SECULAR | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 4, 1886

SECULAR.

—The annexation of Burmah to Great Britain has been confirmed by Parliament.

—On the 27th inst., 63 tons of silk, valued at $1,500,000, was received in New York, from Japan.

—The McCormick Reaper Works at Chicago closed recently, throwing 1,400 men out of employment.

—On the 21st inst., there was a fire in Wilmington, Del., which destroyed property to the value of $1,500,000.

—Mining experts sent out by the Argentine Republic report that the newly discovered gold fields of Patagonia are fully equal to those of Brazil, California, and Australia.

—A horseshoe has been invented that comes on and off like a man's shoe. A rim at the bottom and a buckle at the back hold it in place. A pad protects the bottom of the hoof.

—The curious fact is developed by the Broadway, New York, railroad investigation, that while the company expended only $160,000 in building the road, legal advice cost them $349,000.

—Greece has finally submitted to the demand of the European powers in reference to disarmament; but she is preparing a protest stating that she only yields to the force of circumstances.

—Worthless certificates for lands in Texas have been sold quite extensively in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and other places, and many people are being swindled by them.

—The severely cold weather in Georgia and Florida last January, while it caused much damage to fruit and fruit trees, also destroyed worms and insects injurious to fruit and crops, and so loosened the soil as to promise unusual productiveness.

—Dispatches from New York, Buffalo, Boston, Washington, Baltimore, and other places in the East, report a furious blizzard along the Atlantic Coast on the 26th inst. Houses were unroofed, telegraph poles broken down, and much other damage was done.

—When the recent ice gorge in the Mississippi River gave way, there was a fleet of 68 boats at Carroll's Island, which had cost the Government $250,000. These boats were swept from their moorings, and many of them sunk. It is believed that the loss will not be less than $200,000.

—An unseaworthy foreign steamer has been employed by Postmaster-General Vilas to carry the mails between New York, and the West Indies and portions of South America. And now the news comes that the vessel has been wrecked, with the loss of the cargo, the mails, and six of the crew.

—Mr. Chamberlain, President of the Local Government Board, stated to a deputation of the unemployed workingmen of London that he was opposed to emigration as a means of relief, unless distress for want of employment has become chronic. He thought the colonies would not welcome so large a number of workingmen, as their presence would cheapen the labor market. He is in favor of finding employment for them at home.

—The Chinese Consul at New York is reported as saying that American missionaries and merchants are well treated in China and protected by the Government; but if Chinamen are driven out of America, he can see no reason why Americans should not be driven out of China, and he thinks measures of this kind will be taken by the Government. If nothing is done to protect Chinamen, the commerce between the two countries, amounting to $80,000,000 annually, will be destroyed.

—Forty-one Chinamen employed in the woolen mills of Oregon City, Oregon, were driven out by a company of from 30 to 50 white men, February 22. Two men who publicly avowed themselves the leaders of the movement have been arrested under a statute passed in 1874 to cover kuklux outrages. The warrant was sworn out by a Chinese contractor. On the 25th inst., masked men assaulted the Chinese laborers on several ranches near Wheatland, Cal. Some buildings were burned, and other acts of violence were committed. In contrast with this comes a protest from the fruit-raisers of Vacaville and vicinity, who cultivate 5,551 acres of land in the vicinity of Vacaville. These fruit-raisers state that the probable value of their crop is between $400,000 and $500,000; and should the Chinamen be driven out, there are no laborers that could be depended upon to meet the demands of this industry, and serious loss would result. The protest is also signed by many of the leading business men and citizens of Vacaville.

—The commission appointed by Mr. Childers, the Home Secretary, to investigate the recent riots in London, severely censure the course of the chief of the police force, and his resignation has been accepted.

—Prince Bismarck hopes to secure to the German Government an added revenue of $50,000,000 if his spirit-monopoly bill becomes a law. By the terms of the bill, raw brandy remains in the hands of private persons; but the State has the control of imported spirits, the rectifying of spirits and their manufacture into alcoholic drinks, and the sale of brandy in every form.