GENERAL SUMMARY.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 40, 19 May 1869, Page 3

GENERAL SUMMARY.

LoitDOisr, March 26. The Queen has visited London and held a levee, council, and drawing-room ; her Majesty also visited the Kensington Museum, and the Zoological Gardens. Prince Leopold has recovered. The Suez Canal was opened on the 17th Marcli, when the waters of the Mediterranean were admitted. The steamer Mataura arrived in London in sixty-four days. Mr. E. A. "Weld is gazetted Governor of Western Australia. On the 15th of March, Mr. Newdegate's motion to reject the Irish Church Bill was not supported by Mr. Disraeli. The motion was rejected, after a noisy debate, by 355 against 229. The House went into committee on the bill on the 16th of March, when Mr. Disraeli's amendment to omit clause 2 in the bill was rejected by 344 against 221. Mr. Disraeli gave notice of other amendments. The debate on the second reading terminated on the 23rd of March. Mr. Gathorne Hardy and Mr. Walpole strongly opposed the disestablishment of the Irish Church. Mr. Hardy said that the policy of the Government tended to disunite instead of assimilating England and Ireland. Mr. Gladstone ably defended the measure, the details of which would however, be subject to modification when the House went into committee on the bill. The second reading was afterwards passed by a majority of 118 votes. 368 voting for and 250 against it. Mr. Chichester Fortescue announced that no other Fenian convicts would be released than those already determined upon. Mr. Lowe's financial statement shows a revenue of £72,855,000. The expenditure, including the Abyssinian war, was stated to have been £68,223,000. It is proposed to deduct one penny from the present income tax, to repeal the duty upon fire insurances, and to reduce several other taxes. The Budget was favourably received. Mr. Eastwick postponed his motion relative to Central Asia. Mr. Gladstone said that a disscussion would be inopportune, and that engagements had been entered into by the Indian Government to pay an annual subsidy to the Ameer of Afghanistan. Friendly communications he said had been exchanged with Russia. In Italy, the Government had presented a Bill for the purpose of re-organising the array ; the maximum strength to be 620,000 men, and the active strength 400,000. A large number of Eussian soldiers have been granted an unlimited furlough. Turkey and Persia have agreed to refer their differences to a mixed Commission. •• A plot to assassinate the Viceroy of Egypt by placing an exploding machine under hiabos at the theatre, had been discovered.

The Government have introduced a Bankruptcy Bill based on the Scotch system. A bill increasing Lord Napier's salary has passed the House of Commons. A bill has been introduced to repeal the " Brazilian Slave Trade Act." A Select Committee has been appointed by the House of Commons to inquire whether some system of secret voting equivalent to the adoption of the Ballot cannot be de?ised. Lord Antrim's bailiff has been assassinated at Donegal. Several Irish Fenians have been released. Mackay is detained until his sentence expires. There has been a strike amongst the . Preston operatives. The Indian Budget was adversely criticised by the Liberal press. ( A submarine cable is to be laid between Sicily and Malta. Captain Tyler is inspecting the railway between Susa and Brindisi, with a view to accelerating the despatch of the Indian mails. Failures are announced in the cotton trade in Lancashire. Seventy miles of the Persian. Gulf cable which had been thrown overboard has been recovered. The steamer Cambria has "been wrecked on the coast of Sicily, with a loss of twenty lives. t Mr. Milner Gibson has declined an invitation from the Scarborough Radicals to oppose Mr. Harcourt Johnstone. Tho great "Warwickshire Handicap was won by Lord Calthorpe's Knight of the Garter. An inquest was held on the body of Sir Emmerson Tennant, and a verdict returned of " Death from apoplexy." A battle has taken place at Cuba between the troops and 4,000 insurgents, which resulted in the defeat of the latter, who had received assistance from New York. The emigration movement has acquired importance from the growing distress. A meeting was held in the Agricultural Hall, Manchester, to advocate Government aid. The cotton operatives joined the movement. The Queen contributed £150 towards the fund. Arrangements have been made for the sale of preserved Australian meats at eighty shops of the Aerated Bread Company. The Rev. — Froude haa been installed Rector of St. Andrew's University. A testimonial of £300 has been presented to Mr. Roebuck. The Bishop of London is indisposed • to continue proceedings against the Rev. Mr. Bennett, of Frome. Madame Rachel is in Newgate. One of her sureties, finding that she was selling her furniture, became alarmed lest she should leave the country, and applied to the Judge for her apprehension. Murphy riots have taken place at North Shields, in which two hundred Irish Catholics, armed with bludgeons, took part. The military were called out, and serious injuries inflicted. Sir Roger Tiehborne, the Australian claimant to the title and estates, lately reported to have been murdered in South America, has returned to England. The action will be tried on the earliest possible date. A terrible explosion has taken place at some chemical works in Paris. Numerous deaths resulted. Don Ferdinand of Portugal has positively refused to accept the Crown of Spain. There is a growing friendship between Berlin and Rome. Four German vessels are preparing for the Polar Expedition. The Emperor and Empress of Austria have visited Croatia, and been received with marked enthusiasm. A united flag of Austria and Hungary has been adopted for merchant vessels. The negotiation for the treaty of commerce with England is progressing favourably. OBITUARY. Earl of "Wicklow, Earl of Glasgow, Lord Beaconfield, General Ormsby, Sir William Clay, Lord Wynford, General Jermine, Sir John Peter Borlian, Hon. Edward Jordan, Duke Christian of Schleswig Holstein, Stephen Simpson, and the Earl of Radnor. COMMERCIAL. Money plentiful. Bank discount, four per cent. Consols, 93|. There has been less speculation in foreign stocks. Australian securities are in good request. Victorian debentures are uninjured by the failure of the new loan. New Zealand fives (consolidated), 95^ ; ditto sixes, 1891, 107. "Wool. — Sales closed on the 24th, but there was no improvement. The decline settled into a general reduction of from lj-d. to 2d. per lb., thus verging upon the prices during the mo^t depressed portion of last August sales. Towards the conclusion, the biddings were somewhat less regular. The reduced quotations arise from the enor-mously-increased supply. 136,037 bales, catalogued for the next May sales, have arrived:— 07,896 bales from New South "Wales; 15,144 from Queensland ; 52,300 from Victoria ; 590 from Tasmania; 28,355 from South Australia; 3,753 from New Zealand; 804 from Western Australia; and 33,747 from the Cape of Good Hope. '

Ikt: Paoi Cli BBPho VllfAI/. BOCIHWABSS. i o 8 1 o 03 3 8 I NOBTHWAEDS. H o 8 o o O I 1 8 I Melbourne dep. Hokitika arr. Wellington arr. 13 19 21 ... "Wellington dep. Hokitika arr. Melbourne orr. 15 16 23 Mnnukau dep. Napier orr. m » ,_• dep> Taranaki arr. » dep. Apr 29 11 Bluff dep. Port Chalmerd 10 Apr 29 Nelson arr. „ dop. Pioton arr. ii dep. "Wellington arr. » dep. Lyttelton arr. „ dep. Fort Chalmers „ arr. ii dep. Bluff err. 30 30 May 1 2 2 3 3 4 6 6 12 12 13 11 11 15 15 21 22 22 „ arr. ii dep. Lyttelton arr. » dep. Wellington nrr. „ dep. Picton arr. i> dep. Nelson arr. m » .. do^' Taranaki arr. dep. Napier arr. dep. Muuukau » rr. li 12 13 14 IB 21 21 23 22 23 21, 21 30 May 1 2 3 4 5 5 6 G 7 8 8 7 8 0 23 24 25 ... 25 h