The Blandford and Wimbourne Telegram. — 1880-01-02 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

GENI:IIAL  M. Pceyeinet has at length definitely- undertaken the task id forming a new French Ministry, President t trvy having left him complete freedom of action in the eMUce of his colleagnes. In spite of all remonstrances, the Turkish Government continues to resist the carrying out of the prwisions of the Berlin Treaty in refereaee to t ;recce and 31ontenegro. Austria is pressing the Porte to settle the Montenegrin question, but the apathetic Turkish officials make no pretence of fulfilling their pledges. smi was eapr mei in a cave on the 2nd inst., and is to be taken to Pretoria. he man who lately attempted the life of the Viceroy is said by his father to have been insane from boyhood, and to have twice tried to commit suicide. If er Majesty atillutilleei her intention of contributing £5OO towards the fund for the relief of the distress in Ireland.  The 4lb4rlbutlon (4' lier Majesty's Christmas alms has been made this year as usual, the recipients utunbering 1,16 s persons. The fidlowing tigurei show the variation in value of Middlesborough No. pig iron :—January, 1`477, Is. ; Jantiarv, Is7s, Is. ; January, 1579, £1 14s. 6d. ; June, £1 1•k ; December, Iti79, 42. 103. The b sun or Benjamin Disraeli, grandfather of Earl Ileaeun,oield, has, with sonic mystery, been repaired. The Earl attained his 74;11 birthday on Sunday. A immorial to the late Princess Alice is to be set up in I)3rn,tolt, consisting of a Hispitd and School for Nurses.  _ _ A destructive fire broke out at Aldershot on Wednesday. sonic petroleum attires being a part of the property attacked. The damage is ostimated at many thousand pounds. .  Bast week the total number of paupers in the metropolis Wu:491.923, of whom -139 7,0 were in workhouses, and 4-I,ss4 recei vel outdoor relit. Compared with the corresponding periods 1 lsrs: P• 77, thee figures show an Mores se of and .4,625 respectively. 'ZA RIX &.—A ce, in lin, to a Berlin correspondent the greatest anxiety prevails inlussian circles respecting the Empress. Let feeble hopes are entertained of Her Majesty's recovery. One of the Court physicians has just departed from St. Petersburg to Cannes to attend on the Empress.  bum Cltimmiwonn on Friday night said he considered the Volunteer force to be of the greatest possible value. In Smith Africa ho found the volunteers of the AngloSaxon race had not deteriorated by leaving England, and he hail every reason to be satisfied with them, whether in the face of the enemy, or when they were discharging the ordinary duties of active service. Considerable alterations will be made in the Indian licence tax. The principal change will be the exemption of all persons with incomes under We rupees, and the limitation of the tax on non-officials to a maximum sum of Sail rupees. officials are to pay one and a half per cent. on their salaries. The Viceroy, the governors, lieutenantgovernors, commanders-in-chief, and members of the Council will thus pay more than any traders.  lu ABANDONIIET OF TOE The vessel sprang a leak on the Ist inst., and by the next day there were three feet of water in her. Although the pumps were set to work the water could not be kept under, and the engine room was soon filled and the fires extinguished. The I,oats were then launched. It is feared, that front 100 to 170 persons have perished. The captain is said to have behaved in a most sailor-like manner.  A director of Edison' Electric Light Company denies that any time has been fixed for a public display of the light, or that all the apparatus is yet contrived. An exhibition on a small scale has, however, taken place, and is said to have given a satisfactory proof of divisibility awl ,ivality, but affording no data for cost. Mr. Barclay, M.P., who has recently made an extAisive tour in the United States, has just exprcssed his opinion that we have by no means seen the last lf American c, enpetition with English farmers. In his opinion, no diminution of the keen competition is likely to he felt for some years. A LAMENTABLE Titec Env occurred at Drokenborough, near Malmesbury, on Christmas Day. A farmer named Lloyd, with his wife and Ilaughter, had sat down to a seasonable dinner of roast beef, when symptoms of poisoning presented themselves, and though medical assistance was SOOR on the spot, Mrs. Lloyd rapidly succumbed and expired. Her husband and daughter were for some time in an alarming condition. A root of monkshood, a virulent poison, had been dug up in the garden, and each of the sufferers had partaken of it in mistake for horse radish. . _ _  .... An alarming railway collision occurred early on Saturday morning, near the Menai-bridge, on the London and North-Western Railway, where the passenger train from Holyhead to the metropolis ran into a goods train. The damage to the rolling stock was considerable, and the psssengers—some tie in number—were severely shaken, hut al were able to resume their journey. The driver and stoker, the latter of whom jumped off at the moment of the collision, received serious injuries. The cause of the accident is a mystery, the line being worked on the absolute block system. The Dempsey family, who were on the 12th instant evicted at Balla for non-payment of rent, are now again in possession of their holdings; the amount clue, together with the costs, having been raised by subscription. _ • •