Provincial and General.

Otago Witness, Issue 1500, 14 August 1880, Page 8

Provincial and General.

THE DECREASE OF THB USB OB 1 SPIRITS IN ENGLAND. The consumption of spirits in Great Britain continue to decline. In the first quarter of this year 1880, the quantity of Home-mada spirits on which fluty was paid for consumption i ia the I United Kingdom aa beverage was 6,594,988 gallons, whowing, when compared with the corresponding period of last year , sdeirease of 181 991 gallons in England, 201 075 gallons in Sco'lland, and in Ireland 259,633 gallons, or from 1,488,556 to 1,228,923 fallow. The total decrease, therefore, for the United Kingdom is 642 699 gallons, and the decrease in comparison with »hfl first quarter of 1878 is no less than 1 073 619 gallons. The foreign spirits imported and entered for home consumption heie also show a large decline. DIVORCE IN ENGLAND. Judging from statistics, the married state is not the roost blissful condition of existence in New England . The new number of the North American Review contains an article by De Nathan Allen, from which it appears that, according to the judicial records, there has been a steady increase in tbe number of divorces obtained in tbe New England States dunng the past 20 years. The proportion wbibh these bear to the number of marriages is very considerable. Omitting decimals, the averages for the five yearj ending with 1878 were :— In Vermont, one divorce to every_ 15 marriages :in Connecticut, one to 10 ; in Massachusetts, ote to 23 ; in Rhode Inland, one to 12 Deducting the alliances and divorces of Roman Catholic^ by whom marriage is regarded as a sacrament, the bonds of which can only be severed by the Church, the proportion is still grtater. The foregoing figures, moreover, only represent the successful petitions ; the records show that in some of tbe State« fully 25 per cent, of the persons Becking divorces fail for various reasons. Then, again, numbers of persons consult attorneys for this purpose, or begin cases which never reach a triel, and many married pewons separate without the formality of legal proceedings. It must be remembered that divorces ara more easily obtained in New England than on this side of the Atlantic ; decertion, intoxication, abusive treatment, negUct to support, imprisonment, and other plena being considered each sufficient to justify the annulment of marriage. INDIAN SUPERSTITION. A correspondent writing from > Mhow to a Calcutta paper Baya :— At a village named Pitampore a Bunuia had a dream in which a pir appeared before him, and mentioned to him a inotqua where lav concealed enormous wealth m gold and silver underground. # The particulars cf this dream having been mentioned to Scinditt's officials, they readily accorded their permission to dig up the place. Scores of Jabourerß have accordingly been engaged in digging the ground under the supervision of Somdia's Ser Suba, Streams of people are continually rushing on to see <he realisation of tbeßunma'sgoldfn dream.,-.. Even .Sir Henry Daly and the Maharajah Holkar have not failed to visit the spot. ARTIFICIAL ICE FOR SKATING. A new skating surface, nailed " crystal ice," has been invented by Dr Calantarientß,_ of Scarborough. He experimented with a variety of salts, and after a time succeeded iv making a mixture co/sisting mainly of carbonate and sulphate of soda, which, when laid as & floor by his plan, oao be skatv-d on with ordinary iceBka k "fi; the ras : stauce of the surf<tC9 U just equi»l t.o that of i«e, ie looka like ice, and indeed when it has been Bkated on, and got " cut up " a little, thfi deception is quite astonishing. A small txper.'m a -ntal fl >or has been laid in. the skating-rink at Prince's, and has proved so euc cessful that no <]oubt a large fiwr will be laid there or at Rome other convenient place in the autumn, This fbor will obviously have great advantages, both over artificial ico floorp, which ar« vevy expensive indeed, aud over floors for roller-skating. The surface can at auy time be made smooth again by steaming with an apparatus for the purpose, and the floor itself when once laid will last for many yeara. It k interesting to observe that the mixture of salts u^ed contains about 60 per cent, of water of crystallisation, so that after all the floor conaista chiefly of Bolidified water. TALES OF THE VfCTORIAN SQUATTOCRACY. Switchery, of Bme Bone, has only 200,000 sheep, and has, therefore, (aays ''iEgles") to be very careful and economical. Tne selector's daughter, who perform x the combined duties of cook, laundress, and housemaid, is acquiring a rapid fortune out of her splendid wages of 4s per week. What wonder, then, that Switc'nery should say to Mrs S., upoa hearing that Jane bad without his knowledge or sanction given away one of the four lately arrived kittens, " What, my dear— give away a kitten ? Why, ahe might as reasonably give away a bullock of mine, or a horse, or a sheep. Now, on principle, you know, and as a lesson to her, I will charge Jane 2s 6J for that kitten. Just hand me that ac sountbook, dear. Thanks." But Switchery was perhaps not more Rifted with that charity which begins (and end") at home than Trundle of Sheepshollow. Upon bis manager concluding 13 years' faithful servicp, T. objected to the removal of some hens. " But, sir," remonstrated the departing manager "I bought and paid for the original stock."