DIARY OF THE WORLD'S NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 288, 29 August 1908, Page 10

DIARY OF THE WORLD'S NEWS.

WEEKLY SUMMARY DY MAIL. Tho following wookly summary of tho world's news is taken from 'the " Daily Mail " Overseas Edition of July 11: — . JULY 10. The United States Government Crop Report indicates a total wheat yield of 692,790,000 bushels, and a total maizocrop 1 of 2,726,000,000 bushels, while, tho in- ' dicated oat crop oxcecds 1,000,000,000 bushels. As tho result of a newspaper articlo written by M. Pierre Mo.rticr a duel took placo between M. Mor'tier and M. Anatole Monzio at some livery stables at Neuilly, just outBide Paris, For over two hours the combatants clashed swords in a dosporato attempt to do each other mortal injury, but ' without result, In all, sovonteon rounds woro fought, Evontually it was dccided ' that tho duel should bo renewed next day. Tho seconds, however, brought their influonco to bear on both principals, with the result' that tho entiro party mot at a restaurant, whero MM. Mortior and Monzio formally shook hands, and everybody Bat down to an excellent lunch. Tho assistant librarian of the Winter Palace, St. Petersburg, has been arrested as the result of tho discovery of systematic robberies of gold medallions and other valuables from tho Palace, the valuo of the stolen property being altogether over £5000.

Herr Fritz Gehre, a Munich engineer, announces tho discovery of a new and incredibly cheajj explosive, -sixty grammes of which are said to have been sufficient to blow a Sin. ICrupp shell into pioces. President Roosevelt has ordered tho hftads of departments to "rush" tho disbursement of about £15.0,000,000 appropriated for eontracts and supplios. Tho expenditure of this' sum by accelerating tho resumption of normal business conditions and tho rovival of national prosperity is bound, Sir. Roosevelt is reported to think, to benefit Mr. Taft's campaign for the Presidency. Tho Navahoe Indians, of Texas, UiS.A., aro roported to have risen in rovolt in consequenco of the Federal prohibition of polygamy. Troo[is havo boon sent to tho disaffected district. Tho first Swiss newspaper managed and published by Swiss women has made its appearance at Zurich. It is a weekly journal, called " Les Loisirs," and is edited by Mmo. Conzett, whoso husband waß tho editor of the " Ziirchor Anzeigcr," which recently ceased publication. The Congregation of Rites, Indulgences, and Holy Relics at Romo will, it is understood, shortly _ re-examine the question of the beatification of Christopher Columbus, Tho proposal to invest tho great discoverer with the dignity of sainthood is an old ono, but long ago met with a check owing to the _ discovery of certain papers rolative to his marriage. Fresh documents, however, havo now been laid before the Congregation, and as these are totally opposed to the original papers, tho matter will onco again go forward. The following telegram has been received from Sosnovico (Russian Poland):" A carefully, planned plot against the lifo of tho Czar has been discovered here. It was found to havo wide ramifications, tho operations being from Sosnovico. Over ono hundred men and women wpro arrested. Further arrests aro imminent, Tho station is occupied by gendarmes and cossacks, and the frontier traffic is much iniA pearl has been discovered inside a clam shell at Portland, Maine, U.S.A., which in ■ size is as largo as an . ordinary marble, whilo it is also of good colour and shapo. It has been sold for £210, In expert shipping circles in Germany the time is held to bo come' for taking' itp tho strugglo for tho blue riband of tho Atlantic ar.J building a rival to-the 1 Lusitania, whose performances are'followed with the closest attention. Thoro is a plan for'a liner larger than the Mauretania (790 feet long, 33,000 tons, 70,000-s.p.), with combined piston • and turbino engines—faster nnd more profitable. than tho Cunardcrs Herr Ballin, head of tho Hamburg-Ameri-can Line, energetically denies a report that tho Government will. be asked to lend money at low interest for shipbuilding. A telegram from Catania states that Mount Etna has suddenly burst forth' into ono of tho most violent eruptions' of recont years. A thick hail of cinders is/ailing. Shocks of great violcnco woro cxperiencod.

