BRITISH AND FOREIGN. (Per Press association.)

Otago Witness, Issue 1942, 7 February 1889, Page 16

BRITISH AND FOREIGN. (Per Press association.)

London, January 30. The Italian Government have ordered 16 guns of the heaviest type to be made by English manufacturers. The Admiralty has decided to enlist 2000 marines. The Pall Mall Gazette strongly opposes the nomination of Sir C. Dilke to the London County Council, as opposed to the interests of decency and truth. It is rumoured that England will withdraw from the blockade of the Zanzibar coast when the German operations ashore have been commenced. The quantity of wheat and flour afloat for • the United Kingdom is 2,292,000 quarters, and for the Continent 348,000 quarters. Sir Charles Dilke has withdrawn his nomination for a seat on the London County Council. Financial authorities express the opinion that the South Australian loan will bo a success, and expect it to be floated at 101. Mr Westgarth considers the minimum is absurd, and if placed at 98 it v/ould have been ample. The brokers are disgusted, and the bankers ridicule tbe action of the brokers, who are afraid if they boycott the loan its non-success will prejudice the unloading of the Victorian loan. The Contemporary Review has published an inspired article, in which it charges Prince Bismarck with displaying feelings of hatred towards Empress Victoria and contempt for the late Emperor Frederick, who resented any undue assumption of superiority. The article also charges Prince Bismarck with being gratified at the Emperor's death. Mr D. Sheehy, M.P. for Galway South, has been sentenced to six months' imprisonment for inciting. January 31. Mr Goschen, addressing a meeting in the city, said that England intended to maintain her position as the first colonial power, and therefore she must be prepared to hold her own in the Pacific and every quarter of the world. He feared the Budget must be sacrificed to the exigencies of defence, as we were unable to ignore European quarrels. The Marquis of SalisDury has assured M. Waddington, French Ambassador in London, that Great Britain had never dreamt of annexing or proclaiming a protectorate over Tibuai or the Austral Islands. The attempt to establish a steel rail ring in Berlin is a failure at present. The Contemporary Review has an article exposing Prince Bismarck's efforts to ensure his son Count Herbert's succession to the Chancellorship of the German Empire. It denounces Herbert Bismarck's brutal treatment of the Empress Victoria and the Emperor's gross insults levelled at the Prince of Wales. The house of the Secretary to the American Legation at Ascot has been ransacked by burglars and £7000 worth of jewellery stolen. Ten children who were bitten by dogs at St. Helen's, in Lancashire, are suffering from hydrophobia. They have been sent to Paris for treatment by M. Pasteur. Thomas O'Connor, the informer, who gave evidence before the Parnell Commissioners at the beginning of December, has recanted, and now declares that his testimony was wholly fictitious. Father M'Fadden, the priest for whom the police have been looking for an offence under the Crimes Act, has escaped. j The Right Hon. Mr Goschen in his speech said the session would be mainly occupied with a measure for local government in Scotland. , The quotations for mutton and beef are unchanged. Australian wheat is sold at about 37s 6d. The underwriters ask 75 guineas per cent, re-insurance on the Sir Walter Raleigh. February 1. Three, hundred Cossacks will reinforce Achinoff's colony in Abyssinia. One thousand women have protested against the nomination of Sir Charles Dilke as a member of the London County Council. Sir John Lubbock has been temporarily elected chairman of the new London County Council. The Royal College of Physicians have censured Sir Morell Mackenzie for publishing his book " Frederick the Noble." A son (aged 10 years) of the deceased monarch has been elected King of Annam. A regency has been formed. Australian wheat, ex warehouse, 41s 6d, but the market is weak. New Zealand long* berried, 41s per 4961b, bub operations are restricted. February 2. M-olloy, the Invincible, who recanted as to the evidence he gave before the Parnell Commission, has been arrested for perjury. The German Emm Bey relief expedition leaves at once under Lieutenant Peters. Archbishop Redwood has been granted an audience by the Pope. Mr Sheehy has been sentenced to an additional four months' imprisonment. Lord Brassey, addressing the London Chamber of Commerce, urged the immediate building of four first-class ironclads and 10 second-class, at a cost of seven and Qrhalf millions, and afterwards the building of cruisers and battle ships twice as fast ac J;hey were built by France. A million and a-half was re-, quired to modernise the boilers and engines of existing battle ships. England at present was unequal to resisting Russia and France combined. He said #hat vessels like the Valiant, Defiance, and Hector were worth repairing for the defence of harbours like Adelaide. Admiral Hornby declared that 300 cruisers were required" to protect commerce and act as scouts. Prince Alexander of Battenberg has resigned his command in the German and enters the Austrian army. -It is reported that it is intended to float shortly a Bank of England and Australia, with a capital of four millions in £10 shares. Ten thousand shares each will be reserved for Melbourne and Sydney. It has been already largely subscribed for privately. The Sir Walter Raleigh, which went ashore on .the French coast, has been dismantled and is being unloaded. The solicitors of the Bank of New Zealand fcave written to the Stock Exchange bating

