HOME AND FOREIGN NEWS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1523, 28 February 1901, Page 14

HOME AND FOREIGN NEWS

(BY LATEST MAILS.)

. LARGE FIRE IX KOREA. \ The Eastern .mail has brought news of serious lire at the Imperial Palace at Seoul; the building sacred to the memory of the imperial ancestors, and contain- : frig the pictures and tablets of tiio rounders of the dynasty, being compiptely troyed. The Emperor, with hts host- or eu'iuchs, gecmancers, exorcises, astrologers, and medicine-men, maa.e then escape to the library building. A dapuiiC se fire brigade offered its services, but ; they were declined J?y the Korean guard, - and the fire was left to work its will, t "When morning came it was found that f. the Imperial storehouses had Dean Tooted - by the guards and soldiers left in charge, : aiid even the sacred sleeping-chamber of c his Majesty had not been left in violate. - Several hundred arrests, it is stated, ? were.'Made. y - . The. Emperor- notified ins subjects of r* the -calamity, calling upon them to mourn the less or'the pictures of the imperial .ancestors and to make; sacrifices. The debris was removed to a Buddhist inonastery for sacrificial rites to be performed.t.JßLisi..Majesty,, dt is recorded,, to t-jgo hear the haunted region of the nre. 'VtIo has. gone into a .foreign building. r ' bordering on the Customs Compound, gakd there he is casting lots, reading horc* ■'scopes, and listening to the findings of '"witches, geonxancers, hobgoblins, spooks, and banshees. Fie was informed by this congress of experts that the former sue of the Tablet Hall was rendered unpropitious, and that it could never be built upon again; but that they had skilfully caught up the current of influence, and found that it ran directly across the Customs Compound, and that it offered a most luckv site at a few yards from the palace rear. The site happened to be the tennis court of the Commissioner: but ,it was Korean soil, and that was ■' bnpugh. t THE WAR. Dr. von Hclleben, the German Amhassador, has presented to Mr Hay. State Secretary, the claims by German subjects for compensation for damages sustained in Cuba in consequence of the Hi&pafco-Ameriean war and the preceding insurrection in Cuba. After the closest J consideration Mr Hay has declared that f’-thei United States cannot accept . responsibility. r :. It- is known that other Governments have. very, large claims, based on the insurrection and the succeeding events, which, however, will not be abandoned Aon account of the attitude of the United - States, but will be held, it is expected, in' abeyance until Cuba is independent, 1 when they will be presented to the Government of Cuba. BRITISH INTERESTS IN PERSIA. - The Persian Government is making arrangements for the payment of British claims, some of which have, in fact, already been settled, and also for putting a stop to the wilful damaging of British telegraph lines in Persia which has occurred somewhat frequently of late, seriously 7 endangering telegraphic communication between Europe and India. The Persian Government has now issued a firman ordering local Governors to take special measures to pro-Vfcft the lines,' and holding them responsible for any wilful damage done in their several districts. . THE ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. - The Discovery, which- is in course _of construction at Dundee for the British expedition to the Antarctic, is expected to be launched in April next. It is desired that the expedition should leave hot later than the end of July. Satisfactory progress is also being made with the German expedition, which is to cooperate with the British. A suggestion "i has been put forward that other coun- " tries should join Germany and Britain in what is hoped to be the most successful attempt yet made to reach the South /Pole. Italy is said to view the sugges- ' tion with favour. In the event of only the German and British expeditions start- • frig ! the area of research Will be as equalX ly divided; as possible, the German expedition taking One side and the British the other.- • : ST. LAWRENCE POWER SCHEME. The construction of the power works at Messena, on the St. Lawrence River, is progressig rapidly, and this plant will pVobably commence the supply of electricity about the month of July next fiyeiw. Since 1895 there have been in»tailed at Niagara ten v» estinghouse electric generators of 5000 horse-power capaoity each, and for the St. Lawrence Pow- <•/.; er Okympany fifteen Westinghouse generator of 500 CT ljorse-power each are under oenstruction. The power-house is being

