General News.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 237, 25 March 1876, Page 8

General News.

Sir G. Arney was at the Spectacle Makers’ dinner as a guest. The Mr. Grant who lias joined the Church of Rome is not the James Grant, ex-editor of the Morning Advertiser, but Mr. Grant, the novelist. Mr. Proctor, the astronomer, who has just returned from the Roman fold, is giving great offence to the Catholics by the bitterness with which he expresses his disappointment of their Church. Judy gives the following directions for making a nice girl:—“ Eirst get your Girl (N.B. —She musn’t bean Old Girl, but a young one, nice and tender). Bring her up from early infancy on a strict diet of hot pickles cold brandy-and-water, and Ouida’s novels, Send her to a fashionable boarding-school to be ‘finished off;’ and, when she comes home for the holidays, carefully develop her latent love for dress, extravagant habits, and fondness for flirtations. Buy her the Slang Dictionary, and let her go everywhere, and do everything she likes. By the time she is twenty-one she will be quite a Nice Girl.” A Pensylvanian has taught a canary bird to sing “Home, Sweet Home” in this way: —He placed the canai’y in a room where it could not hear the singing of other birds, suspended its cage from the ceiling so that it could see its reflection in the mirror, and beneath the glass placed a musical box that was regulated to play no other tune but “ Home, Sweet Home.” Hearing no other sounds but this, and believing the music proceeded from the bird it saw in the mirror, the young canary soon began to catch the notes, and finally got so that it sings the song perfectly. An incident that happened at Toulouse the other day, reproduces a page from Victor Hugo. The correspondent of a Melbourne paper tells how two men fall from the tall tower of the Church of the Cordeliers, at Toulouse. One is dead, and the survivor’s story is that he was pushed over by his friend, in a quarrel about the division of the proceeds of a certain underground burglary. They had gone up the tower to take the bearings of a tunnel they were running into the cellars of the Bank of France, and sure enough the tunnel was found within a few inches of its destined object. That was “something like a romance,” only with no love in it. At a social meeting, to bid farewell to a journalist, amongst the toasts proposed was “ The British Colonies,” and Mr. Farjeon, who, before his career as a novelist at Home, started in conjunction with Sir Julius Vogel the first daily paper published in New Zealand, instanced the success of Sir Julius Vogel’s career as a pleasant indication of what a colonial journalist might aspire to. It was also remarked that New Zealand—and it was typical of the other Australian colonies—had now a newspaper to every 3000 souls ; a proportion which, if emulated in the Mother Country, would give 12,000 or 13,000 journals, instead of the 1600 the United Kingdom actually possesses. A correspondent of a Scotch paper sends the following : —“ Mr. Macpherson chose for his text on Sabbath afternoon, ‘ Because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold.’ He referred to one form of iniquity—those huge bills which presented themselves to the public in order to entice them to buy and get bargains. Mr. Macpherson had never met with such bargains as those bills indicated. They would be more truthful if they could be read as follows : —‘ Extraordinary cheap bargains of extraordinary bad stuff, sold to an extraordinary stupid public by an extraordinary clever dealer.’ He also alluded to the open doors for the seduction of the simple, and said it was truly said by one, those doors should have inscribed on them, ‘ This way to the pit.’ He spoke of the system of accommodation bills so extensively carried on in order, as he remarked, to dupe people. Men would say, ‘ Oh, this is business.’ Well, it lust meant ‘hell.’ Mr. Macpherson also stated that the cloth raxing system was a most obnoxious species of robbery which would certainly be punished.”

The London Standard states that several naval powers are directing tlieiv attention to the practicability of establishing telegraph stations in mid-ocean, by which messages can be sent frorh any part of the sea along the line of the cable to the terminal points on shore, and vice versa, so that communication with ironclads, mail steamers and other vessels when out at sea, may be established. The invention consists of a hollow sectional column, with a base-plate attached by a ball-and-socket joint, which column is lowered into the water and anchored rigidly to the ground. The branch cable is coupled to the main cable and carried along the column to the surface of the water, to be there connected with instruments on board the vessels. By this invention it is proposed to conti'ol naval and strategical movements, while a ship in distress could communicate her exact position, the nature of her disasters, and thus procure assistance. A Home correspondent of the Otago Daily Times says :—“ I mentioned in my last letter the death of the young head of the clan Mackintosh, at Moy Hall, Inverness. The event caused much regret throughout the Highlands, and even the Queen sent a message of condolence to his widow. In accordance with ancient usage, the funeral, which took place on December 27, was a very grand affair. Hundreds of his former tenants assembled from all parts of his wide estates to pay the last token of respect to their chief, and their numbers were increased by many of the neighboring landed proprietors and leading citizens of Inverness. Open house was kept with true Highland open-handedness. The coffin, in addition to the family arms, bore the simple inscription— ‘ Alexander ZEneas Mackintosh, of Mackintosh. Died 17th December, 1875, aged 28.’ While the body lay in state in the library, two old family swords lay crossed on the coffin, according to a custom of very ancient date. When it was borne by the clans-

