INTERCOLONIAL. MELBOURNE, July 25.

Otago Witness, Issue 2370, 3 August 1899, Page 17

INTERCOLONIAL. MELBOURNE, July 25.

The Postmaster-general agrees with the New South Wales Postmaster-general that j the colonies are so deeply pledged to the j Pacific cable tliat they cannot withdraw. I Although not legally committed, the3 r Avere under a moral obligation none the less binding. To-day the Eastern Extension Company formally submitted proposals to lay an alternate cable via the Cape. Mr Duffy, , speaking with regard to them, expressed the opinion that the rate should be re- .' duced to 5s per word. He strenuously op- J poses the company being allowed to open j its own offices to collect and deliveiy in- [ ternational cables. Alter a conference be- ] tween the colonies, if there is a feeling ' against the Pacific route it would be for j Australia to ask > Canada to release them J from the compact. , ; • • July 26. Seventy-five thousand sovereigns were ; shipped to South Africa by the Cape mail ; steamer. • i The representative of the Eastern Ex- ! tension Cable Company says that the concession required by the company is unimportant to the colonies, but important to (

the company. At present they paid a terminal rate to the Governments, who in return provided an operator and delivered messages. What the company desires is that power should be given to charge a fixed rate per mile for the lines used. That would mean that the company would have the right to use the wire from Adelaide to Melbourne at £5 per mile, or £2500 in all per year. The company could then put on operators and messengers, to be directly in touch with the public, with little or no loss to the colonies. July 28. At the half-yearly meeting of the Broken Hill Proprietary mine, the chairman said the prospects were assuring, but with regard to financial matters they were not yet so comfortable as they would like to be. In paying two dividends during the past half-year they had touched upon the accrued profits for- about- £12,500. The liquid assets showed a balance over liabilities of £440,000. - July 29. Lord Brassey, on being interviewed, gave General Willis's statement an unqualified . denial. The " Annual " contained nothing of a secret character respecting the Portsmouth fortifications. General Willis, he says, is assisting the Conservative candidate in opposition to the candidature of his (Lord Brassey's) son. The statement is a piece of electioneering work. July 31. A conference of naval officers representing Queensland, New South Wales, .and Victoria has been opened here to consider the question of establishing a colonial naval reserve. \ SYDNEY, July 25. ] A court-martial exonerated the Commander of the Pylades in connection with the recent stranding of the vessel. There was a tremendous Protestant de- I monstration in the Town Hall to-night as a protest against Cardinal Moran's recent charges against missionaries in Samoa. With reference to the recent volcanic eruptions, Professor David, of the Sydney j University, regards it as an important fact ! that Ngaruahoe in New Zealand should j be in eruption coincidental with Maun-a j Loa in Hawaii, as the Tarawera explosion travelled a definite line, passing through the Kermadecs and Tonga, eventually I reaching Samoa.' It was probable, there- [ fore, that this volcanic zone continued in the direction of Hawaii, and the fact of this zone being so nearly antipodal to Etna and Vesuvius might later on prove to have an important bearing on -volcanic phenomena in general. The steamer Pilbarra, from Wesb AusI tralian ports to Sydney, arrived here with j her cargo on fire. The fire wa-s discovered in the forward hold when off Wollongong. I The hatches were battened down and the ! firemen quickly subdued the flames. On j the vessel reaching the wharf it was found j that considerable damage by fire and water had been done. The damage to the Pilbarra is estimated at about £1000. The Postmaster-general says that the Eastern Extension Cable Comprny's proposed concessions have come too late, the ' colonies being already pledged to the Pacific cable, and cannct now draw back. '. Business people will gain the advantage of I the low tariff as the outcome of competil tion, and aloo the Australian colonies, who 1 for some years have had to face a rather 1 severe loss. 1 The conference between the employers ■ and miners, with a view to settling the I'Lithgow strike, has proved fruitless. July 26. The Protestant meeting of last night • carried resolutions condemning Cardinal ; Moran's action, and emphatically expresj sing its disbelief, in the absence of proof, ! of his charges against the fairness and humanity of the .British naval authorities in Samoa, and demanding that he should either substantiate his charges or withdraw

