General News,

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IX, Issue 433, 29 July 1881, Page 11

General News,

Mr. "Wm. Noble, the well-known temperance lecturer, who has returned to England, has been giving at Hoxton an account of his South African experiences. He gives the following ninusing account of bis visit to (Jetewayo : — A lady asked bun whether he was not much better off where he wa« then nt the Castle. The reply of Cetewayo waß a beautiful utterauce. ILi paid : " What is this apartmei.t to me? One placo is as good as another to a captive." I told bim we bad an enemy in England which killed 70,000 of us every year. I said "We have an army fighting against it, but we have not won the victory yet." He said, " who is the enemy 1" I said, •' Square-face, the square-face you drink." Gin is called square-face out there. Cetewayo is given so much gin in his daily rations by the Government. I am told that on the day following Cetewayo was quite exercised in mind about this temperance business, and wanted to know whether the authorities would instead of gin let him have gingerbeer, and the balance in cash. (Loud laughter.) He would be just the man to become a teetotaller — he looks after the cash. Cetewayo wanted my concertina. (Renewed laughter.) They say when a king desires anything, it is etiquette to make him a present of it. I didn't see etiquette. (Laughter.) I had engaged to play tbat concertina at several places. I promised Cetewayo that on my return home my friends at Hoxton Hall would subscribe and send him a new concertina. So we will subscribe and do it. (Cheers and laughter.) The memorial of the late Prince Imperial has just been competed by Mr. J. B. Boehm, the sculptor, and on Monday morning the i T^atue was conveyed by road from his studio in the Fulham-road to \ Windsor Castle for erection at St. George's Chapel. The work has been executed in pure white statuary marble, and consists of an elaborately sculptured vase, surmounted by a recumbent figure of the Prince in an undress artillery uniform. The head, uncovered, is supported by cushions embroidered with the Imperial bee. The bands, crossed upon the chest, clasp an unsheathed sword, the empty scabbard and gloves resting on the left side of the figure, with the spurs on the light, near the feet, which touch a helmet. The panels on the sides of the finely carved sarcophagus contain inscriptions recording the birth and death of the Prince. To-day tbe memorial will be placed in the centry of the Braye Chapel, which is situate on the south side of St. George's Chapel. The position was selected by the Queen, and, in order to make room for the erection of the memorial, the ancient font which formerly occupied the middle of the pavement has been removed. The Braye Chapel also contains Captain Wyatt Edgell's sword, and a brass in memory of its founder. -^limes, June 3. In describing the trials of Herr Most, the editor of the Freiheit, the London correspondent of the Newcastle Daily Chronicle makes the following reference to Mr. A. M. Sullivan's defence of the prisoner :— " The Attorney-General, with one or more legal brethren, conducted the prosecution,, while Mr. A. M. Sullivan fought singlehanded for the almost friendless prisoner. Sir Henry James's speech was a bare recital of the facts and a statement of the law. I thought he pressed one or two points unduly against the accused ; but, take it altogether, the mode of prosecution could not be objected to on the ground of severity. It was a much more temperate and dignified accusation than that preferred with such characteristic bumptiousness by the Home Secretary when tbe subject was referred to in the House of Commons. There was little in the way of evidence. Tbe facts lay in a narrow compass, and Herr Most, in the main, did not dispute them. All that Mr. Sullivan could do for him was to make a speech, and this he did with great ability, much taste, and genuine eloquence. The points that were made against Mr. Most he tieated with great delicacy, and those in his favour he enforced with energy. Effective as both language and arguments were, the speech impressed me most as a piece of art. The facts were marshalled cbarly, the historical references and quotations were not too profuse, and the final appeal was as brilliant a piece of forensic oratory as could be heard in auy court in the United Kingdom. From first to last Mr. Sullivan had the rapt attention of all his auditors. Whether they sympathised with bim or not, they listened with admiration. There was a mighty difference between his speech and that of Edwin James. Of course Mr. Sullivan had to do what Mr. James did — appeal largely to the political and national sentiments of the juryfkaxen — but he did not overdo it. The acuteness with which the mem#ber for Meath catches up a point in the House of Commons and turns it to advantage of the cause he is pleading came out very forcibly to-day. Three or four times Sir Henry objected to points that he was urging, ani Mr. Sullivan knew as well as the Attorney-General that he was rather going a little beyond the record. But he managed to"twist even his digression to the benefit of his client in a way that evoked the approval of the judge and the respect of his brother barristers. Sir Henry James