HOME AND FOREIGN NEWS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 5832, 24 February 1906, Page 13

HOME AND FOREIGN NEWS

nAfiT.OflN' EXPEDITION TO POL!'

The new dirigible balloon in which Mr Valter Wellman and M. Santos Du-ni-iif are in attempt to reach the North p„v i ; t<> he 1 nib at Paris on the plan of that in which the Bramli.in aeronaut circumnavigated tlm Ivltel loner. Undismayed by Andre's fate, M. Dumont is confidant of success. The balloon will he Drift long, with a wax]* muni <*f -JUft, »ik! :v cubic capacity of 22,0(W:t. It will carry three motors capable of developing a force equal to 70 home-power. The expedition will proceed early next summer to Spity-bergon. where a base camp' will be established. Thence the aerial voyage to the Pole will be taken. Th" distance in about - r >'>o geographical niib-s, and allowing for eon:rare winds a"d adverse atmospheric conditions, it i. c, timated that mi the journey to the Fob- and back to Spitsbergen the aeronauts would have to traverse about 12.000 milt*. An average speed of twelve miles an hour would ronseijuent|v enable them to do the double journi y in 100 belli- ;, lint an M. Dumont, in his .-i-rial trips has ai tallied a speed as high as twentv-three miles an hour, it is calculated tlmt it should be practicable to accomplish it in considerably leu: time.

DIVORCE IN OHIO. Ohio is the only State of the American liiihm t!iut publishes regular statistics on divorce. At tho end of IflO.j then 1 were 11,740 divorce eases on the dockets of tho Ohio courts, while diming tho year 4121 decrees ■were granted. These figures show that tla-re was laet year ono divorce for every nine marriages. In 1875 there was only one divorce for every 25 marriage's in Ohio and in 1890 one for every 15. These figures, for one State only. are contrasted with 19 divorces in Canada- in 1901, 395 in the United Kingdom, 591 iti Italy, and 8(I3» separations in Germany. It is alleged that in Chicago a newly-wedded bride obtained a divorce on the groom' that she had a dream in which oho saw her husband kissing another woman.

AX ALIENS ACT EPISODE. Ail ;il most. osaot parallel to the ‘•IVt riana" cave in Victoria, of wind! mi in noli was male liv those who dislike tiio Commonwealth Kxeln.siotr Act, took Jilaro at Smit ItainpSon on January 2. This is described in tho following exIract. from tho “Daily Chronicle'’ of Jannarv 3. "Some strange incidents in connection ivitli tlie administration of the now Act for the exclusion of nnde.sirahlo .-.liens from e.nr shores were witnessed yesterday— the second day of tho Act’s oporaThere was a remarkable demonstration of red-tape officialism at Southampton, where a crew of shipwrecked sailors wore fer n time actually refused I>oomission to land on tho ground that they wore “destitute aliens’’! No doubt stops will ho taken to prevent n repetition of snoli an occurrence, both for the sake of friendly rein 1 ions with other oonntrios ami out' own national reputation for hospitality and common vo tire. The unfortunate sailors were rite crew of the American hr.rr|ite Ivdward C. Mayterry. They weto rescued by a 3’ritish vessel when their ship was in a sinking condition, and wore brought by the steamship Kiln to Southampton. Whoa they attempted to land yesterday, however, they were stopped. It was not until the United Slates Consul had Ixwn appealed to. and had entered into a bond holding himself personally responsible for the men, that they were permitted to gn. * They will he maintained by tho United States Government until a passage can bo obtained for thorn back to America. MILUIOXAIIIIvS DKATH. Mr Ycrkcs, the railway financier, died at tho Waldorf Astoria at 2.10 p.m. on [ Dec. 2D. The night before, though ho was verv low. tho doctors did not anticipate finite so rapid an end, but in the | morning ho grew weaker. Members of j his family were in attendance for tho Inst t wo'days, and were present when ho diet!. While her husband lay dying at the Waldorf Astoria Mrs Yorkes remained at her Fifth-avenue house. Despite urgent mes-sagea sent to Iter to attend ihe dcath-hed for a Inst farewell, she refused to leave tho house. Intimate friends of tho Ycrkcs were awaro that a long estrangement had existed between Mr and Mrs Yorkes, but everyone was surprised to learn that its bitterness was bo intense ns to prevent a reconciliation at tho deathbed. Mrs Yorkes was the second wife of the Underground magnate. He divorced his first wife, and married his second in Philadelphia, and to all outward appearances they lived very happily together. Charles Tyson Aorkes was a Philadelphian of Welsh origin and came of decent Quaker folk. Ho began business I life as a clerk in a grain-commission bouse. and subsequently became a ■stockbroker on his own account. Ho was rendered bankrupt by the Chicago fire, but found, ns ho said, that “some forms of bad luck arc good luck.’’ Ho began again and got a. good grip of banking and railroad business. Ho studied railways, talked and “lived” railways. Ho saw, as everyone did, that many city railways were in a bad way; but ho also foresaw, what nobody did, that there must be some way of putting them right, and that;

