GLEANINGS FROM THE PAPERS.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 2, Issue 84, 10 May 1879, Page 3

GLEANINGS FROM THE PAPERS.

For some week* past a well-equipped jind most promising expedition to New Guinea has been quietly organising in this city, and on Thursday it sailed from ibis port. The party comprises Baron Maclay. the famous Russian scientist and explorer, Chevalier Bruno, was the first to make an attempt from these shores to open trade with the terra incognita, and Captain Leeman, who has had been .considerable experience on the coast of JTew Guinea and elsewhere northward 'The fast-sailing three-masted American .•HChooner Saddie ¥. Caller is the vessel (chafitered, and her owner, Captain Webber, enters heartily into the project, and is in fact a partner the concern. £2300 has been spent in a full equipment, and the vessel is provisioned for a 12 mouths .cruise at the termination of which she will return to Port Jackson. The object of the expedition is scientific and commercial. Baron Maolaey, who speaks from experience, promise* a rich harvest .on score .of the latter, and it is hoped some important scientific discoveries will be made. A course will be shaped first 4»New Caledonia, thence to Jiew Britain and .other Inlands of the Pacific, including Dempier and Purdy Islands. Aftorwarda JJew Guinea will be made. AstrolableUay will first be visited, and 'theuce the ommll round will he examined, and, if possible, arrangements made for opening up * toade with the natives, and it is expected «at Baron Maclay!* knowledge And *wperien<» will be of great avail B«rotr sVwUy &*** *»ken Aha scientific ■.■ muck kt band, and Chevalier Bruno tthe«fet*JßML «he salistical, ajad .coin*«aci*l W Saddie Cajjcr. afiw lay* iiuj at anobor.orT Klimbatb Bay for «w» weeks, was towed to the *ea'early mi Thursday, and at onoe shaped a northMet cuuree.—Town and Country Journal. '

The Sydney Morning Herald says ; The mail route via San Francisco will ho

made additionally attractive to passengers for the future, through the granting of certain concessions called " stop-over privileges" It has been pointed out more than once, thai if passengeis were allowed to stop at any place on tho route between Sydney ami New York, for a short period, their tickets to be available at any lime they chose to proceed on their journey, it would not only be a great convenience, but be an inducement to visitors to America and Europe to give preference to the San Francisco route. We now learn from Messrs. Gilchrist, Watt, ami Co., that they have arranged to bock passengers by tue ;>au Francisco mail steamers, at a through late to Liverpool, Ist class, at £72, allowing passengers to break the journey by staying over at Auckland, Honolulu, or any of the American cities, en route, from one to six months.

Every year by means of steam communication (.says the S. M. Heruld) this colony and the mother country are being brought into closer union. The journey to tho antipodes, which at one time was full ot peril and occupied many months, is now reduced to the limit of a pleasure trip occupying only a few weeks. In fact, people frequently go from Sydney to London on business, and return again almost before their absence has been noticed by any except their immediate friends. The following extract- from a letter dated London, February I+, illustrates the rapidity with whioh the journey can now be made:—" Your letter of the 24th, via Brindisi, came to hand ou the tfth instant, two days early, with Sydney dates to December 19, having delivered her mails on the Ist. She was 'M days 22 hours to Plymouth. A passenger who landed at Suez untie through to London in 34 aays, slaying two days o.i the wnv."

At the present time there are altogether twenty-one men-of-war tiemg built for the English navy, either in Government or private yards , the vessels ranging in size from tin. Ajitx and Agamemnon, e.-.eh of Hi'.li tous displacement, o cin. little Insolent, Hi i:>A tons. 0: ae twenty-oue ships, .'our a.e ;rone!jj.', ..... is an uuarmoured oar> eue,. jivr .1 1 s/jddj. two are gun-vesseis, eight are and twu a,--' sailing jri-*. i'lie turn- iroaola it ure the Ajax, Agar.ieiimu.i, Orion, and Poiythemus, the nrst-.ia i.eU two being Bister ships, each oi »i'.)2 tuns displacement, protected by armour-plates ISij. thick, and designed to cany each four 33-ton guns in two turrets.

The power of money is alluded ro in the proverbs of every nation, but only a Bengalee would think of saying, " One could buy oneself timers eyes it one had only money ;" nr, when i.. a difficulty, of declaring it was as hard to do "as to kill seven snakes with mie stroke.'' " Old servants and oldricd are host" is a kind of Hindoo proverb reminding us that fidelity is now unknown in the East. In many I.idiau proverbs we rind that halfhuinourous observation of the habits of animals which we might expect in the authors of so many fable ouoks. They say 0:' a hypocrite, '■' thu craue is a choice saint," referring to the sanctimonious gravity with which that bird waits for its prey. A terrible phase of Hindoo life is suggested, by a curious Eengalce proverb that says i na.i in a tiger's mouth is not so much afraid of the tiger's teeth as the jungle lie is going to, meaning that even in the presence of great calamities small future ones seem mine terrible. Au equally cruel enemy of the Hindoo is alluded to in the following prudent proverb—" What' Dwell in the water and quarrel with the crocodile ?" Here is a proverb Hindoo all over—" The snakecharmer can hear the snake sneeze," intimating that a man understands the business on which he is always engaged. And here are two more—" 1 won't give you the water I wash my cowries in," and " The pin-fish goes on falling into the hands of a bad cook." The pin-fish is a great delicacy, and the proverb means that a clever person can never bo understood by a fool.

