The Week.

Northern Advocate, 30 July 1898, Page 1

The Week.

■■ • - A Customs war is imminent between Germany and Rusßia. Thß Duke of Manchester has sailed in the Oratava on a visit to New Zealand. Professor Nasini, of Padua, has been analysing the gases emitted from Vesuvius. Germany has decided to increase the effective force of the army to 4,500,000 men. The marriage of the young King of Tonga has been again indefinitely postponed. Admiral Camera's squadrou has arrived at Cartagena, a Spanish port in the Mediterranean. The ftev, Hugh Price Hughes has been elected President of the Weslejan Conference iv London. Americans captured the British steamer Eegulus which was running the blockade &i Havana. The Greek Government has ordered 83 quick firing guns and 30,000 Mauser rifles from Germany. The authorities in Washington intimate that America intends to retain Puerto Rico permanently. The Now Guinea Land Syndicate intend to give Australasians an opportunity of subscribing locally. The Porte complains of the unfairness of tho Powers in not allowing Turkey to relievo her garrisons in Crete. The Cuban Junta has warned General Garcia that his attitude towards the Americans is imperilling the Cuban cause. It is announced that America has occupied Wake Island, in the North Pacific, lying north of the Marshalls. During a football match at Kalgoorlie a temporiiy stand -collapsed. Several men were slightly and three seriously injured. Exploration of the Dudley Colliery is proceeding. The bodies of three more victims of the explosion in March have been recovered. M. Pavloff, the Russian Minister at Pekin , demands that Chinese ships with British officers shall not be allowed to enter Port Arthur. Sir Jas. Winter, Premier of Newfoundland, will attend the conference which shortly meets for the adjustment ot the relations between America and Canada. A free fight took place iv St. Michael's Church, Shoreditch, the congregation expelling the anti-ritualists. Disturbeis occasioned a similar fight at Liverpool. The Figaro declares that America is* intoxicated with the success of her operations in Cuba, and the paper protests against her navy operating in Europe. The weather throughout the colony of Queensland is the coldest experienced for years. An unprecedented snowfall took place at Toowoomba. Mi- Goschen states that the new battleships built or building could not be matched for power, speed, or efficiency by the battleships of any two other nations. Spain is in such a fright about the talked-of invasion of her coasts by an American squadron that all the lighthouses have been extinguished. May prove rough on the vessels of neutral nations. Djevad Pasha, military governor of Crete, has resigned owing to the Powers refusing to allow the Porte to reinforce the Turkish garrisons on the islands. News from Pekin states that the Chinese Government are indignant at the demand made by the Ru sgiaa^S?y>»Bjfew!; ■^MrJ^aylofii^f that only .Russian instrutitdrt^lfiill'^S employed ' in the Chinese Army.. '" - 2 !-. " : 'X kit is stated that so irrepressible is the frivolF of the Spanish nation that not even the cumulating disasters and the prevailing disust of the Government have made any difference. Itussia is insisting on the repatriation of 30,000 Armenian refugees in the Caucasus* The Sultan declares that the Armenians would certainly starve if returned to their country, since the Kurds hold their land and property. Lord Charles Beresford says the programme submitted by Mr Goschen is not satisfactory while Sir William V. Harcourt denounces ♦• ti« hugger-mugger haphazard way " of annexing eight millions. Some people are never pleased. The Spanish Government desires the troops forming the garrison which surrendered in Cuba to be conveyed to Vigo and Coruna, on tho west coast of Spain, and to Su,uUndor, a .port on the Bay of Biscay. When the s.s. Waihora eutered Sydney Heads last Saturday, the ship Concordia, which had just left port, signalled for assistance. The Waihora found f hat she had lost a man overboard. The steamer cruised about without finding him. The National Memorial Committee has decided to erect statues of Gladstone in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin ; also to erect a new building for the library presented by the deceased statesmau to Hawarden. The Government of Tonga has lately boen pressing the natives of Tonga very hard for taxes due and overdue, and is soiling the people's household goods off. Latterly the Government has been offering to take the taxes out in bananas. The captain of tho steamor Oldfield reports having passed floating off Sable Island, Nova Scotia, the bodies of 175 victims of tho collision between the steamer Bourgoyne and the ship Cromartyshire. A special despatch from Paris says an Austrian agent has returned from Madrid, where he delivered to the Spanish £u'hor.'t c?, via the Pfrenees, 3,000,000 empty cartridges and 120 tons of explosives derirea from French, Austrian and Belgian sources. Sir G. Turner hns informed the Queensland Government that if they persist in agreeing to the New Guinea ordinance, it will be difficult to persuade the people of Victoria to contribute to tho cost of the New Guinea administration. Liliuokalam, ex-queen of the Hawaiian Islauds, is suing the American Government for tho value of one million acres of Crown laud in Hawaii, also for 100,000 dollars, representing back rents of these lands. The Victorian Government have appointed an executive committee to undertake tne representation of that colony at the Greater Britain and Paris Exhibitions. Tho exhibits are to be chiefly of a private character. HE.H is going on all right with his broken knee-cap, though ho may perhaps be a little lame. The only trouble at present is thut Tummy likes his throe square meals a day, and they are not goou for a very short ana stout person who can take no exercise. Tho Moscow correspondent of the ' Standard' telegraphs that Russia nan suddenly made a large reduction in her naval programme, which originally contemplated the expenditure of £f>1,000,000, spread over a period of seven years, on the construction of a large number of warships of various kinda. Arrangements are made with the Spanish Transatlantic Steamship Company to convey the surrendered garrison of Sautiago to Spain within three weeks at a cost of 535,000 dollars. Many Spaniards are reluctant to leave the island, aud are applying to be naturalised as Cubans.

It is reported that both Mr Goschen, First Lord of the Admiralty, and Mr Chamberlain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, desire a conference of colonial representatives for the purpose of arranging an annual contribution by the colonies to the army and navy reserves iv fair proportion. It is believed that Canada is iv favour of such a conference being held. There is great excitement at Kauowua over the recout discovery of the " Bacred nugget." The finder refuses to show it, but Father Louj?, to whose house it is alleged the nugget was taken, told a large gathering of miners that he had seen and weighed it, and it was between 95 and 100 lbs troy, but he was pledged pot to reveal the locality of the find. He promised to try aud induce the fiuders to divulge the spot. During hia illness the Prince of Wales useß the electrophono tor th<> opera aud theatrei. Very nice, and it is not every fellow with a broken, knee-cap that gets the chance. But after all he misses hia chief dolight, for the special pleasure of old laldheads like H.R.H. consists in looking at the ballot. By the way, it is to be hoped that he does uoS forget to turn on the electrophone oil Sundays aud get a good sermou.