NEWS AND NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 12, 15 January 1910, Page 12

NEWS AND NOTES.

The following items pf intelligence have been selected from files received by the latest mails : — Senor Lerroux, leader of the Spanish Eepublican party, speaking at Barcelona, asserted that the blood of Ferrer had caused a cry of indignation in Europe, which demanded the abolition of the death sentence for political offences. The commission appointed by the Governor of Natal for the purpose of considering the question of Indian immigration finds that several industries owe their existence to indentured Indian labour. The members ars of the opinion that, their term' of labour over, Indians should be obliged to return to India. At a meeting of spinners of American cotton, held at Manchester, a resolution was unanimously carried^ in favour of the continuance of shorfc time till the end of February in the mills spinning American cotton. The conviction was expressed by one manufacturer- that if the 'movement were continued it would ultimately defeat the efforts of those who were cornering cotton. At the annual dinner of the New York Chamber of Commerce on 18th November speeches were made by the British and German* Ambassadors, both of whom expressed confidence in the peaceful intentions and dispositions of the Governments and peoples of the great States of the world. Sir Albert Rollit opened the Stanley Cycle Show for the 21st -successive year in the Agricultural Hall, London, on 19th November. One 'special feature was the all-weather cycle. This machine is fitted with special mudguards, and is distinguished by a reduction in the number of plated parts in order to meet the requirements of winter riding. Senor Lerroux, the Spanish Republican leader, addressed a meeting of over 10,000 persons in Barcelona on 19th November. His speech lasted ninety minutes', and was magnificently delivered in clear resonant tones. Perfect order prevailed. This >s his first speech since Senor Lerroux r/eturned from exile. He gratefully acknowledged the hospitality which he had received in the Argentine Republic during his enforced residence abroad. Arrangements for the opening of a Customs fetation at Hun-chun, near Vladivostok, were reported on 19th November to be nearing completion. Business wil l probably be started early in the New Year. It will be conducted on 'international lines with an Englishman in charge, and European, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese assistants. With reference to the telegram from the Governor of Jamaica reporting, a hurricane with extraordinary rains and severe gales, landslips, and floods, with, twenty deaths, the Colonial Office states that it may be assumed that no loss of life occured among Europeans, as no names are, mentioned. A number of Englishmen .residing in Brussels and Antwerp met on 18th November at the British Consulate in Antwerp and constituted a British Chamber of Commerce for Belgium. They will endeavour to stop the fraudulent use of English labels on goods that have not been made in England. The Government and people of Japan are ready and willing to be the customers of England (writes Lord Halsbury in The Times). It now only remains for the British manufacturer to ena"ble them to be su. There is no room for doubt that at the Japan -British Exhibition at the White City, Shepherd's Bush, next bummer, there will be given to the world a demonstration of the past I history and present position of Japan in arts, manufactures, and commerce, such as no nation has ever furnished at any exhibition. The foreign trade of Japan with the British Empire amounts to something like £24,000,000, or 29 per cent, of Japanese trade taken altogether. It is surely worth our while (says Lord Halsbury) to maintain that splendid commerce, and, if possible, to increase ii. The British engineer (says Engineering) has created modern civilisation on its material side. He has rendered ifc possible for forty million people to live on these small islands, and he has made their labour so efficient and prolific that the greater part of them enjoy very considerable comfort and not a little leisure. A special correspondent at Melilla seated that the Spanish officerb who crowd the cafes 'might; be drawn from every part of Europe. Among them are a large sprinkling of young men who might pass for Englishmen, if differ- j ently dressed, while a number, for the purpose of espionage, could "make up" perfectly aa Moors. . Lever Brothers, of Sunlight soap celebrity, have practically decided to build a factory in Durban, the conditions being regarded as unrivalled for industrial purposes. Six acres, it is understood, are being acquired at Cougella, near the Natal port, and a large number of operatives will be brought from England, probably about one hurdred families. The firm have an oversea export in view as much as the South African market.. Soap and candles are to be the main manufactures, and a good deal of the raw material required will be obtained locally. The real question (says The Times, m reference to the British political crisis) to be fought out is greater than any Budget. It is whether this country is to be governed, as heretofore, by King, Lords, and Commons, or whether it is to fall, through the unconstitutional practice of tacking contentious legislation to a money Bill, under the domination of any chance majority in a sin- | gle Chamber. That is not a question which any House of Commons has the right to decide, or which the House of ! Lords has any right to allow to bedecided through its own default. It is a question which only the nation has Die right to decide, and the House of Lords would fail in its duty and would betray i the trust, reposed in it were it <v permit the question to be settled otherwise thaD by the nation itself. In order to secure a clear majority over al) parties at the British elections the Unionists must gain 169 seats At the last general election the Liberals and the Labour Party gained between them 215. All but a small fraction of the requisite Unionist gains must be sought in the 465 English seats, or rather in the 327 which are held by the Liberal Party or its Labour allies. This (says The Times) is ■ undoubtedly a heavy task, though it certainly is not an impossible orie. It is easy to reckon upon a certain proportion of votes in any neighbourhood on the evidence of an enthusiastic meeting, whether for Tariff Reform or the Budget ; but such give little or no indication oi the way in which the votes wil) ultimatelyv go of the- very large number of voters who seldom or never attend meetIngs of this kind. The profitable drift of opinion among the "quiet men" has to be estimated as best it can by other means, and it is precisely this obscurer element in the calculation which is of the greatest importance, as it is often the deciding factor.

