PASSING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1763, 5 September 1885, Page 17

PASSING NOTES.

For the first time in the history of the Otago University a "capping" ceremonial has been transacted under conditions satisfactory to all concerned. In the Lyceum Hall on Thursday night the students were not too rigorously suppressed, the learned pundits on the platform were not too gracelessly interrupted. An undergraduate who addresses some lachrymose verses to the Witness complains that he was tyrannically prevented from punctuating, according to academical use and wont, the professorial speeches with peas, hut his communication has been adjudged to the waste-paper basket. I rescue a specimen verse : i -Have we no sanction ? In words indisputable, "Peas unto you," says St. Paul, the divine. More might I quote, but I deem it unsuitable, For I can't jam them into a dactylic line. Here the villainous scansion of " indisputable " in the first line matches in moral quality with the profane pun in the second. Is there not in connection with the University a weekly prayer meeting? Let me affectionately recommend to this misguided punster the duty of attending, and there repenting of his sins. If he felt it incumbent upon him as a member of the University to pun on the word " pea," he should have remembered that the Latin for "pea" is deer, and that nothing Ciceronian (!) can be out of place at an academical gathering. This, too, would have been an atrocity, no doubt, but a preferable atrocity to the bringing in of St. Paul. How is it, by the way, that no Professor, during this struggle with pea-shooting students, has bethought him of the use to he got out of a line in the " Ars Poetica," where Horace is particularly severe on the buyers of peas and nuts? — Nee, si quid fricti ciceris probnt et nucis emptor Aequis accipiunt animis donantve corona. Priut that couplet at the head of your next "capping" programme, Professor Macgregor, and you may dispense with " vigilance committees."

