ENGLISH.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1200, 1 March 1895, Page 34

ENGLISH.

London, February 19. The election for the return of a member to represent Colchester in the House of Commons in place of Captain H. Ley land (resigned) took place to-day. Sir "William Pearson, Liberal, defeated the Unionist candidate Mr Vereker by a majority of 263 rotes. At the last general election Captain Ley land, who is a Conservative, won the seat by a majority of 61 votes above the number polled for the Liberal candidate. The embankment at the Albert Docks has collapsed for a distance of 60 yards. London, February 21. The Opposition press condemn the Government for allowing India to impose a duty of five |per cent, on Lancashire cottons. The National Mortgage and Agency Company has adopted the directors' report. It was resolved to give the debentureholders a first charge on the uncalled capital, and also establish trust accounts for all consignments. Dunedin, February 21. The local manager of the National Mortgage and Agency Company has recived the following cable from London, dated 20th : "The*annual meeting of the shareholders of the National Mortgage and Agency Co. Was held here to-day, and went off well. [Resolutions were passed charging the uncalled capital for debenture issues, and creating a consignment trust account. A dividend was declared for the half-year ending December last of 2i per cent., equal to 5 per cent, per annum." London, February 22. The evidence in the Liberator case Showed that a cheque for .£45,000, drawn by the Lands Allotment Company in favour of the Eeal Estates Company before the latter came into existence, has never been accounted for. Mr Sandford Fleming has written a memorandum on the tenders for the Pacific cable. He considers that the tenders are reasonable.

With an annual charge of .£75,000, the surplus revenue in a decade, he estimates, ought to amount to .£740,000. He considers that .£190,000 would be saved within r. a year of the completion of the cable. London, February 23. The influenza epidemic is again making itself severely felt in all quarters. Lord Eosebery, Justice Davey, Sir Eobert Herbert, Max O'Bell, the Earl of Dunraven, Harold Finch-Hatton, the Earl of Cadogan, Lord Abedare, Henry Irving and Mr Toole are all prostrated by it. A large number of schools have had t~> be closed, and out of 100 guests present a* a recent golden wedding 90 were suffering from the prevailing complaint. Eeuter's correspondent at Capetown telegraphs that Mr Ehodes has published a minute stating that Sir H. Loch, High Commissioner, was recalled on Tuesday, previous to resigning. The reason is unknown. The Colonial Office, however, denies that Sir Henry Loch has been recalled. London February 24. The recall of Sir Henry Loch, Governor of Cape Colony, was the outcome of an old arrangement with the Colonial Office in the event of Sir Henry desiring a rest. Lieutenant-General W. H. Goodenough, commander of the troops in the colony, is acting temporarily as Governor and High Commissioner. A young man named Tasker, who has just come into a fortune of .£700,000, is suing Streeter and Co., the well-known jewellers, for .£17,000 worth of jewellery bought and not delivered. During the hearing, of tie action it came out that Tasker had purchased articles to the value of £87,000 in a few weeks. It is believed that the Government will re-enact the thirteenth clause of the Irish Land Bill of 1891, introducing the voluntary principle between the landlord and the evicted tenant. This surrender, it is considered, will ensure the passage of the Bill. The Clan-na-Gael Society threatens to

institute a policy of dynamite outrages against the Irish members, alleging that they have been guilty of treachery to the cause. In reply to a question in the House of Commons, Sir E. Grey said that England had no right to notify the termination of the special clauses hindering preferential treaties with various parts of the British Empiie without the abrogation of the entire treaties. Hence no notice has been given to the Great Powers. The influenza is raging in a virulent form. Many members of both Houses of Parliament and of the Judicial Bench are affected. A number of deaths among the working classes are recorded. London, February 25. The Earl of Eosebery and Mr Balfour, who have been prostrated by the prevailing epidemic, are now better. The Criterion Theatre has had to be closed, nearly all the members of the company playing there just now being confined to bed with influenza, News has been received from West Africa that a party of marines and sailors landed from H.M.S. St. George, and after a sharp engagement defeated the natives of Akassa, on the Brass Eiver, in revenge for their outrages on the officials of the Niger Company. The natives, although armed with machine guns, suffered heavy loss. Major Sir Claude Macdonald, H.M. Commissioner on the Niger Coast, and the officer in command of the party from H.M.S. St. George, were wounded in the attack on the natives on Brass river.

The Sydney Harbour Collieries Company has been formed, to work the recent find of coal on the north side of the harbour. Its capital is .£500,000; and 34,000 .£lO preference shares at 7 per cent, will be issued on Tuesday week. Sir George Dibbs will be the chairman of the Australian Board. Sir Henry Loch has informed the Cape Government that he intends to retire. In making the announcement, he said he took this step with the deepest regret, as he had passed some of the most eventful years of his life in South Africa. He expressed his gratification at the energy and enterprise of the Chartered Company. The press was misled as to the details of the resignation owing to the terms of the minute of the Cape Government. Sir Herctiles Eobinson is mentioned as Sir H. Loch's successor. London financiers subscribed 120,000,000 dollars f :>r the United States loan of 62£ million dollars. The purchases made by Tasker, the young man who is suing Streeter and Co., included the famous Agra diamond (for which he gave £15,000) and seven others, the cost of which was .£30,000. He also gave .£30,000 for the Hope diamond. Streeter and Co., who are sued for £17,000 worth of jewellery alleged to have been bought and not delivered, deny that certain of the purchases claimed by Tasker were ever made. London, February 26. In his evidence before the committee appointed to consider the unemployed question, Mr Keir Hardie, M.P., said it was estimated that one million and threequarters workmen were idle just now. He urged that the unemployed should be supplied with two meals a day for themselves and their families.

[Not long- since, when a member of a deputation which waited on Lord Rosebery, Mr Keir Hardie stated that one million people were out of employment in Great Britain. This statement, however, was not generally accepted as accurate by the press.] News has been received that the British expedition in West Africa has destroyed Zimbi, the chief town of the Brass district. Among those killed in the attack was Lieutenant Taylor. Five hundred miners are imprisoned in Whit wood Colliery, Normanton, Yorkshire, through the cages being securely jammed in the shaft. The barque Beltana, bound from Adelaide to London, has been in collision in the Channel. She has been towed into G-ravesend in a disabled condition, having had her stern torn and smashed. The influenza has shut up several theatres and filled the hospitals in the East End. It is also raging virulently at the other side of the city. The influenza epidemic has prostrated a large number of the troops at Aldershot. Mr John Morley and Mr H. H. Fowler are confined to bed with the complaint. The influenza has spread to the Continent, and is raging in Berlin with great severity.