and will be about 700 ft. long by 150 ft. wide.- Each cf the turbines will consist cf a set cf six wheels, produce 6000 horse-power, and be directly coupled to one generator. The canal conveying the water from the St. Lawrence to the power house is large enoug-i to accommodate large lake vessels. It is 15,200 ft. long, 192 ft. wide at the water line, and 18ft. deep. To develop 75,000 horsepower, the* canal will need to be widened to a width of 263 ft., ana the Grasse River will have to be deepened. A WOMAN’S TERRIBLE CRIME. A harrowing scene took place the other day in the cabinet of M. Joliet, examining magistrate of Paris. Some time ago M. Ferdinand Celias, at the earnest request of his mother, broken off a liaison with a middle-aged woman named Je-anne' Moro. The latter awaited him on the staircase and literally drenched his face with vitriol. The victim, who was led along the corridor, is quite blind, nothing being left of his eyes but two hideous cavities. The prisoner, on being confronted with her former lover, screamed with horror and then flung' herself upon her knees. To her request- for pardon Ai. Co lias replied‘lnstead ox forgiveness take ray malediction. ' JEWS WARNED'OFF PALESTINE. - According to intelligence from Constantinople, the Porte -persistently refuses to allow alien Jews to stay-- m Palestine longer than three months, and the right to purchase immovable oropertv is also denied them. All protests by the various Ambassadors against these measures"have been in vain. The measures are intended tc prevent permanent settlements ,of dews, the Porte apprehending troubles in connection with the Zionist movement , which is regarded as tending to the political restoration of Judea. DR. PETERS AND THE LIONS. News has reached Loudon of an exciting adventure which Dr. Carl Peters has had with lions in the Fura district of Makombe’s country in mid _ Africa. The doctor states that lie was sitting at breakfast one morning, when news was brought him that four lions were in an adjoining village, where they had committed many depredations, besides killing one man and several pigs, -tie went to the spot with all haste, and found Cuntete, brother ofTvlakcaube, and some natives who were not properly armed. The lions were concealed in thick grass, but as soon as he approached one of them attacked the party. The doctor, who was armed with a sporting express, fired when only twenty paces away, but did not knew where he had hit the animal, which knocked down a native and mauled him with his claws and teeth. The doctor fired two more bullets at the infuriated animal, one of which entered the spine, causing it to drop the man. Notwithstanding its injuries the lion crawled away into the bush, knocking over Ountete on his way. The young chief was carried back to the camp, where it was found that he was severely hurt. PORTUGAL AND THE WAR, The Portuguese Cortes were opened on January 2nd by the King, whose Speech from the Throne contained the following passage : —“The relations .of Portugal with other Powers are friendly. The Queen of England was pleased to send recently to Lisbon a powerful squadron on a special mission. This was extremely agreeable to me, and will be equally so to you. The presence cf tms great squadron in the Tagus signally emphasised the solemn public affirmation then made to the close friendship and alliance which united the two nations, and which recent, acts have more strongly accentuated. I.ajpa pleased to state that during the struggle which has been entered upon in South Africa, Portugal has studiously sought tc. assure in her possessions at once the rights, of sovereignty and the duties of hospitality enjoined by kindly international customs. I rejoice to place on record the lofty valour, self-denial, and firmness of our sailors and soldiers wTierever the-honour and prestige of the Portuguese flag nad to be maintained.” - PAPER MAKING IN ONTARIO. The Ontario Government's Agency in Liverpool has issued a pamphlet describing certain industrial proceses in Northern Ontario. It- contains the substance of an address delivered in Toronto by Mr F. ll.' Clergue, the manager of a pulp-paher-niakihg company, in that province. In lit Mr Clergue narrates how fie was led' by the observation of the immense waier power of the district to devise the means oUUtilising that power for work milts for the manufacture wood-pulp for, hhe purposes of paper. But to make wood-pulp into paper an infusion of sulphur is necessary, and, as the importation of sulphur from Sicily

