The Government of New South Wales prepared a cabinet minute for the Governor for transmission to the Secretary of State for the Colonies on the subject of the proposed annexation of New Guinea. It contained the following passages: My colleagues and myself venture respectfully to offer the opinion that on many grounds it would be desirable in the highest interests of civilization that Great Britain should, with as little delay as possible, The following table contains the latest postal take possession not only of the magnificent island statistics for the colonies: of New Guinea but of the islands of New Britain, New Ireland, and the chain of islands to the northeast and east of New Guinea, from Beaugainville Island to San Christoval, the southeasternmost of the Solomon group. The group of New Hebrides, including Espiritu Santo, Malicolo, and Sandwich, with the smaller adjoining islands; and Marshal Gilbert and Ellice Islands, to all of which the traffic from Sydney extends. It appears to us that more extended dominion over these waters on the part of the British Empire would not only be consistent with the maritime supremacy of England, but conduce much to the tranquillity and peace of the Australian colonies, while the occupation by foreign governments of large islands in the immediate neighborhood of our coast, and on the very tracks of our ocean commube in time of war fatal to our free navigation of the nication with the mother-country, might and would sea which adjoins our territory, whose coast-line, stretching from our capital northward to within sight of New Guinea, is 1,700 miles in extent. The extension of British sovereignty over Polynesia self, open up new and rich fields for the employment would not only, as it seems to my colleagues and myof British capital and enterprise, but tend to the immediate mitigation of many evils which naturally follow from the lawless condition of some of these islands, and to the early extinction of the greatest of all those, unlawful traffic in labor. Of the possibility of any one or more of the Australian colonies undertaking, with imperial sanction, and by means of powers specially conferred, the annexation of these islands, or any one of them, my colleagues and myself desire to express our concurrence in the view taken by Sir James Martin on this subject in a letter addressed to the Earl of Belmore on the 8th of August, 1871. We are of opinion that no such scheme is possible. Even if the inhabitants of these colonies, the resources of which are so largely drawn upon for the construction of great public works and the opening up of improved means of internal communication, were able or disposed to bear the necessary expenditure (which we do not believe would be the case), it would be impossible for any colony, or group of colonies, to exercise the powers and authority, and inspire the obedience which belong to a great empire. The first English Governor of the Feejee Islands, Sir Arthur Gordon, arrived in that colony during the month of September. He was heartily welcomed by the British residents, and, after making several excursions around the coast-line, he decided that Levaka was to continue as the seat of government. The planters, who, since the failure of cotton as a remunerative crop, had been undecided in their pursuits, have turned their attention to sugar; but, although a large amount of cane had been grown, the measure of success was small, owing to want of experience in its cultivation. During the past year the islands were visited by the measles. It is estimated that 40,000 natives died during the plague. AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN MONARCHY, an empire in Central Europe. Emperor, Francis Joseph I., born August 18, 1830; succeeded his uncle, the Emperor Ferdinand I., on December 2, 1848. Heir-apparent to the throne, Archduke Rudolphus, born August 21, 1858. Area of the monarchy, 240,348 square miles; population, according to the census of 1869, 35,901,435. The area of cis-Leithan Austria (the lands represented in the Reichsrath) is 115,908 square miles; population at the end of 1874, officially estimated at 21,169,341. The estimate is based upon the census of December 31, 1869, by adding the average percentage of increase. It was distributed among the different crown-lands as follows: 787,494 103,841 5,287,244 2,056,081 544,459 5,827,798 CLASS. 587,815 460,827 Ocean-vessels Coasting-vessels. Number. Tonnage. Men. Dalmatia Fishing-boats, light-boats, etc.... 4,578 12,293 Total 7,918 6,323 13,823 The movement of shipping in the Austrian ports, during the year 1872, was as follows: Of the total population, 10,303,437 were of the male, and 10,865,904 of the female sex. The number of marriages in 1873 was 193,836, of births 829,947 (429,324 males, 400,623 females). Of the children born alive, 712,109 were legitimate, and 98,727 illegitimate; of those still-born, 15,420 were legitimate, and Ports. 3,691 illegitimate. The number of twins was 18,530. The number of deaths was 679,396 (354,333 male, and 325,063 female). The ministry for the common affairs of the empire consisted, at the beginning of the year, of Count Andrassy, Minister of Foreign Affairs and of the Imperial House (appointed 1871); Baron von Holzgethan, Minister of the Finances of the Empire (appointed January, 1872); and Baron von Koller, Minister of War (appointed June 14, 1874). The ministry of cis-Leithan Austria was composed of Prince Adolf von Auersperg, President (appointed November, 1871); J. Lasser Baron von Zollheim, Interior (November, 1871); C. von Stremayr, Public Works and Instruction (November, 1871); Glaser, Justice (November, 1871); J. Ritter von Chlumecky, Commerce and Political Economy (appointed in November, 1871, Minister of Agriculture; transferred to the Ministry of Commerce in May, 1875); Baron von Pretis-Cagnado, Finances (January, 1872); Colonel Horst, Defense