News by the Mail.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 383, 14 June 1879, Page 20

News by the Mail.

Count Audnuuy, who is known to be very close about politics, was lately asked by a witty Viennesse journalist, who had interviewed him for twenty minutes without getting anything worth putting in his paper out of the Chancellor, " What is the difference between your Excellency and myself ¥' Answer : " Whilst your Excellency who knows so much will tell nothing, I who know nothing must tell so much !"

Lord Beaconsfield's diet is described by the Albany Sunday Press, which tells us that the Premier's chief sustenance is champagne jelly, which he uses three times a day, and each repast of which costs something like three guineas. The restorative qualities of this nutriment are very great, and to a man of the Premier's sad and meditative temperament and feeble physique must be invaluable. If this is true, and the price of this invaluable j'lly is as great as alleged, it costs the Premier £3449 sa. per annum to diet himself.

At a meetirg of the Victoria (London) Philosophical Institute held on April 21 last, a paper waa read by Mr. Robt. Brown, jun., F.S.A., on "The Religion of Zoroaster considered in connection with Archaic Monotheism." Mr. Brown reviewed the principal features in the system of Zoroaster, aud the connection and parallelism between the early beliefs of Iranian and Aryan Indian. Noticing the original unity of religious conception amongst the Aryan Eamily of mankind, he deduced from the above and other considerations various arguments in favor of the existence of a primitive monotheism. At a time when the Panama Canal is being talked of the following wi 1 be of interest : The United States Consul-General of Cairo, E«ypt, furnishes the department of State with facts from authentic sources regarding the Sue* Canal. He says the entire cost of the canal is £18,454,781. The stock of the company consists of 400,000 shares of 500 francs each. These have sold as low as 100 francs each. At the opening of the canal they had advanced to only 300 francs. They are now quoted at 717 francs, and are probably worth more. The revenue of the canal increased from 5,000,000 francs in 1870 to over 30,000,000 franca in 1877. The expenses, including interest on the sinking fund and land, have been a little over 17,000,000 francs per year. While the revenues steadily increase, the expenses are decreasing or stationary. The saving of distance to British ships going to India is nearly 5000 miles. Twothirds of the vessels passing through the canal carry the English flag. • Prom Nature (April 3rd), page 520, we learn that Cambridge University has just published a broad and liberal scheme for the affiliation to the University of local Colleges in any part of the British Dominions. Any educational institution in which the majority of the students are over seventeen years of age, may be admitted to this privilege, provided that it is established on a permanent and efficient footing. A three years course of study at such an affiliated institution, aud passing in three examinations (to be partly prescribed by the University), entitles the student to an University Certificate, and also abridges the number of terms required to obtain a full University Degree. It thus appears that in order to bring the University work into closer relations with the secondary educational institutions, Cambridge has found it necessary to adopt a scheme not essentially different from that special characteristic of the New Zealand University, whereby provision is made for the affiliation of local College and advanced schools, which has been so foolishly ridiculed by some persons in this colony. The theatre portion of Shakspere's Memorial Buildings, at Stratford-on-Avou. was inaugurated on April 23 by au elaborately arranged festival, which will extend over ten days. The buildings, which are of Elizabethan desi.ru, are picturesquely situated on the banks of the Avon, and will cost between twenty ano* thirty thousand pounds. They include, in addition to a well-appointed theatre, a library and picture gallery, intended for dramatic literature and pictures and statuary of Shakspei-ian subjects. The surrounding grounds will be laid out as ornamental gardens. Part of the scheme of the Memorial Association is tho advancement and improvement of dramatic art by establishment and maintenance of schools of acting, delivery of lectures, establishment of prizes for essays, and relief and assistance of poor and deserving members of the theatrical profession. The town is gaily decorated, and visitors are arriving from all parts. A banquet took place in the Town Hall in the afternoon, and the opening performance in the Memorial Theatre at n ; ght, when a dedicatory address, written by Dr. Weatlaud Marston, was recited. Dramatic performances, in which most of the leading artistes of the day. took part ; concerts, under the direction of Sir Julius Benedict; and dramatic readings by Mr. Brandram, make up the programme. When completed, the Shakspere Memorial Buildings will form a ma/nilicent and stately pile.

