ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume V, Issue 667, 8 October 1891, Page 3

ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

Mr Chaplin despatched four experts to investigate the sudden and extraordinary ravages of the turnip pest. It is the caterpillar of the diamond-back moth, which has not only destroyed the turnip crop in many parts, but attacks gardens. The visitation of the pest was exactly half-a-century ago. The marriage rate is still rising. During the three months of this year ending August. 93,114 persons in England and Wales entered the bonds of wedlock. This gives an annna! rate of 13 per 1000, the highest rate recorded in the first quarter since 1876. The rate was the highest in mining localities, and the lowest in agricultural districts.

The little King of Spain, during a gardenparty at the palace, turned on a gardenhose, completely drenching some of the guests, and thoroughly enjoying the joke, Mr Aiderman Evans will be the next Lord Mayor of London. His tarn would not have dome till 1893 but for the resignation of Aiderman Gray. Mr Henry Irving has been Buffering from an affection of the throat, which at one time threatened permanently to deprive him of the use of his voice. Sir Harry Verney, who is 83 years old, at Some athletic sports at his Buckinghamshire seat walked 56 yards against a gentleman 12 yean his junior, and won by half a yard. A new system, invented by Mr Edward Field, of using a mixture of heated air and steam in a steam engine, has been lately tested with most satisfactory results. With the eame consumption of fuel there is said to b e an absolute gain of 44 per cent, over ordi“ nary steam. A child was choked by a gooseberry at Kirkintilloch. '

' ’ A donkey which had been bitten by a mad dog killed a little girl near New Ross. The ass broke out of a field and attacked the child as it was playing in front of a cottage. There was a remarkable decrease of crime in London during the yearMr T. B. Baines, last surviving son of the late Sir Edward Baines, died on Monday, at Bewlay, near Leeds, aged 59, Deceased was formerly one of the editors of the Leeds Mercury, of which his father was proprietor ; but, having joined the Plymouth Brethren, he withdrew from secular pursuits, and devoted his life to evangelistic work, A balloon suddenly descended from a great height, and, after bumping along the roofs of houses, dropped into a street in Derby. The aeronantes just managed to scramble out, When tjje balloon shot up into the air and was loet. A retired gentleman residing at Walberton, near Arundel, died from chronic arsenical poisoning, from which his daughter had also been suffering, due, it is thought, to either the carpet or wall-paper. A domestic who, while running on an errand in Liverpool, was arrested as a disorderly perjon brought an action against the two sonitaules, and was awarded £B5 damages.

The Aldershot constables charged with perjury in swearing that Miss Millard was a disreputable character have been acquitted by 4 jury, in face of medical testimony, and although the judge said he entirely disbelieved the evidence which the police had produced in support of their charge. " A Liverpool policeman has been sentenced to 12 months’ hard labor for criminally assaulting a young girl at the police station. Tbs prisoner went into the witness box and tried to make cut that the girl had committed perjury, He had been 14 years in the police force, and the Judge said he feared many innocent people had suffered through being at the mercy of such a man, Raids on alleged gambling houses have been made in the city, in Whitechapel, and in Liverpool. A large number of arrests Stere made. An old man who gave a poisoned bun to a flower girl in East London was sent to gaol for nine months. The girl sold flowers beneath a railway arch in rivalry with the man’s wife.

The trial and presentation of the Dunmow flitch took place recently. There were three couples claiming, the Bev. W. 0, Wallace, Jiear of Sbebbear, North Devon, Dr W. R. white, M.D., of Belmont, Sussex, and Mr W. W. Bowen, clerk, of Hounslow, and their Wives. Eeaoh happy qouple received a flitoh Of bacon,

Il tobacco a necessity for a minor ? In the Westminster County Court a plaintiff sued a youth for the cost of tobacco and cigars. The father stated that his son was 17 when the cigars were supplied to him. Counsel for the plaintiff contended tfiat tobacco was a necessity even for an infant,” but the Judge took tffe opposite view and gave the verdict for the defendant with costa. Tbs House of Lords confirmed the judgments of the Courts below, and ordered Dr Bernardo to produce the boy who had been demanded by his mother, in order that he may be brought up a Boman Catholic, The qofitor contended that, under the ciroum Stances, ths woman had no legal right to the Custody of her illegitimate child. Et The man Conway has been sentenced to death at Liverpool for the murder of a boy be enticed into his office from the street, and whose body he deposited in q sack and then threw injp ths Mersey. ’ '■'Wk* Greenfield has informed her mother th*i she confessed to being a Mohammedan through dread of her Kurdish captors, She Il not ytt ul at liberty,

The man Turner has been sentenced to death for the horrible murder and mutilation of a little girl near Leeds. His mother was sentenced to penal servitude for life as an accessory after the fact, she having helped to dispose of the body, which was deposited in a secluded street. This heavy sentence occasioned surprise. Two days afterwards the Judge, taking into consideration that the woman bad given evidence against her son, altered her sentence to 12 months’ imprisonment. Another plot to murder the Czar was discovered, and 28 officers were arrested. The police also arreeted the members of a secret society, who barricaded themselves in a building and fought until seven of their number were killed. Twenty-six were arrested The funeral ceremonies of the late King of Dahomey are to last a year, during which time 4000 slaves will be sacrificed on hia tomb, A woman in Victoria publicly prayed for the death of her husband, and the authorities are considering how she can be punished for such impropriety. Two women in Toulouse claim the same child, a boy nine years old, and it will lead to a sensational trial. One woman says she lent the other the child when an infant, as for domestio reasons she wished to palm it off as her own. A French physician claims' to have cured 12 cases of consumption the patients for two or three hours every day in a compartment filled with compressed air containing the vapours of creosote mixed with eucalyptus. A woman has fasted for 17 years in the province of Burgos. She lies as if in a trance, and the only nourishment she has taken during that long period has been a small quantity of water every three or four days. A prince in Artjnj, South Russia, was taken ill and, to all appearance, died. The body was taken to the church for burial, when the priest discovered signs of life as he was imprinting the customary farewell kiss on the brow of the corpse. The prince, who was in a trance, recovered, and was carried back to his palace. The same evening he gave a great dinner to celebrate bis escape from being buried alive, and ate and drank so freely that be died from the effects. Valuable treasure has been unearthed in Silesia. It consists of 1,090,000 gold coins bearing date 1508. For mauy years there has been a belief in the village of Triel, in France, that James 11, of England buried his crown and jewels in that neighbourhood. The excavations in search of this “ buried treasure ” have been carried on to such an extent that the authorities have been compelled to interfere, as the safety of some of the buildings have been seriously endangered.