CABLE NEWS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1685, 15 June 1904, Page 56

CABLE NEWS.

LONDON, June 7.

Two sections of‘the 27 th Mountain Battery at Abottabad, a company of sappers at Roorkee, and the 19tY and 33rd Punjsabis have been warned for ■service in Thibet.

LONDON, June 8. A strong force of Thibetans attacked the British post at ICangma yesterday. One Ghoorka was killed and five seriously wounded. A hundred and sixty-four Thibetans were killed, while they suffered further .losses in retreating.

LONDON, June 9. A blue-book has been issued containing the preliminary reply of the Congo > - Government to the allegations of cruelty to the natives made by Mr Casement, British Consul at Bonia. - In a letter written on June 6tli, Lord Lansdowne, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, describes the Congo Ministry’s memorandum as unsatisfactory, and implied that if the full text of Mr Casement’s report had been communicated —as asked —it would be, accessible to persons whose conduct was impugned. He adds: "No measure has been taken to. shield-witnesses from improper pressure, and strict impartiality did. not at- • tach to investigations made solely by - officers of the State or agents of the concessionary company.” He proposes the establishment of a special commission composed of inen of reputation unconnected with‘,the Congo* Free State. Replying to a deputation of AgentsGeneral, the Secretary of State for the (Colonies promised to refer the Malta meat duty question to the local authorities. Personally, lie considered that Australian frozen meat and Russian live stock ought to be placed on an equality in regard to duty Lord Stanley, Postmaster-General, re- * plying to a question in the House of Commons, said that penny postage on outward letters to Australia was not yet practicable. .Lord Stanley added that nothing was wanting on his part to effect an arrangement with the Commonwealth. During the discussion m the House or Commons on the Aliens’ Exclusion Bid, Sir H. C; Bannerman and other Liberals urged that the Bill introduced an elabo- • rate system to exclude a certain class of foreigners, and involving a departure from the country’s ordinary practice and •traditions, and ought to be discussed in Committee of the Whole. The Government replied that the BilL was really noneontentious, and at its instance it was inferred to the Grand Committee of Law by a majority of ninety votes. Mr Balfour confessed that this step was taken to prevent unnecessary obstruction. Mr Arthur, Wilson Ribbv, chairman of the Pacific* Navigation Company, the annual meeting, saici Austxaiia was unpractical on the subject of the mail contract. She ought to recognise that " a contract which hampered conditions and colonial* aspiration® was not wortk having. , , After a strike lasting ten days, involving several thousand Loudon cabmen, the owners have agreed that the drivers’ daily payment for hire of vehicles shall be 14s, instead of 16s, pending a-conference to consider a revision of Mr Asquith’s award. LONDON, June 10. . - In connection with the charge of murder preferred against John Sullivan, a seaman, on the Shaw-Savili liner Waiwera, who is alleged to have killed a deckhand named Denis Rowthan on May . 18th, a letter was read at the Thames Police Court, addressed to a lhember of the crew prior to Rowthan’s death, but not delivered,' wherein Sullivan . charged Rowthan with ingratitude, and described' him as a thief and liar, and added that the writer intended to kill the boy and then commit suicide. 1 The House of Commons, while in Committee of Supply on the Foreign Office vote, debated the Congo question. The speeches showed remarkable unanimity, and warmly supported Earl Percy’s* claim that British trade rights in the Congo ought to be referred to .the Hague Tribunal, about which the Congo Government is silent, while the humanitarian aspect demanded the attention of the signatories" of the Berlin Act, inasmuch as the Congo State was Europe’s mandatory. The United States, Italy and Turkey were said to be the only Powers willing to support Britain’s remonstrances. . Earl Percy denounced the insensate and inhuman barbarity accompanying the collection of rubber, and justified withholding the; names of M. Casement’s informants about acts of cruelty. He added that the more- international the character of the proposed tribunal of. inquiry. the better it would be for the • •Goyerimient’s replication. V faring Socialist outbreaks, ,the mobilisation of troops'in Central and South,Russia Vis been arranged not to apply to manufacturing districts. : •.•..^:.v®ussian.; , ._ -correspondents of “The -Times” state that the autocracy is so jealous of its prerogatives that M. de >■* Plehve, Minister of the Interior, in a secret. circ«la,« restricts to local boundaries the Zesistovs’ freedom of action inbthe matter of organisation for the Relief of sick and wounded. ■ Y Three hundred Russian reservists and r jpegularsymostly from Bessarabia and War; Jncludihg many Jews, have enter- - * " • ' " 'V'-Ap. :V V?.*. •

ed Austria during the week to evade service. They intend emigrating to Amorictt* Mr Pryce Jones, M.P. for Montgomery, entertained Mr Chamberlain at the House of Commons. Sixty guests were present, most of them being connected with Wales. Mr Chamberlain spoke for forty-five minutes. He said he believed Wales, apart from the Church and Nonconformist question, was Conservative at heart. It undoubtedly was directly interested in fiscal reform. If natural conditions prevailed, Britain would be able to produce iron and steel cheaper than any competitors. He would continue the fight to the end, and when the support of his own party had been secured, success was certain. Many mercenaries employed by the Thibetans are deserting the forts at Lhassa, and are being replaced by five hundred professional beggars. Grotesque misrepresentations regarding Colonel Younghusband’s mission, also a report that the Russians have landed at Calcutta, are circulated and believed in Lhassa. Further particulars to hand regarding the attack by Thibetans on the British post at Kangma last Tuesday show that at dawn on that day seven hundred Khani warriors and a Lhassa regiment numbering four hundred descended a hill, and tried to rush the post, which was strongly fortified. Despite the vigorous fire of the Bi'itish, the Thibetans reached the walls of the post, many climbing the walls and hacking the men stationed at loop-holes with swords, and seizing the muzzles of their rifles, while others in the rear fired matchlocks and Lhassa rifles. It was a determined fight, and lasted half an hour. The Thibetans were then driven off, with the loss, as already stated, of one hundred and sixty-four killed, besides incurring further losses in their retreat.

