SUMMARY FOR EUROPE.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 8793, 14 May 1894, Page 2

SUMMARY FOR EUROPE.

I POLITICAL AND GENERAL. I Political matters have been very quiet i during the past month. The Minister for > Land" was banqueted on April 27th at Shag I Point, and in the course of bis remarks \ said there was no necessity for the colony to s borrow at present or for some time to come, \ and declared that the Government's liabilii ties at the end of a financial year were never \ so low as at the present time. The Minister on May Ist was present at the formal opening of another section of the Otago Central railway, which, on behalf of the Minister for Public Works, he handed over to the Railway Commissioners. Incidentally he launched out into a vigorous condemnation ; of the Dunedin papers, the Railway ; League, and the managers of the University \ and High School. He charged the League \ with being only formed to embarrass the ) Government, who had dove more than any other Government to push on the line. Aβ ; to the educational rsserves of the Univer* " sity and High School, if they were not made better use of, and closer settlement I promoted, the Government might take them i over and administer them through the Land I Board. Mr McKenzie's speech made some t sensation in Dunedin, and his statements I Came in for some severe criticism. \ The Hon. W. P. Reeves, who has been I on a trip in the North Island, spoke at ' Auckland on May Ist, but his speech con;i tamed nothing very new or noteworthy, i He spoke warmly in defence of party go- * vernment, and in reference to the Labour ii Bills he said he should next session re-intro- - 1: duee those which had been blooked last I year and bring in some fresh ones. I The " unemployed" difficulty prevails i most of the centres in the colony, and the f coming winter threatens to be a time of I great hardship for many. The Government 5 can only find work for a comparative few, I • and in Christchurch and elsewhere private I charity is being called upon to supply food I and shelter for those who are unable to I obtain employment. The local bodies, also, 1 are endeavouring to do what they can, by I providing work, towards relieving the I distress. I The publication in the Evening Post of the f letter from Lieutenant-Colonel Fox, Com- | mandant of the New Zealand Forces, to the I Premier, containing that gentleman's I reasons for wishing to resign his position, I led to strained relations between Mr Gillo>', I the editor of the Post, and the Government, I and the Premier took the extremely childish I . Btep of refusing to allow any of the staff of I the offending paper to enter Government I Buildings. In the course of the somewhat I heated correspondence which ensued, Mr I Seddon referred Mr Gillon to the chief I messenger at the Government Buildings for I any information he might desire. However, I the newspaper obtained a counsel's opinion I from Sir Robbrt Stout to the effect that I 1 Mr Seddon's action was untenable, as the I Government Buildings were open to the I public, and Mi Seddon speedily retreated I from the undignified position he had taken J The Fox incident, however, has not yet iff. closed, for the Government, apparently de- § termined to find out who gave the Post the i Commandant's letter, instructed Mr O'Hara § Smith, of the Lands Audit Department to 1 investigate the matter. The Commissioner I called upon the editor and chief reporter of § the Post to come before him and give cviI dence. Mr Gillon, however, refused either I to appear himself or to allow any of hie I staff to do so, preferring to pay the fine, I and the mystery is, apparently, as far off !~ solution as ever. \ The ceremony of laying the foundationj- Btone of the Nurses , Home in connection ] "With the Christchurch Hospital was per* I formed on Thursday, April 19th, by Mr R. I Heaton Khodes, in the presence of a large I cumber of citizens, including representaf tives of nearly every public body in North I. Canterbury. The Home is to cost £4000, part of which amount has to be raised by the Hospital Board by donations, and the remainder will be contributed by the Government, in the shape of a subsidy of 24s for every 20s subscribed. Mr. Lee Smith, the New Zealand delegate at the Ottawa Conference, has received his instructions from the Government. He is to urge the desirability of Canada so adjusting its fiscal policy as to admit New Zealand products free, New Zealand in return agreeing to admit Canadian products •free. He will make every effort to have the Pacific cable supported by England, Canada, and Australia and New ZeaI land; the Australian colonies and I New Zealand guaranteeing 'proper* i taonately, on the basis of popuI ifction, half of the interest on the cost of j construction, and England and Canada to S guarantee the other half. Mr Lee Smith ] will advocate the establishment of a Pacific J mail service. Every effort will be made by Mr Smith to open up fresh markets for New Zealand produces in Canada, and also ; in England, where he goes immediately after, the business of the Conference has \- been concluded. j The interrupted wedding at Wellington I has had a Bad ending. It will beremem- |. bered that the ceremony came to an abrupt I conclusion owing to the refusal of the bride to marry Mr Edmonds, her intended husband, but that she was persuaded to become bis wife next day. went to Pirinoa, in the Lower Wairarapa district, where the young man was a schoolmaster, but within a week or two of his marriage I Edxonbs blew out his brains. The I coroner's jury returned a verdict of ternIporary insanity. Mrs Eomosds, in her evidence, stated that they had lived happily together, but that the deceased, who was of a peculiar temperament, was very jealous and was restless and strange in his manner the day before his death.