1907.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 307, 31 December 1907, Page 2

1907.

A BRIEF GHRONCILE OF MOST

NOTABLE EVENTS

January 2.—W. Western broke New Zealand and world's record tor 15----inch log underhand cutting.—Mrs Josephine Butler, leader of the. agitation for the abolition ot the Contagious Diseases Act, died. January 6.—Drowning fatality at Wairau Bar. —Steamer City ot Panama wrecked near Piscadora, California; 100 lives lost. January 9.—Disastrous grass fires in Canterbury. January 10.—Mr Justice Sim appointed president of the Arbitration Court. . January 15.—Floods in Auckland. January 16.—Disastrous earthquake at Kingston, Jamaica, causing great loss of life. January 21.—Cyclone at Cooktown, Queensland, demolished many buildings. . January 22.—Bush fires in Otago and Canterbury. . January 24.—Harry Thaw's trial commenced. January 26.—Three gold nuggets weighing 675, 502 and 86 ounces respectively, found in Poseidon claim, Victoria. > . January 28.—Explosion in a coal mine in Rhenish Prussia; 425 miners entombed. January 30.—General Gomez, vicepresident of Venezuela, and General Malta, Governor of Caracas, killed. , „ ~ , ■ January 31.—Sir John See died.— steamer Carnarvon Castle burned at sea. —Heavy snow fall m Ber- • lin, suspending traffic. _ . February s.—Opening of the Blenheim Town Hall. 7.—M. Plokff, the leader of the Octobrists at Krusk, as sassinated.—Lord Goschen died. February 11.— Maklbokotjgh Express enlarged to eight pages.—Sir Win. Henry Russell, war correspondent died.—Explosion at Woolwich arsenal, causing £20,000 worth of damage. February 12.—Strike of slaughtermen at Wellington.—Revolt at Tabriz, Persia; arsenal seized and l*ovemment offices closed. February 13.—Theft of valuable pictured, valued at £50,000 from the kouse of Mr Chas. Wertheim, London. . . T February 15.—Heavy floods in Auckland.—Drowning fatality at Spring Creek.—Frank Sparks accidentally poisoned at MahakiFebruaTy "l6.—Discovery of huge sunspot, 118,000 miles long by 30,000 nnles broad.-Jfll Arnst, of New Zealand, won Ihe All Comers Sculling Handicap at Sydney. February 18.—Collision between the Heliopoli* and the Grianda; the ; latter sank, and 14 on board were drowned. ' February 21.—President Roosevelt signed the Immigration Bill, which excludes Asiatic labourers from the United . States.—Piet. Ferreira, the,leader of the Cape raid, and four other participants in the raid, sentenced to death at Himberley. — Steamer Berlin ■wrecked near Rotterdam, with 120 passengers and a crew of 60; -only 15 persons saved. February 23.—1n the ladies' sculling championship on the Parramatta River Miss Lewis defeated Mrs Woodbridge by 15 lengths in 19min 2-ssec. February 24.—1n a cable chess match Britain defeated the United States by 5£ games to 4J.— Demonstration by 10,000 municipal reformers in Trafalgar Square, London. — Revolutionaries, while robbing a bank at Warsaw, killed seven clerks, soldiers, or customers, and wounded five others. . February 25.—40,000 sterling stolen from the Treasury, New York. — Qtto Goldsmith, husband of | Jenny Lind, died. —Steamer _ImlL peratrix wrecked at Cape ™ Elaphionisi, Crete, and 40 persons <kowned.-Tj[pbn Tinline, pioneer, merchant, surveyoflnd explorer, died. February 27.—Slaughtermen's strike at Picton.—Forty children burned to death in a fire at the Hochelaga Protestant school, -Montreal. February 28.—Ratification of the San Domingan treaty by the United States. March I.—The heaviest rains experienced in Central Australia for the previous 25 years. Jffarch 2.— G. Towns won the world's X sculling championship, defeating Durnan by four lengths. */3y&arch 3.—Frederick Adams died. Jr*Maxch. s.—The Prince of Wales ' created an admiral. March B.—The biggest bush fire on record devastated 100 square miles in the Longreach district, Queensland. March 9.—Strike at electrical works in Paris, causing the closing of theatres and preventing the publication of newspapers. March 10.—Dr. Dowie, of Zion City, died. March 11.—Construction of a torpedo by Japan to be fired by wireless telegraphy. March 12.—Two shocks of earthquake in Blenheim. —Lord Elgin opened the Colonial Exhibition at Liverpool. March 13.—Explosion on the French battleship Jena; thirty killed and 300 wounded. —300 Camorrist ringleaders arrested at Naples as a result of a Government crusade against secret criminal societies. March 14.—-Panic on Wall Street, New York, owing to the banks calling , in loans to meet heavy impending disbursements. March 15.—Lord Curzon elected Chancellor of Oxford University. JMarch 18.—Cambridge won the University boat-race by 4^ lengths.— An explosion of fire damp in the Kleinrosseln colliery, Germany, killed 65 miners and seriously injured 12.—Healy won the East Sydney Club's 100 yards swimming championship in 57 4-5 seconds— an Australasian record. March 17.—Schmitz, Mayor of San Francisco, and Ruef, the notorious " boss," committed for trial in connection with the San Francisco municipal bribery cases. — Upton Sinclair's Socialistic colony at New Jersey destroyed by fire. March 18.—Death of John O'Leary, the Fenian leader. March 19.—Heavy rains throughout the North Island.—Damage to Wellington's water supply. — M. Sudeff appointed Premier of Bulgaria.—M. Marielin Bertelot, the famous French savant, died. March 20.—Peasants at Botosanic, Roumania, set fire to Jews' houses and attacked the military, who killed four of them. jMarch 21.—Bag of registered letters, valued at £80,000 sterling, stolen between New York and Paris.

