AMERICAN SUMMARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1891, 1 May 1890, Page 2 (Supplement)

AMERICAN SUMMARY.

The failure is reported of the New York firm of G. K. Sislaire and Sons, brokers and bankers, through the defalcation of 300,000d0l by their business manager. One of the assistants at the P.tsteur Institute, New York, was seized with rubies while at work on the brain of a dog, aud died mad. William A. Welch, known as "The Niagara river hunter," was carried over the cataract on the 2nd inst. Thirty cases of trichinasis were reported at Aurora, Illinois, on April 8. Six resulted from eating Bologna sausage. Notwithstanding tho severity of the winter season, the oondition of growing crops in California is reported good. There will be a diminished grain acreage, however, owiag to the heavy rainfall. A terrible storm was in progress in the Cleveland section of the State of Ohio on April 8. It broke over Norwalk, the county seat of Huron, and levelled several buildings to the ground, killing a number of people. A furious gale also prevailed in Wyoming. Prophets Town, Illinois, is reported as blown away, and also Harper's Perry, Henry County, Kentucky, made memorable by the John Brown raid. It is reported that Bedloe Island, on which the great statue of Liberty by Bartholodi was recently erected, is slowly sinking into the waters. It has been discovered by investigation that the statue is Bft lower than when placed. It is thought that part of the shelf which forms the island ha,* been broken off, and the rock foundation of the statue is s'owly but ourely sinking out of sight. Of course the ciuse of the breaking of the rock shelf is not hard to tell; that calamity was undoubtedly caused by the immenfe weight of the stone pedestal on which the statue stands, A hole which was accidentally burnt through the roof of the caisson of the huge North river (Hudson) tunnel on April 3 caused its flooding, and the engines are unable to expel tho water. The accident reaches the magnitude of a disaster, aud it i 3 feared a new start will have to be made from the New York end, in which ca«e years of work may be considered lost. The tunnel is now 2000 ft long from the New Jersey end, but only 150 ft from the New York end ; yet this represents the work of years, grtafc engineering difficulties having been encountered. An Pnglhh syndicate has purchased the ReminKlou Vnper Company of Waterfcown. New York, the Hudson Eiver Pulp aud Paper Company at Palmer's Falls, tho Glens FalU Paper Manufacturing Company, and the Rochester Paper Company's Mills, with a combined e.ipacii/y of 130 tons per day- Hie purchase price ia 8,000,000d01. I'he main office will be iv New York. A st-ong movement is being made by the Chinese of New Xork to obtain the privilege of American

naturalisation for themselves and fellow country' men all over the United States. The strike of the labour bodies of ; New England for nine hours as a day's labour, set for April Ist, ' took place, but the success met with was not as encouraging as anticipated. All over New England the move was made, and it has been looked forward to with such dread by manufacturers and contractors that they successfully temporised with their employes to postpone final action until May 1 ; and this wrought dissension in the labour ranks and prevented tho movement being unanimous. Most of the organisations made a stand, however, and numerous strikes were the result, causing discontent among the workmen. St. Joseph's Convent, Milwaukee, was totally destroyed by fire on the evening of March 31, entailing the loss of the lives of one of the sisters and the lieutenant of the fire department, the mortal injury of a novice and a fireman, and a loss of 50,0J0d01. Wyoming Territory was admitted into the union of States on March 27 by a small majority. There is a female suffrage olauee in tho constitution of the new State. A large sugar refinery on the corner of Beech and Taylor streets, Chicago, was burned on March 29 by the explosion of a boiler. The flames caused by this reached the starch department, where a second explosion followed. Five workmen were killed by this acoident and 25 injured. A fire, which destroyed Bowen and Merrileg's immense book store building in Indianapolis on March 17, also Involved the loss cf nine persons, including seyen firemen. Many persons were also severely injured. The engineers surveying a line for the Mexican Pacific railway in the district of Tonala, State of Chiapas, report the discovery of two mountains of almost solid iron, carrying from 60 to 64 per cent, of metallic iron. Tho estimated amount of ore in sight Is 200,000,000 tons. The iron is well adapted for conversion into steel, being free from sulphur and