HOME AND FOREIGN. LONDON, August 28.

Otago Witness, Issue 2375, 7 September 1899, Page 16

HOME AND FOREIGN. LONDON, August 28.

The British ship Jane Burrill, which left Newcastle (New South Wales) for Manila with a cargo of coal on June 13, has been totally wrecked on Basilan, one of the Philippine Islands in the Sulu Archipelago (a place haunted by pirates). All the crew were saved. The present market price of silver is 2s 3 7-16 d per oz. General Sir George Stewart White, quar-termaster-general of the British forces, has been appointed Governor of Gibraltar. Lieutenant-general Sir Charles Mansfield Clarke, at present in command of the Madras force's, succeeds Sir G. S. White as quartermaster-general. August 30. Negotiations have been entered into by Punchard, MacTaggart, Lowther, and Co., contractors, London, for the construction of a bridge connecting • Sydney and the North Shore. The Trinidad Artillery Volunteer corps have been disbanded owing to a mutiny amongst the members of the force. At the tallow sales 1225 .casks were offered and 950 sold. Prides remain unchanged. The strike of dockers at Hartlepool for an increase of wages has stopped the running of 20 steamers. August 31. Lord Halifax has urged the English Church Union, of which lie is president, to follow the example set by the priests in yielding, if compelled, to the recent decisions of the Archbishops, but reserving to themselves the right to take any future" action they may deem necessary. The American -visible supply of wheat is 46,966,000 bushels. The wheat cargoes ex Ilene and Eliza, now off the English coast, have been sold at 29s and 28s 9d respectively. The Times states as a wonderful record that the w Japanese are overreaching Russian diplomacy in Korea, and gaining supremacy. Obituary: Baron Albert Grant, who figured prominently in the seventies as a company promoter and speculator. September 1. Mr Chamberlain informed Sir R. J. Cartwright, the Canadian Minister for Trade and Commerce, that Great Britain will disallow the commercial treaty recently concluded between the United States and Jamaica if the treaty discriminates against Canada. The Queen has arrived at Balmoral. September 2. Dean Hole (Rochester) has withdrawn from the Churrih Union as a protest against Lord Halifax's recent expression of opinion inciting the clergy to disobedience. PARIS, August 28. At a bull fight, held at Boulogne, six bulls were killed. There is much excitement against the authorities for permitting such an exhibition to have been held. Querin, who is barricaded in his house to avoid arrest, has managed to obtain provisions by means of a subterranean pipe. The plague has appeared at Tamatave, in Madagascar. August 30. M. Guerin's fortress has secured a water supply by means of a timely rainfall. The police prevented the besieged from tapping the water service of the next house. The offices of several Paris newspapers have been searched in connection with the conspiracy to change the form of government. Other offices were similarly treated for advocating assistance to Guerin. The Gazette de France, the organ of the French Royalists, recently published a confidential report of the Paris Prefect of Police to the Procureur on the monarchist plot, an indiscretion which has puzzled a good many people in France, and evoked a great deal of merriment. After describing the ramifications of the party, the report proceeds to make some startling statements respecting Royalist subsidies. It says: "As to the Anti-Semitic League headed by Jules Guerin, and the League of Patriots, the party has ensured their effective co-operation by largely subsidising their chiefs. Under the cloak of Anti-Semit-ism Jules Guerin works in reality for the Orleanist party, but he carefully conceals this from the bulk of his adherents, whom, indeed, he leads at his will. He went last year to Marienbad, and in January, 1899, to Brussels to visit the Duke of Orleans. Since that time Guerin has been receiving important subsidies from the Royalist party through M. de Plas, manager of the Gazette de France, an advertising agent and a militant Royalist,, who is in close relations with Jules Guerin. Guerin openly spends much money. Ho has started a newspaper and printing office. He has luxuriously installed the league at 51 Rue de Chabrol, and has paid a year's rent, 15,000 francs, in advance. The head of the League of Patriots, M. Deroulede, also receives subsidies from the Royalist party. He is said to have received a sum of 30,000 francs a few days before his escapade. A fact which demonstrates that the league receives monetary assistance is that on the eve of M. Felix Faure's funeral it sent out closed teleerams at 50 centimes to 4000 persons. M. Felix Faure's sudden death seemed to offer the Orleauist party the expected opportunity of action. As soon as the news was known the Duke left San Remo for Brussels to await events. It seems certain that MM. Buffet, de Luynes, de Ramel, Godefroy, and Guerin were acquainted with M. Deroulede's project. M. de Luynes went to M. Buffet's offices at 58 Faubourg St. Honore, and bolh

