BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 759, 21 December 1908, Page 2

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

[ur EtjaoTma teijlcgrafh —copyright i |PBH PBKSS AS8O(!/ATION. i NATIVE UNREST IN INDIA. Calcutta, December 19. The authorities at Lahore have seized the editorial manuscripts and the machinery of the newspaper "Revolution," which is printed in the Hindoo vernacular. Responsible WMtives welcome the reforms with the utmost enthusiasm. The official world regards the scheme as going further than they anticipated, but in view of Viscount Morley's insistence of a permanent official majority in the Viceregal Council, they accept the concessions to the Provincial Councils without the slightest misgivings. Leading Bengalis describe the reforms as generous, and the native papers generally welcome the reforms. The newspapers look for more concessions. AMERICAN SECRETARY OF STATE. ' New York, December 19. President Taft has appointed Mr P. C. Knox, Secretary of State. [When the Republican Convention nominated its candidate for the Presidency, Senator Knox was second on the list. Mr Taft secured 702 votes, and Senator Knox 68. Mr C. E. Hughes, Governor of New York, was third with 63 votes. Senator Philander Chase Knox was born in 1853, and was admitted to the bar in 1875. In private practice he is a member of' the firm of Knox and Reid. He was AttorneyGeneral of the United States from 1901 to 1904. Under President Roosevelt Mr Elihu Root was Secretary of State.] . SOUTH AFRICAN CONVENTION. Capetown, December 19. Sir Lewis Mitchell, at Capetown, declared that the Closer Union Convention was nearing agreement on many problems which hitherto had been deemed impossible of solution, and Anglo-Saxon genius for political freedom was about to achieve; another triumph. ! THE TURKISH PARLIAMENT. London, December 19. King Edward telegraphed to the Sultan his sincere congratulations on tho assembling of the Turkish Parliament, and it is his earnest prayer that "its activity will conduce to the happiness of all your Majesty's subjects and promote their prosperity and welfare, and that the country will maintain its cordial and peaceful relations to other countries." The British Government despatched a telegram tendering the new Parliament its cordial good wishes for the success of its deliberations and for the strengthening of the ties of friendship between England and Turkey. ' CONQUEST OF THE AIR. Wilbur Wright aeroplaned 6l£ miles in 114 minutes at Lemans. Some of the distance was traversed at a height of-400 feet. THE BALKAN TROUBLE. Reuter's Belgrade office reports that an Austrian captain and 50 men entered S&rvia at Monkragora, used field glasses and took notes. Another detachment crossed the frontier at Linbovia. An Austrian soldier fired off his rifle, alarming the Servian Customs Guards, one of whom fired into the midst of the soldiers, who thereupon retreated. The Servian Government regards the incidents as provocative. ' DECLINE IN SHIP-BUILDING. The Sun'derland shipbuilding output has declined from 91 vessels, with a tonnage of 296,665 tons m 1907, to 41 vessels, with a tonnage of 87,556 tons during the present year. The Shipping Gazette states that the proposed new line of steamers between Italy and Australia will be probably dropped, /as shipowners are finding the terms" which the Government demand as a condition of a subsidy, are too onerous. THE MOROCCAN THRONE. France and Spain have proposed a collective recognition of Mulai Hafid as Sultan of Morocco. The House of Commons, 'aiter strong protests from the Labour members, agreed to the Government's reluctant acceptance of the House of Lords' amendment to the Miners' Eight Hours Bill, by which the time occupied in entering and leaving the mine is permanently excluded from the stipulated eight hours. Another amendment by the_ House of Lords to delay the operation of the Bill for twelve months was not agreed to. Lord Robert Cecil, referring to Mr Ponsonby's indignant protest to the Government's yielding to the House of Lords on the Eight Hours'question, asked whether Mr Ponsonby had not yet realised that the Government did did not intend to attack the House of Lords, despite their heroics, as the Government were determined not to hazard their tenure of office. A RUINED BUSINESS. (Received December 21, 9.50 a.m.) London, December 20. The official liquidator is offering jSessrs Wilbur and Riley's business for sale, as there is no propect of reconstructing it, after the losses it sustained through the defalcations of AUberti, the Danish, Minister.