MAIL NOTES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4205, 11 September 1874, Page 3

MAIL NOTES.

ENGLISH. "In the case of Kowley v. the London and North-Western Kailway Company, which was an action by the mother, widow, and children of a gentleman killed on the defendants* line, tried at the Manchester Assizes, a verdict was taken by consent for £5600, to bo apportioned as follows : —Mrs. Kowley, sen., mother of the deceased, £IOBO ; Mrs. Kowley, jun., widow of the deceased, £1250; to each of the six children of the deceased, £545. Mr. Edmund Tattersall lately sold thirtythree yearlings, the property of the Stud Company, for 9560 guineas, or an average of 290 guineas for each yearling. The highest price was given for a chestnut colt by Blair Athol out of Circe, by Dundee (a regular Middle Park pedigree), which realised 1200 guineas. Mr. Macdonald, M.P., speaking at Glasgow on Monday, June 15, said that the report of the Labor Commission would contain some strange revelations, 'and that one effect of it would be the abolition of the unpaid magistracy. ■The Ship Hotel, Charing-cross, London, has been sold by auction, comprising a portion of the hotel with adjoining property in Springgardens, the whole occupying a site of 3250 feet. The first bid was £15,000, and, after a sharp competition, it was knocked down to Messrs. Drummond at £30,000, being nearly £lO per superficial foot, and more than £IOO,OOO per acre. John O’Callaghan, of Lackandarra, near Glountane, died on Friday, the 12th of Juno, at the advanced age of 107 years. His remains were conveyed to St.Gobinet’a Well Graveyard on Sunday, and the funeral was very largo. The deceased belonged to the farming class, aud was a hard-working man all his lifetime. Ho generally wont by the name of Shawn Laider. Although not a big man, he was remarkable for strength and activity, aud often was victorious at athletic sports. He was only nine years a widower, his wife living to the age of ninety-four. John O'Callaghan was a quiet, inoffensive man, never had recourse.to law, or differed with his neighbors, was an honest and patriotic Irishman, and held in esteem by all who knew him. An extraordinary occurrence is reported from Abbeyfeoll, county Limerick. Two daughters of a farmer.named Murphy, were taking a walk through the field a few days ago, v/hen they observed four men approaching bearing a

coffin on their shoulders. The men having placed the coffin on the ground, advanced towards the elder girl and attempted to lay hands upon her. She shrieked, and her sister, terrified with fear, ran off for assistance. When assistance arrived, the men and coffin had disappeared, but the young girl was found dead in the field. This, is the story as related by the surviving sister. Paris advices state that in the ten days ending with the 10th July, twenty-three ships, of an aggregate for duty burden of 23,200 tons, passed through the Suez Canal. The transit revenue collected by the company during the same period amounted to £13,720. This return exhibits a considerable decline in the company’s receipts. A young lad, who has been working as a painter in Anstruther for the last twelve mouths, has, by the death of a distant relative, come .into possession of property to the value of nearly £IOO,OOO. ' Mr. Plimsoll presided lately at a large and enthusiastic meeting, convened by the London Sailors’ Protection Society at Limehouse. The hon. gentleman urged the necessity of a minute survey of all unclassed vessels. He had ascertained that last year 1032 seamen were drowned from other causes than shipwreck, and this mortality was chiefly due to unscrupulous shipowners sending old overladen ships to sea. CONTINENTAL. Konigsburg is, by the decision of the German Ministry of War, to be fortified with eleven new forts. Three of these forts are to be begun in the course of the present year. The cost of construction is estimated at 1,700,000 thalers. Prince Louis Napoleon (Prince Imperial) is quietly and steadily pursuing his studies at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, applying himself diligently to his duties, apparently indifferent to the strife now prevailing at Versailles. He has recently been visiting the Royal Arsenal for purposes of study, and is always accompanied when walking abroad by Count Clary and other attendants. The Prince will probably finish his studies at the academy at the close of the year. A strike has been organised among the beerdrinkers of Munich. They object to the price of 3 Jd. a litre, and have taken a pledge not to drink beer again till the price be reduced to 3d. a litre. The Cologne Gazette says that the entrance for French armies into Germany by the Black Forest having been effectually barred by the annexation and fortification of Alsace and Lorraine, it is probable that in their next attack upon Germany the French may advance through Switzerland. In order to guard against this danger it is proposed to re-fortify the old fortress of Hohentwiel, and to convert the once formidable castle into an impregnable fortress of the larger modern type. In addition to the fortification of Hohentwiel, it has been suggested to make assurance doubly sure by means of an ironclad flotilla, which is to be permanently stationed in the Lake of Constance, which would command all the .lines converging in that district towards the German frontier. A triple suicide has just taken place in Vienna, under aad circumstances. Three ladies, the eldest appearing to be the mother of the other two, took a bed-room at the Rummer Hotel. The next morning thay went out for a short time, and on their return, after having taken a slight repast, retired to their chamber. Shortly afterwards several detonations were heard in that apartment, and on the door being broken open the three women were found on the floor, each with a pistol in her hand, and their skulls fractured by the bullets. Subse-, quently they were recognised as Madame Gyorey, the wife of a tradesman in Hungary, completely ruined by the late financial crisis, and her two daughters. No rings or jewelry were found on them, and the only property they possessed besides their clothes was a sum of 47 kreutzers in the mother’s purse. It is the custom in Germany to announce engagements as well as actual marriages in the public prints. The following appears in the Dresden Journal with reference to such a notice :—“ With respect to the announcement by which I, at the end of last November, gave notice of my being engaged to the DowagerBaroness Zoe von Kotzebue, I am now obliged to state that this relationship has, at her desire and to my great regret, been broken off, because she did not find in my deportment that gravity which she had a right to expect.— Count Luokner.”

