THE WEEK.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 215, 7 September 1912, Page 11

THE WEEK.

THE DOMINION. The question of reform of the Legislative Council ha« been disposed of for the pi'asent by that body ha/ving carried the following resolution: — "The Council is of opinion that, ha.vni£ affirmed that the constitution of the Council ahould be altered from nomination to election, it is inadvisable to proceed furt'hwr with the bill until nest session, in order that the electors of the Dominion may be given an opportunity of considering thse proposals for giving effect to the 'bill." This I■was moved by the Hon. J. D. Ormond, as an amendment to the motion for committal of the bill, and was carried by 20 votes to 13. Mr. T. M. Wilford ha* mad* a formal announcement of his withdraw , *,! -from the Opposition, /reserving full liberty to critiase and vote upon all legislation submitted to Parliament.

In moving -tha second reading of the State Fire Insurance Amendment, in the House of Representatives, the Hon. F. .51. B. Fisher explained that the orij giaa.l Act made provision for the surplus ! funds of tho office being paid to the j poliicyholders. It -was found now that jit was • n-eeessa.ry that the funds should Ibe used for the purpose of building up a reserve fund for the institution, and a.l»o to repay the £200,000 with which the office was originally started and was borrowed from the State. He said there was wo intention to alter the policy of the State 'Fire Office. It had no agreement with private companies, and such a. thing had not beern <xva-tetnplated by the Ministry. While, the State Fare ' Ollii?o was not going -to join the combine, the Department was. not going to be run at a. loss. The State was not froLnT to bake hazardous risks, but if the ; companies put the State Office in taa position of having to fight them they would put up a. figrht. '■■ As the result of the dfeath of Annie Mary Beck, which occurred at Lower Xorsewood (near Cirmondville'l, her husband has been arrested on a. oharge of wilful murder. Evidence given at tihe inquest showed that death wi* caused by violence, and the 'husband being the only other person known to be in the house, the jury considered there wae a priraa facie -case against him. Aβ the iresult of an inquest on the body of Percy John Turner, who died at Dun/edin as the result of a shot fired by' Ms father, Robert Turner was arrested on a. charge of murder. He reserved his def&aee, and was committed for trial

: The hearing of the manslaughter ! charge against Kenneth Moore, in conI nection -.vith the death of 'Abrah-am Kg.i- ---| hiwi, foUwrinj? a fight at Txu-piri on July 2Sth. occupied the attention of the Supreme Court, Hamilton, all day on Thursday. In evidence, &evwil witnesses to the trouble in the billiard-room on the might before the actual fight swore that deceased, when he closed with Moore and threw him, fell with his head I against a -cupboard, the left side of the head being nearest the cupboard. Also J that immediately afterwords deceased i complained of dizziness and pains in his head. The jury, after a brief retirement, returned a verdict of not guilty.

BKFEBXAIb i Mr. Aikins (a meirraer of the Canadian Houie of Commons), interviewed after attending the Hague Education Conference, said that as a result of conversations on. the Continent 'and in England ,he was convinced that Germany and England are almost in a state of waF. No one could say when the blow would be struck. Possibly it would be three months, or three days. In a speech at Dundee Mr. Churchill (First Lord of the Admiralty) said that the policy of the country was to keep the fleet in a state of unassailable superiority and efficiency. That policy, he said, would be continued under all Governments. The "Times," in discussing the question of the future naval defence of the Empire, says that the arrangements 'made by ihe Defence Conference of 1009 were "the best measures then open, but that , Canada's change of policy has greatly affected the circumstances under -which they were framed. The Empire, the "Time*" asserts, must ultimately choose between separate policies and separate fleets and one policy and a single fleet. The paper says that it has always cordially approved of Australia's present form of assistance- as being the only policy at present open, but the satisfaction that it affords a3 an immediate measure of protection must not induce the belief that security is permanently guaranteed by measures of that kind. New Board of Trade regulations, which will come into operation on January 1, provide that" foreign-going passenger and cargo vessels must provide sufficient lifeboat accommodation for all on board. The number \bf boats and davits to be carried will depend on the length of a vessel instead of the tonnage. Ex- ' isting collapsible boats mast be replaced 1 by lifeboats. The rule permitting a decrease in boats in cases in which efficient watertight compartments are provided, is cancelled. Steps must also be taken to secure efficient boat. hand*. At a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science at I Dundee, Professor Sshaefer, of EdinIburgh (president of the Association), delivered an address dealing with the origin of life. The professor said that, setting aside as devoid cf scientific foundation the theory of supernatural intervention in the first production of life, we were compelled to believe that it owed its origin to evolution. Life, he said, was purely a matter of chemical inter-action. Chemists, sooner or later, would be able to produce a living subStance similar to that from which all existing vital organisms were evolved. Recent research, he went on to say, aug : gested the probability of a dividing live between living and nonliving matter less sharp than that which had been hitherto supposed to exiet. The profassor suggested the need for a careful search for the missing link between living and dead matter. The question was hopeless of solution ir true Ufe were only evolved- once, but he suggested that it was happening still. The Congress of Trades Unions has been sitting at Xewport. . Several speakers assailed Labour members of I the House of Commons fox , dilatoriness in connection with tl»6 Trade Unions Bill llr Ward, M.P., replied that byelections showed that . the werfctra were keener on Home Rule and Welsh Disestablishment than in the O&borae judgment. A large majority cf the delegates demanded a reversal of the DsbornV judgment. Mr Havelock Wilson (Firemen and Seamen's Union) said that it was important to get the Home Eule, Welsh Church . Disestablishment, ■ and Franchise Bills out of the way, and to leave the Trade Unions Bill until nest session. Not one man in ten, he said, cared a rap about the Osborne judgment He asked who is responsible for the judgment. They were not satisfied with the trade unions having the right to elect Parliamentary representative*, but they is»i»Ud on the eoxspaleory levy

