The Newtown bee., 1879-10-22
TIMELY TOPICS.

The wholesale and wanton destruction
of walrus by the whaling ship crews in
I'll e Arctic ocean, which has been going
on for some time and is increasing every
year, is likely to result in their practical
determination unless it is speedily
| checked. The captain of New Bedford
whaler estimates that no less than 80, 600
walrus have been killed this season. only
| about third of which were secured.
/ One of the results of this needless and
useless slaughter is the death through
starvation of many of the natives of the
Arctic regions, who depend upon the
walrus for food. In one village of 200
people all but one man died last winter,
and in other villages from third TO a
half of the population perished.7 Some
| of the whaling-vessel captains have been
humane enough this year to refrain from
killing any walrus. ..-#ea
The United States is the greatest
misunderstanding country in the world,
and uses annually more raisins than the
whole of Europe. This market is
mainly supplied from Spain, the raisins
known as "Malagas" being considered
the best. They come from a COMPARE
lively narrow strip of country in the
south of Spain, which has hitherto been
regarded as SURPRISING all other regions
for raisins of that character. The an
nual yield of Malaga grapes averages
2, 2,450,OOO boxes of twenty pounds each.
1t sometimes reaches 9, SOC, 900 boxes, and
II n nr.n
marketed. OF this enormous yield the
United States takes fully one-haf, on
which it pays a duty-as on all other
raisins-of two and a half cents per
pound. The American raisins are made
from white grape-the 'tMuscat of
Alexandra"-to the raising of which
the soil and climate of large portion Of
California are well adapted.
The regimen applicable in French pen
itentiaries to ordinary criminals is so
much more severe than that which is
applied to convicts undergoing punish
ment for crimes of a graver kind that il
is very common thing for the former
to commit some offence which will in
sure their being sent to New Caledonia.
The favorite practice has been to stab or
otherwise injure one of the officials of
the Jail or fellow prisoner, and attacks
of this character have been increasing
so rapidly during the last few years that
the Minister of Justice has deemed it
necessary to propose IN alteration of the
system. A bill brought into the Cham
Der of Deputies just before the recess,
and unanimously approved by the COM
mission to which it was referred, pro-
vides tina. when a pr soner is sentenced
to penal servitude for life for a crime
committed while in prison, the court
shall be empowered to order that the
punishment be carried out in one of the
French penitentiaries known as the
Maison Centaries" for a period not
less than the original sentence. This is
only a temporary measure, and the min
ister contemplates proposing a complete
alteration in the scale of penalties as ap-
piled in the French prisons, while there
is some talk of adding TO the strictness
of the transportation regime.
A good bicyclist can easily out-trayel
horse, and journeys have been made
on these instruments which are indeed
wonderful. A mile has been made in
England in two minutes and ffty-tlIree
seconds, and in the United States in
trifie over three minutes, while a
journey of 100 miles has been performed
over country roads in seven hours and
nineteen minutes, and trip of2I2 miles
in twenty-three hours and fifly-four
minutes. Two gentlemen in England
rode journey of s5s miles in eleven
days, an average of seventy-nine miles a
day, and two French bicyclists made a
trip of 900 leagues in twenty-seven rid
ing days, or an average of about ninety
two miles per day. In the United States
Mr. III. Z. Parkhurst rode from Boston
to South Pennington and back, a dis
tance of forty miles, without stop, in
three hours and thirty-six minutes, and
Messrs. +. S. and E. p Jaquith rode loo
miles in the suburbs of Boston in eleven
hours and forty-five minutes, including
stops. Hundreds of gentlemen in Eng
land use these vehicles who cannot af-
ford torses snd whose business required
extensive running about, and as SUBJ
stitute for the horse within certain
limits it is the most complete machine
ever invented. There are seventeen
bicycling clubs in the United States, and
this method of locomotion is gaining
ground in the favor of those who incline