The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1869-05-22

\ distinguished English actress ~Pronounces
4 Charles Dickens reading of the murder OF Nancy
Skies in Oliver Twist, " the grandest piece OF
acting seen in oar day. and one which casts al!
Mr.. Dickens former efforts lar INTO the shade'
PRUsSIAS AGCR NpI>EvENT.-Th Prusslan mon
archy viii shortly be enriched by the mcorpora-
ton of the Duchy of Lauenberg. This little
territory was cedcd by Denmark by the treaty OF
October. 1864, and was acquired by Prussia,
along with Sculeswig-Ilolstein, in 1866. hing
William thus became Duke of Lauenberg instead
Of the King of Denmark, but the duchy has not
Yet. owing TO some scruples, been incorporated
IN the monarchy. The PrusSian Ch2mbers have
repeatedly urged that the formal act OF anneXa-
ton be made, and ut length the Representative
Assembly of the Duchv itself has preferred the
same request, which Will now he granted. An
other item OF annexation has been completed.
The prlnclpalIty Of Waldeck has ceased 10 exist.
The Prince who ruled this territory had leased 10
Prussia the care OF his o loco souls for a term of
years He has now sold them. \ short time
ago the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha endeavored
To effect n union between hs little duchieS of
Gotha, with o population of 10000 and CobuTg
with II 600 but he failed in consequence of the
petty lealOusies, more especially OF the members
of the Gotha Chamber. He now c~ontemplates
the cesslon of the entire administration of his
domlniOns 10 Prussia, in the same manner as the
the Prince of Naldeck has adopted already.
The duchies can only gain by a change which
relieves them OF the expense of maintaining a
whole army of functionaries, and enables them
10 bear the additional demand upon their purse
occasioned by their forming a part of the Bund.
PRUssIA-THE New NEEDLE GUN.-The Berlin
correspondent of The DAILY NeCs, writes ON
January 9Th About a week ago the VOSSiSche
ZsituHg astOnished its readers with a paragraph
announcing the invention of q new rife, called the
. Zundwassergewehr,' or ignition-water-gun.
Although the experience of the last few years has
prepared us for all sorts of wonders in the way of
firearms, yet igniton-wate- seemed an enigma
which could only be solved by the man who knows
how 10 set the Thames on fire. The passage was
copied in other papers, and will probably excite
no little interest in other parts of the world. until
the prosaic explanation of a misprint has cleared
up the difficulty. The real name of the invention
is a : Zundmessergewehr,'' or an lgnition-knife-
gun. Ii appears that the cartridge is made of
peculiar kind of paper, and that it explodes
when cut by a knife. This sounds very dangerous;
but must assume that a knowledge of the details
would show that the ignition is not so simple as
1t seems. LleuU.-Col. Count l. hndorf, one of
the Kings AdJutants, has tried the new rifle at
the Hasenhaide range, near Berlin, in company
of the inventor, Herr Meyhofer a Prussian country
gentleman, and the results were very satisfactory.
Herr Meyholer succeeded, in two experiments, In
hitting the target Is times in sc seconds. An
other wonderful invention is reported from st.
Petersburg. That a Russian officer has con-
a cannon which can fire 200 shots in a
1t is extremely easy to handle, and very
up to l,S00 wards.