NEWSY NOTES.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 3648, 26 January 1899, Page 2

NEWSY NOTES.

Fashoda is by itself of little value. It is the neighbouring province of the Bahr-el-Ghazal whichi is of. vital importance. This Egyptian' province was overwhelmed by the Mahdi, arid for a time abandoned. The French, in ‘opposition ,to: the expressed wishes of the British authorities, hr.'fc established several small stations in the province, which includes the entire district watered by the southern tributaries of the Bahr-el-Arab and the Bahr-el-Ghazal. It is a most fertile district, extending over an enormous area, watered by a. labyrinth, of streams and covered by mountains and forests in winch elephants abound. The soil is exceptionally good, producing large quantities of cotton, and indiarubber. There are cattle in abundance, as well as ivory, ebony, and ostrich, feathers. The population is estimated at four or five millions. When once a good Government has been established, and proper means of • communication established, the province will yield a rich harvest both to its inhabitants and to the Egyptian Government.

The Paris correspondent of the “ Morning Post” relates a distressing tragedy, in which the heroine was a young and beautiful girl, married recently. Madame Charles Ducres was twenty years of age, and/ belonged to an excellent family. She made her future husband’s acquaintance at a ball, and the couple immediately fell in love with one another.In duo course they married,: and were passing their honeymoon'in the Rue de Vincennes, when M: Charles Dupres lying awake one night heard his wife murmur in her sleep, “Oh, how I love you,. Lucien!” Next morning he asked for an explanation.' This was at first refused, but finally Madame Ducres confessed to halving once had a love intrigue with a young man named Lucien Roger. The jealous husband forced his wife to make a written confession, and declared that ho could no longer entertain the slightest affection for her. The next night ho .was .awakened bv the report of a revolver, and found his, wife lying dead in the dining-room. ,> JVladama . Ducres had - committed suicide.: .

Mr Rhodes in the Cape House of Assembly, on Nor. 21, spoke most hopefully of tho prospects of Rhodesia, and declared his intention to' proceed immediately with the Tanganyika railway. He dwelt upon the vast importance, of such an extension to the Cape,which,‘ by hold-, ing the keys of Africa, was tho basis of its development. He was convinced that the Cape would share largely in Tanganyika trade. The railway also meant the bringing of dheap labour from the Congo Free State and Tanganyika for the great irrigation works in the Cape, ; which the dearness of labour at present rendered possible. Referring to the Bulawayo railway, Mr Rhodes said this was the keyhole of "Africa, and would not be sold even to the Cape. Mr Schreiner assured Mr. Rhodes of his fullest sympathy with the project of the development of the north. Africa was becoming more and more a separate problem, distinct from South Africa. The railway was bec'oming one great street through Africa, and.no Government with which he was .associated- should ever approach railways or other northern' questions in any. small spirit., .

Nowhere; perhaps—not even in Franco —has woman taken so prominent a place in the arts and professions as in Am erica.' In 1870 there were only 8023 lady clerks, secretaries and typists, whereas'last year they reached .-the enormous, number of 188,000 : of' female painters and sculptresses; in 1870 there were 412, and in 1897 16,000 ; actresses have increased from 692 in the former year to 3883 last year ; authoresses and lady writers have sprung from 159 'to 3163 ; clergywomen ” from 67 t0,,1522,;. .and dentists, and doctors from -551 to 7300. If this remarkable development continues,: the day may not be far distant when men will be doomed to the subordinate position which Mrs Ckdy ■ Stanton used to say they “ richly deserved.”,

The English Press Association/is informed that at a meeting of the Liberal Forward Members of; Parliament arid others, over which Sir Robert Reid, Bart., Q. 0., M.E.-, presided,;just before the Christmas holidays, it was resolved that the members of the Liberal Forwards, who are chiefly private and unoffinial Liberals in all parts of the country, should bo asked to indicate on a postcard enclosed not more than three reforms, which they regard as the indispensable work of the; next Liberal Administration. A vast number of replies have been received. The subject receiving most votes for the first place was that •f dealing with the Legislative Veto of the House of Lords. One man one vote, registration, Home Rule, Local Veto, .old-age of land values, education, and various branches of social reform Were all insisted on. No item of the Liberal policy was omitted, but the overwhelming preponderance of opinion was that the essential preliminary of all' progress with Liberal legislation was the abolition of the power of the House of Lords to control legislation.

A communication received at Shields, on November 20, states that a" Tyne trader, the Norwegian barque Safor, had been capsized intho North Atlantic in a hurricane while on a voyage to Bahia Blanca. The master (Captain Knudson) sivam to the floating deck-house, where' he remained for three days, till ho was rescued by a fishing boat and landed at Charleston, South . -Carolina,; in a fearfully exhausted condition. The ship’s officers, including a seaman, were picked up by a passing barque. When the vessel capsized the crew managed to crawl on to the keel, but were washed off. Ten of the seamen were overtaken by sharks and devoured.