ceived the idea of procuring his sulphur from the sulphurous acid gas thrown off by the nickel ore works at Sudbury, Ontario. The next step was the attainment of certain alkalies requisite for the separation cf the sulphur from the gas. and these he found also in Ontario. Eventually a railway was found tc bran absolute necessity to transport the fully-manufactured commodity try the markets of Canada and the United States. Now this is completed he naturally claims for his company the credit of having token the first steps for the full development cf the resources cf the Algoma district of the province of Ontario. STRANGE DOMESTIC STORY. Maurice Elienbaud, twenty-seven, _ a well-dressed man, described as a, commission agent, of 66. Keslake road, Kensalrise, was charged at Willesden _ with stealing jewellery and other articles _o the value of £l2O, the property of Grace Zalska, cf the same address. The prosecutrix, a young married woman, said she had been living with the prisoner at 66 Keslake road, and on September 23rd left on business, and did not return until December 22nd, when she round prisoner had ie£t a note for her m which he stated he was afraid to face her, as he had been through her boxes, and pawned a lot of her property. Prisoner pleaded guilty, and said he took the articles because he was unfortunate in business. j.ue prosecutrix had been very good to him ever since his business fell oft at Manchester, and they left there with the intention of going to South Africa, but the war broke out, and they remained in London. His business —the sale of inventions —continued bad, and' in September slm took a situation as a saleswoman in Soumampton, leaving their cuud with him. The babe was given over by the doctor, and lie pledged some things to fet further medical aid, with the result that their child was saved. Mr Bird told him it was.a pity he aid not write and inform the prosecutrix as to his position, and said the least- lie could do would be to sentence him to six months'" hard labour. Prisoner, as he left the dock: ‘‘God bless you, Grace, and? look after me baby for me, won’t you?” Mrs Zalska denied that the money was spent on the baby, and an order was made for the goods to be returned to her. INCOMES OF ROYALTYRoyalty and riches do not always run together. There have been kings who have pawned their crowns and queens who have begged their bread; and there are those who speak of England, the richest country in the world, as if it wore mean to its m-onarchs. While the Czar of all the Russias, and even the Red Sultan, count their wages in millions, the Queen of the British Empire received, as we used to be told at school, only “a thousand pounds a day and £20,000 on her birthday.” The Queen's official income of £385,000 a. year is half a million less than the Emperor of Austria’s, £200,000 less than King Victor s, £IOO,OOO less than the Shah of Persia’s, and only half as much as the Kaisers Her Majesty has received £24,UUU,UUU since her accession, or liO tons of sovereigns, or enough to make a golden pathway round the world. It is popularly imagined, for some reason or otner, that the Prince of Wales was poor. P<?verty is, after all, a purely comparative term- This man may be poor with a thousand a year, that man may be ■ ic> h on a pound a week. .The publumincome of the Prince is £136,000 a year, but that, huge sum is within the mark. It has been stated that- the Prince, has a private income of a hundred thousand pounds a year, which would make his total income something like a quarter of a million; but, not having the, authority for that stace- - rnent, we may leave it out- of our reckoning We know, however, that bandringham, which he purchased out mf h is early savings, has a rental of £7UUU a year. SAVED BY RUSSIAN LAW. A EJussian-Polish seaman by the name of Johann Andersen has recently given the British and Russian Governments much trouble and anxiety. . ■ ' , Early in the year 3,898 Johann Andersen was sentenced to ten years imprisonment for causing the death of an English sailor named Lee during a drunken brawl at Adelaide. When the* news of the sentence reached St.Petersburgh Count Mouravieff, then the Russian Foreign Minister, wrote to Sir Charles Scott, the British Ambassador at St. Petersburg, pointing out the circumstances in which Lee met his death. He made a point of a clatgse m the Russian criminal law which states that if death occurs in a fight begun, without any premeditation of murder, the parties participating in the acts : of . violence are only condemned to imprisonment "for from eight to ten months. < He therefore demanded a commutation of the sentence.. To this the Australian Government refused to agree, and it is

which the Marquis of Salisbury and other Foreign Ministers were cabled in to discuss the affair that a settlement has been arrived at and the sailor has been released. For this he has to tliank the peculiarity of the Russian law and Lord Salisbury’s graceful advice to the.nation s, ward in the Antipodes. TWENTIETH CENTURY IDEALS. What does the century now begun mostly need? _ \ Representative divines. M.P. s, and journalists have essayed to answer tn-e question in the “Temple Magazine. Dean Farrar asks for more strenuous--ness, more self-denial, a deeper conviction of the truth that there is one: thing only-—Righteousness —for the permanence of the Empire. : Mr Richard Wlriteing, the author of “No 5, John street," considers the greatest need is a word of timely .warning against- the foolishness of trying to: find new aims. The best of the old ones: will do. Let the century bend its back to the task at- which its predecessors have only boggled as,yet. Mr F. C. Burnand say's emphatically, “Money” What is needed more than any It Tig (according to the Rev Silas Flocking) ; s a genuine ethical revival—the creation of a finer moral sense, of a purer moral atmosphere. . a Mr Keir-llardie, M.P., says emphatically and tersely—“Men.'' In the opinion of Mr George ManviUe Femi, the greatest need of the new ceiitury is a thoroug cleansing of the national hive by means of a short Act of Parliament —one which would enable che Magistracy to work in co-operation with the army and navy in making a clean ■sweep of the Ruffiandom existent in our large towns. More prophets, fewer parrots; more thought, less talk; more fact, less fancy; more faith, less form, says tlie Rev H. R. Haweis, M.A., before his death. The Rev F. B. Meyer, 8.A., longs for a revival of the sense of Reverence, “by which I mean the habitual acknowledgement on the part- of us all of the reality and worth of the unseen and eternal. Our modern life (he says) seems utterly superficial. When reverence for things which lie behind the material and outward vanishes, the dry rot has already struck its fangs into the foundation of our national life.” PROPROSED ALL-FRENCH CABLE. The French Government recently prepared a Bill for the creation of various submarine telegraph lines to be under purely French control... About forty members cf the Chamber of Deputies found this scheme unsatisfactory, and proposed instead the laying down of an immense network of cables, which would make France independent of other existing lines. The plan, which it is estimated would cost 130,000,000 fr., , is aimed especially at completely freeing French foreign telegraphic communication from English control. The “Figaro” comments upon the subject, and regards the enlarged proposal as an excellent one. It, however, is convinced that it is too expensive a scheme to oe carried out, and urges the adoption cf the Government Bill.