CABLEGRAMS.

Otago Witness, Issue 181, 6 August 1886, Page 9

CABLEGRAMS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN. (Reuter's Telegrams.) London, July 28

The mails from New Zealand per Alameda (Auckland, June 22) were delivered to-day. Consols are 10s lower, at 101f. New Zealand securities :— 5 per cent. 10-40 loan, 103^ ; U per cent. 1579-1904 loan, 101£ ; 4 per cent, inscribed stock, 9S. The Bank rate is at 2{ per cent., and the market rate 1^ per cent. Breadstufifs: — Adelaide wheat, ex store, per 45Kjlbs, is at 34s Gd ; New Zealand wheat, do, 2Ss to 32s (3d according to grade. Adelaide flour, ex store, per 2801b is at 245. Tallow. — Australian : Fair average quality beef per cwt., 255 ; mutton per cwt.. 275. London, July 29. Colonel F. A. Stanley has received the portfolio of Secretary for India. Consols and New Zealand securities maintain yesterday's prices. The bank rate remains at 2$ per cent, and the market rate at 1£ per cent! The weekly returns of the Bank of I England published to-day show the total reserve in notes and bullion to be £11,900,000, an increase of £400,000 during the same period. The proportion of reserve to liabilities has advanced by 2 per cent, to 42 per cent. London, July 30. It is announced that Sir Thomas Brassey and Sir Michael Bass have been raised to the Peerage. A large party of colonists paid a visit today to Canterbury, where they were entertained to lunch by the mayor. A number of the visitor's were subsequently received at the cathedral by the Archbishop, while another party proceeded to Chatham to inspect the fortifications The Australian Agents-general had under consideration the recent assurance of the French Government regarding the New Hebrides, and, it is understood, generally agreed that the same are of a completely satisfactory character. Tallow is sixpence lower. Beef of fair average quality is at 22s 6d per cwt, and mutton 26s 6d. The total quantity of wheat afloat for the United Kingdom is 1,800,000 quarters, or 30,000 quarters less than last week. New Zealand frozen mutton has fallen in value from 4£d to od per lb [? s£d to sd]. London, July 31. The death is announced of Abbe Franz Liszt, the celebrated Hungarian pianist, aged 75 years. " Men of the Time " gives the following sketch of the eminent composer and pianist : — Liszt, The Abbe Franz, pianist, born at Szegszarcl, in Hungary, Oct. 22, 1811, made his first public appearance in a concert in his ninth year, and was afterwards placed under Czemy, Salieri giving him lessons in harmony. After 18 months ( of zealous study, he played in a concert with success, and was taken to Paris, where he performed before the Duke of Orleans, and soon became a great favourite in that capital. In 1825 an opera of his was produced but did not attract. Having made several successful tours through France and England.he in 1825 produced an opera, "Don Sanche, ou le Chateau dcs Amours," which did not command success. He at last heard Paganini, and resolved he would become the Paganini of the pionoforte. His compositions are chiefly valuable for having contributed to raise the art of piano-playing to a height of brilliancy before unattained, whilst his own creative powers on that instrument are so marvellous as to place him in the highest rank of great performers. He was promoted Commander of the Legion of Honour in 1861. Although in June, 1864, he wrote a letter contradicting the report that he had entered a convent, he took orders and received the the tonsure, April 25, 1865, from his friend, Mgr. de Hohenlohe, in the chapel of the Vatican. Since that period he has chiefly devoted his attention to religious music, and has organised numerous concerts and musical entertainments, the proceeds of which were devoted to works of Catholic charity. At thejclose of the year 1871 he removed from Rome and returned to his native country, which generously granted him a pension of £600 a year, with a no'nliary title. He was named Director of the Hungarian Academy of Music in April, 1875. One of his two daughters is the wife of Richard Wagner, the composer. An English translation by Mr Walker Cook of the Abbe Liszt's " Life of Chopin" was published in 1877. In the early part of the present year the Abbe visited England, where he was received with great honours. London, August 1. Serious rioting again occurred at Belfast last evening between the Orangemen and the Nationalists. The rioters opposed the police by stone-throwing. The police then fired and killed one, wounding many others. The rioters at length dispersed, and by midnight all was quiet in the vicinity. August 2. The Marquis of Salisbury has now completed the task of forming a Ministry, the vacant portfolios being allotted as follows : —Secretary of State for India, Sir E. A. F Cross; Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr Edward Stanhope ; President of the Board of. Trade, Colonel F. E. Stanley; Lord Privy Seal, Earl Cadogan. Sir E. A. Cross (Secretary for India) and Sir F. A. Stanley (President of the Board of Trade) have been raised to the Peerage. The colonial recipients of honours in connection with the Colonial-Indian Exhibition were formally invested with their Orders at Osborne to-day by the Queen. . August 3. The mails ex Orient Company's Garonne, dated Melbourne, June 25, were delivered yesterday via Naples. The following further Ministerial appointments have been made :— President of the Local Government Board, Mr C. T. Ritchie • Under-secretary for Foreign Affairs, Sir James Ferguson; Under-secretary for India, Sir John E^Gorst; Under-secretary for the Colonies, Earl Dunraven; Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Mr W. L Jackson; and Financial Secretary to the War Office, Hon. H. S. Northcote. , New York, July 31. O Donovan Rossa has publicly declared that the American dynamite party are preI paring to prosecute , their operations on an extensive scale iv London.

