Local and General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 705, 26 August 1870, Page 2

Local and General.

jT ♦ Ashley Bridge. — A telegram from Mitchell, Burton, and To.'s coachman at Kaiapoi this morning, states that the approaches to the Ashley bridge have been washed away, and that no coach communication has therefore been effected with Saltwater Creek or the Kowai to-day. Benevolent Aid Society. — The secretary begs to acknowledge the following per the Resident Magistrate : — From Mr Isaac Allen, witness in the case of the City Council v. Stannard, 7s; from Mr A. Lean, .expenses allowed as a witness in the case of the Superintendent v. Leake, 10s. Education Association. — The first meeting of the committee appointed on Aug. 19, for the purpose of inaugurating an Education Association, took place on Thursday evening, at St. Michael's school-room. There being only the Very Rev. the Dean, Messrs Hawley, Jacobson, and Elwin present, the meeting was adjourned to Wednesday next, August 31, at the same place, the time being altered to half-past seven. Supreme Court. — His Honor Mr Justice Gresaon sat in the Court Chamber's' at Ml o'clock this morning. Re William Minchin, deceased. — On the application of Mr G. Harper, leave was given to register probate. Re Charles Berkeley Wells, bankrupt, and ex parte Robert Free, creditor. — On the renewed application of Mr Bamford, and with Mr J. E. Graham's consent thereto, his Honor made an order annulling the adjudication, and allowing the applicant to be paid the amount of his claim out of f und 9in the hands of the Provisional Trustee ; Mr Bamford to have two guineas costs. Law Practitioners' Act and re John McGregor. — On the application of Mr Jameson (who moved on 'behalf of the Law Society), his Honor granted a conditional order, calling on John McGregor to show cause why a writ of attachment should not issue against him; to be returnable on Friday next. A Credit to His Race.— The following is from an article in the Times :— The South American journals publish glowing reports describing the triumphal entrance into Kio Janeiro of Marshal the Count d'Eu, Com- . mander-in-Chief of all the Brazilian forceß, after the defeat and death of Lopez, the Dictator of Paraguay. There may be some of our readers who need be told that this Count d'Eu i9 no other than Louis Phillippe Marie Ferdinand Gaston d'Orleans, eldest son of the Duke de Nemours, a youth who was only six years of age when he was involved in the catastrophe which drove the whole family of' his grandfather, Louis Phillipe, King of the French, into exile. The Count d'Eu married, six years ago, the eldest daughter of Don Pedro 11., of Brazil, heiress apparent of that vast Empire. So far, the young Orleans Prince was only befriended by fortune, and by that generous impulse of the Br?zilian Emperor which prompted him to favour the suit of a Lackland Prince in preference to any alliance which his daughter's high estate and expectations might have entitled her to aspire to. Domesticated in the Palace of the male branch of the House of Braganza and distinguished by the title of Marshal of the Empire, the Count d'Eu might have spent liis days in courtly leisure, luxury, and indulgence, as inoffensive but as inactive as his uncle, the Duke of Montpensier. But the young Orleans Prince chose to be a soldier as well as a Marshal. He took the command .of the Brazilian forces as they were straining every nerve for a supreme effort in Paraguay, .and brought to a happy termination a campaign which, were its particulars intrusted «Co the treatment of a " sacred poet," might rank among the most epic exploits of our times. The Prince's victory waß no mere carpet knight's achievement. The march across pathless forests and swarupß, the: exposure to the inclemencies of a torrid climate and to the influencies of a plague - haunted atmosphere would alone have been a sufficient test of the stuff the belligerent? on both sides were made of. It was only too natural that Lopez, who despaired of victory or escape, should stand at bay like a wild beast in bis lair; but the wonder was that a Brazilian commander, whoihad the game in his own hand, and could conquer by merely Fabian tactics, should prefer a hot and eager pursuit, should close with his prey,

and rival him in the eridarance of the same hardships and dangers, "scorning to use his advantage, and vying with, him in that contempt for bodily pain of which it was thought only his Indian blood would be capable There was the chivalrous spirit of one born in France and the love of sport of one reared in England in the young Count's gallant behaviour, and the Brazilians, by contrast with their own Generals, could judge how exclusively they were indebted to the dash and vigour displayed by the Emperor's son-in-law for a happy issue out of their ruinous hostilities. Art Karities. — The following is from the Pall Mall Gazelle : — We should like to know how many Italian marriage chests have been purchased for onr interesting museum at the West End. The wooden boxes no doubt represent some artistic period, but to the ordinary observer the most of them are about as educational or improving as so many empty