SAN FRANCISCO MAIL NEWS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 6238, 8 March 1882, Page 4

SAN FRANCISCO MAIL NEWS.

(Per United Press Association.) An attempt to spread smallpox through the U mted States mails was reported to the Washington postal authorities on January 14th. An undated and unsigned letter, postmarked Cincinnati, was received by a fanner at tho Lynn (Virginia) Post-office, and in it were two smallpox scales. The letter read—" I havo sent you the smallpox ; go home and die." The Pope refusing to fill the census-paper as required by law, a monsignor took upon himself to _do so. The return shows 500 persons living in the Vatican, one-third of whom arc females.

The restriction of the freedom of the German Press increases daily. _ The case of tho Marquis of Huntly was under investigation at the London Mansion House on January 12th. He is charged with obtaining £2374 from Beni Nicholson under false pretences. The Marquis of Huutly has disappeared. The difficulty arose from a racin? affair. °

The coronation of the Czar has been postponed until July. The Ultramontane disputes continue in the bpanish Cortes, and the bishops are organising a great pilgrimage to Home. The Pope has given it his approval. Mr T. O'Connor, M.P., has been' received with open hands all over America. His lectures are largely attended. The story that Jefferson Davis stole the Confederate treasure-chest is now emphatically contradicted. .

A railroad from Texas to Brazil, through Mexico and Central America, and by the Isthmus of Panama to Rio Janeiro, is projected. It is said that John .W. Mackay the Bonanza capitalist, is to be the president and has promised to devote his best energies and a large part of his capital to its completion. r

Iroquois and Foxhall are to try conclusions in the spring over the Newmarket course. The latest form of lawlessness in Ireland is Land League hunts." In some instances the authorities had no time to interfere before quantities of game in preserves were destroyed. : Mr Gladstone declined to interfere with the Mormon missionaries in England. In referring to the matter he said that those who go to UtaU at their solicitation go, it is presumed, voluntarily Two Mormon missionaries were mobbed in London. A growing distrust of the electric light has been shown in London since the Hatfield House affair. Electricians are trying to allay and advocates of gas to fester it. An English company takes up Mr LorilTTnitP^T 6 f°s £ api,d transit between the TJmted States and England. Milford is chosen sls att* 1 .■—'«»■ five hunted tickets have already been taken for vessels leaving Bremen in the spring, and an equal number go from Hamburg A person supposed to be the Hatton Garden Post-office robber was arrested at Baneor He answers the description of one Banderstein. ; t. h oo~e£™ sofParis sho«rsthe population to be 2,220,900, against 1,998,900 in 1576. At a banquet in Rome given in honour of the veteran soldiers, the Mayor declared the people of Rome would rather see the city laid m_ ashes than again be subjected to Papal domination. James Gordon Bennett, of the Now York Herald, has started for Wittemburg to confer with the Russian Government as to the feasibility of starting another Polar expedition. r

