ARRIVAL OF THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 422, 13 March 1880, Page 17

ARRIVAL OF THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL.

PER ZEALANDIA, AT AUCKLAND.

Auckland, March 10.

The Zealandia has arrived from San Francisco. She left on the 17th February at 3.25 p.m., and rounded the North Head at 10 o'clock to-night, but the weather was* thick, and she had to come up slowly. She brings eight saloon and six steerage passengers for New Zealand, fourteen saloon and twenty-two steerage for Sydney. Cargo for New Zealand ports —2430 sacks bonemeal, 728 packages general merchandise, 1522 pieces lumber, and 8302 packages general merchandise. The Zealandia passed and exchanged signals with the Australia on sth March. The following is a summary of news from files to hand :

AMERICA.

San Francisco, February 16,

A Bill, making it a misdemeanor for females to engage in walking matches, is before the New York Senate.

The Clearing House statistics show a decrease of 10 3 per cent, in the San Francisco trade for January, 1880. Delegates from the Pennsylvauian State Convention have been instructed to vote for Grant at the National Convention, by the Pennsylvania State. Exertions are being made for the abolition of the charge of 100,000 dols. for carrying the Australian mail across the continent, and success is expected. The Government is now considering the matter. Mr. Bowie, ex secretary of the Navy, is dead. Eleven Chinese have been burnt to death in a San Francisco laundry. The New York Chamber of Commerce has adopted resolutions favoring a return by the Government of the overplus of the indemnity exacted from Japan. At Londonderry a lad named Dellingham was arrested for shooting his aunt. He confessed that he outraged her afterwards. The victim has since died.

D. Stanton, an Englishman, has won the bicycle race for a purse and the championship of America. He made 50 miles in 3 hours 6min. Usee.

At Springfield, Mass., Parnell, the Home Rule agitator, attacked the veracity and condemned the origin of Lord Alfred Churchill, who by cable denied Parnell's statement that Queen Victoria contributed nothing to the Irish famine fund in 1847, and also restrained the Sultan of Turkey from giving. The French Government officially denies any responsibility for De Lessep's interoceanic canal scheme.' No political significance is attached to the plan. These declarations avert any pi'etext for international complications which before were considered probable. At Racoon Straits, in San Francisco Bay, Daniel Teaky beat Noyhe in a single scull race, on Ist February, making the best time on record —5 miles in 34min. SOsec. Parnell has addressed the United States Congress, at an informal meeting, on the present condition of Ireland. He said he believed that the force of American public opinion would bring about the desired reforms. The County Hospital of Milwaukee was burned on the 3rd February, and two lives lost.

A heavy storm occurred along the Atlantic seaboard on the 3rd instant, but few disasters are reported. The new invention called the multiplex telegraph is said to be a humbug. Jay Gould's purchase of the Central Pacific railroad stock excites attention, and his main object is surmised to be to secure control of all the roads having Californian routes in their charters. He will next turn to St. Louis and San Francisco and Iron Mountain roads, the only ones he fears as rivals. , The Pacific Railroad and Pacific Mail Company are in open rupture, and a fierce competition in Pacific Slope freights is anticipated. Lewis Kearney, the agitator, has returned to California from his Eastern tour.

Colonel Bob Ingersoll, in Chicago, lectured on Thos. Paine, whom he extolled for his freedom from religious belief, and for his American patriotism. The New York Commercial Bulletin, in an elaborate article, shows that the De Lessep canal scheme is chimerical, and that the tonnage passing through at 4dol. per ton, as proposed, would fail by 6,600,000d01. to meet the annual interest charges, to say nothing of the working expenses. The calculation is based on an.estimate cost of 260,000,000d01., and the tonnage passing through yearly at from two and a half to three millions.

A Bill is before Congress to create the territory of Pembica out of the northern half of Dakota.

Congress is considering a Bill for the complete reorganisation of the Navy. The Rev. Adolph Baltozer, president of the German Evangelistic Synod of North America, died near Marthasville, on the 29th ultimo. He was a classmate of Prince Bismarck. The Mormons seek to have Utah united as a State, which, as they hold the power, would enable them to expel their opponents by taxation. They are also making overtures to several Indian tribes for an alliance.

McVicker's theatre, Chicago, is illuminated by electric light ; a local electrician having anticipated Edison, and overcome the difficulty of dividing the current. Mackey, the Bonanza magnate, gives ten thousand dollars to the Irish relief fund, and the Nevada Bank of San Franoisco 25,000 dollars. CANADA. There is great distress among the poorer fishermen, and [efforts are being made for their relief. The heavy cannon in the Dominion are being converted into rifled guns. Parnell and Dillon address an 'urgent appeal to Canada for help to the distressed in Ireland.

At Ottawa, a small-pox victim was rescued alive from a coffin. After the grave-digger had partially covered it with earth he heard a noise, and inquiring into the cause succeeded in saving the unfortunate. Parnell has refused to visit Montreal, on account of the strong feeling against him. Princess Louise has returned from England.

Captain Win. Tower, of the barque Brother's Pride, has been arrested at St. John's, charged with scuttling the vessel at sea, in order to defraud the insurance companies of 72,000 dollars.

