NEWS OF THE WORLD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15824, 24 July 1913, Page 8

NEWS OF THE WORLD.

The following additional cable messages appeared in the Sydney Sun last week:—

London, July 13. Professor Marshall Hall's orchestral suite " Alcestis " has been performed in Dresden, where the critics have proclaimed it a work of genius. The Court of Appeal in New York has refused the application for a new trial in the case of Police-lieutenant Becker, who in December last was sentenced to death for'the murder of Herman Rosenthal. The Rev. Mr Close, vicar of Littleport, England, who is over 60 years of age, recently married a former acquaintance, a young woman who had been one of his parishioners. The girl's relatives banished her to London. A few days after her arrival there a letter was received at the house addressed to her by her 'husband. It was intercepted, and found to be of a passionately erotic character. Close was accused of having mitten the missive, and pleaded that he did so at a time when he was unable to control his feelings. The chancellor' of the diocese of Ely held that though the letter was immoral, it was not immoral within the meaning of the Clergy Discipline Act. The Bishop of Ely was appealed to, and lie reversed the decision, and is taking further proceedings. July 14. Fruit sellers' associations in British Columbia are boycotting Chinese growers. The latter aTe therefore organising, and will carry out the marketing and sale of their' own fruit. There is a strong prejudice against the Chinese throughout Western Canada on account, it is contended, of thei» saving habits. Reports from Mexico state that the Government has discovered the existence of a plot for the assassination of President Huerta, General Blanquet, and General Felix Diaz. It was intended to carry out the murders by means of bombs, but the conspirators' plans were frustrated. The police have arrested a Congressman and several other persons, some of whom have confessed to their complicity in the plot. Americans are fleeing from Mexico.

The conference in Moscow that is discussing the question of round the world travel has resolved upon a system to link the direct passenger service of the globe by way of Siberia and Canada. The Tailway companies affected will be tho Ausan Shimoneki and the North China Company, while the steamship lines will include the Cunard, Hamburg-Amerika, Pacific Mail, and Toyo Kisen Kaisha. Supplementary routes, via Australia, to tl.e Far East are suggested. Paris, July 11. Jack Johnson arrived in Paris yesterday, and drove to a number of hotels before lie could secure accommodation. The champion declares that he will never fight again in the United States. Referring to his recent conviction on charges under the White Slave Act, he said that he intended to carry tho cases to the higher courts, and that he believed that he should bo successful in having the verdict reversed. Vancouver, July 13. Basil Hacking, the four-year-old son of some people living on a ranch eight miles up the north fork of the Kettle River, Grand Forks, will be blind for life, and has lost three fingers and the thumb of the right hand, as tho result of somei neighbours leaving dynamite caps about. Stump-blasting had been going on, and on Thursday night young Hacking found one of them, took it home in his pocket, and tried to force it open with a stick. The cap exploded into his face and did frightful damage. San Francisco, July 13. Tho steel lumber schooner, Francis 11. Leggett, while outward-bound yesterday, crashed into tho four-masted schooner J. H. Lunsmann, and sank her at her moorings off the quarantine station. The J. H, Lunsmann had just arrived from Newcastle with a cargo of coal, which will probably be salvaged. The sunken vessel lies in shallow water, and may be raised. The question as to who was responsible for the disaster will be determined, by a boaid of inquiry. The captains of both vessels declare that their lights were burning brightly. The J. H. Lunsmann, which left Newcastle for San Francisco on April 12, was a vessel of 1090 tons. She was built in 1902.

Jacob Oppenheimer, of Sacramento, known as "the Human Tiger," who had been staving off death for the last six years, was hanged yesterday. He was the first felon in the United States to be executed for simple assault, the sentence having been carried out under the Califomian Act of 1907, which prescribes death for an assault upon a fellow convict by a life-termer. Oppenheimer had been in prison for 18 years, 14 of whioh were spent in solitary confinement owing to his viciousness. On the night before the execution he was allowed to have a gramophone playing outside his cell door, this being his last request, He enjoyed several of Sousa's marches, but his favourite selection was " Somebody Else Is Getting It Where the Chicken Got the Axe." Bryan's speech on "The Ideal Republic" and the recitation " Lasca" were hia other choices.