INTERCOLONIAL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 6238, 8 February 1882, Page 2

INTERCOLONIAL.

(Reuters Special.) Melbourne, February 7th,

In reply to a deputation which waited upon him to-day, Sir Bryan O'Loghlen promised to introduce a bill next session to provide for the flogging of larrikins. The Bank of Victoria pays a dividend for the past half-year of 4^ per cent. (Per Merchant Shipping and Underwriters' Association.)

New York, February sth.—Arrived, ship Camille, from Auckland (October 4th).

The following messages have appeared in Melbourne papers to hand by the Te Anau at the Bluff:—

(Special to Age.)

It is rumoured in European political circles that grave complications among the Great Powers are impending, and that a war is likely to break out in the ensuing spring. Austria is said to be making great warlike preparations, and hostilities between that Power and Italy are imminent. A collision has taken place in the Suez Canal between two steamers, both of which were • considerably damaged. An engineer .was killed.

The German police have seized all copies of London Punch that were offered for sale in Berlin, on account of the caricatures which have recently appeared iv it. They consider that their tendency was to bring the Government into ridicule and contempt. The Russian Government recently made arrangements for having a census taken throughout the Empire. The inhabitants of Dunaburg, a town in the province of Vitebsk, strongly objected to furnish tlie information required, and on the officials endeavouring to compel them, offered decided resistance, which culminated in a serious, riot.

Garibaldi, who has been in a bad state of health for some time past, is worse. He is now lying at Naples in a critical state, and his medical advisers give no hope of his recovery. A train passing over a bridge on the Midland railway, near Manchester, had a.iiarrow escaps from total destruction. The bridge collapsed just after the train had passed over it. Murderous outrages against the Jews in Russia and Germany are still occurring. ;The house of a. Jewish family at Zinnowitzwas attacked, and all the members of the family— three in number—brutally murdered. Mr Gladstone, in answer to several petitions that have been sent to him by British sympathisers, has announced that it 5s not his intention to take any action on behalf of the Russian or German Jews.

A plot has been discovered to assassinate King George of Greece during his visit to Corfu, where he has lately been travelling. The chief conspirators and several suspected persons have been arrested. . •

Great rejoicing 3 were manifested at Berlin when the news arrived of the downfall of Gambetta and his Government. His hostile attitude towards Germany since the war of 1870 has caused him to be regarded as a dangerous enemy of the Empire." The Dutch Government, following in the footsteps of the English, have refused to agree to the terms of a commercial treaty between Holland and France. The reductions proposed ,by the latter in the duties levied on the imports of Dutch goods are so inconsiderable that the treaty has been peremptorily rejected. During the last few days 120 houses in Ireland have beenssearched for concealed arms, and in Galway alone 20 arrests of suspects have been made.

Serious inconvenience is bning felt throughout the suburbs of London owing to all the men connected with the tramways having struck for higher wages. The United Ireland newspaper, which was recently suppressed by the Government, has been transferred to Paris, where it will henceforth be published. A terrible explosion has occurred at a dynamite factory at Vendres, the seaport town of the Department of the Pyrenees Orientales, in the south of Prance. The factory was completely wrecked, and 16 persons were killed.

A number of fires have lately occurred at Chicago, causing great destructioa of property. Quite a panic has been caused among the inhabitants, who attribute them to' the work of incendiaries.

The public feeling in the United States against the practice of polygamy by the Mormons is growing stronger, and a bill fog. its suppression has been introduced into Con^" gross.

The Austrian Government are incensed at the publication by the Vienna journals of the recent defeat inflicted on the Austrian troops at Gatchko, Herzgovina, at the hands of the insurgents, and they have issued a manifesto prohibiting, under heavy penalties, the publication by the Vienna Press of details of;the operations of the troops engaged against the insurgents. Ever since the insurrection broke out severe strictures have been pas«ed by the Vienna newspapers on the manner in which the troops engaged in Herzegovina have been handled, and the prohibition just issued has not been unexpected. The manifesto notwithstanding, several of the papei's in the capital continued to comment on the movoments of the troops. These journals were in consequence summarily seized and their machinery confiscated.

At a meeting of the London Chamber of Commerce there was a long and important discussion on trade between England and the Australian Colonies. High eulogies were passed upon the latter by several of the speakers, who dwelt upon the magnitude and importance of the Colonial trade and the probability of its inde6nite increase.

Great success has attended the floating of the New Zealand Grain Agency Company, with a capital of £1,000,000. Applications for shares havo been received in excess of the capital subscribed.

A large private dynamite atoro at Limerick has been entered and plundered of its contents.

Two persons have been tried at Cork Assizes for being connected with " Captain Moonlight " and his band, and for being concerned in the outrages perpetrated on the tenantry of the Earl of Cork. They were each sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. During the course of the trial a man named Connell, a prisoner on a similar charge, gave evidence testifying that instructions and money for carrying out the outrages were received from Dublin. A bookseller has been arrested in London for having stolen Cooper's well-known painting, " The Monarch of the Meadows." The painting was purchased by Mr Allcioft, of Lancaster Gate, London, and during the fire at that gentleman's premises some months ago it was cut from its frame and carried off. Speaking at a meeting of the Colonial Institute, Sir Barfcle Prere advocated the policy of Colonial Governments being allowed to deal with natives and native affairs untrammelled by interference on the part of Imperial authorities. The Times devotes a leading article to the subject of education in Australia. Referring to the estimated expenditure of £550,000 on education in Victoria during ISSI-2, the article expresses the opinion that the Australian Colonies need hard workers, with muscular anus, more than persons with cultured brains.

Only one large failure is announced as the result of the recent financial panic.

The Turkish Government have entered into a guarantee by which they pledge themselves to pay an annual instalment of 10,000,000fr towards the war indemnity due to Russia.

A man named named Skilling, whose wife is the keeper of a boarding-school, has been committed for trial on a charge of having assaulted eight young girls who boarded at the school. Government have received intelligence of an extensive and dangerous conspiracy in Counties Clare and Limerick, Ireland. Prompt measures are being taken for its suppression. It is of a serious character..

Haitian's bo.at, in which he was to row against Boyd on the Thames for the championship, has been completely destroyed at Putney.

Sir Samuel Wilson has abandoned the petition he had intended to submit to the House of Commons against the return of the Solicitor-

general for Derry. The Conservatives, it is said, propose to place at Sir Samuel's disposal the next seat left vacant for Bucks.

Chile has accepted the intervention of the United States, and does not now insist on the annexation of Peru. She demands instead an indemnity of 20,000,000 dollars and the cession of the Tarapaca district. Earl Granville has intimated in a dispatch to the United States Government that the British Government uphold the Clayton-Bul-wer Treaty, according to which works like the Panama Canal would be matters of European as well as American concern. Following .this, it is announced that President Arthur has revoked the policy enunciated by Secretary Blame, treating the canal as a local matter entirely within the control of the United States. Six failures upon the Stock Exchange since the previous message have taken place. In one case the amount of liabilities is £80,000. Another failure has taken place in Dublin, and more are expected. The police have arrested 40 persons for interfering with and attacking hunting parties in .Clare and Limerick, Ireland.