CABLE NEWS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1424, 15 June 1899, Page 50

CABLE NEWS.

LONDON, Tuesday. In Committee of Supply the i louse of Commons carried a. resolution in favour of a grant to Lord Kitchener by 393 votes to 51. The Right Hon W. Campbell-Ban-nerman, the Leader of the Opposition, supported the motion for the grant, but criticised Lord Kitchener’s action in connection with the disentombment of the Makdi. Mr John Morley, Chief Secretary for Ireland, delivered a vehement speech. The Right Hon A. J. Balfour, Leader of the House, in reply, denied that the late Maluli was disentombed by stealth. The Soudanese officers and men openly disentombed the dry bones of the Mahdi, with a' view to destroying the natives’ superstition. The Hon Mr Balfour said that British officers would remain in the Soudan, for if they were withdrawn the position might be jeopardised. Lord Kitchener was present during the debate on bis grant in the House pf Commons. LONDON, Tuesday. The leading English musicians are appealing to the public for £IBO.OOO with which to erect and endow a National Opera House. v The London County Council has offered a site and also promised monetary assistance. r LONDON, Wednesday. - New Zealand Trust and Loan Company’s report shows that the profit for the year amounts to £38.827. A dividend of half-a-crown per share has been declared, and £3827 carried forward. In the House of Commons, in committee on the London Council Bill, the Right Hon L. H. Courtney’s amendment providing for the admission of women as aldermen and councillors was agreed to by a majority of thirty-five votes. The steamer Paris, which recently went ashore on the Manacles, has been handed over to the underwriters. A serious disturbance has occurred at Belfast. A nationalist procession was passing through the streets when it was stoned by a crowd. A free fight followed, of such a serious nature that the Riot Act had to be read. Nevertheless, the crowd would not disperse, and the police and military were obliged to charge them. Thirty-two arrests have been made. The Right Hon Gerald W. Balfour. Chief Secretary for Ireland, in replying* in the House of Commons to Mr Jor.n Dillon, the Nationalist member for East. Mayo, said lie blamed the organisers o r the procession, which was held in commemoration of ’9B, ror the noting at Belfast. The Chief Secretary also consider, J that the action of the authorities was admirable, and had prevented serious lots of life. The steamer Duke of Portland will take 400 Government-assisted emigrants to Queensland, including 150 single girls. While making a vehement speech in the House of Commons condemning the proposal to grant £30,000 as the basis of the annuity to Lord Kitchener, Dr Wallace, M.P. for Edinburgh East, was seized with a fit of apoplexy. The stricken gentleman was taken to the Westminster Hospital, where he died shortly afterwards. LONDON, Tlniisday. At the military tournament at * Aldershot, the New South Wales Lancers handsomely grounded the men of the Second Life Guards who competed aga'nst them in wrestling on horseback. Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, Sirdar of liie Egyptian Army, was present, and was accorded an ovation.

Her Majesty the Queen has despatched a cordial and sympathetic telegram to M. Loubet, the President of the French Republic, on the occasion of the recent riots on the Auteuil racecourse, and with reference to the insults offered the President on that occasion. Speaking at a banquet at the Chamber of Commerce, the Hon J. W. Taverner, Minister of Agriculture for Victoria, said he regretted the decision come to by the Hon W. H. Long, the President of the Board of Agriculture, to limit the quantity of butter fat in margarine to 6 per cent. The business of Mr William Whiteley, the London “universal provider,” is being floated into a company. The purchase price is £1,818,100, of which one-half will be paid in shares and half in cash. The promoters are issuing £900,000 worth of 4 per cent, debentures at 102. ST. PETERSBURG, Wednesday. Upwards of 10,000 Russians have emigrated to Eastern Siberia during the past month, and the movement is growing. In connection with the recent troubles amongst the students at the St. Petersburg University and other educational establishments in Russia, the Czar, while censuring the University authorities for not maintaining sufficient control over the students, insisted that insubordination must be suppressed. It has now been arranged that British petroleum companies in the Trans-Cauca-sia shall have similar rights to those secured by Russian firms in the same region. CAPETOWN, Wednesday. The conference which has been going on for some days between Sir Alfred Milner, Governor of Cape Colony, “and High Commissioner of South Africa, and Mr Paulus Kruger, the President of the