men to its last resting place in the family vault, in Petty Churchyard, the body was preceded by six pipers playing ‘ The Mackintosh’s Lament.’ The number of spectators at the place where the road branches off to Petty numbered several thousands, and the procession itself was over a mile in length. The men who bore the coffin were relieved by fresh relays, but the pipers played unrelieved to the last. At Inverness all the shops aid other places of business were closed from noon till 2 o’clock. The deceased’s uncle was chief mourner, hi 3 brother not arriving from Malta in time to attend the funeral.”

The dread symptom of double vision as a warning of mental disease is discussed by Dr. Wynter in his essays on insanity, reprinted from several of the British reviews. “ Dr. Gregory,” he says, “tells a curious and instructive tale of a sportsman, who went out shooting one day with his gamekeeper, and complained of his bringing out so many dogs, asking why he required eight dogs. The servant said there were only four, but hia master persisted. Convinced, however, of his mistake, probably by the touch, he mounted his horse and rode home ; and had not been long there before he was attacked with apoplexy and died.” James Hinton, an English writer on physiology, states in the Academy that the cause of double vision is often far more innocent, as in the case of short-sighted people, where it may be occasioned by reading from a book held too near the eyes. An Oxford student thus afflicted, who feared that he would become insane, and made a journey to Australia for his health, was wholly cured by the use of a proper pair of spectacles. The United States fleet is at present thus composed : —There are twenty-four ironclads, all constructed upon the model of the turretship Monitor, and mounted with sixty-three heavy guns. Most of them are also armed with rams. Their total tonnage is 20,771 tons, and they could be got ready for action in a fortnight. There are thirty-nine wooden vessels fit for active service and ready for the reception of munitions and of their crews. Their total tonnage amounts to 46,214 tons, and twenty of them, which are equal in point of tonnage to any other wooden vessels afloat, are armed with 509 guns of heavy calibre. Thus, the naval forces of the United States consisted, on the Ist November, 1875, of sixtythree vessels, armed with 572 guns. There are also eleven vessels on the stocks, one of which, the Trenton, will be launched next week, while three others, the Adams, the Enterprise, and the Essex, will be finished in a month. The Vandab’a, the Marion, and the Quennetrang will be ready in three months, and the remaining four, the Java, the Pennyslvania, the New York, and the Galena, in six. The tonnage of these vessels is 15,360 tons, and they will be mounted with 124 guns.

The New Zealand Cross.—The statement that Dr. Eeatherston, Agent-General of New Zealand, had had conferred upon him the New Zealand Cross by the Colonial Government has caused some comment. The Standard strongly disapproves of the existence of such a distinction as being purely local and not Imperial, and takes the opportunity, also, to condemn the order of St. Michael and St. George as both unmeaning and mischievous. “Vanity Fair” remarks that the Queen is the only fountain of honor, and says that when Lord Granville approved of the institution of an antipodean order, he allowed her Majesty’s functions to be usurped. Such m system it believes tends to weaken the constitution between the Mother Country and the colonies, and to the setting up of a local as distinct from Imperial interest, and it hopes that although that was the policy of the late Ministry, Mr. Disraeli will lose no time in trying to repair the mischief caused by hia predecessors. Other journals speak in the same strain, and whilst expressing no doubt that Dr. Featherston richly deserved the honor, think an institution of the kind ought not to have been encouraged. The Hour has an article on the new fibres of commerce, in which it particularly dwells on the various fibres to be found in New Zealand. Dr. Hector, of New Zealand, read a paper on the Alps of the Southern Island at the Geologists’ Association, University College. Great interest was manifested in the lecture, and some excellent colored sketches were shown, illustrating the beauty of the New Zealand alpine scenery. The Echo reports the following case, heard at the police court, Sydney :—Charles Edward Neate was charged on the information of Alfred Dempster, Inspector for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, with having cruelly ill-treated a dog. Defendant is a clerk in the Lands Office, and on Tuesday 7thinst., a little dog, whose owner was unknown, found its way into that department of the Lands Office where defendant and some others were employed. Defendant had the dog put out, but it came in again, and he then took it and threw it out of the window, which was twelve feet above the level of the ground. The dog fell with its whole weight upon its fore paws and broke both its fore arms. It lay for a long while moaning, until Mr. Dempster, who was informed of the circumstance, took it to a veterinary surgeon, by whom it was destroyed. Defendant said that he had no intention to injure the dog, that he put it out at the window because he thought that the most effectual way of getting rid of it. He was fined £2, with 7s. costs of court, and 21s. professional costs ; in default of payment fourteen days’ imprisonment. “Detectives are very smart men,” the Maryborough Advertiser remarks, “but, like other people, they make stupid blunders now and again. Major Templeton was at Sandhurst a few days since, and had a disagreeable adventure with Detective Alexander. Major Templeton is the actuary and secretary of the National Mutual Life Association of Australasia, and having finished his business in connection with the agency at Sandhurst, he got into a cab to go to the railway station. He noticed that a man was watching his movements, and presently the same person got into the cab too, and seated himself beside th*

