MAIL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9899, 15 August 1895, Page 3

MAIL NEWS.

ASSASSINATION OP STAMBOULOPF. M. Stambouloff, ex-Premier of Bulgaria, was attacked by four unknown men on July 15, in Sofia, While walking home from the Union Club in the evening, accompanied by M. Petkoff. Two of the assailants shot at him with revolvers, the third stabbed. He died on the 18th, and his death is generally believed to be an act of revenge. A special to the Times from Paris on July 21 gives an interview, published by the Figaro, with a brother , of Naoum Tufektcheff, who was arrested for complicity in this murder. He said that his brother Naoum was a close friend of Major Panitza, who had been executed by order of Stambouloff, but the association was purely one of friendship and not one of politics. When the Panitza plot was discovered, ail who had been conuected with I anitza were arrested. " Among them" the interview continues, " Was my youngest bother Deutschs, aged 17, whom Stambouloff thought he could force to reveal Naoum's supposed connection with the conspiracy. Deutschs was subjected to atrocious tortures for six months, Stambouloff employing his ...ingenuity, .and multiplying the most horrible torments until the executioners in his presence tore the nails from my brother's hands and feet, and committed acts yet more barbarous. ■ The little fellow refused to accuse Naoum; and, finally exasperated, he spat in Stambouloffs face, crying, 'Tyrant, I scorn you.' It was his death warrant. Stambouloff bathed him in kerosene, and burned him alive in October, 1892.'' Tufektchieff concluded that, nevertheless, neither Naoum nor himself was connected with the murder of M. Stambouloff, which they deprecated as likely to cause a re-act!on in his favour, while they hoped that their brother would be avenged by the condemnation of Stambouloff. ... FAIL OF THE KIEL CANAL, The Cologne Gazette of July 7th deems it advisable to treat seriously the question raised by Russia as to Germany's exclusive rights to levy tolls upon vessels passing through the Baltic Sea Canal. The public is not interested in the discussion of this question, but it is actively concerned in the reports that the Canal is destined to be a failure. The Vossische Zeitung declares that, if large merchant vessels cannot risk a passage of the Canal, it will be wholly useless as a means of rapidly uniting the Baltic and North Sea fleets, as warships will not be able to pass through unless the Canal is deepened and widened. In the meantime the military value of the Canal will be very small. The National Zeitung beseeches the Government to explain the condition of affairs at once, and frankly avow the errors in the construction of the Canal rather than allow the country to indulge in dangerous delusions. The Bank Zeitung predicts that, until the Canal is enlarged at heavy cost, it will never be able to pay working expenses.

ESPIONAGE AT THE BRITISH EMBASSY IN PARIS. There is a good deal of comment in Paris, according to a despatch of July 14, because Lord Dufferin has dismissed all his French servants at the British Embassy. The necessity for this action was imperative, and it is a striking exposure of one phase of European diplomatic methods in this day and generation. A couple of months ago a servant was observed opening the Ambassador's despatch box. The box was given him locked by Austin Lee, whose office is on the ground floor. The servant had procured a false key and tampered with t.he box on the staircase. The second time he was sent upstairs with a dummy despatch and was caught reading it by the Ambassador's private secretary. He, of course, was packed off and the servants reacived notice to leave, and have been discharged with excellent characters. Some years ago when the same measures were taken in.the German Embassy one of the secretaries said it was no use to keep French servants. Through patriotism, whether or not strengthened by love of gain, a certain number invariably endeavour to act as spies. DEATH OF.THE QUEEN'S GILLIE.

