SEPTEMBER.

3. GREAT FIRE IN NEW YORK.—A fire, which caused a terrible loss of life, occurred yesterday in New York. It began at 9.45 a.m. in Hales' pianoforte factory, Thirty-fifth Street, near Eleventh Avenue, a large five-storey building, in which 200 persons were employed. In a few minutes the flames enveloped the entire building, and many of the occupants jumped from the upper windows to escape. From twenty to thirty were injured, and the loss of life was heavy. According to some estimates 100 persons were killed. The fire quickly extended to several adjoining buildings, and the wind being high, and the supply of water scanty, the firemen were able to do very little. Thirty-eight buildings were destroyed, and the loss of property is estimated at 310,000l. One steam fire-engine was abandoned owing to the intense heat, and was destroyed. The fire was ultimately got under by pumping water from the Hudson River for the use of the engines.

- A SUBTERRANEAN TELEGRAPH WIRE has already been in use for twelve months between Berlin and Halle. During the whole period the working of the line has been highly satisfactory. The conductibility of the buried wire instead of decreasing has, on the contrary, somewhat increased, and no fault in the insulation has made itself apparent. The cable is composed of seven thin copper wires, twisted together so as to form a single conductor for the electric fluid, and encased in india-rubber. The other similar lines which are to be laid down, and some of which have been already begun, run from Berlin to Cologne, from Berlin to Frankfort, from Berlin to Strasburg, from Berlin to Hamburg and Kiel, from Berlin to Breslau, and from Berlin to Königsberg. An ingenious steam machine has been constructed which excavates the trench in which the wire is buried, places this latter in its position, and again fills up the excavation; the ditch which is dug by the locomotive being one metre deep and half a metre wide. Apart from the military advantages derivable from the substitution of these underground wires for the ordinary overhead lines, it is believed that in the long run the former will also prove to be more economical than the latter. The first expense of laying them down may be greater; but the enormous number of posts and insulators required for the ordinary wires are dispensed with, and will not have to be replaced, as is now frequently the case, after every heavy storm.

THE BOLTON STRIKE.-A meeting took place to-day at Bolton between representatives of the master cotton-spinners and of the operatives, 12,000 of the latter being now unemployed, owing to a proposal to reduce wages five per cent. The operatives offer to work for two years at the old wages if the masters will

engage that no reduction shall be made. The masters, however insisted that the present state of trade demands a reduction, and declined the proposal. The strike therefore continues.

5. THE ROBBERY OF FOREIGN BONDS.-This afternoon one of the detectives of the City of London Police Force apprehended in the Euston Road a man, aged about forty, who is supposed to be concerned in the robbery of foreign bonds of the value of 70,000l., belonging to Mr. Raphael and other bankers. The particulars of this extensive robbery were gone into at the Mansion House Police Court on Thursday last. Since then the detectives who have charge of the case-viz. Detective-Sergeant Hancock, of the City Police, and Detective-Inspector Shore, of the Metropolitan Police-have been energetically engaged in prosecuting inquiries, and various hotels in the vicinity of the several railway termini in London have been closely watched, and close to the Euston Hotel yesterday afternoon a gentlemanly-looking man was apprehended on the charge of being concerned in the robbery. He was at once removed in a cab to the Bow Lane Police Station, and upon being searched Peruvian bonds were found in his possession amounting to 20,000l., besides other property.

6. ANOTHER ALPINE FATALITY mars the pleasure of Swiss excursionists. The Lyskamm of the Monte Rosa range, except at one part, is not a very hard mountain to climb. Here, however, two barristers, Mr. W. A. Lewis and Mr. Noel H. Paterson, and three guides, the brothers Knubel, who conducted them, have lost their lives. Setting out from Zermatt, the Alpineers, passing close to Monte Rosa, reached the rocks called Auf der Platte. From this point a glacier is passed, and then a dangerous arête, presenting a very narrow ridge, has to be scaled, requiring, we are told, "great care and patience, as well as steady nerves." The cragsman has to walk at times "as if on the top of a wall sloping down on either hand at a sharp angle." At others he must "descend the steep and dangerous sides to avoid a sudden break in the arête." It is supposed that an overhanging snow cornice gave way in this critical part of the ascent, and all five were lost. The bodies have been recovered, and another disaster is added to the list proving that the ecstasy of climbing in Switzerland cannot be realised without risk of life. In the present instance all precautions appear to have been taken.

