MAIL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9948, 11 October 1895, Page 6

MAIL NEWS.

MR. G. A SALA.

The New York Sun of September 14, has a London special to the effect that general sympathy is felt for George Augustas Sala, who has been lying at Brighton for months grievously sick, and has now become a bankrupt. A couple of years ago Mr. Sala, to all appearanoes, was happy and prosperous, with a young and devoted wife, plenty of work, and an undiminished to do it. To-day, he is a mental and physical wreck. It is understood that his financial troubles are due to unfortunate investments, and not to wild speculation, as has been uncharitably suggested, and mainly to the failure of the weekly newspaper in which most of the savings of his lifetime were swallowed up. Mr. Sala made the mistake of supposing that the magic of his name almost alone would be sufficient to make the paper a success, and he was unable to realise that his style and methods had become oldfashioned. He olung desperately to the paper, lacked the courage to stop, and finally became a ruined man. Few, except his friends, knew how badly fortune was using him until a month ago, when the sale of his library took place, and then no room wail left for doubt. Mr. Sala's books were part, of himself, and only the direst straits could have induced him to part with them. A good many people wondered why Sir Edward Lawson, the millionaire proprietor of the London Daily Telegraph, and Mr. Sala's friend and life-long employer, did not save the veteran writer's cherished possessions from being scattered to the four corners of the world ; but, doubtless, a sufficient reason is that he would not ask for it. Meanwhile it is pleasant to note that the proprietor of the Daily Telegraph has placed Mr. Sala on h penoion of £1000 a year.

THE FINANCIAL CRAZE JEN ENGLAND. A cable to the Mew York Sun from London, September 7th, says The financial madness which began to spread among the English public la«t spring reached what is Srobably it* culminating stage thin week. 'ever, during the present generation, has there been such an amazing display of insane folly and recklessness in speculation as there is now being witnessed. The South Africa and West Australian mining craze has grown until hundreds of millions of pounds have been poured into all manner of enterprises by the general public. Most of the schemes are advanced by Barney Burnato, whose fame is now world-wide. He has been so successful that his name is sufficient to draw millions from the pockets of the gainthirsting public without other guarantee. The sum which this man has been able to draw into the treasuries of his enterprises in the form of popular subscriptions has now amounted to the amazing total of £30,000. His last coup is the most astonishing, possibly, in financial history. He put on the market last Monday (September 2) the stock of the Burnato Banking, Mining and Estate Corporation, Limited. No prospectus was issued any statement of constitution, objects, or management of the scheme. One or two preliminary deals were made with syndicates, whose members cleared more than £2,000,000 in a. single day by unloading on the public. Demands for shares of this bank, when offered for silo on the Stock Exchange on Monday, seemed limitless. One pound shares sold in immense quantities before business closed at £4 and over. This equivalent to a capitalisation ot more than £15,000,000, of an undefined financial proposition, which has hardly begun business.

Men of finance, who are not infected by this strange madness, are wondering how soon the crash will come. Kaffir speculation has been greatly stimulated by French and German support, and it has been well known during the past few days that strong efforts are being made to prolong it by carrying the infection to American ports. Everybody, whose opinion is worth anything, believe that the whole mining market is fearfully top-heavy. Those who are induced to invest at the present inflated prices will hardly deserve much sympathy it they come to grief. OSCAR WILDE'S FUTURE. Friends of Oscar Wilde who have visited him in his London prison say that he continues to enjoy good health, and is making the best of the situation, although he frequently expresses the wish to die. Those who are interested in the future of the disgraced man have been discussing (according to a despatch of August 24) what Wilde will do when he leaves prison. Although nothing definite appears to be decided, it is generally believed that he will be smuggled out of the country, and enabled to begiu life anew, under another name, depending upon his pen for a living. PROGRESS OF THE HAWAIIAN CABLE SCHEME. Colonel S. R. Spalding, who lately received from the Hawaiian Government a franchise for a cable line between the Islands and California, arrived at Washington, D.C., on September 12, from San Francisco. He left for Europe on Saturday, 14th, where he will join his family in Switzerland. Spalding has been promised private subscriptions to stock the company amounting to £1,000,000, and hopes the United States Government will grant a yearly subsidy, which, in connection with that granted by Hawaii, will enable sufficient money to be raised to carry out the project. As soon as Congress assembles a charter will be asked for by a company of American capitalists, to whom Spalding will assign his concession from Hawaii, and the probabilities are the line will be commenced at once.

S. Spalding laid his Pacific cable project before the trustees of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, August '23, and received pledges of sympathy for his project, and substantial aid when the time came to give it. Colonel Spalding is a Hawaiian sugar-planter, but au American citizen and a voter in San Francisco. He first went to the Sandwich Islands in 1867, as a confidential agent ot the United States Government. He became American Consul at Honolulu, and for a time was in charge of the American Legatiou, as Charge D'Affaires. Then he engaged in sugar-plantiug. His relations with California and Honolulu have been constant, and he has crossed that portion of the Pacific Ocean beneath which he hopes to lay a cable no less than 75 times. A London dispatch of September 18th says : The news that an American sugarplanter has obtained an exclusive right to land a marine cable iu Hawaii is the occasion of much discussion here among the advocates of a British cable to the Islands.

A STRANGE STORY. A remarkable story comes from Athens, on August 27, that William Hague Wood, once a Methodist lay preacher, recently turned infidel. He attended a revival meeting several nights during the week at High Shonds, near Athens, and ran an opposition meeting outside the church, declaring that the preachers were talking nonsense, that they were frauds and deceiving the people. On Sunday his tongue was paralysed while he was making a speech ridiculing the church. This frightened his hearers. On the 27th, Wood attended the revival meetiug, and handed up the following note to the preacher in charge " I now believe there is a hell, and that I am doomed to it. Pray for me." The sensation in the congregation was such that, in less than five minutes, the altar would not acoommodate baf the mourners.

A TREMENDOUS EARTHQUAKE.

A despatch from Pequigalpa, Honduras, on September 12, mentions that a courier arrived there the day before, and announced the most terrible earthquake ever known in that section. The loss of life and property is tremendous. Thrse hundred people are said to have perished. The shocks commenced en Sunday, September Bth, and lasted all day and night at intervals. During Monday night, sheets of flames appeared at different points to the north-west, rising to immense neights. Many fleeing people were killed by rocks whioh fell in a perfect shower like a hailstorm. Streams of molten lava, set fire to a number of houses on the mountain side. Cattle were engulfed in the lava, which flowed in immense streams. Help for the victims is being asked for from the capital.

RAVAGES OF CHOLERA. The cholera is increasing in Peking, according to despatches received September 3rd, and deaths exceed 150 daily. The total number of cholera cases reported throughout Japan, on August 29, was 771, and the deaths 429. The aggregate number of oases from the outbreak of the disease is 25,000, of which 1230 occurred in transports, and the deaths 16,278. There were 18 new cases in Tokio in the 24 hours ending at noon, Augußt2l, of which twodied. A telegram from Mr. Chindas, Japanese Consul at Shanghai, reports 263 deaths among Chinese, and seven among foreigners in the British and American concessions between the Ist and 13th of August. Another case had occurred on the Italian cruiser Rubria, bringing up the ■'total number of cases on that vessel to eight. In the province of Volkynia, from August 18 to August 24 inclusive, 5849 cases of cholera were reported, and 2134 deaths resulted from the disease. In the province of Podolia, from the 21st to the 31st of August, 101 cases and 45 deaths were reported. The cholera is spreading in Tangier. There were 18 deaths on September 18. The disease is also working southward into Africa. Cases were reported from Tetuan on the evening of the 18th September.