The following telegram has been sent from the India Office for publication, giving the details of the accideut which occurred to the 10th Hussars while crossing the Cabul river : —"From the Viceroy, April 4. Squadron 10th Hussars, crossing Cabul river, yielding to strength of current, left ford, which is wide anil averages 2£ft. deep, and were swept over rapid into deep water. It is supposed sudden wave or spate came down, as column, 140yds. long, was simultaneously washed off ford, which was recrossed by some men immediately afterwards without accident. General Gough, on 2nd, sent out two small reconnoitring parties from Futtehabad, both fired on and retired; later piquets reported masses assembling close to camp. Gough got under arms, and advancing fouud Kugiauis holding strong position two miles from camp. Artillery opened fire, but retired as enemy advanced. Infantry

coming up pushed forward, and as enemy. 5000 strong, hesitated, cavalry charged; enemy was completely defeated, and was pursued four miles, losing ' 500 killed and 100 wounded. Our loss, 2 British officers, 1 native officer, guides, 1 private 17th, 2 sowars, guides, killed ; 3 native officers, guides, 1 gunner, 3 uien 17th, 7 men Hussars, 20 sowars, guides, wounded ; 0 horses killed, forty wounded." Mr. Sims Beeves is again prevented from singiug owing to indisposition. He has been suffering severely of late, the result of the trying weather, and although his voice is fortunately unimpaired in power and quality, it will be impos-ihle fo«* him to shake oif the effects of a continued influenza cold for some days to come. All his friends unite in hoping for n genial change in the weather, which will enable him to appear again, more especially as his constrained absence entails upon himself a considerable pecuniary loss aud upon the publie the refined pleasure of his sinking. Mrs. Wybert Rousby, the actress, died at her residence in London last week. This lady's name will be familiar to our readers in connection with the recent assault case, in which Mr. Bandmann was the defeudant.

It has been an Arctic Easter. Her Majesty, who is about to leave Baveno, has had anything but Queen's weather, though she has not suffered herself to be deterred by its rigors from making a series of excursions. Her Majesty's subjects at home have done the best that they could to enjoy their holiday in the face of difficulties which might have depressed the spirit of Mr. Mark Tapley. Frost and snow, sleet, hail, rain, and bitterly cold winds, have been the atmospheric accompaniments of Eastertide. It is the period of the vernal equinox, and some weeks ago American meteorologists, who are usually right, foretold that the winds which blew at this time would con tinne to blow with very little break till the autumnal equinox set in. It was not, perhaps, till the news of the relief of Ekowe actually arrived that people realised how severe had been the straiu of anxiety on all minds these last few weeks. No one liked to think too much about the matter; yet it continually cropped up in every one's thoughts would Lord Chelmsford get through ? Would he get to Pearson in time ? What if Pearson, having no alternative but to lay down his arms, had fought his way out and had been cut to pieces ? These were questions which might be shirked, but they were perpetually asked without receiving satisfactory replies. Therefore it was that the good news was hailed with such intense delight. All along the streets, at the stations on the underground railway, opposite the newspaper offices there were crowds, each man and woman intently perusing their Globe, Daily Neivs, and Standard, and then looking up with a sigh of intense relief. At the clubs men shook hands with one another, and joy was on every face. The war spirit may not be as strong in this as in other nations, but there is no lack of keen heartfelt sympathy for fellow-countrymen in danger, no stint of cordial appreciation of brave deeds done to rescue them and restore the national prestige. The Zulu war may have been a mistake from the first, but it is not without its value in proving that the old inhereut qualities of pluck and endurauce of our race have not yet suffered much diminution as time goes by. Dr. Alexander Dickson, Professor of Botany in Glasgow University, has just been elected to the Chair of 'Botany in the University of Edinburgh, vacant by the retirement of Professor Balfour.

