MAIL NEWS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 4743, 17 December 1886, Page 3

MAIL NEWS.

The following additional items are extracted from tiles per s.s. Mariposa at Auckland :—

Mr G. It. Johnson, who is at presont in New Zealand, has given a beautiful east window to the parish church of Stalham, Norfolk.

Mrs Rhodes, of New Zealand, a cousin of Bishop Moorhouse,has presented to the vicar of Knottingly for use in the parish church of St. Botolph a new pulpit in memory of her parents and a lectern and font in memory of her sister. Mr Walter Hayell and Mr Howard Hodgkin, members of the committee of management of thu Emigrants' Information Bureau, will sail for Australia and New Zealand in tho Austral on the 11th inst. They intend to make full inquiries upon the subject of emigration in both official and private sources, and as far as possible to arrange with various representative person* in these colonies to correspond regularly with the committee. New Zealanders will not be pleased to hear that nearly 100,000 copies of the half-crown edition of Mr Fronde's " Oceana " have been sold.

The authorities of the Irish L>yal and Patriotic Union have decided on making an appeal to tho Australasian c:>lonii'S for funds to carry on the work of the Union. With this view they have published a pamphlet entitled "The Irish _ Question, for Australasian Headers : A History and a Plea," which they intend to circulate extensively in Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand.

At the Toynbee Hall, in the east end of London, last (Saturday evening, Professor Judd delivered i\ lecture on '"The Recent Volcanic Outbreak in New Zealand," which he described £13 the grandest and moat beautiful displays of physical disturbance that had ever been watched and studied."

As far as can at present be ascertained Sir Julius Von Haast will bo back in New Zealand not later than August next. A rumor is current that he will get somo appointment in connection with the imperial Institute. This is quite likoly to be the case, for Sir Julius is in high favor with the Prince of Wales and the Royal Family, owing to his early association in his student days with the late Prince Consort.

About two hundred nominated emigrants will be despatched in tho Ruapehu, which sails in December.

The New Zealand Government is desirous of accelerating the San Francisco mail service by two days each way, and Sir Dillon Ball has been holding interviews with the management of the Union Steamship Co., to see if this matter can be arranged. There is every disposition to comply with tho request of your Government, but it has been found necessary to defer doing so until next spring, as it would be difficult to alter the time tables in the winter months.

The Rev. J. H, Batetnaii, vicar of Haile, Cumberland, was convicted at Carlisle Asaizes of feloniously solemnising a marriage of a youth under age and without license or previous publication. The sentence was eighteen months' imprisonment, with hard labor.

Lord Lr>nsdale, whose name has been connected with theactres3VioletCameron, and for whom ho was acting as manager in New York, left for London hurriedly on October 2!Hh, called thither by business troubles and strikes at his coalmine.

The next big thing in engineering enterprise ia a submarine railway between Denmark and Swedan. It is to bo carried under the Sound, starting at Ameger, a well-known suburb at Copenhagen, and proceeding under the sea for five miles to tho Island of Salthorm, which will be a sorb of half-way house. From Snlthorni the line will be extended for about three miles, still under the sea, to the Swedish coast at Lemhamn. Seeing that the tSound does not exceed fifty feet in depth where the tunnels for the proposed line have to be made, it is anticipated that there will be no great difficulty in completing the work in three years.

As a result of the forty days' fast of M. Succi, a Frenchman named Alexander Jac(jues, residing in Station-road, Crayford, has challenged the Milanese to a fast of fifty days, the fast to take place in London, and under the inspection of several eminent medical men. M. Succi has lost no time in replying to tho challenge, which he accepts, on tho condition that M. Jacques do establish his bona tide and first undergo a fa3t in London. This M. Jacques has consented to do at nn early date. A LOST COUNTESS. The criminal authorities of the Grand Duchy of Baden have issued a notice that since the 11th of September the Countess Laura von Arnim has been missing from the Cur establishment at Plattig, in the Black Forest. She was somewhat unsettled in her mind, and went for a walk with an attendaut, from whom she separated on some ordinary pretext, and has not Bince beon seen, although the most searching inquiries have been made about her. There is no ground in her relations to her family to account for a voluntary disappearance, so the police fear she has been the victim of some deed of violence, with the object of plunder. She had in a purse on her person about £15. A description is given of the jewellery she wore — all of a costly and very artistic character. The countess was 34 years old, moderately tall and strong, of a beautiful figure and very pleasing features, and clothed in a way corresponding to her social position. Her husband has offered £SGO reward for information. BRITISH OFFICERS AT CABUL. A Cabul telegram, dated October 22, in the London Times, says : — The members of the Frontier Commission will leave Cabul to-morrow. They have been treated with great hospitality by the Ameer, and allowed to visit all parts of the city and its neighborhood freely. An imposing Durbar was held on the 20th inst., when the Ameer, in the presence of the assembled chiefs, assured Sir VV. Ridgeway, in emphatic terms, of his loyalty to the English alliance. On the following day the Ameer entertained the mission in his magnificent palace, recently built, and today the Conimander-in-Chief, and the military officers = will entertain Sir VV. Ridgeway and his stafF in the city. Tomorrow a review of the troops will be held. Great improvements have been effected in Cabul. Good roads, gardens, and bridges have been constructed, and tho telephone and tho electric light are being introduced. Tho people, and especially the troops are very friendly.