NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1549, 28 August 1886, Page 4

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

The Queen’s Jubilee is to be celebrated by ouo sensible step,, at any rate. The Boyal portrait on the coinage ia to be brought down to date, and the Queen has given Mr Boehm, the well-known sculptor, a sitting for the purpose, li ia inconceivable why this was not done years ago. The image and superscription of the sovereign become meaningless if not true, and the “ Queen’s head ’’ on the coinage sod postage-s’aftps has had no pretensions to be considered a portrait for these forty years past or more. The opening of the first public swimming bath in Dublin on the 12th was marked by an amusing incident; After the inaugural ceremony the Lord Mayor, (Mr T. D. Sullivan, M.P.,) and the Town Clerk stripped, and were the first to plunge into the water. A stirring race followed, the Lord Mayor beating the Town Clerk. Mr Justice Stephen, in charging a Grand Jury recently, made some remarks on fhe inconsistent state of the law witli“' regard to the treatment of accused persons. The Criminal Law Amendment Act had, ke said, made changes, some of which were very great improvements of the law, but there were curious mistakes in the drafting. Although the Act provided that all persons accused of rape should be competent witnesses in their own behalf, the measure was so drawn that a man indicted for an attempt did not come under it. At present s man indicted for the personation of a voter was a competent witness, but if .indicted for personating in order to obtain money he was not. In the same way a man indicted for sending out an uoseaworthy ship could give 1 evidence, but supposing he thereby caused somebody’s death, and was indicted for manslaughter, he would not Be a competent witness. , General Boulanger is making a great parade of arming the French army with repeating iiflea. The Germans have put the Mauser into the hand* of several of their divisions ; aud General Boulanger’s organ ostentatiously announces that if by any accident any of the pickelbsnbei should again be seen across the Khine, there will be 60,000 repeaters ready to meet them. Does such talk (neau anything, or is this another of the War Minister’s sensations? At any rate if might be worth, while for our authorities to take note of .what these foreign armies are doing. The Austrians, the Swiss, the Germans, the French, and the Italians, are: all armed, or being armed, with repeating rifles, which is evidently the weapon of the future. ; A painful sensation has been excited in Somersetshire during the last week by the suicide of Mr Edmund Carew, of Crowcoinbe Court, the owner of one of the finest estates in the Western division of the County. Mr Carew was drinking tea under the’ frees on the lawn at Crow-" combe at 4 o’clock on Sunday evening. He suddenly went into thehou«e without saying a word to anyone, inid..there shot himself with bis rifle, and he was dead in a few minutes. He had been somewhat out of health lately, but there was nothing to cause any anxiety. Mr Oarew, who was quite a young man, was engaged to bo married to a daughter of the late Major Yaughan-Lee, M.P. In a country which hardly requires to be mentioned (says an English paper) eggs are sometimes served on Sundays in the inns to guests who, on account of a certain Act of Parliament, dare not call for a drink. These eggs are full of whisky the meat having been blown out and - the whisky.put in its place, then the egg is hermetically sealed and ready for use. A Scotchman never tires of eggs. At Nottingham, a collier, named Dobsley, was recently charged with cruelty to a horse. u It appeared from the evidence that ia put bis hand inside the horse’s mouth, seized its tongue, and tore it at the roots. 7 The Magistrates showed their horror of the" ruffian's cruelty by fining him 10s‘6d. The names of these administrators of justice are Heymann, Smith, and Pei oy. \ It is asserted in the Moriing News, an Ameriedn paper thatjis published in Paris, that the engagement between Lord Cairns and Miss Grant was broken off be- , cause My Lord insisted on Mr and Mrs Grant settling an income of £2OOO a year on their daughter from the day of the ■wedding; and, further, that required to purchase and furnish ,a London home for the: couple. Thp same journal states that when the rupture tock place Lord (Jairns intimated his intention of sending in the bills’ for" all the jewellery h'e ; had given Miss Grant '■ to ,! her parents, whereupon ihe young lady at once packed up everything she had received from, 1 him, and despatched the parcel to h;s rooms. Referring t" li e reception at Windsor , Castlo J ' of' the Ageut-Qmcrßs by the,. Queea,.Sir (L -h Berry said to an in- ' terviu .ivo's.'-tiy - that - Her t-Msjesty; struck-him •.s-'boing particularly and quite n'niuraliy 50... It was no perfunctory omciai uot.of premeditated policy. The Prince of Wales read oyer the name*, and the Queeu appe■■red realiy anxious to hear each distinctly, and took an evident aud'T; personal • interest HhVcach presentation. This little episode led to some observations on loyalty generally at home and at the Antipodes. Sir Graham observed with much emphasis that it should never be forgotten that a man’s first ,'duty should be to his home and household, but, this understood, there cuuld*be no question but that a true spirit of loyalty existed in the colonies. IE •vet the. Prince of Wales went out, and he Has been invited, be would receive such an ovation as even he has never experienced. He would then know sonr • thing of loyalty as a force. “We colonials,” said Sir Graham, “ think that you English have really lost the 1 faculty for cheerog. V o ur loyally seems to us halt-be-.ited; we feel almost ashamed of it.” The, Tichboine claimant delivered his first American lecture in New York on Juno 27. A mere handful of people attended; He was much disappointed, Baying at tiie close : “ I have come here to raise* a little money to enable me to reopen my case before a common jury ; and i’ll have sucb a trial before twelve months are over. But, from what I see ; here to-ntght, I think the best thing I can do is to go back as fast as 1 can.”