March 22.—Horace Rayner sentenced to death for the murder of William Whiteley, the "Universal Provider," in London. March 23.—Mr W. Gray, secretary to the New Zealand Post Office, died. March 25.—Moorish outrages at Morocco; the British Vice-Consul and Dr Mauchamps stoned to death.—The widow of Sir James Steel, a former Lord-Provost of Edinburgh, refused to jpay the house and property-tax in the absence of a vote; a portion of her property was therefore sold, in the presence of 5000 witnesses, to meet the demand. March 26.—Two thousand peasants at Bacisi, near Vaslui, Roumania, attacked a company of soldiers, who, firing, killed forty.—Navigation Conference opened at the Foreign Office, London. March 27.—Britain and Italy entered into an agreement, simplifying the reciprocal relations in : Somaliland, and ensuring the greater efficiency of any punitive measures. —Cjda (Morocco) occupied by the French ? causing concern among the natives. March 28.—Dr. Jollos, editor of the Russkuju Vntedbmosti, the foremost supporter of the Constitutional Democrats, shot dead by a youth at Moscow. March 29.—Rescue by an heroic diver named Hughes of the entombed miner Varischetti, Western Australia.—Floods at Takaka, Nelson.—The New Orleans-San Francisco express derailed at Bolton, Nebraska; sixty passengers killed and 100 injured.—Police arrested 10 members of the~ revolutionary fighting committee at Reval, in Russia. March 30.—Fire in the Exhibition Buildings, Christ-church. April 2.—Riots at Elphin, Roscommoh County, Ireland.—The Independent Labour Conference in London adopted a resolution in favour of enfranchising women. April 4.—Twenty-eight shocks of earthquakes occurred at Bitlis; 300 houses collapsed, and 1900 people seriously injured. April 5.—199 principals, professors, former professors and lecturers of the Scottish l/niversities protested against the re-constitution of Dublin University.—Enthusiastic meeting held at Belfast protesting against Home Rule. <or devo- j lution.—Statistics published at Washington showed that 1,200,000 j decrees in divorce had been granted in the United States in 20 years. April B.—King Edward appointed honorary Capt.-General of the j Spanish Army by King Alfonso.— A Gautemalan youth of 18 assassinated Senor Barrillas, expresident of Guatemala. April 9.—Fires in Harbin, Mancuhria, destroyed the whole business quarter of the town, and rendering thousands homeless. — \ The worst blizzard experienced for 40 years raged in Newfoundland, i April 11.—Deadlock between the Duma and M. Stolypin, the Premier.—Revolutionaries surrounded Casa Blanca, Morocco. April 13.—Mr W. H. Eyes, formerly . m Superintendent of Marlborough, ]C died. April 14.—Dave Billington, the world's champion, swam three-quarters of I a mile in 17 minutes 35 2-5 sees, at Sydney, establishing a world's record.—Cecil Healy covered 100 yards in 57 seconds, lopping three seconds off the previous record. ...; April 15.—Christ«hurch Exhibition closed.—The volcano Puyehue, in Southern Chili, in violent eruption.—The war between Honduras and Nicaragua terminated. April 16.—Olive Schreiner started a women's suffrage society at Cape-, town.—An earthquake destroyed the towns of Chilpancingb and Chilapa, MexicoApril 17.—Freedom of London conferred upon Colonial Premiers.— Opening of the Imperial Conference. April 18.—The Chamber of Commerce, Glasgow, decided by 62 to 39 that the commercial union of the Empire would be most readily and advantageously established on a mutual preferential basis.—Sir John Lawson Walton in the House of Commons introduced a Bill to establish a Court of Criminal Appeal. April 19.—Coal-lumpers' strike at Sydney; 800 men refuse to work. —Mr E. M. Smith, M.H.R. for Taranaki, died. April 20.—The town of Iloilo, in the Philippines, destroyed by fire; 20,000 people homeless. April 21.—Double shipping disaster at Adelaide. Collision between the Arden Craig and the barque Norma. The latter sank. The Jessie Darling steamed over the submerged vessel and was pierced by a spar, causing her to sink also. April 22.—The steamer Archangel, with 80 passengers, struck an icefloe on the Neva, and foundered; only 15 saved.—Demonstration by 800 Woolwich arsenal employees at Westminster. April 23.—Inauguration of the EmFire Education * and in London. 25.—Mr Winston Churchill, Under-Secretary for the Colonies, created a Privy Councillor. April .28.—Mr Winston Churchill gave a banquet to the Colonial Prime Ministers.—Discovery of magnificent coloured marble in the Omeo district, Victoria. April 29.—Stromboli in violent eruption.—Death of the Hon. Wm. Mouat Bolt, M.L.C. April 30th.—The Waikati geyser, at Wakarewaiewa, which had been inactive for many years, began to play. May Ist.—All trade stopped by a general strike at Warsaw. Bread and meat unpurchasable. May 2nd.—Heavy floods in the North Island. May 3rd.—^Sir Richard Solomon appointed Agent-General for the