Every one of the agricultural products of America with the single exception of Indian corn, is surpassed in value by the dairy yield. The value of the cows and of the laud especially devoted to their support is reckoned at $1, 300,000,000. The annual production of clieesu is estimated at 350,000,0001b5., and that of butter at 1,500,000,0001 bs. Their combined value—estimated at 8330,000,000 —is only one fifth less than that of the corn crop The production has increased '33 per cent, within the past year, and since the introduction of the American factory system in the manufacture of them, they havo become important ol> jeefs of export, the foreign sale amounting during the last season to j 13,000,000 for butter, and % 14,000,000 for olirose. They have some wealthy civil servants in New Zealnnd. It is estimated, says the Southland Times, that the loud belonging to Mr. J. T. Thomson, the Sur-veyor-General of the colony, iu luvorcnrgill and the immediate suburbs, will reach the handsome total for land tax purposes of £150,000. The estimate, including improvements in the shape of buildings, will reach nearly £200,000, Two English ladiee have received the cross of St. Uluabwth at Bucharest for their aid and services during the lata war. One is Mr«. Mansfield, wife of the (late) .CuosiiL-Generai ; tht> other, Mr*. Mawer, wife of the English physician—the latter lady, aided by subscriptions, having .ataitL-d and maintained a small hospital

The Crown Mbm Hudolf of Austria lias just until' Ids appearance as the author nf a book. The subject it •• a hunting excursion." The l'i inee, wbo is only twenty yearn (if age, tikes a great interest in ornithology, uinl the narrative. chiefly turns on his otMurretions respectingtlie liinls of the Danube. Mrs. Orate, the widow of the historian' of Greece, iliedon Deceniber 21), at Ridgeway, her eountry house, near Ouililfonl in Surry, at the age of hit. She was one of the most remarkable women of her generation. Her " Life "of her husband and her other writings were instinct with the finer qualities of mind, but her letter! and her conversation weio better than her books.

The new law for regulating the Brunswick .Succession Question has been finally drawn up. It decides that in ease the hereditary successor to the ilueol throne is absent or otherwise prevented from conducting the offairn of the Duchy, a council of Regency will assemble, •onsisting of Ministers, the President* of the Diet, and the Presidents of the Supreme Tribunal of Brunswick. The right of deciding the question as to whether tha hereditary successor is absent or prevented from conducting the affairs of the State will rest with the Ministry- of State. The Council of Regency will, in administering the affairs of the Government, enjoy all the rights of a Regent acting during a minority, and the Emperor of Germany will lie requested to assume the military rights possessed by the Sovereign. The Regency will cease immediately the oath of allegiance has been taken to the new successor to the throne. If the question of succession is not settled within a year, the National Assembly or Brunswick will, at the proposal of the Council of Regency, elect a Regent from among the number of non-reigning Princes of the German sovereign houses who have attained their majority. The Regent thus elected will conduct tha affairs of the Duchy until the successor to the throne actually assumes the reins of government, At a ball given recently in honour of the Prince of Wales, in England, a small table in an alcove was reserved at .supper for his Royal Highness and his intimates. The ball wis at its height, the Prince le:i one of his partners to the table, followed by «one of the most distinguished guests. Two chairs, however, remained unoccupied. A heated parson, supporting a still more boated partner, descried the vacant places, and immediately swooped down upon them. In vain the courtiers nodded, winked, and beckoned; his reverence meant supper, and was riot to lie denied. At last Lord Charles Beresfonl, always fertile in resource, dropped on his knees and, crawling under the table, pulled the parson by the leg. It wax of no avail; the reverend gentleman merely kicked out, and continued his attack on the good things intended for royalty People of Chatham Islands may be pardoned it" they become a little " mixed " as to dates. Says the Western Australian Times : —" Chatham Island, lying otf the coast of New Zealand in the South Pacific Ocean, is peculiarly situated, as it is one of the few inhabitable points of the globe where the day of the week changes. It is just on the line of demarcation between dates There high twelve on Sunday or Sunday noon ceases, and instantly Monday meridian begins. Sunday ironies into a man's house on the east side and becomes Monday by the time it passes over the western door. A man sits down to his noonday dinner on Sunday, and it is Monday noon when hs finishes it. Their Saturday is Sunday, and Sunday is Monday, and Monday beoomes suddenly transferred into Tuesday."

