MAIL NOTES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4298, 30 December 1874, Page 3

MAIL NOTES.

The Marquis of Waterford, in acknowledgment of the hearty welcome given to himself and the Marchioness on the occasion of their first visit to the estate of Curraghmore after their marriage, has forgiven a half-year's rent to the tenantry. In 1860 the value of the exports and imports over the face of the globe amounted, according to an Austrian statistician, Herr Kolk, to about 15,500,000,000 florins, or £1,500,000,000 sterling ; while ten years later, according to a French calculation, it had increased to 23,270,000,000 florins, or no less than 54 per cent. Mr. Gush, submarine diver, Greenock, has left for Tobermory, in order to prosecute a search for the wreck of the ship Florida, of the Spanish Armada, which went down in Tobermory harbor in the year 158 S. Lord Derby has succeeded in recovering the amount (.£15,000) of the compensation-money in the case of the Virginius from the Spanish Government. Lady Dilke's body was conveyed from London to Dresden, and there burned on the 10th of October. Besides relatives of the deceased, numerous scientific men were present at the cremation. Seventy-five minutes after the introduction of the body, all that remained of it was 61bs. of dust. 'Cattle imported from Chicago, are selling at Liverpool at from £l7 to £2O each. Steamers are again to be laid on from Galway to America, thus saving four or five days 1 of the Atlantic voyage. The report of the engagement of the Princess Thyra of Denmark to the eldest son of the King of Hanover is contradicted. Messrs. Aspinall, Knocker, and Dr. Muir have been remanded upon the charge of fraud to the amount of £250,000 on the London Stock Exchange. Mr. Bright has written that the law which inflicts any penalty on a parent who is unwilling to have his child vaccinated is monstrous, and ought to be repealed. The Prince of Wales left Copenhagen on the 11th October, and arrived incognito in Paris on the 13th, where he stayed at the Hotol Bristol. On the 15th he had an interview with President MaeMahon, and on the foil living day repaired to Esclimont to be presen-: at a great hunting fete organised by the DucDeLa Rochefoucauld Bisaccia. On the 21st he met a distinguished party at Chantilly, the seat of the Due d'Aumale. On the 23rd, he hunted iu Marli Forest with the President, after dining at the Jockey Club. On the 24th, he visited the Due de.Mouchy, and in the evening was present at a dinner and fete given by the Prince de Sagan, returning to Paris by special train. The Princess rejoined her husband in Paris on the morning of the 26th, and left for London on the 28th. Another Stock Exchange scandal has arisen out of a fracas in the city between Mr. William Abbot, broker, and Mr. Labouchere, who had written some severe articles in the World against swindling transactions on 'Change. Mr. Abbot believing himself denounced, threatened to administer horsewhipping, and a scuffle ensued in the street. Mr. Abbot was given in charge, and afterwards bound over to keep the peace. He has since failed, and two or three other great failures have followed among reckless speculators for a rise. The railway world has been astounded by the announcement of the Midland Company that after the Ist of January they -will abolish second-class carriages, reduce first-class fares to a halfpenny per mile, and discontinue return tickets. This resolution has provoked much adverse criticism in the interest of the exclusive classes, but the bulk of the people rejoice at it. Some of the great lines had previously threatened to advance third-class fares by fast trains by way of reprisals for the passenger duty.