The death of Francis Clark, successor of John Brown, the Queen's Scotch "gillie," who was carried off by cancer ou July 7, is keenly regretted by Her Majesty and household. In consequence of his death, the performance of Italian opera, which was to have taken place at Windsor within a few days, has been countermanded. Clark spent twenty-five years in the service of the Queen, and at the death of John Brown succeeded that functionary as her personal attendant. He was much better liked than Brown. He was never insolent to the Queen's entourage as was Brown, and made many friends by his retiring and unassuming manner. He was buried at Crathie, and upon the coffin were placed wreaths sent by the Queen, the Prince and' Princess Battenberg, the prince and Princess Christian, and many others who appreciated his Rood qualities

OSCAR WILDE. Oscar Wilde, the esthete', now doing time at Pentonville, has been taken off the treadmill, and put to picking oakum, with making matches to follow. The doctors absolutely refuse his being continued on the mill. He is in good health. Recency he asked a friend to send him St. Augustine's works and some historical books. His plays are about to make their re-appearance 011 the English stage. The Grand Theatre announces the production of " The Ideal Husband," according to a London dispatch ot June 30th, and prints Wilde's name, as the author, in largo letters on the bill. Lord Alfred Douglas has bought and furnished in a most luxuious manner a bijou residence not far from Sorrento, Italy. He bus openly declared thivk his avowed object is to await the release of Oscar Wild«, when he will at once transport him to the Italian coast, ouug Douglas has written a sonnet which he told a French journalist would be the first piece of reading Oscar Wilde would have from the outside world. " Dotian Gray" has been translated into French, and the Parisians are raving over it.

EXTRAORDINARY SERIES OF MURDERS. A series of outrages and murders of little girls, of ages ranging from four to seven years, has created great excitement among the working classes, in the district of Walthamstow, seven miles north-east of London. A dispatch of July 6, says that within two months, five little ones have been decoyed from their homes, and vanished completely. Searching parties have subsequently found their bodies in fields, stripped of all their clothing, and giving evidence of most outrageous treatment. In every case, tho victims have been children who have been playing along the roadside, or on their way 111 discharge of errands. The immediate cause of death, in every instance, was strangulation. Police inquiry points to a well-dressed man. of 30, but here the clue stops. Only one of the many victims has escaped death. She was four years of age. After having been subjected to horrible treatment, she was found lying in a field, by the person whose attention was attracted by her cries. The child was unable to describe her assailant. Several half-witted men have been arrested on suspicion, but they established alibis, and were liberated. The bodies are usually hidden in a secluded place in the fields, and under hedges, covered with leaves. A despatch of July 13 is to the effect that the London police authorities have received an unsigned letter purporting to have been written by the Walthamstow monster to the effect that he will be in the neighbourhood again shortly. He laughs at the police, and tells them they are 011 the wrong scent, and never will be able to find him. He admits the commission of the outrages and murders already done, and announces his intention to commit more. Tne receipt of this letter has greatly intensified the scare in the Walthamstow district. ENGLAND AND TRINIDAD.

There is a growing excitement in Rio Janeiro over the occupation of the island of Trinidad by the English. The Government has dispatched two notes to the British Legation of emphatic protest, quoting the British Admiralty Act of 1782 by virtue of which Trinidad was evacuated by the English and restored to Portugal. Persons in authority in London, who were questioned on the subject, say that the British title to Trinidad dates from the year 1700 when possession was taken of it without any objection on the part of Portugal. It was added that hitherto Brazil, has not advanced any claim to the island, but the British Government is ready to discuss in a friendly spirit any representations which. Brazil may wish to make on the subject.

THE QUEEN AND THE NEW WOMAN. According to London Variety Fair, the Queen speaks scathingly of the "new woman" in the advanced novel. She is reported to have remarked on this subject: "Itis a pity that educated women .will allow their pens to run riot, and it is a greater pity the public is in the mood to buy such books. It there were no public demand, tho authors of them would quickly cease writing."

THE BABY PRINCE. According to a London despatch, July 20, a report wits in circulation that the Duke and Duchess of York's baby, Prince Edward, is born a deaf mute. The baby is a little over a year old and is stout and well formed.