Ever since the death of the late (reor"o Bidder some of the English papers have from time to time published contributions calling to mind the wouderful achievements of the great calculator when a boy of olevon or twelve. In an old pamphlet a number of the questions which wore propounded to him and rapidly answered are given; and as many of these were asked hy the late Queen, tho Duke of Kent, and eminent schoolmasters, there can lie no doubt of their authenticity. Let any of our radon endeavour to work out this little sum. " What is the interest of £4444 for 4444 days, at 4J per cent, per annum 1" George Bidder, when ten years old, answered this by some marvellous mental process in two minutes, and gave tho result correctly £2434 lGs. 5 id. On another occasion the following question was put by Sir William llerschel, at Slough, near Windsor, to Master Didder, and answered in one minute—" Light travels from the sun to tho earth in eight minutes, mid the sun being 9M.00 ),000 of miles oft - , if light would take six years and four months travelling at the same rate from the nearest fixed star, how far is that star from the earth, reokoning 805 days and (i hours to each year, and 2S days to each month '--An5wer,40,(133,740,000,000 miles." Now, it is obvious that the powers necessary for such calculations arc far beyond those ordinarily granted to men; but yet this boy was in other rjspects like his fellows, and his achievements indicate what the rime may acquire by the process of development. The numerical system of all nations indicates that our ancestors could scarcely, calculate at one time beyond four or five, or at most up to the number represented by their fingers and toss. Wo have made some progress sines then, and possibly in the course ojE" ages, our descendant* may find such questions as those answered by the boy Bidder as easy a* wo now find it to answer a qui stiun in I simple addition.

| Her Majesty baa been pleased to confer the order of the Indian Empire upon Mr. William Digby, editor of the Madras Times, in lecognition of his services iu connection with the recent famine. The writer of London Town Talk in the Melbourne Argus says : —" Of all the cases of those who have suffered by the Glasgow failure, that of a well-known Scotch Earl, Lord Eglintoun, is, if not the saddest, the most tremendous. He is a good landlord, and was asked but a short time back by one of his tenants to become trustee for hit daughter upon her marriage. Her fortune was but £3OOO, but it was all invested in these bank shares, the consequence of which is, that though his loitlslup's entailed estate caunot be toucheed, his entire incline of something like £40,000 a year has become forfeited is the bank's creditors. Fortunately the income derived from his wife's settlement prevents this nobleman from experiencing the hardships of actual poverty, but, considering what he has lost, and from no fault of his own—unless good imture i-. a mult--1 know of no case that is more deplorable."

William Wert's letter to his (laughter on the " small sweet courtesies of life " contains a passage from which a deal of happiness might be learned:—l want to tell you a secret. The way to make youiself pleasing to others is to show them that you care for them. The whole world is like the Miller at Mansfield, ' who cared for nobody— no, not he—because nobody oared for him.' And the whole wor.d would serve you so if yeu gave them the same cause. Let everyone, therefore, see that you do care for them by showing them what Sterne so happily calls the small courtesies, iu which thtrj is no parade, whose voice is too small to tease, and which manifests them by tender and affectionate looks, and little kind acts of attention, giving others the preference in every little enjoyment at the table, in the field, walking, sitting, or standing.

The coast of Peru is within the region of perpetual south-east trade-winds, and though the Peruvian shores are on tlie verge'of. the great south-east boiler, yet it lever rains there. The reason is plain. The south-east mute-winds in the Atlantic Ocean first strike the water on the coast of Africa. Travelling to the northwest, they blow obliquely across the ocean until they ream the coast of Brazil. By this time they are laden with vapour, which they continue to bear along across the continent, depositing it as they go, and supplying with it the sources of the liio do la Plnta and the southern tributaries of the Amazon. Finally they reach the snow-capped Andes; here is wrung from them the last particle of moisture that a low temperature cau attract. Reaching the .summit of that region, they now tumble down as cool and dry winds on the Pacific slope beyond. Meeting with no evaporating surface, and no temperature colder than that to which they were subjeoted on the mountain tops, they reach the ocean. Thus we see the tops of the Andes become the reservoir from which are supjilied the rivers of Chile and Peru.

A senatitmal story of love, devotion, ami attempted murder comes from Sydney. It appears that a few weeks ago a dark handsome girl, who gave the name of Mrs. Roberts, took apartments in Raglan-street Waterloo. A gentleman who passed as her husband joined her. They had not heon ocoupying the liouso long wheu it was noticed that Mr. Kelly sometimes visited them, and his visits were generally attended with high words One Monday, after the usual altercation, Kelly produced a double-barrelled pistol, and tiredit at Roberts. Mrs. Roberts Hung herself between the two men, and received the charge in her shoulder. Examination by a doctor disclosed the fact that the pistol was loaded with ooru—not shot, and the devoted girl was not seriously injured. A preliminary examination in the Police Court revealed the f ict that the handsome Mrs. Roberts was u barmaid, her real name being Mary Seymour. .She is said to be well-edu-cated, and very connected. The real name of Roberts is Walter H. Cooper, and he has a wife and six children. Tho wife is said to be also durk and very handsome. He deserted her at Manly, when she took upjher abode with her mother. Kelly was a brother of Mrs Cooper, and as he could not induce her husband to leave Miss Seymour, he determined to be possessed of a grim sort of humour, for after firing at Cooper he explained that he " only wanted to com his (Cooper's) beA," and that was the reason he did not put shot into the pistol.