— SULTAN ABDUL HAMID.-A dinner party was given this evening at Therapia by the Sultan, to which Mrs. Layard was the first lady, not of royal rank, to whom this compliment has been paid. The dinner party consisted of the Sultan, the Grand Vizier, Mahmoud Dama Pasha, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and the two Said Pashas. The dinner was served in French style, and the Sultan played the host to perfection. Wine was on the table, but the Sultan only drank sherbet. In spite of the stringent rules of Oriental court etiquette, the dinner was given in the Seluntyk, that portion of a Turkish house set apart for the men,

into which hitherto no Turk would have thought of allowing even a woman of his own household to enter.

CONVICT PRISON FARMING.-Our Plymouth correspondent states that the annual sale of stock from the Dartmoor prisons farm having just taken place, it has now been ascertained that, deducting the cost of convict labour, the establishment has gained nearly 1,000l. as the result of last year's agricultural operations. For some years the convict farm was unremunerative, but now 1,000 acres on Dartmoor have been reclaimed and profits are made. Black-polled heifers from Scotland have been introduced, and more extensive operations are contemplated. The convicts employed are men whose sentences are nearly expired, and who, therefore, have less inducement to escape.

- LIVERPOOL ART GALLERY.-Lord Derby this day opened a new Art Gallery at Liverpool, presented to the town by the Mayor. At a banquet in the evening Lord Derby, in responding to the toast of his health, said that the Famine in India was a graver matter for England than the Eastern Question.

8. HOUSE OF COMMONS WHIPS.-In a speech at an agricultural dinner at Carlisle last night, Sir Wilfrid Lawson said that in the House of Commons each party had a whip who called his hounds together when he wanted them. A little circular was sent in the morning for the political hounds to assemble. The circular was worded, "You are earnestly requested to attend in the House of Commons this evening, when business of such and such a nature comes on." If the circular came without a dash or stroke under the word "earnestly," it meant there was some business that might come on; if there were one dash or stroke under "earnestly"—it meant that the member ought to come; if two dashes-it meant that he should come; if three-that he must come; if four-it meant "stay away at your peril."

10. A MEETING OF WATCHMAKERS was held this morning, in Clerkenwell, to confer with a deputation of the trade from Liverpool, on the grievance of the hall-marking in England of watch cases from abroad, the cases, after receiving the hall-mark, being returned to Switzerland to receive the works, and subsequently, by means of the hall-mark, being sold as English watches. A resolution was passed, pledging the meeting to co-operate with the watchmakers of Liverpool and Coventry in getting the grievance redressed.

AN HONEST PORTER.-A gentleman residing in London_reported to the Great Western Railway Company's officials at Birmingham the other day that he had left a bag containing 500l. in notes and cash in a railway carriage. He had come from Warwick races, and the fact of leaving the bag in the carriage did not occur to him until after he had got out of the station. As a great many extra trains had been running during the day, it was difficult to identify the carriage in which he had been riding. A search of several trains was made, but without success. The following

morning a porter employed by the company went to Handsworth to clean some carriages which had been used on the previous day. On entering a compartment of one of the carriages he found the missing bag, containing the whole of the money. He at once communicated with Mr. Burlinson, the divisional superintendent, and the owner was sent for and the bag and its contents delivered up to him. He presented the porter with 107.

11. A CURIOUS FACT came out at an inquest held at Wigan on the body of a man employed in a coal mine in the neighbourhood, who was killed by a fall of roof in the pit. The deceased, it was stated, was blind or nearly so, and on the surface could only see objects at a few yards' distance. There are, it seems, numbers of blind men employed in the mines in the district. The deceased, who was chiefly occupied in drawing, as being the easiest labour, had been working for six years in the pit, and it was well known that he was blind. In the same pit there is another blind man. A remarkable feature in the case is that the deceased, notwithstanding his blindness, used a Davy lamp, and it appears that such is the practice of other blind men who work in collieries, though, as the coroner remarked, it was not easy to understand for what purpose the lamps are thus carried by the blind miners. It was doubtful whether the accident which caused the death of the deceased could have been avoided, even supposing he had his eyesight, and the jury therefore returned a verdict of accidental death. Certainly life in a coalmine must be less unpleasant to those whose normal condition is one of darkness; but how far the employment in pits of persons thus afflicted is compatible with their own safety and that of their fellow workmen is, to say the least, questionable.