Hongkong, July 28. A convention has been signed at Pekin between the British and Chinese governments, under which China formally recognises British rule in Burmah. (Special to Press Association.) London, July 28. News is to hand from Tinneballi, a town in the Presidency of Madras, that during a performance the theatre took fire and was completely destroyed, 100 of those present being killed in the panic that ensued. The Prince of Wales is prepared to accept the executive presidency of the Permanent Colonial Exhibition if the present guarantees of renewal and a yearly grant are made for its maintenance by the colonies. The P. and O. Company arc having an- • other steamer built at Belfast similar to the one that is to be built at Greenock. Truth states that Mr Gladstone will go on a yachting cruise round the Irish and Scottish coast. The Rev. Alexander Mackennel has been elected chairman of the Congregational Union for the ensuing year. July 29. Baron de Lesseps' report on the Panama Canal shows a balance of 241,000 francs. He pledges himself to open the Canal in 18S9. London, July 29. A shocking tragedy is reported from Penzance, Cornwall. A man named James Hawke (wtio recently returned from Australia) mortally wounded his sister, brother-in-law, and a neighbour by shooting them He then committed suicide. London, July 30. A commercial exchange has been opened at the exhibition, with Mr Scott (of Adelaide) as chairman, and a committee consisting of Messrs Thompson, Harat, and Simmonds. Mr Leslie White has been appointed Belgian Consul at Adelaide. Mr Wardill, the secretary of the Australian cricketing team, has offered to Shaw the use of the Melbourne cricket ground free if he will postpone the visit of his team to Australia, and will also 'undertake to engage a part of the team. The meat ex the steamer Orient is being sold at 4|d. The parents of the girl Eliza Armstrong, who was connected with the recent abduction cases, have entered an action against the proprietors of the Pall Mall Gazette, claiming £8000 damages. London, August 1. The wheat market is inactive, prices remaining unchanged. The harvest prospects are favourable, but the English crops are below the average. Heavy English hop crops are expected. The American crops are an extensive failure, and New York prices are doubled. The Southern Queensland Pastoral Company has been registered with a capital of £400,000. The Metropolitan Coal Company, Sydney, has been announced, with a capital of £300,000. The deaths in Labrador are much fewer, but horrible cannibalism prevails. Yielding to higli official pressure, Mr Bosisto accepts the Companionship of St. Michael and St. George. Tho Exhibition will be closed on November 9. Australian wines are selling freely at the Exhibition. Mr James Service has arrived in London. Mr Bosisto will inspect the vineyards of France and Spain in September. London, August 3. An agitation threatening separation is on foot in Catalonia, a province in north-east Spain, as a protest against the Anglo-Spanish Treaty. The agitation threatens to culminate seriously. Eighty-one thousand persons visited the Exhibition yesterday. The Canadian officials disbelieve the statement received from Labrador respecting the straits of the inhabitants, and rof use to send assistance. The Press generally is satisfied with the appointment of Mr E. titanhope as Secretary of State for the Colonies.