News by the Mail.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 317, 9 March 1878, Page 18

News by the Mail.

London, January 18. General Grant has had a magnificent reception at Malta.

The Pan Anglican Synod will open at Lambeth on 2nd July, and will last for three weeks. John Freeland, who died lately at Nice, bequeathed £4OOO to the Glasgow Western Infirmary. In the event of Stanley accepting the invitation of the Royal Geographical Society the reception will be held in the Albert Hall. A woman, named Martha White, who is said to have taken no food for four years, has died at Market Harborough. Great depression exists in the iron trade. The Comet Company are blowing out their furnaces. There have been several railway accidents during the month, but none attended with serious consequences. Messrs. Woods’ cotton mills at Manchester were burned on the 10th instant. The loss is estimated to be £20,000. A block of five warehouses, containing jute, flax, &c\, was burned at Wapping on the 31st ultimo. On the 4th large cotton mills at Stockport were destroyed by fire through the falling of a lighted lamp amidst a quantity of fluff Frederick Drinsdale, solicitor, for the forgery of deeds by which he obtained £30,000 has been sentenced to penal servitude for life. The Convocation meeting of the University of London was held on the 15th, when it was decided by 242 to 132 to grant degrees to women. Temple Bar is totally removed. All the ■outside stones were previously numbered, and the Bethnal Green vestry has asked that it may be re-erected in "Victoria Park. An International Telegraph Congress will meet in Londou on Ist July. The principal task will be to agree upon a uniform international tariff. A marriage has been arranged between the Earl of Roseberry aod Miss Hannah de Rothschild, daughter of Baron Meyer de Rothschild. The Friesland steamer, from Java to Holland, with a valuable cargo worth £200,000, has been lost off Cape Finisterre, with all on board, 144 in number. There has been another large jewel robbery in Surrey, the residence of Lord (Jofctenham, at Tunbridge Court, ue ir Goldstone, having been broken into, and a quantity of valuable jewellery carried off. Much excitement was caused by the making of an affiliation order against the sacristan •of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, Rugby. A number of priests were examined, and the proceedings extended over several days. Through a collision between the steamer Xerna, plying between Bristol and Cork, and the' Italian barque Pensirs, on the night of the Bth inst., the latter foundered with ten of her crew of eleven. Chief Inspector Clark, having been reinstated on full pay, at once retired on a pension of £lB5.- It is understood that the Detective Commission will recommend the employment of an inferior class and greatly increased pay. The London Society of Amalgamated Carpenters and Joiners have given their employers six months’ notice of their intention to demand an increase of Id. per hour, and the masters have resolved to obtain a supply of foreign workmen. The masons’ strike still continues. About 270 Germans and 50 Englishmen are employed at the Law Courts. Many other German masons are at work elsewhere in London. In a few instances fights have taken place between the Germans and others. The four liberated Fenian prisoners arrived at Dublin on the evening of the 13th. The streets were crowded, and ten bands, with a numerous procession, escorted them to the European Hotel. Several Irish. M.P.’s took part in the proceedings. Their release was in consequence of the Queen directing their discharge. Terrible distress exists in South Wales. Lord Aberdare has taken the initiative in organising relief. The Lord Mayor, in view of the many recent public appeals, declined the inauguration of the'special Mansion House Fund. Many of the younger men in the principality are stated to prefer emigrating to Australia. Lord Yarmouth, speaking at Stratford-on-Avon, strongly advocated the introduction of a Bill rendering compulsory the slaughter of all foreign cattle at the port of debarkation. He thought the English farmers ought to be protected now that they were beginning to feel American competition in the meat trade. Lord Shaftesbury, Mr. Miller, and a couple of other leading men have retired from the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, on the grouud that two of its publications— Bonney’s Geology” and the Rev. BrownlowMaitland’s “Argument from Prophecy”—are heterodox. Very riotous proceedings took place at Birkenhead on the night of the 31st ult., in consequence of Protestants playing anti-papal airs in the early part of the eveniug. 2000 persons assembled, who marched through the street smashing windows and doing other damage. St. James’s Church was attacked and every pane of glass broken. The police were taken by surprise and were powerless. A daring attempt at murder was made on a Mr. Hamburgh, a diamond merchant, in some chambers at the Holborn Viaduct-, ou Tuesday. He had a bag containing £IOOO worth of diamonds with him, and the would-be murderer tried to kill him with a revolver. Mr. Hamburgh was seriously wounded ; but the man got alarmed and made off without the diamonds. The projected establishment of a Roman Catholic Hierarchy in Scotland is attracting attention there, and a meeting has been he <i in .favor of taking legal action to prevent it. It is expected that Dr. Eyre, of Glasgow, and

