SECULAR | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 19, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 32.

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SECULAR.

—Cholera is again on the increase in Italy.

—Steerage rates across the Atlantic have been reduced to $12.

—In the recent election in Utah the Mormon ticket was elected as usual.

—Small-pox is making fearful ravages in Chili, particularly in Santiago.

August 16, a schooner capsized in Boston Harbor and five men were drowned.

—A fire at Folsom, Cal., August 13, destroyed property to the value of $150,000.

—The Canadian Government is said to be anxious for a settlement of the fisheries question.

—Los Angeles, Cal., complains of having too many "artists" and "not enough tillers of the soil."

—The Utah Territorial Grand Jury was discharged on the 13th inst. It had been in session since April last.

—The production of gold in the United States during 1885 is estimated at $11,800,000; and of silver, at $51,600,000.

—A colliery explosion at Leigh, Lincolnshire, England, on the 13th inst., occasioned the death of about thirty-six miners.

—The London Times of July 10 states that large quantities of frozen meat are being shipped to England from the Falkland Islands. One vessel recently carried 30,000 carcasses of sheep, all of which arrived at London in excellent condition.

—Michael Davitt, the great Irish agitator now in this country, says he has come in the interest of harmony and to obtain rest.

—Great Britain has decided to re-enforce the fleet protecting the Canadian fisheries. Two war vessels will leave England for that point shortly.

—It is said that about 550 persons are under treatment for wounds received during the late riots in Belfast. Fears are entertained of another outbreak.

—It is now proposed to build a steamboat to run the Niagara Rapids. The vessel is to be ninety feet long by twenty-one wide, and will be constructed of oak, iron, and copper.

—Great damage has been done recently by forest fires in Wisconsin. Several hundred people are said to be homeless. In some instances villages have been almost entirely destroyed.

—A recent London special says that Germany and Austria have decided to oppose Russian action for the acquirement of Erzeroum and other territory in Asiatic Turkey beyond Batoum.

—It is charged that Mr. Chapleau, the Canadian Secretary of State, received a $10,000 bribe in the matter of letting the contract for the Georgian Bay branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

—It is said that strenuous efforts have been made of late years to reduce the national debt of Great Britain, but last year there was not only no decrease but an actual addition to it of about $10,000,000.

—The Los Angeles, Cal., Council has passed an ordinance making it a misdemeanor for minors under eighteen years of age to smoke cigarettes on the streets, and for any one to sell cigarettes to such minors.

—A large amount of property was destroyed by fire at Yreka, Cal., August 12. The fire originated in Chinatown, and the citizens have decided not to allow the Mongolians to rebuild inside the city limits.

—A new hotel building at Deadwood, Cal., was destroyed by fire at an early hour on the morning of the 14th inst. The fire is supposed to have started from a cigar stump. One man perished in the flames.

—Georgia proposes to adopt an amendment to her Constitution providing for the supplying of artificial limbs to Confederate soldiers and making suitable provision for such men as were permanently injured in the field.

—Experiments conducted August 10, at Fort Point, San Francisco, proved that dynamite can be fired from cannon and exploded at the point of contact. The experiments were conducted under orders from the War Department.

—An immense timber raft, measuring 470 feet long, by 50 feet wide, and 36 feet deep, which was constructed at St. John, N. B., left there recently for New York in tow of two steamers. It weighs several thousand tons.

—The forest fires in Wisconsin are dying out, but there is much suffering in the devastated region. Homeless people are wandering around and sleeping on the ground with scarcely any covering, and insufficient clothing.

—Rioting continued in Belfast till the 10th inst., when the military succeeded in restoring quiet. Five thousand troops and 2,500 constables occupy the disturbed districts. A great many people have been killed and wounded.

—A fire at Eggleston, Minn., August 7, destroyed a large elevator together with a freight train which was thrown from the rails while trying to pass the burning building. Seventeen cars were burned and two cars and an engine were wrecked. Four tramps were fatally burned in one of the cars.

—Things are in a very unsettled condition in the Mexican border States, and a correspondent of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat predicts that in less than two months the country will be up in arms against the Diaz Government. Private advices state that the rebels have captured Morelos, in Nuevo Leon.

—Cutting, the American editor who is illegally imprisoned in Mexico, was sentenced, August 7, to one year's imprisonment at hard labor and to pay a fine of $600. It is stated that this Government has renewed its demand for his immediate release, but the Mexican authorities do not release him and thus the matter rests at present. But in the meantime feeling is running very high on both sides of the Rio Grande and bloodshed may occur any day. The authorities at Washington however appear to feel very confident of an early and satisfactory settlement of the difficulty.

—Cardinal Gibbons has declared himself in favor of the organization of labor. He says: "From reading the newspapers and from Mr. Powderly's public statements, I infer that the objects of the Knights are praiseworthy and in no way opposed to the views of the Catholic Church. Catholic prelates will to a man declare in favor of the organization of labor."

—Another heavy grain fire is reported from near Merced, Cal., the result of a match carelessly dropped by a laborer, who was of course a smoker. California has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in this way during the past few months. If tobacco is to be used at all it should be taxed "all the traffic will bear," the proceeds to create a fund to pay losses caused by the use of the weed.

—It is stated that "Lord Randolph Churchill is engaged in drafting a bill intended to solve the Irish question. The skeleton of the measure is already done, the paper says, and it provides for universal local self-government throughout Great Britain and Ireland, giving Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales control each of its own immediate affairs, and leaving the supreme power of the Imperial Parliament undiminished."