BRITISH AND FOREIGN. LONDON, August 28.

Otago Witness, Issue 2686, 6 September 1905, Page 31

BRITISH AND FORE IGN. LONDON, August 28.

The London County Council is ottering domestic service scholarships, consisting of three months' training in schools of cookery.

The Standard reports the formation of a British-German combine to arrange to raise the price of screws 50 per cent., and to refrain from international competition. There has been great damage through floods in Ireland. Nearly 3£in of rain fell in Dublin in 24 hours.

August 29.

Owing to the engine-driver being seized with a fainting fit when in charge of a pleasure trip on the Isle of Man railway, the train was wrecked. A dozen passengers were badly injured.

August 30.

Mr Thomas W. Lawson, of Boston (Massachusetts), is inviting subscriptions for an. Anglo-American copper pool, with a capital of £2,000,000, he and his associates holding three-fifths. Mr Lawson predicts a sensational fall in prices. The programme, says _the Daily Chronicle, is to " bear " operations on a colossal scale. Mr Rockefeller, who backs the Amalgamated Copper Company, is credited with holding £20,000,000 to combat such attempts as that being made by Mr Lawson.

The Statist, in an article, 6ays that friends who recently visited Australia declare that the political morality there is steadily degenerating, and that the commercial morality is far less satisfactory than it used to be. Mr Coghlan, Agent-general for New South Wales, in a strong letter, refutes the assertions seriatim, specially denying the reported withdrawal of capital. Mr Coghlan has written a similar letter to the Daily Chronicle, correcting its Australian correspondent's alleged misstatements.

August 31. Consols are quoted at £91 3s 9d. Russian fours rose from £90 Is 8d to £94 10s.

Professor Darwin^ in the second part of his inaugural -address -before the British Association at Johannesburg, said that he -was almost certain that the » sun was radioactive.

September 1.

The Nippon Steam Navigation Gompany is ordering eight new liners to be built 'on tke Clyde.

The newspapers consider the New South ,Wales exhibition, at the Guildhall valuable from an educational and commercial standpoint. An important development in the wool branch is anticipated as the result of traders' inspection.

Mr Thomas Milvain, a member of the House of Commons, has been appointed to the ancient office of Judge Advocategeneral.

The birth rate for London in 1903 was 28.4 per 1000 — the lowest on record.

{September 3.

The Duke of Orleans's Greenland expedition discovered and mapped an unknown land, which they named Terre de France. It is between Cape Bismarck and Independence Bay.

September 4.

The New South Wales Exhibition has been closed. It was visited t>y 43,000 people. The press urges the holding of a united Commonwealth Exhibition in 1906.

Mr E. Bawden, a member of the London Stock Exchange, has given London 5100,000, including £16,000 towards the incorporation of University College with the London University, £10,000 for East End emigration, £10,000 for the children's country holiday funds, £30,000 for hospitals, and other sums for charities. PARIS, August 29.

M. Crosnier, chairman and secretary oi the iSugax Refining Company, and the speculating rival of the Jaluzot Company, who recently failed, has committed suicide, anticipating that at settlement day his losses would be two millions sterling. An exceptionally good beetroot crop upset his calculations.

The Crosnier failure involves a sum of eight millions sterling, chiefly to the large banks.

September 1. Gallay, the bank clerk who absconded with £100,000, and who was arrested at Bahia, has fully confessed, and will shortly be extradited to Paris.

Two officials in the (French Congo have been sentenced to five years' imprisonment for cruelty to the natives BERLIN, August 28.

Lieutenant Paasche surprised 1000 rebels at Kipo, East Africa. The rebels left 73 dead, besides which many were drowned in the River Rufiji.

The Germans are genuinely interested in Admiral Wilson's squadron, and eager visitors were welcomed aboaid. Admiral Ke-ostr and the officers of the German fleet, which outnumbered Admiral Wilson's, were present at the dinner at Swinemundo in honour of Admiral Wilson and the officers, and gave the- friendliest toasts. The Kaiser inspects the fleets to-day. August 29. There are- niaay festivities at Swine-

