GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8306, 12 July 1890, Page 2 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

A HORRIBLE SCENE. At Union Hall, County Cork, a farmer his wife, and four children were discovered in a state of frenzy and declared to L insane. A constable entered the house when the family were trying to burn alive the youngest child, whom he rescued, bur, nob before it was badly burned. T| i( , doctor believes the family have eaten some poisonous substance, and four policemen are now guarding them. SALVATION* ARMY BANDS. Seven years ago there was just one bra?? band in the Salvation Army. It was composed of a. father and his son.*. Since then boot) other bands have been formed. They have been mostly recruited from the tap. room, says the War Cry, and have sought out the theory and practice of music [or themselves. A few days since a deputation of the army bandsmen paid a visit to hive. Booth. The men were addressed by the "General's" dying wife, and the scene was a most affecting one. THE ADVANTAGES OF SOBRILTY. Dr. Richardson cites the Jews as a living example of tho advantages of sobriety. The remarkable vitality of iheirrace striker! him as something astounding. Oppressed by cruel laws in the past, and living in abodes where others must have died, they yet contrived to exist. The explanation is that they lead, as a rule, simple lives, and are "mindful of the expressive maxim in Proverbs, " Wine is a mocker." Dr. Herman Adler has pointed out that although Judaism does not denounce the taking of wine in moderation, there runs throughout the Hebrew literature the strongest condemnation of intemperance. It is, however, we are told, a mistaken idea that; during Passover Jews are forbidden to take fermented wine. What is forbidden is the products of fermentod grain, for which reason strict Jews at such time are restrained from the use of such liquor as whisky. A DOG IN A FIX. A very singular case," involving a novel point, came up at the Marylebone Police Court. The question for the magistrate to decide really was "which is the" most important halt of a dog—the head end or the tail end ':" Of course the case was brought under the muzzling orders. A policeman heard a dog "yelling :, in the small hours of the morning near Regent's Park, and found the yells proceeded from a hound belonging to Earl Annesley, which had become tightly iixed in some railings. Its head was in a private garden, while its tail was in the public road. Could it be said that this particular dog was " unmuzzled in a public place," seeing that he was not " ali there' , —only half of niin ? The magistrate thought not. But suppose the dog's head—his better half, so to speok—had been in the road and his tail in the garden, how then '( The constable's view was that if half a dog is in a public place the other hal: can bo had up for being without a muzzle ; in fact, it was "Heads I win, and tails you lose." The law is certainly no respector of half-dogs—" d<: minimus non curat Lex" —but it is unfortunate that the case was stopped before the witness had an opportunity of stating what ultimately happened to the hound. REVISION OF THK WESTMINSTER CONFESSION'. The Presbyterian General Assembly opened a few days ago at Saratoga, New \ ork. It will receive reports of the voteof the local Presbyteries on the proposed revision of the Westminster Confession of Faith. About two-thirds of the Presbyterians throughout the country, says the Times Philadelphia correspondent, favour revision. THE CLAJ.-NA-CAEL. IX CHICAGO. The influence of the Clan-na-Gael is present and felt everywhere. Politicians of both parties in this State dare not run counter to it, and the Clan na-Gael men are found rilling offices given them by both Republican and Democratic "bosses." This explains how Cronin's murderers in the State prison at Joliet have been treated and fed like prize-fighters by the prison official. Warden Berggren is a possible candidate for the State Treasurersiiip, and it is said he was approached, and for favours granted to Cronin assassins, it was intimated ho would have the solid support of the Clan-na-Gael. Visits from notorious members of Camp Twenty to the prisoners have been of almost daily occurrence. Berggren denies the foregoing charge. He admits, though, that