of the Country (appointed pro tem., November, 1871, definitely March, 1871); Count ColloredoMannsfeld, Agriculture (May, 1875); J. Unger (November, 1871) and Fl. Ziemialkowski (April, 1873), ministers without portfolio. ing this session was chiefly given to financial and railroad bills. The House of Deputies disposed of forty bills introduced by the Government and of eleven introduced by its own members. One of the last measures discussed and adopted by the House of Deputies was a bill for the regulation of the relations of the Old Catholics. The draft of this bill, prepared by a committee of the House, avoids the expression "Old Catholics" altogether, and designates them as "those Catholics who recognize all the doctrines of the Catholic Church, with the exception of the doctrines proclaimed in the Papal bull 'Pastor Eternus' of July 18, 1870, relative to the infallibility and the supreme and immediate jurisdiction of the Roman Pope." The draft limits itself to demanding for those Catholics the right to organizé independent congregations. The ministry observed a complete silence in regard to the bill, but all its members voted against it. The President of the Herrenhaus, Prince Carlos Auersberg, promised to a deputation of the Old Catholics of Vienna that their relations would be fully regulated in the fall. The government bill providing for the organization of a court of administration (Verwaltungsgerichtshof) was adopted after a brilliant speech of Minister Unger. The fall session of the Reichsrath was opened on October 18th. The Czechic deputies of Bohemia adhered to their determination not to attend. The representatives of the other dissatisfied Slavic nationalities, the Czechs of Moravia, the Poles, and the Slovens, were again present, and the deputies belonging to the Catholic party of the Tyrol also resolved not to absent themselves. On October 19th the Minister of Finance presented the budget for 1876. The expenditures were estimated at 403,869,876 florins, 21,587,827 florins more than in 1875; the public revenue at 378,941,953 florins, or 5,852,054 florins more than in 1875; the deficit at 24,927,923, exceeding that of the preceding year by 15,735,773 florins. On November 9th the House of Deputies adopted a bill introduced by Dr. Wildauer relative to school legislation, after striking out those sections of the bill which related to Galicia. The Minister of Public Instruction disapproved of the bill, which he designated as neither opportune nor necessary, as all its provisions were contained in the present laws, and as the provisions relative to the superintendence of the schools were everywhere carried out, even in the Tyrol. He recognized, however, the competency of the Reichsrath to legislate on the subject. The Emperor appointed four new members of the Herrenhaus during life, who are believed to be all favorable to the present constitution. Two of them are abbots. Among the questions that are rising to greater importance are those of protection and free trade. On November 14th forty-two deputies drew up a scheme of commercial polity which, in their opinion, would cover the entire deficit of the Government estimates. The first Austrian Industrial Diet (Gewerbetag), which met on November 12th at Reichenbach in Bohemia, passed resolutions in favor of discontinuing the commercial treaties of the empire existing at present. The joint annual meeting of the delegations of the legislatures of cis-Leithan Austria and Hungary met in September, at Vienna. The Austrian delegation elected the ex-minister Herr von Schmerling, the Hungarian Herr von Szögyenyi as President. The Emperor, in his replies to the addresses presented to him by the presidents of the deputations, spoke of the peaceable tendencies of Austria and the perfect understanding with the two neighboring empires. The Chancellor of the Empire, Count Andrassy, stated that Austria was aiming, in the Oriental question, at three things: protection of the Austro-Hungarian interests, preservation of the European peace, and removal of the serious grievances of the rayahs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The financial condition of the two countries was represented by the two Ministers of Finances as being not brilliant, but at the same time as not desperate. The meeting of the delegations was closed on October 17th. The amount allowed by the delegations for the common expenditures of the empire is 115,845,331 florins, of which 71,237,817 florins are to be paid by cis-Leithan Austria, and 30,530,527 florins by Hungary. Both delegations passed resolutions expressing their confidence in the ministry for the Common Affairs of the Empire, and the Chancellor of the Empire specially thanked them, in the name of the Emperor, for their readiness to grant the increased amounts needed for maintaining the efficiency of the army. The reasons for the material increase of this year's army estimates were, according to an official paper, as follows: 1. The manufacture of new steel ordnance, with which the entire artillery-force is to be provided. The amount will be heavy, but the material costs only about a quarter of what would be required for cast-steel guns. 2. The military schools and officers' colleges stand in need of a radical reform. 3. It has been found necessary to raise the scale of pensions paid to retiring officers, who are henceforth to be more generally employed in the administrative service of the empire. 4. A great number of officers are henceforth to be mounted. 5. The material condition of the rank and file urgently requires improvement, though the War Ministry finds itself compelled, by financial considerations, to rest content, for the present, with a smaller progress than it would otherwise desire. 6. An additional sum is required for the maintenance of barracks, hospitals, and magazines, and likewise for the fuller organization of the general staff. 