HOME AND FOREIGN.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 10955, 3 May 1901, Page 6

HOME AND FOREIGN.

United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. GERMANY SEEKING A COALING STATION. (Received May 2nd, 11.5 a.m.) LONDON, May 1. Germany is trying to acquire a coaling station at Margarita Island, Venezuela. [Magarita is an island off the north coast of Venezuela, and consists of two principal elevated portions united by a low isthmus. The coast ia arid and barren, but tile interior is fertile. The island has salt works and an active fishery. The channel of Margarita, between the island and the mainland, is twenty miles across, and through it all ships from Europe pass to Barcelona, Cumana, or La Guaira. The island's length is forty-five miles and breadth from five to twenty miles.] THE CALCUTTA MEMORIAL FUND. LONDON, May 1. The Queen Victoria Memorial Fund in Calcutta has reached thirty-one lakns of rupees (about £310,000). THE UNPOPULAR COAL TAX. The Miners' Federation favours a general strike if the coal tax is approved by the British Parliament. A MEASURE OF PRECAUTION. LONDON. May 2. The French press asserts that the JJritish are fortifying Basidu, on Kishm Island, in the Persian Gu:f. This is interpreted as a reply to Franco-Russian schemes with regard to Persia. [Basidu is a village at the western end of Kishm Island, on the northern coast. A British establishment which once existed there was abandoned on account of the heat and the lack of water.] THE YEAR OF COURT MOURNING. (Received May 3rd, 12.14 a.m.) LONDON, May 2. No Royal levees or drawing-rooms are to be held during the current year. A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE MARQUIS. Tbe late Marquis of Bute's estate is valued at five millions. AMERICA AND THE WAR LO\N. American financiers obtained one-sixth of the British war loan.