— " Just so " said Trundle, "but they have been fed on the (station crumbs I THE GRESCHMEN IN MELBOURNE INDIGNANT WITH THEIR COUNTRYMEN. The tragedy enacted recently at the Operahouse (says the Melbourne Herald) has caused a deep senpation amongat the French inhabitants of Melbourne, and has called forth an expression of opinion that Monsieur Soudry, who was the prime cause, aa disturber of peace, between the young couple, which led up to a triple attempt of murder, should at once resign his responsible and representative position as commissioner to take charge of the French Government exhibits at the forthcoming Melbourne International Exhibition. The leading Frenohmen here say^ that Monsieur Soudry is not worthy to remain in the Colony any longer as representative of the great Republic, and they view bis conduct with utter disgust. As a private individual, of course, there is nothing extraordinary in the fact that Monsieur Soudry is a Frenchman. But it is not advisable to have a physically and morally disfigured person representing a great nation in an official capacity at an International Exhibition, and to be continually an object of curiosity to visitors, on each occasion recalling bis conduct which led up to the terrible tragedy. A COLD BLOODED MURDER. Niko, who captured Colonel Synge, carried off two girls near Drama, for whom he demanded a ransom of 300 liras, or over L 270. The father sold all be had to raise tbe money, but Niko only surrendered one girl. Some days after the fatherftsaw his other child standing agaiost the wall of his house, and ran to embrace her, when the head of the oorpse tumbled over his shoulder.

1 THE JEWISH COLONY PROPOSALS. The Times of May 15th says:— "The Rev. George Nngee gave a lecture at St. George's Hall, Langham place, on a proposal for colonising Palestine by Jews, and referred incidentally to the existing establishment of a Jewish agricultural colony of 55 inhabitants, near Jaffa. After some statistics relating to the modern Jews, who, he said, had shown themselves so alive to the advantages of education, that they numbered half the university students, half the barristers, and more than half the merchants of Vienna, the lecturer proceeded to develop a plan which he said had met with the approval of many Jews, and had been communicated by Mr Lawrence Oliphant to the Sultan, who received it favourably, for establishing a Jewish colony on the east bank of the Jordan. The planjwas to purchase 1,500,000 acres, to introduce a European element into its government, and to settle colonies there either of Jewish peasant farmers or of Jewish farmers employing the labour of the indigenous fellahin. The iucuraions of the Arabs were a danger, but might be bought off. He had sent a circular to Mr Goschen, the new special envoy to Constantinople, who had thanked him most, sincerely, and expressed a deep interest in the scheme. The lecturer described the country which was to be settled as exceedingly fertile, and identified it with the land allotted to Reuben, Dan, and the half tribe of Manasseh. A large part of the lecture consiated of references to prophecy, and accounts of projected railways and a projected waterway to be formed by blasting the rock which divides the Gulf of Akaba, at the extremity of the Red Sea, from the level of the Jordan Valley and the Lake of Sodom. EMIGRATION TO AMERICA AS AGAINST THE COLON IES, The set of emigration, for the present at least, Beems to be distinctly away from the Australian and New Zealand Colonies. The Unite i States and British North America (writes the Home correspondent of the New Zealand Herald) are draining away, I am told, about 90 per cent, of the total emigrants at present on the move from Liverpool. The reason is not far to seek. While Canadian and American agents have been cracking up without stint the attractions of their, territories, Australian »nd New Zealand agents have recently seemed chiefly engaged in warning off certain classes. The public has been told of mass meetings at Wellington and elsewhere, of the unemployed, and warning off one class necessarily creates a panic amongst others. The Lincolnshire farmers, for example, in whos"} behalf two ekilled reporters surveyed Now Zealand, are said to have slackened their enthusiasm. At the same time, the concession granted to them of Auckland land is regarded in Lincolnshire as a sound stroke of business. In addition to the unfavourable impression created by warning off the labouring classes, it must ba added that there are other reasons for the farmers taking a more favourable view of the Home situation. It must also be added that recent strictures with regard to the immense debt of the Colonies have had a damping effect upon emigrants. TAKING- PRECAUTIONS AGAINST YANKEE FRAUDS. What is known as the " fraud system" in the United States has assumed such dimensions that the authorities find it necessary to take extraordinary step? for the protection of the public. In the official Poßtal Guide for February a list is given of persons conducting "lotteries and other schemes to defraud the public," and postmasters throughout the United States are instructed neither to pay money- orders to these