SUMMARY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 6489, 8 April 1908, Page 1

SUMMARY.

Mr Asquith. who was summoned by -King Edward on tho retirement of Sir £L C. Bannerman. has started for Biarritz.

Mr Asquith’s 'Premiership, declares Mrs Pnnkhurst. moans a fight to the bitter unr] for tho suffragists.

Tho "Telegraph” says that tho country expects Mr Asquith to show greater firmness than his predecessor. Tho health of Sir H. C. Bnnnorman has boon no worse during tho past few days, and ho takes an interest in current events.

On Parliament adjourning until the Uth inst., wnrra tributes wore paid to tho character and services of tho retiring Premier'.

Many public expressions of sympathy On his retirement include a resolution by tho Central Committee of tho Manchester Conservative Association. Mr Chamberlain says ho believes that tariff reform and preference have taken firm hold upon tho British people. The collapse of houses in l.ondon on Tuesday was duo to tho disturbance of tho foundations of an adjoining building.

Twenty-one persons were resound alive, eight dead bodies being also recovered.

An Antarctic, expedition to investigate tho Weddell and Briscoe Sens and islands south of the fortieth parallel is mooted by Dr W. 8. Bruce, of the Scottish Oceanographical Laboratory. It is also proposed to attempt a crossing of the Antarctic continent. A builder and a coal merchant, arrested on charges of fraud upon tho Milo End Guardians, . have been remanded upon bail.

On tho ore of departure for New Zealand, King Edward wired to tho English football team wishing them a prosperous royage. •

Air Koir IXardie, M.F., had an enthusiastic welcome homo nt London. Twcnty-threo Russian officers have been court-martial Icd and sentenced to imprisonment for writing to a newspaper. They had protested against the inaction of tho troops during anti-Jewish pogroms. Three persons were killed in a riot at Lisbon on Monday.

At the Portuguese elections the. Monarchists swept the country, only six tiepublicans being returned. jhik* Heinrich-Borwin of MpcklenburgEobwerin hoe h-nd to leave the. Gorman army owing to financial troubles. The House of representatives at Washington passed the Employers Liability Bill* amid applause from the Demosrats. . . .

The wrestling match in which Gotch Hackenschmidt is described as a brutal exhibition.

Gotch it is said, jammed his thumbs Into bis opponent's eyes and punched his face, without interference from the referee,

The Countess Szeohenyi (nee Miss Gladys Vanderbilt) and her husband, while at Buda Pesth, had to ask for police protection from importunate mendicants. . A British steamer -was fired on by Arabs, ffotn the banks of the Tigris. T>d passengers'•were'killed and several wounded. ..

The Porte hae promised to punish the aggressors.

Playing at Melbourne, the New Zealand bowlers defeated a Victorian team by 123 to 105. Two passengers by the southern mail train from Sydney had a narrow escape when near Thirlmere. The carriage; window .was smashed, it is supposed, by rifle bullets, and one of the passengers was slightly cut by the splintered gloss ' The Broken Hill Customs "darns for tho quarter show a decline of -El-0,000 rompared with tho corresponding period of last year. ■ Though the output was better, the fall In tho price of metals caused the decrease in value. Great difficulty was esawrienced in gettine boats launched from the ■wrecked steamer Bega. owing to tho excessive inclination of tbo deck. Tho women and children were placed in tho boats, with as many male passengers ae could be taken. Tho cause of the disaster is unaccountable. Australia will be represented at the International Postal Conference by the Queensland Agent-General, Sir Horace Tozer. It is expected he will oppose any withdrawal of concessions regarding tho transmission of code words. Tho Governor of Victoria. Sir It. .Talbot, has resigned on account of private business. • He returns to England in July. The barque Yosemito hoe returned to Newcastle, having sprung a leak. The pumps were worked four hours out of six, but tho watox. gained at the rate of three inches an hour*

The price of butter in Wellington is now very little lower than that ruling in Auckland, oven with the recent all-round reduction of one penny per pound. It is not considered possible to effect a reduction in that city now. ‘Merchants • there say that butter is likely to bo in short supply right through the winter. The price of butter remains unchanged In Dunedin, Dr Mason. Chief Health Officer, stated in Auckland that the percentage of cures at To Waikato Consumptives' Sanatorium had been 21, an extremely satisfactory figure. Ho urged that Auckland should make provision .lor at least fifty patients, in order to nut a stop to the present state of affairs. There will he no canteen at the Auckland Easter encampment, as Colonel Wolfe, tho district 0.C., does not regard one as necessary. Begarding tho Sunday drill question, he said that the officers would sec that there was no desecration of the Sabbath.' Major Head, of the Eoyal Garrison Artillery, England, has been appointed Director of Ordnance and Commandant of tho Now Zealand Pemanant I'orce. Tho Manawatu Eacing Club’s autumn mooting commenced yesterday. The Manawatu Stakes_ was won by Aborigine and tho Champion Hack Plate by Woodhey. The Christchurch Tramway Board’s rood sprinklers have been successfully Hoed as fire-prevention appliances. Caere arising out of preference at the ballot for Otofcaike sections wore before the Court of Appeal yesterday in WclSington.