them as publicly and" as explicitly as they were ,made. July 27. The Agricultural department reports that 1 the prospects for the wheat harvest are good. The quarterly banking returns show that the proportion of reserve to liabilities is 4s lOd in the pound, as compared with 4s 9|d for the corresponding period of last year. The Pendle Hill, bound from Newcastle to Napier, has put in here owing to the death of Captain Morris from pneumonia. The Legislative Assembly had an allnight's sitting debating the Address-in-Reply. , The Legislative Assembly passed the Address-in-Reply, and negatived an amendment providing for the imposition of duties. • ; , A " Supply Bill*, was introduced. An angry discussion followed, mainly on the Auditor-general's report, which showed the net deficit of the colony to be £3,098,000. The Treasurer explained that there was no '• deficiency between the revenue and expendi- i ture of the present Government. The ' deficit arose from the sins of his predecessors. The House is still sitting. , Cardinal Morau, in a long letter in the j Daily Telegraph, in reply to statements j made at Tuesday's demonstration and a, ' general review of Protestpint mission work in the Islands, says that any statements he had made in regard to Protestant missions ! in the Pacific were intended to set matters • in their true light and to unmask the hum- : bug and exaggerated statements of lnisIsionary adventurers. In some cases words had been imputed to him which he did not use. To sum up, the Cardinal viewed the , whole of the Protestant missions as manifestly the work of man and not of God, j and their main result was a nominal Chris- , tianity. July 28. A number of replies, on behalf of the missionaries, to the statements mode by j Cardinal Moran are published. They charge ' Cardinal Moran with evading the issue, ' j o,nd throwing dust in the eyes of the pub- ; ! lie, in order to shuffle out of his charges re I the conduct of naval officers in Samoa. j The colony's mineral output for the year j is valued at £4,867,000, an increase over the previous year of £139,000. j Two children named M'Cormack were ! burned to death in a house near Dapto. ' The Supply Bill has passed the -House, the sitting, with short adjournments, having occupied 28 hours. July 30. »' Dealing with the recent attacks in the I Legislative Assembly, Mr Reid said that as soon as the federation resolutions are disposed of he will force the Opposition to fight on the Government's position. Cardinal Moran declares that Catholic churches in Samoa were desecrated by the natives, ■who alleged they were egged on by European Protestants. He suggested that hatred of the Catholic Church was the cause of all the trouble. ! The warship Goldfinch has sailed for Plymouth. July 81. The Political Labour League Conference resolved, by a majority of one, to expel Messrs Ferguson and Sleatlx for advocating the Federal Enabling Bill in opposition to the ciueus decision of the Labour party, but «owing to the closeness of the vote it was decided to refer the final decision to the Parliamentary Labour party. ADELAIDE, July 26. Mr Oscar Gerard, comedian in " The Belle of New York " Company, is dead. July 29. Two men named Brown and Quigley were killed and two injured by a fall ( f earth at the Broken Hill mine. Parkineon Avas killed by a fall of earth in Block 12 mine.

PERTH, July 31.' 1 A tree fell across a tent at Jarrahdale, ' killing three men, named O'Hearne, Connaughton, and Painter. PORT DARWIN, July 30. ! Ihe missing schooner Midge has re- j turned safely. She was driven away by the ' recent gales. Her crew suffered great privations, having to subsist on the fish they managed to catch. HOBART, July 28. ! A new Electoral Bill, which it is pro- ' posed shall come into operation six months after the first election of the Federal Parliament, has been prepared. _ It proposes to reduce the number of members of the Legislative Assembly to 32 and of the Council to 16. July 31. .. Mr Chamberlain has cabled the Imperial , Government's congratulations at the result ! of the referendum vote.