Professor Tyndall, on the occasion of delivering a lecture at Manchester on crystalline and molecular iorcea, availed himself of the opportunity to set himself right with the public in regard to the grossest of the charges made against him since the publication of his Belfast address. He concluded his lecture with these words :—" We are surrounded with mysteries everywhere. I have sometimes—not sometimes, but often—in the springtide watched the advance of the sprouting leaves, and of the grass and of the flowers, and observed the general joy of opening life in nature ; and I have asked myself this question—Can it be that there is no being or thing in nature that knows more about these things than I do ; that I in my ignorance represent the highest knowledge eof these things existing in this universe ? Ladies and gentlemen, the man who puts that question to himself, if he be not a shallow man, if he be a man capable of being penetrated by a profound thought, will never answer that question by professing that creed of atheism which ha 3 been so lightly attributed to me." The newspaper reports say that this declaration was followed by loud' cheers, which were again and again renewed. The arrest of Tom Ballard, the notorious counterfeiter, as the Buffalo correspondent of the New York Herald shows, has resulted in a singular offer. The man who is most expert at forging paper money now proposes to show the Government processes by which successful counterfeiting will be made impossible. Ballard makes this proposition without conditions, but, of course, in the hope that if he performs what he proposes, his punishment will be made lighter. We are almost inclined, Si.ys the Herald, to think that in such a case he would deserve not mercy alone but reward. Cuniorjß Application of the Ballot.—At Fort William lately, Mr. William Ainslie gave a boat and a set of nets, value £2O, to the most persevering fisherman in Lochaber. As the choice was made by ballot by the other fishermen, a sharp and exciting contest was the consequence. The fishermen were invited to meet and vote above the pier at five in the afternoon, at which hour a large number of the general public, as well as the fishermen, assembled. The voting was entirely under the superintendence of Mr. Ainslie; and the votes having been counted, the favorite fisherman was proclaimed to be John Macmillan; The announcement was received with loud cheers. Three cheers were then given for Mr. Ainslie, and the assembly separated. Maemillan was afterwards carried shouldor-high through the town. Russia and Gebjuny.—The Patrie publishes the following, which it has reason to believe is reliable :—"Russia is convinced that soon, though not immediately—in two or three years about—she \i ill have a terrible struggle with Germany. I point to this time not arbitrarily, but because it is certain that the former country cannot sooner have conrpleted her armament, and more particularly her railways. This prospect is generally taken for granted by the people, and the Court of St. Petersburg is so fully prepared for a conflict thai it believes it knows the casus belli —a demand by Prince Bismarck, supported, according to the German manner, by the opinions of jurisconsults, as complacent as expert, for the restoration of the German Baltic provinces. Herr von Moltke is prepai'ed for the contingency ; ho has taken his pi-ocautions in consequence. A mass of spies spread over Livonia and Courland, a carefully studied plan of campaign, complete to its smallest details, the Russian language taught to the officers, the railway-waggons adapted to the Russian lines, &c, &c." Supekannuated Ships. From a return which has just been published, it appears that between 1867 and the present year, 128 ships, which were deemed unsuitable for the naval service, were sold by tho Admiralty. They included craft of all kinds, from tenders and lighters to corvettes and frigates—tho largest being the screw-frigate Orlando, of 3,700 tons. They also differed widely in age, from the cruiser Providence, which was only four years old when parted with, to the Aiglo, which had attained the ripe age of sixty-nine years, and was sold as she lay in the mud at Sheerness, after having been sunk by torpedo experiments. The majority of the vessels were steamers, and were sold with engines and spare propellers on board, and in some instances contained stores marked with the broad-arrow, which were subsequently re-purchased by the Admiralty. Tho prices paid varied very widely, from £2O given for the sailing fourth-rate Vindictive, fifty-nine years old, and 17S8 tons burden, to £20,000 paid by the German Confederation for the screw Une-of-battle ship