awaited the result of the Derolede attempt', j At 5 o'clock, seeing no movement, M. d« Luynes sent emissaries to the boulevards to>' ascertain whether the head of the league had succeeded in seducing the troops. The Orleanists, the Anti-Semites, and a certain num--ber of members of the League of Patriots | had been stationed, without themselves know- • ing the reason, on the Place de la ReI publique, the Place de la Nation, and on the ! great boulevards. These various groupswould have cheered the troops as they passed, and would have surrounded and fol- ; lowed them. M. Godefroy, president of the Jeunesse Royalists of Paris, had started for Amiens, where, it is said, a coup de force like that attempted by M. Deroulede was calculated upon. In the event of success he I was to join the Duke of Orleans, who merely i awaited a favourable report of the plot in order to enter France. Relaj^ of motor- ! oars, it appears, were in readiness for that i purpose. The Royalist party is said to have I expended 300,000 francs in connection with this attempt." September 1. The Government, it is reported, intend to flood Guerin's fortress with water. September 2. Captain Voulet, who was in command of ' the French forces in the French. Soudan ■ in January last, decapitated 20 women and' children after the men's refusal to act as • guides to his forced He fired the villages, And shot auxiliaries for trivial' Offences. j Captain Chanoine similarly killed natives, 1 and exhibited their heads on poles. September 3. It lias been discovered that .Ghierin and those with him who barricaded themselves iin Guerin's house were fed through a J neighbouring wall. j .Guerin's garrison obtained a week's food supply. BERLIN, September 3. [ The Prussian Government have temporarily suspended and placed on half-pay many of the officials who voted in the Iheo against the recently-rejected Canals •Bill. CONSTANTINOPLE, August 30 % The supposed outbreak of plague afc Astrakhan proves to be an epidemic of acute pneumonia. j CAIRO^ August 31. The British forces defeated the dervishes • on the Blue Nile, killing Cherif and two of his sons. { August 31. i The 1 dervishes who were defeated on -the i Blue Nile had been living under superj vision for some time past, but -were discovered plotting a rising at the Khalifa's instigation. ' ~ . • September 3.' ' Preparations are -being made at Omdufi ' man to pursue the Khalifa. ST. PETERSBURG, August 31. The Government have been feeding 8,000,000 people in the famine' districts during the last eight months, at a cost of £10,000,000. ROME, September 1. i Two torpedo destroyers have left to join , the Italian squadron in Chinese waters. BERNE, August 31. Jones and Hill, both professors in the ■ City of London School, with guides, were Hearing the summit of Mount Blanche, Zermatt, when the leaders slipped and fell over a precipice. The weight snapped the rope. Hill, hanging to the end of the rope fastened to the rock, is the sole survivor of : the party. MADRID, August 29. ' The Spanish Government have demanded compensation from Portugal for killing a soldier when on duty on the sanitary cordon which has been established on tile frontier of the two countries to I prevent the spread of the plague. * MOROCCO, August 28. Lightning killed five attendants at a re-/ ception held by the Sultan of Morocco, the victims fell dead at the Sultan's feet.. TOKIO, September 3. By the flooding of a copper mine in Shikoku 600 persons perished. MANILA, September 3. The American troops, whilst under fire, ascended a sfceep hill and captured Argo,gala, a stronghold of the bandits, killing 20 Filipinos.WASHINGTON, August 29. The girders of the unfinished roof of the Colosseum, now in course of construction, in Chicago, fell, killing 15 workmen and seriously injuring 12 others. NEW YORK, August 30. The poor of New York having protested that the Meat Trust was causing a rise in the price of beef, the vegetarian societies formed into procession and marched through the streets carrying loaves of bread in their hands and upon poles. I The fleet assembled to represent the Lipton party at the America Cup race comprises eight vessels, including the Shamrock's tugs, scows, tenders, and I launches. I August 31. A census is- being taken of the inhabitants of Cuba preparatory to the initiation of self-government. , ' September 1. The tramway employees on strike in the City of Cleveland (Ohio) have dynamited another tramcar. Five persons had their legs broken. September 3. Sir T. J. Lipfcon and party were enthusiastically -welcomed in New York. - •

OTTAWA, September 2. The Canadian customs revenue for iAugust is half a million dollars above that for August of the preceding year. PORT-AU-PRINCE, August 31. Juan Isidoro Jimenes, who aspired to Presidency after the assassination of 'Heureux, President of the Dominican Republic, has been arrested. September 3. General Jiminez has been released from •custody by the Americans, in whose terri•tory Ihe was arrested. He returns to San •Domingo, where a provisional revolutionary Government has been formed. BUENOS AYRES, September 4. The Norwegian barque Drot was wrecked on ' tihe voyage from Pensacola to Buenos Ayres. Three of the crew escaped on a raft. They were reduced to a terrible extremity from lack of food. Ultimately they cast lots, and skilled and ate one of their ninpber and drank his blood. The two survivors, in a half-demented state, were taken ito Charleston.