BRITISH AND FOREIGN. LONDON, June 14.

Otago Witness, Issue 2883, 23 June 1909, Page 19

BRITISH AND FOREIGN. LONDON, June 14.

. The Japanese Consul-general at Hawaii approves of the prosecution of 12 strike - leaders on charges of conspiracy and riot, and of three others for conspiracy to nrurder. June 15. In the House of Commons Mr Gladstone announced the granting of weekly day of rest to the metropolitan constables. This will make 1500 additional constables necessary. June 16. The Powers^have decided to prolong the occupation of Crete. " Lord Crewe has telegraphed expressing the Government's gratification that Natal's decision in favour of union has been given in no uncertain voice. He remarked that the union would prove a source of added strength to the Empire. The Admiralty is organising Marconi stations on the east and north coast shores. j ' The following ,are .'the results of the Imperial Universities' Challenge Rifle 3&ateh :—Oxford, 1363,.; ~ L London,- 1305 ;- j -Edinburgh,' 1210 j ' Manchester/" 1124; I>ublin; 979. • i June 17. "A Dublin jury "awarded £100 damages tp Mr Dolan,' .merchant- and auctioneer, of Moats, County Westmea'thv against" fou£*xa«mbers of*the Irjsh,:Laague, for boycotting 11 him, ""■ thereby injuring' his, v business; •" " "*- ' " _•>"■ Sir W. Laurier has informed the Perkes English syndicate that it is impossible to proceed with the Georgian Bay canal scheme, owing to the need of retrenchment and the Government's determination. to complete "the Grand Trunk Pacific railway before" entering on any other enterprises. _ . * June 18. i Lord Crewe hae decided to permit, tlie recruiting of 3000 British Central Africa natives for the Rand. i Sir R. W. Perks has initiated a scheme for the interchange of Methodist preachers between feritain and Canada, and for the proper distribution of Methodist immi- ' grants. j Sir Robert Stout was entertained at ' luncheon in the House of Commons by j the United Kingdom Alliance, He remarked that a triennial local option vote . would, if tried in England, do more for the education of public opinion • than the closing of scores of public-houses. June 20. , Great Britain and Brazil have signed *a permanent arbitration treaty. .Sir Hugh Graham (press delegate from Montreal), in recognition of the pleasure he had derived .from the naval and military _ reviews, has given £100 to the, soldiers' orphans' fund and £100 to the sailors' orphans' fund. June 21. Lord Iveagh and Sir Ernest Cassel have ordered from a Cornwall Company a ' supply of 7^ grammes of radium at a cost of £30,000 for the use of the Radium institute. PARIS, June 21. M. Barthou, the French Minister of ' -üblie Works, speaking in French Lorraine, referred to the Casablanca incident. He said that France was faced by an ' inadmissible claim, and she was unable ! to submit to servitude. The Government ' remembered that certain conditions could not be_ imposed upon France. The army was in a position to face all eventualities ' at that moment, and the whole country was steadily confronting the enemy. BERLIN, June 15. The North German Lloyd's 27,000-ton stsamer George Washington, which is the largest yet built in Germany, has started from Bremen for New York. " Prince . Eulenbnrg's bail has bean increased to £25,000, with the alternative of immediate arrest, owing to his unauthorised journey from this city to Gastein. _. 7une 18. " A powerful political association has Ueen founded in Germany, entitled the Hanseatic League, to aggressively safeguard'commerce and industry against the agrarian element. STOCKHOLM, June 18. Messrs Egner and Kolmstroen's tele-~ nhone has been tested from Stockholm to Patis, a distance of 18C0 niiks, via

Copenhagen and Berlin-, and the messages were perfectly audible. ' ST. PETERSBURG, June 17. The keels have-been laid in St. Petersburg of four 23,000-ton Dreadnoughts. The materials and workmanship will - throughout be Russian, and the designs will be carried out under the supervision of British experts. Messrs John Brown j and Co., of Clyde Bank Works, are the contractors. ' June 20. There are 87 fresh cases of cholera in St. Petersburg. The epidemic is worse than the preceding outbreak. With the cordial goodwill of the Czar, the members of the Duma and the ', Council of Ministers have started for Eng- ] land, to promote goad relations between | the two A great public reception is preparing for them. CONSTANTINOPLE, June 16. Four marshals, inclining the ex-Minis- | ters of Marine and Instruction, two } generals, an ex-Councillor of State, and 60 other high officials have been degraded ! and imprisoned in provincial fortresses. June 20. The newspapers at Stamboul report the discovery in a cellar of the guardhouse at ; the Yildiz, Kiosk* of a box containing what j is alleged_to* ba the famous Minister and 1 reformer's (Midhat Pasha) skull. It 'is • known beyond doubt that his head was sent to Abdul" Hamid in a .similar box to that "ill which a skull has been found from Taif, where- he was murdered. • -, , -„,-. , " - ' J«re 21.. - . .Bifa at- .Pasha, speaking in the' Constantinople Chamber, said the Government had notified the Powers of its determination -to defend Ottoman rights in Crete. j MONTENEGRO, June 15. 4 Twenty-nine people, including the retired mayor, have ■ been arrested on a charge of conspiring to dethrone Prince Nicnolas. NEW YORK, June 17. The Tariff Bill provides for the free entrj- of all Philippine products into the 1 United States except rice. This exception favours the Louisiana growers. At the demand of the labour unions the bill also reduced the limit of the free im- ! portation of tobacco from the Philippines. j June 21. » Two electric trams at Chesterton, in • Indiana, collided while running at high ' speed, and 10 persons were killed, while 20 were seriously injured, some fatally. NEW YORK, June 16. As the result of America intervening with a view to. showing that the FrancoBritish groups of 1905 wera, expressly reserved for American capitalists and for an opportunity of enforcing the right to participate in loans, the Chinese Government "has withheld its ratification of the British, German, and French loan for the construction of the Hankow-Szechuan ' railway, and arrangements are now in progress for American participation. SAN FRANCISCO, June 21. , The jury has disagreed in the case against Patrick Colhoun, president of ' the United Railways, San Francisco, tvho is accused of paying £40,000 to the city ' supervisors for street railway privileges. Ten members of the jury favoured an acquittal. Two thousand talesmer were examined before the jury was chosen. j OTTAWA, June 17. i The official figures show that there were 59.832 United States immigrants in j Canada for the year ended March 31. \ and that their money value is estimated , at £12,000,000. June 20. General Booth is negotiating with tho Canadian Pacific Railway Company for the purchase of a large tract in Alberta to settle all the Salvation Army's immigrants together. This will be the largest colonisation scheme on record. TORONTO, Juna 17. The Archbishop of Toronto, in his charge to the Diocesan Synod, favours the j union of the Episcopalian with all the evangelical churches of Canada. June 21. At the International Congress of Women the Suffrage Committee submitted a j | report in which it combated the idea of j women being indifferent to the franchise ' where they possessed it. Many references ' were made to Australasia. The great ' majority of those present at the congress ' favoured women's suffrage. '

PRETORIA, June 18

Three members have been constituted, a deputation to lay the grievances of the Transvaal Indians before the Imperial Government and, people, and to call attention to the cas-3 Of the Indians who were sentenced to three months' :mpriscnment for infringing the Transvaal registration law. The deputation intends to sail on tho 23rd inst. j