The Paris Exhibition has resulted in a loss of over a million sterling on the venture itself, while at the same time the country, and trade in general, have largely benefited by the great influx of strangers caused by the Parisian show.

The Electrician says that on March 2S, between eleven o'clock and noon, no fewer than 215 messages, averaging thirty words each, were disposed of on a single wire—London and Birmingham—by means of the quadruplex. The number is unprecedented in the history of telegraphy. The apprehensions entertained that the Russian police are secretly leagued with the Nihilists appear to be well founded. The Government has dep -sed Colonel Anatoff, chief of the police at Odessa, owing to his participation in the revolutionary propaganda. The appearance of two new singers has created considerable attraction at Covent Garden. At this early part of the season no less than five debutants —Mddle. Schou, Signor Sylva, Signor Vidal, Mdlle. Turolla, and Mdlle. Pasqua—have been introduced, all of whom have met with a favorable reception. On Easter Monday the Opera was " Les Huguenots," in which Mdlle. Schou took the part of Queen Marguerite, and Signor Vidal that of Marcel, the Staunch Protestant soldier and faithful re'ainer of Raoul de Nangis. Mdlle. Schou is one of the gifted ladies of Swedish origin who have spread the musical reputation of the North far and wide. Her voice i 3 a light and brilliant soprano, such as .suits the part, and its compass fully satisfies the almost exaggerated demauds of the composer. She also possesses in a high degree what singing masters call ay'ilita, and the peiuture with which the part abou ds teemed to present no difficulty to her. At the beginning nervousness som-jwbat impaired her power, and the first shake on which she veutured was anything but perfect. But there was pleuty cf opportunity for Mddle. Schou to prove that in this respect also her technique leaves little, if anything, to ho desired. All through the opera Md le. Schou proved herself to he a most accomplished vocalist. Marcel is the very antipodes of Queen Marguerite. It is therefore not derogatory to Siguor Vidal'a power as an actor to Bay that his Marcel did not, as regards conception or bearing, differ in any essential point from those of his numerous predecessors at Covent Garden and elsewhere. As a vocalist, however, Signor Vidal proved highly satisfactory and even remarkable. The solemn straius of Luther's Chorale and the Huguenot war song, full of fanatic impetus, have seldom been

heard to greater advantage than they were on this occasion ; aud equally laudable, although less striking, was Signor Vilal's share in the difficult and beautiful duet with Valentina. In the last-named part Madame Cc-peda continued the favorable impression received last seasou of her power as a dramatic singer. Signor Gayarre also did full justice to the music assigned to Raoul, the lyrical side of which charact'T is more congenial to him than r.he noisy heroism of the <; Prophet." Signor Cotogni as Nevers, anil Madame Scalchi as Urbano also deserved praise.

The Oxford and Cambridge boat race came off on Satnrdav, April 5, and was an exceedingly hollow affair. Cambridge took the lead in the first few strokes, increased 't to between two and three lengths at Hammersmith bridge, and kept it till the end. The crowds seemed to be as great this year as ever, but there was not perhaps quite as much enthusiasm. The stroke of the Oxford eight rowed admirably, but he was very feebly supported. One of the reasons why the Oxford crew wis so unsatisfactory is that no pains were taken, and no generalship shown, to get it together by the "President of the 0.U.8.C., Mr. Grenfell. Victory iu the Thames D-rby implies not only superiority of oarsmanship, but unflagging industry in organisation and impartiality of choice.

Myles O'Reilly, of Knock Abbey, who has just vacated his seat for the County of Longford, by accepting the comfortable berth of Assistant-Commissioner of Intermediate Education in Ireland, is well up to his work, for he was formerly one of the Boar.l of Examiners at the Catholic University when Dr. Newman was the rector. He afterwards served in the Pope's army under General Lamoriclere, and was returned for the County of Longford iu 1862 by the patriotic party, in their indignation at Colonel Luke White's accepting a lordship of the Treasury. The assistant-cora-missionership is worth £BOO a year, and the work is sufficiently light. It is no secret, however, that it was first offered to Mr. nessy, M.P. for the city of Limerick, who has taken a prominent part of late in deb ites on education in Irelaud ; but he was unwilling to give up his seat in Parliament, and refused the po-it, to the great surprise of those who are convinced that the Home Rulers are all placehunters. Mr. O'Shiughnessy is Mr. Butt's colleague, and it must be inferred from his refusal to accept office that h* d >es not desnair of the prospects of his party.