Victoria, New South. Wales, South Australia and Tasmania have been awarded medals for exhibits at the Botanical Societies’ horticultural show. The capsizing of the naval tug Thistle off Queenstown, after disembarking five hundred workmen, was due to a list caused by the men having crowded to the starboard side, and causing water to enter open scuttles.

PARIS, June 9. The bursting of a dam wall at Mainers, in the department of Sarthe, in the north of France, flooded and devastated the town.

Seventeen inmates *in a pool-house were drowned.

NEW YORK, June 9.

The Morgan combine has adopted £3 as the steerage passage rate to America. Of the Red Star liner Kroonland’s 1234 passengers, carried at the £2 rate, G2O have been detained at New York on suspicion of being undesirables. In connection with the evidently premeditated dynamite explosion at Independence, on the Florence-Cripple Creek railway, in which sixteen non-union miners were killed and nine fatally wounded, two hundred sheriffs and deputies, under General Bell, had a sanguinary encounter • with a hundred and fifty miners, who were entrenched in hills near Victor.

Five union miners were killed and fifteen- captured, together with a quantity of arms and ammunition. NEW YORK, June 9.

The mine-owners and citizens at Cripple Creek (where the recent dynamite outrage occurred) expelled the unionist miners. The unionist county officials were given the alternative of resigning or being hanged. They all resigned. Martial law has been proclaimed.

Amei'ican newspapers emphasise the seriousness of the situation in Colorado.

Sixty-eight persons are ill from -the effects of drinking poisoned water at Cripple Creek. Several mine properties were dynamited. Numerous managers were waylaid, and some killed. OTTAWA, June 8.

In the Canadian House of Commons Mr W. S. Fielding, Minister of Finance, delivered his Budget speech. He said both parties in Canada would unitedly support Imperial preferential tariffs, but while the question remains a party controversy, in England it would be improper for Canada to obtrude her views. He did not anticipate an immediate triumph for Mr Chamjberlain’s policy, but he hoped for its ultimate success. Canada would, he said, continue its preference, but the latter was injuring Canadian industry. The minimum tariff on British woollen goods should be 30 instead of 33& per cent. Mr Fielding added that with a view to meeting dumping, it was proposed to augment the ordinary duty by the difference between a slaughter price and a fair market .value in the country of origin. Such an addition would not exceed one half of the ordinary duty. He referred to the signs of depression abroad, notably in the United States, whence severe competition was. expected. ; - i

Concluding, the Minister stated that Canada’s surplus at the ©nd of June is estimated at £3,300,000’. MELBOURNE, June 9.

Mr Bromley, for health considerations. has resigned xne leadership of the State Labour party. Mr Pendergast has succeeded him.

The Senate adopted the committee’s report oil capital sites. A determined attempt to reduce the area was unavailing

The House passed Supplementary Estimates for £IBO,OOO. Mr Watson, the Premier, explained that most of-the items were sanctioned by the previous Treasurer. The House of Representatives, by 25 votes to 18, negatived a proposal to include domestic servants in the operations of the Arbitration Bill. MELBOURNE, June 10. In the House of Representatives, on the motion of Mr Watson, Premier, the Arbitration Bill was amended to make the President the only permanent member of the Court. The House has adjourned till Wednesday. Mr Reid’s detention in Sydney precluded his taking action against the Government this week. He will probably make a move next week. The Senate has passed the (Supply Bill and adjourned till the 29th June. It is understood the long adjournment is the result of the unsettled political situation.

A copy of the Anglo-French agreement has been tabled in the Senate. In regard to the New Hebrides, the agreement provides an arrangement whereby the agreement, without involving any modification of the political status quo, shall end difficulties arising in the absence of jurisdiction over the natives; also tire appointment of a Commission to settle land disputes. The Methodist Conference appointed a committee to deal with the question of the union of the churches. Mr A. Caughey and the Rev Mr Lawry will represent New Zealand on the committee. It was resolved to adopt the new hymn-book issued by the British Conference.

A minute was presented from the Committee on Tongan Affairs deploring that the Bishop of Honolulu should have deemed it necessary to establish a branch of the Church of England in Tonga as such action was considered calculated to stir dissension and to be detrimental to the cause of Christianity. After discussion, tire conference adopted -the minute and empowered the President to send copies to the Primate of Australia and the Bishops of Wellington and Honolulu.

The next conference was fixed to be held in Sydney in May, 1907. SYDNEY, June 9.

After a lengthy Cabinet meeting today the Premier of New South Wales, Sir John See, issued a manifesto to his constituents announcing that he does not intend to seek re-election.

Sir John See states that his chief reason for retiring from politics is the unsatisfactory condition of his health. It is understood Sir John See will wait upon the Governor (Sir Harry Rawson) to-morrow and tender his resignation of the Premiership. The reaiTangement of the Cabinet is now proceeding. Mr Thomas Waddell (Colonial Treasurer and Minister of Railways) is mentioned as most likely to succeed to the Premiership, SYDNEY, June 10.

Sir John See, Premier of New South Wales, in his manifesto announcing his resignation of the Premiership, says lie hopes at some future time to again seek election.

Sir John See saw the Governor to-day, but lias not yet resigned. It is understood that the selection of his successor is troublesome, and causing delay.