NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8306, 12 July 1890, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

About a quarter of the people of Paria live in apartments. The Russian empire has an area ol 8,044,100 square miles. A titled lady of England has started business as a house decorator. The Paris doctors believe that fasting men use an alkaloid of kola. The l'rince of Wales recently appeared in public- with a yellow waistcoat and green gloves. The zebra of South Africa is said to be rapidly becoming extinct. The animal is untamable. Death hasjnst separated a couple in England who had been married for seventyseven years. The work of draining the Roman Campagna, which was begun in ISS4, is now nearly completed. Miss Josephiue Crowfeather, a fullblooded Sioux maiden, has just taken vows as a Benedictine nun. At the Monte Carlo hotels some weeks ago strawberries cost 25 francs a dish about 9(1 a strawberry. The Universal Suffrage Bill has been passed by tho Spanish Senate and nowonly awaits the royal sanction. The epaulette, it, is said, is doomed, after having been for nearly one hundred years part of a naval officer's kit. The various socialist organisations of 'hvs York are reported as representing ei membership of 27,800 men. A chief article of food with the foar.soma C/.ar is eggs: he thinks poison cannot bu secreted in thorn without detection. A portion of tho Turner drawings of the famous collection of Farnley Hall (Yorkshire), will be sold in London during the season. Electricity moves 288,000 miles pet second ; light moves 102,000 miles per second ; a rifle ball moves 14G0 feet pet second. It is singular that Great Britain is the only country in Europe where the doctrines of Moriiionisin can be promulgated in the public streets. The law of divorce in Franco lias been in operation since 1885, and during four years there have been 15,521 divorces, which is at the rate of 23 for 10,000 marriages. Mary Queen of Scots' marriage contract with Francis 11. of France is to be sold by auction shortly in London. It. is a quainc oid manuscript of nine folio pages. Mr. Henry Irving, who is well known as a great lover of animals, has sent to the secretary of the Temporary Home for lost and starving dogs a donation of £.">. A Frenchman draws attention to the importance of breeding and rearing asses, and laments that Italy has (349,000 of these animals, while Fiance has but 421,000, ■ The Forth Bridge cost the lives of liftysix workingmeu during the seven years of its construction, but the engineers insist that this is a remarkably good showing. In recognition of his services to early religious history, Professor Robertson Smith has received the degree of Doctor of Theology from the University of Heidelberg. Emilo Castelar, the Croat Spanish writer, believes that Emperor William is insane, and says that upon no other theory can the strange freaks of the sovereign be explained. The Chicago Tribune aiiirms that this sign is displayed on State-street, in that city :—" Columbus Laundry. Come in and get your shirt washed and ironed while you wait." The naughty Labouchere, speaking of John Morley as apolitical leader, ob.-erves: —" The trouble with these atheists is that they are too dashed scrupulous for us Christians." The great Eiffel Tower at Paris was struck by lightning one day lately no less than six times, but no apparent injury followed. The vast structure vibrated for a long time. Princess Victoria, sister of (.lie German Emperor, has asked an increase of her appanage allowance i;i order to establish her own household in London, as she does not intend to man , }'. The city of Mexico is 6000 feet above the level of the sea, and the air is consequentlj so rarefied, and animal spirits are so higidj stimulated thereby, that the natives require scarcely any alcoholic stimulants. Canon NVilberforce declared, at Southampton, that he would never attend another Church of England Temperance meeting unless the society purge! itself of the recent leaflet as to compensation. The literary production of Mexico is quite wonderful. One of her latest bibliographical lists mentions no less than ] 2,000 volumes by 0000 native Mexican authors. The first book printed on the Continent was published in Mexico. The race between the City of Rome and Aurania resulted in a victory for the former. The vessels were in sight of each other all the way over from America to Europe. The City of Rome arrived twelve minutes in advance of the Aurania. Anna C. Brackctt, who seems to know, says the side-saddle was introduced in England by Anna of Bohemia, who was deformed and who married Richard 11. The divided skirt, then, must not be the novelty which its inventors claim it to be. Armstrong and Co. have some new gun mountings that may bo of great importance. They will allow the gun to be fired at an angle of 40deg instead of 20deg, as formerly, a change which will enable ships to attack almost any coast battery from short range. A church in New York has borrowed £24,000, from a life assurance company, and had the lives of a number of its members insured in favour of itself. Each time ono of these dies the insurance company will reduce the debt by the amount of the policy. A French officer writing homo from Kotonou says there are men in tho army there who have had fifteen years' experience in the fanatical bravery of Mohammedan fighters, but they never saw anything equal to the reckless fearlessness of the Dahomey fighters. The new City and Southwark Subway in London has had a successful experimental test, fifty persons travelling in two cars through tho tunnel underneath the Thames at a speed of thirty miles an hour by electric power. Tho road is from fifty to seventy feet underground, and elevators will take pooplo up and down at the stations. The Berlin Reichsanzeiger says that the state of things among the neighbours of Germany does not admit of Germany continuing the present military system, under which the artillery is strengthened at the expense of the infantry, therefore a Bill is in preparation to increase tho field artillery to seventy batteries and the army corps by special troops. Colonisation is one of the subjects upon which there are assumed to have been differences between the Gorman Emperor and Prince Bismarck. It seems to be accepted as an article of faith in some quarters that Prince Bismarck was not eager to extend German possessions, and that the Emperor is willing to go great lengths in the pursuit of a colonial empire. " Take plenty of exercise," Madame Patti writes ; " take it in the open air ; take it alone, and breathe with the mouth closed. Keep regular hours for work, meals, rest, and recreation, and never under any circumstances indulge in the fashionable habit of eating lato suppers. If you want to preserve the beauty of face and the priceless beauty of youth, keep well, keep clean, keep erect, and keep cool." The rich Jews in Vienna are threatening a strike—at least the Continental correspondent of tho Glasgow Herald avers. Barons Alphonse and Nathaniel Rothschild have plainly informed the Government that if their Austrian co-religionists continue to be exposed to social obloquy and to mob outrages they will build palaces for themselves in Buda-Pesth, and transfer their bank thither. What this would mean Vienna dare not contemplate. Sultan Abdul Hamid, acting on his own initiative, has ordered the establishment of a large asylum, which will be open to all Ottoman subjects without distinction of race or religion. In addition to halls for study and manual labour there will be within the precincts of the asylum a mosque, a church, and a synagogue for tho use of the inmates. This philanthropic measure has, it is stated, created a very good popular impression. The different races of the world are ranged in about the following numercial order :—The Mongolians lead with about 630,000,000, and the Aryans, which comprise practically all the people ol Europe, four-fifths of those of the American continent, and all of the civilised residents of Australia, come next, with 545,000,000. The negroes are put at 150,000,000, the Semitic people at 65,000,000, the Malays and Polynesians at 35,000,000, and the Indians of North and South America at 15.000,000.