MAIL ITEMS.

Manawatu Times, Volume LXIV, Issue 106, 8 May 1907, Page 6

MAIL ITEMS.

Londojlj March 22. The Atlantic rates war is likely to be renewed thia year. Four men working in a diving bell were drowned at Wilholms-1 haven. A four-page letter by Robert Burns wsß sold at Sotheby's for the record price of £141. Hundreds of Viennese wives are for the firafc time in their lives attempting to bake bread, owing to the bakers' strike. The Hon. Walter Rothschild, M.P., is shortly to publish a volume on extinct birds. The book has cost £20,000 to produce. Ten thousand pounds for research work has been given by the GoldBmiths' Company to the Lawes Agricultural Trust (Rothamsted Experimental Station). Mrs Hannah Williamson, of Milville, New York, who was 100 years old, and had never suffered a serious illness in her life, has been burned to death.

One hundred and eighty-seven of the English strikebreakers employed on the docks at Hamburg have Btruck for more pay. Picture post cards bearing photographs of Mr and Mrs Thaw are said to have a larger sale in England just new than any other photographs. The postal authoritiee at Boboken, New York, despairing of the dilatory telegraph boy, have employed girls, to the great improvement of the service.

There ia not at present a single English peer among the Law Lords. The final Court of Appeal is composed entirely of Irishmen and Scotsmen. The inhabitants of Melmoth, Natal, appealed to the Government to build a laager into which they might retreat in the event of another native rising, which they 'ear. __ _ .

The Countess Vilma Festetics, who belongs to one of the first Hungarian noble families, settled a house worth £12,000 on Badi Nyary, a gipsy violinist, and married him in a registry office. Lord Loreburn, the Lord Chancellor, declared emphatically in the House of Lords for Home Bule, which he said is as sure to come as that to-morrow's sun will rise. Nearly 800 motor cars are now registered in Cairo, Egypt, and it is evident they are conquering the desert.

Beports from Jamaica show that Governor Swettenham's resignation has been received with general satisfaction. The Governor's unpopularity is of long standing, and has been brought to a climax by recent events.

The popularity of Victoria Falls, Bhodesia, as a winter resort for English men and women is increasing to such an extent that it has been found necessary to augment the railway service and to increase the hotel accommodation. The Quebec Legislature has unanimously passed a Bill granting a pension to Mrs Maxwell, the mother of the teaoher at the Montreal Protestant School who lost her life in the recent fire at the school in an endeavour to save the children. The Premier, Mr Gouin, and other members in feeling terms of the heroism of Miss Maxwell.

Dressed in the latest modes, and including some of the belles of Vienna, 5000 of the dressmakers on strike marched on March 18th in rows of four alon? the Bingstrasse after a demonstration on the Corso. They were led by smiling police, and crowds on the streets showed their delight at tha march of beauty. The port authorities at Dover believe that when the new western arm has been constructed the entrance to the harbour will be safe, and Dover will become one of the finest naval harbours in the kingdom.

A new type of warship has been invented for Messrs Vickers, Sods, and Maxim. It will be propelled by gas engines, will have no funnels, and its guns will be placed so that they will fire in all directions. The Canadian Immigration Department expeots 800,000 immigrants this year. Over 200,000 arrived last year. Every berth on Steamers scheduled to leave England up to July Ist has been taken. Writs have been issued (says a Johannesburg despatch) against Mr J. B. Kobinson, claiming £70,000 damages for defamation. Mr Bobinson has charged the Band Native Labour Association with deliberately curtailing the supply of native labour for the mines, and the writs have been issued agaiust him at the instance of the Association and of six of its members.

The Dowager Empress of Bussia has given a donation of £10,000 to the Bed Cross Society, the interest on which is to be allocated to three prizes for the best means of relieving the wounded on the battlefield or at sea. The international meeting of the Bed Cross Society will be held in London from June 10th to 14th next.

General Christian De Wei; has stated that he strongly objects to General Botha's visit to London,- on the ground, first, that the Premier should have gone through a full session of Parliament to learn public opinion, and, second, that Orangia should have been considered. "Dinner, and again dinners, and nothing but dinner*," said General DeWet, "may divert General Botha's mind liom the business of his country.— Johannesburg correspondent.