claret cases. During the recent conversazione several y awning and wearied visitors attempted to sit on the coffers, but were driven off, on the score of the impropriety of hiding objects of art in ao thoughtless a fashion. We are wonderfully rich, too, in majolica ware. Why were not the dishes more carefully edited, so to write ? The revels of the gods find goddesses are represented on the plates in a stylo that must occasionally shock a visitor not well read in classic literature, and hundreds of such visitors constantly go of an evening to see the works that Mr Cole has brought together. We recommend a revision of the majalica department for the sake of schools and family parties. Why should the clothes of King Theodore be hung up as articles of virtu ? They only serve to show that the savage had not a very ingenious Court tailor, and they are so mean as to suggest tint it was not worth iur while to enshrine spolia opima of this pattern. But even less excuß?.ble is the exhibition of the coat and breeches of an ordinary Government official, which have been kindly lent to the nation by his brother. We believe the breeohes are works of the present century, and are only celebrated for having been worn upon an embassy to Spain. In another section we find a Dutch towel, and the complete " apparel of an infant." Those who have never seen a Malacca cane may also study thit unusual product of nature and design at the South Kensington Museum. Close by it is a fool's cap, the fool, we are informed, having been the property of a now defunct German earl. A very noble Chinese painting ornaments the wall by the gallery staircase. It represents the torturing of the damned in the Buddhaiatic hell. The sufferings of the wicked are expressed with striking power and unction. Men are being sawn in halves, women boiled in cauldrons, children mashed in pestles and mortars. The avenging devils are more horrible than anything of the kind ever imagined by a Christian artist, and the ferocity with which they perform their functions, puddling the condemned in furnaces and the like, is really appalling to witness. Presiding over the scene, and relishing it, is a commanding demon, whose countenance is in | itself a hideous dream. On the bench with him are a few select good spirits, who have dropped in to witness the executions, just as Lord Tom Noddy might to see the man hung, or as a few peers sit with a metropolitan magistrate to hear the details of a case too foul to report in the newspapers. This object of art is, perhaps, suggestive after a fashion, but n-t after the fashion, we suspect, intended by the "Committee of Council on Education." No more, probably, are the watch of the Rev. Chauncey Hare Townsend, the carriage of a Lord Chancellor of Ireland, the sugar of the blood of a pig, Prince Albert's season ticket for the Exhibition of '51, the saddle of an African chief, a model of Venus with a wire shin and no bust, or several other of the singular relics that have crept into the building by occasional lapses towards the disposition of Barnum on the part of the management of the concern. Loan Exhibition op Fans. — An exhibition has been opened at South Kensington, designed to fulfil a purpose of high practical value, and, at the same time, curiously suggestive of associations with most unpractical times and people. It is a result of one of the endeavours made by the Science and Art Department to meet the continually -increasing demand for the industrial occupation of women, and constitutes an attempt to naturalise in this country, or rather to bring back to it, a manufacture in which the taste and skill of educated women may be abundantly and profitably employed. The fan, which in so many ages and climates has formed a recognised implement of feminine warfare, equally valuable for purposes of attack and defence, had been comparatively neglected in England during the second quarter of the present century, and it is probably due to the Spanish associations of the Empress of the French that it has of late years again become an important portion of a Parisian toilet. A fan in Paris is now a work of very high art, and good examples will command prices of £100, and sometimes amounting to quadruple that sum. English ladies visiting France hare long made it a custom to obtain there a handsome fan; and at least one Parisian Eventailliste has opened an establishment in London. But, although the manufacture once flourished here, there are now no English fans or fan-makers; and, when the Science and Art Department commenced to offer prizes for designs for fans, there were no examples of finished excellence that could be used for the instruction of intending competitors. \ In order to supply this want, the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education have sought the aid of a committee of ladies; and, with their potent belp, have succeeded in bringing together a loan collection of more 'tnan 400 fans — French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and English. Her Majesty has contributed some 20 fans to this collection, all of them of artistic and many of historical interest, and the Empress of the French has sent a still larger number.

