BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Otago Witness, Volume 25, Issue 2321, 25 August 1898, Page 16

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

LONDON, August 15. Intense heat is being experienced in tli< 1 South of England and Franco. Many case! of sunstroke are reported in London ant Paris. The Parliamentary Committee appoints to investigate the working of the telephone system in England recommend that drastic changes be made, including the break dowi of tbe existing monopoly of the Nationa ' Telephone Company. The report alsc i states that England is miserably served ii: ! comparison with other countries. 1 Three weeks' army manoeuvres have beer commenced on Salisbury Plain. Fiflj thousand troops aie participating. The Daily News states that Colonel Johr Hay, the American Ambassador to England will succeed Mr Day a3 principal Secretary of State in President M'Kinley's Cabinet. Archbishop Walsh, of Dublin, by ordei of the Po])e, has declined to attend the laying of the foundation stone of the. memorial to Wolfe Tone, one of the 1798 patriots, but sent £20 to the fund. ; August 16. In Hopley's c.ise the court was occupies all day hearing the disclaimer of Beal | dime (manager of the Bovril Company). Sir Edward Sullivan, and others. Harvesting is general throughout Great Britain. The prospects are satisfactory. Sir Alfred Kirby and M. J. Clifford sve charged, at the instance of the liquidator ol j the Coolgardic Mint Iron King Company. ■with conspiracy and false pretences. The hearing has been adjourned. Wheat is slow of sale at 6d to Is clieapci at Mark Lane for the week. The Australasian Frozen Meat Committee has closed its operations. Intense heat prevails in London and Paris, j and innumerable cases of sunstroke are rej ported. Several deaths are recorded. In ! the 72 hours' cycle race in Paris the competitors were terribly distressed with the I heat, and were drenched with water from a j hoise every lap. All sections of Irish nationalists united in an enormous demonstration in connection with Wolfe Tone's centenary at Dublin. Special deputations representing the Continent, Australia, Africa, and America were present. A huge procession passed the birthplace of the patriot. Mp-m-s M'Arthur's business has been successfully floated into a company, the capital being over subscribed. The total quantity of wheat and flour afloat for the United Kingdom is 1,700,000 quarters, and for the Continent 840,000 quarters. National Bank of New Zealand shares, £2 5s : Bank of New Zealand 4 per cent, guaranteed stock, 102^ ; New Zealand Loan and Mercantile 4 per cent. j>i'ior lien debentures, 92. August 17. Middlesex beat Yorkshire in the county cricket match. A. Trott in the first innings took four wickets for 70 runs. In the i second innings he was simply unplayable, , and secured seven wickets for 13 runs. In the match Morylebone C.C. versus Wiltshire Roche captured 11 wickets for 122 runs. The Orangemen in Belfast attacked the Nationalists returning from the Wolfe Tone celebration. Brisk fighting occurred. The Southern Cross, with M. Borchgrevinck's expedition to the South Pole, sails on Saturday. Tallow prices are unchanged. A Reuler telegram states that the father J of Corbett, the pugilist, shot his wife and I then committed suicide. August 18. The Standard states that the condition of j Crete is very unsatisfactory. Anarchy is t spreading and crime is rife. • Harriet, Countess of Shaft esbury, left £40,000 to the Belfast charities. Owing to the prevalence of accidents insurance companies are raising the premiums on cyclists. The estimated yield of the English wheat harvest is 29 bushels to the acre, or about 6,235,000 bushels. During the present summer there have been 40 fatal accidents among mountaineering parties ascending the Alps. The deaths ars announced of General Michael Gregowvetch Tschernaiff, the distinj guished Russian who took a prominent part in the Crimean and Servian wars and in the extension of Russia's Asiatic Empire, aged 70 ; and of Sir William August Fraser, one of the Queen's Bodyguard for Scotland, and author, aged 72. Mrs Druce is making an effort to raise a fund to prosecute her son's claim to the dukedom of Portland. She proposes to issue a quarter of a million's worth of bonds. Colonel Gordon has been appointed to the Balloon Corps during the military manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain. The London Chamber of Commerce will co-operate with the Agents-general in their endeavour to have the embargo on Australian leather by the War Office removed. The American visible supply of wheat is estimated at 9,892,000 bushels. I August 19. I Matthew Dawson, the well-known racehorse trainer, is dead. August 20. Mr Toole, the actor, has successfully undergone an operation of the eyes for the removal of a cataract. August 21. The East End of London is threatened with a water famine, the water companies having reduced the* supply to six hours daily. Madame Melba has arranged to make a tour of California with a company organised by herself. _ PARIS, August 15. An excursion train from Paris vras derailed at Lisieux, Ten persons were killed and 40 injured. Count Esterhazy has appealed against the decision of the judges. August 17. Intense heat continues throughout France. Eight deaths occurred in Paris on Monday. Burglars plundered the Blois Cathedral. The spoil included rich chalices, vestments, plate, and reliquaries. August 18. Many fires havfi occurred in all parts of \

