MISCELLANEOUS MAIL ITEMS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 3358, 13 January 1879, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS MAIL ITEMS.

♦ LONDON, Nov. 22. On Nov. 11, 300 men in the shipbuilding yards on the Clyde struck against the 7i per cent, reduction. Between 6000 and 7000 hands engaged in the engine works at Crewe have ju3t had notice of resumption of short time, the reduction consisting of 7-i- hours per week. The usual "Lord Mayor's Show" passed through some of the principal streets of the City on Nov. 9. Immense crowds flocked to see it, but it was by no means so imposing as former " shows." The enormous sum of £120,000 has been spent on a steam hammer at the Creuzot Ironworks in France. The Marquis and Marchioness of Lome have left Liverpool for Canada. There has been heavy weather in the Channel, and several casualties to shipping arc reported. Air Gordon Bennett, the proprietor of the New York Herald, and M. Woestyne, a correspondent of the Paris Figaro, arc on their way to Cabul. Mr C. H. Bobarts has been elected to the office of Remembrancer of the City of London, in succession to Mr Come, who has retired through ill-health. In digging the foundations for a new shaft in Long Acre, some workmen came upon a chest containing a large number of gold and silver coins of the reign of Henry VIII., in a high state of preservation. The provost, magistrate, and members of the town council of Culross, Scotland, having resigned without any nominations to fill their places, the municipal affairs of the burgh remain at a deadlock. A meeting of the leading merchants of New York has been held, at which a committee wa3 appointed to arrange a national meeting for the purpose of considering a proposition to hold an International Exhibition at Now York in the year 1889, or earlier. Sanskrit is in future to be accepted instead of Greek for the Previous Examination at Cambridge in the case of undergraduates from Eastern countries. From April 1 to Nov. 2 the Exchequer receipts amounted to £42,600,678, a slight increase upon the sum for the corresponding period of last year. The expenditure has exceeded this sum by eight millions sterling. Messrs John Elder and Co., the largest shipbuilders in Scotland, employing 3000 men, have decided to put their hands upon short time, reducing the working week from 51 to 49 hours. The Court Journal is responsible for the following:—lt is confidently believed that the port of Alexandria will pass virtually into the hands of England. By this arrangement we acquire complete control over the Suez Canal, and the practical effect of the recent policy will be that Egypt is transferred from the Khedive to England and France. The death of Mr Pholps, the distinguished actor, is announced. Locomotives witti steam genoratcd without

fire are now at work on the tramway from Eueil to Marly, near Paris, and with very satisfactory results. The system in use is one introduced by M. Franey, an engineer, and is based on the fact that water boils at a lower temperature proportionately to the reduction of the atmospheric pressure. Tho foot-and-mouth disease is prevalent in the rural districts of Amsterdam, 8.-emen, Harlingen, and Eotterdam. The effect of the long commercial depression upon the German people is best seen from some recently published statistics. In the kingdom of Prussia marriages have decreased since 1872 by about one-sixth, births remaining at a figure much more closely approaching that of six years ago. Great distress exists, from dearth of trade, in Glasgow and several of the manufacturing districts of England. A Great Exhibition of National Industry will take place at Brussels in 1880, on the occasion of the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Belgian independence. The "Claimant," who wrote to the Homo Secretary, asking to be tried on a charge of forgery, with the view to have an opportunity or proving lug innocence, or otherwise to allow the two sentences to be concurrent, and so enable him to leave prison at the completion of one sentence, about August next, has received a reply to the effect that there was "not sufficient ground." Lady Gooch and Ann Walker have had a hearing before the magistrate at Marlborou"h street on a charge of endeavouring to palm off a child upon Sir P. Goooh, and have been remanded on bail of £500 each. The Grand Duke of Hesse, the Hereditary Grand Duke, and the Princess filavy, youngest daughter of the Grand Duke, have been laid up with diptheria, and according to latest accounts the latter is dead. A letter written by the Duko of Cumberland, the deposed King of Hanover, has been published m Berlin. Tho Duke says that ho tully -maintains all the rights, prerogatives, and titles devolving on him in virtuo of the order of succession to the Crown of Hanover. Ihe Duke has been formally betrothed to the Princess Thyra of Denmark. As a result of the recent heavy rains many parts of the country have been flooded to a serious extent. In Norwich several hundreds ot persons have been rendered temporarily homeless, and a relief fund is in course of organisation. Thirteen of the oldest and most influential citizens in Lemberg, Galicia, havo been mortally wounded in some disturbances which occurred there. Stafford, who pleaded guilty to robbing the branch of tho Bank of England at Liverpool of £15,000, lias been sentenced to seven years' penal servitude. The American Minister, on Nov. 21, paid to her Majesty's Government the amount of the Halifax Fisheries Award, by a cheque on Messrs Morton, Rose and Co., for 5,500,000 dols. in gold.