Transvaal in London.—Accident to electric car Wellington, causing the death of a woman, Mrs Bell. May 4th.—The Colonial Prime Ministers attend a review of 60 modern warships at Portsmouth. May 6th.—Thirty-three ringleaders, all eminent scholars, arrested in • Korea for being* concerned in a plot to assassinate five Korean Ministers who signed the Protectorate Convention with Japan.— Five native barristers arrested at itawal Pindi, India, charged with mutiny and rioting.—Rebellion in Southern Morocco against the Sultan. .

May 7th.—Dr Horn, a former Governor of German Togoland, dismissed the service owing to cruelty to natives.

May Bth.—Ten thousand dockers at New York struck for a rise in wages.—Colonial Prime Ministers entertained at Buckingham Palace by King Edward. May 11th.—Discovery of a serious plot against the King of Roumania..—On the Hunter River. New South Wales, Ford defeated Fred Kempton, the ex-champion sculler, by a length. May 14th.—The steamer Thorthil, bound from New York to Brazil, took fire and foundered in midcean.

May 16th.—The Chamber of Deputies (France) passed a vote of confidence in M. Clemenceau's policy in refusing to alow civil servants to join trade unions.—The Council of the Empire (Russia) rejected the Duma's Bill for the abolition of field court-martials and the revision of sentences. May-TZth —An ivory crucifix by Michael Angela r -yaluGa-_at--.£IA,OQ.CL sterling, stolen.—Terrorists attacked a railway office at Warsaw, killing two soldiers and wounding four. They escaped with 10,0001 roubles.—Serious disturbances at Germiston and Langlaate Deep (Transvaal), where non-unionists were stoned by strikers. May :20th.—Raid on a "two-up" school in Wellington. May 21st.—At the Police Court, Perth, Mr Holman, a member of the Assembly, and two others were fined on a charge of instituting a strike 'in connection with the timber trade trouble.-i-Mr Justice Copper gave judgment . ordering, the Blenheim Borough xA Council to give up possessioji of the quarters in the'~P"roy!acial buildings.—A bomb thrown at Odessa killed two police and four pedestrians. The members of the Black Hundred ran amok and injured a hundred Jews. May 22nd.—The Court at Perth decided that the boat owner, Hancock, who boarded the steamer Mildura after its being wrecked,, had established his claim to the vessel as a derelict.—A strike at New South Wales, threw idle 20,----000 men and plant valued at £5,----000,000.— The men employed in eight Rand mines struck. : May 23rd.—Tragedy at Seaclifl: Asylum; Ah Kee, a Chinese patient, killed another patient named Joseph Rhodda. — Knighthood conferred upon Mr John Kirk, for many years Secretary of the Ragged Schools' Union.— Murder of Miss Crump at Southsea. May 24th.—The Rand strikers attacked and stoned the police at the Ferreira Deep Mine.—Empire Day. May 26th.—A Greek band near Smyrna, kidnapped a Dutch baron, Keemstra. May 27th.—A pianist named Healy sought to lower the world's record of 48 hours. He played for 46f hours.—6o,ooo Primitive Methodists assembled on top of Mowcap to celebrate the centenary of the foundation of the sect.—The Duma voted 17£ million rouples for famine relief. May 2£3 th. —Serious rising at Wongkong, near Canton,- many Chinese officials killed. May 29fch.—Several armed men boarded a moving train on the RigaOriel railway, Russia, and stole 40,000 roubles. May ?lst.—French Chamber of Deputies sanctioned marriages between brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law. June Ist.—Karl Blind, a noted leader |in the German revolution between. 1847 and 1849, died. June 3rd.-—Twenty thousand persons participated in an anti-Govern-ment demonstration at Nimes, France. June 6th.—The Russo-Japanese commercial treaty settled on the most favoured-nation basis.—A deputation headed by the Bishop of London waited upon the London County Council and. protested against living statuary in the musio halls. June 10th.—A cloud burst flooding the town of Gradyville, Kentucky, and killing 20 persons. June 11th.—Serious rioting at Mont- . .pellier, France. June 13th.—Three men—Makeno, Mata and Ibarra—sentenced to nine years' imprisonment for attempting to assassinate King Alfonso of Spain an his wedding-

