Items by the Mail.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 313, 20 April 1878, Page 18

Items by the Mail.

A woman died recently at Cinderford, in the Forest of Dean, England, in the 105th year of her age. Truth states that efforts are being made with Lord Beaconsfield to induce him to make Mr. Pender, M.P., and Mr. Levi, of the London Daily Telegraph, baronets. The patron of the former is Lord Derby. The grape brandy distillery in Santa Cruz County, California, owned by George M. Jarvis, has been seized by Internal Revenue officers, tagether with all the stock on hand, machinery, and 250 acres, of land, valued at 20,000d015., on a charge of false returns made by the proprietor of the establishment. A German paper gives a curious account of some changes in a horse’s coat. Tip to four years old the horse had been brown, when round white spots appeared, first on the head, and then on the neck, after which they extended to the back, ribs, &c., and finally to the belly and legs. A year later they spread and blended, till at last all brown had vanished, and the horse was a light grey, all but the mane and tail, which remained black. While the change was in progress the horse was subject to colds, and got into wretched condition, but as soon as it was fully completed he quite recovered his strength and spirits. The Aster and Lorilliard rents being always considered a guide to the general rent market, it was ascertained from trustworthy sources that there would be tins year no fur. her decline in the rents of dwelling property, but that a further concession of about 10 per cent would be made on all business property, especially on Broadway stores. During the past two years the decline on Murray Hills rents has been from 20 to 30 per cent on previous rates. Here a large number of houses belong to the Astor estate, which declines to make any further reduction on that property this year. The decline in i*ents on Broadway stores has been during the same period from 30 to 40 per cent, and with the addition of another 10 per

cent this year, made in obedience to the demands of the times, has considerably reduced the income of that vast estate. General complaint is made by landlords that, notwithstanding the decline in rents last year, with no prospects of a rise anywhere, the Tax Commissioners have this year increased the taxation on Sixth and Eighth Avenue property. The Sandwich Islands have recently been suffering from the want of rain. The Honolulu Gazette of tlie 20tli February says:—“The drought on the islands is a source of consideration with the sugar plantei s, and if our advices are not at fault, the result of a scarcity of rain in time to save the sugar crop of these islands will be fatal to an alarming extent. On the windward side of the Island of Maut the drought is so general that the cane crop is partially destroyed. The want of rain on the islands does not only affect the sugar crops, but is seriously felt among the ra'sers of stock. We learn that thousands of cattle are dying all over the islands for want of pasture, the direct result of the absence of sufficient rain to moisten the ground and bring forth a crop of grass.” At the Barnsley Police Court, (Yorkshire), on February 9, Sarah' Ellmore, a married woman, was charged with professing to tell fortunes. Tlie evidence given by three young girls was very extraordina y, one of them, Martha Ann Casement, stating that she had had her fortune told several times by defendant at her house by means of the cards. She said she could bewitch witness’s mother, who was then staying at Low Valley, and advised that a toad be got, and then filled with pins, and this would have the effect, so defendant argued, of wasting Mrs. Casement’s existence away Witness’s father repeatedly sent witness to look fox' a toad, hub she never fouud one. Sai’ali Ann Hinchliffe, aged 16, said she had been sevei’al times to defendant’s house during the last six months, to have her fortune told. She was to have plenty of sweethearts, and she one day cut her toe and finger-nails, wrapped the parings carefully in a piece of paper, and