NEWS BY THE MAIL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 138, 24 December 1875, Page 14

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

f , London, October 2fl. New Guinea occupied a good deal of attention, and a number of letters appeared against the colonisation scheme from Captain Moresby and Mr. M'Favland, who admit the scheme requires .£IOO,OOO of capital. The French Government, annoyed at the recent escapes of prisoners from New Caledonia, have taken measures of prevention along ,vith foreign powers. The Hibernia took out a thousand miles of the New Zealand cable, which is expected to bo completed in February. The Prince of Wales's visit to India causes great interest. At Athens, en route for the East, the Prince was met by Kin"- George. The city was illuminated, and a ball and dinner were given to his Koyal Highness. The Prince embarked aboard the°Serapis at Brindisi amid salutes from the British ironclads. The King and Queen of Denmark are on a visit to England. Sir Gamct Wolsely lias returned from the Cape. At a dinner at Dublin, he spoke strongly in favor of Natal as one of the brightest jewels in the Crown. The federation movement is extending. Mr. Ironside received a princely reception at Grahamstown. Sir Henry Barkley's administration on the goldficlds caused serious complaints. War has broken out at Cape Talmas between the natives and the Government of Liberia. In a battle fifty were killed and wounded. Another great battle is expected. It is stated General Johnston (Confederate) is to ttikv cummuuel of the Egyptian m-my at

Conservatives have been returned for Armagh, and West Suffolk. The Empress Eugenic and* Prince Napoleon have returned to Chiselhurst. Nottingham Castle is to be converted into a Fine Arts Museum. The project for flooding the African desert continues to secure public support. The cost is roughly stated at three millions. The Royal Aquarium and Winter Garden at Westminster is to be opened in December. The reservoir will require 75,000 barrels of sea. water to be brought from Brighton in sealed barrels. Another workman's town, similar to Salisbury Park Estate at Battersea is projected. •_ Lord Derby, at Liverpool, spoke on the question of the poor law, and thought now that the working classes were getting such good wages they should provide for their destitute relatives. A telegram from Madrid, dated November 17, states that Don Carlos has addressed a letter to King Alphonso offering to conclude a truce. An Inman steamer has made the swiftest passage on record between New York and Queenstown, viz., 7 days 15 hours. The Trades' Union Congress held its sittings at Glasgow. It assumes more and more the functions of a rival parliament, all kinds of national subjects being introduced and discussed. There has been great loss of life by gales and floods in all parts in India. Twenty thousand persons have been rendered homeless. At Home there has been a succession of gales, accompanied by heavy rains, and sad marine disasters, followed by floods ahnost as alarming as the country suffered from in July. The Hon. Wm. Fox has been addressing temperance meetings. Petrarch won the Middle Park Plate. The exports to New Zealand for the month were £1,282,500. The attempt to float the Vanguard by large masses of cork failed. The attempt has been abandoned till next spring. The Boadicea, an ironclad of the new type, has been launched at Portsmouth. Melbourne, Dec. 15. — The Budget debate remains unfinished, every member in the House having a speech to make on the subject, but the division must be taken this week, when the Government is sure of a substantial majority. The Opposition still hold to their promise of preventing the transaction of business and forcing a dissolution. The week, generally, has been barren of political events. The Commissioner of Railways has be""* 1 p eted by his late constituents of Ballarat and received a purse tfW& la payment of his election expenses. The scarlet fever epidemic has not abated, and daily fresh cases are reported, some of the victims only suffering a few days' illness. Hampton, Shaw and Co., the firm which evaded payment of duty on their imported jewellery, have had to pay the Customs £2500 in fines and duty. The weather continues very wintry, and there is constant rainfall. All incoming vessels report severe gales along the coast. The New South Wales cricketers arrived yesterday. They have a strong team. The Wagga Wagga cup, with ,£IOOO of added money, was won by Cleolite, with Torchlight and Canterbury second and third respectively. Time, 3min. 39sec. The Culzean Castle, 200 days from Liverpool to Melbourne, is reported missing. Sydney. — The Budget is very satisfactory. The revenue is in a prosperous condition, an increase being shown on all items except gold and the mint receipts, leaving a large surplus at the end of the year. It is proposed to remit duties on a number of articles, leaving only thirty-five articles on the tariff, which, it was hoped, would be still further reduced next year. The financial proposals of the Government have been generally well received. The Proprietor of the 'Evening News' has been adjudged guilty of contempt of court in commenting on Treevc's case, but was dis1 charged on payment of costs. ' Adelaide. — Mr. Earnest Giles, the explorer, reached Western • Australia from Adelaide with ten men and sixteen camels. The expedition has been successful, yet the country for more than a thousand miles in a straight line was simply an undulating bed of dense scrub. Mr. Giles telegraphs :—": — " Our waters were few and far between, and on one occasion we travelled over a, stretch of 32 %.. miles without water. We were once attacked by natives, bit L . drove them off. The naturalist collected nearly 800 botanical and j geological specimens, many of the former being quite new."

Since the your 1800 England has waged forty-nine -warsj France, thirty- eight ; Russia, twenty -two; Austria, twelve; Prussia, eight ; and in spite of all the peace societies and iuter national conventions, they all appear anxious for another. The Poor of Christ. — In the Church, there is no distinction of "persons, or, if any, it ought to bo in favor of the poor. During the last illness of Dr. Grant, he was obliged to refuse to see the many friends who called upon him. But when, the very day after even the Duchess of Norfolk had been unable to obtain an interview, he was informed that a poor orphan girl whom he had formerly known was inquiring after him, he at once desired her to be brought in. Ho walked to the door to meet her, and laid his hand upon her head in a long blessing, faintly uttering a few words of parting advice. The Printer's Delight. — The following little paragraph which we find in one of our exchanges is too good to be lost. Read it : — The latest amusement is termed the " Printer's Delight," and is performed in the following manner : Take a sheet of note paper fold it iip carefully and enclose a bank note sufficiently large to pay up arrears and a year in advance. And what adds immensely to the feat is to send along the name of a new subscriber with cash to balance. Keep your eyo on the printer, and if you detect it smile thy trick is a success. Try it,