YESTERDAY'S CABLES.

Evening Star, Issue 7480, 26 March 1888, Page 4

YESTERDAY'S CABLES.

Home and Foreign. Very severe floods have occurred in Hungary, and great loss to property has been occasioned. Several villages have been destroyed. The cemeteries were scoured by the rushing water, and coffins scattered. In many instances the coffins were smashed to pieces and the remains of those buried strewn over the ground. Great distress prevails, and steps are being taken to collect funds in aid of the sufferers. The committee of the Wesleyan Conference have resolved in favor of the union of delegates from the Primitive Methodist, Bible Christians, Methodist, Free Methodist, and New Methodist Churches in one affiliated conference.

A meeting which Mr William O'Brien intended to address on Saturday at Youghal has been proclaimed. Queen Victoria has arrived at Florence.

The claim of Turkey to the presidency of the Suez Canal has been admitted by France. By the recent floods in Hungary sixty villages were entirely submerged. The loss of life and property lias been very great. A Bill to give effect to the provisions of the Fisheries Treaty has boon introduced in the Canadian House of Commons.

The rebel fort at Lingtu was captured by the British troops without any resistance being offered. In a speech at Stalybridge, Mr Balfour, Chief Secretary for Ireland, said the charges brought against his administration in Ireland were ridiculous and grotesque falsehoods. Mr Gladstone's alliance with Mr Parncll was an evil augury of the political future, and was merely sought by Mr Gladstone in order to purchase eightyfour unstable Irish votes. The Parnellites, even though they were assisted by Mr Gladstone, would never succeed unless the people were entirely ignorant of Irish affairs. The Irish policy of the Government was bearing most excellent fruit, as Ireland was being gradually relieved of a heavy joke. The Cambridge and Oxford boat race was won by Cambridge by five lengths. Cambridge led at the start. Time 20min osec. The weather was

foggy. Messrs Landall and Hawthorne 8011, Australians, rowed fourth and sixth respectively in the Cambridge boat.

The Government have agreed to a thorough revision of the pension list, and have accepted the suggestions contained in Mr Bracllaugh's motion dealing with the subject. Orb andgospel oak brands are steady, and last quotations (LI 6 10s) are unchanged. The prospectus of the Australian Mortgage and Finance Agency Company has been issued, the capital being fixed at a quarter of a million. Three hundred and eighty thousand bales of wool have arrived to date. The market is dull. Messrs Wingate and Birrell, of Glasgow, have suspended payment. It is reported that PostmasterGeneral Eaikes will succeed Sir F. W. Drummond Jervois as Governor of New Zealand. Australian. The engine-drivevs on the Victorian railways are in a state of ferment, stating that they are subjected to harsh treatment from Mr Alison Smith, and demanding his removal. They allege that Mr Smith is responsible for the bungling work recently discovered in the locomotiye department. In the polling for the reduction of the number of hotels in Ballarat East, the local optionists obtained a majority of 405 in favor of reducing the hotels from seventy-two to twenty-seven. In Geelong it is expected that the polling will show a similar result. The wrestling match between Connor and Cannon resulted in a win for the former, who secured the first two falls. The decision of the referee has, however, been disputed. At Eobbs's Buildings in Melbourne a most serious accident happened. A lift had reached the third storey when the wire rope snapped, and the lift fell to the ground, injuring four persons badly. The company owning the Waratah coal mines refused to grant any concessions to the men who are now out on strike, and have declined to accept the proposal that the dispute should be submitted to arbitration.

A heavy thunderstorm passed over portions of New South Wales on Saturday afternoon. A house was struck by lightning and was burned to the ground. It subsequently transpired that a man was in the house at the time, and it is supposed that lie perished in the flames.

Information has been received that the evacuation of the New Hebrides by the French lias taken place, and that a French gunboat had arrived at Noumea on the 17th with the troops which had been stationed on the group and also the building material used in erecting barracks for their accommodation.