that according to counsel's opinion £7 shares now fully paid are free from all liability excepting the reserve liability. They state ■ that it is advisable to obtain the authority of the colonial Parliament confirming the reduction of the capital, and statutory authority is necessary to allow holders to reconvert £7 shares into £10 shares." The solicitors of the Land League deposed before the Times-Parnell Commission that j the league defrayed the cost of the defence ! of the murderers of Lord Mountmorris and ! others. Constables swore that they seized the arms and documents in possession of Walsh and Tobin, Land League organisers, the documents showing that Fenians were organising men and providing arms and ammunition in the North of England. Sir C. Russell quarrelled with Sir James Hannen I for admitting this evidence. It is reported that the new Panama loan ! issue has failed. | Father Marrinan, a Roman Catholic priest, has been sentenced to five weeks' imprisonment at Ballynety. He has appealed against the sentence. , February 3. ' | Mr Stanhope, Secretary of War, has issued an order prohibiting strangers from inspecting the defences of Great Britain. ; At the annual meeting of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, Sir James Fergusson, who presided, said that ! the company's past season had been a prosperous one. Three-fourths of the business was transacted in Australia, while two-thirds of the capital was held in England. It was therefore necessary to transfer the control of \ the management to London, and boards of advice would be appointed in the colonies. The dividend recommended by the directors was declared, and the transference of the management to London confirmed. English wheat shows a downward tendency, but Continental is better. The American market is depressed. For Australian wheat (new crop on the passage) sellers ask 38s 6d. Australian flour, 28s; New Zealand do, 26s 6d. Colonial oats, 275. The Freeman's Journal declares that Secretary Balfour insulted the bearer of Mr I Seaton's letter protesting against the treat- ! ment of Mr William O'Brien. It is believed that Mr Fisher, private secretary to Mr Balfour, is the offender. Sir William Pauncefote, C.8., G.C.M.G,, at present Permanent Under-secretary for Foreign Affairs, will succeed Lord Sackville as British Ambassador at Washington on the accession of General Harrison as President. The Observer says that the proceedings of the Federal Council are little else than a f arce so long as New South Wales takes no part in them. Mr Samuel Plimsoll is organising a national protest against the policy of coercion. February 4. Mr Balfour, Secretary for Ireland, speaking at Dublin, claimed that there had been a great decrease in the number of outrages and in, cases of boycotting in Ireland. He hoped shortly to be able to proceed with a scheme for the extension of drainage and give assistance in extending railways and also to develop the fisheries. Father M'Fadden was arrested at Gweedore after celebrating mass. The congregation resisted, and in the struggle with the police which followed Inspector Martin was killed. It is reported that Dean Bromby will suoceed Bishop Sandford as Bishop of ' Tasmania. Mr John Morley refuses to advocate the eight hours programme. Ingram's collection of works of art for exhibition in Sydney include 300 pictures. Mortimer Menzies sends etchings. Fifteen hundred bales of wool have been saved from the Sir Walter Raleigh, stranded on the French coast. It is not expected that the vessel will be saved. As the result of recent auctions and the heavy stocks tallow is declining. Best mutton is at 32s 6d ; beef is unquoted. Private advices say that tallow has fallen 30s per ton. Hemp is at £37 5s to £37 10s. Mr T. D. Sexton, M.P., has returned the levee cards sent to him from the Castle. MrJ. R. Cox, M.P. for South Clare, has been sentenced to four months' imprisonment for a breach of the Crimes Act. By a railway accident near Brussels 14 peri sons were killed and 50 injured. ! General Sir Andrew Clarke, R E., has written a letter to the Times in which he protests against fortifying London, He declares that the proposed fortifications are a mere prei text for starving the navy, which requires to be strengthened in order to ensure the proper defence of the empire. I The woollen manufacturers in the Canadian ! Dominion are urging an increase in the duty on imported woollens. 1 February 5. The ship Roseneath, on the voyage from Glasgow to Adelaide, was totally wrecked at Port Patrick. The mate, Mr Taylor, his wife and son, and three of the crew were drowned. Mr D. Kilbride, M.P. for Kerry South, has been arrested in Leicester for advocating boycotting. It is believed the Czar of Russia will visit Berlin during the summer months, escorted by 16 warships. Tolstoi's scheme of communal reform nas been largely rejected by the Russian Council of the Empire. The Paris Tribunal has dissolved tho Panama Canal Company, M. de Lesseps concurring. The Tribunal has authorised the liquidators to transfer the canal works to the ' new company. Vienna, January 30. The Hungarian Diet passed the second reading of the Army Bill by a large majority. Violent scenes took place both inside and outside the Chamber. Pesth, January 30. Serious rioting has taken place here over the Army Bill introduced into the Hungarian Diet. The cavalry were ordered out, and charged the mob, killing several. During the scenes which toojc place in the Chamber on the second reading of the measure, the police cleared the galleries. j St. Petebsbubg, January 31. i The Moscow Gazette has created a sensation by accusing Lieutenant-general Count Yon Waldersee, chief general of the Prussian army staff, with secretly inspecting the German forces on the Russian frontier, and gathering news as to the position of the C?ar/s troops. It also ascuses him of secretly

