The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1901.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12427, 16 February 1901, Page 6

The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1901.

The Council of the Congregational Union resumed) its meetings 'yesterday, and dealt with a number of matters concerning the church. . .. * The death of 'Sir Edward Stafford, who- was three times Premier of the colony, is reported. The polo match flayed at Hagley Park yesterday between teams representing Victoria and the South Island resulted in a victory for the visitors Try six goals to four. Mr'Justice Edwards sat in Chambers at the Supreme Court yesterday, and disposed of a quantity of routine busihesL The -Empire League of Canada recommends the formatioii of an Imperial Consultative Council, to arrange for the early organisation of the defensive powers of the Empire. Mr Edmund Barton says that the people ol the Commonwealth will have to find eight os eight and a half millions of revenue before talking too loudly of Freetrade and Protection. The rioting, in Madrid and other Spanish towns has assumed very serious dimensions. Much needed rains have fallen -in several parts of-Australia.' • ' The President- of the Afrikander B ind is proceeding ,to Cape -Town to consult 'with Piel de Wot in regard tOinducing.'Christiah do Wet and iSteyn to eui-render. Thirty 'thousand applications' for enlistment in General -Badcn-Powell’.s constabulary have been received in -London and two thousand aiX hundred have open accepted. , At the conclusion of the war the returned members -of the New Ze’atead Contingents will be called together and Welcomed in their, own districts. A fresh outbreak of the plague has Occurred at Bombay. The King Opened the British Parliament on Thursday. The Speech frbin the Throne contained nothing of a striking character, and the! Addresa-in-B'eply was voted -after a -diort debate. ' The Belgium Chamber of Deputies has decided to suppress the gambling houses" in tha country. \ New York Haiboxu-is ice-bound, and terrible snow storms have' 'been, raging in. tha United States. At the statutory half-yearly meeting of the Bank of New Zealand, held ini Wellington yesterday, the Chairman spoke ih. a, very hopeful tone of the condition and prospects of the bank’s business.! Mr Throsseli-ihas been sworn in as Premier Of! West Australia. Mr John Higginson, a prominent member of the New Hebrides Company, now rfi a visit to Sydney, recommends Great Britain ceding the islands to France, in exchange for an adequate concession elsewhere. The Presbyterian General Assembly continued its session at (Wanganui yesterday,. and disposed of a quantity of business. The Victorian Fifth Contingent has left Melbourne for South .Africa, accompanied by 250 volunteers for the Marquis of Tullibardine’s Scottish Horae, and 2< Dragoon Guards. 'J ho Emperor . oi .China -has directed -hies- . astronomers to select an auspicious day for his • return to Pekin. , Three Chinese officials have declined ' the Emperor’s, request to suicide. ' ' An appalling railway accident Occurred at Sydenham (New South Wales) last evening. Tne engine and a second-class carriage of a train -leaving Sydney at six o’clock ran off the rails, and seven persons were killed, and between thirty and forty seriously -injured. The cause of the accident has not .yet been ascer-. tnined.