persons nor to deliver registered letters to them or their agents. The Melbourne Argus states that s:>me of these chevaliers d'industrie found their way to the recent Exhibition at Sydney, where they pra stiaed; their fraudulent arts with Buccess. It is conjectured that they will endeavour to turn the Melbourne Exhibition to account in a suni'ar manner, and the Argu3 therefore publishes the names in order that people may be on their guard. The list comprises at least 200 bogus firms, many of whom figure occasionally in the columns of Colonial papers, inviting custom as printing and publishing companies, pianoforte- makers, jewellers and watchmakers, "art" and "novelty" companies, and so on. The Argus gives warning that| should any of them obtain a footing as exhibitors at the coming Exhibition it is easy to see that by obtaining deposits on illusory sales, they might fleece| the public to a large extent. The applications for space will doubtless be carefully scrutinised by the Exhibition authorities, and the general public should protect itself by refusing to deal with plaußible strangers whose credentials are open to suspicion. THE INTEREST IN THE KELLY GANG'S HORSES. Boucicault's drama, "The Flying Scud," was recently produced at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne. The Herald Hays :— " The characters which occasioned the greatest delight among the audience were the horses of the racently killed and captured desperadoes, Byrne and Ned Kelly. As horses, there is nothing remarkable about these brutes, but their recent proprietorship made them objects of curiosity and wonder to the vulgar. Ned Kelly's horse is the most likely of the two. It 13 a strong, nuggety dark bay ; Byrne's a tall, heavy chestnut, with white points and star in its forehead, and clipped on the near shoulder. At their appearance the crowd yelled with delight." HONOURS MISSED. It is publicly stated that Lord Beaconsfield intended, if he had remained in office, to submit a great many names to the Queen for recognition in the British Gazette, but nearly all of them were withdrawn at tbe last moment, except the names of the Colonial governors and statesmen who were marked out for the Order of St. Michael and St. George, and the hand of Lord Beaconsfield ia seen in the distribution of this order by the way in which the value of the order itself has been raised by placing the name of Prince Leopold at the head of the list Practically (says the New Zealand Herald), the Order was extinct till Lord Beaconsfield took it in hand, and it is now ope of the moat distinguished of the series by which the Queen rewards the services of public men. A CYPRUS ROYAL FAMILY. Count Mocenijo, the head of one of the most ancient families of Venice, has put forward a somewhat novel claim, which, if recognised by the British Government, will place < him in possession of vast tracts of land comprising the whole of the most highly favoured and best portions of the island of Cyprus. The matter has already been the source of communication with the British Government, and the Count, since this preliminary correspondence with the authorities, has placed the affair in the hands of his London solicitors, Messrs Goldberg and Langdon. The Count bases his claim upon the fact that he is the direct lineal descendant of Catherine Carnaro, ft daughter of the then Doge of Venice, who in 1468 married Lusignan, thereby becoming Queen of Cyprus, and of Cardinal Marco Carnaro, the original purchaser of the lands from the ancient Order of the Knights Hospitallers;

INTERVIEWING A PAKBHA MAORI, Mr Kimble-Bent (says the Hawera and Normanby Star) paid a visit to Hawera on Monday last, and our reporter had a short interview with him. He speaks remarkably good English, and the yarns told about his forgetting his mother tongue are utter rubbish. He mformed our reporter that he wag by trade a confectioner, aud would be willing to take employment if he could get it. He also spent two years at the watchmaking business, but did not follow it up. He ridiculed the idea of the special correspondent of the Lyttelton Times having gone through any risk in order to see him, and was rather sore because the " special " once disappointed him, as Mr Bent states that he had gone to some considerable trouble to prepare for his reception. He asked our reporter |if the Europeans were afraid jof war, Sand was told that the fear was much greater in Wellington and other places than in Hawera. Upon which he said, " The Pakehas need not be afraid : (the Maoris do not want to fight any more." Our reporter asked whether he had not a longing, during all the years that he was amongst the Maoris, to be back among ßt bis own people, and in an excited manner he replied, " Yes, very much so." He did not appear to be the least afraid, and rode, on his way home, through High street. He is a man of about five feet six or seven inches in height, of sallow complexion, and looks about 40 years of age. He was very chatty, and pleasant to converse with. RELICS OP THE PAST. An interesting discovery has just been made at Sandeherred, in Norway, of a Scandinavian antiquity unique of its kind. Buried under a j hillock, a sailing vessel has been found, which is thought to have belonged to those terrible highwaymen of the