General News.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 336, 26 September 1879, Page 16

General News .

An argument in favour of the Congregational schools is afford M by the Union, which states that out of 307 pupils of Paris college^ declared eligible for Saint Cyr, 104 alone belonged to the school of Sainte Genevieve, directed by the Jesuit Fathers.

There was a terrible fight the other day at the Entally Convent, Calcutta. No one dared approach to separate the combatants, which were two snakes, stated to be each seven feet in length. Mrs. Hatch has for years been a conspicuous spiritual medium in Boston. Her specialty is the production of flowers from spirit sources. She gave a seance, a few evening ago, at a private residence. The lights were extinguished, as usual, and the persons in the circle were enjoined to hold fast to each other's hands. Flowers were soon dropped here and there, and Mrs. Hatch began to explain how they had been brought from distant places by spirit hands. All the gas burners in the room had been connected with an electric lighting apparatns, and suddenly the apartment was brightly illuminated. The medium was completely exposed. In her lap was a pile of flowers, and she was caught in the act of tossing them into the air. Herr Stumm, who was well known in Rome as an attache of the Prussian Ambassador at the Court of the Holy See, and is now Secretary to the German Embassy at St. Petersburg, has become a Catholic. His marriage with a young rich American lady was celebrated in July in the Cathedral of Fulda, the celebrant being Mgr. Hanhe, the Administrator of the diocese.

Such has been the severity of the seasoa in Europe that some of the Passes over the Alps were impassible. Up to July Ist on the St. Gothard Pass the snow was in &everal place thirty-five feet deep. For a week previous some three hundred labourers had been engaged in clearing away the snow, and it was only by the most strenuous exertions that they succeeded in opening the road by the Ist of July. On the day of the Golden Wedding of the Emperor and Empress, the Sisters of Charity were forced to leave the city of Gnesen, where for twenty-five years they had brought nothing but blessing to the population. On the previous day, deputations representing the city a. d neighbourhood waited on the Sisters, in order to express their gratitude and their sorrow. They also presented them with 700 marks, which had been hastily collected. It was not a pleasant thing for the Catholics of Gnesen to know, that the same day which brought freedom to many who wei c undergoing a deserved punishment drove out from their city ladies whose devout life and charitable works constituted their only offence.

Official returns laid before the Italian Senate show that the condition of the working man in Italy is much worse than it is in France :—": — " The yearly wages of an Italian working man average 669 francs ; and he spends 290fr. on bread alone. In France, the working man gains 1,200tr., and only spends for the same staple 189fr. A family of the labouring class in Italy pays taxes to the amount of 80fr. In France, the taxes amount to llfr. 40c. The taxes on wheat, salt, meat, — in shoit on the barest necessaries of life, bring in a revenue to Italy of 902,628,018fr.— 0r 7fr. 60c. for every inhabitant. The different taxes on bread come to 118 millions. These contribute 20 per cent, of the State Budget. On the other hand, the taxes on comforts, or less necessary articles, such as liquor, only contribute to the Budget, at the rate of 4.46 per cent. That is to say, the tax on liquor weights each inhabitant of Italy to the amount of lfr. 73c. ; whereas on each inhabitant of France the same tax comes to 13fr. 84c. ; and on each inhabitant of England, to 23fr. 57c.

We have received, writes the Hong Kong Catholic Register, a fine volume, lithographed at the orphanage of Tou-se-cie, written by Father Palatre of the Society of Jesus, who died last year at bika-wei near Shanghai. The work speaks about infanticide and the doings of the Holy Infancy in China, It contains the most exhaustive documents, and we are sorry we have no time now to give an extract of it to our readers, but we intend to do so stiortly. Our readers will recollect that a French newspaper, Le XIX Sicole, attacked fearfully the work of the Holy Infancy, by trying to prove that infanticide does not exist in China. The editor was summoned before the court and punished as a libeller. Father Palatre has had the patience to collect all kinds of proofs anent the existence of infanticide in China, which forms the first part of his work, which is divided into five chapters : In the Ist, he gives the official proclamations ; in the 2nd, the writings of the Buddhists and Taoists ; in the 3rd, the writings of the Confucianists ; in the 4th, the journalists, and in the sth, the popular pictures, all concerning infanticide in China. In the second part, he enumerates works of Christian charity as a remedy against infanticide ; such as the work of the baptism of infants, the foundlings and the orphanages in the different Catholic Missions. In the third part, he refers to the orphanages kept by the heathen, and the causes of infanticide.