ALL ROUND THE WORLD.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 148, 11 October 1876, Page 3

ALL ROUND THE WORLD.

The London correspondent of the Melbourne Aye reports as follows : —Two military scandals have been brought to light daring the month, and _ although no action Ivaa been taken for their condemnation, they wilt not be forgotten. The wisfcucrattc officers ©I the Guards have boeft so long i» the practice of misappropviftfcinge th«r funds entrusted to them that thoy come to took upon peetdatioa as a eight. A tarsfe lump sum is annually handed over to- then* by the War Office, ostensibly for recruiting and the maintenance 08 an hospital', and they are not oallciii upon- to account for its appropriation. One-hail of the amount is, to speak plainly, embeaated, and the froveroment Know it. Parliament is thus cheated into an increase of the estimate «f the Guards, and the officer* sake their conscience* with the excuse that they have always looked upon the; hospital and recruiting money as * perquisite with which they miijht do as they liked. The other scandal is the appointment of the Duke of Cambridge, by himself, to- the- Colonelcy of the. 17th Lancers. Be was already Colonel of four different regiments, and the meaning 08 the fifth appointment is simply that fie puts another thousand or 61 teem handled 1* year into his own pocket, and as a matter of course prevents vt from going to some am better deserving it. These things may be passed over tn silence for a time, but assuredly a day of reckoning wilt come whefli the stable roast be cleaned out. The way ins which places of profit are now heaped upon members of the ftuyal Family and Court favorites k not much better than it was in the days of the Cfuorges. A curious story comes bearing the stamp of authenticity. On the day of the bat State entertainment given by the Queen, Count Schouvaloff received from the three Emperors a message directing him to obtain \he assent of England to- the title scheme which they had arranged between them with infinite trouble, but which was never destined to be carried out. The Count, who, by the way, is one of the most wary diplomatists we have ever had at St. JamesV met My. Disraeli at the royal entertainment, informed him of the nature of the message which he had received, and added that he supposedly w»» at liberty to telegraph the Prime Minister's assent to the proposal of the Three Powers. Mr. Disraeli's reply was both charming and touching: "Docs your Excellency take us for Montenegrins V The Ambassador felt himself unexpectedly cornered, and made on reply. My informant adds, " Schoovaloff wa& i earfaMy snubbed, and the story is, 1 believe, epwte true."

Sklaatopol has been in a ruined and dismantled condition since the close of the Crimean war. It dots not now contain more than 9,000 inhabitants, who arc scarcely able to exist upon the remnants *>i the ©nee flourishing c»>wm9rr:? of the poet. The life of the cwfi.sutti;;. a hows signs of retiring of late, some military vessel* having been constructed on its new slip*. Forts Constantino and Catharine are still standing, badly battered with cannon balls. Forts Nicholas and Alexander and the Quarantine are completely dilapidated, some hundreds of dwellings having beet* built with the stones which once formed their ramparts. The principal public buildings of the city are all destroyed. The reconstruction of the fortitieatisns is among the possibilities of the situation should complications with England ensue.

The arrows by which Commodore Goodenough, of the British navy, was killed were poisoned by plunging into a human corpse for several days. This form of blwodfyioisoning is made familiar in civilised countries by the occasional death of a medical student from inoculation by morbid virus. The least scratch is sufficient to- insure death, though the poison does not develop fotjaevera! days. The Papuans, who* us« this method of poisoning, are very warlike, and it is said that they do not leave their dwellings even to work in the fields without takina a bamboo bow and some arrows. Those arrows which are poisoned are distinguished from their more innocent fellows by being highly ornamented, carved, and painted. They are barbed with human b©ne t sharpened as hue almost as a needle.