some man would surely como along who could do it. The thing was inevitable as 11 vo sunrise. Ho determined to bo ! that man ; and he -‘took hold." “Mover divide your aim, or you will never succeed" was one of his business commandments. Ho aimed at railways, and hit. His method was simple. lon cannot act, you cannot make use of your knowlodge. if you have no power. The way to get power on railways is to buy enough of tboir shares to get control. His hanks brought him lots of money, and there were lots of street-railway shares in America going cheap just then. He weighed in and \became master. He was not only a master of finance. he really understood railways. He had a hawk’s eve for the weak spot in them. Xot for nothing had he swept out his own office and lit his own fire. Ho had learned at first hand jupt precisely the right measure of expenditure of money and material that ought to go into a railway, and he cut the figures down to that. There was scarcely a lino too had for him: ho could bring a dividend out of Kipling’s “pack of ratten plates puttied up with tar." Ho did not limit his actions to mere economic*;, lie was always on the spot with new methods and new inventions. First Philadelphia, then Chicago, then Xow York, began to understand him. He revolutionised the Chicago lines and became president of th« “Xorth” and “West" companies. Ho became “Street-

Railway King.” Yet only a few year* before ho was just a Quaker l>oy out of a high t-cliool. "A h-v.-l head. an Imm sf intention, industry, pcneveranci —mid jn.-t .- d.nvli of Inci:.” was his recipe for Mic'-ms. ‘Th- word fonhvl limn is the man who fed- himself.” "Do mu Icok for wlint you do not want to iimi.” "No re-o-ets- the past cannot 1>» brounni b:-7-k.” ‘These were a few of bis guiding principles. About Iffrn I be became well known m London mi'l added enormously t» his weahli hv the establishment o: the "I ndergronml Electric Railways Company. '

JOHN BURNS'S INTENTIONS

T!io President of the Local Govern-j irent Hoard speaking at Ikittcnsca on . December 27 % said of himself: lie was ■!? years of age, and CO j might Imj his outside limit. Ho had ' to choose whether for the next ten ; years ho would indulge perhaps in the. futility of faction, perhaps in the im-; potency of intricuo, or ncept an oilh-c > which'in their dav and generation he; could make fruitful of good work. He; iiad become as Shakcrpero had it,. • The standard bearer of the rude; mechanicals" —lie was the first of the j ancient lowly to enter the Cabinet of j the ancient exclusives. The last Oor-j eminent regarded office ami power as j the appanage of the ignorant upper: classes, but'the present Prime Minister! was democratic. j He would do ids best to relieve j municipal enterptho from the conscious j bias Unit had operated against it .so; long. He was now appointing nj committee so that ratepayers and tax-i payers would have their accounts print-' edi prepared, and disclosed. The; labourer who worked would have so much of his eymnathy that ho would have none left for the loafer who shirked. The poor and oppressed would j have his oar, but the plausible cadger i never. By helping the nnor they) must bo careful that they did nothing; to endow poverty. His idea was; fewer workhouses and more hoimjs,, smaller charities and larger wages, | inoro pleasure drink, smaller) cities and larger villages. I Ho had opposed the lato war, and ho; would continue to fight against that j Orientalised Imperialism, of which | Somaliland was the fruit and South | Africa tho rotten ripe product. Taxation must -bo reduced if employment! was to increase. Nothing did more' credit to tho Premier fTTan his Albert Hall declaration that wo must colonise our own country. So long as we had a landless peasantry we tdioiild have homol cbs men in tho towns. Ho would do his best to see that South Africa as soon as possible was given responsible representative government under tho flag of freedom, not under the Vpas tree of Chinese indentured labour. ‘‘Cutting tho painter” was only tho cry of tho sordid capitalist, who would not find this Government a chancl of ease to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, If he went hack to Parliament it would be as a Free Trader true to Ins old pledges. . A few questions were put ,o air Burns, who assorted his adhesion to old ago pensions, adding that fhe time had arrived, hut the money had not come in. Ho would aim less at giiin<» people overtime, especially tho«e in 'work, than at giving surplus work to those who had none at all

