The Lyttelton Times. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1898.

Lyttelton Times, Volume C, Issue 11751, 1 December 1898, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1898.

In the course of a discussion in the French Chamber of Deputies the Premier, M. Dupuy, announced that the Government declined to intervene in the proceedings of the Civil and Military Courts, but was willing to furnish the Court of Cassation with all documents in the case except those involving the national defence. The Government indirectly invited the Court of Cassation to use its powers to retard the court-martial of Colonel Picquart. If the Government intervened its action might he liable to misconception. • Major Esterhazy has sailed from Rotterdam for America. It is surmised that the French War Office is assisting him from the secret service funds. It is expected that the Court of Cassation will demand the production of the dossier in the case of Colonel Picquart. A procession, numbering many thousands, headed by professors and students, marched to the prison where Picquart is incarcerated and made a, great demonstrationThe Kaiser has given an audience to Colonel Schwarzkoppen, who, i* alleged, purchased information from Count Eateihazy and others, which Captain Dreyfus was convicted of supplying. . ■ An article published in the Contemporary Review ” contains startling statements cojrcorning French intrigue m Africa. The writer alleges that in 1826 France with the Abyssinian Emperor Menehk, and the Khalifa, to establish ports on the Nile and obtain the Bahr-el-Ghazal territories. . Two Jaoanese Commissioners arc visiting New South Wales to report as to the suitebility of Australian horses and catt-o lor exP °The°reoOTt 1 storm was severely felt on the coast of Now England, where seventy vessels were wrecked, and it is feared that 170 lives have been lost. . , America is disbanding 30,000 troops raised in connection with the war. The authorities at Bombay are now treating the plague as a permanent disease. A nundred deaths are occurring daily-at- Bangalore.