day.—Wreck of the steamer Kia Ora off Kawhia. June 36th.—The women of Norway granted the Parliamentary franchise.—Jacob Schmitz, ex-Mayor of San Francisco, convicted of extorting money from restaurantkeepers and sentenced to five years' imprisonment.—Drowning fatality at Dumgree.—Oil launch disaster at the Croxilles. Maori woman and boy drowned. June 17th.—M. Nelidofty the Russian delegate, elected President of the Peace Convention at The Hague.—Miners working in the Comet Mine on the Rand, waylaid by strikers and sjamboked. June 19th.—A battalion of sappers mutinied at Kieff. The captain and three men . were killed, and 60 wounded. June 20th.—Floods in Greece almost destroyed the town of Trikkala. One hundred people perished.— Serious r'oting in the Sduth of France by the wine-growers. June 21st. Major Tuson, of the Manchester 'Regiment, selected as Adjutant-General of the New Zealand Forces.—Fire in the Nightcaps coalmine, causing the death of three men. June 23rd.—Chamber of Deputies passed a bill to prevent the adulteration of wines, which was the cause of the rising among winegrowers. June 24th.—T. E. Hammond walked from London to Brighton and back, a distance of 104 miles in I 18 hours 32 minutes 7 seconds, ! beating the previous record by 2 I hours 18 minutes. June 25th.—The long-standing timber dispute at Perth was settled. —Sir John Hall died. June 27th.—Parliament opened. — H.M.S. Inflexible, the largest I cruiser jii the world j launchea at Clydebank. I June 28th.—Earthquakes at Thursday Island, by explosions, which terrified the in•>tk/ habitants. Jufe 30th.— Body of William Preston found in the Upper Lagoon. Jtof July 3rd.—The King conferred^tfife Order of Merit on Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, the eminent botanist.—Chinese troops surprised and captured 80 insurgents at Wong Kong. July 4th.—John D. Rockefeller subpoßnsed to appear at the Chicago Federal Court in connection with the financial condition of the • Standard Oil Trust.—Arrests in Wellington in connection with warehouse thefts. July oth.—Mr James White died.— Captain Da rrell won the Diamond sculls at the Henley regatta. Sergeant-Major Wallingford won the army shooting championship with a score of 498 out of a possible 525. July Bth;.—Opening of the Bisley shooting meeting. Mr July 9th.—Sir Spencer Walpole died. —Schmitz, ex-Mayor of San Francisco, sentenced to 5 years' imprisonment for corruption. July 10th.~Sir Wm. Broadhurst, physician to the King, died. July 11th.—Dynamite outrages in the Rand. Attempt made to destroy the shaft of the new Modderfontein mine, and Crown Hotel blown up. July 15th;— Barque Woolahra ran ashore; at Cape Terawhiti.—Opening of the Alexandra dock, Cardiff by King Edward and Queen Alexandra.^ —Secret bomb factory blew up at Odessa. Several killed and 13 wounded.—ln the Stock Exchange Competition at Bisley, the first eight Australians aggregated 790, establishing a record. —Mr Lyttelton's motion in the House of Commons censuring the Government for refusing to meet the Colonial Premiers and discuss preference defeated. July 18th,—A large business building in London, Ontario, collapsed, and buried hundreds in the ruins. July 19th.-r-The Emperor of Korea decided to abdicate. Jul£ 21st—Lieut. Addison, of Aus"tralia, tied for the King's Prize at the Bisley meeting with Pvt. Hope—A train with 800 excursionists collided with a freight train in Michigan; 35 passengers killed.