ENGLAND'S ALIENS ACT.

The Aliens Act which came info force in Great Britain at the beginning ef the year is tlms summarised by an English exchange: — Immigration officers aro empowered to refuse aliens to land who are (1) lunatics or idiots: (2) who cannot show that they will bo in a position decently to support themselves and their dependents: and (3) who have been sentenced in a foreign country for a crime subject to tho extradition laws. Aliens settled in this country may be expelled If (1) they have been convicted of a eenoux crime and their expulsion has been rc-j commanded by the court; and(2) if thev have received poor law relief within twelve months, or “been found wandering without ostensible means of subsistence or been living under insanitary conditions due to overcrowding.' The Act also provides that the reference to want of means is not to apply to immigrants fleeing from- persecution or punishment on religious or political grounds, or from "persecution involving danger of imprisonment or danger to life and limb on account of religious belief.” , „ , Tlte Home Secretary has fixed 12 instead of 20 ns the number of immigrants bringing a vessel within tho definition of an “immigrant ship," so that any boat containing more than n dozen alien steerage passengers to be landed in tho United Kingdom, whether at the same or different ports, will be an “immigrant fship,” and consequently subject to the provisions of tho Act with regard to tho inspection of those passengers. Further, no ship bringing more than 12 alien steerage passengers will bo able to land any of them at any port which is not an immigration port. The immigration ports at present are Cardiff, Dover, Folkstono, Grangemonth. Harwich, Hull, Leith, Liverpool, London (including Qucenborough), Ncwhaven, Southampton, and tho Tvno ports (comprising Newcastle, North and South Shields). The word ''transmigrants” in the Act has been defined to mean passengers other than first-class, who hold prepaid through tickets to some destination outside tho United Kingdom, and respect cf whom security has been given that they will proceed to places beyond these isles. Exemption from inspection is granted under certain conditions. On the .arrival of an emigrant ship the procedure will bo romcnvhat as follows:—Tho captain will_ produce the prescribed return of alien passengers, and will sign it in the presence of the immigration officer, who will board tho ship at tho earliest opportunity. The nlion cabin passengers and tho exempted alien second-class passengers, if any, will then be free to land. Alien transmigrants will next bo dealt with, and the’ only restriction they will be subject to is that the immigration officer must have proper opportunity of verifying their number and their possession of through tickets. Tho inspection by the immigration officer will take place concurrently, so as to avoid loss of time. Leave to land, however, will be given only by the immigration officer, nnd is to bo conveyed verbally. Where leave is withhold tho immigrant will be handed a notice of refusal, sotting out the grounds upon which ho is considered undesirable, and stating that ho has a right to appeal to the Immigratioc Beard. Tho tost of means is laid down at £5 per head for each immigrant, and an additional £2 for each dependent. If mentally nnd physically fit an alien in possession of this sum of money, bona fide in his own property, will not bo liable to rejection. Tho alien has to satisfy the officer, that- ho is in a