major. This was Detective Alexander, who said, ‘ Ah, how do you do, Mr. Macintosh ?’ Major Templeton : ‘ Sir, you mistake. My name is not Macintosh.’ Detective Alexander: * Oh, come now, that won’t do, I’m not to be put off like that you know !’ Major Templeton : ‘I don’t know who you are, sir, that you dare presume to talk to me in this way. I suppose the explanation of your conduct is that you are a detective, and you want someone named Macintosh ?’ ‘ Detective Alexander : ‘ Just so ; and you are the man.’ It was in vain that the major protested. He had to go with the detective to be ‘ identified,’ and Alexander took him to Mr. H. B. Fletcher’s office. Mr. Fletcher is the local agent of the National Mutual, and Detective Alexander is ■ a member of the society. Detective Alexander asked Mr. Fletcher if he knew * this man ? * Know him,’ said Mr. Fletcher, ‘of course I do. Why he’s our actuary and manager. Exit, rapidly and in confusion, of the detective ; but Major Templeton very nearly missed the train through the adventure.” The question of the legality of the charge made against parents for school fees in the case of the removal of a pupil without notice came before Mr. Ffoulkes, judge, at th.e Warrington County Court, England, lately. A gentleman named Evans, who took his grandson away from the Friends’ school at Penketh, without giving the usual quarter’s notice, as required by the rules, was summoned for £5, the amount claimed. The plaintiff’s solicitor argued that his Honor’s predecessor, the late Mr. Harden, ruled invariably that parents and guardians were liable for a quarter’s fees if they had not given notice of their intention to withdraw their children from the school. ■His Honor said there was no law to support the case. He had the greatest respect for Mr. Harden’s memory and anything he did, but at the same time he must be guided by the law. He gave judgment for the defendant. According to the Sydney Evening News of Wednesday, March 1, there was a special meeting in the estate of Hayden Hezekiah Hall in the Insolvent Court on the Monday previous, when Mr. Hall attended and gave an account of his insolvency. The following evidence was elicited by Mr. J. Shepherd, for Mr. Burt :—ln August, 1874, he was manager of the Australian and American Mail Steamship Company, at a salary of £2O per week. At that time the company was not insolvent, for he knew that Mr. Forbes, one of the contractors, was worth hundreds of pounds, and that Mr. De Bussche, the other contractor, was a wealthy shipowner. Being frequently obliged to leave the colony in the interests of the company, he left Sydney in August, 1874, to go to New Zealand. He then had £240 in his possession, besides £72 and £32 he received on the Bth of August and 22nd of September respectively. He left £ISOO in the bank to the credit of the company. When he left the colony he did not tell the creditors previously that he was going to Europe ; but he did tell Mr. Westgarth that he was going to New Zealand. When he got to Kandavau, he determined to go te Europe, because Captain Woods was unwilling to take the Cyphrenes beyond Auckland down the New Zealand coast, because the charter was not paid. Before that it was his intention to return to Sydney. He had no reason to believe that the company’s contract would not be carried out when he left the colony. The company’s liabilities were £7OOO, and he knew that there were not'sufficient assets to meet that amount. Out of the £ISOO in the bank, there was £6OO or £7OO due to him for salary, which would he more than sufficient to meet all his present liabilities. When in England, in November, 1874, he heard that the company had been compulsorily sequestrated ; and subsequently he heard that Mr. W. W. Burt had petitioned for, and obtained, the compulsory sequestration of his (Hall’s) private estate. Before he left the colony he was not aware that there was anything against him, except £4 due to Stephen and Stephen for legal advice rendered to him as manager of the company. He would have drawn the £6OO out of the bank as his salary if he had contemplated not returning to the colony. He had reason to believe that the company had ships building for the performance of the contract. He never authorised Mr. Byers to place stores in Bradley, Newton, and Lamb’s hands for sale. In July, 1874, Mr. Christopher Newton sued for money owing him by the company. Except the £4 owing to Stephen and Stephen, he (Hall) did not owe a dollar of private debts when he left in 1874. In connection with the formation of the new Pacific Mail Company he was not promised a bonus ; but when the company was properly formed, the company would deal liberally with him. Meeting terminated.