The Empreis, -ihtfeld, has^taken a special interest in the '.lcbilebtion, and her 'example has been most influential in promoting its formation and in qßtaihing valuable contributions from other sources. M. dv Sornmerard, the director, of the Musee.de Cluny, who has been appointed Comnrssioner for the International Exhibition of 1871, has also given valuable assistance, and actually transmitted 154 of the total of 180 fans obtained from Paris. The names of Lady Wyatt, the Baroness Meyer de Rothschild, Countess Deuchatel, and Madame Achille Jubinal, of Paris, are also of very frequent occurrence, and are attached to some of the most conspicuous examples of beauty of design or of workmanship. Many of the fans are of considerable antiquity, some dating from the middle of the sixteenth century, but the period o? Louis XIV. is, perhaps, best repre- 1 sented. There are some exquisite specimens of painting on ivory, by the famous Vernis Martin, the secret of which is supposed to have died with its inventor, and others of painting on vellum or paper. The scenes represented are infinitely diversified. One fan displays a Court dinner of the time of Louis XIV. ; others various pastoral or domestic scenes; others groups of flowers, with birds, fountains, or fruit. The Legend of Europa seems to have been a favourite one with the artists. Perhaps the most remarkable fan in the collection (No. 218) is one lent by Madame Achille Jubinal, and said to have belonged to the Marquise de Pompadour. It is described as "probably Italian," of the early part of the 18th century, and the mount consists of paper cut into an imitation lace of perfectly marvellous fineness, and decorated with medallions painted in water colour. Among the examples of Vernis Martin is one exhibited by the Queen, and formerly the property of Marie Antoinette. Besides the painted mounts, many of the fans are conspicuous for the beauty of their sticks, which are usually formed of ivory, mother of pearl, or some choice wood, curiously carved and pierced. Some of the Japanese fans are very tastefully decorated, and by methods quite unkuown in Europe. It would be impossible, however, to enumerate even a very small part of the beauties of this excellent collection. Viewed as a whole or superficially, it presents a considerable sameness, but nearly every fan is a gem of art, worthy of careful and minute inspection. It cannot be denied that even the best specimens of English fans (those exhibited are nearly all of the last century) are inferior in finish and delicacy to even the second-rate French examples ; but it may fairly be hoped that this exhibition and the prizes recently offered by the Queen and the Society of Arts for the best and second-best fans at the Exhibition of 1 87 1 will turn the attention of some of our female art-students to a very charming and possibly very lucrative branch of employment. The collection has been arranged by Mr Samuel Bedgrave, and will remain on view for about two m nths. A very complete descriptive catalogue is now ready, and a large paper edition of this catalogue, illustrated with wood engravings, is in preparation, and will be published early in June. Class Periodicals op America.. — - The New York Times supplies the following information : — The first class journal published in America, with the exception of a shipping list, was a religious periodical still existing. There are now 282 religious periodicals issued in the United States and British provinces of North America. Fourteen of these have a circulation of over 29,000 each, and the total number of copies printed yearly may be given aa 70,000,000. Their receiptß from this, with advertisements, is not less than 5,200,000d015. About 100 pay occasionally for their articles, and some 30 do habitually. The rest depend upon contributions from volunteers to fill their columns. The Jewish Press is quite strong for the number professing that religion, and the Spiritualists have a large circulation for their papers. The anti-religious sentiment is represented by but two periodicals. The periodicals devoted to education have only been kept alive by a great deal of nursing. Half the Legislatures of the North in the United States make an annual appropriation for the benefit of educational periodicals. Most of these magazines are very weak intellectually, and it is a wonder that they live at all. Sixty-two of these periodicals circulate about 20,000 a month, while few of the -others reach 3000, and most are under 1000. The total number of copies published of all these yearly is about 1,400,000, and their receipts are about 217,000d015. Agricultural journals prosper in the United States. Many of them are edited by men of high attainments, and there is a great deal of zeal and public spirit to be found among them. They have an abundant advertising patronage, and it is worthy of note that while half of all new journals on other subjects die within a couple of years very few of those devoted to the cultivation of the soil have been other than successful, even when badly conducted. There are in all 101 newspapers of this kind. Many are subdivided into specialties — two, for instance, almost exclusively relating to bees. The income of these papers, taken together, is about 2,800,000d015. Commerce and finance are not neglected by the Americans. Thera are 157 journals published on these subjects in the country, subdivided into almost every branch. Where the direction is \ given to men of ability and enterprise a good pecuniary result is reached. There are papers devoted to those who go down to the sea, to leather and its manufactures, to drugs, iron, oil, railroads, dry goods, tobacco, wine, insurance, and real estate. The last are generally weak, as they are simply advertising sheets. Almost every department of trade has its organ -, books, for instance, have five, and printers have six. There is a daily legal j journal published in New York city, and 25 law periodicals besides are published at different intervals. It has been a great convenience to the profession ; for, with the exception of our own paper, there is no daily giving general news which at the same time furnishes exhaustive reports of the proceedings in the courts of law. Thirty-three ia the

