ARRIVAL OF THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL. AT AUCKLAND.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 916, 20 September 1889, Page 24

ARRIVAL OF THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL. AT AUCKLAND.

(PER. PRESS ASSOCIATION.) (Per R,M.S. Mariposa) MAIL NEWS. General summary with dates from Europe to August 25th. Balfonr’s Prison Bill passed the House of Commons on August 23, after a heated debate, by a vote of 113 to 69. Fierce attacks were made on the Secretary tor Ireland by Sexton, Parnell and Blane. SI via, the Australian heavy-weight, deposited, on August 12th, £IOO with the Sporting Life, Loudon, with a challenge to John L. Sullivan. Slavin means to fight for £IOOO and the world s championship, unuer the London prize ring rules. Edison, the electrician, is being honoured in Europe. .On tho 13th august the Queen despatched Colonel Gourriml to Paris to present the inventor’s phonograph, into which she had spoken, warmly congratulating him. King Humbert, of Italy, has appointed the distinguished American a grand officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy. William Mackay Porter, a special examiner of the Pension Bureau, of Washington, is under arrest in Belfast, charged with obtaining money under false pretences. Porter attempted to borrow money from the Consul-General on the plea that when he arrived in London the banka were closed. Since Porter s arrest a letter has been received from his wife, asking for information about him. She says he recently became insane, and escaped two weeks ago. Herr Laehninonn, editor of the London Journal, a weekly newspaper printed in Germany, shot his wife and child on August 19th, and then committed suicide. The Exhibition of tho Co-operative Societies has been opened at tho Crystal Place, Sydenham. The display is highly interesting, and shows a marked progress in the products of co-operative industry. A festival was given at the Palace on August 17th in connection with the Exhibition. The attendance was enormous, the turnstile recording over 40,000. Rosa Raymond, a notorious swindler of two continents, was arrested in Loudon on August 20 for cashing a fictitious draft. The Earl of Duoraveii has written a letter to the New York Yacht Club regrefctiug the recent misunderstanding in regard to the America Cup challenge, and expressing a hope that a race with his yacht the Valkyrie may be arranged iu IS9O. On August 2nd an American association paid M. W. Rouet 580,650 francs for Millet's picture, the “ Angelas," bbught at Secreton sale. ~ * Extensive forgeries of 1000 franc notes were discovered at Toulonse on August 7th. The notes had been extensively circulated. A number of persons were arrested, but a large railway contractor, who was implicated, escaped. Tne action of the British Honse of Commons, says an Ottawa despatch, of grauting £60,000 for the establishment of a mail service between Vancouver, B.C , and Hong Kong, is erecting a stir in political, circles in Canada. Postmaster General Haggard says the Government has received advice that the information in the despatch is correct, and that the action of the Imperial Government was the direct outcome of Canada's anxiety in fche Council in the action of tho Canadian Commons last season in agreeing to pay for a share of the subsidy of £15,000. The establishment oE a line of steamers on this route is now almost an accomplished fact, and there is little doubt.that it will revolutionise British trade from India. The service between Halifax, Quebec, and Hong Kong will be at intervals of four weeks. The vessels will call at Yokohama and Shanghai, and the contract runs for ten years. The Admiralty clause provides for the conveyance of troops and supplies at cost. The AmerioamPacific Railway will also present an alternative route for Australian mails. At present these mails when sent via America travel via New York and San Francisco, and a special high price is paid for the United States transit. Under the proposed contract it will be possible to send them via Quebec or Halifax and Vancouver on the payment of the ordinary coastal rates of transit to the Canadian post-offices, and poßaibly the rriaiL route across tho Pacific to Australia will he diverted from San Francisco to Vancouver. Despatches from Lucerne dated August 2lst say that a syndicate of German bankers, which has been quietly buying up certain railroad interests, proposes to pierce tne Simplon. They have accepted a scheme for a tunnel at the base of the mountuin, with its southern mouth in Italy ; and that country will contribute 15,000,000 franc-’. There is little doubt the Swiss Government will now accept this proposal. The plan is of great importance to Germany and Italy, both commercially and stratcgi'-ally. France, Switzerland, and the Simplon Valley wi l bo thrown open to the German Government to the detriment of French commerce, and in case of war Italy and Germany would be enabled to, bring troops directly to the Franco Swiss frontier, which is almost entirely unfortified. A disastrous tornado visited Southern Hungary on July 2Sbh. Twenty-one miles along the Danube, many houses and churches, a ferry boat at Pesth, and a circus at Iziged, all crowded with human beings, were swept away, Hundreds were drowned, and tho bodies lay strewn iu every direction. The path of the tornado presented air awful scene of desolation. It was nearly half a mile wide, in which the dead and dying people are embedded in wreckage. The course of the disturbance is several thousand miles. Many bodies of men, women, and children, and cattle were recovered from fche Danube and other rivers. Several fine churches were ruined. At'Schults an actress, unhappily i« love,

committed suicide on August 14 on the stage of the theatre, immediately on the fall of the curtain. V