spoke in warm and richly deserved terms of Mr. Sullivan's address, and not only congratulated him on his rapid rise in his profession, but predicted for him a successful career. The Register-General in his return for the week ending May 30, says: — "Tbe unrevised number of the population of Registration London recently enumerated on April 4, 1881, is 3,814,571, and shows an increase of 560,311 or 17-2 per cent, upon the number enumerated in 1871 ; the increase in the preceding ten years was 450,271, or 16 p l per cent. The rate of increase in the last ten years having been greater than in the preceding decade, the estimate of population hitherto in use was below the actual number. The uni vised aggregate population, according to the recent census, of the 19 large provincial towns dealt with in these returns, is 3,764,244, showing an increase of 533,287, or 16"5 per cent, upon the number in 1871 ; in the preceding decade the increase in these towns was 476,239, or 17-3 per cent. Thus, while London has increased Bince 1871 at a greater rate than in the ten years 1861-71, the rate of

increase has declined in the aggregate oE the 19 towns. Norwich, Birmingham, Nottingham, Liverpool, Salford. and Hull, as well as London, increased at a greater rate between 1871 and 1881 than in the previous ten years ; hence, the estimates hitherto in use have been too low. Th« rate of increase in each of the other 13 towns was lower in the last decade than in the previous ten years, and the estimated populations since 1871 have, therefore, been over-stated." The New York Times is responsible for the statement that it is becoming fashionable to put wigs upon children, and that if a particularly fine head of hair is seen on a child nowadays, the presumption that it is false will be very strong. The follies of fashion are no doubt inexhaustible, and the very last thing exhibited by fashion is taste. It does not require to be said that to make children wear wigs is disgusting and revolting, as well as ineffably silly, but denunciation never yet suppressed an imbecility of this character, and if it is once understood that wigs for children are en regie, thousands of women will no doubt hasten to follow the ridiculous and pernicious fashion without a thought or a care for the consequences. If, therefore, it is found a few years hence that boys and girls just entered their teens are becoming liable to baldness, the public will understand that this is one of the inevitable results of wearing wigs in infancy. The recurrence of these customs, which only finds parallels for intelligence and civilisation on the banks of the Zambesi or Congo, contradicts the theories of the sociologists and philosophers who maintain that the race is constantly improving the brain power. Between women who are capable of dressing their children in wigs, and who bore holes in their noses for rings and stick bone plugs in their lower lips, there may be a physical distinction, but assuredly there can be little or no intellectual difference. Speaking of the trial of Herr Most, the correspondent of the Morning News tells the following interesting story :— There is a good story current in the lobby of the House of Commons to-day, for the truth of which I am able to vouch, concerning the senior bon. member for Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Amongst the group of celebrities, noble lords, and commoners who applied for admission cards to hear the FrdJieit trial was the hon. gentleman, who duly received from the sheriffs of London the requisite authority to "admit Mr. Joseph Cowen, M.P." On presenting his card, however, the attendant policeman, on perusing the same, looked at the visitor in a manner more inquisitive than respectful, and, after exhibiting the bit of pasteboard to a brother officer, made very manifest that they both imagined the person before them was not a member of the legislature, but evidently one of those dangerous Continental refugees whom it would seem they were exceedingly anxious to exclude from the court. The point of this joke will be recognised by all who are familiar with the personal appearance and dress, especially the slouched felt hat.'of the honourable member for Tyneside. Eventually, after some mysterious parley, the police showed bim upstairs, where the unwashed portion of the public are scantily accommodated. Mr. Cowen saw the whole mistake, and enjoyed the joke with quiet mirth, eat down and listened to the trial. Meanwhile the too zealous policeman rushed off with the ticket bearing, as he thought, the sacrilegiously abused name of an Imperial senator, showed it to the sheriffs, and informed those august personages that the " bloke as brought it, a very foreign-like party, perhaps Hartmann, with a lot of concealed dynamite," was safely watched upstairs. The sheriffs for a moment took the matter seriously, when Lord Mayor M'Anbur fortunately turned up. He instantly divined tbe state of the case, and, on having tbe supposed revolutionary •' bloke pointed out to him, despatched two ushers, attended by the magnificently-attired ana gold-bedizened footman of his lordship, to bear to Mr. towen the most profuse apologies for what had happened, and to request that be would come down and sit beside his lordship and Loid Coleridge on