JULY 13. In the centra of the Buttes-Chaumoiit, a picturesque park in tho north-east part of laris, is a largo artificial lake, A whirlpool suddenly' formed in tho centre the water running rapidly into a largo crack or fissuro iri tho bed of tho lake with 'V' n nois ß- Thousands of fish of all kinds woro carried into tho hole. Tho koopora hurriedly sot to work to try to catch as many fish as possible, and succeed in saying over fifteen largo baskets, full. It is supposed that the water must have run off into a sewer, tho bottom of tno lako being just over one of the city" mams. • Herr Dernburg, the German ■ Colonial Secretary, has visited Upington (British Beehuanaland), wliero ho has been closely inspecting tho copper mines. Ho anticipates that payable copper oro will now bo found in the adjoining German territory The discoverers of tho diamonds, recently found in German South-West Africa intend to present some of tho stones to tho Emperor •through Herr Dernburg, the Colonial Secretary. They have had tlieni enclosed in q gold casket for tho purpose. Ab a young .Jew, supposed to bo a terrorist, was crossing Grzybowski Squaro, Warsaw, ho dropped a bomb, which exploded, blow; ing him to pieces. Six passers-by :wero severely injured, and hundreds of windows were smashed. Tho German Admiralty is reported to be again considering the advisability of establishing a base for topedo-hoats on ono of the North Frisian islands off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein. It has been ascertained that excellent natural harbours, eminently suited for the purpose, exist near List 011 tho northern point of tho island of Sylt, and near Havneby at the southern oxtremity of tho island of "Romoe." Tho following political crimes are officially stated to have taken place in Russia' and Poland during June:— Government officials assassinated ... 12 Government officials wounded in attempts at assassination 13 : Private persons murdered for politi- ! . cal reasons 39 The changes in tho Japanese Cabinet havo caused tho return of Count Romura, Ja-panese-Ambassador in London, to Tokio. He is to assume the post of Ministor for Foreign Affairs. . Mllo. Blanche Azoulay, tho first woman tp bo called cp the Bar of Algiers, has just : taken oath in the Court of Appeal. The counsel of the Bar woro all present. Tho "jSTcuo Freio Presso" publishes an article in which it is argued that tho con-, vjotioit is already spreading among tho Gormaci people that an understanding with Groat. Britain wpuld bo wiser and more profita3)le than hopeless and ruinous rivalry for the possession pf the biggest navy. TIIO writer is of opinion that tho recont disagreements in the German Navy League havo shown that popular enthusiasm with regard. to the navy is • beginning to decline.

JULY 14. Georgia, U.S.A., which recently became a Prohibifijonist State, is now considering a measure to protect man from woman's wiles. ,A Bill has been introduced into tho Legislature which, after a highly interesting discussion, has been referred to a Commi-fr-ee, providing that all marriages become iwll and void when the husband is entrappod by tho woman's use of cosmetics, [ioiuts, powder, scents, artificial teeth and , hair, lingerie, padding, openwork hose, high-heeled shoes, transparent

"waists" (blouses), and others aids to beauty. The author of the Bill, Mr. George Glenn, is a married man and forty years of ago. Ho supported "his " Bill with a powerful and eloqtient argument on the necessity of preventing tho disillusion so common after marriage when the husband discovers half his wifo's hair to bo false,. her lov'cly teeth tho result of tho dentist's skill, and her complexion enriched bv paint and powder. According to Mr. Glenn, marriages effected by' such ways aro equivalent to a contract mado on tho strength of false pretoncos, and should bo declared void. The women in Georgia ar« furious, and are bringing powerful pressure to bear on 'the members of tho Committee to report unfavourably on tho Ml.

Tho; French Chamber of Deputies have approved tho Bill for tho purchase of tho Western Railway by tho Stato. One person was killed, sixteen were seriously injured, and at least sixty wero slightly injured by runaway horses H a battle of fowers held in connection with the Prague Exhibition. Mi. Nathan Strauss, of New York, has offered to the Austrian Government, a complete installation of his milk pasteurisation plant, similar to those ho hss already given to Liverpool and Dublin, and tho Minister of tho Interior has accepted the gift. Tho new plant, which.. will be erected in Vienna, will have a capacity for pasteurising 20,000 bottles of milk an hour, . Rpputed to bo .the longest in tho world, a steel bridge, two miles in length, for railSvay. traffic, has just been completed at a Icost 0f.£400,000 across tho Columbia Rivor i'at Vancouver, Washington, U.S.A. ■ Wiroless telegraphic communication has been established between Lima and Iquitos, at the head of the Amazon River, and tho | port of shipment for all tho Peruvian 1 rubber. • -,- •, The Alpine village of Bonaduz, which is situated on a plateau 2160 ft. high, overlooking the Rhine, near Coiro, has been destroyed by fire. One hundred and ten houses) mostly made of wood, were bjirnt down, and over 900 villager's have lost all their possessions and are 1 homeless. Only tho church and the Hotel Oberalp escaped. No I lives were lost. During a terrible storm in thp Bay of Biscay forty-seven Spanish fishermen belonging to tho ports of Bermco and Qndarron were drowned; . .