July 22nd.—Sir Geo. Sydenham Clarke appointed Governor of Bombay.— Anti-Japanese rioting at San [ / Francisco. July 24th.—A number of Albanian [ peasants, assisted by Turkish troops, exterminated a band of | 65 Servians near Salonica. July 28th.—The warship Bellerophon, a sister ship to the Dreadnought launched at Portsmouth. July 29th.—A fire devastated Coney Island, the popular New York seaside resort, and rendered 2000 people homeless. July 30th.—Dockers' and carters' strike at Belfast. j July 31st.—M. Nelidoff, President of The Hague Conference,laid the ' foundation-stone of the Carnegie Palace of Peace at The Hague. August Ist.—Two men burned to j death in Nelson. I August 2nd.—Joseph Hatton, the novelist, died.—Mr David Christie Murray, the novelist, died. August 3rd.—Railway accident at Rotorua.—Webb,of Wanganui, won the world's sculling championship ~ at Parramatta. August 4th.—Standard Oil Trust fined 29,240,000 dollars.—A mob at Belfast attacked a prison-van and stoned police. l

August sth.—An explosion of firedamp in the Koenig mine killed 18 miners and injured 11. August 6th.—The Earl of Crewe opened the School Hygiene Congress in London. August 7th.—The Emperor of Germany's yacht Meteor won King Edward's cup at Cowes. : August Bth.—Lord Dunraven's yacht Kariad won the Kaiser's cup at Cowes.—Turkish invaders shelled and destroyed the Christian town of Mewau, killing 90 inhabitants. J August 11th.—Five hundred _»strikers i stoned 700 English" stfifee^b'realSr* ers at Antwerp.—Rioting in Belfast. August 13.—Union Coy's steamer Kawatiri wrecked at Macquarie Harbour, Tasmania. August 14.—Barque Ingeborg sunk by steamer Arawatta; seven lives lost. August 15.—Joseph Joachim, the distinguished violinist, died. August 19.—Tartakover won the International hundred-metres swimming race at Hamburg. August 21.—Mail bags and £50,000 worth of valuables stolen from a train on the Burlington-Quincy railroad, America. August 25.—Warships destroyed a Kabyle village, Morocco. August 26.—Baker, of Sydney, won the fifty and five^ hundred metres International swimming races at Wasa, Finland. August 27.—Deceased Wife's Sister Bill read a third time in the House of Lords. August 28.—Proclamations issued declaring that the Counties of Clare, Galway, Leitrim.Longford, Roscommon and King's County were in a state of disturbance, requiring 'additional police.— Demonstration by riotous students at Calcutta. August 30.—The steamer Everton Grange struck and sank the schooner Oscar Robinson on Port River.Lieut. Niketenko and two others sentenced to death for organising an attempt against the life of the Tsar of Russia..—The largest cantilever bridge in the world over the St. Lawrence at Quebec collapsed, killing nearly 100 workmen. September I.—An Anglo - Russian signed. — Fire in Percy Street; man burned to death. September 2.—Fatal accident at Batty's farm.—The tower (300 feet high) of the famous " Sanctuary of the Crucified " at Boca, collapsed. September il—The Billiard Association abolished the cradle-cannon. —The Black Hundred conducted a massacre at Odessa. September s.—Edward Greig, the musical composer, died. September 9. —Anti-Japanese riot at Vancouver. September 11.—Hooligans carried out a programme at Kishineff, killing 80 Jews. September 12.—Daniels swam 150 yards at Liverpool in 93 seconds, establishing a record. September 13.—The Lusitania v beat the record between Plymouth and New York by 5 hours 44 minutes. September 15. — Fight between Chinese rebels and troops at Lingshuan.—The town of Murivillumbah, on the banks of the Tweed River, N.S.W., devastated by fire. September 16,—Train collision at Canaan, Canada; 20 people killed and 40 injured. September 19.—-Italy and Argentina agreed to submit all their disputes to arbitration. September 20.-r-A Franco-American commercial treaty signed. September 24.—The Labour Congress at Winnipeg rejected the Socialists' proposal favouring the collective ownership of all the means of livelihood.—The hottest day experienced in Sydney since 1859. September 26.—New Zealand proclaimed a Dominion. September 29.—F100d in Malaga,