Professor Meiklojohn, addressing the St. Andrews University Liberal Association, on the present position of the party, said he thought that the party had committed four big mistakes : Insubordina-’ tion-at the last General Election to tile orders of Lord Rosebery, their commari-der-m-chief; inclusion of fads and faddists too crowded a programme; and the neglect of the Imperial idea. As regarded the last mistake it must seem unfair to the Radical party to bring against it a charge like that when they considered what the Central Association did for the welding of the British Empire into a close and organic unity, and that that was the most distinguished principle of the Radical party. They had allowed the Tories to do, the extension and tno building np of the Empire. It was the Tories who had brought in the most magnificent of Imperial plans, the plans of a railway and water way from Cape Town to Cairo. It was to the Tories that thev owed the successes in the Sudan. The clearing of bands of robbers and murderers ■ and slave-dealers in Central Africa had made it a happy hunting’ ground" for/ women and children. Well perhaps they did not owe it all to the Tories, but to the wonderful class, of, men whom they called civil servants, who wore for ever working for the country and for the Empire. (Applause.) A great road from Cape Town to Cairo would be remarkable, would promote industry, and would be a blessing to civilisation. (Applause.)

The Waldorf Hotel was the scene on November 21 (says the “Daily Mail’s” Now York correspondent) of a brilliant gathering of decendauts of the Pilgrim Fathers, known as the ‘ r Society of the Mayflower’s Descendants.”- -The Myrtle Room was converted into a floral bower.

where the members and guests were received. The speakers included General Woodford, formerly American Minister to Spain ; Mr Seth Low, the unsuccesful reform candidate for the mayoralty of Greater Now York; and Mr Howland, the president of the society. Dinner was served in the Astor Gallery, and the attendance represented the oldest families in the State;> The reception committee included Mrs Russell Sage, Mrs William Alan Butler, Mrs James P. Woodruff, and other prominent New York ladies. The dinner was notable for the presence in the boxes of a large number of wealthy and fashionable women, descendants of the first party which landed on American soil from England.

The following general statistics of world-wide Methodism, the latest and most reliable, will be, says the ‘'Daily Chronicle,” of interest to many. The Wesleyan Methodist Church and affiliated Conferences, according to the Calendar for 1899, now to be issued, possesses 3070 ministers, 24,300 local preachers, schools, with 142,991 officers and teachers and a total of 1,119,555 Sunday scholars. The churches number 11,235. The Methodist Church that ranks next in point of numbers is the Primitive Methodist, with 1088 ministers, 16,617 local preachers, 197,182. Church members, 4308 Sunday schools, 61,000 officers and teachers, 465,089 Sunday scholars, and 4567 churches. Then comes the United Methodist Free Churches, with 438 ministers, 3489 local preachers, 91,423 Church members, 1361 Sunday schools, 25,051 officers and teachers, 201,467 Sunday scholars, and 1530 churches.

The Bible Christians stand fourth, with ‘2BB .ministers, 1900 local preachers, 34,826 Church members, 600 Sunday schools, 9132 officers and teachers, 56,917 Sunday scholars, and 959 churches. The Methodist New Connexion has 206 ministers, 1203.1pcal preachers, 39,674 Church members, 493 Sunday, schools, 11,020 officers ' and teachers, ■ 84,369 Sunday scholars, and 575 churches. The Methodism of the United States, of which the Methodist Episcopal Church takes the lead, together with Canadian' and Australasian Methodism throughout the world are as follows; —43,400 ministers, 101,643. local preachers, 7,100.001 members, 76,821 churches, 77,672 Sunday schools, 788,060 • officers and teachers, and 6,185,790 scholars. ’

The decoration of M. Felix Faure with the Order of the Golden Fleece has moved .“Figaro ” to inquire, who is the'most hedecorated person in Europe. He' comes from Germany, where Bismarck rejoiced in fifty-four such distinctions, and Moltke had only ten less. But Count Bulenhurg, Chief of the Household of the Emperor William, has no .ip fewer than sixty-three of these ornaments, which would annear to be quite 'ficient oostume’ without the superfluity of a uniform by way of a foundation. Monarchs will soon have to turn

■ 'hina for novel methods of showing. their appreciation,,for a man who'already , totters beneath the weight of over three-; score decorations can only consider such airy trifles as a peacock - feather of a yellow jacket if his list is ever to be still further increased. M. Ferdinand do Lesseps alone culd have hoped to compete' with the shining example we have just' quoted, for he possessed so many Orders that he was accustomed to era-, ploy the collection as a convenient lesson in geography for the younger members of his family. There was, however, one thing-he had still to win, and till his death he never-could understand how he had escaped it, and that was the famous palms of the French Academy.