I notice that Prof esscw Bf aegFegor— -by grace of the reporter, or printer, oi' bottl— is credited with the statement that " John Locke took' eight ideals out of the front door and eniuggledl them in at the kitchen window." What- the« Professor really said was, no doubt, this — thafr John Locke in hia system of philosophy drove* innate ideas out at the front door, &c., &c. But" I prefer the reporter's version. It -is more graphic. John Locke taking eight ideals out of the front door and slipping round the corner to smuggle them in again at the back window makes a picture that, somehow, impresses itself upon the imagmation with singular vividness. I have got a better notion of John Locke now than I ever had before. Dr Brown, who followed the Professor, quoted some apposite " Reflections on the Female Sex," from the writings of " a Chinaman," to whom, upon interrogation, he gave the name of " Luh Chow." Qu'est-ce que Jest, this Luh Chow? Can it be that Dr Brown wasquoting from Goldsmith's apocryphal Chinaman, Lien Chi, the "Citizen of the World"? Perhaps the doctor will kindly clear up this point, in the interests of literary accuracy. " Reflections on the female Bex," unreservedly flattering in theiikcharacter, were rife throughout the whole a«jjnoe on Thursday night* evoked by the appearance on the platform of our first girl graduate." Pleasant it was to see this young lady emerging from the labours and sufferings of the academical mill so radiantly fresh and fair— a. "sweet girl graduate," as. Tennyson hath itr— with nothing (apparently) blue about her but her eyes. " What man with a grain of sense or an eye .for beauty," asks a writer in. an Invercargill paper, "would prefer a Girtonian or Newnhamite philosopheress to a simple maiden in her prime?" But suppose you can get both in one ! This Southland barbarian : ought to have been present at the " capping " ceremony. The final and combined attack of the Opposition — the attack which, it had taken months of conclaves and caucuses to organise — has failed like itsi predecessors, and the Ministry are now generally regarded as safe, if only they say little and do nothing, for the brief remainder of the session. It is difficult to say what possessed this carefully-charged opposition gun of Major Atkinspn's that it refused to explode with sufficient force at the critical juncture. But it did so refuse, and the consequence is that tha Government remains untouched upon the Treasury benches, flaps its wings defiantly, and puts Major Atkinson's remaining resolutions (his sole ammunition) at the bottom of the order paper, where ,they will, wind and weather favouring, be reached some time in the dim hereafter* Major Atkinson has found temporary relief in unparliamentary expressions, but has entirely failed ,to move Mr Stout from an unnatural sphinx-like calm which that hon. gentleman has assumed for the first time on record. And if ever there was a time for a restful " wait-till-the-clouds-roll-by " attitude it is now. A little patience, a little self-continence, and this Government, which it was unsafe to leave in office during the recess, will find itself in secure possession for eight months at least. It was considered dangerous to', leave Ministers op the • Government benches for a rather curious reason. Not because it was feared that they would cling too closely, to their seats, but lest they should show i a too great readiness to vacate them. The I popular impression in some quarters was that three weeks after the prorogation Sir Julius Vogel would be Agent-General, and Mr Stout Chief Justice; that Mr Ballance would have usurped the throne of Tawhaio (at a salary paid quarterly in advance) ; that Mr Richardson would have appointed himself en-gine-driver-in-chief to the East and West Coast railway, and that other ministers would likewise have gently insinuated themselves into any convenient opening they happened to espy. These apprehensions have been to some extent allayed, but the event will nevertheless be watched with interest. The Parliamentary Unions, which I have already from time to time smiled upon with more or less benignancy, again demand notice by virtue of having taken another step forward upon the liberal platform. The Auckland • Union, it seems, admits Chinamen to its ranks, and the Dunedin Union proposes to admit ladies. | Both are concessions to the advancing liberalism of the times. As regards Chinamen, the Auckland Union has indisputably set an example of fairplay to our Colonial Legislature* If numbers, together with such individual characteristics as thrift, industry, intelligence, • and seeming guilelessness, go for anything, the Chinese in our midst are at least entitled to send one representative to Wellington, On the other hand the experience of the Auckland Union, with its solitary Chinese member, Mr Ah Kew, has not been altogether encouraging. Mr Ah Kew, who had consistently posed as a Ministerialist, crossed over to the Opposition benches at the moment of a critical division without vouchsafing any explanation as to the why or wherefore, and the bill was lost upon his vote alone. What seems to rankle most in the breasts of the deserted party is that the recusant member had first carefully coiled his pigtail oufr of sight, so that all efforts of the Government " whip " to clutch this appendage, and thus extract explanations from the wearer were futile. In future the Auckland Union is likely to enjoin that all Chinese members wear their pigtails down " for party purposes." Let no reader for one moment imagine that any parallel is hinted. lam far from intending to suggest that the back hair of lady M.P.'s should be let down for a similar purpose. But the political impulses of ladies may possibly prove to be as erratic as those of Mr Ah Kew, and I merely express a hope that the Dunedin Union may avoid (how, it matters not) the particular rock upon which the Auckjanders have struck.

Invercargill seems rapidly developing into the intellectual " hub "of Otago. Literary lecturers — such as -Mr A. Wilson, Professor Mainwaring Brown, and the Rev. Rutherford Waddell— ■who in Dunedin can only half fill a parish schoolroom, go down to Invercargill and crowd - tie largest hall in the place. Remarking on the size of the audience to which he had lectured on the Ethics of George Eliot, Mr Waddell is reported to have said that ".in Dunedin they were so familiar with the heavens above and the earth beneath that they never went to lectures ;" — irony, of course. What Mr Waddell really meant was that we in Dunedin are so frivolous, or so cloddish, that any entertainment above the intellectual level of a panorama or a prize fight appeals to us in vain. That is the difference, you see, between us and the Invercargill people. In the "city of magnificent distances" a lecture on pure literature invariably attracts a crowd. Iftjr is this all. As soon as the lecturer on pure I literature has departed the inhabitants sit in judgment on him, dissect him, confute him in letters to the newspapers, and, if possible, convict him of hereisy. Thus Mr Waddell, it seems,

had summed up the "main ideas of George

Eliot's teaching," which were also "jAs fundamental truths of Christianity," as '''^continuity, solidarity, and totality." These, are certainly ** prave 'orts," and it would be presumption in anyone breathing the Boeotian atmosphere of Dunedin to attempt to understand them. But at appears that they are not understood even in Invercargill. One newspaper critic gives them wp as " nonsense," another condemns them as *• jargon," both suspect them as concealing some 'deadly religious heresy, for which the lecturer should be brought to account. Mr Waddell, in