7. In the last place, something must necessa rily be done for the completion of defensive fortifications. This want is fully as urgent as that for better weapons in the army. The comments of the Austrian and Hungarian papers on the proceedings of the delegations were not generally favorable. The Austrians were dissatisfied with the unequal distribution of the amounts to be raised by the two countries, and many Hungarians say that they might well get along without the institution of delegations. On April 4th the monument of the late Emperor Maximilian, in Trieste, was unveiled in the presence of the Emperor and Archdukes of Austria, who were loudly cheered by an immense crowd. Signor Porenta, the President of the Memorial Committee, made a speech in Italian, in which he extolled the Emperor Maximilian and expressed the devotion of Trieste to the house of Austria. The Emperor made a suitable reply in the same language, in which he thanked M. Porenta and the town of Trieste. The Emperor subseqently addressed an autograph letter to the Governor of Trieste, expressing lively satisfaction at the evidence he has received of the unalterable affection and loyal sentiments entertained toward him by the population. The relations of Austria to foreign powers were of a friendly character. On April 5th the Emperor visited the King of Italy in Venice, and before his departure congratulated him upon the consolidation of Italy. At a grand public dinner given in his honor, the Emperor, in reply to a toast from the King of Italy, drank to the well-being and prosperity of Italy. The semi-official papers declared the object of their visit to be the establishment of closer connections between Italy and the three European empires for the purpose of securing the continuance of peace. The reception of the Emperor in Italy was quite enthusiastic; only the organs of the Catholic Church expressed their decided dissatisfaction with the exchange of friendly sentiments between the two Governments. On June 28th an interview between the Emperors of Austria and Russia took place at Eger, Bohemia. From Venice, the Emperor set out for a long-intended journey through Dalmatia, where he met with an enthusiastic reception. The five days' stay at Zara, the capital of Dalmatia, was one continuous succession of rejoicings. The Italian population of the town as well as the Slavonic population, which had come in large numbers and with its picturesque costume, vied with each other in their loyal manifestations. Generally opposed to each other in everything else, they met on common ground on this occasion. On an excursion made from Zara on the fine imperial road which runs along the coast to Bentovay, the Emperor was greeted by the immense concourse of the population, for from the remotest villages on the mountainsides people had come down, and there was not a hamlet which did not send at least a deputation. A great feature was the numerous troops of men who received the Emperor with salvos, firing off their pistols. Nearly every man in that country is armed and has hitherto belonged to a sort of irregular militia. Now the militia law for the whole empire is being introduced into Dalmatia, and several companies of these new troops could already be inspected, but the majority of the male population remains in its old organization by villages and clans, and wears its own picturesque costume, in which red is predominant and which shows off that powerful race to the greatest advantage. In Cattaro, the Emperor received a visit from the Prince of Montenegro. He returned to Vienna on May 15th. On April 6th sixteen of the seventeen provincial Diets of cis-Leithan Austria were opened. The complexion of several of these Diets, which are, not less than the Reichsrath, the battleground of the different religious, political, and national parties of the empire, was in some respects materially different from that of last year. In the Diet of the Tyrol, the delegates of the Italian portion took their seats for the first time since 1861, and added considerably to the strength of the Liberal party. In the Diet of Carniola, in which province the Slovens constitute more than 90 per cent. of the population, the result of the elections of the Chambers of Commerce gave this year to the Constitutional party in union with the Liberal party of the Young Slovens a majority in all questions relating to church and school, while last year the Catholic party in union with the Old Slovens controlled the majority. The Bohemian Diet is but little changed, the Liberal party of Young Czechs numbering this year nine, instead of seven members. To all the Diets the Government made communications concerning the introduction of the metrical system of weights and measures. In Bohemia and Moravia, the improvement of the salaries and positions of school-teachers formed a prominent subject of discussion. It seems that the functions and powers of the provincial Diets are not yet fully understood. In the Diet of Styria, the commissioner of the Government replied to an interpellation which had been directed to him soon after the opening of the Diet, that the right of making interpellations did not at all belong to a provincial Diet, while in the Diet of Lower Austria the commissioner of the Government replied, in a similar case, that the particular interpellations addressed to him exceeded the jurisdiction of the provincial Diet, thus not denying to the Diets the right of interpellating in general. Most of the Diets were closed on May 14th; that of Galicia was continued to the end of May, and that of Dalmatia did not open until May 19th. Austria is still suffering severely from the great financial crisis which began in 1873, and put an end to the swindling operations of many of the numerous stock companies. One of the most interesting episodes in the history of the financial distress which followed the outbreak