Dr. Araien, of St. Andrew’s, will be created archbishops. A report that Cardinal Manning had been authorised to come to an arrangement with the English Government on the subject has been denied. At a meeting of the Home Rule Conference, held in Dublin this week, it was resolved that the Home Rule party should take counsel together and decide on their line of action, as a party, respecting the Eastern Question. Mr. Butt emphatically declared he would engage in no war upon the House of Commons, and asked if the House imprisoned the members would the Conference come over and silence them ? Mr. Biggar advocated war with Russia, in the interest of Irish farmers. . A large fire broke out on the morning o the 12th, at Messrs. Crocker and Sons , Manchester warehouse, Watling-street. The premises were being rebuilt, and the fire was caused by the overturning of a naptha lamp amidst some shavings. Altogether eighteen warehouses lying between Watling, Bread, and Friday-streets, and Cheap-side, were more or less injured. The damage is estimated at £200,000. I lie hydrants were found very efficient in quenching the fire. GENERAL NEWS. An Admiralty return has been issued showing the amouut of shipping estimated f-'»’A™ built from the year 1865-6 to the year 1876-7 in the Roval dockyards and by contract. Ur ironclads 'alone 83,671 tons have been actually built in the dockyards, and 4628 tons by contract during the period named, at a total cost of upwards of seven millions sterling. According to Sir William Stirling-Maxwell (says the Bailie of December sth) our countrymen are being educated out of house and home. “People,” says he, “are emigrating from these islands in order to escape the pressure of a too costly education, just as they emigrate from other countries to escape military conscription,” and this remark, it seems, applies more particularly to the far North. This is a terrible state of matters. What between ship, deer, and the School Boarch to say nothing of amiable enthusiasts like Professor Blackie, who want to prevent him from learning English, John Hielan’man is having a rough time of it. Lieutenant-Colonel G. Denison, of the Canadian Volunteer Force, has just been awarded the prize of 5000 roubles offered by the Russian Government for the best book on the “ History of Cavalry.” There were competitors belonging to all countries, and it is singular that Lieutenant-Colonel Denison, who never served in the regu ars, should have produced a work deemed by the Russian authorities superior to all its competitors. lhe money value of the prize, though considerable, is comparatively little as compared with the honor of being deemed the best cavalry historian. The latest railway novelty _in America is a Turkish bath on wheels. It is a car that can run behind the sleeping coaches of an express train. It has a drawing-room, a Russian and plunge bath, shampooing and all the other accommodations of a Lurkish bathhouse. The temperature of the rooms varies from 80 to 160 degrees, and the compartments are lighted from the roof with blue glass. Travellers can batbe as well as eat, drink, and sleep on the rail. Such a car can be switched off on a side track in any town or village, and remain a day or two for the accommodation of the residents. The latest improvements in the electric light made by AT. Joblochoff- -are to reduce its price below that of gas. Ihe electricity can of course be “ laid on by service wires, and great economy in its production may be obtained by the employment c f powerful engines driving gramme machines. Some of the estimates of the expense give it at onetenth of the cost of gas. It is likely to come into use first of all in establishments large enough to keep a three or four horse-power engine manufacturing light. Two or three smaller establishments may then combine, and so its use will extend until blocks of buildings and more extensive districts will be brought into electric contact. One great advantage possessed by the new light over gas is the simplicity and cheapness of the distributing apparatus. Gas has enjoyed a lengthened monopoly, and a little gentle opposition _ from a new quarter cannot fail to be appreciated.