JULY 15. Something akin to national sorrow was • felt when the disheartening news becarao ; known throughout Germany that Count ; Zeppelin had. a second time been defeated •: in his projected twenty r four hours' flight I -up and down the Rhine.' On Tuesday : Count Zeppelin made an ascent, but after : manoeuvring for two hours was obliged , to descend, owing to a defect in ono of the motors. Next day, repairs having been effected, Count Zeppelin steered thd airship out of the shed. It rose with its accustomed grace, when suddenly a blast blew across the lake, struck the craft amidships on tho starboard side, before it had attained a height of moro than 100 ft., and drove it with' a crash audiblo a milo away into the sido of the balloon-shed. The impact not only smashed the highsteering apparatus on the port sid?, with tho corresponding propeller and tho steel wire " girders" of tho forward car, but also toro to shreds the port.side of tho airship's pointed bow. A gaping hole was torn 111 the forward ballonet (sisall section of the balloou), nt)(l the rugged edges of the aluminium covering (lapped in. the tvind.'. Thc_ force of the collision was' increased bwins to tho fact that the wind had torn asunder the towing-Jineby which tho shed was anchored, allowing it to drift wil,dly. The airship sank at once to tho surface of the' lako. Tho rain and wind storm whirled the shed around on its own,, axis like a helpless boat. Every time tho airship attempted to make for the entrance it iras battered back! and almost an hour

elapsed before it could bo brought into lino with tho mouth of tho shed and Bteered in. Count Zeppelin's crew will immediately begin repairs, but the date of thoir completion is indefinite. JULY 10. M. Simyan, French Secretary for Posts and Telegraphs, stated that tho Budgets of Franca ana Britain stood, for tho present, in the way of, penny postage, but negotiations would bo continued with a view to the reduction of the letter rate to' three . halfpence. M. Simyan announced that til' trunk telephone rate between Paris an London would shortly be reduced to 4 2d., prnotically half tho present oliar£. of Bs, for three minutes.... i •. According to tho United States Government's 1 statistics of tho year's exports and imports, tho trade balance in favour of tho United States reached £132,Q00,00p,, which is £44,000,000 greater than .iii .1007,- and' establishes a record. Tho shrinkage of £48,000,000 in tho value ofthe. yearsiro.ports throws a light on the moderation, of the reflux gold: movement which followed tho importation of £20,000,000 of gold last autumn. Less, than half that amount will bo reshipped. The figures for Juno showthat a change in tho (situation .took placo : iu that month, inasmuch as while the imports decreased by £4,000,000 the experts' decreasod by £4,200,000. Not since Oc. tober has tho decrease in exports exceeded the decrease in imports. .... Marriages jn Franco last year numbered 314,903, a figure not.attainod since 1872-3, when many of tho marriages delayed by tho Franco-Prussian war took place. This sudden growth iu the number- is explained by a law passed early last year relaxing the stringency of tho legal formalities required before a marriage certificate could b« issued and consequently lessening' the cost. Before fifty thousand visitors at Conoy Island Charles Hamilton, manoeuvring an exhibition airship driven by a gasolcuo motor, was blown two miles out to sea. A lifeboat was launched, but could not catch' up.with the balloon. Hamilton tuggc.d at the valvo of tho gas bag, with the result that .tho craft sank to tho witer, whero it floated with the operator in imminent peril of his jife until a yacht came to the rescue. Hamilton clambered aboard, and the airship was pulled after him, Tho incident threw many of tho heat-craned thousands, lining, the beaches into hysteric's. Tho Portuguese Parliament has finally passed Article L_of tho proposed Civil List, which grants Kine Manuel an income of £200 a : dav, • and his uncle, Duko Alfonso, tho heir to tho throno, an income of £3200 a : year. The commission appointed to inves- ! tigato the advances mado by tho State to the late King Carlos has found that Queen : Amelie has also received advances, nt different dates, amounting in all to £32,400.. Tho Government has offered to. receive re- , payment - of tho money in yearly' instal- : inents, deducted from her Majesty's annual ; allowance, which is to he fixed at £12;000, Queen Amelie declared, however, that she preferred to repay all the advances out o" hor private fortune.