The National Bank of Milan and the Savings Bank of Naples, advanced on August 19. 24,0. 0 000 lire to two Tnrin banks to arrest the pauic caused by the suicide of Signor Copello, 000 of the leading bankers of the city last named. During a pub ic concert in Rome on August 19, a bomb was exploded near the Austrian Embassy, and eight persons were injured. A railway excursion train was wrecked on lhe Knoxville, Cumberland, Gap aed Louisville railroad, 25 miles from Knoxville, Tonnesse, on August 22, by which three leading citizens of Knoxville were killed and 14 badly injured. The excursionists embraced the chief business and professional men of the city. A formidable rivalry has been started to the Standard Oil Company in Pittsburg, Pa. Large capitalists have built immense refineries at San Diego, Col,, whore oil transported from Pittsburg will be refined and shipped thence to Australia, China, Japan, India, the Islands, and other points in the Pacific Ocean. Captain Charles Trojers, 39 years old, a jeweller by trade, but who had been a sailor, conceived the idea of sailing across the

Atlantic from Boston to Paris iu a dingy 14ft long, sft wide, and drawing 22in. Ho wanted to sec the Exposition, and sailed away alone from Boston on July 3rd. He was brought back on the 23rd by the schooner Martha A. Bradley from the Grand Banks of Newfoundland in a most deplorable condition, being blind and nearly insane.

THE MAYBRICK MURDER TRIAL In this case the witnesses examined for the defence were Professor Tidy, who thought the symptoms did not denote arsenical poisoning ; and Bateson, who had lived with Maybrick in America ; Mariner Thompson ; and a negro servant named Stanton. They testified that Maybrick habitually used arsenic. On August sth Professors Maonamra and Paul testified that Maybrick died from gastro - enteritis. Paul is toxicological examiner in the Victoria University, Liverpool, and declared it would take mouths to eliminate arsenic from the system if it were taken over twice. A chemist testified that ladies often purchased flypapers for use as cosmetics. A hairdresser said arsenic was frequently used by ladies to improve their complexions. Mr Poole, ex-mayor of Liverpool, testified that in March last Mr Maybrick had told him that he took poisonous medicines habitually. At the request of Sir Charles Russell, counsel for the prisoner, the Judge allowed her the unusual privilege of making a statement, which, with many emotional interruptions on her part, she proceeded to do in the following terms : “ I bought flypaper for use aB cosmetics for many years, and used cosmetics containing arsenic, which Dr v Griggs, of Brooklyn, New York prescribed. I lost the prescription, and wishing to make a substitute for the formula, Boaked flypaper and elderflowers in lavender water, and covered it with a plate and towel to exclude the air. On the night of May sth, after the nurse had given deceased meat juice, I sat by the bed. Mr Maybrick complained of being very sick and much depressed, and implored me to give him a powder, which I earlier in the day had declined to administer. I was overwrought, terribly anxious, and very unhappy. His distress unnerved me, and as he said the powder was harmless, and that I could put it ia his food, I consented and mixed it in the meat juice. Mr Maybrick then fell asleep, and appeared better when he awoke. I was not anxious to administer any more, and placed thejmeat juice on the washstand, where it remained till Michael Maybrick took possession tho day before my husband’s death, I fully confessed and received his forgiveness for the fearful wrong I had done him." The concluding part of Mrs Maybrick's statement oaused a profound sensation, Her statement ended the evidence for fche de'ence. The Judge in his charge said there was strong and distressful evidence to show that the prisoner had a motive for ridding herself of her busjband. This could be found in her infidelity, which had rendered it necessary for her to enter into inextricable mazes of lying. Her so-called particular attention to a phrase He is sick nnto death,’ in her letter to Brierly, in view of the fact that on the day fche letter was written the doctors fully expected Maybrick to recover, gav*e a reason for believing the prisoner was desirous of being rid of her husband so that she might live with her paramour. The Judge also put a question to the jury, whether it was reasonable to believe that a loving wife would yield to her husband'a suggestion and put an unknown powder in his food. A verdict of guilty was returned, and the sentence of death pronounced. After the Judge had delivered sentence, the prisoner arose and said that evidence had been withheld which would have caused a different verdict. She declared herself not guilty. After fche verdict was announced thousands of people assembled at the entrance of the Court, and wheu Judge Stephen came out he was greeted with howls and incessant cries of * Shame.’ The interference of the police only prevented an attack on the Judge's carriage. The witnesses in the case were also mobbed, and had to fight their way to the c*b3. The sentence was afterward commuted to penal servitude for life This action is the result of a conference at the Home Secretary’s Office, at which Justice Stephen. Lord Salisbury, and several emineut physiciaus were present. Tho. facts concerning the correspondence sent to Home Secretary Matthews in the Maybrick case are coming out. There are many curious missives. Some of the writers declared that they had pledged themselves not to allow Matthews to live a single day after Mr 3 Maybrick was hanged, if he should permit tho Judge’s sentence .to be carried out. Women in apparently respectable positions volunteered to be banged instead of Mrs Maybrick, if that would satisfy the Home Secretary. A great number of letters were addressed direct to the Queen, appealing to her to interfere.