CABLE NEWS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1425, 22 June 1899, Page 40

CABLE NEWS.

LONDON, W.-ncscby. The P. and 0. Company has paid tne salvors of the China, the steamer that went ashore last year at Perim, a barren island used as a coaling station by Great Britain in the Strait of Bab-el-iuanueb, the sum of £-57,000. The vessel was floated off the rock, and taken to England. The late Mr James Orr, of Glasgow, has bequeathed £93,000 to charmes. It is understood that the Treasury is reconsidering the advisableness of granting a liberal subsidy to the Antarctic exploration party. It is probable two vessels will start on the work in 1901. _ LONDON, Thursday. A Reuter’s message states that a temporary arrangement with reference to the Alaskan boundary has been arrived at between the Dominion of Canada and the United States. • Great Britain and France have exchanged ratifications of the Niger Convention. „ „ ~ LONDON, Friday. Madame Sara Bernhardt is creating a theatrical sensation in London by playing the/ part of the Prince in “Hamlet.” ) ruv,i j The Bill .introduced; J>y,,Mr. Robson, M.P. for South ShieldSfo-rpisanS the school age for- half-time f .scholars who employ the other half of their time in factories to twelve, has passed al 1 stages in the House of Commons. The Government showed only a passive attitude in regard to the measure. The newspapers are exposing the intrigues which have been practised before the Peace Conference Committee with a view to discredit.the British use of the dum-dum bullet. A German doctor who gave evidence falsely represented the bullet as being an explosive. LONDON, Saturday. The Hon J. W. Taverner, the Victorian Minister of Agriculture, is arranging lor the reduction of the freights on pedigree stock shipped to the colonies. The company recently formed to carry on the business of Sir T. -J. Linton, the well-known London provision merchant, lias been fired for weighing paper and lead with i’.~. tea packages, me plea urged in deter.ce was that it was the custom of the trade. A terrible famine is raging in the Mombasa district, the south-eastern corner of British East Africa, situated about 150 miles north of the island of Zanzibar. Thousands of natives are starving. So far as is possible, their needs are being provided for by the missionaries of the Church Missionary Society, at whose station large numbers of the victims of the famine are fed daily. An experiment as to the capabilities of the ironsand found on the coast of Taranaki has just been made in France. The Esteve Iron Company, of Paris, has succeeded in manufacturing crucible tool steel of the finest quality out of iron smelted from a parcel of sand which had been sent to it. Black-water fever is causing great navoc among cattle in the Congo. MANILA, Wednesday. Two companies of American skivmishers were attacking a battery belonging to the Filipinos m the jimg'c, when Brigadier-General Baker was nearly cut off. The skirmishers, however, succeeded in rejoining the main army, after sustaining heavy loss. News is also to hand that sharp fight-; ing has occurred at the Zapote river, and that, although the Filipinos were ultimately defeated and dispersed, (be Americans lost thirty killed. The guards under the command of General Aguinaldo, the Filipino leader, at Cabanatuan, nave assassinated General Lund and Colonel Ramon. It was suspected that these officers were : u r triguing with a view to bringing about peace with America. MANILA, Saturday. Three thousand Filipinos, commanded by General Emilio Aguinaldo, attacked the American troops stationed at San Fernando, but the Filipinos were repulsed. 1 Fourteen Americans were wounded in the conflict. OTTAWA, Wednesday. The Canadian press considers that British assistance towards raising the capital for the construction of the Pacific cable is insufficient. They declare that Great Britain ought to share in the maintenance and construction of the cable on a partnership basis. BERLIN, Wednesday. The German newspapers, in criticising the Peace Conference, allege that Sir Julian Pauucefotc’s proposals exceed those of the Russian Minister’s (Count Mouravieff’s) programme. The newspapers fiercely accuse Great Britain of a desire to wreck the conference and to create a feud between Germany and Russia. BERLIN, Saturday. Sneaking in the Reichstag on behalf of the Chancellor of the Empire, Prince Hoheniohe-Schillingsfurst, Dr Graf von Posadowsky-Wehner, of the Imperial Home Office, said that if the Australian colonies adopted tariffs prejudicial to German trade, the favoured nation treatment would be withheld from the British colonies, as had been the case in regard to Canada. PARIS, Wednesday. It is not likely that the Ministerial crisis will affect the arrangements made for the re-trial of Captain Dreyfus. The new Ministry to be installed in power is almost certain to carry out the plans already agreed upon.