The war between labor and cuntil continues to ra«"e fiercely iu the north of Engl nul, and at the present moment there are upwards of 100,000 miners out on strike in the Durham Colliery district. Here arbitration has failed, but it has failed because it has not been fairly and fully resorted to. The men desired that the whole of the proposed reduction should be arbitrated on; the masters insisted that first a reduction of 10 per cent, on subterranean labor aud 7i per cent, on labor above ground should be enforced, and then that there should be arbitration on the balance. At the present moment there is every sign of the struggle being conducted with the greatest obstinacy for some time to come. Lord Derby's formal defection from the ranks of the Conservative party cau scarcely be considered a surprise. He has written a letter iu which he regrets his inability to remain a member of the Lancashire Union of Conservative Associations, of which he ha 3 long been a patron, " under existing political circumstances." For some time past Lord Derby has sat upou the cross benches iu the House of Peers, thus showiug that the last links which bound him to official Conservatism are completely severed. Between Lord Beaconsfield, as well as between Lord Salisbury and himself, there exist the strongest personal as well as political differences, and it is not likely that either will ever be healed. Whether a middle party, of which Lord Derby and Lord Carnarvon will be memhers, will be eventually formed, is exceedingly doubtful. England, we have often been told, does not love coalitions, and the Whigs do not care fbr fifth wheels to their coach. None the less will Lord Derby's se cession be a severe loss to the Conservative party. His pei-sonal aud territorial influence is great in Lancashire. Lancashire has for some time been the stronghold of official Conservatism, and it will be surprising if some valuable Conservative seats are not lost in Lancashire at the next general election.

An exceedingly amusing and, in its way, important case has recently been tried. The Duchess of Westminster was summoned by a former lady's-maid named Jones, on a charge of having libelled her iu a letter to a friend of her Grace's, Mrs. Arthur Chapman, who had inquired a 3 to her character. In this letter the Duchess had plainly stated that iu her opiniou "Jones" was out of her mind, and therefore not a fit person to engage in domestic service. Jones's insanity was tolerably well proved, and her Grace of Westmiuster, therefore, absolved from the accusation brought against her. So f*r so good. But it transpired during her Grace's cross-questioning that the Duchess of Westminster had, even at the time of .Tout's alleged lunacy, given her a general character. Courteously asked by the counsel in court how she reconciled this with her sense of duty to her neighbors, the Duchess naively answered that though she should, of course, be verv sorry if "other people" found that they had engaged a mad servant, she (the Duchess) could hardly be expected to take the same interest iu them as in her own relatives. Mr. Justin McCarthy took his seat for the county of Longford, iu the room of Mr. O'Reillv, resigned. The Jiumal des Debuts, commenting upon the news from Egypt, says :—" The Governments of France and England doubtle<s foresaw this change of attitude on the part of the Khedive ; they should therefore be prepared to adopt a joint resolution which shall cau-e their dignity to be respected, a consideration which must take precedence over any other. It is imperatively necessary that France and England should remain indissolubly united ; their union will enable them to overcome all

difficulties. Let the Khedive be on his guard againHt the last act of the comedy he is playing." The Imperial Family of Germany has been afflicted by the sudden and unexpected demise of Priuce Waldemar, the third son of the Crown Prince and Princess. The young Prince, who had only attained his eleventh year, was nominally a lieutenant in the Ist Regiment of the Prussian Guards, a rank bestowed, in accordance with a long-established rule in the House of Hohenzollern, on all royal princes on their tenth birthday. His Highness, of whom most promising hopes were entertained, was snatched from this life by the same dire disease which had done such cruel havoc in the family of the Grand Duke of Hesse.

