CABLEGRAMS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2622, 15 June 1904, Page 23

CABLEGRAMS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN. LONDON, June 6. The naval tug Thistle, just after landing 500 artisans, suddenly sank in deep water off Queenstown. June 7. The battleship Prince of Wales has been ordered to Tangier. It is reported the French Mediterranean squadron has also been ordered thither. The imports for May increased by £2,865,000, and the exports by £5000 compared with the previous May. Mr Warner, who captained the last English cricket team to Australia, was married to Miss Blythe in Marylebone Church. There was a great gathering of cricketers, and over 800 presents. • The Union Steam Ship Company's s.s. Navua was launched at Glasgow. The Daily Telegraph reports that Lord Methuen lias succeeded Lieutenantgeneral Grenfell in the command of the Fourth Army Corps, and that he will ultimately command the eastern district when the posts are rearranged. . Sir James Arndell Youl, one of the promoters of the Royal Colonial Institute, and prominently connected with the introduction of salmon into New Zealand, is dead; aged 95 years. June 8. A German-Dutch cable company, with a capital of £350,000, has been formed to connect the Dutch East Indies, Pelew Islands, and Guam, and junction with the cable to the Philippine Islands. Mr !A. W. Bibby, chairman of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, speaking at the annual meeting of the company, said that Australia was unpractical on the subject of the mail contract. She ought to recognise that a contract hampered with such conditions as those proposed in deference to colonial aspirations was not worth having. June 9. Replying to a deputation from the Agents-genei'al, the Hon. A. Lyttelton (Colonial Secretary) promised to refer the Malta meat duty question to the local authorities. Personally he considered Australian frozen and Russian live stock ought to be placed on an equality as regards duty. A Blue Book issued contains the Congo Government's preliminary reply to M. Casement's allegations. Lord La-n&downe on June 6 described the Congo Ministry's memorandum as unsatisfactory, and implied that- if the full text of M. Casement's report had been communicated, as asked, it would be accessible to persons whose conduct was impugned. He adds that no measure was taken to shield witnesses from improper pressure. Strict impartiality not attaching to the investigation, which was made solely by officers of the State or agents of the concessionary companies, he proposes a special commission composed of men of reputation unconnected with the Cong© State. Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania were awarded medals for their exhibits at the (botanic societies' horticultural show, London. The accident to the naval tug Thistle was clue to the men crowding to the starboard side, the water entering the open scuttles and causing the vessel to sink. The Jockey Club by 22 to 7 adopted half-mile races for two-year-olds. Obituary : Levi Leiter, American capitalist, and father-in-law of Lord Curzon. [Levi Zeigler Leiter was bora in Leitersburg, Washington, Co., Ind., in 1834, and educated there. After serving as a clerk "in a country general store he became an employee of, and later on a partner in, the firm of Cooley, Wadsworth, and Co., dry goods, Chicago. Jn 1865 lie sold out of that business, and secured a controlling interest in another dry goods business. In 1881^Ee sold bis interest, and retired, and since then has devoted himself to buying and improving properties in Chicago. He leaves four children, his only son having in ad a a name for Unmself in attempting to corner wheat a few years ago.] . June 10. Mr Pryce Jones, member for Montgomerie, entertained Mr Chamberlain in the House of Commons. There were 60 guests, mostly connected with Wales. Mr Chamberlain spoke for 45 minutes. He said he believed) Wales, apart from the church Nonconformist question, was Conservative at heart. Undoubtedly it was directly interested in fiscal reform. If natural conditions prevailed Britain would be able to pro- ' duce iron and steel cheaper than any competitor.' He would continue to fight -to the end, and when the support of his own party was secured success was certain. In the House of Commons, in Committee of Supply on the Foreign Office vote, the Congo question was debated. In the speeches there was remarkable unanimity, warmly supporting Lord .Percy's claim 'that British trade rights in the Congo ought to be referred to The Hague Tribunal, about winch the Congo Government was silent, while the •humanitarian aspect demanded the attention of the signatories of the Berlin Act, inasmuch as Congo State is under Europe's control. The United States, Italy, and Turkey were the only Powers willing to support Britain's remonstrances. Earl Percy denounced the insensate and inhuman barbarity accompanying the collection of rubber. He justified withholding the npmes of M. Casemate's informant^ and added that

