BRITISH AND FOREIGN. LONDON, February 26.

Otago Witness, Issue 2401, 8 March 1900, Page 13

BRITISH AND FOREIGN. LONDON, February 26.

The Grand Theatre at Islington ha been destroyed by fire. The Shah of Persia will be the guest o the Queen in the autumn. February 27. Great indignation is felt at the denia by the Duke of Orleans that he wrote con gnatulating Willette, the caricaturist of th Queen in the Petit Journal Pour Rire, satirical paper, published in Paris. Th Duke's denial is not believed in France o England. M. de Blowitz, the Times Paris corre spondent, states that the Duke has gone t Lisbon, in response to a, hint that his resi d3nce in England would probably be ur pleasant. The incident has disgusted man of the Duke's supporters, -f- Telegraphic communication, has been con pleted between London and Ripon Falls on the Victoria Nyanza, at the source c the White Nile. February 28. Mr Hedger Wallace, in a paper read a the Imperial Institute, recommended Au; tralians to grow cotton and flax. Father O'Gorman and Mr J. W. Kirwar representing the Westralian Separatio Befoi'm League, interviewed Mr Joh Anderson, the principal clerk at the Cole nial Office, and submitted the grievance of the Eastern Goldfields district. M Anderson, asked the delegates to suppl

the Colonial Office with a written state y menfc of the people's grievance and the re j forms they sought, adding that if it wen i "'found tliat constitutional efforts were beim I made to obtain redress he would communi cate with Sir John Forrest. ' The dele gates are forming a London branch of th« Separation League, in order to further tin 1 movement. 1 March 1. ■ The proposal of Mr J. H. Lewis, M.P. 1 for Flint, to reduce the miners' day's wori to eight hours was rejected in the House of Commons by 199 votes to 175. j March 4. ! The Prince of Wales, in oj>ening the Lon don County Council's first hou&es for tin | working poor at Shoreditch, provided at i cost of £633,000, applauded the attemp to solve the greatest social problem, j In the House of Commons Mr Chamber 'lain stated that the Australian Federatior Bill would probably be introduced afte: Easter. - PARIS, February 26. Chack's cellars, at Epernay, collapsed j Five hundred casks and a million and a-hol: i bottles of champagne weve destroyed. ROME, March 1. Italy has declared Australian ports in fected by plague, j BERLIN, March 1. The German warship Tachsen is ashor< at Kiel.