reply, explains that he is not the original pro-

prietorof the' phrase "Continuity, solidarity, and totality " ; it belongs by right of invention to Canon Westpott, who first employed it in the "Contemporary Keview"— and, I should say, ought to have patented it for his own sole use. Mr Waddell as a compliment to the intelligence of his audience took the loan of " continuity, solidarity and totality" for the purposes of his Invercargill lecture— and this is the reward he gets ! There may be a good deal of pure intelieot in the extreme South, but there isn't much gratitude.

The predicament of Mr John Lytton,a farmer, aiear Auckland, furnishes ground for another protest against the baleful habit of practical joking. There is every reason to suppose that up to two years ago Mr Lytfton was a prosperous, jovial husbandman, who laboured merrily week in week out, and on the Sabbath morning bestrode his nag and rode to the nearest church to lay in his periodical supply of spiritual provender. But one Sunday certain individuals whom the Auckland paper describes as "local young bloods," either hid or stole the farmer's 6addle while he" was engaged upon his orisons within the church. The primary consequence of this jest was that Mr Lytton did not again show face within the sacred edifice for two years. He utterly failed to recognise in his loss the chastising hand of Providence. He simply came to the conclusion that praying didn't pay and acted upon it. When, a week or so ago he broke the ice and again entered a place of worship, he carried his saddle and bridle into the church, placed them upon a seat, looked wildly round and sat upon them, or rather tried to sit upon them, for, to quote the Auckland paper : —

" First his bridle slipped on to the floor with a crash, and then the saddle canted over to one side. At last the noise became so great that the 'officiating pastor felt constrained to address the intruder and request him to sit still, at the same time suggesting that the harness should have bean left outside. The man at once rose to his feet aud replied that he was afraid to leave it outside, ' as on the last occasion he attended church he' had done so, and it had been stolen. After some further discussion he regained hi& balance (not in the head, but the saddle), and remained fairly quite until the service concluded." , This is not all we learn about Mr Lytton, for on August 29 a telegram from Auckland tells how he forced his way into a doctor's house, threatening to murder the inmates, discharged a revolver promiscuously about the streets, and was finally lodged in the public asylum as a dangerous lunatic. It is pathetically added : " Lytton became insane through having a saddle stolen some time ago." If this indictment be true the local "young bloods" have reason to stand aghast at their work.

On dit that a distinguished functionary in bankruptcy— no other than the Official Assignee, to wit — conducted divine service in*a suburban church the other Sunday during the temporary absence of the pastor. The text chosen, with an admirable sense of the fitness of things, was " Owe no man anything." As every congregation now-a-days may, be regarded as composed of insolvents in esse or in posse, I don't doubt that the sermon was listened to with peculiar and painful interest Probably the Official Assignee improved the occasion, thus: — "My dear brethren, in these times of severe commercial depression there is no possibility of our fulfilling the injunction of this text, except by availing ourselves of the beneficent operation of, the Bankruptcy Court. My advice to you, therefore, is— -File ; file early, file often." This is how the sermon ouffkt to have gone ; but how did it go ? Why have we no authentic record? Where were the reporters ?

In giving judgment for plaintiff in the libel case at Invercargill, Penhefather v. Perkins, hid Honor Judge Williams said the writer went beyond what was necessary, and the plaintiff was entitled to a verdict. In considering the question of damages, however, it had to be considered that the subsequent publication of the libel was a mere nccident, and had never been contemplated by the defendant when he wrote it. Again, the letter did not show any ill-will or malice against the plaintiff. Whatever the defendant's intentions were, however, it was not

so much a question of what passed through his mind, as, what the natural effect would be on the minds of those who read it. It did not appear that Penuefather had seriously suffered, and had the defendant made any apology or withdrawal he (his Honor) would probably have looked upon the libel as a merely technical one, and awarded perhaps Is as damages. As no apology had been made, judgment would bo made for an amount which might cover the cost of the action. Judgment for plaintiff for £5 and costs.

