SECULAR | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · May 8, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 18.

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SECULAR.

—Several thousand Chinese laborers are said to be seeking employment in Manitoba.

—There is said to be a general movement among English landlords to reduce rents.

—The amended Chinese Restriction bill has passed the lower House of Congress, by a vote of 184 to 13.

—At Toronto, Ont., April 30, four dynamite cartridges were found under the Parliament buildings.

—Four members of a sheriff's posse were killed in a fight with robbers near Kittanning, Pa., on the 3d inst.

—By the burning of the Poor House in Van Buren County, Mich., April 29, fifteen persons lost their lives.

—Strikers on the Ontario and Quebec Railroad have been superseded by 270 Italian laborers from New York.

—A London dispatch says, "Dynamite has become one of the factors in politics, and is now daily heard of in every country of Europe."

—The Oriental Bank of London, has failed for $35,000,000, which, under the law, the stockholders will have to make good—if they are able.

—The 500th anniversary of the foundation of Heidelberg University, in which Luther was a professor, is to be celebrated in grand style in 1886.

—The town of Brisbin, Clearfield County, Pa., was totally consumed by fire, on the 2d inst. Loss, over $1,000,000. About 1,000 families were left

destitute.

—The "ladies" of Paris, having exhausted the aviary, have gone to the market gardens for fashionable ornaments. The latest style is a hat trimmed with artichokes.

—The Mexican Government is in negotiation with an English syndicate for a large loan. The Government has strained its purse-strings on railroad subsidies.

—The pope has ordered the closing of the Laval University, Canada, because of its expenditure of over $1,000,000 of church funds without becoming self-supporting.

—Westminster Abbey is reported to be in such a state of decay that, in order to preserve it from ruin, an expenditure of half a million dollars will be necessary for repairs.

—The Government income from Scotland last year exceeded that from Ireland by $1,000,000, yet the Government expenses in Ireland were $4,000,000 more than in Scotland.

—A terrible explosion occurred in a powder magazine at Havana, April 30, destroying a large amount of property. Twenty-one persons were killed, and about eighty wounded.

—Heavy floods are reported in some parts of Texas. At Houston five inches of rain fell in twenty-four hours. Besides damages to roads and bridges, a large area of the cotton crop is much retarded in growth.

—A report comes from Port au Prince that the English schooner Grapple was burned by the natives at St. Croix Island, $10,000 worth of property confiscated, and the crew murdered. A war vessel has been sent there.

—In New York, a Board of Health analysis of thirteen samples of yellow mustard showed adulteration in all of them. Three samples contained naphthal yellow, a dangerous explosive, and violent irritant and poison.

—The members of six different families in Louisville, Ky., were recently sickened by eating cake containing arsenic. One child died, and others were dangerously affected. How the arsenic got into the cake is a mystery.

—It is reported that Prince Victor, son of the Prince of Wales, on attaining his majority, which occurs the beginning of next year, will be raised to the peerage, with the title of Duke of Dublin, and will thenceforth reside in Ireland.

—The Catholic authorities in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward's Island, have petitioned the English Government to protect their interests in the funds of the Propaganda at Rome, now threatened by the Italian Government.

—It is supposed the steamer State of Florida has been lost on the Atlantic. Two of her life-boats have been found. It is surmised by New York agents that dynamiters were on board, and some of their implements were accidentally exploded.

—An ex-City Treasurer of Newark, N. J., has been fined $500 and costs for allowing a false entry to be made in his books through neglect. The Judge said that officials must not only be honest, but they must see that their official duties are carefully discharged.

—Last week forest fires swept over about 50,000 acres near Emporium, Pa., destroying several large mills and over thirty other buildings, besides an immense number of logs. Like reports come from Reading and Williamsport, Pa.; Port Jervis and Kingston, N. Y.; Matawan, N. J., and Isle of Wight County, Va.