GENERAL NEWS SUMMARY.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5325, 15 September 1888, Page 2

GENERAL NEWS SUMMARY.

The ironclad Warrior, while cruising up the channel on August 22nd, discovered a wrecked balloon and rescued tho aeronaut and three companions who were found clinging to the basket ropes. They had ascended from Antwerp. Tbe British steamer Alicia, which arrived at Cork from Baltimore, on August 20, ha» gono ashore at tho place first named in a most dangerous position. At last accountsshe had boon badly strained. O'Donnell, who recently lost his libel suit against The Times, cabled his solicitor from Paris on August 23 to bring a suit against Parnell for charging him with collusion with The Times. Tho Umbria won the ocean steamship race, arriving at Queenstown at 4 a.m. on August 24, beating the City of New York. Tho time of the winning" steamer was six days four hours from Now York to Queenetown. Laurence Oliphant, the author, who recently returned from America, was lying dangerously ill in London on August 22nd, torn by internal disorders.

Mr Parnell has retained Mr J. B. Balfour, formorly Lord Advocate of Scotland, and Mr Asher, formerly Solicitor-General for Scotlaud in Mr Gladstone's administration, to conduot his suits in the Scotch Courts

against the Times. A dispatch dated London, August lOtb, says there is deep concern over tho destruction oi tho crops by rain and cold weather. Meetings of landlords aud tenants aro being held to consider the situation, and the conclusion reached is that the English farmers must abandon wheat raising, as the uncertain climate, coupled with foreign competition, renders it impossible to make wheat pay as a. crop.

Advices from Zanzibar on August 18th say that the Sultan has officially transferred the administration of the coal lino to a Qorman company, whose flag jointly with the Sultan's has been hoisted at fourteen ports. The Halian Envoy had not renowed his relations with tho Sultan. Advices from Zanzibar at London on August 23 sau that an armed fo'co landed from a German cut down tho Sultan's flagstaff and removed lhe flags. Armed parties were also landed at other points, acted in a similar arbitrary manner.

.Five thousand shipbuilders struck at Belfast on August 21 for an increase of wages. This was done to cause a strike of three hundred boiler uwkvra. Wheu th» strike was announced the employers decided to close the yards entirely. Canon Sullivan, pros.idi.ig at the Protestant|Syiiod at Tuaiu. made a statement at tho session held "*i August 21st, that tho oondionof the 3ii-a Protestant church at present was xuorr satisfactory than before ; tha dwcstftWishjnent.

Carry Donovan, of New York, the champion bridge jumper of the' world, leaped from Clifton bridge over the river Avon, England, on the morning of August 7, and '.net his death. This bridge has the highest span of any in Great Britain, and Donovan made the leap without any special preparations for the feat. 'There was an apparent collapse of tho body before it struck the water, and the unfortunate man died iv mid-air. His body did not rise to the surface after sinking. Donovan had previoudy leaped from Brooklyn bridge, and Niagara and JiOiidon bridges. He was nbonfc 24 years of age, and a compositor by trade. Later despatches say Donovan's body has been found in the water at Deptfcwd. The sailors who displaced ihe Chinese hands last trip on board the Alameda at Sydney, and manned the steamship on her return to San Francisco, were given a reception and a banquet by the Seamen's Association of the latter city on August 10th. It was a very earnest and successful affair.

Mr Welch, for many years connected with the colonial press, and who proposed to. deliver a course ot" lectures in San Francisco on Australia, on his way to Europe, has abandoned his intention, because ho found no interest on tho subject existed among the gowat public. The British Government lias finally refused to. grant a subsidy for the projected cable between British Columbia, Honolulu, and Australia, and the directors are pressing the Dominion Government for a subsidy tosupploment that promised by the Australian and Sandwich Islands Governments. Tho outlook at present is by no means reassuring. Tho Canadian pacific mail subsidy quostion was finally settled on August 9th, by a ten years' contract between the railroad company and tho British Government ou a basis of i! 45,000 per annum for a service between Vancouver. China, aud Japan, to begin as soon as first-class steamers can be procured. Tho steamship Geiser, of the Thingvalla line, which left Now York early in August with a largo passenger list, was iun down by tho steamship Thingvalla, of the same lino, on Tuesday, August 14th, off Cape Race, and one hundred and thirty lives are reported lost. The Geiser had her sidecompletely stove in. The Thingvalla put outlier boats as rapidly as possible, and made every effort to rescue the passengers, but in spite of almost superhuman efforts, the list of the lost is frightful. Tho Thiugralla was badly injured. Her bow has been knocked off, and all her provisions, which were carried in tha bow compartment, swept away. There was nothing wherewith to feed the rescued passengers, and when the steamer Wielard hove in sight, she divided the people with her, aud bore iiwuy for Halifax, N.S., to repair. Tho vessel was so seriously damaged that for a short time it seemed as if she would follow tho Geiser, which suuk five minutesafter she was struck to the bottom. Captain Morler, of the Geiser, waa picked up HvttSly

exhausted by one of tho Thingva'.la's boats, and also Mrs Hilda Lind, the only woman who escaped from the wreck. The scene beggars description. The boats pulled after daylight over the place where the Geiser went down, picking up all who could be seen, guided often by tho voice* growing faint and fainter each moment of those appealing for help. The colUmou o'vuived at 3.30 in the morning.

Dr Wolfivd Nolso-:'. who recently vi ite.l the Isthmus of Panama, was interviewed at Wa>>iington on August, 10th touching the work on the canal. He reported a deplorable and discouraging condition of affairs. Tho statement of Baron do Lesseps that the canal will tie np'-ued in ioiHt is treated in open ridicule by the contractors. In tho mountains at Caleb™, oh forty foot excavations, they are moving into a nit at the rate of eighteen inches per month, and to reach the level of the lock of the cans'l they must go down another ISO feeh The whole enterprise, according to Mr Nelson, is a botch from end to end, having assumed the position of a piece of unblushing jobbery, colossal in its proportions. The two luigest contractors lately stopped work, as thecinal company- had no money for them. Baron cie Lesseps, in stilting the canul ivill he opened in 18S»0, states what he knows to be impossible. To-day the fixed charge against the company is over 10,000,000 dollars per annum, with perhaps a fifth of the work done on the surface at that. There is o(i,000,000 millions' worth of machinery on the Isthmus, two-thirds being useless and rusting. Many of the contractors huvo stopped work aud a number are now suing for breach of contract. A despatch (August 17) from Suakim to the London Times says .-"The reports concerning the presence of a white man in the Babr el Gazele district are confirmed. He is known as Abu Digna, and his force is of enormous strength, including a large, number of half-naked men, probably from the Niam country. This is a strong point in favor of the idea that the white man is

,>-;.. TC'.-'lifa. of Khartoum, had sent a loiuj vi .1,2011 men against him. The Negus of Abyssinia had sworn to capture Khartoum, and Khalifa is greatly alarmed. A later despatch says that natives arriving »t Suakim report that several white men Bccompiny tho " bearded white pasha,"' and if these be true, there can be little doubt of the identity of the leader, as F.min Bey has no white followers. Despatches from St. Paul de Loando, received at London on August 21, state, concerning General Bartellot's expedition in search of Stanley, that, at the end of Jnne news reached the camp at Yambunga that the first stages of General Bartellot's march were well over, but no information from Stanley had been received. It is officially announced that the forces of Congo State have re-captured Stanley Falls station.