LATE CABLE NEWS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1188, 7 December 1894, Page 18

LATE CABLE NEWS.

London, December 4. The various Agents - General require instructions' as to whether they should support an extension of the present mail contracts with the colonies until 1898, and generally seek information as to the decisions of the postal conference‘in Wellington in March last. At the meeting of the Land and Loan Co. of New Zealand, the shareholders suggested that it was desirable to wind up the Company. The directors promised to consider the matter. London, December 5. The enquiry ordered by the Home Office into the charges broi’ght against St. John’s Industrial School, Walthamstow, by the Resident Chaplain, Lord Archibald Douglas, who alleged that shocking cruelty had been inflicted on children, under pretext of punishment, has ended, with the result that the charges have been disproved. The ship Earl of Zetland, bound to Melbourne, is ashore near Romney, on the Kentish coast. The Gulf of Venice, sailing for Australia, struck the Greenock breakwater, and was badly damaged. Prominent Queensland and Tasmanian producers are forming a Direct Producers’ and Consumers’Company, with a capital of =£loo,ooo. The business will be solely the retailing of colonial produce. Ottawa, December 5. The report of the Earl of Jersey on the Ottawa Conference has been well received throughout Canada. The Hon Mackenzie Bo well, Minister for Trade and Commerce, believes the report will greatly strengthen Imperial feeling and promote closer union with the colonies. London, December 5. The Times commends Lord Jersey’s ability, and the sympathy he has expressed with the proposals of the Conference, and hopes that the result will be his permanent connection with the colonial service. Sydney, December 5. Hounibail, who was convicted of a series of embezzlements, has been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. The Legislative Assembly, after considering the Legislative Council’s amendments in the Labour Settlements Bill, decided to lay the measure aside. Washington, December 4. In his Message to Congress, President Cleveland recommends the repeal of the duties on sugar, as he considers it hopeless to assist refiners at the present time. The Message favours the free importation of coal and iron, and encouragement to the shipbuilding industry. It further recommends that the national banks should issue untaxed circulating notes not to exceed 75 per cent, of their actual capital, and deposit a guarantee equal to 30 per cent, of the amount of the issue. It is proposed to establish a safety fund for the immediate redemption of the circulating notes of failed banks by imposing an annual tax of 1| per cent, on each bank on its average note circulation.

St. Petersburg, December 4. A Nihilist plot against the Czar has been discovered.

The Polish papers allege that G-eneral Gourko has resigned the Governorship of Warsaw because he is opposed to the mild policy announced by the young Czar. A Russian loan of .£20,000,000 to complete the Siberian railway is impending. The loan will be placed in London, Paris and Berlin. The Rothschilds offered to subscribe any portion which may not bo taken up. Melbourne, December 5.

In committee on the Land and Income Tax Bill, an amendment was carried by 57 to 25 increasing the land tax exemption from £IOO to £SOO. The Government voted with the minority. The Premier intimated that the amendment meant the loss of £160,000 in revenue, which would have to be met by increasing the income tax.