HOME AND FOREIGN NEWS By Electric Telegraph.-Copyright. (PER PRESS ASSOCIATION.)

North Otago Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8791, 18 January 1897, Page 2

HOME AND FOREIGN NEWS By Electric Telegraph.-Copyright. (PER PRESS ASSOCIATION.)

Receiver! January 16, at 9 5 a.m. Calcutta, January 15. A meeting of Europeans find leading natives of Calcutta carried resolutions approving of the Government scheme of relief in famine districts. Lord Elgin, the Viceroy, said that the occasion was without parallel, find appeals for help were beinc? receixed from all directions. A national aid scheme was e*s Mitial. Reports from Bombay show that the plague continues to rage with great virulence, and the population has been half depleted by flight. Commerce ia paralysed. The Moslem cemeteries are overcrowded.

T ondon, January 15. The Mansion House Relief Fund novr amounts to L 60,000, towards which India subscribed LlO,OOO.

Received January 16, at 9.50 a.m I London. January 15. § A despatch from the Niajer Coast Pro* tectorate states that Captain Boisragon, Mr Locke, and 20 native carriers have returned, having escaped the massacre of Mr Pnillips' expedition. They were wounded, and wandered in the bush for six days before being saved. KeceivM January 16 at 9.55 a m Constantinople, Jauuary 15. Marshal Fouad P.isha, a prominent officer of the British army, has declined the offer of the position of Commander of Bagdad, in Asiatic Turkey. The London Times' correspondent says that this offer was an attempt on the part of the Sultan to exile the Pasha, and will hare the effect of inflaming the discon. tent.

Received January 16, at 10 25 a.m. London, January 15. Hemp is flat. New Zealand ia neglected. Good Wellington, Ll6. Butter is dull. Finest quality, L 5 3a 111 1 L 5 4s. The arrival of five steamers within three days, with 1500 tona of butter, has depressed the market. Tenders for the Western Australian Land Company's three per cent stock will be received next Thursday. The miuimum has been fixed at 98.

Received January 16, at 10.40 a.m. London, January 15. Tn the course of a speech the Duke of Devonshire stated that the Government intend to constitute local bodies for the control of secondary education, with a central council.

Keceived January 16, at 10 60 a.m. London, January 15, Arrived — Opawa, from Timaru ; M»« taura, from Wellington. Keceivfd January 17, at 12 50 p.m. Constantinople, January 15. The Porte accepts the European scheme of appointing Cretan gendarmes, so as to secure a fairer treatment of Christians.

Received January 16, at 9.55 p m. London, January 15. Edmund Byrne, Q.O , Conservative member for Walthamstone, succeeds Sir J. Cbifcty as one of the Judges of the Chancery Division. Paris, January 15. M. Meline, Premier, proposes to infcro* duce a Bill into the Chamber of Deputies, dealing with the marking of imported frozen meat. St. Petersburg, January 15. In the chess match at Moscow between Lasker and Steiumetz, the latter was defeated.

Received, January 17, at 5.16 p.m. London, January 16. A force of five hundred troops, with Maxim guns and artillery, will be de« spatehed in February to occupy Benin, on the West Coast of Africa, and open up the interior of the country. Captains Boisragon and Locke, who have arrived at Brass, will be consulted as to the resources of the King of Benin. Mr R. D. Mooro is confident a week's 6pera« tiong will destroy the power of the King of Benin. The ceremony of confirming Dr Mandell Crieghton 3a Bishop of London was conducted yesterday at the Church of St. Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside. During the proceedings a scene was created by a lay. man rising from among the congregation and protesting against the confirmation on the ground that Bishop Creighfcon was a ritualist. Professor Silvanus Thompson, the eminent electrician, expressed the opinion that by the adoption of new methods ifc is possible to despatch seventy words per minute ovpr a single Pacific cable at a small extra cost. Mr F. Wigram, member for fch© Rumford division of Essex, intends to resign his seat in the House of Com* mons. Obituary — Sir Travers Triss.

Madrid, January 16. The Government have adopted « scheme of reform for Cuba, which 18 intended to pave the way for autonomy without surrendering the Spanish imperial power in the Island.

New York, January 16 The New York newspapers report that the Cuban insurgents have refused to recognise the scheme of autonomy pro* posed by Spain.

Capetown, January 18 . A patrol despatched to punish the Matabelo for the recent murder of friendly natives at Port Charter, in the Salisbury district, attacked and defeated the rebels, killing thirty-two.