MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, 21 January 1880, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

Recent official inquiries show that Alsace-Lorraine contains 1,272,000 civil* ians who speak German, and 259,000 wbo speak French. The Queen has appointed Captain Shaw, the chief of the London Fire Brigade, a Companion of the Bath. The horse St. Julian, at a race given for General Grant in California, just before his departure, trotted a mile, without skip or break, in the extraordinary time of 2min. 12f <cc. Goldsmith Maid did it in 2min. lSsec, and Earns in 2 nin. 14sec, but the Californian horse has beiten both. The Sydney Mail of 20th December, says : — There is li'tle alteration to report in the demeanor of the condemned bush* rangers. The younger men are very suH* dued, and occasionally fall into deeply dejected moods. All pay assiduous attention to the exhortations of the prison chaplains; Scotf, apparently, cares less for the consolations of the church, his whole attention being apparently concentrated on the argument of the reserved points on Friday. The chance of a new tria! has made him rather restless, other wise therß is not a great deal of change in him. On Thursday, Scott, William?, and Bennett attended the usual weekly service in the prison chapel: They were seated in the place reserved for criminals under sentence of death, and were curiously scanned by the other prisoners. Williams, whose real name is Johns, has been constantly visited by his sister, who oame to see him, and also by several other respectable of Ballarat, who have come to Sydney to ascertain what can be done on his behalf. Scott has been several times visited by Mrs Amess, a lady to whom it is'stated he was affianced in Victoria. Williams, though an attendant at a Weslpyan Sunday School at Ballarat, belongs to (he Church of England, and is at* temlpd by Canon Rich, as also are Scott and Bennett. Hp^ ' Lord Truro, whose residence is at F;il•conhurst, on the -summit of Shooter's Hill, has just afforded a novel example of funeral simplicity. In October, Lady Truro, his wife, died, and his lordship, 1/aming placed the body in a plain wooden box, lightly constructed so as not to arrest the process of natural decay, huried it himself in a grave dug on the lawn which fronts the house, at a spot selected for the purpose by the deceased lady during her lifetime. The grave is about four feet deep, and a marble ornament will mark its position. A shocking occurrence is reported from the little town of Genijesk, in the district of Melitopol, in Sou'h Russia. The annual fair was held there on September 22, and, as usual, was attended by a multitude of p»asant9. A number of persons Hinrd at an eating house, where, among other articles, a species of white fish, • alted ! and prepared like herrings, was served. The consequences of the meal soon manifested themselves in an appall ing fashion. Thirty persons who had eaten some of the fish died within an hour, after suffering excruciating torture. The number of others who were lying ill was not known, but was believed to be considerable. Eight peasants, three pea* sant women, and three children wbo had partaken of the fatal meal before quitting the town, were seized on their way home with such atroc'ous pains that they lay don non the road and died. An official investigation has b^en ordered. There is no suspicion of any poisonous drug hays ing been designedly introduced into the food. Either the fish must have bees putrid, or some poisonous ingredient bad; been mixed with the salt used in curing* l it.