> GREAT FIRE IN SAN FRANCISCO. On the evening of . June 28, the next after the departure of the steamship Monowai for Australia, one of the most extensive fires for years occurred in : San. Francisco, wiping out the buildings . on six acres in the southern

portion of the city. More than one hundred families were rendered homeless, and the money loss is placed at over one million of dollars.; - The houses were for the most part inferior structures, and their occupants poor and hardworking people. The destruction might have been limited to a greater degree had the water service been better, and now an agitation is going on for the laying of larger mains. Public subscriptions were made for the relief of the sufferers.

MARK TWAIN. Mr. Samuel L. Clemens (" Mark Twain"), the American humorist, has suffered seriously by trade relations with the bookselling house of Charles M. Webster and Co., New York, and now proposes to go on a lecture tour around the world in the Hopes to recruit his exhausted finances. He will sail from Vancouver, 8.C., on August 16th, for Sydney, New South Wales.

BRITISH POLITICS. Lord Rosebery, in addressing the Eighty Club on July 20, said that the Liberals were defeated, but were not discomfitted and not disgraced. He did not pretend' to lament their position, for to him there was no comparison between the party united and facing the constituencies from which alone it could draw its power, and the position of a party engaged in the arduous if not impossible task of forcing through a reluctant House of Commons with a narrow majority, measures which it would have to force across the impassable rampart that faced all great measures. He had never tasted the sweets of place with power, but his experience of a place without power was a purgatory, if not a hell. The great feature of the situation, he said, was the final disappearance of so called Liberals who opposed Liberal measures. The Conservative party had absorbed the Liberal-Unionists. Henceforth there would be only two great parties, the Tories and the Liberals. The lesson to be learned was the necessity for concentration. It they only obtained a small majority, they must be content with small things. The subject upon which they must concentrate was the House of Lords. . Personally he would fight the election on that. That did not mean the abandonment of other reforms, but they must deal with one thing at a time. In the House of Lords, July 6, Lord Salisbury replied to Lord Rosebery's remarks. The Premier traversed Rosebery a statement, that the House of Lords was a legislative preponderance. On the contrary, he asserted that the House of Lords had no share in the voting by which Governments were displaced, or in the provisions of funds for public service. The Marquis asked what the Lords had done to induce Lord Rosebery to submit to a proposal which had not been heard within Parliament for 250 years. The House of Lords had merely rejected the Evicted Tenants Bill, which, lie asserted was impracticable, in the shape presented. To such Bills the Lords had offered a continued resistance. (Cheers). Their real crime was the rejection of Home Rule — question upon which the electorates was now asked to decide. This question and the establishment of the English Church were measures which set one mass of people against the other, and had produced the greatest possible injury. In conclusion, the Marquis ex pressed theopinion that the House of Lords deserved the thanks of the country for clearing the field of angry and sterile officials, and for bringing about for consideration measures to ameliorate the social troubles of the people. Lord Rosebery retorted that the legislative preponderance of the House of Lords excited opposition, inasmuch as 500 peers constitute a fixed House for the purpose of resisting Liberal measures. "The House of Commons," he added, "changed, but the House of Lords never changed. Whatever the results of the elections, so far as the House of Lords was concerned it remained the same." In conclusion, the ex-Premier said if the Conservative measures were such as to raise the social life of the people without injury to other classes, he promised them the Bupport of the Liberals. MR. GLADSTONE'S VAIN APPEAL. The Westminster Gazette on the afternoon of July 9th, published the following note addressed to the Liberals of London— " Hawarden, July 5. Above all other purposes vindicate the right of the House of Commons as the organ of the nation, and establish the honour of England as well as consolidate the strength of the Empire by conceding the just and constitutional claims of Gladstone." THE DERBY ROUGHS AND SIR W. HARCOURT. Sir William V. Harcourfc and wife, while returning from a political meeting in a carriage on July 12th, were vigorously pelted with cabbage stalks and rubbish while passing through a rough suburb in Derby. They were both hit, but not injured. Lady Harcourt wus literally covered with dirt and filth, which besmeared her garments and went down her back.