There is now no room to doubt that an accident resulting in the drowning of at least one person has occurred off Port Molyneux. Mr Hackworth, collector of customs, received intimation from the postmaster at Kaitangata on Wednesday that the boat must have evidently drifted out to sea, and as it passed the lighthouse the keeper heard the man in the boat shouting for help. On Wednesday night a telegram was received that the body of a man had been found on the beach.

According to the Morning Post Prince Bismarck rejoices over the fall of the Gladstone Cabinet, and feels confident that a " severe sentence on the administration of the Liberal party will be passed by the nation." The reason of this conviction is that Germany is " only waiting the proclamation of this sentence to enter into such an alliance with the English Government as will spare them for many years to' come a repetition of the wars and humiliations brought about by the late Government." " It is the duty of English journalists," says the Morning Post, " to enlighten public opinion on this all-essential subject."

At the inquest held on the body of John Alley, the young man crushed to death at the Nightcaps by falling earth while getting out some coal, the jury added a rider to the effect that the authorities should take steps to prevent persons working in disused or abandoned coalpits. The coalpit where deceased had been working had not been in use for some time. The deceased had also very bad eyesight, and it is supposed this fact tended to increase the danger by his not observing the overhanging bank.

The bankruptcy of Benjamin Balmer came before District Judge Ward at Oamaru in the form of a motion by Mr Crawford asking the Court to advise and direct the deputy official assignee with reference to letters addressed to the bankrupt. Mr Crawford said the deputy official assignees had an order from the Court to have letters addressed to the bankrupt handed to him, but the Act was silent as to the power of assignee to open letters addressed to bankrupts. In Christchurch and elsewhere decisions had been given against assignees opening letters without the order of the Court. His Honor said if the assignee had not the power to open these letters the Act in this respect would be inoperative, and he thought the Act intended that the assignee should have such power.

At the first meeting of the newly-formed Australasian trade section of the London Chamber of Commerce, the chairman (Sir W M'Arthur) referred to the great importance of the trade represented by the section. It had now reached, he said, a yearly total of £115,000,000, and in it some 3,000,000 colonists were concerned. In Canada, on the other hand, with a population of 4,500,000, the trade was not quite £50,000,000. Those figures showed that the Australasian trade section should prove one of the most useful and progressive of all the sections connected with the London chamber.

The Victorian Minister of Mines recently decided that acts of special bravery on the part of miners in connection with mining accidents should be recognised by the Mining Department by the issue of certificates for bravery. The first certificate of the kind has been awarded to Daniel Crosthwaite, a braceman at the Transit mine, Scarsdale, who acted with special courage and promptitude on the occasion of a recent fatal accident to a miner named George James. When the accident occurred Crosthwaite was on the surface. As soon as he ascertained that a mishap had occurred below he got on to the tank to be let down, but when the engine moved a signal was given from below to stopCrosthwaite then jumped on to the rope, slid down to the 300 ft level, and helped James out of the water, the latter being alive at the time Had the rope been a round one the feat of de. scending would not have been very hazardous, but the rope was flat, and could only be gripped at the sides by the hands, ,

It was predicted in ,our columns some time ago (says London Truth) that, in the event of the death of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the Duke of Edinburgh would not find the succession to his uncle's throne a smooth business. I now hear from Berlin that the extraordinary proceedings at Brunswick are really intended to prepare the way for the exclusion of the Duke of Edinburgh, who must regret that he did not sell his reversionary interest in the Duchy nine years ago, when the negotiations came to an end in consequence of a dispute on a point of detail. The Berlin people then offered the Duke a million down, and an annuity of £60,000 a year, but he stipulated for a second million instead of the promised annuity, which was wise, as, apart from the chances of revolution, it has always been the practice of Prussian statesmen to observe their engagement only so long as it was their interest to do so, and no doubt a plausible excuse would speedily have been forthcoming for the withdrawal of the annuity. The Queen took her son's view, and when she went to Baden-Baden in 1876 she did her best to induce the Emperor to acquiesce in the Duke's terms, but failed; and now there is no doubt that the duchy will be quietly annexed to the German Empire, and the Duke will probably get no compensation whatever. The Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha has been on bad terms with his heir for some time past, and he is not particularly well-dis-posed towards the Royal Family of England, so he is not likely to put himself out of his way in order to avert the catastrophe which will take place after his death.

