The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1880-05-15
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Obertiser
SATURDAY, MAY Is.
Foreign News Items.

To neutralIse the sting of the gnat or mosquito
rub the part affected with a little cerumen, that
is, the wax of the ear.
The New York World has increased it's price
from three cents a copy to four cents on account
of the rise in the paper.
The estimate of the total loss by the fire on the
steamer City Of Sydney is estimated By the Marine
Adjudicater at $3.50 0 of which $4,000 10 on the
cargo and $1,000 on the vessel.
The electric light certainly attracts. Since it
was introduced into the reading room of the Bri-
tish Museum, there mas been such a constant
crowd of readers that those in charge are almost
overwhelmed. 1t is often impossible to secure q
seat without great delay.
In October, 1880, a Worlds Fair will be
opened at Melbourne. Australia. All goods will
be admitted free of duty, and exhibitors will not
building. 1t is presumed that the American de-
partment will be lighted with the electric light.
There are 600, 900 acres of land in the arid
region of America, all of which belong to
the government, and it is proposed to make a
part of this vast area fertile by means of arte-
sian wells. Not more than three per cent. of it
can be utilised practically.
Both houses of the Iowa legislature have
agreed on a constitutional amendment for sub
mission to the popular vote, that "no person
shall manufacture for sale, or sell, or keep for
N0S - 1905 ~ AA4AOAG "hoL
ever, including ale, wine and beer.
The Pope accepts a gift of 1850 from two of
the counties of Ireland in which the distress is
great. The Aurora, the Pope's official organ
says: " Behold : "a 900 francs the Irish, while
suffering from the most terrible starvation, have
yet found the means of giving the Supreme
Pontif."
Famines, like that now in Ireland, and some
which have been far more serious, have been very
N,4 - loNa -ao.5 t. 10E0~ E@I -
ton destroyed many of the inhabitants of Fin
land in 1871 the well-remembered terrible
famine began in Northwestern China; Eastern
Russia experienced a similar dearth of food in
1873, the result of a great drought in conse-
quence of the failure of the rice crop in Bengal
in 1874, it is estimates that half a million Of
lives were lost since then in Bulgaria, Cash
mere, and Brazil, famine has ragged and at the
present time is raging in Ireland, Silesia, and
provinces of Persia.
The famous diamond necklace presented by the
Khedive of Egypt to General Sherman's eldest
daughter, on the occasion of her marriage to
Lieut.. Fitch, has at last ceased to have any pub
lie history. Lieut.. Fitch could not pay the
$50 900 duties on it, so Congress passed an act
authorizing the custom house officers to deliver
the diamonds free of duty. But after this, Lieut..
Fitch found that the yearly tax on the diamonds,
in st. Louis County, Missouri, where he lived,
would be much more than his salary, and they
were du elepHanJ On HIS ndnuSs Oeu. CueIHdn
took pity on him, and returned the necklace
with thanks to the Egyptian donor. The Khe-
dive replied that he wished the diamonds divided
among the Generals four daughters. The neck
lace was then mounted in four magnificent pen
dants, four pairs of splendid solitaire earrings
and eight rings. The value of each set is
SIS, 600. This makes each daughter rich in her
own right, through the generosity of Egypt's
former ruler.
At the New York Post Office, a few days ago,
a letter from Ireland came directed to " My
Mother, New York, America" OF course, it
was an impossibility to tell to whom the letter
belonged, and preparations were made to send it
to the dead letter office. The same day, however,
a woman called at the general delivery window
and asked for a letter from her son. The gentle
man who has charge OF the deciphering bureau
was Immediately struck with the coincidence.
and sent for the letter alluded to above. He
asked the woman where her son lived, and when
she gave the name of the town it was found to be
the same as the post-mark on the letter. Other
inquiries justified the official in delivering the
letter to the woman. but he insisted that she
should open it there, and it was discovered that
it was from her son, and that she was the person
fur whom IL was intAnded