CABLE NEWS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1675, 6 April 1904, Page 29

CABLE NEWS.

LONDON. April 4. News from Thibet states that, though tb» Sikhs surrounded the Thibetans at Ho* Springs on Thursday, a collision Avas not rtcpectei - !. The officers dismounted and commenced lunching and photographing. The Thibetan General, Avhose behaviour at an intervieAV with Colonel Younghjusband indicated a determination to die or turn the mission back, deliberately precipitated a conflict. ' Only the promptness and skill of Colonel AlacDonakl and a few officers with revolvers stopped the first desperate rush.

Even Avlien broken, the Thibetans disdained to nun, but tramped steadily and sullenly away, though a mountain battery, Maxims and magazine rifles poured a hail of bullets into them. The affray lasted ten minutes. All the Thibetan General’s escort perished, also five, high Lbassan officials. The Thibetans outnumbered 'the Sikhs by eight to; one. The -swordsmen were unable to reach the Sikhs OAving to the latter’s bayonets.

The Ohm esc Amban at Lh.assa has written to Colone l Younghnsband stating that he wished to meet him earlier, buo the Dalai Lama refused him a ■transport. He -intends coming to Gyangtse. The reconnaissance revealed a strong Tin bet an position ait Many Wells, six miles east of Hot Springs, on an alternative • route to Lbassa.

. The camp must have contained two thousand men. but it was abandoned in groat haste. Ooilonel Younghusband visited the Thibetans wounded in the recent fight and informed them lfis mission was still peaceful!. He only desired to treat with Thibet, and promised that all tho wounded would be released when cured. The'Bhutanese are most friendly, and

are cordially receiving the British survey party. Sir Robert' Hart’s scheme for financial reform in China proposes to raise a revenue of £53,333,333 by means of a uniform land tax of half a crown per acre on cultivated land, providing a staiad'ing army of half a million, a fleet, and a Civil Service, the latter receiving £21,333,333. Tho Russian Ministry of Finance has acquired £542,000 sterling worth of shares in the railway from Enzelii, on the Caspian, to Teheran, the Persian capital, and £1,230.000 worth of a discount loan from the Bank of Persia. Tho Ameer of Afghanistan has sent liig.li functionaries to arrange a. boundary quarrel with thqßussians in Turkestan. BERLIN, April 3. Since December last sixty-three officer.:; and ncai-com missioned officers 'belonging to tho German army have been sentenced to various punishments, including terms of imprisonment, for illtreat ifig soldiers, Guo sergeant, who was sentenced to nine months/ imprisonment, was concerned in 350 cases of maltreatment. ST. PETERSBURG. April 4. A Russian organisation known as the ‘■True Believers” lias issued a manifesto urging the wholesale massacre of Jews at the Easter festival. [The Russian Good Friday falls on tho 26 th inst.] NEW YORK. April 3.

Great floods are reported from northwestern and northern Ohio-. The damage already exceeds two million dollars (£400,000).' Twenty towns are without gas. Every able-bodied man is working on the banks of the Ohio reservoir, which has an area of thirty thousand acres, and which is in danger owing to the high winds. There is already a break of 30ft in tho reservoir. OTTAWA, April 4.

A fire at Government House, Ottawa, did damage to the extent of ten thousand pounds. [The residence of the Governor-Gene-ral at Ottawa, Ridoau Hail, is about a mile from the city.] CAPETOWN. April 4. Fifteen whites and a hundred and eleven natives on the Rand have been attacked by plague. Seven whites and sixty-three natives have succumbed. LAUNCESTON, April 4. The ninth annual conference of the United Commercial Travellers’ Association is sitting here. _ A proposal to revise the constitution clauoo with a view to prohibit warehousemen from becoming members of the united body raised strong opposition. Tho representatives of New ZOakland and South Australia opposed the new clause, those of South Australia threatening to withdraw from the united body. Eventually a compromise by the Victorians was accepted, that the alteration shall not take effect until after the aucnation in tho constitution had oecn submitted and tho wliolo matter dealt with. . SYDNEY, April 4. Tho New Zealand bowlers were unsuccessful to-day. The championship lies between two New South Welshmen and two Victorians.