HOME AND FOREIGN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2358, 4 May 1899, Page 16

HOME AND FOREIGN.

LONDON, April 24. The Daily News states that Austria intends to introduce new quick-firing - guns into her army and navy. Madame Melba will sing before the Queen at Windsor in June. The Prince of Wales has accepted the position of patron, and the Duke of York that of vice-patron of the National Antarctic expedition. April 25. The Duke of Cambridge will open the Gi eater Britain Exhibition on May 8. The P. ,and O. Company have adopted stringent regulations limiting social intercourse between their officers and passengers. The Orient Steamship Company earned a profit of £45,047 during the year, which amount has been carried to the reserve fund. Britain has ordered two first-class cruisers to be built at Glasgow. The Egyptian irrigation trust loan of £430,000 at 4 per cent, has been subscribed twenty-six fold. The Nonconformists of Great Britain are widely celebrating the centenary of the birth of Oliver Cromwell. A statue was inaugurated afc Huntingdon, his birthplace. ' April 26. Mr Austin Chamberlain, informed the House of Commons that Britain was subsidising the Auckland Harbour Board to the extent of £2950 for 30 years on condition that the board constructed buildings for machinery, a deep water jetty, and sheerlegs, the Admiralty to have priority of the use of the Calliope dock and machinery for the repair of warships. Sir John Lubbock, presiding at a meeting of the London Trust, said New Zealand's action with regard to the Midland Railway Company was injurious to the best interests of the colony. He hoped Mr Seddon would examine the matter. April 27. The contingent of the New South Wales Lancers have arrived here. The Coldstream Guards' Band met them at Fenchurch stieet station, and marched at the head of the column to the Waterloo station. The men were received in the streets with much cheering. The Royal Hussars provide them with horses. The British Excise department has succeeded in getting fives imposed on those tradesmen who presented beer to purchasers of goods on Sunday. The Shaw-Savill and Albion Company have declared a dividend of 5 per cent, for the year. They have sold their sailers the Crusader, the Euterpe, the Glenora, and the Hudson. Some English farmers have been fined 40s and costs for selling colonial frozen meat as Welsh. A cargo of South Australian wheat was sold at 28s 9d. „ Silver, 2s "4|d" per ounce. The rise in price is chiefly speculative, and Is mainly due to reports of the" probable formation of an American combination. The Australian Cricket Team commence practice' at Lords on Monday. April 28. Count Hatzfeld, the German Ambassador to England, has invited the Australasian Government's to send representatives to a congress to be held in Berlin on May 24 to discim the prevention of the epidemic of tuberculosis. Sir W. T. Marriott's claim of £20,000 against E. T. Hooley's estate as legal adviser to Hooley has been reduced 1o £5000. Miss Cissie Loftus, actress, has obtained a divorce from her husband, Mr Justin Huntly M'Carthy. In the House of. Commons Mr Brodrick, replying to a question, said it was inexpedient to publish the instructions given to the British delegates to the Czar's Peace ! Conference at Hague. April 30. Richards, a London jeweller, has been arrested and remanded on a charge of having possession of three notes, part of the proceeds of the recent robbery at Parr's Bank. A marriage was celebrated at Westminster Abbey between Lady Katherine Mary Montagu Douglas Scott, daughter of the Duke of Buccleuch, and the Hon. Thomas Walter Brand, eldest son of Lord Hampden, late Governor of New South Wales. The Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, and the Marquis of Salisbury were amongst those present. Obituary: Duke of Beaufort; aged 75 years. Henry Charles Fitzroy Somerset, K.G., P.C., eighth duke, was born in 1824 and succeeded to the title in 1853. He was educated at Eton, and served in the Ist Life Guards and 7th Hussars. He sat as M.P. for East Gloucestershire from 1846 to 1853, and was Master of the Horse 1858-9 and 1866-8. He had the order of Osmanieh of Turkey, first class. He was married in 1845 to Lady Georgiana Charlotte Curzon. Ho will be succeeded by his son, the Marquis of "Worcester. PARIS, April 24. The Audiffret prize of 15,000fr for the greatest act of devotion of any kind has been awarded to Major Marchand. of Fashoda fame, by the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. April 28. Queen Victoria opened the Victoria bridge at Nice. Russia will adopt the Gregorian calendar from the beginning of 1900. BERLIN, April 27. A man named Hermann will be placed on his trial at Breslau on a charge of murdering his wife and hiding her body in a cellar. He is also alleged to have poisoned his 12 children in then? infancy and committed other Biirdera*

VIENNA, April 2&' Experiments naye been "made by J;hV Austrian war" .authorities- with an,. explosive produced from" liquid air. >It is claimed that it is tenfold more powerful than dynamite, and is believed to be applicable to firearms. ST. PETERSBURG-, April 30. A gold mine afc Troitsk became flooded^ and 62 miners were drowned. . ROME, April 24. Lord and Lady Brampton are" visiting Rome. They were accorded an audience with the Pope. His Holiness effusively referred to his love for England, and expressed his delight at the progress of Roman Catholicism in Britain. • April 25. Admiral Oanevaro informed the Senate that France and Britain had assured the Italian Government that they would not afc present, nor in the future, interfere with affairs in Tripoli. * V ATHENS, May 1. The, first Cretan Government consists of four Christians and one Mohammedan. CAIRO, April 26. Lord Kitchener has reached Berber after an 800 miles' camel ride. Everywhere en route the 'tribesmen expressed their gratitude at their deliverance from the rule of the Khalifa, and are" steadily repairing the ravages of the -dervishes. CALCUTTA, April 26. The Times of India declares thafc Russia has secured the right to' eventually | occupy Bandar Abbas, a "seaport on the I Persian Gulf, at the most northerly poult of the Strait of Ormuz, and the objective t point of the railway to that gulf. CAPETOWN, April 25. The want-of-confidence motion in the Schreiner Ministry resulted in the Government securing a majority of nine votes. WASHINGTON, April 26. The Coghlan incident has closed, Germany being satisfied with America's explanation. April 30. Some months ago a company was formed afc Cologne to lay a direct cable between, America and Germany. The Kaiser has written to President M'Kinley" thanking him for authorising the landing of the cable. Friendly sentiments were exchanged between the heads of-the two nations. NEW YORK, April 27." Mr Richard Croker has left this city for i England. His send-off was marked by tremendous enthusiasm. He denounced the commission recently appointed to inquire into comipt municipal government in New York. April 28. * A cyclone in the State of Missouri killed 60 persons and wounded 1000. Four hundred houses were demolished. April 30. An ' amalgamated copper company has been formed at New Jersey .with ,a capital of 74,000,000d0l (nearly 15 millions' sterling). " The Standard Oil and the Morgan Trusts have a controlling influence .in the new " combine,"- the capital of which will probably be raised to 400,000]000d0l (80 millions sterling). May 1. Mrs Anna George has been acquitted of the charge of murder of Mr, Saxton, Presi-, dent M'Kinley's brother-in-law. ■ The recent cyclone caused great havoo in the towns of Kirkville, (State of Iowa) and Newtoun (State of Missouri). Forty additional deaths are reported. Property was carried to a distance of 25 miles. . Lynching is spreading in Georgia. The newspapers are clamouring for the emigration of the negroes. OTTAWA, April 28. 1 One thousand of the Dokhoborsti sect have left Cyprus to settle in Canada. May 1. Great dissatisfaction is manifested in Canada afc Britain receding from the plan of joint ownership of the Pacific cable. Mr Scott. (Secretary of State) and Sir Mackenzie Bowell attribute this, action to the influence of the Eastern Extension Company.