Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-10-17
C ENERAL NOTES.

a QispaCcQ from 1dIle says. III u6kO
iiating with the Madagascar Embassy France
will claim restitution of her sovereignty
over nine-tenths of the island, which be-
longed to her century ago."
Mr.. William a. Sims, Of Yolo county,
asserted in the State Convention of the Calf
fornia Prohibltionists that he did not drink,
smoke, chew, lie or steal. and the delegates
straightway nominated him for Lieutenant
Governor by reclamation.
Prince Bismarck, who has long been one
OF the most decorated personsges in Chris
tendon, has Just received an addition to his
decorations in the Order OF the Chrysanthe-
mum, conferred upon him by the Mikado OF
Japan. He has now forty-t7e decorations.
The London Saturday Re0ieoO calls Ameri-
ca ''the country par excellence Of superficial
Culture and affected interest in science and
arts.' This same journal, in discussing
certain phases Of recent political imbroglio
ia New York, conveys the startling informa-
ton that Mr.. Conkling requested the
President to pass certain elevated railroad
bill' as personal favor!
Father Peter John Beekx, the General OF
the Order of Jesuits, is now in his S7th year,
and his declining health has of late given rise
to much speculation concerning his proba-
BILE successor. He has been at the head OF
the order for nearly thirty years, which Is
an unusually long period, since it is the rule
for only men already well advanced In
years to be elevated to the position.
A new and most valuable textile plant is
discovered growing wild in Honduras. 1t
will doubtless grow in some Southern
States. The pita or bromelic produces a
fine fibre of great strength. 1t combines,
like ramie, equally with silk and wool and
takes the same dies. Machinery is set up
in California that proved its excellence and
rates its value, when prepared, at $1,000
ton.
The International Getreide Zeitosag, pub
lished in connection with the International
Seed Fair lately held at Leipzig, points out
that enormous fields of cereals in every
stage of cultivation have been left I'M
touched In Russia because Of the partial eX-
clusion of the Jews from the cereal trade,
consequent on the prosecutions. The agri-
cultural classes cannot get advances on their
grain.
An item Of interest to Episcopalians is the
fact that the fiftieth anniversary of the con-
secration of DIR. Benjamin Bosworth Smith
to the episcopate will occur on the 31st inst. ,
on which occasion a commemorative service
will he held at St. Paul's Chapel, New York,
on Sunday, 29th, when sermons will be de-
livered by sons Of the Bishop, who, together
with Bishop McIlvaine, were cOnsecrated
with Bishop Smith in that chapel, October
3lst, 1882. Besides this, the leading clergy
have resolved to present the venerable pre-
siding Bishop with an address On the Tues
day following, together with suitable SOU
venir.
The. shipment of nitrates from Tarapaca
under Gillian management has recently as
sumed extraordinary proportions, partly
from an effort to push the business and
partly from an unusual demand owing to
the long cessation of shipments. On the
18th Of August forty vessels were loading st
Iouique, and fourteen at Pisaqua. During
the month ending August 81, about 1900
tons were shipped from Talfal and Port
Olivia, the total shipments for the year being
%. 600 tons. ConsignmeHts are mostly to
England, though San Francisco and various
European markets are taking some. The
status of the Gillian control over the depos-
its is not yet settled, but they are making
good use Of their time.
One Of the new rules Of the United States
Treasury is designed to prevent employees
and officers too-from leaving the scene of
duty by private door before the close OF
Office hours. The first man who was tripped
by this regulation was Comptroller Knox
himself. The other day, accompanied by
his wife, he started to leave the building
some time before the close OF business by
the west door, where his carriage was in
waiting, but the doorkeeper said, "No, sir;
hapa rNrHa fr, hot
effect are strict" EXpoetulation and en-
treaty were of no avail, and Mr.. KuoX was
Obliged to 90 to the main door at the other
side of the building, where, after giving q
proper excuse for going away so early, he
was allowed to depart.
An expedition sent out by the Interoce-
anic Canal Company to explore the interior
of the Isthmus and determine the extent Of
damage by the recent earthquakes, found
that many Of the reports had been outrage
ously exaggerated. They examined the
whole country from Chsgres to the coast,
embracing all the territory in which the ma
tives reported such startling phenomena.
The caving in Of the high, water-worn banks
of the Ch8gres river had furnished the at
frighted Indians with the groundwork for
stories of hot springs, volcanic eruptions and
water spouts. The extraordinary assures In
the ground were only such as resulted from
the settling of the insecure banks. All told,
the damage to property, though in many
cases heavy, is not nearly so bad as the first
rumors made 1t out.
Mr.. Herbert Spencer is now spending a
few days In Philadelphia as the guest of Mr..
G.. w. Childs, after which he will return to
New York, and then, as soon as possible,
set sail for his home in England. His
health is so poor and the inevitable annoy
ances OF travel are so great that he has
given I'D all idea of ever visiting the far
West. In fact, he is sorely disappointed
with his visit to this country, so far as its
effect upon his health is concerned. he is
now scarcely as we'll as when he came here,
and this result he attributes in great part to
the characteristic American spirit of unrest
and hurry and hustle with which he has
been obliged to come 10 contact, especially
in the large cities. He considers, however,
that the American people have been very
kind in respecting his wishes for quiet and
seclusion.
When President Arthur was on his way
from Alexandria Bay to New York, two
little girls, aged 10 and Is years, nieces of
General Butterield, were presented to him,
they being passengers on the same car.
When they told him that they too had been
boating and fishing, he described to them
the glorious sport he had had on the St.
Lawrence, and asked: Chow would you
like to catch a fifty-pound fish on light rod
ike YOURS, with tip almost as slender as a
rye straw? That beats bass fishing. You
have to play with the fish an hour or two
sometimes, and be careful not to allow him
to escape or to break your rod" ''Why,"
said Miss Thirteen-Yesrs-old, "a little girl
up to Carlton caught a four pound bass and
broke the pole right offl'' "Ah," replied
the President, "when she gets older she
will soon learn to play larger fish than
that on light rod, and land him, too"
The magnificent Yellowstone Park is in
danger of being rapidly destroyed and its
natural beauties defaced by wantonness and
vandalism, unless the government steps
in to protect it. 1t is said the first thing the
Englishman does after arrival In this cOun-
try is to start for the Yellowstone Park, and
needlessly shoots down scores Of its large
game-deer, buffalOes, bears, antelope, and
mountain sheep. Nor are foreigners always
the chief sinners in this respect. Many of
the most famous Yellowstone geysers have
already been ruined by people who amuse
themselves by hurting immense trunks OF
pine trees into them In order to see the
water force them high in the air. In many
cases these logs have stuck in the water
apertures, and have completely stopped the
spouting. In Wyoming the people are
taking steps to put stop to such vandal-
ism, and the wholesale slaughter OF butfa-
loes and other game by English tourists.
A German writer, Emil Dechert, contro-
verts the idea that North America is to over
whelm Europe in products and commerce.
He says that Europe has foreign commerce
twice as great as all the rest Of the world;
that she predominates in all other produc-
t4onc. ,rodroas fOr1r ffnnaG ae uIIph coal and