ENGLISH.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1404, 26 January 1899, Page 31

ENGLISH.

London, January 17. The announcement of activity in shi ibuilding for the Admiralty—the fact of eight new battleships being contracted for having become public within the last week—has caused a considerable amount <if speculation and newspaper discussion. Tho “ Times ” explains that the two battleships which are supposed to be building on the Clyde are not newly provided for, but aro really cruisers that wei’e authorised in 1898. The “ Times ” states that fears are entertained in Vienna that Bulgaria will incite Macedonia to revolt against the Porte in the coming spring. The Turkish Government is also stated to bo making preparations to cope with tho possible rising. It is announced that the period of the transit of letters cn route to New Zealand has been reduced (between Liverpool and San Francisco) by one day. Mr Pilkington, Conservative, has been elected unopposed to tho House of Commons for the Newtown Division of Southwest Lancashire. Three of the Professors just appointed for the Victoria University College, Wellington, will sail by the Kaikoura, and the fourth by the Australia. The Hon W. P. Reeves, Agent-General for New Zealand, is visiting Manchester to inquire into the question of direct trade between Manchester and New Zealand. London, January 18. Important negotiations are taking place between the South African authorities and the Imperial Government in reference to the Cape.-to-Caii’o railway scheme and the Right Hon Cecil Rhodes’ application for a State guarantee of £2,000,000 for the construction of tho BuluwayoTanganyika section of the line. Frequent interviews have taken place between the Right Hon J. Chamberlain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, and Sir Alfred Milnor, Governor of Cape Colony. JMr Rhodes is also in London, and is attracting much public attention. In a paper read before the Royal Colonial Institute on the progress of Queensland, Sir Horace Toz°r, Agent-General for that colony, said that in view of the demands of New South Wales ho regarded the attainment of Australian federation as doubtful. Londw, January 18. At a meeting of Bishops at Lauxbeth, it was resolved to promote the reform of Ecclesiastical Courts in accordance with the report of the Royal Commission of 1883. The Right Hon John Morley, who was Chief Secretary for Ireland in the last Liberal Administration, and has been one of the possible leaders of the Liberal party, but has his time fully occupied just now through having undertaken to write tho authorised biography of Mr Gladstone, delivered a speech last night to his constituents at Brechin, in Scotland. Mr Morley justified the action of Sir Wm. Harcourt in resigning the leadership of the Liberal party. Speaking for himself, he said he would be unable to take further responsible part in the councils of the party. William Johnson, who has been proved to be one of the gang that in October last stole a satchel with £30,000 worth of jewellery from the Dowager-Duchess of Sutherland when she was travelling by rail between Paris and Calais, has been sentenced! to seven years’ imprisonment. The prisoner refused to make any revelation as to the identity of his confederates or the manner in which the robbery was carried out. At the Bankruptcy Court inquiry into the affairs of the Simpson Lever Chain and Cycle Company, Mr Horton, a director, said he received from Hooley and Rucker 50,000 paid-up shares for £IO,OOO. The directors paid Hooley the value of 200,000 shares in the Simpson patent. The year’s loss amounted to £6OOO. Tho elections of Urban Councils under the provisions of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, passed in tho last session of the Imperial Parliament, are now proceeding. Fifteen Labour candidates have been elected for Dublin and nine for Cork. John Daly, the released prisoner, and 24 supporters, have been electod in the Limerick municipal elections, and have the controlling power in the Urban District) Council. Sir Horace Tozer, Agent-General for Queensland, read a paper before the Royal Colonial Institute on the progress of Queensland in the last decade. He dwelt upon the security of the public debt of the colony, and said that Federal action was desirable in view of the demands for regular shipments of tho best Australian produce by fewer ’• rnsls, thus preventing unnecessary competition. H.M.S. Pylades will be commissioned in February for another term on tho Australian station. Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, who has just resigned the Governorship of South Australia, has been elected President of the Anti-Slavery Society. Messrs Harland and Wolff, of Belfast, are building a new cargo boat for tho White Star line larger than the Oceanic, as well as three liners 600 ft in length. The free labourers employed at Wapping, who lately struck against the imposition of terms below those received by the unionist employees, have returned to work, the masters having conceded their demands. London, January 19. The fund in aid of the Gordon College at Khartoum, inaugurated by Lord Kitchener, has reached £128,000, of which £IOO,OOO was.subeoribed in England.

