GOSSIP BY THE MAIL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1191, 26 September 1874, Page 5

GOSSIP BY THE MAIL.

An example of the manner in which the funds of London charities are squandered is afforded by St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where £2000 is being spent in the "furnishing and embellishing " of rooms for the occupation of the new Treasurer, Sir Sydney Waterlow.

Women continue to assert their "right" to do whatever men do or have done. One of these persons, described by a polite newspaper scribe as a "young lady," recently read before the Dialectical Society, a paper against the Malthusian theory of population. An event which may or may not possess significance occurred on Sunday, the 12th July, when a Boston Episcopal orator, Mr Philip Brookes, preached in Westminster Abbey to a very large congregation, among whom were some hundreds of Americans, who had assembled to hear the first sermon by an American delivered in the Abbey. Mr Brookes's sermon is vaguely reported to have " dealt mainly with the negative and positive sides of the human character." Mr Brookes is evidently determined not to cramp himself by choosing too confined a subject.

By the death of the Earl of Dalhousie the Free Church of Scotland has come in for another substantial slice of luck. His Lordship's will directs that, after the payment of the other legacies under it, the residue, to the extent of .£20,000, shall be paid over to the trustees of the Free Church, to be by them applied, as far as it will go, in endowing the ministers, present and to come, of the four Free Church congregations (Lochlee, Monikie, Arbirlot, and Carmylie), on his estates, with perpetual stipends of £200 a year each.

Tyranny is not confined to countries such as Russia and Turkey. Even in the metropolis of free England it finds congenial soil. It seems that the master drapers in London have, for some unexplained reason, lately issued a mandate that their assistants must not wear moustaches. This invasion of the rights of the subject could not of course be borne in silence, so the aggrieved assistants have resolved to strike rather than comply with the order. Since the strike of maid-servants in Dundee against the wearing of caps, no more noble and patriotic movement has fallen to be recorded. The friends of liberty will hope that victory may rest with the intrepid vkux moustaches.

Spiritualism is reported to be spreading rapidly in Madras, owing, chiefly, to the wonderful nianifestfations of psychic force displayed by a native youth. While he can perform the ordinary feats in the matter of causing articles of furniture to skip about, this youth goes further. The Time of India relates that he has actually caused a corkscrew to leap to the ceiling by merely looking at it. This exploit, it is added, has converted many sceptics, which is not surprising. It might be worth the while of some enterprising publican to ascertain whether this youth can cause the corkscrew, by looking at it, to draw coi ks, as in case he should be found to possess that power he would be invaluable as <i barman. On the other hand, this combination of ideas — of spirits and a corkscrew — may stand in the way of some becoming converted to the "new and beautiful faith," or the gospel of the corkscrew, as it may now be termed,

_ It is not more than a couple of years or so since some Auckland special jurymen confessed to having " conveyed" to themselves and eaten the rations of the prisoners in the gaol as they passed on their way from the Court to the jury-room, sheer starvation compelling them to take this step. It is a pity that the idea did not occur to them that occurred to a juryman in a fishery case recently tried in the old country. This gentleman, who stood alone m his belief, declared that he would rather eat his boots than find a verdict for the Duke of Devonshire (the plaintiff). The jury were consequently discharged on the ground of disagreement. The Judge, mercifully, did not compel them to hold out on a diet of shoe leather, probably thinking it better they should disagree as to their verdict than that their boots should disagree with them.

Another proof has been afforded of the uncertain working of the law of libel. In a case lately heardinLondon, MrE. WelbyPugin, the well-known architect, was the defendant, he being charged with libelling Mr Herbert, R.A. Some of Mr Pugin's letters were read, in which ho called Mr Herbert "a viper," "a humbug," "a filthy creature," and "a shocking cur." Nevertheless he was acquitted, on the ground that his letters, though scurrilous, were not libellous. Mr Gladstone was one of the witnesses examined, and he testified to Mr Pugin being a man of " warm emotions." The result of the case is to show other persons of similarly fervid temperature that they can relieve their feelings by the use of some choice epithets, without fear of being made to pay for the enjoyment.

The death of a tiger from sunstroke is a rather unusual occurrence, yet it is reported to have taken place about the middle of July at the Paris Garden of Acclimatisation. The deceased animal was pretty old, and had passed thirteen years of his life out of the tropics, which may account for the manner of his demise. By a curious paradox it seems that the African and Asiatic animals in the garden all suffered from the heat, while the Polar bear seemed to enjoy it. There must be something in the Parisian atmosphere which makes animals as well as men unlike their kind elsewhere.