Despite the bad weather, there was a good muster of members at the Gaelic Society's meeting on Wednesday evening. Mr M'Lachlan presided, and songs and readings, &c., in Gaelic were the order of the evening. A number of lady performers, including Misses Matheson, M'Fadyen, M'Leod, and M'Kay were much applauded for their selections, while several rousing Celtic songs were given by gentlemen members.

Feeling reference was made at the Land Board meeting on Wednesday by Mr J. P. Maitland, Chief Commissioner, to the death of Mr James Smith, of the Crown Lands Department, which took place on Wednesday morning. Some time ago Mr Smith had to obtain leave of absence on account of illness, but he had so far recovered as to be able to visit the office on Tuesday. He was seized on Wednesday, however, with a paralytic stroke, under whichhe succumbed. Deceased arrived in Melbourne from Scotland -in 1852, and came on to New Zealand nine years later. When ieavingTMelbourne he received a presenta-

tion from the members of Knox Church for his services as elder. In Dunedin he occupied the position of elder of St. Andrew's Church, and acted for some time as session clerk, but illhealth caused him to resign office, and as a mark of esteem he was on that occasion presented with an illuminated address. He was 65 years of age, a widower, and leaves one grown-up son. His connection with the Laud Department extended over a period of 23 years, and he was generally esteemed as a capable and painstaking officer.

A promising youth of 14 was committed to the Burnham Industrial School, on Tuesday, for one year. He was sent by his master to look after some sheep, instead of which he took a horse, and proceeding to a neighbouring farm, stole a saddle, and then rode into Lyttelton. He had previously been committed to the school for house-breaking.

Messrs Carson, Laird, Manson, and Bell, of Wanganui, have been served with writs, issued afc the instance of E. N. Liffiton, for having performed work for the borough council while sitting and voting as members thereof. Some of these gentlemen are charged with as many as 10 oit'ences, and it is estimated Lhat the fines will amount to £2400 in the aggregate.

Isaac Mason Hill, a settler, who has resided in Nelson 43 years, died on the 31st ult. Deceased was a well-known temperance advocate, having been a total abstainer for over 50 years. Bridget Campbell was charged at the Police Court, Invercargill, on Tuesday with burning down her house at Avenal, with intent to defraud the Standard Insurance Company, and was remanded, bail being refused.

The Government is having a deep shaft sunk near Sehhulebach, with the object of obtaining various kinds of scientific information, and especially trustworthy data concerning the rate of increase of the earth's temperature as we decond into the interior. The excavation is being carried on by a diamondtipped borer driven by water. So far back as the beginning of this year the shaft had reached the depth of 1392 metres, which is believed to be the lowest depth yet reached by boring. The temperature at successive stages is ascertained by an ingenious instrument which serves as a special thermometer, the principle of construction being the fact that as the heat increases the mercury will expand so as to flow over the lip of a sufficiently short open tube in greater and greater quantities. The measurement of the differences of these overflows will give the rate of increase of the temperature. It has been ascertained that the temperature at the depth of 1392 metres was 49 degrees Centrigrade, or 120 degrees Fahrenheit. If the temperature increases regularly at this rate, the boiling point of water ought to be reached at a depth of 3000 metres, and at 75 kilometres we should find the heat at which platinum melts. This would go to show that the earth's crust cannot be more than about one-ninetieth of its radius.