London, January 19. The British barque South Esk, which took on board a cirgo at Glasgow for Lyttelton, has been wrecked off the coast of Galway, in the Vvesi of Ireland. In pursuance of the judgment of Sir David Chalmers, ftrmerly Chief Justice of the Gold Coast, in connection with his inquiry into last year’s insurrection in Sierra Leone, 81 of the rebels have been executed. Mr G. H. Murray, C. 8., chairman of the Inland Revenue Department, succeeds Sir Spencer Walpole as Seretary of the Post Office. Funds are being •aised in London for the establishment of an Anglican Bishopric in Egypt, its holder to act in co-opera-tion with the Coptic Bishop of Khartoum. The Hon A. J. A iquith, in an address at Louth, said ho regarded a healthy and reasonable Imperi l Ism as being the very principle of Libera*ism. Sir William M? egregor, late Lieu-tenant-Governor of New Guinea, has been appointed Governor of Lagos, on the west coast of Africa. I on don, January 21. Some timo ago a. prosecution was instituted by tho (■ »wn against several oersers in lespecfc * (lie W» st Australian Distiicls Trading (.' i i><-ration, by which it. was alleged tl ■ public had been defrauded by mean of conspiracy to the mount of d. 150 O. An order for t lie eindinv up <f tl«i any i\as made by Mr Justice Byrne in 1897. Two of tiio dir> i-i.its and promoters— Sir Edward Lee hi d Mr L. II Goodman — were charged recti iy at Bow street, but is one of th<ir a-social es bad left the country rlie case \v< - adjourned. A detective was «• nt, to South Africa in pursuit of ti e t> giLvo (Squires) and rxought h>m bacl< • London. This man u d several others h ive - gain been hr-uglif-up at Bow street, > ut l lie cases have not )et coi e! udr d. The Official Roo< ver in the bankrupt estate of the gicat speculator, E. T. Hooley, has furnishc-l a report in which he states that the asse's amount to £107,845, equal to a dividend of 4s in the pound. He has found that extravagant payments f o secure director's (if the companies in which he was intomted, and misconduct md fraud re.-pec ng the Beeston Tyre Company, contril ut,< d to the insolvency. The binknipt, did not keep groper boots, an i was a privy to the mutilation of certain clu que-books. The Receiver farther states Hooley lived at the rate of £IO,OOO a year, and that one year’s payments alone to secure directors for c< mpanies amounted to £4 ',OOO. A despatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonies to the Governor of Jamaica in reference to the unsatisfactory position of the finances of the colony has been published. The deficit is stated to be £172,000, and Mr Chamberlain expresses the fear that the Government of the island will soon be unable to meet its liabilities. London, January 22. In connection with the steps recently decided by tho authorities in the Church of England for keeping ritualism within due bounds, it has been arranged that whenever a Bishop has doubts as to the interpretation of the rubrics, tho Archbishops of Canterbury and York shall jointly give a decision upon the point at issue.

Parties to disputes feeling aggrieved at episcopal decisions will also be allowed, in their appeals to the Archbishops, to be personally heard before the question is settled. An absconding case is reported from Glasgow. A member of a firm of lawyers, named A. Peattie, lias disappeared. Mis estate shows a deficiency of £40,000. Several Australian steamship companies, including the Shaw, Sivill and Albion Company have arranged with Lloyds for naving a survey made of the refrigerating plant in all new vessels. The Union Bank balance-sheet shows a profit of £67,277. The deposits now amount to £l4 435,717, advances and bills to £13,623,597, and the cash and available securities to £5,050,039. Tho Coinage Committee of both Houses of iho Legislature has reported in favour of the adaption of the Gold Standard 8.11.