Algiers, of 3340 tons, and aged sixteen years. The total amount realised by the sales was £267,700, giving an averago of rather more than £2OOO per ship. A ROMANTIC STORT. A Leipsic paper pid>liahes the following story :—About ten months ago a rich patron of the sciences and arts in Berlin offered prizes amounting to about §l4O each for the best essays on the history of the Middle Ages, astronomy, geology, poetry, and metaphysics ; and about §385 each for the best romance and the best poem. A committee of several members of the several University faculties was appointed to award the prizes, and the awards were made a short time ago. A large number of persons competed, and the work oifered had a large amount of excellent material among it. The names of the writers were enclosed in sealed envelopes, on the outside of •which fictitious names were inscribed. The prize for the essay on metaphysics was awarded to a young man named Max Markmann, who had sent his essay under the name of " Hans Wildenstein." When Markmann's name was announced, a pale, poorly-clad, exceedingly wretched looking young man stepped forward and was greeted with a hearty round of applause. His hair was thin and already sprinkled with grey, and his whole appearance excited the sympathy of the audience. After receiving the prize he quietly returned to his seat. One after another, as the titles of the best essays were announced, the accompanying envelope disclosed Markmann as the author, and the applause grew tumultuous as the young man, looking more weary every time, stepped forward. The excitement among the students was so great that a suggestion would have caused them to carry him off in triumph. The essays all e-xamined, the poems came next in turn, and the prize was Markmaun's. Then the prize romance was found to be his. It was entitled " The Village Schoolmaster," and Bethold Auerbach, who was one of the committee, pronounced it one of the most gracefully written stories he had ever read. This was the last prize awarded, but hardly had the fortunate competitor risen to go and receive it, when he fell fainting, to the floor. A death-like stillness reigned in the hall, while they carried the poor young man into an adjoining room, Where the physicians succeeded in restoring him to consciousness, but that was all, for four hours afterwards he was a corpse. His death was the result of long years of deprivation. He was literally starved to death. INDIA AND THE BAST. Colombo, November 19. Lord Northbrook's son and datighter are on a visit to Governor Gregory at Colombo. Lord Northbrook is described as being more lavish of his wealth than Lord Mayo was in aiding the needy or local charitable institutions during his tours. A coffee planter, attacked by his coolies in his bungalow at night, shot their overseer, the ringleader, dead, and is under arrest, for trial. The case in which the District Judge of Colombo wished to punish the editor of the Colombo Observer summarily, for publishing a letter commenting on the general conduct of business, has been stopped by the Supreme Court, which in a long judgment from the three Judges, showed that the inferior courts have no power to punish for contempt not offered in the face of the Court. The capture of a Mahratta, supposed to be the infamous Nana Sahib, is the great topic of excitement in India. Scindiah, the Gwalior rider, effected the capture in his own capital personally, and he is positive that the man is really the mutineer. Some of his relatives, and other natives, are certain of his being the Nana, and Colonel Mowbray Thompson thinks so, but Dr. Tressidder says certain body marks are absent, and lie is not the man. The prisoner is now at Cawnpore, and an investigation is now proceeding. The natives are not muc h excited. A cyclone has occurred near Calcutta, by which thirty lives were lost ; and there have been great floods in Southern India, causing heavy loss of life, and interrupting railway and telegraphic communication. The Wynaud goldfields are reported on favorably by Mr. King, Government geologist. Quartz crushing will pay, he says. H.M.S. Magpie and Philomel have been sent to quiet disturbances in the Persian Gulf. In an earthquake at Cabul 7,000 lives have been lost. Attention has been called in Ceylon to certain samples of coffee handed to a proprietor here by the Hon. Captain Fraser, grown on the Sandwich Islands without special cultivation or proper preparation, no pulper being used. It is the opinion of Colombo planters that the samples produced are equal to first-class Ceylon native at 88s. per cwt., and if properly prepared would be worth much more. Possibly one or two planters with capital may pay a visit to Honolulu. The revenue of Ceylon for 1875 is expected to exceed £1,300,000. The Wilson and O. line of canal steamers continue to make wonderfully quick passages. The Eldorado the other day arrived here in twenty-eight days from London, with 100 passengers for Colombo, Madras, and Calcutta. The P. and O. steamers on the Indian and Mediterranean lines have been doing badly of late,the French steamersbeatingthem regularly as respects speed. The natives of certain districts are petitioning the Government to secularise the revenues now attached to devil temples, and apply tiiem to educational purposes. The Dutch in Acheen are in much the same position as last month. Some more small states have been gained, but generally the Acheenese are still ready to fight to the extremity. It is proposed to extend the line of telegraph from Burmah, via Malacca, to Singapore and Siam. Two Japanese astronomers are to assist M. Janain in observing the transit of Venus. When the Torres Strait mail steamer passed the volcanoes, Kombo and Lohatohi,' they were in a state of great activity, emitting much flame and smoke. Lady Kennedy, the wife of the Governor of Hong Kong, is dead.