A fire broke out in Philadelphia on April 7 in a block of buildings between Crown and Fourth-streets. The loss is estimated at 700,00Dd01. The Prince of Wales, Grand Master of the Freemasons of England, has intimated his intention to appoint Viscount Ebrington, eldest son of Earl Forteseue, to the Provincial Grand Masteiship of Devonshire, vacant by the resignation of the Rev. L. Huyshe, of Clyst Hydon. Lord Ebrington is Sent r Warden of the Barnstaple Lodge, and is now only twenty-four years of ag\ His grandfather, however, was .Provincial Grand Muster of Devonshire for forty-two years

The Very Kcv. Dr. Church, Dean of St. Paul's, is among those who have promised their support to a proposed Hellenic Society. The Duke and Duchess of Connauglifc may be f-incerely congratulated on the choice <>f their trip. There is probably no more delightful place in the world, during the Holy Week, than the " Pearl of Andalusia," when the gaitie3 of the fair and the devotions of the season attract to the city all the bright eyes of the province, and the early spring of the South causes the promegrantes and the roses to vie in blooming amidst the palms and the orangetrees. Whoever has not spent a night on the banks of the Guadalquiver, walking or riding along the Delacias, at the time when London society begins to cram into stuffy ballrooms and opera-houses, has no adequate idea of human happiness.

A correspondent points out that the generosity and magnanimity of Lord Beaeonsfield in supporting Lord Chelmsford are more noteworthy when it is remembered than the first Lord Chelmsford, father of the present peer, assailed the Premier with bitterest invective when his claim to be again Lord Chancellor was put aside in favor of Lord Cairns. It is stated that they are making a war balloon at Woolwich which is to be sent to the Cape when it is ready, which will be about Midsummer next, just in time, it is hoped, when the war will be all over.

The death is announced at Waring, near Vienna, of the poet Karl Beck. He was born in 1817 atßaja, in Hungary, and was of Jewish origin. His poems are said to be full of the strange passion characteristic of the Hungarian race.

The marriage of the Right Hon. H. C. E. Childers, M.P., and the Hon. Mrs. Gilbert Elliot was solemnised at the British Embassy, Paris, by the Rev. Dr. Forbes, on Easter Eve. "We shall make a great mistake," writes home one of the most distinguished of English generals, "if we take it for granted that two Englishmen are equal to three Zulus. The Zulus are not well armed, it is true, but the desperate courage that they showed at Isandula never has been surpassed." Mr. Eugene Schuyler, the American Consul at Birmingham, who became celebrated for his report on the Turkish atrocities in Bulgaria, has just received a highly complimentary letter from the President of the newly-constituted Bulgarian National Assembly. Colonel Gervase P. Bushe, of Glencairn Abbey, near Lismore, in the County Waterford, died very suddenly on April 18, near his own residence. The deceased gentleman went to Mallow in the morning, returned by midday train, and spent the evening with a friend in the neighborhood. When walking home about half-past seven o'clock he was seen to totter and fall, and on approaching him life was found to be extinct. Deceased was a magistrate of the county, was a nephew of the late Chief Justice Bushe, and a grand-nephew of Henry Grattan. He had served in the 15th and 7th Hussars, and was much respected. Mr. Joseph Tritton, treasurer of the Baptist Missionary Society, has given £SOO towards Bending out additional agents to assist in the Congo River mission. Hobart Pasha is to be married next month to a young lady who is reported as being both pretty and accomplished.

