NEWS IN BRIEF.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 198, 8 December 1876, Page 3

NEWS IN BRIEF.

The iWnr YiH-h tLemtd accords George Eliot a pLej in literature next tu that of Snakespcare. It is estimated that within the last twenty-five years no kss than -100,000 tf glass have been destroyed in London by thunderstorms. Livt.rp-aot is cmipeiLd to erect an additional lunatic asylum, because t.ie uttmher of insane lias doubled witain t*i* years. The Itatia'i expedition to East Africa has been heard tram in the county of the Eesa Somali, wuere its members had a hospitable reception. They don't call him Earl, or Lord, or any such thing, though he has received a title. It is "simply plain Disraeli, or Di&ey, the same as ever. A silver model off the Samuel P!ini3©ll lice-boat has recently been presented to Mrs. Pliuiautl, by the National Liverpool Life-boat Association. The German Government in Alsace has relaxed its rigor so far a* to allow the engagement of a French company for the Scrashitrg theatre, A French clerical organ says it has received information eounrimng the existence of a conspiracy at Koine to bring about a by election of the next Pops. A recent sale of twenty-seven Rembrandt etching* in London brought #22,ooo—alrawt 1 apiece for littles pieces of paper--fevv of tuein much larger than a man's hand. Mr. Loots Say, in connection with 31. Largeau, will start on an exploring tour in iVorth Africa early in t.te winter. Albagger and Timbiietoo are included in their projected explorations. A thi.f in a tobacconist's shop in Greenock, left lit* false teeth lying on the counter in his night raid for cigars, pifws, and tobacco. The plate: was given to t.ie police, and the thief was arrested. King Alfonso's favorite diversions are riding and hunting. He is fond of English and French literary and historical works, and is often present at the drill of his soldiers before 3ix o'clock in the morning. At a Paris dinner party recently a hair comb was discovered in the soitp. The bo tier merely expressed his surprise that the cook shoittd we so negligent as to lose such a handsomely carved saell in that mannt r. Beef and mtttttm cost about three cents a pound in fcjervia, a turkey fetches asailItniC, a pair of fowls may be bad for six cents, and a drattgat ox only costs from $l& to 3J12. JSatu'e tobacco and wine are similarly cheap, but bad. Ttie total numbers under 13 employed in or about the English coal mines are 12,300 boys, and 3tt> girls, I0 r lO7 of the boys working underground. 50.292 boys between 1«> and 1G work underground. In the year 1783 ninety-seven persons were hung in London for stealing ; not one of them had purloined goods above the value of 10s., and twenty of these petty larcenisfrfVere seen hanging at one tune. Over 300 different machines have teea

introduced within the past ten years, all aiming at the production by mnchin*r** of the same manipulation that clothes ate subjected to when washed by hand. The British Medical Association propose that parties addicted to habitual drinking shouM be, by the authority of the State, treated as if diseased, instead of being punished. All men are now agreed that the six days of creation were periods of indefinite extent. They are not solar days, for evening happened, and morning happened three time 3 over before the sun was created. A coasting vessel of 100 tons, at Hartford, U.S., is owned and captained by a woman, her two daughters being the crew. When her husband died, five years ago, there was a debt of §7,000 on the vessel, but the plucky women have paid that off.