BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Feilding Star, Volume IV, Issue 1168, 26 April 1910, Page 2

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH —COPYRIGHT.) ■ PER PRESS ASSOCIATION. j COLONIAL VERSE. I London, April 25. i 'At Mr Henniker Heaton's instance, ! a recital will be given at the Empire festival early in June of representative specimens of the vigorous poetry and songs of the newer States of the Empire. THE GERMAN NAVY. I • The Standard's Berlin correspondent foreshadows that the legislation of 1911 will fix a battleship's* life at fifteen years, and also provide for a large increase in submarines. • | SPURIOUS BILLS OF LADING IN COTTON TRADE. Mr Nesbitt, of Knight and Yancy, • declares that 300,000 hales were in- :' voiced with spurious bills of lading ' and drawn on, and upon investigation < his firm could find, no actual cotton, i He does not attempt to say who is ! responsible. THE RUBBER BOOM. The United Malaysian Rubber Co., with a capital of £2.000,000, in £1 i shares, is issuing £400,000 at par, of ! which the directors and their friends ' have applied for £300,000, which will i be allotted in full. THE FRENCH ELECTIONS. Paris, April 25. Ihe I'rench elections came off very quietly, and party representation was ■ but little modified by the results. I M. Berlie, a Radical, defeated M. < de Pressense, a well-known Socialist, at -ivons. : Premier Briand was returned by a huge majority tor St. Etienne. ' j The elections have resulted as follows: Republicans 57, Radical-Social-ists 154, Socialists 38. Progressive 43, i Nationalists 15, Conservatives 53! ' There were 230 second ballots, due to the great number of candidates in the field. j A RUSSO-JAPANESE SOCIETY, j Tokio, April 25. I A Russo-Japanese Society has been ' lormed at Harbin to promote nation- j al rapprochement and to study each ' other's social and economic life! GERMANY'S DEFICIT. Berlin, April 25. Germany's realised deficit amounts to £8,000,000, instead of as previously estimated £12,000.000. I THE OVER-SEAS DOMINIONS. Pretoria, April 25. Lord Methuen, in a speech at .Johannesburg, referred to the examples' set bythe Dominions in the matter of conscription, instancing Australia, i He added that if Britons did their i duty, Britain at present and in the ' [ future would be as good as Britain in the past. (Received April 2(5, 8.30 a.m.) ' DISASTROUS FROSTS. London, April 25. Frost* have killed the early fruits in ten of the United States' northern and central states of the middle west. THE SEARCH FOR THE WARATAH. The steamer Wakefield reached Kerguelan Land on April 7, after making a fruitless search of the Crozets, Marian, Prince Edward, The Apostles, and other islands, for the Waratah. The captain of the Wakefield considers that if the Waratah is still afloat she must have drifted north-north-east, and not in the latitudes of the islands. The Wakefield proceeded to Heard Island, on April 9. JAPANESE TARIFF. Several questions are being asked in the House of Commons regarding the Japanese tariff, which the Diet is considering, and which comes into operation in July, 19.11. In regard to textiles, it is considered the average will be two and a half to threefold above tho present rates, and this is considered prohibitive. Many Lancashire and Yorkshire articles are subject to.the-proposed tariff. Mr M'cKinnans and Mr Wood, in the House of Commons, stated that the Board of Trade was consulting with Chambers of Commerce on the subject. PENSIONS FOR VETERANS. The Reichstag agree*l to a Bill for granting pensions to all veterans who have taken part in a campaign wherein the Empire or State partook prior to IS7O. The Government protested against the Bill, declaring that the necessary funds were uot available. THE PRINCE OF MONACO. Rome. April 25. The Prince of Monaco is the guest of King Emmanuel. He came to deliver a scientific lecture at the Vatican, but the latter has notified the Minister that the Prince is no longer a persona grata. SCHOOLS OF LANGUAGES. Bloomfontein, April 25. A crowded meeting at Bloomfontein resolved to start separate schools for teaching language on the basis of the Transvaal Education Act, thus raising an issue between the policy of the Hon. Louis Botha, Premier of the Transvaal, and General. Hergog, Director of Education in Orangia.