NEWS FROM HOME.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4629, 16 December 1876, Page 2 (Supplement)

NEWS FROM HOME.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

THE rOPK AND THE HOIiV &AND,

Some attention has been attracted of late to a scheme in progress for the construction of a line of railway to connect Jaffa and Jerusalem, the project having the cordial support of the hierarchy at the Vatican, if indeed it is not originated by that body. It.is now alleged that this railway is but th 6. first step in a very much larger and more important plan. The Arminian Patriarch, it is alleged—though such an alliance between the Greek and the Roman Catholic Church seems hardly credible—desires to convert Palestine into an appanage of the Pope, who cordially approves of such a froposal. So also, it is further alleged, do the 'urkish Government, to whom the Papal authorities have been giving undisguised support. The purposes of the projector of the scheme are stated to be as follows: —"To attract to Palestine a powerful current of emigrants from all the Cathrlic countries of Europe, allot land and cattle to them, to build workshops and to call into activity tho principal iv dustries through which the other countries of the world flourish. The capital of the State would be Jerusalem, which, by means of railways, would be placed in connection with Bethlehem, the Dead Sea, and the other Holy places. At Jaffa a grand port would be constructed, and lesser ports provided for the smaller cities on the coast." It is easy to *cc that such a scheme, if successfully carried out, would be agreeable to the Papal Court, a? it would enhance the prestige of the Papacy, and would give it that visible temporal sovereignty which it never ceases to lament having lost in Europe. The Turks, too, would be glad to have the Papal support thus pledged to them, as a buttress to counteract the increasing pressure of the Greek Church upon Mahomedanism, not only in European but in Asiatic Turkey. It is remarkable now much the public mind is occupied just now with presages ,of coming changes of importance in respect ta Palestine. Everything that seems to indicate the approach of such changes—as, for instance,' the remarkable influx of Jews into Palestine, noted in my last letter —ia eagerly taken up and canvassed. Just the other day, too, I heard it affirmed that Palestine was mortgaged by Turkey to the Rothschilds ! Perhaps the wish was father to ■ the thought. Of course, there is much that is pure speculation, and much that ia palpably mistaken in what one reads and hears in regard to this matter, but the growth of a widespread b 'lief that events of great importance to the Holy Land, and therefore to all interested in it, are beginning to receive shape,' is a phass of public thought which should not be oveiboked amid the din and confusion that prevail in respect to the central portion of the Turkish Empire. On another occasion I may make an attempt to show how this belief has avisen, and what its effects are lively to be, but for the present I content »y«elf with siraj Jy directing the attw-

$dn: ol the mp^..thonghtfi3~oF your jeaders to; at^ t^qpul^ea^istpiice^ ~,'!.",''. -':■''! ;■■.'■ ';'';.-'i''' \ '■:■.'..! 'm !i':'i-i-: J IBISH'..!tfbfE3.-'"";' '"'' "'" ' " ;;] (Two boat accidents resulting in a sad loss of life, occurred on the Irish coast during a heavygale on the 30th Soptember. The more serious of the two.took place at Youghal, to the ferryboat, wliich plies between that place and Waterford. About 4.30 p.m. the boat left the Youghal side,having on board 23 personD,includ- j ing four boatmen and several women, together j with a number of packages ; the boat, soon after staring, pitched heavily in the high sea running, arid a wave then broke over her, swamping her at once. Other boat 3at once put off to the rescue, and succeeded in saving 14 persons, but five died from exhaustion soon after being lauded, and nine others were drowned. The accident was witnessed by crowds of people and the excitement was intense.- The other acci dent, which occurred on the same day, was to v, lifeboat which went off to a brig which was in danger of shipwreck at Bray, County Wicklow. After taking off the crew, the lifeboat made sail for Kingsiown, landing at Bray be.'ng impossible, , but immediately after leaving the brig the boat broached to, and was struck by... three heavy seas, the third capsizing her and throwing all her occupants into the sea. For two minuted Bh« could not be righted, but tbis was at length effected, and fifteen of the men got into her again, and managed to get her safeiy to shora The rest, to the number of six, were drowned. * ; A strong statement regarding the drunkenness of Dublin was made by the Recorder of that city on October 7, at tho Licensing Court. 'He said that he would do all in his power to reduce the number of public-houses in Dublin, iwhich. he declared to be " a sink of intoxication ! reeking up to Heaven.'' A Parliamentary return has just been pub:lished shewing the number of proprietors of land in Ireland, held in fee or perpetuity, or on long leases at chief rents. The return relates to the year 1870, and does not include town properties. It shows that the number of proprietors was 19,288, who^held 20,047,572 acres, of an annual valuation of L 10,152,681. The number of agricultural holdings was 608,864, of which 221,946 were in Ulster, 132,671 in Leinster, 128,096 in Connaught, and 126,151 in Munster. The number of proprietors resident in Ireland, either on their own properties or in other parts of the country, was 10,431, holding 14,095,813 acres, of an annual valuo of L 7,217,840. The proprietors usually or altogether resident out of Ireland numbered 1(523, and they owned 4,513,861 acres, of an annual value of L 2,139,143. The total rural population of the is'and was 4,286,019. The Senatus of the Queen's University has passed a resolution to admit women to examinations for medical degrees,

An Armagh paper is responsible for the etatement that although Dublin has 100,C00more inhabitants than Belfast, the latter city has 900 houses more than the former.