the Bench. The bon. member— who is nothing if not democratic— good -humouredly declined the flattering invitation, said he was quite happy where he was, and sat out the whole trial l v the position to which the errant and now lugubiiously overwhelmed policeman had assigned him. The Chinese treaty has been ratified. Now for the good it is to do The whole value of it may be summed up as an authorisation to the United Stales Government to regulate, limit, or suspend Chinese immigration, if at any time the influx of Chinese threatens the interests of the country or any section of it. This simply means that the government may check the encroachment of the Mongolian elemeut, if it sees fit. The action it may take, however, will doubtless depend on the position of the politicians who happen to be in power, on the question of Chinese labor. Tbe treaty may be as good as could be obtained at the present time ; but, before accepting it as sufficient for the settlement of a vexed problem, it may be as well to wait an<l see how it will work. — Pilot. The synods which were held in China during last year, says the Hong Kong Catholic Register, have not been fruitless. The appearance of an excellent text of ecclesiastical history for tbe use of the Pekinese Semiuaiy is due to the synod which was held at tekiu m May last. A great advantage to be drawn from it ia that, as far as possible, the principal dates of Chinese history are noted and compared with the dates of ecclesiastical history. We look with earnestness for tbe second volume, which will complete this very interesting work. It would be a very a;ood th;ng if each Vicariate- Apostolic ia China could have the opportunity of producing some literary or scientific work as has been done at Shanghai and at Peking, limes aie now more quiet than before for our missions in China, and our work is rendered more e.isily. When we consider that during a few months no fewer than five synods have been held m Cbina, thus giving opportunity to ell tbe superiors of the different missions to express their views on the most difficult and practical points, without having been subjected to the least annoyance, and when we consider abo that not only in Peking, but even in the heart of the country, synods have been held as in Shansi and Sutchuen, we cannot help recognising that unusual trauquility prevails iv our missions of China.

The correspondent of the Freeman, writing from Claremorris on May 29, gives the following description of an extraordinary scene that took place at Barnacarroll on that day : — To-day a most exciting , scene, which it was feared at one time would end badly, took place at Barnacarroll Chapel, near Claremorris. Shortly before mass Mr. Walter Bourke entered the chapel armed with a double-barrelled gun, which was partly concealed by tbe corner of his rug. The congregation immediately became fearfully excited. Before taking action, however, a deputation of the principal inhabitants of the neighbourhood waited on Canon Bourke, who had come from Claremorris to celebrate mass, and demanded that Mr. Bourke should be asked to leave his gun outside during the celebration of mass. This, it appeared Mr. Bourke refused to do, and for a while it seemed that a terrible encounter was inevitable. Every effort was made by Canon ] Bourke to pacity the congregation and induce them to allow the Mass to be celebrated, but to no purpose. The people, enraged at Mr. Bourke's refusal to remove the gun, insisted now that he should be put out himself. After a long parley Canon Bourke finally prevailed upon Mr. Bourke to retire to the sacristy, •which he did through the sanctuary, carrying his gun under his arm, followed by the other members of his family and his servants. But this did not Bettle matters. The congregation would not allow Mr. Bourke to retain his gun even in the sacristy. Canon Bourke refused to remove him from the place. With that every single man, woman, and child left the chapel, carrying with them in the rush both the canon himself and his clerk. The proceedings now assumed a most serious rpect, but in the end quiet was restored by Mr. Bourke and bis mily and servants leaving t*e sacristy and going home. The iOpTe then returned to the church and Mass was celebrated. A large force of police attended in the chapel yard, but did not interfere. M. de Molinari has republished bis letters on Ireland written for the Journal des Debats. They show a complete ignorance of the country and people, a flippancy in treating grave subjects, and a very superficial knowledge of the conditions of farming anywhere. M. de Molinari came over to Ireland with just a smattering of English not sufficient to understand or be understood. Of course he did not know Irish. He stayed with landlords or their agents when he was not lodging in hotels. He shows a decided anti-religious bias as well as a prejudice in favour of everything English. With these qualifications we can judge beforehand of the tone of bis book and the sort of information he affords his countrymen of everything Irish. In fact the Irish people, as distinguished from the Irish landlords, have to complain that they are persistently misrepresented on the Continents of Europe and America as well as in Great Britain itself. England and the English