munde. A few Americans who were aboard a tourist steamer were hissed by their f-ellow passengers for cheering the British ships. Some of the newspapers were ill-natured, but on the whole the reception given Admiral Wilson's fleet exceeds that of mere official cordiality. August 31. The largest German liner, the Kaiserin August e Victoria, a sister ship to the America, now building in England, has been launched at Stettin. The Kaiser and Kaiserin were present at the function. There is an outbreak of cholera in Eastern Germany. Six fatalities are reported. September 1. The outbreak of cholera is spreading in We&t Prussia and Galicia. September 3. Forty -three cases of cholera, 17 of which proved fatal, are reported in Prussia. September 4. Admiral Wilson and the officers of his squadron were officially well received and banqueted at Dantzig. The torpedo flotilla were- feted at Flensburg. MADRID, August 29. King Alphonso has joined the astronomers in arranging for stations at Burgos to witness the total eclipse of the sun on August 50 and 31. Several observatories have been established at Algeria and Las Palmas, September 4. A bomb which was thrown under a tree in a crowded avenue at Barcelona exploded and killed two people, besides injuring 20, 10 seriously. ROME, September 1. A fire is raging in the Genoa shipyards. Two of the Lloyd-Italian Navigation steamers, which were in the course of being built, are ablaze. ST. PETERSBURG, September 3. The Czar, Count Lainsdorff, and General Trepoff met the Shah on his arrival at thj station. The monarehs drove together to Peterhof, where the Czarina and the Grand Duchesses received the royal visitor. CONSTANTINOPLE, August 28. The recent discoveries in Smyrna included 16 bomb factories. The Armenian Committee intended to fire the gasworks and destroy part of the city. | Many grenades and revolvers were found. September 1. Well-armed Tartars beseiging Shusha have begun to massacre the Armenians, j The Turkish troops entered Sana un- J opposed. September 4. A great fire occurred at Adrianople by ! which 7000 houses were burned, only 15 j of which were insured. The post office, mosques, and the Greek, Armenian, Bui- ] garian, and Jewish quarters were de- | stroyed. There were many victims. WASHINGTON, August 30. President Roosevelt announces Ihat | China has cancelled the right of conces- J sions on the Canton-Hankow railway, paying an indemnity of 6| million dollars j to the America-China Development Com- j pany. ' NEW YORK, August 28. Edwin Holmes, of the Agricultural-De-partment, has been indicted for defraudiijjr the Washington Government by means of juggling cotton statistics. August 29. Advices from Jacksonville (Florida) state ( that the steamship 'Peconic foundered in a storm. Twenty of the crew were drowned and two saved. The damage to the four-masted barque Marlborough Hill, which caught fire while ! loading oil for Sydney, is slight. • August 30. The Chicago- Alton Railway Company is equipping all its engines with ethergrapiis. There was an earthquake yesterday in New Hampshire. Three shocks were felt at Portsmouth, where the Peace Conference is sitting. September 1. j Baldwin, the aeronaut, ascended in aballoon at Greenville, in the State of Ohio, carrying with him some dynamite for a spectacle. This prematurely exploded, and he was blown to atoms in the pre- '■■ hence of 15,000 spectators. OTTAWA, August 30. Speaking at a banquet at Toronto, Prince Louis of Battenberg said he believed that within 10 yeai*s Canada would be able to feed Great Britain's 40,000,000 inhabitants. August 31. A number of bluejackets from the German cruiser Falkes were discovered examining the guns in the Esquimalt Navy Yard. They were summarily ejected. CAPETOWN, August 28. There is great excitement on the Johannesburg Exchange through the discovery that the popular Le Comte mine field (Madagascar) had been largely salted. August 29. The Brili&li Association was feted at Maritzburg and Ladysmith. The members visited the battlefields en route. The Chinese deserters from the Rand murdered a Chinese trader, whose store is near Krugersdorp, and raided some others. The marauding bands are still at large. August 31. A deputation of the Hct Yolk called Lord Selborne's attention to the danger and uneasiness caused by wandering Chinese. Lord Selborne replied that the vrst majority of the Chinese v, as ordeily, but permits Armild be granted to all whites near the Witwatersrar.d to possess arms, [ with the exception of magaziae rifles*

BOMBAY, September 3.

A proclamation has been i«,ued at Simla enforcing ihe partition of Bengal as from October 16.

September 4.

Merchants in several places in Bengal, owing to the partition, are countermanding orders for Manchester goods. The principal native newspapers in Calcutta were, printed with black borders. PEKING, August 31.

The local merchants and junk owners organised a coolie attack on the Customs at Amoy, owing to the disaffection over the port dues. The harbour office was looted. H.M.S. Iphigenia landed a force to help the authorities, who shot five natives and arrested many others. o » — .