number of the scientific and mechanical periodicals issued, some of them of quite a high calibre. They generally suffer, however", from the fact that their patronage has not been sufficiently large, and the scientific training of their editors not thorough enough to make a decided impression. It is by no means certain when you talk to the editor of a scientific periodical that you talk to a scientific man. There are ten sporting periodicals, so called, and mostly of a low kind. •Music is talked about by 26 editors, through as many magazines or newspapers. The criticism in these papers, however, is far below the level of the great dailies, and the most of them seem simply to have their " reason of being " in the necessities of their publishers' business. Women's rights are represented by six periodicals, one published in German in this city. They have not received excellent support. Freemasonry has 22 representatives in the Pres9, Odd Fellowship 11, and total abstinence 40. Few of these have much vitality. Newspapers have been printed in German in this country since the middle of the last century ; but it was not until the great immigration, after 1847, that the German element became really insoluble — speaking in the terms of chymistry. It is no longer necessary for a German to know English in the cities of America ; all his acquaintances are German. He is christened in German is raarrie<l in German, and when he dies it is recorded in German " that our be'.oved brother has been taken away," signed by all the nearest relatives. The German has his beer garden, hie school, his church, his theatre, and every necessary of life supplied to him without knowiag English. Why should he learn it ? There are 258 German newspapers in America, being most numerous in Pennsylvania. The German portion of our population read only German newspapers, and these are the stronger for it. In Canada and the United States there are 48 French papers, many of them exceedingly well written, but none having a large circulation. The two dailies published in this city do not contrast unfavourably with those issued in Paris or Brussels. The Scandinavians have been pouring in here lately in vast numbers, and are a reading people. There are 15 papers published for their edification, one being daily. The Dutch language, although it has been spoken in this State for 250 years, has never been used to any extent for periodical literature in this State. One or two Dutch papers have lingered long for a brief existence. The Dutch element with us, however, has always been quite large. In 1770 the English and Dutch were on an equality in this State, and there must have been at least 200,000 of the former within the limits of the colony. Yet there was never a Dutch paper in Albany or Schenectady, at Rondout or Saugerties. It is still spoken in these places by some of the old families. There are four Italian, three Welsh, ten Spanish, and two Bohemian newspapers. One periodical is printed in San Francisco, by Agapius Honcharenko, in Russian and English, and one there also in Chinese and English. Amusements. — The following is from a Melbourne contemporary :— Mr Coppin's zeal and energy in catering for the amusement of the people of these colonies are deserving of the fullest recognition and commendation. No sooner has his last great attraction (Mr Heller) left Australia with the purpose of giving the New Zealanders a taste of his quality, than we hear of forthcoming novelties. Principal among these must rank that world-renowned artist Miss Glynn, who is about to pay us a visit. Ever since her appearance on the stage of the Olympic Theatre in July, 1848, in the character of Lady Macbeth, Miss Glynn has held a prominent poaition in the highest walks of English tragedy. In such parts as Lady Maobeth and Cleopatra, no one since the days of Mrs Siddons has so completely won the applause of critics. Latterly she has devoted her attention principally to the platform, and has extended by her admirable readings the reputation she acquired as an actress. A London paper states that Miss Glynn will be accompanied to these colonies by her husband. Mr Dallas, the well-known Times reviewer. Miss Glynn's engagement was negotiated by the late Mr Dickens, who, it is reported, also arranged with Mr Dallas for a serie§ of articles upon the Australian colonies for the columns of All the Year Round. Miss Glynn's advent among us will be welcomed by all the lovers of the legitimate drama, and her visit will acquire additional importance should the rumour of Mr Dallas' mission prove correct. Another attraction secured by Mr Coppin is M. Theodon'a exhibition, which for the past three years has been numbered among the entertainments finding a place under the roof of the Crystal Palace at Sydenbam. It is of the dioramio order, introducing mechanical models and moving figures, and ranks at the top of its class. Under the auspices of Barnum, it formerly made a tour through the United States, and proved everywhere a great success. Mr Coppin has likewise engaged for the delectation of the Australian!, Gregory's troupe of acrobats, performing ponies, dogs, &c, numbering among other " sensations " a female trapezist.