TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.

[By Cable.] [special to the pkess associat/on.] LONDON, January 25. A French labore 11 was arrested in Paris for threatening to shoot Gambetta. The Zulus have assembled 8000 men on the frontier. Lord Chelmsford, the Commander-in-chief, has sent them an ultimatum giving them the terms of submission, if neglected the British troops will immediately advance. MELBOURNE, January 27. There is a good deal of excitement about the case of a woman who died pregnant, and there are suspicions that an attempt to procure abortion was made by a well-known surgeon. The body has been exhumed, and an inquest will be held. There was a slight accident on the Gipps Land railway on Saturday night. M'Laren, the New Zealand agitator of the unemployed, ' was denounced at a meeting of 300 working men, as having been employed in Sydney during tho strike, to collect hands for New South Wales, to replace the seamen on strike. The meeting expelled him ignominiously. BRISBANE, January 27. Mi* James Foote opposes the re-elec-tion of Mr Thompson, the Minister of Justice. A female child from the orphanage, who was out in service, having died, an examination of the body was made, showing that death was the result of rupture of the liver. There were also external bruises. Elizabeth Ellis, her employer, has been charged with the giii'g manslaughter. SYDNEY, January 27. • During the cricket match with the English team Bannerman split his hand between the first and second fingers of his right hand. Ho was fielding, and was hard hit at mid wicket. He was disabled fr®m further play. • Thoro were 15,000 j:)eople on the ground. Tho match will be resumed to-morrow. LONDON, January 25. I Money is in large supply, and the mercantile demand shows no sign of revival. The Bank rate for three months' bills is 2f . The Bank reserve is slightly weaker. Business in all departments of the Stock Exchange is dull. Consuls, 96£. The market for colonial debentures is steady. The corn market is unchanged. [beuter's telegrams."] MELBOURNE, January 25. The tenders for the Exhibition building have been opened. There were seventeen. Mr David Mitchell was the successful tenderer. SYDNEY, January 27. Lord Harris's team scored 217 in their second innings. The New South Wales team lost two wickets for 83 runs. LONDON, January 25. It is stated that the French Cabinet have agreed to send a war vessel to Naumea to fetch the pardoned communists back to France. A French soldier who had been punished for some act of insubordination has been arrested for making threats against tho life of Marshal M'Mahon. [feom the press association.] GISBORNE, January 28. Richard Kelly sued the stewards of the Waerenga-a-Hika Jockey Club for the amount of the Maiden Stakes alleged to have been Avon by Joe Leonard, but paid to the OAvncr of Fly. It transpired that only two out of the five stewards gave the decision. The plaintiff Avas nonsuited on the ground that it had not been I shown that the stewards refused to give a decision, or that it wa-s incompetent

for them to do so. The Magistrate ruled he had no jurisdiction, but to prevent litigation he gave it as his idea that an entry being forwarded was wrong j it should be lodged. The intention clearly was that competitors should bo in a position to know what horses were entered immediately after the advertised time. In his opinion entries posted at the advertised date, but not received by the • secretary till after, would be. too late. [By Special Wiiib.] AUCKLAND, January 2S. The Hero ai-rived this evening from Sydney. She brings the horse Musket, all sound. Her news from Sydney is to the 22nd inst. There was a severe earthquake at Alice Springs. Mr Travers has been killed by the blacks, and the Government will send out a police force to secure the murderers. There are 250 men employed on the Sydney Exhibition buildings, Avith which they are making good progress. The farriers in tho employ of the Sydney United Omnibus Company have struck work ; they were formerly paid uOs per weok, which has been reduced to 455. There is further news of tho massacre of B. Ingham and his crew of the steamer Voura at Brooken Island, the place where Captain Rodlich's crew were murdered last year to tho numbor of 21 ; tho present murders are R. B. Ingham, master and ownor of the steamer Voura, William Isles, engineer, Jno. Shaw, tho son of D. Shaw of Sydney, and two Chinese sailors ; the natives of Brooken Island are now in the possession of all Ingrain's arms and . ammunition, in addition to 30 stands of arms of Redlich's, making it dangerous to go near Cloudy Bay. Two men belonging to the schooner Minnie Low have been murdered ; they wero named Arthur and W. C. F. Irons, the latter being the son of Dr Irons, the Rector of Holy Trinity Church; Brompton, near London. Mr Maofarlane, the missionary, has written to say that the natives have asked him to protect them from the whites, which he declined to do ; he believes the leader of the party was Billy, who was one of the Redlich's party. Mr Macfarlane conversed with them, and they told him that there were still three or four men and three women of Redlich's party ion the island ; the men were expert in the use of firearms, and well supplied with ammunition. Mr Macfarlane urged the Queensland Government to send a man-of-war to punish these cannibals, who have killed and eaten six shipwrecked crews and beehe de mer parties. The Sappho's visit last year did more harm than good, because the natives now believe that no retribution will follow such acts. Rain has been falling to-day in Auckland, and it appears likely that there will be bad weather to-morrow for the regatta. Various sports and land and water picnics are arranged, should the weather permit. INVERRCAGILL, January 28. Yesterday was a red letter day for the people of Gore and the surrounding districts, by reason of the celebration of the event in which that neighborhood is particularly interested, and which is also of some importance to the whole colony, as in some measure marking a turning point in the history of the railway system, its peculiar significance being that it will be the first railway constructed under the District Railways Act, 1878, although several lines of the kind have been projected in different parts of the colony. The Waimea Plains railway, as it is called, will be 36£ miles long. It will not only open up communication with a large area of fertile land, but does so at both ends, giving additional facilities for traffic. The event caused quite a stir at Gore. In addition to the townspeople and several prominent citizens from Invercargill, the Hon. Mr Ballance and Mr Horace Bastings, M.H.R., were present, and played a prominent part in the proceedings. The spot selected for the opening ceremony was contiguous to the junction of the proposed railway with the straight line, and was marked by those preparations peculiar to ceremonies of the kind. After a few formalities, Mr Whitaker, the contractor, introduced the Hon. Mr Ballance, who turned the first sod in the usual way, Mr Ballance taking off his coat, and performing the duty in a workmanlike manner. The sod having been turned, Mr Ballance said he had great pleasure in declaring it turned, leaving the turning of the rest of the sod of the Waimea Plains railway to other persons. He was sure the line offered a most encouraging prospect, and Avas likely to be exceedingly successful from a reproductive point of view, the land being excellent in quality, expansive in area, and every circumstance combining to render the railway, when completed, a commercial success. He need not tell them how earnestly the Government of the day desired that railways oi this kind should be constructed by private enterprise, as an auxiliary to the work the Government were doing in constructing with money borrowed in the English market colonial lines of railway. PALMERSTON NORTH, Jan. 28. The saw millers here say that they could supply all the railway sleepers the Government want if they were given a chance. WELLINGTON, January 28. Mr J. S. M. Thompson has been elected director of the Colonial Insurance Company, in the room of Mr Walter Nathan, who has gone to England. The members of the Wellington Club have invited the Governor to a farewell dinner.