efforts were made to secure eof t jobs for the Cronin convicts, but refuses to say b> whom. WHY MR. GLADSTONE WAS ELECTED GOVERNOR. The London correspondent of the Liverpool Courier relates an amusing incident which occurred before the Lords Committee on the management of the Metropolitan hospitals. Dr. Steele, of Guy's, was asked by Lord Sandhurst, who is one of the Gladstonians in the House of Peers, what were the qualifications for a governor of the hospital. "None whatever," was the reply ; " all they have to do is to elect themselves. The oldest governor is Mr. W. E. Gladstone. He was elected in 1833. At the time the governors were very conservative, and Mr. Gladstone was elected because he was the risiner hope of the Tory party." The answer of Dr. Steele was received with much laughter. A LONG RIDE. Two non-commissioned officers of the 7th Dragoon Guards now in India laid a wager to ride two horses from Umballa to Kafka (38 miles), leave the horses there, and ride two ponies up the hill to Kasauli, and back to Kalka (IS miles), then to mount the horses they brought from Umballa, and ride them back to the latter place; the whole journey (94 miles) to be performed in thirty hours. This event duly took place. Corporals Wisby and Armitage starting from Umballa at 9 p.m., reaching Kalka at 5.15 a.m., proceeding to Kasauli at ti a.m., arriving there at 5.3-4 a.m. They reported themselves to Major J. H. Banks, the commandant at Kasauli, and ob'.iined from him a certificate to that effect. Then they rode to Monkey's Point and back (an additional 8 miles), and started on the return journey, reaching Kalka at 11 a.m. Mounting the two horses they had left there, they rode them to Umballa, arriving there at 10.10 p.m. (102 miles) in 25 hours and 10 minutes. The horses were hired in tho bazaar. A POPULAR BULL-FIGHTING FAVOURITE. Frascuelo, the favourite bull-fighter of tho Madrilenos, on Sunday (says a Madrid correspondent) took leave of the national sport in the Madrid bull-ring. It is twenty-three years ago since he made his debut. Wounds received during recent years oblige him to retire at the age of forty-five. All the route from the centre of Madrid to the bull-ring was the scene of extraordinary excitement, all classes joining in demonstrations of sympathy for the popular hero. Unheard-of prices were paid for .seats. Sixteen thousand persons of all rank, from the Infanta Isabella and suite down to the humblest citizens, flocked to the bull-ring. When Frascuelo appeared thewholo assembly gave J him an enthusiastic welcome, and cheered him repeatedly during his performance. He killed some bulls supplied by the Duke of Veragua. On leaving the ring Frascuelo was cheered in the streets by immense crowds. THE INVENTOR OF THE STEAM HAMMER. Mr. James Kasmyth, inventor of the steam hammer, died on May 6 at Bailey's hotel, South Kensington, aged 82. The family belonged to Tweedclale, and the deceased, whoso father was the well-known artist Alexander Nasmyth, was educated at Edinburgh, where he early evinced a taste for mechanical pursuits. As a boy he made a small working steam engine to grind his father's colours. In 1829 he came to London, and was appointed by Mr. Maudslev his assistant in his private workshop. On the death of Mr. Maudsley, in 1831, young Nasmyth returned to Edinburgh, made himself a "set of engineering tools, and with these and a capital of £(33 he commenced business in Manchester in 1834. Subsequently he removed to Patricroft, four miles from the city, where an.extensive series of workshops soon arose. There the requirement of the Great Western railway of a hajnmer capable of forging a wrought-iron shaft 30in in diameter, led to the invention of the steam hammer which bears Mr. Nasmyth name—a machine capable of such delicate adjustment that it will accomplish the moat ponderous work, and will also crack a nut. Mr. Nasmyth inherited some of his father's talent, as exquisite pen and ink drawings of his in the possession of his friends sufficiently testify. Since his retirement from business life, at thu age of forty-eight, he has devoted much time to astronomy, and his monograph on the moon, in preparing which he collaborated with Dr. Carpenter, of Greenwich Observatory, is the most valuable English wock on the subject.

[NOW FIRST PUBLISHED.]