to force members of unieiie td-'Jay for a political policy with wHich they did not agree. They asked a mitt to jots a. union" for trad* union purpose*, and tien .smuggled a resolution through saying, "We are going to charge you 1/ a year. If you do not pay it we will prevent you following your occupation." That, he declared, was the cause of the trouble. .

FOREIGN. Aa enormous earthfall occurred at tlie Culebra Cut of the Panama Canal, when a million tons of gravel fell in, endangering the lives of the workmen. Tie work of building the canal will be greatly impeded. Sir Edward Grey (British Minister for Foreign Affairs), in a letter to the Newcastle Chamber of Commerce, rejected • the American argument that inasmuch as coastal trade is an American monopoly, the free passage Of American coastal vessels does not affect foreigners. He pointed out that the bill also contains provisions for the free passage of American ships in foreign trade under certain conditions, and added that if a large part of the .trade passed free the canal's earnings would be diminished, and consequently the general trade would be unduly taxed. The situation in Morocco is causing increasing anxiety in France. Some 58,000 French troops are already there, of whom 46,000 are in the western .half. .The whole country from Fez to Marrakesh is in a state of turmoil.

- The Mexican rebels continue their activity. The rebels at Vera Cruz are guilty of very savage acts. '• They hanged a man to a. rafter of hie house when he refused to give them money, hie lif-« being prolonged by lowering the body several times before .he was finally strangled. They also tortured two men lin a neighbouring ranch, and hanged a dying boy at Toluca, a few miles from the capital of Mexico. Dr James L. Wilson, the former 6urgeon-general of Madero's army, has escaped after two years with the rebel army. He says that the rebels tear foreigners limb from limb, tying men by the legs to horses which -are started in opposite directions. An explosion of firedamp in the Clar-ence-Mine, Betbune, France, resulted in sixty being killed. ' A huge conflagration in Ocean Park, near Los. Angeles, California, resulted in nineteen being burned to death. Thrilling rescues were made at the Hotel Decautur. where many of the occupants were cut off by "the flames. ' The firemen saved nine babies who were housed ■within a baby incubator on the pier. The first test of the strength Of the new Progressive party was made at the Vermont elections, when the voting gave 26,000 votes for the regular Republican*, 20,000 for the Democrats, and 15,000 for Mr Rooeevelt's party. The Progressives won seven of the eleven Congressional districts. The Progressive victory ensures the nomination of Presidential electors pledged to support Mr Roosevelt. The Republicans supporting Mr Taft are disheartened, and the Democrats arc jubilant, feeling that the split in the Republican ranks is certain to mean a Democratic win.

THE COMMONWEALTH. A man named Casey has been committed for trial at Coonamble on a charge of murdering hie neighbour named Korig. Casey invited Korig to his house and accused him of writing letters to his (Casey's) wife.. He would not accept a denial, and he got a gun and gave Korig five minutes to leave. At the end of the five minutes Casey fatally shot Korig. James Patrick' King, aged 26t ha« been remanded, on a. charge of murdering his wife, Ellen King, by kicking her to death. He :was.Tecßntly ' released from the reception house, and had been drinking beavay. .it is alleged that he brutally beat and kicked his wife, who died lin a few hours.