A romantic story of a deed executed in Melbourne 24 years ago has just been brought to light through the instrumentality of Mr Chomley, Chief Commissioner of Police. A few weeks ago Mr Chomley received a letter from a solicitor in Scotland, asking him to make enquiries concerning a man named Thomas Burn, a native of Dublin, at one time carrying on the business of commission agent in Melbourne. The letter htateel that receutly a man died in Scotland possessed of a considerable amount of wealth, and leaving no relatives. Amongst his papers was found the copy of a deed which was executed by him in Melbourne 24 years ago, whereby he sold all his expectations under his father's will to Thomas Burn, for a sum of £400. The solicitor now wished to know if Thomas Burn could be found in the Colony. The Chief Commissioner at once sot to work, and after some difficulty discovered Burn, who is now about 57 years old, living in very reduced circumstances with his mother, in a garret in Lygon street, Carlton. At first he could remember nothing about the deed, but on his memory being jogged, the circumstances gradually came back to him, and he ultimately proved to be the man sought for. It seems that the original deed was at the time of execution handed to a solicitor who carried on business in Queen street, where for years it lay amongst a lot of mouldy paper. In course of time* the solicitor, thinking it was of no value, placed it with the rubbish, and it was destroyed. The old man cried for joy when he heard of his good luck. His claim now amounts to about £2000, and there is no doubt as to his right to the money, which at present is lodged in the High Court of Scotland.

The Sydney correspondent of the Ai'gus telegraphed that two men were fishing off Lake Macquarie Heads, when suddenly they found themselves being towed at an unaccountably rapid rate by a. sea monster fully 30ft in length. It was slate-coloured, and had a great horn on a hump on its bank. After going some distance the line parted, and the monster made its appearance close to the boat. It made a groaning kind of noise, and then got away, the men being unable to secure it.

In writing of the Duke of Argyle's attack upon his old friends and Lord Rosebery's skittish reply to the M'Callum More (writes the London correspondent of the Argus), I ought to have mentionedihat whilst the duke himself is visibly drifting towards Conservatism, his son and heir (Lord Lome), who was thought to have adopted it with his wife, is going out more and more into tbe Radical country. The change which has come over the noble marquis since his return from Canada is surprising. He progresses by leaps and bounds, and the other night, whilst " his father was disclaiming furiously against Mr Chamberlain as a Minister of the Crown, his son was saying that if he had his -way he would put Mr Parnell into the Cabinet. The folks are asking if this is the result of the reacbion from the severe restraints of a matrimonial connection with the Court.

The report of Mr John L. Kelly, the delegate of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce who visited the South Sea Islands on the first trip of the Janet Niccol has been issued in pamphlet form. The report is a very exhaustive one, and gives a number of statistical tables bearing on the commerce of the South Pacific Islands. The circumstances favourable, and the obstacles, to New Zealand trade, are set forth. Mr Kelly also makes some recommendations, which includes the formation of a trading company to buy out one or two of the leading houses at present doing business, assist in establishing branches of a New Zealand bank, and make Auckland a free port. ,

Mr T. J. Brinsmead, partner of the wellknown firm of Messrs John Brinsmead and Sons, pianoforte manufacturers, accompanied by Mrs Brinsmcad, is now on a visit to the Colony. According to the Auckland Herald Mr Brinsmoad has visited all the Australian Colonies, and his mission to New Zealand is to examine the different New Zealand wopds with a view of utilising them in the manufac-

tureof pianoforte cases. It is Mr Brinsmead's intention to visit the timber factories, &c, to to get every information possible conferning New Zealand woods, also the Southern establishments of a similar character, as the firm is very anxious to bring the ornamental New Zealand woods into the London market.

One of those things which are better left unsaid was uttered by a suave and innocentlooking Chinaman in the Wellington Magistrate's Court, much to the amusement of those who heard the remark. Just before the hearing of a case in which a. Chinaman was the prosecutor, a compatriot of the plaintiff, who was to act as interpreter, took a seat at the barrister's table. A member of the profession inquired of the interpreter if there were any lawyers in China. "My word, you bet, too manj' plenty," lisped the guileless one, who then put the lawyer under cross-exaininatian by asking if he (the lawyer) had ever been in China. "No," replied he of the long robe, adding chaffingly, " but lam going next week." " Good job too," ejaculated John, amid a suppressed titter from those who heard the ingenious rejoinder.

