NEWS IS BRIEF.

Otago Witness, Issue 2808, 8 January 1908, Page 52

NEWS IS BRIEF.

The Queensland Legislative Assembly was dissolved on December 31. Reutei- reports that the Port Said conl strtka has ended. The costs of the petitioner in the Wai lace Shorce suir, Melbourne, amount to over £1100. Mr.W A. M'Arthur, one of the Liberal Whips, has resigned nis seat for the St. AnteU's Division of Cornwall. The fiisfc of Germany's Dreadnoughts, to be called the Tavern, will be launched at Wilhclrashafen at die end of February nraf.

\v nuoiiiisiiy.i.fc.'ii ul vie yu-ci vi reuruiiij next. The Countces of Yarmouth intends to sue for nullity of marriage. The Commonwealth Meteorological Bureau came into operation on the Is? January. Mr Barrachi has charge of it. The harvest in South Australia is" turning out better than was at first anticipated. Captain E. F. Grant has been appointed In the command of the battleship Majestic. A branch mint at Ottawa has been opened. Eerl Grey, the Governor-General, struck the first coin. Gustav, King of Sweden, declines to b© . crowned, considering it an unnecessary ceremony The Imparcial urges that King Alfonso of Spain should visit the Republics of South America. A ship named the Disinfector is exclusively engaged at the port of Hamburg in fumigating vessels and in killing rats by means of Professor Nocht's system. The services of Mr Bruntnell. areneral secretary of the New South Wales Alliance, hatie been secured for the temperance campaign in England. The body of a man has been found in the ruins of Clark and Co.'s premises (Wallace's buildings) in Elizabeth street, Melbourne, and it is surmised that he lost his life when the wall's collapsed on Boxing Day. A. severe earthquake shock lasting- 15 seconds has been experienced at Kingston, Jamaica. The Episcopal Church at Stewartston was destroyed by the quake. The source of tlie recent plague outbreak in Sydney has been traced to the suburb of Marrickville. A dairyman at Hurstville, Victoria, has Been attacked by plague. His case' is also assoejstted with the outbreak at Marrickville. ' The gold yield for New South Wales for the year was 247,3650z, valued at £1,051.000, a decrease on the previous year of 66240z, of a value of £28,136. Admiral Poore sails for Australia by the P. and O.s China on January 17 to relieve Admiral Fawkes of the command of the Australasian squadron. The British Admiralty has replaced on the active list the third class cruiser Piiilomel and the sloop Alg-erine, which, were declared ineffective in 1904. The Local Government Board will com- ' pel the Poplar" Guardians, London, fo send all able-bodied recipients of ouidoor relief to- a farm colony, where a modified labour test will be applied. • Official receivers have been appointed for the Chicago-Milwaukee railroad and its allied corporations, representing together a capital of £6,000,000. The British revenue for the quarter ended December- 31 totalled £33,866,000, whereof Customs contributed £5,503,000, excise £10,720,000. and- stamps £2,010,000. Munitions of war sufficient to last for five years are being- despatched to the Philippines-, along with torpedoes and mines for the protection of the harbours of Manila and Subig- Bay. The premises of 4nthony Bordern and San, Sydney, were burgrlariously entered, and £240 worth of jewellery stolen. The thieves escaped 1 by unhinging a door. The number of live ttoek in Victoria last year was : Horses, 406 000 : dairy rows 701,000: ether cattle. 1.113,000; sheep, 12,937-OOC-; swine, 220,000. The number of sheep three years ago was 10,000,000. showinsr an increase of just on three millions. Neariv sin ot rain fell during the recent storm about Melbourne, while the temperature fell from 106deg in the shade to 46deg 48 Ldurs later. An attempt was made to wreck a train near Tiaro "Queensland, a dog-spike having been driven between the two rails, but the train passed oveT the obstruction in safety. An easterly gale, attended by heavy seas and a fall of snow., prevailed in the English Channel on December 28. The Orontes, on arrival, reported that she had encountered very bad weather. The New South Wales police state <hat since the new ' Liquor Act came into operation 6ly grog-selling has largely increased, and that the evil of drinking methylated spirits is spreading among the community. During the past year there has been phenomenal activity in the building trades in Sydney.' The sum of £3.626,000 has been expended in the metropolftan area on new buildings and new worksMr 'Will Thorne, M.P., has declined the invitation of Earl Warwick, Lord Lieutenant of the county, to join the Eseex Army Committee, on the ground that he considers the new Army Act a disguised form of compulsory service-. The births and deaths registered within the Sydney metropolitan area during the past year showed an increase of 5 per cent, in both cases over the average for the pre- ' ceding five years. The increase in the number of deaths was. due chiefly to the prevalence of whooping cough and measles in epidemic form. ! Harverson, in. a game of 12,000 up at ' billiards, defeated Weiss (10,054.). Tom Burrows beat his own club-swinging record of 61hr 35min by 2min. ' The Otago Dock Trust. has voted £150 as a compassionate retiring allowance to Cap- • tain Watson, its. late secretary. ' Two men who pleaded guilty to being: found on the licensed "premises of the G-rand Pacific Hotel after hours were each fined 20s and 8s costs at the Dtroedin Police Court. The whole o£ the available water supply in the Waiporf River is being diverted into the- Dunedin Corporation's electric power flumihg, but only about one-half of it & being- used to generate electricity. The maximum loading, is at present about 10G0 horse-power. This, will be Largely exceeded when customers receive the machinery re- ■ <£uired for utilising the power they have i agreed to purchase. j Mr A. Williamson, who a few years ago ' was manager of the old Roslyn Woollen iuiils, was, missing from his home at Brcck> ville at the end of the year, and as h« is 76 yeaa» of age, with. a. somewhat defective. memory, his friend* werfr anxious about him. He was found the following- day at . Green Island. ! TBa Porte has thrice offered to. take the •