ocßan, the Vikings, or Norwegian pirates. It measures about 75 feet in length, and is in an almost perfect state of preservation. It is [armed and equipped, a3 though it had been abandoned where found when on the point of sailing on some adventurous expedition. All the apparatus used by nautical Norsemen are met with in this ancient craft, the mast of which still is pretty well intact. There are fragments of Jsails and cordage remaining, as well as many specimens either perfect or incomplete of utensils and instruments, which have been eagerly examined by antiquaries. The ship is not yet completely dug out of itsl present, prison near the seashore. When this has been accomplished the vessel — which iB thought to be Btill seaworthy— will be launched and taken to Chrintiania to be deposited in the University Museum. OBTAINING AN AUTOGRAPH, So Mr Gladstone has at last grown weary of writing autograph letters at the beckand call of every correspondent who thinks it worth while to address a letter to him for the sake of receiving one in' return, The following letter recently appeared in the Daily News :— "Sir,— I am reluctant again to trespass on your columns for the purpose of asking the indulgence of my correspondence, but for gome weeks past the daily arrivals at my door by post have exceeded 100, and I must trust to the kindness of very many, whose communications might well claim > a distinct notice, to believe that they receive from me the best attention which circumstances permit me to give.— l have the honor to be, Sir, your obedient servant, W. E. Gladstone." , BRIDGING THE CHANNEL, The model of a monster floating railway station has just been made by Messrs Palmer's Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow, from the plans of one of their draughtsmen. The idea consists in connecting England with the French capital by railway, the floating station being bo constructed as to carry trains across the channel at the rate of 14 knots per hour, thus minimising sea-sickness, and obviating the necessity of unloading goods. Each train would provide accommodation for 2080 passengers. The model has been forwarded to London for the purpose of being thoroughly examined by the Admiralty officials. EDUCATING COLOURED PEOPLE IN NEW YORK. An advertisement in a New York journal offering coloured ladies instruction in French, music, and deportment, sent au inquisitive reporter in search of the advertiser, who proved to be a comely full-blooded negress, talking with the fluency of her kind, but with hardly a trace of negro dialect j thanks to having lived many years in the service of a Creole family in New Orleans, and mixing but ittle with her own race. Mrs Johnson owned her peculiar business was not so flourishing as it might be, but it was a growing one, and she did not doubt it wauld prove a paying one in good time ; since there was no lack of coloured ladies emulous of the graces and accomplishments of their white sister 3, and willing to pay two dollars for an hour's lesson in either branch. Her pupils, she said, " took hold" of the piano readily enough, but did not care about learning French, being much more anxious to speak English, or " United States," as she preferred calling it, like white folks. There was not much difficulty in teaching them how to walk, bow, and so on ; but it took a deal of patient drilling to cure them of ignoring the g in words ending in ing, of saying " whar," " dar," and " thar," instead of where and there ; while it was especially difficult to teach thorn the necessities of emphaeis and inflection. Nevertheless, she had " taken the kinks, if not out of the hair, out of the tongue" of many a woman as black as herself, and achieved notable Buccess with a purenegres3 from Alabama, who was so ashamed of her skin, and bo convinced that no white person ever respected a black one, rhat she always wore a heavy veil when walking in the streets. Mrs Johnson's model pupil, however, waa " a light mulatto, as pretty a girl as you would meet in an hour's walk on Broadway ; young, slender, and just as stylish as she can be, ' whom her proud preceptress was ready to match against the daughter of any white millionaire for good manners. ELECTION EXPENSES. The Pall Mall Gazette says :— Among the statements of election expenses just issued are the following : — The expenses incurred on behalf of Lord George Hamilton, M.P., and Mr Octavius Coope, M.P., in Middlesex, amounted to L 11,506 8a 2d, while the expenses of Mr Herbert Gladstone amounted to L 6377 7s 7sd, the'i largest item, L 967 13s 6d, being for the conveyance of voters. The expenses incurred in Westminster by the Right Hon. W. H. iSmith, M.P., and Sir Charles Russell, Bart., V.0., M.P., amounted to L 6146 15s lid, and those of Sir Artour Hobhouse and Mr John Morley to L 3588 9a Id. The expenses of the successful Liberal candidate for Lambeth, Alderman Sir James C. Lawrence, and Mr Alderman M'Arthur are returned at L 10,666 13*. and Mr Morgan Howard's expenses were L 7605 103 9d. Both parties spent upwards of L3OOO in canvassing. In Marylebone the cost of the contest to Lord Headley and Mr Seager Hunt, the unsuccessful Conservative candidates, was L 5395 10a. The eleotion of Lord Hartington and Mr Grafton for North-east Lancashire cost L 9235 Is,