then placed the paper in the ashes. She was told that if she did this she would get her future husband that night, who would appear to her while she slept. He didn’t, however (laughter). The mayor sentenced the defendant to three months’ hard laboi\ Abdul Hamid 11., the present sovereign of Tui'key, is the twenty-eighth Sultan since the conquest of Constantinople. By the law of succession, obeyed in the l’eigning family, the crown is inherited according to seniority of the male descendants of Othman, the founder of the Empire, sprung from the impei’ial harem. The harem is considered a permanent state institxxtion. All children born in the harem, whether the offspring of free women or of slaves, are legitimate and of equal lineage, but the Sultan is succeeded by his eldest son only in case there are no uncles or cousins of greater age. It has not been the custom of the Sultans of Turkey for some time to contract regular marriages. The inmates of the harem come, by purchase or fx - ee will, mostly from districts beyond the limits of the empire, the majority from Circassia. From among these inmates the Sultan designates a certain number, generally seven, to be Ladies of the Palace ; the rest remain under them as servants. The superintendent of the harem, generally an aged Lady of the Palace, has to keep up intercourse with the outer world through the guard of eunuchs. The actual expenditure of the Imperial Court is calculated, on good authority, to have been 23,000,000d015. annually in the latter years of the reign of Abdul Aziz. The Stewart palace, says the New York correspondent of the Utica Herald, has thus far rather a strange histoi'y. The lot was purchased by Townsend, the sarsaparilla man, who made a fortune out of that nostrum and built what was then (1854) the finest house in the city. Such was its beauty that it was exhibited before the family took possession, at 25 cents admission, for the benefit of a charity. Townsend aftsrwai’ds failed, and Stewart bought the property at sheriff’s sale. He pulled down the house and planned the pi-esent palace. This was done before tlie war, when prices were low, and the inflation so increased the cost of labor and matei'ial that the contract became a heavy loss. Stewart held the contractor to the letter, and the unfortunate man suffered to an almost ruinous degree. It is seldom that a building constructed under such circumstances avails much to its owner. Stewart was eleven years preparing a palatial home for his old age, but he died soon after taking possession. The grandest place in America is now occupied by a childish old woman and lier servants. The gorgeous par-loi-s, the picture gallery, and all the luxurious interior are now a silent waste. The lofty ceiling renders the staircase a labor, and the mistress being lame from a fall, is unable to meet such a difficulty. A person in such a condition must be contented with the limits of a bedroom, and hence the lai’gest part of the palace is useless. Such is the condition of an establishment which cost a round million, and on which the taxes alone are 7000 dollars a year. In 1830, says a correspondent of the Philadelphia Times, two young folks living in Belleville, St. Glair county, 111., had a personal quarrel. It seemed to be impossible to reconcile them, and tlieir friends determined to get up a sham duel between them, hoping that the ridiculous issue of the affair would biing them to their senses. One of them, Alphonso Stewart, challenged the other, William Bennett, to meet him with rifles. Bennett accepted the challenge, and the parties met near the village. It is said that Stewart was in the secret, and that Bennett was not, but believed it to he a reality. In any event, after tlie guns had been handed to the principals they tinned to take their positions. Bennett, who claimed that he suspected some sort of trickery, rolled a bullet into his gun. The seconds, hardly able to keep their faces straight, concluded the arrangements, and at last gave 1 he word. The rifles exploded almost simultaneously, Bennett, of course, remaining untouched. Stewart fell to the ground

