The N.Z. Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 1900. EPITOME OF THE DAY'S NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 3957, 24 January 1900, Page 4

The N.Z. Times

(PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 1900. EPITOME OF THE DAY'S NEWS.

With which is Inooerorated thb Wellihoton Xndbfendsnt, Established 1845,

Better competition is being manifested at the .London woo) sales.

The Mayor’s Patriotic Fund has now reached a total 0f'.£5334 Os sd. The death is announced of Mr R. D. Blackmore, the popular novelist.

Hawke s Bay defeated Wellington at polo yesterday by three goals to one. A sum .£40,000 has been donated to Edinburgh Infirmary by Mr Thos. Aitkin. The China trading steamer Airlie is ashore on a reef off the coast of Queensland.

No suspicions are being entertained by the authorities in Adelaide that plague (Exists outside the quarantine area. ~ Lieutenant-General Hector Maqdonald has succeeded to the command of the Highland Brigade at Modder River. The bodyguard of Lord Roberts, British Commander-in-Chiof in South Africa, is formed of colonial troops.

Field-Marshal Lord Roberts has forbidden the British spldiers in South Africa to loot the property of Boer settlers. It is expected at Capetown that fighting will shortly take place between the enemy and General Gatacre’s troops, at Stormberg. t Mr J. Kylel of the Hutt, won the Wellington Provincial Gun Club’s Handicap yesterday, Mr O. Mackersey, of Hawke’s Bay, being second. Influenza has been responsible for the deaths of three notable men in England— Mr John Ruskin, the Duke of Teck and Mr R. D. Blackmore.

A public meeting is to be called by the Mayor of Wellington to discuss the quee(ion of equipping men for a third foreign service contingent. ' Sir William MacCormac, president of the SRoyal College of Surgeons, considers that the arrangements for the care of wounded British soldiers are almost perfect. Mi St. George Mivart, an eminent author, has been inhibited by the Catholic Arch•bishop of Westminster from receiving the •Sacrament, his writings being considered ■ Further reinforcements have joined the Ladvsmith relieving army. An - outline of the British advance is given by to-day's cable messages. The retreat of the enemy through the Drakensbergs is being blocked.