The biggest gun in the world is now in course of manufacture at Woolwich Arsenal. It is to weigh 80 tous, being twice tho weight of any gun hitherto made. Its charge will be 300 lbs. of powder, which will drive a projectile weighing 1650 lbs. through the best iron plates 20 inches thick at 500 yards, and through 16 inch plates at 5300 yards ; while it wiJJ throv a 16 inch shell 10,300 yards, or nearly six miles. The trunnion piece of the gun weighs IS tons, and is the largest ever made at the Arsenal. The cost of this death-dealing instrument is expected to be about £8500.

Captain Tyler, the Government Railway Inspector, has just issued his report on the railway accidents that occurred in the United Kingdom during the year 1873. From this report it appears that in all 1372 persons were killed, and 3110 injured, in railway accidents during the year. Of these _ 160 of the killed and 1212 of the injured were passengers, the remainder being railway servants, trespassers, and others, killed while not travelling as passengers. Large as the figures given are, it manifests some improvement on those for the preceding year, though ie is added that the returns are not complete, some of the railway companies not having reported all the accidents to their servants. Four thousand foar hundred and eighty-two persons killed and wounded in one year are, however, a pretty respectable number of victims.

It is refreshing to find that frothy demagoguistn does not always pay in England. George Odger, the notorious Lambeth costermonger, has been for some time passing through the Bankruptcy Court, and an arrangement has at length been effected whereby his creditors will receive a first and final dividend of one shilling in the pound. This is the same fellow who used, in almost so many words, to accuse the Royal Family of loafing on the nation and r./bbing the "poor man" of his bread. Perhaps, however, Odger's creditors are not poor men, and his five per cent, dividend is, therefore, an act of patriotism in bleeding the "bloodsuckers. " Odger is pretty sure to be heard of again, if he can find anyone simple enough to lend him money. He loves his countrymen, especially the "flats" among them ; and for their sakes he would, no doubt, willingly suffer again the pain of paying even so much as a twentieth part of his just debts.

An interesting account of Dartmoor Convict Prison has been published in the Western Morning News. This )S the establishment where Arthur Octon is about to be sent to commence his labours as a tailor, on behalf of the public on whom he so long prej cd. It seems that the convicts contain among their number one or two of some cele brity, t>uch as Bidwell, tho Bank of England forger, and Captain Dashwood, who gained a livelihood for a time by personating the Duke of St. Albans. The convicts, by a refinement of utilitarian cruelty, have just been made to erect a new wing to the building, the said wing being "fitted with every appliance for safety and convenience which ingenuity and experience could suggest." This is a new application of the principle contained in the maxim, " Set a thief to catch a thief." As a set-off to this, however, the new cells are twice the size of the old ones. The commissariat of the establishment is on a very extensive scale, ai might be imagined. For instance, the loaves consumed daily alone amount to 3000. Not long ago a convict left the prison in triumph, being fetched away by his father, a wealthy merchant, in a carriage with four horses— a new act in the drama of " The Hake's Progress."

The Pope, to the exclusion of the Queen, was the choice of certain disloyal Papiais at Sligo, at a banquet which followed the consecration of the Roman Catholic Cathedral there on July 25th. The toast of "The Pope" was given first, and was drunk with all the honours, while that of " The Queen" was altogether omitted. The preacher of the consecration sermon, also — no less a person than the Rev. Dr Walsh, the head of the Irish Jesuits — was kind enough in that discourse to place Protestants on a level with heathens. Notwithstanding this it seems that some Protestants were asked to attend, and also to act as collectors, and that several of them did so. It is to be hoped they were

gratified by the sermon they thus had the privilege of listening to. As a companion story to that of the obstinate juryman mentioned above, may be mentioned one of a raw jury who recently heard a case tried at the Nottingham Assizes, in which, a man was charged with falsely pretending that he was a certificated schoolmaster. The verdict was "Not Guilty, (t and it was accompanied with a recommendation to mercy — a verdict which the spectators in Court received with "some laughter." To have one's character at the mercy of such dense blockheads as these, however, is anything but a laughing matter to the person piogt immediately concerned.