aristocjpey have possession of a powerful Press not only in these islands but in her colonies and in the States, Continental countries receive their Irish news through London Telegraphs, news agencies, and capital are in the hands of Englishmen, so that in spite of our readiness of speech and intellectual ability, of our moral and legal proceedings, of our peaceable and quiet conduct, and our standpoint of right and justice, we have to struggle against a universally misinformed public opinion. And yet so strong is right that the poor Mayo or Tipperary farmer is gradually gaining ground not-withstanding the immense armed power and capital of his masters, the English. This is because he keeps within the law, and any resistance he offers to a manifestly unjust law is merely passive, thus baffling the plans of those who would be only too glad of an opportunity of shooting him down. — 2)ublin Freeman. The letter sent from Paris to Mr. Thomas Brennan by Mr. Patrick Egan, censuring those of the active section of the Irish members who had voted with the Government on the occasion of the second reading of the Land Bill, has, as was expected, drawn forth a number of replies, aud in addition, has furnished material for a lively debate in the House of Commons. On the 27th ult. Mr. O'Connor Power and Mr. M'Coan addressed letters to the Freeman, and on the following day the O'Donoghue joined them in reply. Mr. O'Connor Power's letter was entirely a personal one ; those from Mr. M'Coan and The O'Donoghue were more temperate, and aimed at explaining and justifying their action in supporting the Government. In a subsequent letter Mr. Egan asserts that the members for Mayo and Wicklow have sought to raise a false issue. His charge against them is that they broke faith with their colleagues. On Monday night Mr. Mitchell Henry brought Mr. Egan's original letter before the JJouse of Commons, and asked that in the future that gentleman 'should be denied admission to the lobbies of the House. In reply Mr. Healy asserted that if this demand was complied with Mr. Egan would soon claim admission as a member of the House, and if necessary he would resign his seat for Wexford to make room for Mr. Egan. Mr. Mitchell Henry was effectively answered also by Mr. A. M. Sullivan. In the end the House decided that the letter was a breach of privilege, but nothing further was done in the matter. Mr. Egan was present in the Strangers' Gallery while the debate was proceeding. — Nation, June 4. Some remarkable revelations concerning the adulteration of food are made in the annual report, j vet published , of the Inspector of Vinegar for the City of Boston. The total amount of the liquor sold and used in Boston each year nnder the name of vinegar is estimated at about 3,000,000 gallons. Of this, the inspector declares, less than one<tenth is pure apple-juice, the rest being a villainous decoction of molasses, glucose, acetic acid, sour ale, lager beer, distillery slops, etc.,made for about half the lowest possible cost of pure cider vinegar. Nor is this all, nor even the worst view of the case. Such substances as oil of vitriol and other mineral acids are brought into requisition. One , cent's worth of sulphuric acid is sufficient for the manufacture of four gallons of vinegar, and when disguised by other ingredients its presence cannot be detected by taste alone. Much of this wretched stuff, it is believed, has been sold in tbe Boston market as 'Pure Apple vinegar. Fifteen hundred barrels of it in a single cargo were seized by the officers, and fifty barrels more were captured in a warehouse and shipped back to the former owners. The extent to which this illegal and inhuman business is carried on is shown by the face that the wholesale price of vinegar in Boston averages 9 cents per gallon, much of it being sold as low as 6 cents, while the genuine article can-

not be manufactured for less than, about 12£ cents per gallon. It is only natural tnat the inspector, in concluding his report, should attribute the high death-rate of the city largely to the consumption of these deleterious compounds. The Government are becoming perfectly reckleiß in the arrests they are making under the Coercion Act. Not content with haring imprisoned a popular representative in the person of Sir. John Dillon, they have now proceeded to outrage the most cherished feelings of the Irish psople by placing a priest under arrest. Father Sheehy, of Kilmallock, who has long been identified with the national cause, and who has laboured so earnestly in the land mov iment to sustain it and keep it free from crime, was removed from the midst of his parishioners and lodged in Naan gaol on the morning of Friday week. Three other members of the Kilmallock Land League were arrested on the same day. Several other Irishmen have been " reasonably suspected " during the week, the most prominent of them being Mr. Thomas Brennan, the secretary of the Land League, who was arrested on Tuesday evening and conveyed to Naasgaol, where Father Sheehy was already imprisoned. — Nation, May 28. The week has been marked throughout the country by several severe collisions between the authorities and the people. The passions of the people are running dangerously high, and the conduct ef many of the landlord party who