position to obtain the n.eans of decent!v support iu£ himself mrt .ar.uly. in tlii' cc-su of an alien having a del.nite trade till' olliccr will have to consider the "tale of the labour market m that tr.n’e, unless the stranger has a definite oilVr of work at a fair wage. ihe Ofiicor flirt her lues to impure whether tin- visitor has proof of competency in hi'- trade. Another material paint is whether the alien has any knowledge of the English language. IX THE VERNACULAR. Mr and Mrs William Asher, the American Public-liouso Missionaries, have been conducting a campaign in Xnv York, Imliiing their service* in public bars. Roth speak New A ork slang to perfection, and employ that medium to reach the curs of tho pcopln in tho gin palaces. Speaking m a public-house kept hy a man named Gallagher recently, Mr Asher delivered the following characteristic address "I won’t keep you long, and first I want to say .Mr Gallagher's standing for this. lie’s told mo I could hand it out to you for half an hour, and here Voes. You see, wo ain’t butting in—we don’t go where they don’t, want ns. We are not crusading. I don’t "Want von to turn tho district upside_ oowu o" downside up. and I ain’t going to say a word about temperance or the lienor tpicstion. Tin just hero with n little message to you—best little message ever a man heard, and before wo start it I’m going to ask Mrs Asher to sing a hvinu. 'On tho King’s llnsincis. i and I want yon hoys to loosen up and i get busy on tho chorus.” r Mrs Asher sang the verse, and halfi a-dozen shamod-fneed young men ’cleared their throats suspiciously whom the chorus came round. “Aw. butt in there, von'.’’ said tho evangelist disgustedly. “Get wise, bud, get wiee. Slug her again, and here, you—that big"fellow down there'—get bn-'" didn’t let out a pebp; come in!” V ho big man fang and ton more helped. “Won’t do—not on your tintype. Hero you!” pointing to a whito-apron-o:l waiter, “vour face is froze: got in, got; in. And you. down there with the big coal, come along. Say, i Gallagher.” picking one of the pro- | priclors. ‘‘yon can get away, nit—got tin there!” I After the hymn Mr Asher resumed , his discourse, with results which are | reported to be satisfactory.

GERMANS AND JAPANESE. A telegram from Pekin, dated January 3 say*:— . ' There Ims been a serious nor, between soldiers of tbo Japanese and German contingents in this city. A brawl in a drinking shop a week ago seems to have begun the trouble, and to have created ill-feeling, which has rankled. , A Japanese patrol, the memoers of which are said to have been drunk, attached Romo German soldiers in n public street on Monday evening last, and a fight followed, in which eight Gormans and twelve Japanese wore scverc--1 v wounded. They are all in tho hospital. One of the Germans has no fewer than twenty-eight bayonet wounds. Four of tho Japanese arc in a critical" condition. Tho oeurrence, which is greatly regretted here, has occasioned a strong feeling against the Japanese amongst the European garrisons. All tho foreign troops are now confined to quarters. The German commander is to confer upon tho matter with the commanding oßicci's of the other garrisons. LINER ON FIRE. A startling talo of tho sea. was related when tho. White Star liner Oceanic arrived at Queenstown from New York, on January 2. On 25 November the Johnston liner Arranmoro, of Liverpool, left Antwerp, but was compelled to put in at Southampton for three days on account of defects in her machinery. That was the'first of a scries of misfortunes which dogged her on tho voyage to I Boston. All went well after the Arrnnmore left Southampton until sho arrived in mid-Atlantic, tut on December 7 the terrible cry rang out that the ship was on fire. Flames had broken nut in tho after hold, which was stuffed with rags and hags of phosphate, and they secured such a firm hold that at first tho attempt to quell thorn seemed almost hopeless. Tho crew fought tho firo for three days, and tho position of tho vessel was rendered particularly precarious by reason of tho presence on her forward deck of 50 barrels of chemicals used in the manufacture of dynamite. jThe hatches were opened, ami attempts made to remove part of the cargo, but the draught fed tbo flames, and the men after 48 hours’ struggling were obliged to close tho hatches again, having been repeatedly driven back blinded and half-conscious by the dense volumes of smoko. Steam was then injected rn large quantities into the hold. While tho chip was in this plight a steamer flying tho French flag overtook her, and signals of wore made and answered, hut tho French boat continued on its course, and did not offer assistance. Tho flames were not got under until 10th December, but that did not put an end to tho vessel’s troubles. When off tho Banks of Newfoundland a violent galo was encountered. Heavy seas were shipped and broke loose some casks of aniline. These hurst, and their contents, mixing with the waves, dyed the forward part of the votiscl a bright yellow. Tho liner eventually reached Boston without further mishap, and after transferring her damaged cargo to lighters, left for Baltimore on 2Gtb j December, having boon over a month on her voyage from Antwerp.