" I do not think it is generally known," bursts^ out Gordon, in his abrupt way, on the 20th o-v September last, " that if a gunboat cut the seawalling near Cooling-on-Thames, the Cliffe and Shoruemead Forts are cut off from mainland, and that the Thames would come up to high lands, and be 10 miles wide. There is one man only that I know that has gift of questioning, because he knows every pai t of the coast — Sir W. Jervois ; and if Wolseley has not the time, ho would do schoolmaster. Of course this is all fearful treason and presumption." The candidates for examination (says the St. James' Gazette) were to be "the generals." How many of them, we wonder, knew of this weak spot in our defences last week ? Have any of them a practical plan ready for its defence ? Are the departments officially aware of these tilings ? Perhaps, now that Gordon is dead and Khartoum gone, some heed may be paid to his warnings. Lord Wolseley soon again will be repairing to the metropolis, and, as he will apparently have lots of time on his hands, he will, perhaps, be able to "do schoolmaster," and " trot out the generals over their districts."'

At a recent meeting of the Nelson City Council the question of ordering some drain-pipes came up for discussion, when a prominent councillor objected to the pipes being ordered from Wellington, remarking " that if they could get the pipes elsewhere at the same price hj would rather see it done, as, for his part, he would not spend a shilling in Wellington if it could be helped." As a result, the council directed the surveyor to make inquiries at Christchurch, Dunedin, and Auckland. The Wellington papers (says the Lyttelton Times) ridicule the idea of Nelson custom beiug withdrawn from the Empire City, but it is just this sort of thing which, carried out boldly, will bring it to a sense of its selfishness and greed. The idea is excellent. Boycott Wellington till it comes to its senses again.

The Marine Department have made an official statement to the effect that, although certain dangers not hitherto marked on- the charts have been discovered in the immediate vicinity of tho place where the s.s. lonic recently struck, these dangers are much closer in shore than the course she was alleged to have pursued, and much closer than a vessel of her draught had any business to be. The dangers are a long way inside the distance of two miles from shore, which the "New Zealand Pilot " advises vessels to keep, and the department are satisfied that if the vessels follow ifhe course laid down in the "NewZealazid Pilot" they will be perfectly safe, and will encounter no dangers such as that met with by the lonic.

A curious circumstance connected with the negotiations recently concluded at Tientsin between the Chinese and Japanese with regard to Corea, is that the discussions were conducted wholly in Engli&h. Li Hung Chang, the Chinese Commissioner, knows no language except his own, but his secretaries and interpreters have been in Europe, and have acquired English and French, while Count Ito, the Japanese Plenipotentiary, understands English thoroughly. As a consequence he spoke throughout in that language ; and it was agreed on both sides that this course was advisable, inasmuch as there was in English an ample vocabulary of clear and definite diplomatic terms, which cannot be said either of Chinese or Japanese. To find anything analogous to this (says a Home paper), we must fancy French and English diplomatists meeting in solemn conclave at Dover to arrange their future policy with regard to Belgium, and using the Chinese language as the means of communication.

The " positively last " man from Khartoum, tbe Daily News says, is one Abdullah Bey Ismail, who commanded one of the battalions of irregular troops at the siege of that place, and who escaped and has made a statement before Major Turner, of the Intelligence Department at]Dongola. This man denies the treachery of Fang Pasha, who was his fellow-officer. He says that 20 days before the capture of the city Gordon urged all civilians incapable of bearing arms to leave, in order to avoid starvation, and sent a letter to the Mahdi, worded: "Behold these people now that I have had them six months. Do you, therefore, act likewise. Feed, support them. Even as I have done up the present date do you in the future." Abdullah gives the number of persons left in Khartoum before it was taken as about 14,000, including the military. Farig Pasha, he declares, was killed because he had served the infidel. He believes that four or five thousand civilians and soldiers were massacred, though several grappled with their murderers and stirangledmanyin their despair. Gordon, together with "European doctor," an interpreter, and two other men, lulled 200 Arabs at least from tho palace, and when their ammunition was exhausted the eastern door was thrown open, and Gordon, " galm and serene," smoking a cigarette, and carrying a sword in his right hand, appeared. There was a pause for a moment, but one near him raised a v rifle and shot the General dead. " I speak the truth," added Abdullah, "and lie not, Allah knows." Tjpe dervishes then assembled and killed the survivors. The Mahdi every day, after reading his prayers, "rises up to his full height, and, turning to the north, draws his long two-edged sword and cries, ' Woe, woe to you, Stamboul, for this sword is against you !' "

