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Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 1, 1880

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 6, No. 13.

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NEWS ITEMS.

By Editor

-California has 60,000 acres planted to grapes.
-The new British Arctic expedition sails next May.
-The mint at San Francisco has coined $319,479,475 during the last ten years.
-A bill is before Congress providing for the organization of Alaska Territory.
-The probabilities of war between Russia and China are growing stronger every day.
-A Bill has been introduced in the U. S. Senate to enable Indians to become citizens.
-A line of communication is proposed between Lake Nyanza and the east coast of Africa.
-The ocean is like to undermine Fort Stephens on the south bank of the mouth of Columbia river.
-A bill increasing the police force of San Francisco to 400 has been passed over the Mayor's veto.
-The complete New Testament with maps and illustrations is sold by a London publisher for a penny.
-Diphtheria is still raging in Central Russia. Since last November it has carried off 40,000 persons in two provinces alone.
-The governor of Rhode Island recommends the adoption of a prohibitory law. A stringent one has been adopted in Iowa.
-The Emperor of Russia has presented Prince Alexander, of Bulgaria, with a war steamer, 40,000 rifles, and several Krupp guns.
-The "Independent Catholic Church" is meeting with marked success among the Irish in New York City, over 2,000 having joined it.
-The election contest is running high throughout England. There are nearly 1100 candidates in the field, comprising 499 Liberals, 495 Tories, and 97 Home Rulers.
-Mr. Helper, of St Louis, has projected a railroad which shall run longitudinally through Mexico, Central America, and to a point far south in South America, looking for its ultimate extention to Behring's Strait and Cape Horn.
-The Feast of the Passover was celebrated with appropriate services in the Jewish synagogues of San Francisco last Saturday. With the more orthodox the feast continues eight days.
-Over 11,000,000 pounds of tea were shipped from China to the United States during the last year. What would tea-drinkers do if commerce between this country and China should cease?
-The Brewers' Congress, which met in St. Louis recently, admitted that Prohibition does prohibit. They were forced to admit that only seven barrels of beer were sold in Maine last year.
-The act prohibiting the employment of Chinese by corporations in California has been pronounced unconstitutional and void by the United States Circuit Court in deciding the Parrott case.
-A fog-bell weighing 3,000 pounds has been placed in position at Fort Point at the entrance of San Francisco bay. The new bell is operated by clock work, and during fogs will be struck at intervals of ten seconds. The old bell weighing 950 pounds has been taken to Goat Island, where it will be used as an auxiliary signal.
-The Winchester Arms Company have received orders from China for fifteen to twenty millions of cartridges for that government. This is said to be the first order of the kind ever given by the Chinese Government to foreigners for the manufacture of cartridges. The question naturally arises, for what purpose are these warlike materials prepared? China has not at the present time any particular rebellion on hand. But of late the relations between China and Russia seem not to be very indicative of continued peace. A treaty has been negotiated between Russia and the Chinese Ambassador, which the Czar has approved, but which the Chinese Government does not, and which the Emperor does not sign. Their Ambassador has been condemned to death for negotiating such a treaty. This bids fair to create a quarrel between the two Empires. For some time past the Chinese have been organizing troops and drilling them on the European principles of warfare, and she has been procuring small arms and cannon of the most approved patterns; has been and is putting her sea boats in a state of defence, and is probably expecting a war with Russia. With her four hundred millions of people, she might prove rather a dangerous customer.—Alta, March 21.