ascertaining the feelings of Russian residents near the frontier. Beblin, January 30. j The German East African Company Bill' has been read a third time in the Reichstag. Prince Bismarck has decided to prosecute the proprietors of the Krieng Zietung for comments made by that newspaper on the Geffcken incident. Stjakin, January 30. A Khartoum merchant who has arrived here asserts that Emm Bey was captured by the adherents of the Mahdi, but managed to escape. . Information has reached town that "owing to the scarcity of supplies the dervishes have been recalled to Tokar. Washington, February 1. The American Senate will probably reject the English Extradition Treaty as a protest against the treatment of Irish political offenders and the Crimes Act. The Senate has rejected the proposal to raise the American Ministers at the principal capitals to the rank of ambassadors. February 2. The United States Senate has rejected the Extradition Treaty with Great Britain, as a protest against the administration of the Crimes Act in Ireland. Li Hung Chang, Chinese Minister to the United States, has informed Mr Bayard that China cannot bear much longer the violation of treaties and bad faith of America. Secretary Bayard has paid an indemnity to China as compensation to the Chinese who, prior to the passage of the anti-OhinesJe laws, were prevented fiom landing in the United States. New Yohk, January 30. Five thousand tramway hands are out op strike in this city demanding an increase of wages. Ottawa, February 1. Lord Stanley, in opening the Dominion Parliament, directed the attention of the Legislature to the desirability of securing a direct steam service between Canada and Australia. Lord Stanley, Governor-general of Canada, intends to maintain the Fisheries Treaty of 1818. Calcutta, January 30. It is reported that the Chittagong tribe have made a raid on the British Burmese frontier, and killed 60 people. The King of Annam is dead. » , j :