The people of Chucan, Ontario, suspecting a family named Donnelly of numerous acts of incendiarism, and other offences, formed a vigilant committee, attacked Donnelly's house, murdered all the five inmates, fired building, and consumed the bodies at the same time. It was a horrible affair, and caused great excitement. Four arrests have been made, one of them a constable.

At Ottawa the Governor-General's carriage was run away with by the horses, and the danger was imminent till one of the aides sprang into the roadway and stopped the team, after being dragged 100 yards. Princess Louise quickly recovered from the shock. § '^T^'z^'Z' ENGLISH AND FOREIGN™

London, undated.

Mr. O'Donnell, M.P. for Dungarvan, in the House of Commons, stigmatised the abuse practised by the Government as worse than treason. He became much excited, and wept when describing Parnell's services to his country.

Mr. Plimsoll, M.P, will introduce a Bill with the object of diminishing the loss in life and property from shifting cargoes by loading grain in sacks. The Irish National Land League has resolved to thank the United States Congress for according the privileges of the floor to Parnell.

The National Zeitung, reviews Parnell's tour to America, and considers it dangerous for Home Rulers to make capital out of their country's troubles. It was announced at a meeting of the Dublin Mansion House Committee, on January 31, that £33,000 had been received and £15,000 disbursed. Complaints were made of attacks on the managers by agitators in America, and letters were read from Roman Catholic Bishops in Ireland testifying to its impartial distribution. The receipt of £2OOO additional from New South Wales was announced, making a total from Australian Colonies of £21,000 to that date.

The Government intend making a grant for seed for Irish small farmers. The loss by failure of last year's potato crop is estimated at £4,624,000.

For the week ending 20th January three deaths from starvation are reported near Parson town, County Louth. The Right Hon. Jas. Lowther, Chief Secretary of the Lord Lieutenant, denies this.

The Irish and English landlords question increases in importance. Bright's colleagues accept substantially his scheme to aid tenants in buying farms by Treasury loans. The Lord Mayor of Dublin writes that the English people fail to realise the gravity of the Irish crisis, and except prompt assistance be forthcoming tens of thousands of the Irish people must die of starvation. He complains that England has contributed less to the Mansion House fund than Melbourne. Baroness Burdett Coutts has sent £SOO to Ireland by a special agent, to insure its proper distribution. Quarrels have arisen in the management of the various relief funds, and it is hoped the means will be devised of concentrating the charities under one head.

Davitt Daly and Killen will be tried in March. In the meantime the former will be sent to the Continent to enlist sympathy and assistance for Irish sufferers. Subscriptions have been opened in Bombay. One native banker gave £IOOO, and the French bishops have appealed to the cures to collect funds for a similar purpose, James Keene, of New York, proposes to send a shipload of wheat to Ireland as his donation, and under the presidency of the Archbishop of Paris an Irish relief committee has been formed.

A petroleum basin, said to be as extensive and prolific as that of Pennysivania, has been discovered at Borengo in Hanover. One well yields 400 cwt. of oil day. The increase of the German army surprises some of the States, and is opposed by the Bavarian Parliament.

Germany recognises Roumanian independence.

Mr. Archibald Forbes attacks Lord Chelmsford in the " Nineteenth Century." It is semi-officially asserted that Lord Lytton has no desire to leave India.

Mr. J. Russell Lowell's appointment as American Minister to England, gives general satisfaction in the British capital. Mr. John Bright, in another speech at Birmingham, eulogised the American education system. It is reported that a special alliance is to be concluded between England, Austria, and Germany. The treaty with Hawaii has been presented to the German Federal Council. The German Government will impose a tax on all persons exempt from military service. General Skobeloff, who has been appointed to command the Tefeake expedition, declines, unless he is given 100,000 men.

The Russian police being found defective, are to be reinforced by a number of Germans from the Baltic provinces. A number of officers, passed over in the promotion at the close of |the Turkish war, have joined the Revolutionists. The Russian Government is about to ttart an anti-Nihilist paper. The Pope suffers from fits and shivers, and great prostration, but persists in his usual occupations. Herr Lasker, leader of the National Liberals, will visited the United States, where he will make a prolonged stay.

The Jews are to be placed upon the same footing as other Russians, and full mission privileges will be extended to Poland. The increase of the German army absorbs attention on the Continent. Austrian journals agree that it is a menace on France. Russian journals affect to believe an attack upon Poland is meditated.

In the Chamber of Deputies, during a debate on the Customs' tariff, it was asserted without contradiction that national industries are far from flourishing, and have for some time been outstripped by foreign competition. The Pope's Encyclical against divorce insists on the eminently religious nature of marriage, and exhorts the bishops to urge the view upon their flocks. The Theatre Royal, Dublin, was burnt on the 9th. The fire was caused by the ignition of the curtains of the Duke and Duchess of Marlboro's state box. The manager, property manager, and four assistants perished in the flames. The loss is £200,000.

The English newspaper in Constantinople was suspended for commenting unfavorably on the bestowal of honors by the Sultan on Hafiz Pasha.

Experts estimate the loss to the British farmers during the year 1879 at from £100,000,000 to £150,000,000. In the foundation of an obelisk now being removed in Egypt, Masonic eir<b!erns were discovered. It is'said these relics show that Masonry originated with the building of the Pyramids, and the discovery may furnish some clue to themjstery of the structures.