BRITISH AND PORE GN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2734, 8 August 1906, Page 27

BRITISH AND PORE GN.

LONDON. July 30. The Rivers Committee of the London County Council has decided to drop the ■winter service of the Thames steamboats, j Last year the ratepayers lost £50.000 j over the service. I Mr Keir Hardie, M.P., speaking at Sheffield, said that the Labour party would try to becure the two and a-half millions i-aved on the Naval Estimates as a nestegg for old-age pensions. July 31. Lord St. Aldwyn (foimerly Sir Michael flicks-Beach), addressing 50 members of the Colonial Chambers of Commerce at a • banquet at Bristol, suggested the possibility of impro\ing the commercial re!a-^ tions of the Empiie without laieing th« question of Freetrade if the colonies would consider the reduction in their tariffs on the articles Britain was most capable of exporting, the Motherland accepting this as a contribution towards the great cost of Imperial defence. ' The Australian Agents-general visited Bristol at the invitation of the local Chamber of Commerce, and invpectett the docks and the facilities for handling colonial products. j The Times strongly opposes the Argentine Meat Company's proposal to establish expensive abattoirs at Alderney, on the ground that foot and mouth disease h, rampant in the Argentine. . The Judicial Committee of the House of i

Lords has dismissed the appeal against Mr jin cu-tody ell night. It via* explained on Justice Ml«rt*d*. TB?""**' l r ™SS', l L| B -S"-.V^s,iS"flr < & 'Cl Beers's Diamond Company, holding that banfJ ho ha<J gone into a tavern Wlt i, the company is resident in the United an othor gontkman, and the charge of Kingdom and liable to pay income tax. aocobtmg men was indignantly repudiated Mr Asquith (Chancellor of the Kxchequei) In dUin^ng th<j case, the ,nag,,tiate sukl T . : t> i lit . i the lady would <io w<'ll not to loiter anout and Mr Sydney Buston (I'ostmaster- l|ip htr > cts a| such an hoU) . at niffhh llje general) declined on principle a private matt^- wa s taken up by Parliament, and guarantee against the Post Office los^. th<'oomini~bion leferred to abo\e resulting fiom the pioposed establishment was appointed. August 1 of Atlantic penny postage, contending that » ««.,.L* the question of deduction must ».it until In the House of Commons he bti t the state of the Exchequer justified it and Betting Hill ™s read a se co d time j^hthere had been a preliminary inquhy as to «»t a div*.on. Mr H. Gladj one denied whether America favoured a restiktive that the bill wa*. a sop to the Won- , ' . I formist conscience, both Houses of ConvoP0 The hTw. P. Reeves, High Commi.- e.tion >»""« uiged its -Option. sioner, is shipping to the New Zealand . . ° ' " ' Exhibtion 567 pictures lent by the The SL.pp.ng Gazette slate. .that Ml Imperial Government. They are excel- Potter, of But, Potter and Hughes s lently repiescntative of British art. associated with the Australian mail couSeniational evidence has been given tiact-. . before the Royal Commission appointed in Professor Ray Lanke.ster, addressing the May l«,t to'inquiie into the manner in British Association advocated Govern«hich the metropolitan police, paiticularly ment expenditure of £10.000,000 annual y the West l^d, <lJlt ~ith t -e. «.£ t»r the investißfttion of and attempt- to d.unkenness and solicitation in the streets destroy disease He affirmed that thouand otherwise discharged their duties, 'lhe sands died yeaily of pteventabk diseases, evidence also dealt with the past life of ii \ ugust ..,: M. and Madame D'Angley and their mode There nas an exodus of a million of living in Paria under assumed names. l> eo l ile il(Mli l(Ml London si nce Monday for A feature of the sitting was the failure I* 1*"1 *" summer holidays. of the D'Angleys to att«nd in response Sir Antony MacDonnell (Undersecretary to the Commissions invitation to testify to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland), in the on the subject of their alleged grievances cour6e o£ a «P e ech at Dublin, declared against the police. a « his firm b^!, ef that there wo l uld ' J6 a 6 , . , fruition in 1907 of many of the hopes Madame D'Angley wa> arr f c^ d m °^ > that the best of liishmen for years had constable on a charge of accosting men in . . „ „ , c ■:■ c the street at 11 o'clock at night, and kept ; euititained. It would toe a fiuxtion of so

much iinpoit that Irishmen, if tiue to thenisolveii, would be able to make it a .source whence the whole of their hopes might be fulfillt-d. August 4. •Sir David Gill has boon elected president of the British Association for 1907. The association will meet in Dublin in 1908, and in Winnipeg in 1909. August 5. The police evicted the Plaist-ow l.md giabbcis after some slight resistance. Another gan^ leoecupied th<; plot. The bulk of the inuense.pf £60,000 in the wages of the Royal dockyards employees goes towards placing the shipwrights on an equality with {Tie men en.ployod in private shipbuilding yards. It v, officially announced that during hits journey to Maiienbad King Edward will meet the Kaiser at Fiedeiickfihof on the 15rh in-t. August 6. The chaiiman at a meeting of Millar's Karii and Jarrah Company complained of the bmdcnsoßie lailwajr <md -wharfage rates, and urged the Westralian Government to revert to the charges which were in opeiation when the timber companies were foimed, which -would enable reasonable dividends to be paid. The Admiralty has finally abandoned its efforts to refloat the battleship Montagu, which went abhore recently. Heavy seas have eerioufily weakened the vessel's hull, and rendered her unfit for future >ervice.