of the crisis is the trial of the Director-Gen that Banhaus was as deeply involved in railroad speculations as Ofenheim. The proof was not conclusive, but nevertheless an impression very unfavorable to the Minister of Commerce was produced. The trial was brought to a conclusion on February 27th, and ended in the acquittal of Ofenheim. The result was partly ascribed to the superior intelligence of Ofenheim, who produced a powerful impression upon the jury and public opinion when he declared that by his enterprises he had drawn to Austria more than 176,000,000 florins, that he was giving steady employment and regular pay to thousands of working-men, and in case of his acquittal he would give 100,000 florins to the poor of Vienna. The Minister of Commerce deemed it best to leave Vienna "for reasons of health," and a few months later the resignation offered by him was accepted by the Emperor. eral of the Lemberg-Czernowitz road, Ofenheim, which began at Vienna in January, 1875. The indictment charges Ofenheim with ten separate frauds, and maintains that all the affairs of the company were in his hands; that he was absolute master, and that, therefore, nothing occurred without his knowledge. His personal influence is, moreover, traced by the indictment in every particular on which the charges are founded. Ofenheim, in his defense, stated that by assisting Brassey's financial operations he acted in the company's interest. By hurrying on the construction of the line on Roumanian territory during the French and German War he obeyed the express wishes of the highest quarters in Vienna. The accused was subjected to a general examination, in the course of which he gave an account of his former life. He stated that previous to the financial crisis he was possessed of 2,250,000 florins, his fortune now amounted The centenary of the incorporation of the to 850,000 florins, and this he owed to the Bukowina with the Austrian dominions was reputation he had gained by the manner in solemnly celebrated at Czernowitz October 4th. which he had accomplished the difficult task of Deputations from all the towns and rural comthe construction of the Lemberg-Czernowitz munities, numbering in all about 1,200 persons, Railway. Through this he was brought into were in attendance, and all the nationalities connection with lucrative undertakings. The represented in this province indulged in their accused alleged that he only obtained the com- peculiar popular festivities. The centenary mission to construct the railway in 1864, after celebration began with a procession of all the he had succeeded in interesting the English deputies of the town and communities to the firm of Brassey in the undertaking, and he was residence of the Governor, to whom a commitappointed director-general after the formation tee of deputies, headed by the President of of the joint-stock company, with a salary of the Provincial Diet, officially rendered the 150,000 florins. In the interest of a speedy com- homage of the province. The Governor read pletion of the line, he supported Mr. Brassey by to the deputies an imperial rescript which was advice and acts in connection with difficulties received with great enthusiasm. Then foloccurring respecting the laying of the foundation lowed the unveiling of the Austria monument, of the work, the supplies, and certain financial the work of Prof. Peckary, in Czernowitz, operations. He did so also at the construction on the Austria place, with an address by the of the Czernowitz-Suczawa line, yet he asked as Burgomaster of Czernowitz, Dr. Ambros von builder from the contractors only strictly what Rechtenberg. The opening of the new unihe was entitled to. The conflict with the Gov- versity, which has been founded by the Ausernment the accused stated to have been of a trian Government in honor of the centenary, purely personal character, because he did not began with a speech by the Minister of Public agree with the railway policy of the Minister Instruction, Dr. Stremayr, which was followed of Commerce, and he declared that at the time by addresses from the first rector of the uniof his resignation the company held the best versity, Dr. Tomaszczuk and Prof. Schuler-Libpossible position. Replying to an observation loy. All the Austrian universities, as well as of the President of the Tribunal, that the com- Strasburg and Göttingen, had sent special deppany had been compelled, notwithstanding, to uties to this celebration, and numerous letters issue a preference loan, the accused said that of gratulation were received from learned instiwas done under brilliant conditions. He showed tutions in all parts of Europe. The new unithat £190,000 had been really paid to Messrs. versity is the only one in Austria which has Brassey. He could, however, give no explana- a theological faculty of the Orthodox Oriention as to what was done with this sum. He tal (non-united Greek) Church. Besides the received a present of £5,000 for his trouble. theological faculty, it has for the present only With regard to another question of the presi- two others, one of law and polical economy dent, the accused said that the shareholders and one of philosophy. Most of the lectures did not suffer by the transactions, since they will be given in the German language. In knew the burdens that had to be undertaken Roumania, the festivities of Czernowitz gave previous to subscribing. On January 28th the great offense to all classes of the population. Minister of Commerce Banhaus was called to The Roumanians look upon the Bukowina as give an account on his relations to several raila province which, being chiefly inhabited by road and banking companies previous to his Roumanians and torn from them by violence, entering the cabinet. The counsel for Ofen- should be reunited with them in course of heim threatened to prove by means of a receipt time. A member of the Roumanian House of |