GENERAL CABLE NEWS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 67, 20 March 1911, Page 6

GENERAL CABLE NEWS.

(From Australian Papers.)

PORTUGUESE ROYALISTS

A strong movement is afoot to restore the ex-King Manuel to the Throne of Portugal. It is said that the supporters of the plan hope to succeed by peaceful measures, but it these fail force will be. resorted toy

MOAN AS EXCITING TRIP. The R.M.S. Moana, which has arrived at Vancouver, had a trying and dangerous experience while crossing the Pacific Ocean. lor seven days before reaching Honolulu her crew were battling with a fire in the bunkers, but at last managed, to subdue the flames. t

STAGE AND ■ PEERAGE

Another stag© and peerage romance has been consummated; At a registry office in the "West End last week Mrs Clara Stirling, formerly an American musical actress, .was wedded to the Marquio of ,Cholmondeley. The bridegroom, by the alliance, loses-'a legacy of £30,000, which the late Lady Meux bequeathed to him O-. the condition that he married a society lady.

LIVELY TIMES IN ZION CITY

Things qire decidedly mixed just now in Zion City. By the payment of the probate duty, amounting to £100,000, Pastor Voliva secured the administration of the late "Elijah Dowie's estate-, and with it regained a large measure of the influence ne had lost. Pastor Voliva lately plaparded the city with a decree prohibiting the use of liquor, oysters, and drugs, arid the establishment of theatres. He stigmatises as "infidels" all those who are demanding larger liberties. The chaos has becSm© worse confounded by Volwa's calling his followers to an armed insurrection against the compulsory vaccination laws, and on the first attempt to enforce these the suspended drum in the tabernacle will summon the city to arms.

ALASKAN GOLDFIELDS

A well-known, Alaskan prospector, Herron, whp has just returned to Seattle from the Porcupine rush, gives a glowing account of the richness of the field. He says that the ore is exposed all over the field, and that it is evident, that a glacier cut the top off a mountain and carried it into the valley below. One prospector stripped a rein for 50ft, and "polished" it in places, displaying free gold. His trench it 3ft deep," and he asks £40,000 cash for it as it stands. Augustus Heinze, the erstwhile "Copper King" in Montana, who came a financial cropper in the monetary crisis in. 1907, expects to clean up £5,000,0000 from, the Porcupine field. He is already planning retributive ' litigation against those financiers who wero responsible for his downfall.

A FEARFUL EXPLOSION

There was widespread panic throughout Chicago last Friday evening. • Abouir 8.3Q o'clock many of the buildings were shaken and windowns broken, and people rushed; from the theatres.: and hotels thinking that an earthquake was in progress. Some of the "skyscrapers" were actually rocking. It was discovered afterwards that one of the most disastrous explosions in the annals of United States history had wrecked the Dupont Powder Company's huge works some distance from the city. The entire plant covered 19 acres, and there was quite a village at the place where the workmen lived. In the stores were 8000 kegs of finished and 25;000 kegs of unfinished powder, also 150 tons of finished and, 130 tons of unfinished dynamite. All this went to swell the smash. Hundreds of houses were razed to the ground in a moment, and buildings 10 miles- away were damaged, while glass windows 100 miles away were broken. Of the 700 inhabitants of the village 300 were injured, but owing to the fact that the factory was temporarily closed there were only one or two fatalities. Four explosions in separate magazines followed the first in such rapid succession that they seemed but one great explosion. Hundreds of horses and cattle were killed, and many of them hurled in pieces through stable walls.

Farming in the neighborhood of Rotorua is reported to be enjoying a decided fillip, states a correspondent of the New Zealand Herald, owing to the repeal of the Thermal Springs Act, which took effect from the be- | ginning of this year. The effect of the repeal, is that nearly the whole of the 250,000 acres of land in the district previously locked up by the Act is released for selection, with the exception of 25,000 acres retained for Native^ holdings. Already there are many inquiries for land fronting on and near Lake Rotorua, and it is stated that four Gtago and as many Southland farmers are at present negotiating for properties. The inquiries are not limited to present farmers, and one of the most interesting incidents of what is described locally as a mild "rush" is that Messrs C. H. Poole, M.P., for Auckland West, and T. E. Taylor, M.P. for Ohristchurch North, have practically^ completed negotiations for the purchase of a farm and homestead of about 1000 acres on the shores of the lake, where they will establish a summer residence and cattle ranch. ,