CABLE FLASHES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1291, 26 November 1896, Page 37

CABLE FLASHES.

The London County Council, aftar a heated discussion, accepted the portion of the report ef the committee which censured the Works Department for the "cooking" of accounts. Lord Dunraven suggested that a Royal Commission be set up to enquire into the whole matter. Eventually the debate was adjourned. Dr William Maloney, of Melbourne, gave a public exhibition in Edinburgh of electrical treatment of disease, but the students noisily protested that the lecture was a breach of University etiquette, and the police had to be summoned, whereupon the students left. They afterwards pelted Dr Maloney's house. The British railway men have demanded that the hours of labour for guards and brakesmen be limited to ten hours per day, and those of shunters to eight. Eight Judges—a Frenchman, a German, an Italian, a Russian, a Greek, and three natives—are hearing in Alexandria the appeal against the judgment of the Egyptian Mixed Tribunal, which held that the use of Caisse de la Dette Reserve Funds for the expenses of the Soudan Expedition was illogal. The English Judge will not take part in the proceedings. Mr Jerome Dyer red a paper at the Colonial Institute on Victorian Industries. In the discussion which followed, Sir Westby Perceval, Agent-General for Tasmania, said the Government ought to improve the methods for the distribution of produce.

The Bathurst Federation Convention has disapproved the idea of an elective Governor, but affirmed the principle of an elective Senate.

The Presbyterian General Assembly of Victoria has discussed the question of replacing the mission schooner Dayspring, recently wrecked at New Caledonia. It was resolved that, recognising in the loss of the vessel an occasion for reconsidering the whole matter of the mission maritime service, the committee be instructed to consult with the other churches connected with the New Hebrides Mission, and report to the next meeting of the Assembly. The annual report published in Melbourne of the Aborigines Protection Board shows that the blacks are rapidly decreas-

ing, and there is now only 4SB aborigines and half-castes belonging to the various stations. The Board recommends the amalgamation of the stations, for economy and greater comfort. Mr James Powell, Chief Commissioner of Taxation and Collector of Customs of New South Wales, has resigned both positions.

Splendid rains have fallen in various parts of Victoria, and the crops will be benefited to some extent, but the change comes rather late.

The Ontario Law Society, Canada, ha s j admitted women to practise at the bar.

Professor Davidson, of New College, has been elected Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland.

Sir Matthew White Ridley, Home Secretary, has promised a trade deputation that the Government will legislate on the question of employers' liability assuring workmen protection for life and limb, and will also simplify the Factory Acts. The Armenian Bishop of Urmush has been appointed Patriarch of the Armenian Church.

In the Victorian Legislative Assembly the Colonial Treasurer stated that since 1872 4 per cent, stock amounting to £2,085,000 has been issued. This stock will be redeemed next year, and the loan covering it will shortly be floated. The interest will probably be fixed at 3 per cent. The Bathurst Convention suggests that the residential qualification for Senators under the proposed Australian Commonwealth be raised from five to ten years, and that for the Lower Chamber from three to five years. A new classification of the railway employees of Victoria has been made, entailing an additional expenditure of .£22,000 for the present year, and .£30,000 next year. In the South Australian Legislative Assembly, it was stated that the Government had declined the offer of the AngloFrench Goldfields Company to complete the Transcontinental Railway on the land grant system, on the gi'ound that it would create a large monopoly, and was, therefore, opposed to the best interests of the colony. In dealing with the Early Closing Bill, the Government proposal for a metropolitan compulsory half-holiday was negatived. The Taxation Bill has passed its final stages in the Legislative Assembly.

Mr Selous, the well-known hunter, in the course of an interview, said the shooting of cattle would prevent the spread of rinderpest, but if that course was pursued among the cattle of the Swazis, Basutos and Zulus, a rebellion was certain. The health of Dr Jameson, who has undergone a serious operation in the prison hospital, is improving. Reports from Blantyre, Nyassa, state that an expedition under Lieut. Alston has captured Kapuri, chief of the Yaos tribe, and burned a town consisting of 30,000 buildings, also that it has put a stop to slave raiding. Owing to a breach of promise action being brought againat him. Mr J. M. White, M.P. for Forfarshire (Radical), has resigned his seat in the House of Commons.

In the course of a speech Viscount Cran-boi-ne, M.P. for Rochester (son of Lord Salisbury), said he feared that Mr Balfour's

proposal to separate the Education Bills was a dangerous one. It was necessary to save the voluntary schools, and to lay aside timidity. The dockers at Hamburg and at Altona have struck for higher wages. Archbishop Langevin (the Roman Catholic prelate of St. Boniface) declares that the settlement of the Manitoba School difficulty is a farce, that it will be impossible to carry it into effect, and that its acceptance would cause a revolution in Quebec. A demonstration hostile to Spain has been made by the Delaware militia. They burned the Spanish flag, and made violent speeches in regard to the condition of Cuba.

In the debate in the Reichstag on the subject of duelling in the army, several members severely criticised the attitude of the Government on this question. Some of the Liberal Party urged the immediate dismissal of officers guilty of the practice. Cane-crushing has practically finished for the season in Queensland, and the output is not expected to exceed 90,000 tons. Drought and frost have caused a great reduction in the yield. A Government surveying party gives gloomy reports as to the pastoral country on the Queensland Border. Over 10,000 square miles of country have been abandoned owing to the ravages of: rabbits and of the drought. In many places the rabbits have eaten themselves out. Much of the journey had to bo done on camels, all the horses being dead or having 1 been removed to prevent thorn from starving. Mr A. H. Simpson, Q.C., has been appointed to succeod the late Mr Justice Innes on the] Supreme Court Bench of New South Wales.

The Bathurst Convention adopted a strong appeal to the Queensland Government to take steps to be represented at the coming Statutory Convention, as otherwise no Federation will be complete.

At the Rifle Association's meeting in Victoria, Walker, of the Melbourne Rifle Club, won all the stages of the Queen's Prize, making a world's record of 291 points under the Queen's Prize conditions.