LATE CABLE NEWS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 879, 4 January 1889, Page 17

LATE CABLE NEWS.

By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright, (per press association.) London, January 1. A return just published shows the nominal capital of the principal companies established during the year at £89,000,000. . . The revenue of Great Britain tor the year is £90,173,000. A theatre has been destroyed by fire at Kirkcaldy, Fife, but no fatalities are reported. Arrived —Ship Helene. A telegram from Stanley Pool, on the Congo, says that a number of letters from Stanley will reach England in March. A telegram conveying important news is expected ot an earlier date.

Paris, January 1. The election for the department of the Seine has been fixed for the 27th instant. Boulanger is confident that he will be returned by an enormous majority. It is reported that the struggling peasants and small landed proprietors of Prance are generally in a distressed condition, and that some have stated that they would gladly exchange their lot with that of first-class couvicti in New Caledonia. Home, January 1. The Pope, in an eneylical letter just published, says the only cure for the evils prevalent in society is a return of the nations into the folds of the Church. His Holiness also, in the course of the letter, utters a solemn warning to certain nations, who, he says, will have to pay the penalty for their sins. Makdalat, January 1. The prisoners in one of the gaols mutinied. The disturbance was quelled by the guard, but not before seven muntineers had been killed, StTAKiM, January 1. Sir F. W. Grenfell has entered Handoub. He has published a proclamation announcing the defeat of Osman Digna, asd many of the tribes have assured the General of their loyalty to the British. Melbourne, January 2. The most disastrous floods which have been experienced since 1854 took place at Castlemaine yesterday afternoon and night. A portion of the bridge was swept through the town. All the railway bridges from Castlemaine toChewton have been destroyed, and the damage to property is enormous. Railway traffic is suspended. Mrs Matthews,who, in her endeavours to avoid the rush of the water, got on a table with her youngest child, overbalanced, and both were drowned. Two miners, named O’Connor and Dennis, were drowned, owing to the Francis Ormond mine flooding. The Leader estimates the wheat yield in Victoria at 9,000,000 bushels, and the average at about 7 bushels per acre. It adds that after home consumption there will be 1,737,000 bushels left for export. Sailed—Triton, for Timaru. It is still raining generally in the colony, and heavy floods have been experienced in some places. In Maldon the main street was wrecked by the water pouring down it, and at Sandhurst a man named Rundle was drowned. It is proposed to expend L 183.000 to support a defence force of 12,000 men. Adelaide, January 2. Lambert, driver of the coach which fell over a precipice yesterday, is dead. The weather has broken up, and throughout the colony severe floods have occurred. Great damage has been done, and intercolonial railway communication is suspended. Sydney, January 2. The revenue of last year exceeds that of 1887 by upward of L 300.000. Arrived —Mararoa, from Auckland. Terrible gales swept the east end of the Solomon Island Group at the end of November, destroying plantations and houses in all directions. The

Sydney schooner Lizzie was caught in a gale and dismasted. She had a narrow escape of foundering, and was so much damaged that she was eventually condemned. She was insured in the South British office. The drought has broken up at Silverton (inland). Arrived—Rose and Grecian Bend, from Mercury Bay. Sailed —Aratapu, from Kaipara. Newcastle, January 2. Sailed —Ganymede, for Timaru ; Northern Chief, for Auckland. Hobart, January 2. The barquentine Empress of China, from Geelong to Ilobart, was totally wrecked on Pyramid Rock in a fog on Monday. The crew were saved.