the Continent as the result of the heat wave. At Finisterre half the town was destroyed. Tho French cruiser La I'erousse was caught in a tidal wave at Madagascar and has been wiecked. General (Jallieno, the Go\ernor of Madagascar, had a narrow escape from ' drowning. The crew were rescued and the ! guns and stores saved. ~ By a fire half the town of Concameau, > in the Province of Finisterro, hah been dts- ' , troyed. > j Augiu-l 20. ; | 'J^he unpopularity of Major Eftcrhazy Iris ■ led to an order being issued for his trial by court-martial. The charges include habitual 1 misconduct, offences again.st discipline, and ■ ) that he acted dishonourably in avoiding j vital points against Captain Dreyfus, now under sentence for (jelling military secrets. BERLIN, August 21. It is reported that Prince Bismarck left one million .sterling. J Speaking at Mayeaco the Emperor stated that he was firmly determined to persevere with all his strength with his grandfather's i great work of peace, which was so dear to > him, and that the only method of doing this j was to maintain Germany's prestige with • her neighbours. | VIENNA, August 16. ! A conference between the Austrian and the Hungarian Premiers decided to restore Hungary's fiscal independence;, as it is found impossible to renew tho Aug&leich. i August 18. ! Numerous accidents have happened in the I Austrian Alps. During the week 10 fat-ali-i ties wero recorded. | August 21. j The warship D.inai, sank at Trieste 76 years ago, has been refloated. , HOME, August 18. Reassuring accounts legarding the Pope'a ; health are published, and it is now report-ad , that ho has resumed his duties. ! August 19. | Earthquakes have occurred in Central j Italy, and Mount Vesuvius is in eruption. CONSTANTINOPLE, August 18. The Powers refuse to permit ony more f Turkish troops to be landed in Crete. Italy 1 advised the Porte not to revert to the quesj tion again. The Sultan is furious at v be - limitations put to his authority, i ATHENS, August 18. All the officers of the staff of the Crown Prince of Greek during Uio Grasco-Turkisb. J war are to be court-martialk-d for having 'f left tho military maps of the army at La- | rissa when they fled from there. I ST. PETERS BUR-G, August 21. ! A terrible tragedy occurred on a Russian convict ship proceeding "from Tyumen to Tomsk in Siberia. The prisoners were so overcrowded that 31 of them wero suffocated. WARSAW, August 16. A hurricane swe/wf J )•■ << ■•■ >■•■• ing the harvest. Bridges were destroyed, trees uprooted, and many houses had theic roofs torn off. Twenty-four persons and many cattle were killed. "- j.jMBON",- August 17. The Portuguese Cabinet has been reconstructed, with Senhor Liciano Decastro (who in 1890 resigned the Premiership as the result of the dispute with England over the Delagoa Bay railways^ n° P"f»-vnp.r. * TOKIO, August 16. The Japanese Government have ordered five torpedo boats from the Yarrow Company. August. 17. A Japanese contract for the construction of a railway in Cored, from Seoul to Fusan has been arranged. i BOMBAY, August 17. ! The bubonic plague is again increasing here. Tho deaths averaged 100 in three • weeks. August 19. ' : Two English ladies have died from the plague. MADRAS, August 15. j Cholera is raging at Madras. There were 117 deaths during July. CAPETOWN, August 18. A number of runaway railway trucks dashed down an incline, colliding with a . ! mail train at Manocsfontein, completely '■ \ wrecking the train. Five Europeans were killed. The wreck- , age took fire, and 25 Kaffirs perished in the '■ flames. j | WASHINGTON, August 16. J Either Mr Chauncey Depew or Mr White- . law Reid is likely to succeed Colonel Hay ! as American Minister in London. j August 17. { Colonel Hay's appointment as" principal \ '■ Secretary of State lias been confirmed. j I NEW YORK, August 15. | [ The police made a raid on a gambling ; i house in Georgia. A general melee resulted. . Two hundred shots were fired on both sides, and eight persons killed. August 18. A submarine cable from Cape Cod, Massai chusetts, to Brest, in France, has been ' opened. August 21. America is building an aluminium yacht at a cost of 120,000d0l to defend the Amerioa Cup. OTTAWA, August 19. The Canadian wheat crop is the biggest on record. The quality is excellent. VANCOUVER, August 15. Great gold discoveries have been made in the vicinity of Lake Togish, situated near the routes to the Yukon fields. As a result, the Skagway Pass and the Dyea trails have been almost deserted by the miners. HONOLULU, August 15. The Hawaiian Government have paid 75,000d0l to Japan in settlement of the iin- i migration dispute.