Beyond the Dominion

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 248, 6 April 1910, Page 3

Beyond the Dominion

HARBOUR DEFENCES. London. Replying in the House of Lords to Lord Brassey, the Earl of Granard, speaking on behalf of Lord Crewe, said the Admiralty and the Dominions considered shore batteries, submarines, and torpedo-boat destroyers more effective for the defence of harbours than stationary guardships of the old tpye. All the old cruisers they were getting rid of were perfectly useless to protect their commerce, and equally useless in colonial waters. New Zealand was continuing its monetary contribution to the Imperial navy, and this was to be supported at an early date by some submarines and destroyers in those water-). NEW BATTLESHIPS. London. The keelplates of the battleships Conqueror and Monarch, and of the Princess Royal (cruiser) was laid on Friday by Messrs Beardmore and Co., Glasgow, Armstrong, Whitworth and Co., Newcaslle-on-Tjne, and Vickers, Maxim and Son, Barrow. The Thunderer's keel will be laid at Blackwall by the Thames Ironworks Co. on April 13th. A sum of £347,609 has already been spent on preliminary preparations for these ships. The battleship Colossus, of the Neptune class, will be launched from Scott's yard, Clydebank, on April 9th. Her construction will coccupy eleven months, and her hull has been built since July 19th, when her keelplates were laid. EMIGRANTS FOR CANADA. London. Thirty thousand emigrants leave Britain this month for Canada by 23 steamships. The Canadian-Pacific Railway Co. states that many settlers are going to their ready-made farms, taking £2OO apiece. P. AND O. EXTENSION. Sydney. The extension of the P. and O. service to New Zealand has proved so satisfactory that the company has decided to resume the next season for six months instead of three. Advices were received from the London office last- week giving additional information to that contained in the cable of March 29th. Six steamers of the M class will be employed. The first to call at New Zealand will be the Mongolia, which will arrive in Melbourne on November 14th. Thereafter a steamer will be despatched every four weeks, and the extended service will be concluded by the Mooltan, leaving London on February 2nd and arriving in Melbounre on April 3rd. BRITAIN'S DRINK BILL. London. The secretary of the United Kingdom Alliance estimates that the United

Kingdom in 1909 expended £155,162,485 in alcohol. The increased taxation added five millions to the cost, and therefore the decrease in consumption for the year was equivalent to eleven millions sterling. PRESIDENT TAFT. New York. After shaking hands with 1700 women, President Taf t, hearing that there were 300 more, declined to continue the ceremony. CANADA'S NAVY. Ottawa. In a supplementary naval programme Sir Wilfrid Laurier proposes to augment the subsidy for the construction of large dry docks by one-half per cent. a TON OF LADYBIRDS. New York. Fifty-two million ladybirds, weighing a ton, reared in the State insectory in Sacramento, have been sent to the melon fields of California, in order to kill aphis and other pests on which the ladybirds prey. EXILES FROM IRELAND. London. The number of emigrants from Ireland last year was 29,230, an increase of 5278 over the total of 1908. America attracted 76 per cent, of the emigrants. WAGES IN AMERICA. New York. The New York Central Railway has increased the salaries by 7 per cent, of all its employees receiving less than 200 dollars a month, who are employed eastward of Buffalo City. Companies employing 45,000 unorganised bituminous miners in Maryland, West Virginia, have voluntarily increased wages by 5 per cent.