1 the more international was the character of the proposed tribunal inquiry tiie better it would be for the Congo Government's reputation. In connection with the alleged murder aboard the Waiwera, a letter was read at the Thames Police Court addressed ro a member of the crew prior to Rowthau's death, but not delivered, wherein Sullivan charged Rowthan with ingratitude, described him as a thief and liar, and added that he intended to kill him and tnen commit suicide. The Daily Telegraph states that the departmental committee recommends that the Board of Trade should be transformed into a Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and that a Minister of Commerce be appointed, at a salary of £5000. Madame Melba sang in Buckingham Palace before the King and Queen Alexandra, who handed her a gold medal for art and music. The National Hunt Club has extended to ( its meetings the Jockey Club's sentence on Seivier. Sir William- Henderson, merchant shipowner*; is "dead ; aged 79 years. Itnitski, a Russian, -fired a. revolver at M. Jadovski, the Russian Minister at Berne, and seriously wounded him. June 11. The bullet has been extracted from Jadovski's forehead. Itnitski had a grievance owing to delays in the investigation of a property claim in Russia. He underwent a sentence at Vienna for libelling a Russian lady. The Hotel Russell, in London, requested Mrs Dowie and her son to quit owing to articles appearing in Dowie' s publication called " Leaves of Healing " referring in disrespectful terms to the King. No other hotel is willing to receive them. Mr Dowie arrives from Berlin to-day, but is unable to secure I a public hall for his meetings. [ June 12. Lord Lansdowne has opened friendly communications with M. Delcasse (French Minister for Foreign Affairs) to secure an equitable interpretation of the Berlin Act regarding trade rights in the French Congo. The late Duke of Cambridge's pictures, silver, and china realised £77,000 at Christie's, including 12,100 guineas for Gainsborough's "Duchess of Gloucester." j Mr Levi Leiter's estate is estimated i at three millions sterling. ! June 13. ! The religious educated classes, sheriefs, and some members of the ! Moorish Government are plotting i.o depose the Sultan, because he favours Europeans. It is probable the Sultan Will withdraw to Tangier. M. Cassini, Russian Ambassador at Washington, has protested against America sending a powerful fleet to Turkey to enforce the payment of £50,000, claimed for American missionaries in Armenia. Sir Francis Jeune, sitting in divorce, granted Mrs Muriel Gibbs a decree for the nullity of her marriage with Mr Meade Gibbs on the ground that respondent's marriage to Emily Armstrong Gibbs, of Sydney, in 1886, which the Supreme Court cf New South Wales - dissolved in 1899, was not annulled by a court of competent jurisdiction, since the hu«band"s domicile was England. Mr Dowie, after considerable difficulty, evaded the pressmen and engaged a suite of rooms in the Hotel Cecil. It is stated the manager requested him to leave today when he discovered his name. Mr Dowie addressed 300 Zionists at the Tabernacle, Ruston road, lunching in the building in order to avoid the crowd outside. He conducted two service =. He denied insulting the King, and stated that he only said the King had no religion to spare. He claimed the right of a minister to rebuke the King. A bodyguard escorted him, to a cab, amid hooting and catcalls. PARIS, June 7. The Chamber of Deputies, by 506 to 68, rejected the proposal to substitute a national militia for the army. General Andre, Minister of War, refuses to> consider the proposal of one year's service for the army with five years' training in the Volunteers. . June 9. A bursting' dam wall at Mamers, in the Department of Sarthe, flooded and devastated the town. Seventeen inmates i of the poorhouse were drowned. June 10. In the Chamber of Deputies M. Delcasse, Minister of Foreign Affairs, in a speech warned the Porte not to believe Turkey would be able to shirk her responsibilities in Macedonia and Armenia. I June 12. A vehement scene occurred in the Chamber of Deputies. ' The personal attacks of M. Millerand, the Socialist member for the Seine, goaded M. Combes (the Premier) to declare that two million francs had been indirectly offered him (M. Combes), on behalf of the Grande Chartreuse monks, to introduce a bill in their favom', and that M. Millerand at that time was urging, in the higher interests of the country, that the briber's name should not be divulged. A committee has been appointed to inquire into the circumstances. It is understood that the alleged briber is a manufacturer, not a politician. BERLIN, June 9. , German electrical fines are tendering

to construct a railway from Berlin to Hamburg, guaranteeing a speed of 125 miles an hour. MADRID, June 13. Joaquiu Artal has been sentenced to 17 years' imprisonment for attempting to assassinate Senor Maura, the Premier. VIENNA, June 7. The Austrian and Hungarian Delegations have adopted the War Estimates. June 10. Yielding to the remonstrances, of the British Ambassador at Constantinople, the Porte has promised to take steps to end the shedding of blood in. Armenl.), and to grant an amnesty to the rebels. NEW YORK, June G. A dynamite explosion at Independence, on the Florence-Cripple Creek railway, killed 16 and fatally wounded nine non-unionist miners who had just stopped work and were awaiting the train to proceed home. The officials are confident that it was a premeditated outrage, and that the dynamite was so placed that the incoming train would explode the charge. ' An explosion wrecked a distillery at Peoria (Illinois), which was the second largest in the world. Ten persons were burned to ashes. The loss is one million dollars. The names spread to a stockyard near by, devouring 3200 cattle. June 7. Dynamite was placed under the platform at Independence. Near it was fixed a revolver connected by 300 ft of wire to the adjacent cribbing?, the end being fastened to a chair leg, which was used as a lever. June 9. The Morgan Combine has adopted a £3 steerage rate to America. Of the Red Star and Kroonland's 1234 passengers carried at the £2 rate, 64:0 have been detained at New York on suspicion of being undesirables. OTTAWA, June 8. In the Canadian House of Commons the Hon. W. S. Fielding, Minister of Finance, delivered his Budget Speech. He said that both parties in Canada were united in support of Imperial preferential tariffs, but that while the question remained a matter of party controversy in England it would be improper for Canada to obtrude her views. He did not anticipate the immediate triumph of Mr Chamberlain's policy, but was hoping for its ultimate success. Canada would continue her preference, but the latterl was injuring Canadian industry. The minimum tai'iff on British woollen goods would be 30 instead of 33^ per cent.] He added that, with a view to meeting | " dumping," it was proposed to augment the ordinary duty by the difference between the " slaughter " price and the fair market value in the country of its origin. Such an addition would not exceed one-half of the ordinary duty. He referred to the signs of depression abroad — notably in the United States, whence severe competition was expected. Canada's surplus at the end of June was estimated at £3,300,000. June 10. Major-general Earl Dundonald, commanding in Canada, addressing the military officers in' Montreal, attacked the Minister of Agriculture for purely personal or political reasons interfering to reject an officer he had recommended. Sir WNW N Laurier says that the Cabinetregards the dispute gravely. CAPETOWN, June 9. A sensation has been caused in Capetown owing to the arrest of a number of police on charges of blackmailing and shielding illicit drinking and dens of infamy. " June 10. The Natal Legislative Assembly unani- I mously decided to petition for further inquiry into Lieutenant Witton's case.