The Correctional Police Court has sentenced Count Christian:, who took a prominent part in the demonstration against President Loubct at the Auteui: Racecourse, to four years’ imprisonment. An Italian general has been arrested at Nice on a charge of espionage. Plans of the fortifications of the city were found ill his pocket. There is a general expression of approval throughout France at m. Dupuy’s downfall. M. Pourcare is likely to be M. Dupuy’s successor. PARIS, Friday. Tho Pope, in a letter to the Archbishop of Paris, directs the French Catholic clergy to give loyal support to the Republic. The Arbitration Board appointed to deal with the Venezuelan boundary dispute opened here to-day, under the Presidency of M. De Martins, the Russian international authority. Sir Richard Webster has opened the English side of the case. PARIS, Sunday. M. Poincare has failed in his attempts to form a Cabinet. M. Waldeck-Rousseau has been summoned by President Loubet to form a Ministry. PRETORIA, Thursday. The Johannesburg conspirators have been committed for trial. PRETORIA, Saturday. In the Johannesburg conspiracy case, the man named Butler was released, and the prosecution is being confined to Nicholls, Patterson and ilooner. VIENNA, Thursday. The Hungarian Reichsrath has accepted the compromise suggested by the Emperor Francis respecting the Augsleich. The settlement is considered extremely favourable to Hungary. VIENNA, Friday. The hostile feeling which has been fomenting for months past in the Balkan provinces has broken out in actual warfare. Fierce fighting has taken place near the Jablonitza, between the Albanian troops, assisted by 200 Turkish regulars, and the Servian frontier guards. The Servians were worsted in the encounter. Many casualties on both sides are reported. There are indications that the fighting will not cease with this rupture, and a force of Servian regu’ars has been despatched to the scene. ROME, Friday. A dreadful aerial accident has occurred in the vicinity of this city. An Italian soldier was ascending in a military balloon, Alien a stray wind broke the ropes by which the balloon was held, allowing it to float av/av uncontrolled into space. When at a great height the unlucky soldier fell out of the car, and in striking the earth was dashed to pieces. • CALCUTTA. Thursday. Serious caste lifts have occurred among the Hindus of the Tinnevelii district,* in the hdadras Presidency. An area of more than 100 square miles has been affected, within which villages have been pillageci and burned. In some places the rioters not only fought each other, but also attacked the Sepoys sent by the Government to restrain them. Order is now being restored. ST. PETERSBURG, Saturday. Protracted famine is threatened in some parts of Russia. NEW YORK, Wednesday. A terrific tornado has swept over the two northern States of Minnesota and Wisconsin, causing widespread destruction in the region to the south of Lake Superior. The towns of Hudson and New Richmond, in Wisconsin, and the town of Hastings, in Minnesota, were for the most part wrecked. Great loss of life occurred at New Richmond, where a hundred and fifty persons met their death. NEW YORK, Friday. The middle and western States harm been visited by a terrific tornado,’which has spread disaster over an enormous area. Twenty-five towns have been destroyed, and 300 persons killed. NEW YORK, Saturday. A colliery disaster is reported from the coalfields in the British colony or Nova Scotia, situated near Halifax, the capital city. An explosion occurred in one of the mines, causing 160 men to be either killed by the shock or entombed by the falling in of the workings. The bodies of thirty of the victims have already been recovered. WASHINGTON, Saturday. The Governments of Barbadoes and British Guiana have concluded commercial reciprocity conventions with America. • s' -.oPEKIN, Sunday. Russia is surveying and preparing to seize the Minotoa Islands, situated in tho Gulf of Pe-chi-li, and commanding the approach to the Peiko river. The British mission station at Kie-i-Ning, in the province of Fokien, has been burnt by the Chinese. The missionaries fled from the station. HOB A ET, Saturday. Mr Grattan Riggs, the well-knowp comedian, died in this city last night. SYDNEY, Wednesday. The cold and rainy weather continues. A number of intercolonial stations report snoiv falls. There is heavy weather oil the coast, also over Bass’s Strait, and a number of vessels have had to take shelter. The Government has been approached

by representative men with a view to urging the Hon G. H. Reid (tne Premier; to request Admiral Pearson to send a warship in search of the Perthshire. An agreement has been arrived at between the respective Railway Commissioners of New South Wales and Queensland which ends the war in border rates that has been going on for some time past. SYDNEY, Thursday. The underwriters interested in the ship Red Rock, which had been given up for lost, have been advised from London of The vessel’s- sale arrival. The board which was appointed some time ago to inquire into anomalies in the Civil Service has presented its report. It proposes a re-classification of the service, and the drawing up of new rules governing the system of promotion and the scale of payment. Further, the board recommends the reduction of the salaries of a number of the higher-paid officers, and the increase of the salaries of others. The rain and gale are still unabated. Very high seas are running on the coast. The American occupation of the Philippines is proving profitable to the colonies. Largo supplies of meat and other produce are being shipped by all steamers that call at Manila. SYDNEY, Friday. The stormy weather on the coasts of the Australian colonics, which was first reported on Monday last, continues unabated. The movements of the shipping are greatly delayed. SYDNEY, Saturday. The stormy weather is abating, but it is still raining. The three men, Craig (a printer), Miller (a boilermaker) and Dwyer (a postal clerk), who were arrested at the end of April in connection with the frauds by means of postal orders, were tried at the Supreme Court yesterday. Ali were found guilty, and Dwyer was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, Miller to two years’ and Craig to one BRISBANE, Friday. The Queensland Legislative Council has carried the second reading of the Federal Enabling Bill. BRISBANE, Saturday. In the Legislative Council the Federal Enabling Bill has been passed through Committee. Sir Hugh Nelson, ex-Premier, made a strong speech in opposition to ihe measure. MELBOURNE, Wednesday. The Hon J. W. Taverner, Minister cf Agriculture, who is now in London, has cabled to the Premier that the contract with the P. and O. and Orient Companies for the carriage of Victorian butter to Great Britain has been renewed. A contract has also, he reports, been made with the Federal Company, the newline of steamers, for the carriage of rabbits, poultry, and other produce at a reduction of 10s per ton in the present rates. ADELAIDE, Thursday. The Right Hon C. C. Kingston, Premier of Soutfi Australia, having acceded to the request of the Right Hon R. J. Seddon, Premier of New Zealand, that he should send Mr Pendleton, Commissioner of Railways, to inquire into the Rakaia railway accident, Mr Pendleton will leave for New Zealand on the 17th inst.