Spain, rendering 12,000 people homeless. September 80.—The Chicago express collided with a freight train, and 15 persons killed. October 2.—Record catch of 20,000,----?000 herrings in the North Sea. October 4.—Revolution in Corrintho, Argentina. October B.—The First Committee of the Peace Conference adopted the proposals as a whole concerning compulsory arbitration. October 9.—Labour Day. October 11.—The First Committee of the Peace Conference adopted the principal of a permanent Court.. October 13.—Unveiling of a statue of Queen Victoria at Leith by Lord Roseberry. October 15.—The London and NorthWestern Company's express derailed between Crewe and Bristol; sixteen killed arid twenty wounded.—Dr Ingram suspended business in Wall Street by preaching from a soap box. October 16.— J. A. McCullough dismissed from the Addington workshops.—Opening of the season of the Blenheim Rowing Club. October 17.—A plenary sitting of the Peace Conference adopted the proposed scheme for a permanent Court of Arbitration.—Extensive ~:, "creep" at Newcastle over old

| mines. October 19.—Sir Sydenham Clarke, Governor of Bombay, created a Grand Commander of the Indian Empire.—Sensation at Pretoria, owing to the desecration of President Kruger's grave. October 21.—Trafalgar Day. October 22.—General Drude's forces

had a sharp fight with 5000 of Mulai Hand's mounted followers, Morocco. October 24.—The Pittsburg Stock Exchange temporarily closed. October, 25.—An earthquake killed 300 peonlc and injured 1000 at Ferruzzano, Italy. November I.—Anniversary of the Province of Marlborough.—Flood in northern Italy caused £1,000,----j 000 worth of damage. November 4.—One hundred natives massacred an armed police patrol of 19 men and 8 women and children on the island of Flores. November 6.—Death of Sir James Hector. November B.—Flour Bill passed by i House of Representatives. November 9.—Death of Mr Henry Redwood. November 11.—R;- Arnsfc won the All- ■**£ comers Race at the Ulmarra re-' J gatta, beating C. Towns. November 14.—Christchurch tragedy.] A man named Wilson shot his' wife and then committed suicide. November 15.—The Federal Council aij Berlin approved a Bill reducing the lifetime of German battleships from 25 to 20 years. —Federal mail contract with the Orient Company signed, November 18.—A company of Chinese troops murdered 63 Japanese policemen and civilians in Southern Formosa. November 19.—Marlborough A. and P. Show opened. November 21.—First wool sales for the season opened in Christchurch. November 22 Public Service Superannuation Bill passed.-^-Lionel Terry escaped from the SeaclifF Asylum. November 23.—Obituary: Mr Clarke, "Father" of the New South Wales House. November 25.—Terrific hailstorm at Galton, Quensland. November 29.—Zappa, a Greek, bequeathed 1,000,000 francs to Greece to ensure the continuance of the Olympic games.—Hundred Bulgarians attacked the Macedonian village of Otachnitza, and killed four peasants. November 30.—The Order of Merit conferred on Miss Florence Nightingale, who was the first lady to receive the Order. November 30.—Fire in Melbourne, 1 causing £60,000 worth of dam- \ age.' Dceember 2.—An explosion in the Naomi mine colliery, Pennsylvania, entombed 60 miners. Dceember 3.—The Belgian and Orange Free State plenipotentiaries signed the annexation treaty.—Wreck of the Mount

