imposing on them European habits he had learned at the Paris Exhibition,. Nine thousand miners struck at Bilbao, Spain, on May 13. Troops were called out in farce to keep order. Nino men were killed and many fatally injured on May 13 by an explosion of ballasbive, the new high-force powder, in the ammunition factory at Avigliana, Turin. The daughter of a prominent lawyer, named Peterson, residing in Lubeck a German free city, was found, on May 15, murdered and horribly mangled, after the manner of "Jack the Kipper," who is credited with the deed. Dispatches from Acheen, May 2lst, say the Dutch have lost three killed and fourteen wounded in a futile attempt to recover the position from which they had been driven by the natives. The latter lost fourteen killed. There was a collision between the striking miners and the police at Prague, Hungary, May 20. Five miners were killed and' seven wounded. The strikes throughout Spain have ended. Three persons were wounded and many killed during the labour riots in Ravenna. Father Midler, of the Jesuits' College, at Mangelore, India, claims to have cured several lepers by Count Mattel's system. A gentleman at Calcutta has had similar success. The village of Reparie, Armenia, and of Kaye, were totally destroyed by an earthquake on May 27. The Rev. James O'Connor, Roman Catholic Bishop, Diocese of Omaha, died at noon, May 27. Sixty-seven well-to-do farmers from Holland, have arrived at Merced, California, where they propose to form a colony. They brought with them horses and farming implements.