Recent news from Pesth states that the floods are still spreading in Hungary ; more dykes have been destroyed in recent storms, and several more towns are threatened with ruin. Later news states that at Szegedin the weather is very cold. Several thousands of people reside on the river embankmeut, and the water in the town is rising instead of falling. If the bad weather continues, the intelligence adds, there will be little hope of saving the few houses that remain, and the sufferings of the homeless refugees will be iucreased tenfold. More towns are also said to be in danger, and there is no appearance at present of a permanent decrease of the floods. The Lower House of the Hungarian Diet, on April 4, unanimously passed a vote of thanks to Austria and foreign countries for the assistance they have rendered to the sufferers by the Szegedin disaster. M. Tisza then presented a statement to the House showing that up to the present 857,000 florins nave been received on behalf of the sufferers, which sum, the Minister President stated, would be invested at remunerative interest until the commenr.ement of the work of rebuilding the ci'y and the return of the inhabitants. A credit not exceeding 1,000.000 florins would, he said, be applied for the benefit of the public institutions at Szegedin. The necessary precautions for preventing a further inundation and for removing the water from the town and neighborhood had been adopted.

A private letter from Sir Samuel Baker states that Cyprus is the most ill-favored and pestilential of islands, but that the harbor can, with little difficulty, be dredged of the accumulation of ages. It will then be all that could be wished, and, as a fortified coal depot, will complete our Mediterranean communications.

The late Elihu Burritt left about 8000dols. worth of property to be divided among relatives, the Americau Peace Society of Boston, the New Britain Agricultural Society, and Burritt Chapel. The last section of his will is as follows :— " Having thus disposed of the property which a kind Providence has put in my possession in a way which I hope may testify my gratitude for such a gift, I bequeath to this, my native town (New Britain) the undying affection of a sou who held its esteem and special token of consideration above all the honor which he received elsewhere."

The Liverpool Corporation ha ring received a letter from Melbourne upon the subject of the forthcoming International Exhibition to be held there in 1880. have declined submitting the matter to a committee—the usual course. Very different has been the conduct of the Dublin Corporation, the Lord Mayor there, Sir John Barrington, haviug taken such an interest in the matter, he has signified his intention of going out to Melbourne to be present at the opening of the Exhibition, when he will be accompanied by Alderman Harris, of Dublin, both of these distinguished pereonages haviug accepted the invitatiou of Dr. Beaney, the medical Victorian Commissioner now in London, to be guests at his house in Melbourne.

Lord Loftus, the newly appointed Governor of New South Wales, has arrived in London from St. Petersburg, where he was ambassador. His lordship will not leave for Sydney before the end of May, when he will proceed via San Francisco—his servants and carriages going via the Cape. Lord Loftus has two sons—the elder of whom, Mr. Henry J. Loftus, will be his private secretary. We understand that Sir Hercules Robinson, the late Governor of New South Wales, is a relation of his successor in office.

The Lord Mayor of London, Sir Charles Whetham, is Chairman of the Scottish Australian Investment Company. The Kmperor William, on hearing of the attempted assassination of the Czar, sent an aide-de-camp to the Russian Embassy to express his sympathy, and immediately afterwards despatched a telegram to the Kmperor of Russia congratulating his Majesty on his fortunate escape. As soon as the news of the attempted assassination and the Emperor's safety reached the Russian Ambassador a solemn Te Deum was Bung in the chapel attached to the Embassy. American papers just received give an account of the assassination of Mr. Elliott, Chief Judge of Appeal, who was shot down by Colonel Buford on the steps of Louisville Couit House in revenge for an adverse decision. The murderer when arrested owned his motive, and declared he would have killed the other Judge als» but for his large family. Intelligence has beeu received at Berlin of a valuable new find made by the German excavators at Olympia. The object exhumed is the head of a statute representing the river god Klaedos. The head is in a good state of preservation. The German Minister,»at Athens, Herr von Radowitz, happened to be present when the head was discovered. The death is announced from Pari* of Adolph Strodtmann, well known for his excellent translations into German of the works of Tennyson, Shelley, George Eliot, and others, and as a biographer of Heine, and of Gottfried Kinkel, whoße intimate friend he was.

The Pope, it is stated, is making great reductions in his personal household, observing that it is useless to keep up an enormous kitchen where nothing is cooked ; his dinner consists of a soup and one plat. Of personal service he requires very little, so that his retainers will be reduced to one-third of their number.