A well-informed writer begins in the last number of the Revue dcs Deux Mondes a series of articles on "The Future of 'the English Power." Ho is mainly concerned this time with India and the Afghan question, of which he gives on the whole an impartial account. Among much in his forecast that is not very favourable to England, it is interesting to meet with the following tribute to the oharacter of our rule in India in the past : — The organisation of the Anglo-Indian empire is the masterpiece of English policy. There has been nothing comparable to it since the da.ys of Rome. It has been not a

work of force, but a triumph of intelligence, for all the wheels of the immense administrative machine have been worked by two or three thousand functionaries. It is impossible, too, not to admire the constant solicitude England has shown for the populations dependent on her' Everywhere in India she haa done the work of civilisation and progress. The mere maintenance of tranquility would alone have been an immense benefit to a country which had at other times been desolated by the incessant strifes of petty Native princes; but England has added to tranquility the further blessings of commercial security and judicial impartiality. Nor has she left anything undone to diffuse, education amongst the masses ; and, indeed, justice compels one to acknowledge that in her dealings with India England has neglected none of th& obligations of a civilised Government. According to despatches in the New York papers the marriage of Princess Beatrice with Prince Henry of Batteuberg was regarded with extreme disfavour at the German Court, and the Crown Princess protested against the alliance. No* invitation to the ■wedding was '=;ent to any member of the German reigning family. Moreover, the Prince and Princess of Wales and Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh preferred to remain on board their yachts at Cowes during their visit to the Isle of Wight, going on shore solely for the ceremony, and immediately returning on board and steaming away at midnight after the fireworks. The Prince, whose duty it was to give the bride away, refused the office, and only bore his part , iv the ceremony because he could not help it. We are (says the Sydney Echo) bridging distances between cities with a marvellous rapidity. The Home voyage, the journey between Sydney and London, has been reduced from three months to one ; and still more marvellous haa been the lessening of time between Sydney and Melbourne. There are scores of old travellers in the city who remember the fortnight's coaching with its zest of danger and delight, and its inconveniences, and times of bogs- and breakages,, bushrangers, and colds and heats, and waste of time and wear of body. We thought a marvel had been accomplished when our trains ran to> the Murray bank, and the journey right through^ was accomplished in two days. Then it came down to 27, and after a while to 19 ; while the latest reduction brings it to 17| hours. Messrs Archibald Nicol Hislop and James Clark have entered into partnership, and will carry on business at Kaitangata as Hislop and Clark. Tho particulars of the sale of Mr Shand's stock afc Henley, on tho 11th inst., will be found iv this issue. Mr A. Batbgate has money to lend. Tenders are invited for the erection of the Oamaru Refrigerating Works. The Education Board invite applications for a number of vacancies, including a head master for Port Chalmers. Messrs Nimmo and Blair announce the arrival of their new season's agricultural seeds. The address of William M'Ready is inquired for. The sale of Mr Simson's farm at Kaitangata is announced for Monday next. Messrs James A. Park and Co. are the auctioneers. The thoroughbred carriage horse Young Philip will travel this season in the districts round Dunedin. Particulars will be found elsewhere. The sale of Mr James Shand's stock, &c, at Henley, has been postponed to Friday, luh inst.Messrs Wright, Stephenson, and Go. will hold their twenty-fourth annual sale of Clydesdalcand thoroughbred stallions, immediately after the parade at Tahuna park, on Thursday, Bth prox. • Mr Robt. Lumsden has sold his jewellery business in George street, Punedin, to Mr.JD, Pawaon. Mr Pryor advertises new seeds for sale. The Mutual Agency Company undertake Hie sale of property, stock, wool. &c, and also Bupply all farm requisites. • ' The Mutual Agency Company offer their' new season's agricultural seeds for salp.