BRITISH AND FOREIGN. LONDON, January 28.

Otago Witness, Issue 2812, 5 February 1908, Page 26

BRITISH AND FOREIGN. LONDON, January 28.

The annual report of the United Kingdom Mutual Steamship Assurance Association complains of the unjustifiable conduct of the colonial police and shipping authorities, especially their unwillingness to assist the captains of ships in upholding the regulations respecting deserting •liens. The National Mortgage and Agency Company of New Zealand has declared a dividend of 7£ per cent, and a bonus of Is. Queen Alexandra's stolen miniatures, which were appropriated by burglars from an artist's 6tudio, have been recovered. The thieves sold them in a public-house for -£2. One of the thieves has been arrested. Mj Lloyd-George is opposing the Great Northern and Great Central Railway Companies pooling their profits or the ground that amalgamation was not contemplated when Parliament sanctioned their working arrangement. Mt Chamberlain is in London. His health is maintained. He will shortly spend a few day 6 on. the Continent, but he will not appear in the House of Commons this year. January 29. The newspaper Vanity Fair has been ordered to pay a Paris bank £5000 damages for libellous comments championing the author of several actions against i le bank which the law courts had prog rmnced as frivolous and vexatious. It is reported that the Colonial Office has invited Sir Harry Rawson to remain |is Governor for a year or so longer if ! Jsew South Wales is agreeable. j Mr Ferguson, proprietor of a hydrofathic establishment at Malvern. has been warded £7500 for loss sustained owirg j) the District Council allowing the water : Supply to become contaminated, and thus j pausing an outbreak of typhoid fever. The commission of inquiry regarding the theft of the regalia from Dublin Ca<stle in July la6t reports that there is no clue to the perpetrator. King Edward and Queen Alexandra will leave England in the second week in February on a visit to Copenhagen. The Hon. W. P. .Reeves states that 8839 assisted emigrants sailed for New Zealand during the last three years, including 656 female servants. Three thousand three hundred and fifty-four applications io£ assisted passages were cleelined. Many leading naval experts consider the

i employment of submarines quite ill-suit-od ■ to Australian defence. I The Ecclesiastical Commiesioneis proj pose to make a fresh annual grant of ! £50,000 to the clergy for the purpose ! of raising the incomes of a thousand of the ■ poorer Anglican benefices. January 30. The Liberals are making a public appeal , for £50,000 for the support of a Freetrade ! union. • | Great Britain fully assented to Germany's proposals for the maintenance of the territorial status quo in the North Sea. January 31. ! The Daily Mail states that ft he French, Belgian, and German Esperantists have planned the establishment of an independent Esperanto State in the neutral territory of Moresuet, between Liege and the Prussian Rhine province. The designs of Mr Ralph Knott, a young and unknown city architect, have been selected by the London, County Ccuncil for its new hall, which is to cost £850,000, Mr Knott's commission will be £38,250. The Porte, at the instance of Great Britain and Russia, will stop the forward movement in the direction of Suj-bu'ak. It disclaims any intention to seize teni- ( tory. Mr Adamson, Doctor of Laws at Edinburgh University, has been appointed Dean of the Faculty of Law at Victoria University College, Wellington. February 1. The Orient Company ias ordered a portion of their new Australian steamers from. Messrs Workman, Clark, and Co., Glasgow, the Engineering and Shipbuilding Company, and the Fairfield Shipbuilding Company. PARIR. J.inuarv 98. Cardinal Richard. Aiclibisliop of Pa; is, is dead ; aged 89 years. BERLIN, January 30. A communique to Prince Billow's org.m, the Suddentsche Corrcspondenlz, bitteily criticises the details of M. Delcasse's speech in the Chamber of Deputies. It does not believe that the future belongs to Delcasseism. That is mainly an attempt to play off the French alliance with Kussia and the entente with Great Britain, and the open or secret agreements with Spain, and the known or unknown arrangements witti ftaly, against Germany. The effect will be that the peaceful development of Europe will be impeded. January 31. An employee in Krupp's ironworks has been arrested on a charge- of betraying military secrets and selling plans of guns intended for the Italia^ Government,

! ST. PETERSBURG, January 28. ; The Ministry has presented to the Duma a bill proposing to spend 15| millions j tor doubling the Siberian railway. The ! first half of the work will be completed ' in 1911. NEW YORK, January 28. The United States Supreme Court has declared to be unconstitutional the act of Congress prohibiting railroads from engaging in inter-State commerce. January 29. The Supreme Court of the United States based its decision that an employer was entitled to discharge a man because he was a member of a labour organisation on the ground that nobody can be compelled I against his will to retain another's services. Any legislation, therefore, disturbing the equality of employers and employed in such matters would be an interj ierence with the liberty of the subject. A reciprocity agreement signed at Washington concedes to France an abatement of 20 per cent, on the duties on champagne and sparkling wines. France applies the minimum tariff to 'American products. January 31, Haekenschmidfc easily defeated joe Rogers, the American champion, wre&tlsr, m two throws. BUENOS AIRES, February 1. Admiral Evans's fleet has passed Cape Virgenes, at the extreme couth ea&t of the Argentine Republic.