Transvaal Republic, lias been brought to a conclusion. Nothing has as yet transpired as to the result of the conference, but a settlement of the Outlanders’ difficulties is regarded as hopeful. Sir A. Milner and Mr Kruger shook hands at the close of the conference. CAPETOWN. Thursday. The death is anounced of Sir Henry Binns, Premier and Colonial Secretary of Natal. The deceased gentleman was created a K.C.M.G. in 1898. MANILA. Wednesday. The American forces have suffered severe reverses in their up-counri-y expeditions. Of the troops under Major-Genera l Lawton, 500 men have been either wounded in battle or prostrated by the heat. Lawton’s forces have returned to Man ila after a number of severe engagement? with the Filipinos. They were obliged to burn the artillery wagons and also to destroy the ammunition so as to prevent it railing into the hands of the enemy. [About a fortnight ago the Americans fought a battle with the Filipinos at San Fernandos, in which tlie form t were successful, the Filipinos fleeing 1o the hills. The Americans have evidently pursued the Filipinos and engaged them in a kind of guerilla warfare, in which the Filipinos, knowing the country better, have been able to inflict sore reverses upon the heat-oppressed American troops.] MANILA, Thursday. Thousands of Filipinos have lately sought to take refuge in Manila. The authorities, however, have refused them admission, being afraid of the effects of overcrowding in the city. BERLIN, Tuesday. The German Emperor declares that (lie newest German possessions in the Pacific—the Caroline, Pelew and Ladrone Islands, just acquired from Spain -—are important to German trade. BERLIN. Wednesday. Herr Richter, Leader of the Socialist Party in the Reichstag, dissents from the Emperor’s view that the newest German possessions in the Pacific—the Caroline. Pelew and Ladrone Islands, just acquired by purchase from Spain—are important to German trade, and declares that on the contrary the groups are worthless. He therefore protests aginst the purchase transaction. Herr Von Bulow, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, informed the Reichstag today that the acquisition of the Spanish colonies was intended to round off the possessions of Germany in the Pacific and to prevent other countries acquiring them. ATHENS, Tuesday. Twenty-three thousand Cretans who left the island since the new Government was established are settling in Asia Minor. PARIS, Tuesday. Mr Lombard, the Solicitor-Gener.il ui the Court of Appeal, who was prosec ited in the case against the reactionaries. Deroulede and Hubert, for creating disturbances at the funeral of the late President Faure, has been dismissed, owing to the luke-wann attitude he assumed it the prosecution of the accused, who were' acquitted. M. Lordif, the President of the Court of Assizes, who was presiding when U. de Beaurepaire insulted M. Loubet in his evidence at the same trial, will lie arraigned before the Council on a sim'inch arge. PARIS, Thursday. President Loubet and the Dupuy Ministry are taking energetic steps to remove from Paris all military officers whose loyalty to the Republic is considered to be open to question. Many officers of Royalist views, hitherto stationed in the capital, have been transferred to the provinces, and only staunch Republicans are entrusted with high commands. Ex-Judge de Beaurepaire, formerly President of the Civil Chamber of the . Court of Cassation, accuses the Govern- . vuent of inciting the nation to despise the heads of the army, and declares that another Reign of Terror has been corn- / men cod. AMSTERDAM, Thursday. The question of disarmament lias now been practically abandoned by the Peace , Conference. There is consequently more hope that 1 the conference will result in the nations coming to some practical conclusion. ROME. Tuesday. King Humbert of Italy has granted an amnesty to the rioters who were sentenced in connection with last year’s Milan riots. PEKIN, Wednesday. Great Britain has notified the Tsung-li-Yamen of Pekin that British syndicates have projected a railway from the Honan mines to a point on the Yang-tse-Kiang river, opposite Nanking, via Hongkong. The Tsung-li-Yamen has resisted the proposal, alleging that the line will compete with the Luhan railway, which lias been promoted by the Russo-Chin-ese Bank. The allegation regarding competition is considered to he absurd, as the right to construct the railway was based on the Tsung-li-Yamen’s pledge given to Sir Claude Macdonald, the British Ambassador to Pekin, in September last. > MELBOURNE, Wednesday. The inquest on the body of Mrs O’Neill, who died from an injury to her throat after a recent drunken orgie, and whose husband was thereupon arrested on the charge of having murdered her by cutting her throat, concluded yesterday. The accused alleged at the outset that his wife fell and broke a teapot, .a fragment of which inflicted the wound,

and at the post-mortem examination a jagged piece of the teapot was found embedded in the vertebras at the hack or the neck. The jury, having hoard the medical evidence. decided that O’Neill’s account of his wife's death was correct, and he has accordingly been released from custody. ADELAIDE. Tuesday. A bottle has been picked up at Henley beach containing a message stating that the Marie Antoinette about the 25th December last, sank with all hands except the first mate, Johnson, the second mate, who died, and lire writer, an able seaman named Smith. The latter gives his mother's address in London, and adds a request that his fate may be made known to her. SYDNEY. Tuesday. A fire occurred among the coals in the forehold of the barque Aldergrove, lying at Newcastle. All efforts to extinguish the fire have so far failed. It is believed that the vessel is seriously injured. SYDNEY, Wednesday. The fire on the barque Aldergrove, which is lying at Newcastle with a coal cargo, is still burning. The vessel is being flooded in order to extinguish it. The lire on the Aldergrove has now been extinguished. SYDNEY, Thursday. At a meeting of the committee of the Chamber of Commerce to-day a letter was received from the Auckland Chamber complaining of the loss and inconvenience which would accrue from the calling of the San, Francisco mail steamers at Wellington instead of at Auckland. After considerable discussion it was resolved to make representations to the Postmaster-General protesting againstany deviation, which would entail loss of time in the delivery of mails, and add to the expense of carrying cargo and passengers.

Mr Luke Ross, chief refrigerating engineer of the steamer Star of Victoria, was missed during the voyage from Home. It is supposed that he fell overheard and was drowned.

The Union Steam Ship Company advertises that a reward of £SOO will he paid for the recovery of the £SOOO worth of bullion stolen from the strong-room of the R.M.S. Alameda on her last trip to San Francisco.

The latest advices from Noumea, capital of the French colony of New Caledonia, show that the newspapers there are advocating the annexation of the ;\ew Hebrides group by France. BRISBANE. Thursday.

Dr Beriner, a native of Mauritius, who was walking round the world for a wager of £SOOO, lias been found dead in bed.

It is supposed that the cause of death was an overdose of choral hydrate.

An old lady named Susan Weaver, of independent means, has been found murdered in her own house, with her head split open. The dwelling was set on fire to cover all traces of the crime.

The neighbours, however, extinguished the fire. It is stated that robbery is believed to have been the object of tiie crime. HOBART, Wednesday.

In the Legislative Assembly the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Bird) moved a vote of no-confidence in the Braddon Government.

In his speech he generally condemned the policy of the Ministry.