mortally wounded, and expired shortly afterwards in great ag>>ny. Bennett was at once arrested, put upon trial, convicted of murder in the first degree, and sentenced to be hanged. His friends made the most strenuous efforts to have him pardoned. Failing in this, they tried to have the sentence commuted. But the Governor remained firm against all entreaty. On tlie day appointed for his execution. Bennett was hanged in the presence of an enormous crowd. This was the first and last duel ever fought in the State of Illinois. The hanging of Bennett put a stigma upon the practice, and it has beeu looked upon with, abhorrence ever since. Since the year 1874 the minimum height of the soldiers of the line in the Russian army has been fixed at 153 metres, which in English measurement is 5 feet and a small fraction of an inch. For the Guards the minimum is 5 feet 6 inches and a trifling fraction, or 1’69 metres. For the cavalry of the line no recruit is accepted below 1‘64 metres. These figures appear, according to British notions, very low; but it should he borne in mind that under a system of compulsory service the object of the authorities is to exclude as few persons as possible from the army on physical grounds. The average is, no doubt, considerably higher than the heights we have mentioned. Still, there is no doubt that British troops are composed of much bigger men than Russian troops, or probably than those of any other Power. Richard Wilson, bird and dog fancier, was charged by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals with starving animals in his house, Dale-street, Liverpool, where they had been confined for -four or five days without food during his absence on a drunken spree. The society’s officer having heard that the premises in question contained a great number of animals, and that the defendant had deserted them, went to the place and found the doors and windows locked. Subsequently Major Greig, the chief constable, authorised the officer to break into the premises, when he found upwards of 200 animals, a great many of which were dead, and many others in a dying condition. These consisted of dogs, rabbits, squirrels, canaries, pigeons, foreign birds, domestic fowls, and a Persian cat. The magistrate fined the defendant £ls and costs, or in default six months’ imprisonment. Opium-eating is the live issue in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia. A local paper has been investigating, and reports that the habit is frightfully prevalent, insomuch that the drug stores of Staunton, a place of 10,000 inhabitants, retail about 100 pounds a week, many of their best customers being- young ladies of “ the first families,” while storekeepers in the country find their trade in the drug so increased of late, that they are now purchasing of wholesale houses at the North. The excitement aroused by the exposure has been fanned by the rather tragic death of a Harrisonburg woman, who had sent two horses to be sold, in order to raise money to buy morphine, and was so overcome when she saw the man returning without having made the trade, that she fell to the floor and died in a few hours. A public meeting was held at Staunton to organise public seniiment against the vice, and a petition to the Legislature is being numerously signed asking for a heavy tax on opium. The introduction of the bell-punch, which has raised the price of “ drinks,” is held to be partly responsible for the spread of the evil.— Springfield Republican. We hear from Washington that the committee on naval affairs of the Congress have adopted a report from Mr. B. A. Willis recommending the authorisation and fitting out of an expedition to reach the North Pole, in accordance with the scheme proposed by Captain Howgate, of the United States’ Signal Service, and to which we have referred on several occasions. Captain Howgate’s proposal is to establish a colony of hardj, resolute, and intelligent men at some favorable point on or near the boarders of the Polar Sea, providing it with all modern appliances for overcoming the physical obstacles'in the pathway to the Pole, and for resisting the effects of hunger, cold, and sickness, and to deprive it of the means of retreat except at stated periods of time. The object of the colony would be to watch the condition of the ice and the weather, in order to take advantage of whatever favorable opportunities might be presented to push parties on by boat or sledge or both, the quest being continued until the Pole he found. Every possible comfort would be provided, and the colony would be visited at stated intervals by ships sent out from the States. Lady Franklin Bay, well known in connection with our own recent expedition, is the locality selected by Captain Howgate, though ultimately some other station may be chosen. — American paper. A lady, to whom the French owe the discovery of the most prolific coalfield in France, died a few weeks ago at the age of sixty-six. Madame de Clercq, the lady in question, dwelt in a magnificent chateau situated in the department of the Pas de Calais, and surrounded by a vast park ; but the park was entirely destitute of water, there being neither lake, rivulet, nor waterfall in it. Water she was determined to have, and as she was a millionaire, it was not expense that could baulk her. She sent to Paris for M. Alalot, the engineer who created the famous artesian well in that city, and gave him carte blanche for the cost of raising water. That gentleman, after his preliminary experiments, said he would guarantee that water should be found, but he would not pledge himself to make it rise to the surface. “Find the water,” said Madame de Clercq, “ and if it will not rise of its own accord we will force it up by machinery.” M. Malot found not only large sheets of water, but also a coalfield of which the yield at present, that is, after twenty years’ working, is superior to that of all the other coalfields of France combined. Its value is now estimated at several millions of francs. Thus, at one stroke, she ornamented her park with an abundance of water, and added many millions to her already immense fortune. A few years ago, she lost an action in which she was ea*

gaged against the Due D’Aumale, and by which twenty millions of francs were to be won or lost. Though she was cast in that suit, still she has left her son, the deputy, a millionaire. In the bad old times when the slave bazaar existed as a public institution at Constantinople, when Circassia belonged to Turkey, and when the fair maidens of that land were so common as to be comparatively cheap, there was a sort of Turkish Legree—Hadji Abdallah, of Morocco—a venerable ruffian, near a century old, whose latter days seem to have been spent in compelling recalcitrant ladies in the various harems of Stamboul to be better behaved. Slight cases of this kind he treated on the spot with stick and whip ; more obstinate offenders he took in hand at his own house by starvation, and dungeons, and torture; and it was generally remarked that when these ladies returned they were singularly obedient. One visit to the old Hadji’s house was enough, for, as one of them confessed, she was afraid lest she should have been buried alive, a little accident which had often happened in the Hadji’s dealings with obstinate ladies. That was what he did towards the end of his days. His earlier life had been spent in carrying off slaves in every possible way, begging, borrowing, and stealing them, and then selling them in the slave bazaar, in which business he had acquired an ample fortune.—The Times.