H.M.S. Montagu, which struck on the rocks during a- fog, was built m 1901. She was a first-class battleship, of 14,000

tons' displacement, and carried 16 gun 9. Her speed was 19 knots. She was commanded by Captain T. B. S. Adair. Mr Haldane's memorandum in connection with the question of army reorganisation definitely allots the Volunteers' functions in war time to the manning of the naval fortresses and points on the coast, also to repel raids, thus liberating all the regular army for oversea service. It. is proposed to establish county associations to manage the affairs of the local Volunteers, to foster rifle clubs, assist in recruiting regulars, find employment for ex-soldieis. organise the patriotic efforts, and help the army in war time. PARIS, July 31. The French Cabinet favours the abolition of capital punishment, and intends to discuss a new scale of penalties for crimes.

August 3.

Admiral Fouruier states that the submarines were a marvellous 'success at the Fiench manoeuvres, and that they torpedoed the flagship eight times.

August 6.

Commenting on the recent French naval manoeuvres, Admiral Fournier says that the torpedoers and submarines would have destroyed at least 61 vessels, and therefore the- protection of France's sea front must be a numerous flotilla of torpedoerh and submarines, covering the ports and points littoral which were open t»_ attack. BERLIN. July 30. With the assistance of the Clericals the German Radicals have retained the late Heir Richter's seat in the Reichstag for Hagen (Westphalia) against the Socialists. Count Reventlow, a prominent expert, declares that the British reductions will not affect Germany's, resolve to increase her fleet as rapidly as possible.

The Geiman newspapers ridicule Great Britain's hypocrisy and smug talk of disarming when building three Dreadnoughts. August 3.

Germany's first submarine has been launched at Kiel. The vessel will have a speed of nine knots per hour when submerged to a depth of 12ft from th© surface.

VIENNA, August 6. Large consignments of ammunition for Bulgaria are passing through Austria.

ROME, August 3.

A fire is raging at the Milan Exhibition. The Palace of Decorative Arts i« ablaze, and the Italian and Hungarian, sections have been burned.

The damage is estimated 'at half a mile lion sterling. ST. PETERSBURG, August 6. Negotiations have been commenced at St. Petersburg in connection with a new Russo-Japanese treaty relating to commerce aiid shipping. TEHERAN, July 31. The Shah of Persia has dismissed the Grand Vizier Ained Doulaha, whose repressive policy caused unrest in Teheran, and resulted in 868 students, shopkeepers, and artisans taking refuge in the British Embassy, fearing persecution. SOFIA, August 2. A depot of explosives was discovered in the Bulgarian monastery at Mount Athos. Seven monks were arrested. CAIRO, July 31. The native assailants of the Dublin Fusilier who was brutally assaulted without provocation at Alexandria were sentenced to 10 and five years' hard labour lespectively. NEW YORK, July 30. The New York Sun states that the late Russell Sages widow will shortly distribute her share of the estate in charities. The paper adds that Mr Sage fully relied on her judgment. July 51. A landslide at Chelsea, in the State of New York, threw the engine and fore pa it of the Central railway's express intotlie Hudson River. The driver and fireman were drowned. i-ho 20 passengers wlio were in the wrecked portion of the Haiti escaped, though a number were badly injured. August 1. Mr Ehlm Root, Chief Secietary of State, ;. 'hireling the Pan-American Congress, exphined that its chief function was to secure a policy of mutual aid between the sisterhoods of the American Republics, who desired no sovereignty except over themselves. He hoped that all would shortly be recognised at The Hague Convention as legal sovereign States. Thi* would constitute a world-famed acceptance of the declaration that no part of the American Continent was open to colonisation by European nations.

August 3.

The New York newspapers assert that Russell Sage's executors have discovered! ■£10,000,000 worth of guaranteed bonds which the late millionaire was not suspected of possessing.

August 5.

The leading American tkoatre owner* have formed an inter-State amusement company, with a capital of £750,000 for the production of new plays. The police at Hoboken arrested aa Italian, who was carrying a quantity of dynamite. It is believed that he is an agent in conne-ction with a plot against the King of Italy. The American police arrested Lord Sholto Douglas, who wa3 travelling under an alias, in mistake for a bigamist who had assumed his name, and had married at least 10 women.

"^7 OTTAWA, July 30. J The Dominion Government steamer Arctic winters at Lancaster Sound, and plants the British flag on several islands , and headlands of the Arctic regions. i CAPETOWN, August 1. The Cape Government has ordered an inquiry into the success of the closer settlement movement in Australasia. August 3. A procession of 2000 unemployed was held at Capetown. PIETERMARITZBURG, August 5. A movement is progressing in Natal to establish a King's tribe, consisting of the loyal natives of the Sibindi tribe, with a view to counteracting Dinizulu's influence. CALCUTTA, July &L A strike has occurred on the i-ast Indian railway, and an attempt ha 6 been made to wreck a train. Other labour troubles prevail, and are connected with the discontent arising out of the partition of Bengal. TOKIO, July 31. General Oku has succeeded the late Baron Kodama as Chief of the Japanese Staff. j *