Mr. Baird, who was sent to Upper Egypt to take measures for relieving the starving population, has sent in a report to the Egyptian Government in which he fully confirms the appalling extent of the famine, and proves by statistics that 10,000 persons have died from starvation alone in Ghirgeh, Keneh, and Esneh. He attributes the famine to overtaxation of the people, and says that if the over-taxation continues another bad Nile will produce a still worse famine. That wonderful man Edison, of electric light notoriety, has so far improved the teler graph as to render it possible to send four messages at once on a single wire. This feat was performed the other day with great success., and now we hear he contemplates a plan for sending six messages by the same wire at one time. His improved telephone, for enabling persons to converse at four miles distance, was exhibited in the city of London the other day to a select circle of mercantile men, who were perfectly astonished at the results. The Prince of Wales, as President of the Society of Arts, has addressed a letter to Lord Beaeonsfield, asking, on behalf of the association he represents, for the appointment of a commission whose duty shall be to collect information respecting the water supply for the population of England. Lord Beaeonsfield writes in reply that he has referred the matter to the Board of Treasury for the careful consideration of their lordships. The Rev. H. J. Martyn, of Preston, a Congregational minister, has gone over to the Church of England. Mr. Martyn was educated at Cheshunt College, which is not an exclusively Congregational institution, but he has been an Independent minister for nearly twenty years.

The influence of the Hou'e of Lorda' judgment in the Glasgow Bank trustee case is already manifesting itself in that deterioration of trustees which had been foreseen. Strange as it may seem, the interpretation of the law on this subject at the time of the winding up of the Western Bank had been overlooked or

entirely forgotten; and trustees g nerally were quite unconscious of the liabilities to which they exposed themselves. They have now, however, thoroughly wakened up to a sense of their risks, and the result is a kiid of panic. It is said in the City that an indiscriminate selling of all kinds of securities, prompted by the alarm, is going «n. The action of the unfortunate persons overwhelmed in the Glasgow Bank disaster, is still further depressing stocks. The sa'es necessitated by the second call of the liquidators have caused a serious fall in the shares and bonds of undertakings in special favor with Scotch investors.

A general meeting of the agricultural societies of France was held in Paris on March 29, under the presidency of M. Estanceliu, when sixty departments were represented by delegates, the object being to consider the prevailing agricultural distress. Resolutions were adopted urging that no treaty of commerce should be concluded or renewed, and that general tariffs should be established in the form of laws. It was proposed that agriculture should be made the subject of protectionist measures, and that all such produce from abroad should be subject to a compensatory duty.

Nearly 12,000 of the Parisian lottery prizes are still unclaimed, a few of them being grand prizes. Whether the tickets have been lost or whether the holders are ia such distant or inaccessible spots as not to have heard of their sxiocesa can only be conjectured Supposing them to be eventually claimed, the surplus is 1,800,000 fr. less the expenses of the exhibition of prizes. Seven million francs was devoted to the purchase of prizes, 740,000 fr. of this sum being expended in the foreign sectious, 2,000,000 fr. went to defray the expenses of artisan visitors to the Exhibition, and 1,200,000 francs was allotted to discount and expenses. The Sportsman says the Duke of Hamilton contemplates a partial retirement from flat racing consequent upon the illness of his trainer, Charles Blanton, who is not well enough to look after a large stud. The Duke's flat-racers will be sold shortly at Newmarket on the day after the Two Thousand Cnineas. Song, the Althorp Park winner, will not be offered for competition, and a reserve price will be placed upon Lollypop. The hurdle-jumpers and steeplechasers owned by the Duke of Hamilton will continue to be trained by Marsh at Lordship Farm, near Newmarket.