Temple on the west of Ironbound Island. December 4.—Unrest in Zululand, and 2000 troops in the field.— The Kaiser burnt in effigy.—The Goolds on trial. I December 5. — American Congress closes; the' longest on record.— Dinizulu stirring up the Zulu tribes. December 6.—Mrs Goold sentenced to ! death.—The uproar in the Reichstag in connection with the German Court scandals.—Earthquakes at Levuka, Fiji. December 7.—National Bank of Com- j merce, Kansas City, failed; liabilities £4,Boo,ooo.—Strike of 10,000 workmen in Russia. December 9. — Lithgow ironworks closed down.—Bendigo miners strike as a protest against being searched.—King of Sweden died. —Mining disaster at Manangah, U.S.A.; 425 lives lost. December 10.—Miners on strike at Nevada; attempt to blow up a train unsuccessful.—Twenty-one sailors sentenced to death at

I Vladivqstock for being concerned. ; in mutiny.—Arrest of Dinizulu. December 11.—Parliament Buildings, destroyed by fire. ' December 12.—Lionel Terry re-cap-tured.—The steamer Galsgarth: founders. —Six members of the ; crew of the Veneta picked uo in. a boat; all except the captain insane. December 13.—Discontinuance of the Canadian subsidy .of 180,000 dollars 'towards Vancouver-Austra-lian Steamship Company.—The Macedonian murder at Vienna. December 14.-—Mr. Deakin's scheme for the defence of Australia made public. • ■.'* December 15.—Massacre by Montenegrians at Constantinople.— Heavy gales and floods both in England and Australia. December 16.—Constable assaulted1' and stabbed at Palmerston North.—Revolution in Persia;' Teheran in a state of siege. Explosion in the Dmas colliery, Glamorganshire: seven killed. Submission of 800 Zulus to the white authorities. December 17s-—Departure of Admiral Evans's fleet for the Pacific.— Explosion in a mine at* Yolande;: 90 miners entombed. December 18.—Death of Lord* Kelvin. —Revolution in Persia, murders by the hooligans.—Strike of wharf labourers in Melbourne. December 19.—Lithgow ironworks, N.S.W., placed under new management.— Mining;. dispute at Denniston.—Australia wins the first test match by two wickets. December 20.—Acquittal of Wood in connection with the Camdeu Town murder.—Explosion in an arms factory at Palermo, Sicily.— r Mining disaster in coal mine at Pittsburg; 250 men entombed. December 21.—Mr Ginnell, M.P., ordered to be arrested in connection with his speech at Kilskyn. December 22.—The Nevada strike; troops withdrawn. — London's, poop* scholars; an appeal for subscriptions. x , 4 December 23.—Fire in the Auckland Post Office.—Keir Hardie arrives in Auckland.—Strike in Chili;, rioters killed by troops. Dteecmber 24.—Fire in Christchurch; large building gutted.;—Mr E. G. Jellicoe engaged to defend Dinizulu. December 25.—Outrage in India; a. magistrate shot.—Sensation in Calcutta. December 26.-^Big fires in Adelaide j damage estimated at £50,000. December 27.—Collision of two , railway trains at Lahore; arrest of the stationmaster. December 28.—Keir Hardie meets with an accident while motoring, to Wellington. — Westport Regatta.—Drowning fatality in theOpawa River. —" December 29.—Loyal demonstration! in Bombay. December 30.-—Druce's grave opened! in connection with case.

The commission chargeable om money-orders issued for payment within New Zealand will be 3d for each £5 or fraction of £5, and on > money-orders payable in the United' Kingdom (including foreign offices through London) United States of America, South Africa, etc., 3d for £1 or fraction of £1. A reduction' will also be made_ in the poundage on postal notes for issue within the Dominion.

A telephone office has been openedl' at Nydia Bay, Pelorus Sound. -