Petroleum has recently been successfully employed for the removal and prevention of scale in steam boilers, also foi the removal of deposits from water pipes where the water contains large quantities of lime. It has the effect of penetrating and rotting the scale, causing it to become poroup and_ disengage itself from the surface to which it is attached. It is a very simple remedy, and can be used in small q anr.ities without any difficulty whatever, say about a quart every week for a twenty-five horse-power boiler, and in quantities more or less, according to the size of the boilers. It may be introduced in the feed water or through the safety valve, or in any way most convenient for that purpose ; but to be effective must be pure. The heavy oil used for lubricating purposes in cold situations is the most efficient, as the refined oil of this description is of no use, as it is soon expelled by the heat. England has 152 active vessels and 350 in reserve, 60,000 sailors with 3000 officers, and 15,000 marines with 326 officers, and 10 monster ironclads. France has 115 active vessels and 7S in reserve, 48,000 sailors with 1800 officers, and 16,000 marines with 780 officers, 3 monster ironclads and 9 smaller coast boats. Germany has 61 active vessels and 48 in reserve, 8000 soldiers and marines wi'h 500 officers and 3 ironclads. Russia has 158 active vessels, mostly small, 60,000 sailors, with 2000 officers, only one-third serving on board ship, and one monster ironclad. Austria has 68 active vessels, 7000 sailors with 500 officers. Italy has 65 active vessels, 12,000 sailors, with 425 officers and 3000 m nines, wioh 115_officers and 2 monster ironclads, the largest in existence, carrying 8 100-ton guns. Turkey has

57 active vessels, and 28 in reserve. 36,000 sailors and marines, with 1000 officers and 7 ironclads. Spain has 128 active vessels, 21,000 sailors and marines with officers, and 3 small ironclads. Greece has 21 active vessels, 7000 sailors and marines. Denmark has 33 active vessels, 10,@00 sailors and marines. Holland has 87 active vessels, 13,000 sailors and marines.

Dr. Conneau, one of the oldest friends of Napoleon 111., and his private physician, died at Porta, iu Corsica, recently. He was born of French parents at Milan in 1803. While a medical student he became secretary to Louis Bonaparte, the ex-King of Holland, and afterwards he practised for a time as a doctor in Rome. After the insurrection in 1831 he left Rome and became household physican to Queen Hortense, Louis Napoleon’s mother. He joined in the abortive Boulogne invasion, shared the Prince’s captivity in the fort of Ham, and contributed materially to his escape. He attached himself to the person of the Prince in England, and returned with him to France after the Revolution of 1848. When the Empire was established Dr. Conneau was appointed principal physician to the household. He was in 1852 returned to the Corns Legislatif as a Government candidate for the Somme, and continued a deputy till made a Senator in 1867. His son and the Prince Imperial were for many years playmates. Queen Hortense left him a ring by her will, aud expresed the desire that her s n might never separate from him. The Emperor’s friendship for him never flagged, and it is believed to be entirely owing to an oversight that no mention of him was made in his will. Dr. Conneau was liked by everybody who knew him. Some months ago an Otago family woke up one morning and found themselves possessed of something like £60,000 through the death of a female relative in Scotland. The fortune was quite unexpected, as it was known that the deceased relative had intended to leave her immense wealth to a stranger. It appeared, however, that she had quarrelled with her intended heiress, had revoked her will, and djiug intestate, Lad left her property to be divided among her relatives. The following extract from a Home paper has reference to the event: —“ In the Second Division of the Court of Se sion, at Edinburgh last week, an action was commenced, at the instance of Mrs. Charlotte Temple or Yeatman and her husband, for the reduction of a deed of revocation of a will made by Miss Macpherson Grant, of Aberlour, Banffshire, deceased, who inherited property from an uncle valued at from £200,000 to £300,000. She, taking a liking for Miss Temple, who was the daughter of the High Sheriff of Wiltshire, made her heiress, by a will, in 1873. Aliss Temple married in 1876, and before the end of the year AILs Macpherson Grant executed the deed of revocation sought to be reduced. She died at the beginning of last year (1877). The object of the action was to prove that when the latter deed was signed, Miss Alacpherson Grant s intellect was affected through tippling, and alsu from the effect of a fire which occurred at Aberlour House in 1876. After the opening speech, the case was compromised by the pursuers agreeiug to accept £IO,OOO.