Masked balls are becoming popularised ami»ng the English people, apparently. A dance given by Lady Camden at Cannes last March was pronounced a great success. Everyone was masked. There were some pretty and becoming dominoes ; others were quaint, fantastic ; others, again, simply funny. Several tall men- were disguised as Mephistopheles. The cotillion lasted till late, and was led in splendid form by Augustus Lumley. Amongst the company present were the Duchess de Vallombrosa, the Duchess of Montrose, the Marehiouess Blandford, the Countess Kinnoull, Lady Violet Greville, Hon. Mrs. Herbert of Muckross, Miss Monscrieff, &c. The American papers state that the c«nflagaration reported at Hayti has been of a most disastrous character. The whole town of Miracone was destroyed, only two buildings having escaped the general ruin. Between 5000 and 6000 persons have been rendered homeless, and the estimated loss has been 1,000,000 dollars. Among the articles destroyed were 8000 bags of coffee. A new invention of a real practical character (says Nature), not a mere paulo post futurum invention, like many we have heard of lately, has just been made by Mr. E. A. Gowper, the welLknown mechanical engineer. It is a rexl telegraphic writing machine. The writer in London moves his pen, and simultaneously at Brighton another pen is moved, as though by a phantom hand, in precisely similar curves and motions. The writer writes in Loudon, the ink marks in Brighton. We have seen this instrument at work, and its marvels are quite as startling as those of the telephone. The pen at the receiving end has all the appearance of being guided by a spirit hand. The apparatus is shortly to be made public before the Society of Telegraph Engineers. The trial has just taken place at Long Reach of the first-class torpedo boat recently constructed by Messrs. Yarrow and Co., of Poplar, for the Admiralty. Three runs were made with the tide and three against it, in the usual way, with the following results :

Mean of means, calculated by the Admiralty method, 21.93 knots, which is equal to 25J statute miles. The load carried during the trial was 6f tons, which represents the weight of torpedoes, gear, coal, <vc. The steam pressure was -1241 b. throughout, and during the four first rrns the engines were slightly ea.sed, which accounts for the last pair of runs giving the best result. It was four-id that at speeds of between 17 and 19 knots the vibration of the boat was considerable, but when running over 20 knots it entirely disappeared, so much so, in fact, that it was quite possible to write legibly on the stern immediately over the screw. This craft is of precisely the same dimensions as those already built for the English Government, which on their trials have given speeds varying from IS to 19 knots ; and this little steamer, which is only 86ft. long, stands unrivalled a 3 the fastest vessel in the world.

The Paris correspondent of the World gives the following sketch of a Parisian's idea of the Prince of Wales, who is immensely popular in Paris :—" The Prince of Wales is supposed to represent the reaction of the new England against the old. He is the Cavalier who is coming in to put down the Puritan, to knock off the fetters from the national conscience, and enable it to take life as it is. His motto is • cakes and ale.' Hence the very great popu-

larity of his Royal Highness in Paris. He is believed to be bringing England into the comity of nations in social usage, t > be giving her the courage to call a spade a spade. The •old England' of French fancy is a perpetual menace to French conscien es, a perpetual reproach. While she is watching them with that stony stare, there is no getting t. r aigh the revel of life wish comfort. Her skinny finder writes 'And after' on the wall. The most inuoceut amusements of the Prince in this capital are therefore distorted in f he view into signs of his growth in the grace of good.fellowship ala Francaisc. If he visits a picturegallery on a Sunday it is to show how much he would like to go to a ball. If he laughs at the play it is a protest against the squeamishness of the dramatic censorship at home. ' His Royal Highness likes us. 11 »* is half ;t Frenchman. Only wait till you have him on the throne !' As for his Royal Highness's Mother, the speculation as to what that august lady has been thinking of Paris during her drive through the city in a closed carriage have kept the salon? working at full time ever since the day of her arrival. If she would but publish a supplementary edition of ' Our Diary' to cover the last three days, it, would take little more than that time to place it in the hands of every reader in France."

Time. Runs. Min. Sec. Knots per Hour. First ... Second ... ... 2 37 = ... 3 2 = 1978 | " 21 - 35 Third ... Fourth ... ... 2 33 = ... 2 55 = lo.57 ! - 22 ' 05 Fifth .... Sixth ... ... 2 30 = ... 2 56 = 24.00 _ 20.45 ( ~ Zi - AZ