A very clever and partly successful swindle was recently-discovered at Havannah. A telegram purporting to be forwarded from Madeira through the News Agency, signed S. S. Spencer, w.a« printed in the Havannah papers on December 24th, announcing that ticket 34,754 had drawn the capital prize of 500,000d01. in the national lottery at Madeira. Four days afterwards the ticket was presented to the house of J N .Barges and Co. for negotiation. After they had telegraphed to Madrid for confirmation of the dispatch, it turned out that the whole correspondence was forged, and the job put up by a lot of smart swindlers. The -Paris banking houpe discovered the fraud in time to save 211,000d0l of money. The Supreme Court of Minnesota has lately decided that one who negligently sets a fire on his own land, and keeps it negligently, ia liable to an action for an injury done by the spreading or communication of the fire directly- from his land to the property of another, whether through the air or aW the ground, and whether he might or might not have reasonably anticipated the particular manner and direction in which it is actually communicated. ■NTThe-v^n rl °f r Shrewsbury, who eloped with Mrs Millar Mundy last summer, is before the public again in a discreditable rdle. Not satisfied with receiving his tenantry with her on his arm when they came to congratulate him in November last on his attaining his majority, he has saddled himself with her graceless brothers, four in number. A fifth (Air U A. Palmer-Morwood, of Alfredton) was terribly assaulted by these four on Christmas night, and beaten witkin an inch of his life, because he refused to sign a document conveying to them certain properties. They then fled, and took refuge with the Earl of Shrewsbury and their-sister, but were arrested and put under £1000 bail each. The Earl went bail for one of these worthies, who helped to give him a sound thrashing when he was discovered with his sister on the Continent. Ihe Larl is evidently of an easy and fondly loving disposition. ■ The revelations in the Lawson case, and some others, have caused a scare in London about poisoning, and means are being taken to restrict the sale of poisons. A movement is on foot to bring a colony of Jews from Russia to Canada. • * New York advices of December 21st state thau the American exploring steamer Jeannette was crushed by the ice on June 23rd in latitude 77 degrees north, and 157 degrees east longitude. 1 he. survivors.left in three boats 50 miles from the mouth of the Lena, and lost sight of each other during a dense fog and violent gale. No. 3 boat, under the command of Engineer Melville, reached the eastern mouth of the Lena orfSeptomber 29th, and was stopped by an iceberg near the village of Idiohciro. In October No. 1 boat, having on board two sailors, reached Volonegu. . They brought information that Lieutenant Dr Lon<*, Dr Ambler Rose, and other survivors had°'bcen landed at the northern mouth of the Lena where they wove in a distressing state, many having their limbs frozen and in danger of death. An expedition was sent from Volonegu to search for the unfortunates. The other boat is still missing. Prompt monetary and other assistance was rendered by the Russian Governor of Gakutsk. The Jeaiinette was wrecked 500 miles from the mouth of the Lena. Her crew numbered 35. The American papers consider it probable that No 2 boat is safe, surmising that she reached one of the isolated fishing-stations east of Lena A terrible railway collision happened on the Hudson River railway-rpad, near Albany, New Yovk, on January 13th. "The Chicago express tmw, having pn^%d many "members of the Legislature, was.' rjjjj into by the Larry town, special; the two' rear carriages being telescoped and set on fire. Nine were killed, and several fatally or seriously injured. It appears that" the train reached Albany 20 minutes late but the run was made safely to Springton, Dulford station, which was reached at 7 o'clock, when a stoppage to cool a heated axle was necessary. The brakesman was instructed to signal the Larrytown special, which was due at Springton at seven past 7. The brakesman made some mistake, and the special ran into the rear car of the express with terrific force. A stove and lamp were upset and ignited the upholstery of the carriages and woodwork. The passengers, who were jammed between the seats, were roasted to death. Amongst the dead were Senator Wagner and a bade and bridegroom on their wedding tour. The groom's father escaped, and the young groom might have beon safe ,-lfc fo ™. , nde clingi'ig desporately to him. Ine brakesman, Malms, to whose carelessness the accident is attributed, has been arrested. , . Oscar Wilde, the resthetic poet, has arrived in New York. .¥ r ealy> M'P- for Wexford, has arrived in ban i< rancisco. During his trip overland he made speeches at several points in favour of the Irish Land League. The look-out of crops in California this season is very gloomy. Rain is greatly needed in the southern portion of the State, Meantime the sheep are dying, Fitzgerald, now walking a match in Now \ ork, is making a record of 552 miles ia six days, beating the best previous records Largei quantities of Irish potatoes are behif? exported to the United States, A famine is imminent among the French camps m Tunis.

London has given £10,000 to the Vienna auiicrers.

Mr James Gordon Bennett, of the New .1 ork Herald, has started for St. Petersburg, to confer with the Russian Government as to rescuing the crew of the Jeannette. Mrs Langtry made her first appearance as a regular member of the Haymarket Company on January 18th. The Russian military authorities will organise an armed s^ttjement on the Chinese frontier of Siberia. The Italian Government is determined to guarantee more efHcient liberty with independence to the Pope in Rome, Mormon proselytising in London 'is reported unsuccessful, but many converts have been made in the prgvinsos—nearly 1500 since August. Mrs Langtry in her theatrical debut has provoked a, terrific outburst of professional jealousy. Mrs Langtry is said to receive £500 a week at the Haymai'ket. Application has been made by outside parties to assist Guiteau to take an insurance on his hfenot exceeding 100,000dol. The scarlet fever epidemic is prevalent in New York,

Smallpox is increasing in Chicago. The churchos ai Port Chorors, near Now York, have been closed on account of smallpox. The reports of the General Post-office Department at Washington indicate that the disease is spreading throughout the country. The largest steel sailing vessel afloat, one of 2200 tons, was launched on the 9th at Belfast for the managers of the White Star Line. The vessel is named the Garfield, and will be placed in the Californian and Australian trade.

Mormon missionaries are actively prose lytising in the Stato of Pennsylvania, and accessions to the ranks of polygamy are vapidly increasing. While Congress are devising ways and means to suppress the practice in far-off Utah, the Mormons a.ro Carrying it into the heart of the country,