Much excitement was caused in Dublin last week by the bui sting of the main pipe by which; water is supplied to the city. Large gangs of men were employed to repair the damage, but all their labour was destroyed by a sudden flood., At length, by dint of great exertion, work being carried on at night by torchlight, the damage was made good, but not until it had been found necessary to place the city on short allowance of water, there being at one time only threo days' supply in the Stiilorgan reservoir. CONTINENTAL JOTTINGS. The remains of Bellini, the celebrated musical composer, were re iuoe red at Catania, Sicily, in the end of September, after many years of agitation towards that end. The body was exhumed at Paris with public ceremony, and conveyed through France and Italy by rail, the coffin making quite a royal progress, especially in the latter country. The ceremony of ra intermsnt was on a very grand scale, the crowds being estimated to number 100,000 persons, while there was any. amount of music from six bands, and a choir of 200 boys. The body was lairi finally at rest in the cathedral under a monument on which a bust of the composer will eventually be placed. The enthusiasm manifested throughout was very great. A colossal statue of Count Moltke was in augurated at Parachini, in Mecklenburg, his birthplice, on October 4th. Among those present at the ceremony were the Count's brother and nephews, and deputations from the German army. The ex-Empress Eugenic has commenced proceedings for libel agginst a Paris Eadical paper, the Droits de l'Homms, which had stated tnat she was illegitimate. Speaking of the ex-Empress reminds me that she is now on her way to Rome to ask the Pope to espouse the Bonapartist cause. Hitherto the Papal authorities have supported the Comte de Chambord, but his visionary and unpracticable nature has alienated from him the countenance of the French Ultramontanes, and the Bonapartists think they have a chance now of supplanting him at the Vatican. Cardinal Bonnechose has preceded the ex-Empress, in order to prepare the way for her reception at the Papal Court. To outsiders, it would seem as if the Pope would do well to transfer his support from the stagnant cause of the Comte de Ohambord to that of - Bonapartism, which, though tern porarily crushed, is reviving steadily. Some interesting statistics have been published of Krupp's celebrated iron works at Essen. They were, founded in 1810, and at the present time give employment to 15,500 hands, of whom 10,500 are in the steel smelting de-. partment. There are on the premises 35 English miles of railway, and 36 miles of telegraph. The clerks number 3277, and each has a house to himself. Their wives and families bring up the population of the clerical town to 16,200. The bread is supplied by a steam bakery, which supplies 3830 cwt. of bread monthly. But, while a single bakery is sufficient, there are no loss than three breweries, bebides a seltzer water factory. The coal and coke used in 1875 amounted to 612,000 tons. It, and the iron, come from 414 pits owned in various parts of Germany, besides others i'lthe north of Spain. A Congress of Workmen and Workwomen has been held at Paris within the last fortnight, and during its sitting some interesting information was given on the subject of the employment of women in France. Considerable complaint wus made of the unfair competition of convents with shop or individual labour, as the inmates of convents, having no rent and few taxes'to pay, were able to undersell women who worked without such advantages. It was stated that the larger shops availed themselves of convent labour, the inmates of no less than 150 convents being employed in connection with the largest drapery shop in Paris—that opposite the Louvre, .. • . An Irish anrate or bull-fighter the other, day killed two bulls at Barcelona, in the presence of 16,000 spectators, by whom he was immensely cheered at the time, end serenaded at night as well. He gave the proceeds of fhe performance to a local hospital, which further increased his popularity. GENERAL NEWS. ; Heavy floods took place in many parts of the West of England on October Bth. consequent upon an unusually large rainfall. At Manchester the Irweli rose 12ft. above low water mark, and burst a dam, which closed the mouth of a sewer. The water rushing up the sewer caused several landslips, resulting in the falling in of several cottages and a beer-honse in Salford. The walls and rails of St. Simon's Church also collapsed. Many miles of couutry between Hereford and Leominster were flooded, while at Brecon the water stood from four to five feet deep in hundreds of house?. A Sheffield gentleman lately wrote to the Earl of Carnarvon urging that he should take steps to induce the Colonies to place a heavy duty on a!l goods imported from the United States, and mat the Home Government should do the same for this country. As a reason for the adoption of such a course, the writer said that the Americans by their protective duties had now succeeded in wholly shutting out Sheffield steel from their markets, as was proved by the fact that a Sheffield firm had found it necessary to transfer its works to a place near New York. Lord Carnarvon replied that the suggestion was one which Her Majesty's Government could not entertain.