The election of twenty-seven municipal councillors of the first category in St. Petersburg has resulted in the return of the "Old Duma ticket," by a considerably reduced majority. The result disappoints reformers, and will probably compel the Government to take the control'of sanitary reform out of the hands of the corrupt and incompetent ring, which will again be able to mismanage the affairs of the city. . Dr. Gans Fabrice, the German aeronaut, has undertaken the construction of a dirigible balloon for use by Mr. Joseph Bracken in his proposed transAtlantic aerial passage. The car of the airship is being designed so that in the event of a descent to tha sea it will float for. a considerable time. , By choosing a course where favourable winds are likely to be met, Mr. Bracken will be able to save fuel by allowing the vessel to drift as a baloon. Says Ice and Cold Storage : — In a few years time there will be many improvements in the chilled meat carrying trade, and the changes that will ensue must result to the benefit of the exporters and the public ; but the consequent rearrangement of the trade will undoubtedly seriously affect some of the shipping firms. According to a Reuter message the Salvation Army proposes to plant farm colonies in the centre of Newfoundland, and a representative has conferred with, the Government, and has made a tour through the countuy, in order to select suitable locations. By a decision of the Council of Turkish Ministers, the entry into the Ottoman Empice of five Athens newspapers, which, since the constitutional era in Turkey have enjoyed. an extensive public sale, has been prohibited, owing to articles which 1 it is considered might be prejudicial to the interests of Turkey. Any contravention of this regulation will be punished by a fine of from £2 to* £16 (Turkish). It is believed that the assassin of Senors Falcon and Lantigne in Buenos Aires is a Russian (states the Times correspondent). Within a few days of the assassination three thousand Anarchists were to be deported from the city, and those newspapers which favour their propaganda! were to be suppressed. Special laws are to be passed by Congress to deal with militant Anarchism. A novel clause in the Rubber. Bill prepared by the Malay States proposes to license dealers in rubber with the object of preventing thefts. The device contained in the Bill for preventing "corners" is also causing considerable interest. During the last six months four bombs have been thrown in Buenos Aires, two of which exploded with fatal results. The Qbvernßierit is aware of the presence of between ten * thousand and' eleven thousand persons, Italians, Russians, and Catalonians, for the most part, who are actively sympathising with and assisting the Anarchist movement. The laws in the Argentina are inelastic, and criminals take advantage of the immunity enjoyed by those who do not actively infringe the code. The kingdom of Hungary and the Empire of Austria? so wonderfully united in thß spoliation of Turkey (says Saturday Retview), are now quarrelling over paying ithe 'bill j whilst the latest news is to the effect that "in order to facilitate a settlement, the military and naval authorities may postpone their demands for extraordinary credits." 11l any event the plan for providing an Austrian fleet capable of destroying or even materially harassing the English, and French fleets in the Mediterranean is lor the time being hopelessly wrecked. Without that support in . the Mediterranean which an Austrian fleet is alone capable of yielding, Qermany could hardly hope to attain to equailily with Great Britain at *ea. Discussing the land clauses of the Budget (writes the Spectator), Lord Balfour, who is an admitted expert on the whole subject, pointed out that there were twelve different kinds" of value dealt with in the Bill, including " "increment value, site value, principal value, gross value, full site value, total value, assessable site value, value for agricultural purposes, original site value, and original total value." Some of the expressions were defined, some were not. One of them was defined and never used again in any other' part of the JJill. Site value in clause 2 had a different meaning from site value in clauses 25 and 27. For truly Gilbertian anomalies (says the Financial News), there is no place like China. A new case in point is provided in the fact that certain railways in. China burn Japanese coal only in their locomotives, the reason being that by the terms of the agreement governing their construction and operation, all materials and supplies imported from abroad for use on the rai Iways* are admitted duty free, while supplies coming from ports in China itself are subject to the intercoastal tariff. Thus Chinese coal is penalised, while JapaDeee coal is put at a premium. Tne committee of the biennial art exhibition held at Venice has announced that the next exhibition will be held in the present year, instead of in 1911, as originally proposed, in order not to clash with the great exhibition of Rome. "Fear, being in itself negative, never made anything; and it could not make Abdul liamid a fine house to live in. 1 ' The Times correspondent describes how fear is expressed in the whole architecture of tha^'Yildiz Kiosk, and how it made that building chaotic — a mere rabbit-warren of secret burrowings and cells. < I — — "J.P." writes in a London journal : — "Having had some' experience as a District Magistrate in India for twelve years, I should" like to say that the only way I could ever devise for circumventing the police in. their inveterate habit of bolstering up cases by false evidence of all kinds was by constant and careful examination of the notebooks of the constables, so as to make sure that notes were made at the time of the occurrence described, and not written up at a later hour, and made to fit the theory of the crime which had by that time been concocted by the constable in charge of thecase. If the Belgian Government displayed some remorseful sorrow and an earnest wish to restore the natives of the Congo State to their ownership of the 'soil and its products, the Spectator would hope much of the promised reforms. It is hoped by the journal that the noble Belgians who do recognise the truth may succeed in creating such a volume of popular feeling as will permeate the reform scheme and make it a genuine organ of regeneration. Messrs. R. and J. Dick, the r Glasgow firm of belting manufacturers, announce that they intend to erect a factory in the United States even larger than their Scottish works. A site in New Jersey has already been acquired. The directors state that the heavy tariff of 35 per .cent, on the company's belting entering the United States has forced them to take this step as the only way of enabling' them to continue to meet American competition.