are responsible either for evictions or for seizures for rent is not calculated to allay these passions very quickly. The New ('alias affray has been succeeded by riots at Mitchelstown, at Clontnel, and at Bodyke, near Tulla. At Mitchelstown, the causes of the collision between the police and the people were a number of evictions that teok place on the Kingston property. At Olonmel very serious disturbances aroae through some execution sales that were held there, and on Thursday it was reported from Ennis that a large force of police and military having proceeded to Bodyke, five miles from Tulla, to execute some writs, came into conflict with an immense number of people, and that a fierce fight took place. The police were assailed with stonos, the Riot Act was real, and the officers in command gave the order to fire, when, it is rumoured, six men were killed. — Nation, June i. The general assemblies of the Free and Established Churches of Scotland have for some days been in session in Edinburgh. As usual, the religious and moral state of the country occupies a considerable share of the attention of tne congregated " fathers," and as usual the reports on these momentous questions are by no means of a satisfactory or encouraging character. In the report to the Free Church assembly notice was taken of " the prevailing immorality of the land, as disclosed in the illegitimacy statistics ; the widespread profanity which existed, by which the young men in many localities were deeply affected ; and the prevailing scepticism of the times." One of the assembled ministers, in commenting on the report, said he believed that many in the country were not aware of the extent of the evil (illegitimacy), and that " Registrar-General's averages were enough to startle the Church out of its indifference in regard to this matter." Notwithstanding its " open Bible " and its street preaching ad nauteam, it is evident that Scotland is still somewhat behind in the matter of public morals, and that it is not yet in a position to trouble itself about the mote ia its neighbour's eye. — Correspondent of Nation, May 28. The document, which was published in the Freeman of Saturday last, is entitled a " confidential circular to County Inspectors," and it was meant to be so " confidential " that orders were given to have it " kept under lock and key." It professes to be issued by •' G. E. i Hillier, Inspector-General," and, amongst other things, it states that | " It is most difficult to conceive that the police, with the local knowledge they possess of the characters and habits of the people amongst whom they live, are not oftener in a position to know at least some of those present at the perpetration of nightly outrages ; but, if it is diffioult to believe this/it is still more difficult to understand that they fail in so many instances to five grounds of reasonable suspicion against any one." The precious document concludes with the expression of an earnest hope that " the energies of both officers aud men will be used to wipe out what must necessarily appear, to those unacquainted with the difficulties they have to contend with, to be a reproach on their efficiency as preservers of the peace and detectors of crime. '' — Nation, May 28. Landmrtlutchaftliche Zeitung strikes a note of warning for Europe on the effect of American competition. It directs attention to the opening and further deepening this season of the Ban Lorenio and Welland Canal, through which large wheat-lades ships from Chicago and Milwaukee can pass from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, and so out by the St. Lawrence into the Atlantic. This betokens a further cheapening of freight for tbe continually-increasing American cargoes. Germany has already placed duties on American corn, thus making bread dearer for her workers, without permanently benefit* ing her farmers. France is deliberating on taking the duties off agricultural productions, Austro-Hungary is becoming alarmed, Russia will shortly have to take measures for the protection of her peasant faraors from usurers if she wishes her wheat production not to be considerably diminished. And all this time the means of European nations are wasted in the maintenance of enormous armies of non-producers, or rather of destroyers, while America has free scope for her productiveness. Europo, though armed to tbe teeth, cannot combat agaiiiftt the new enemy of a competition with a free people, i and her working population ia flyiag to the New World, continually strengthening it against the Old. Such a state of things must ultimately lead to a cataclysm. — Dublin ireeman. The Belfast Orangemen are greatly annoyed about the proclamation of that town, and in their lodges they continue to pass resolutions protesting against the action of tbe Irish Executive " in placing Belfast under tbe terms of the Peace Preservation Act without consulting the local magistracy." They also call upon Mr. William Ewart and Mr. J. P. Corry, the two members for the borough, to take steps to have the insult removed which has been thus cast upon their constituents. One of tbe lodges — Royal Black Preceptory, 219 — is it dignaut at " the stigma that has been cast upon the moat loyal and peaceable town in the British Empire 1" — IhtbH/a Frttman.