BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Otago Witness, Issue 1798, 7 May 1886, Page 10

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

(Reuter's Telegrams.) London, May 1. The shipment of fruit received from Australia by the Austral has been examined and found in excellent condition. The total quantity of wheat afloat for the United Kingdom is 1,880,000 quarters. New Zealand frozen mutton is worth s|d per lb. Australian tallow, fair average quality, is quoted :—Beef, at 22s 6d; mutton, 23s 6d per cwt. The stock of tallow in London is 28,000 casks. The East and West Coast railway scheme has been successfully launched. The general result of the meeting of the Liberal party is that it has been decided to oppose that portion of Mr Gladstone's Irish proposals which provides for the exclusion of Irish members from the House of Commons. May 3. The European Powers are dissatisfied with the reply given by Greece to their united memorandum, and require a more precise promise as to the date of the completion of the disarmament. The amount of New Zealand stock brought under the conversion operations exceeds four millions. • The death is announced, in his 81st year, of the Right Hon. Earl of Redesdale. A meeting of the Royal Commission of the Indo-Colonial Exhibition was held to-day. The Prince of Wales, who presided, referred in his speech to the cordial response which had been made by the colonies to the applications of the Commission, and stated that the Executive Commissioners would be requested to convey the expression of his thanks to their respective Governments. The guarantee for the exhibition has already reached the sum of £218,000. A committee has been formed, under the chairmanship of the Duke of Abercorn, for the purpose of extending a hospitable reception to visitors from the colonies, and a fund is being subscribed for that end. The Australian mails per P. and O. Company's s.s. Rome (dated Melbourne, March 25) and per Messageries Yarra (dated March 27) were .delivered to-day —the former via Brindisi, and the latter via Marseilles. The wool market remains quiet. For the next colonial wool auctions 240,000 bales have arrived to date. . Athens, May 1. M. Deliyannis disavows the defiant speech, recently attributed to him, and the publication of his reply to the European ultimatum shows that it was couched in milder terms than was first reported. The document expresses willingness to disarm, but suggests it should be done in a gradual manner. Rio Db Janeiro, April 28. The Aorangi from Wellington (April 8) arrived here to-day. All well. The frozen meat cargo is in good order. Rangoon, April 29. Advices from Upper Burmah state that destructive fires have occurred at Mandalay, resulting in the burning of a large portion of the town. It is believed the conflagration was the result of incendiary action. (Special to Peess Association.) London, April 28. The majority of the Australian cricketing team have arrived in London, the remainder being still on the Continent. The American fishing smack which was seized by the Canadian authorities off Nova Scotia has been released. Nelson, the New South Wales sculler, bravely rescued a boy from drowning in the Thames. Mr Strangway, ex-Attorney-general of South Australia, has written a letter to the Daily Chronicle in which he states that Home Rule will prove unworkable, and if given eifect to will destroy the unity of the empire. April 29. An agreement with France in connection with the New Hebrides is considered imminent. The directors of the Scottish - Australian Company are prepared to send labour out to Lambton, New South Wales, if advised. Air Edward Coombs, C.M.G., New South Wales, will read a 'paper before the Hoyal Colonial Institute on the 6th May, dealing with the commerce and industries of New South Wales, also with society and art. The English cricketing team which visits the Australian colonies next season will comprise Shaw, Shrewsbury, Lillywhite, Barnes, Briggs, Gunn, Flowers, Bates, Lee's, Preston, Lahman and the prominent amateur W. G. Grace has been invited to accompany that team, which sails for Australia in September next. , Four regiments of Indian troops have been sent to reinforce the troops in Burmah. Jefferson Davis is delivering a series of orations in the Southern States. • Australian pears are being sold at the Army 'and Navy Co-operative Stores for 3d each. Samples of tea grown in Fiji are approved of by experts. I April 30. The post office authorities will consult with the principal colonies before accepting tenders for the Federal mail service. The exhibits sent from Samoa to the IndianColonial Exhibition have not been admitted. The first issue of shares in the North British nd New Zealand Investment Company is 100,000,. of which four-fifths is already subcribed. The Fijian, a new steamer which has been euilt for the fruit trade between Sydney and iji,has been launched. Mr Graham Berry is expected to arrive here on Monday. A great diversity of tenders has been received for the Federal mail contract, but it is believed that the foreign tenderers will be unsuccessful. Mayl. • The Eight Hours agitation in America is becoming general. The Speaker of the Legislative Council of Western Australia is seriously ill. The mayor of Manchester will shortly entertain 200 colonists at a banquet. The Standard denounces the programme put forth by Sir Julius Vogel, and argues that it is not safe to lend money upon it. The opposition to Mr Gladstone's Irish proposals is general, and 60 of the Liberals have declared their intention of voting against the measures, and others are wavering. If the second reading is carried by a narrow majority, Mr Gladstone will probably recast the proposals and bring them down again next session. The wheat market is quiet, but foreign colonial business is firmer. There have been no arrivals since last advices. One Australian cargo on the passage has been offered at 355. London, May 2. At the annual banquet of the Royal Academy, the Prince of Wales in his address praised a fine portrait of Lord Carington by Mr Frank

Hall, R.A. He also dwelt with emphasis on the splendid character of the paintings ao the IndoColonial Exhibition. The Visitors' Reception Committee of the' Indo-Colonial Exhibition are organising a series of excursions. Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, writing to the Contemporary Review, argues that colonial analogies justify Mr Gladstone in his efforts to grant Home Rule to Ireland. Lord Hartington and Mr Goschen have held successful political meetings in Edinburgh and several other Scottish towns. Mr John Morley has thrown out hints that important modifications will be made in Mr Gladstone's Irish proposals. Mukhtar Pasha declines to modify his proposals regarding Egyptian army reforms. May 3. The hospitable reception extended to Admiral Knorr on his visit to the colonies has been favourably commented on in Germany. Lord Rosebery holds that Mr Gladstone's Irish proposals absolutely promotes Imperial federation, but Lord Selborne contends that their effect will be to repeal the Union. The University of Glasgow has conferred the degree of divinity on the Rev. David Paton, of Adelaide. A league has been established in Calcutta to agitate for autonomy for India similar to that allowed to Australia. The Prince of Wales has accepted the present of some gigantic Queensland shells. The Australian Eleven are in excellent form. One hundred and fifty cases of Victorian fruit have been sold. The prices realised were : Apples, 4d per lb ; pears, 3d each, The shipment of grapes are just saleable. The fruit from South Australia has been finely displayed in the market attached to the Indian and Colonial Exhibition. London, May 4. Sir Charles Dilke has addressed a crowded meeting at Chelsea, at which he stated that he was prepared to deny on oath all the allegations made against him in the recent divorde case, and to defray the cost of the Queen's Proctor's intervention. M. Deliyannis is still obdurate, and it is expected that the diplomatic representatives of the several Powers will embark to-day. The Turkish forces are mutinously demanding that an advance on the Greeks shonld be made. '»