1 Teform agents of Macedonia into his own service, but the Powers decline. • General Booth lias been invited to sen-d to Canada 25,000 navvies. Work is guaranteed for 10 years at 10a a day. It is expected that the introduction of the Gordon Stobe drill will solve the Rand labour problem, since a native working this instrument can in five hours achieve as much as 15 coolies working one day. The Tokio newspaper Kokuminshinbun complains of the Chinese attitude, and hints that unless outstanding questions are arranged Japan will be forced to mobilise 700,000 men. Enormous leakages of money are reported in connection with the separation in France of Church and State. A Senatorial Conimitteo has been appointed to make inquiries. Ac the trial in Boise City, in the -State "of Idaho, U.S., J. Pettibone, one of the members of the committee of the Western Federation of Miners, charged with the murder of Frank Stuenenberg, ex-Governor of Idaho, was acquitted. Many students at Kiev, Russia, have been arrested. Armed with bombs, they blackmailed the Ironworks to the extent of £6000, and promised in return immunity from. ' attack. They also intended to assassinate the Governor, the prefect of the police, and the rector of the university. The defence in the Thaw trial will call the prisoner's wife Und many new witnesses, including Mr Antony Cometock, the anti-vice Crusader, who is expected to reveal Thaw's efforts to expose White's alleged misdoings before Thaw shot him. The defence hope to prove that Thaw was insane at the time of the tragedy, but has now recovered. Advice has" been received in Europe that the explorers in the employ of Ryan and Guggenheim's International Rubber Corporation at B-asai, on the Congo, had a sever e~ encounter with cannibals, who wore armed with flintlocks. Twenty-five natives including five of the party's porters, were killed. A Belgian detachment fought the cannibals for a whole -day, wliesa *k<s explorers retired. In the case in which a claim is made on the Portland estates, tlie evidence showed that D'ruoe's grave was apparently untouched since Jt was made. A crowbar was driven 16in m the clay under the brick floor, and Dr Pepper, who had charge of the exhumation, described the clay as undisturbed virgin soil. There was, he eaid, ample evidence that the cause of death was in accordance with the certificate. The face bore a striking likeness to Druce's photograph, and had a heavy, bushy beard. He ridiculed .the idea tbat it had grown 1 after death. Thackeray, the late partner of Druce in the Baker Street Baza;, 1 -, positively identified the body aa that of T. C. Druce. Mr Atherley Jones, counsel for George Hollamby Druce, said' that after this evidence he could only withdraw from the . case. Mr Keir JECardie, M.P., speaks at Dunedin o i Thursday evening, and at Kaitangata on Friday evening. Robert Large, a middle-aged man, fell out of a grocer's cart which he was driving at Hastings, and tne wheel passing' over his abdomen, he died in a few minutes. A regular heat wave appears to be passing over the southern portion of the Dominion. The heat was oppressive in Dunedin on Tuesday, and the thermometer registered 79degf in deep shade. At Ajshburton the temperature was*9odeg in the shade at 10 a.m., and by 1.45 it had risen to lOOdeg. At Christchurch 82d'eg- was- registered in the shade. 4^vices from Sydney state that on Monday 108deg was registered in the shade. News has been received of the death in Auckland of Mr Henry Leonard Griffen, journalist, formerly of Dunedin. Deceased, who was tie eon of an old-time <yell-known merchant in Dunedin, after being a reporter on the staff of the Daily Times,, became proprietor of the Taieri Advocate. He afterwards went north, and became part proprietor of the Whangarei Press. The proprietors of the Greytown SltaiKJard are to be proceeded against for printing for the Lower Valley Jookey Club cards for the second day's races on which the dividends paid on the first day were printed. The body of a young man named Joseph Breeze was found on the Beach at St. Heliers Bay, Auckland, with some cyanide of potassium beside him. He had been employed by Mr Ren dell, draper, as a porter. He is believed to belong to Dunedin.