- BRIGHAM YOUNG'S WILL.-The will of Brigham Young was read at Salt Lake in the presence of all his wives and children. The estate is stated to be worth $2,000,000. He leaves his property to be divided equally among his 17 wives and 56 children, but sundry houses are given to special favourites, notably his first wife, Amelia, to whom is given the Amelia Palace, a large and handsome modern building. The reading of the will was well received by the crowd of interested persons present.

The

- DONCASTER RACES.-At Doncaster Races the St. Leger Stakes was won by Silvio, Lady Golightly being second, and Manoeuvre third; fourteen horses started. The time was 3 min. 27 sec. time last year was 3 min. 19 sec. The following were the winners of other races :-Cleveland Handicap, Hesper; Her Majesty's Plate, Chesterton walked over; Rufford Abbey Stakes, Woodquest; the Corporation Stakes, Gwendoline; Milton Stakes, Macadam.

- SALE OF ANIMALS BY AUCTION.-A question of considerable importance as regards the sale of animals by auction is involved in a case heard a few days ago at the Dunfermline Sheriff Court. A cattle salesman of that town sued a butcher for the price of a cow alleged to have been knocked down to him for 15l. 158. at a public sale on the 22nd of May last. The peculiarity of the case consisted

in the fact that almost simultaneously with the hammer falling the cow made a leap and, falling also, broke her leg. The defender admitted that the cow was knocked down to him, but denied that he was the highest bidder. He therefore urged that there was no sale, and that the pursuer had no power to force the cow upon him without his consent. The sheriff-substitute gave decree for the pursuer. On appeal, however, this has been reversed, and the sheriff-principal has decided in the defender's favour on the ground that there can be no doubt that if it were clearly proved that the defender waited till he had ascertained that the cow had broken its leg before he objected to the pursuer knocking down the animal to him the inference that he was the purchaser would have been very strong. The sheriff, however, was of opinion that it was not proved that the defender waited until he knew that the cow's leg had been broken before he repudiated her being knocked down to him.

A FRIGHTFUL COLLISION occurred in the Channel on Tuesday night, which has led to the loss of two ships and more than a hundred lives. The "Avalanche," an iron clipper ship, bound for Wellington, New Zealand, being on the port tack off Portland, came into collision with the "Forest," a large ship, of Windsor, Nova Scotia, which was going out in ballast and was on the starboard tack. The "Avalanche" was in charge of a pilot, so that her commander, Captain Williams, who was drowned-and who was esteemed by all who knew him as one of the ablest seamen they had ever seen-was not responsible for the collision. Only twelve people were saved, three of the crew of the "Avalanche and nine of the crew of the "Forest," her captain, Ephraim Lockhart, amongst them; while all the rest, including nearly a hundred passengers on board the "Avalanche," perished. It is said that the lights of the "Avalanche were seen from the "Forest" for halfan-hour before the collision, but that the collision was due to the neglect of the pilot on the "Avalanche," who either did not keep a good look-out, or did not follow the rule of the sea by giving way to the "Forest."

-THE TELEPHONE has hitherto been regarded rather in the light of an ingenious plaything than as an instrument of practical utility. Some experiments, however, tried with it to-day by Dr. Foster, Government Inspector of Mines, at the Eliza Mine, St. Austell, shows that it may do better service than in being the medium for the conveyance of songs and jokes from a distance. The instrument, attached to a covered copper wire, was sent down the ventilating shaft, and within a quarter of an hour speaking at the bottom of the mine was distinctly heard above, the utterances being even more audible, it is stated, on the surface than below. Miners and others who had never seen a telephone before used it without difficulty, and the simplicity with which it worked was as remarkable as its efficiency. It is impossible to overestimate the advantage that might under certain circumstances be gained by the