AMEEIOA. Tub Burks Statue for New York.—The Daily Review states that as soon as it began to be generally known that the erection of a statue to Burns in New York was contemplated, the committee received a great many applications from not only American but European sculptors for the execution of the work. Mr. Steell’s (R.S.A., Edinburgh) statue of Scott in the Now York Central Park had, however, given the utmost satisfaction to those who had labored in its projection, besides which it was aud still is an object of the most unqualified admiration to the residents of New York and the visitor’s to that city. The committee considered, therefore, that in giving the commission to Mr. Steell they might rest assured that he would execute such a work as would prove a fit companion to the statue of Sir Walter Scott, an additional ornament to the Central Park, and a now and important object of interest to residents and travellers. Mr. Steell was accordingly communicated -with; but, in accepting the commission, he intimated to the committee that some time would elapse before he could execute the work, as he was exceedingly anxious to get the Prince Albert Memorial completed as quickly as possible. We understand that the design chosen for the statue is similar to that of Sir Walter Scott, the statue of the author of “ in New York being a reproduction of the one which adorns the Scott Monument in Edinburgh. In an interview with the spiritual director of the American pilgrims, the Pope stated that America was now the only country in which he was really Pope in the eyes of the Government. To America he can freely send, his Holiness confirmed, all Pontifical documents without fearing that the Government will oppose their publication. The Irish and Italians in New York do not get on well. Several affrays and minor riots have occurred within the past few months, but one more formidable than any previous one occurred last Monday over a strike. The Irish laborers were working at 2.25 dols. a day, and struck for 2.50 dols. Eorty Italians took the places at the old price, and the Irish assaulted the workers. Out of forty Italians thirteen were wounded, some of them severely, the hurts being inflicted with shovels, bricks, stones, aud missiles of like character. The assaulting party were seconded, the Italian laborers affirm, by the bricklayers, who from time to time would drop a brick opportunely near a hod-carrier’s head. A police force was ordered to protect the Italians at their work, but the bad blood seems ready to show itself at any time. • A striking proof of the varied nationalities settled in America is afforded by the list of newspapers published in other languages than English. There are French, German, Scandinavian, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Bohemian, Portuguese, Polish, Welsh, and Cherokee newspapers. According to the now volume of the “ American Newspaper Directory,” German journals are by far the most numerous. There is only one Portuguese newspaper, the Novo Mxvndo, of New York. Illinois and Missouri have each a newspaper in Polish. The Welsh of New York and Philadelphia have four, and the Indians of the Indiap territory one, printed in Cherokee. The extent to which newspaper reading prevails in the United States may be learnt from the fact that there are at the present time 7784 newspapers published in the United States, the Dominion of Canada, and Newfoundland, of which 7330 belonged to the public, while only 445 are printed in the British possessions. The United States, therefore, have 5649 newspapers more than the United Kingdom, in which 1690 only appear. New York, as might bo expected, stands first among the States in the number of its publications. It issues 1055, of which 98 are daily papers, 681 weekly, and 201 monthly. Pennsylvania has 74 daily papers, 485 weekly, and 201 monthly. Florida is the only State without a daily paper. Turning to the

Dominion, of Canada, we find only 46 daily papers, 41 monthlies, and four quarterlies. Ontario, the Protestant Province,' has 255 papers, while Quebec, essentially Homan Catholic, can boast only of 88. In the former, the weekly publications number 212 ; only 41 are issued in the latter.