BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2915, 26 January 1910, Page 23

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

LONDON, January 17. Lord Derwent'e residence at Scarborough ■was burnt, and many thousands of pounds damage done. A quantity of paintings and valuable furniture was saved. January 18. The Daily Mail reports that the War Office census of horses reveals an alarming deficiency. Owing to the activity of foreign buyers and the decline in the demand from brewers, cab and omnibus proprietors, farmers are only breeding cart-horses or show hackneys. The census enumerates 156,000 horses as being the maximum required, but this makes no allowance for a reserve. January 19. The fortune of the late Mr Ogden Mills, the American financier, is stated to be 10 millions sterling. It will be divided between his son and Mrs Whitelaw Reid (his daughter, and wife of the U.S. Ambassador at the Court of St. James) £IOO,OOO is left to charity. At the instance of the Governor of Jamaica, a movement is in progress to establish a properly-equipped and efficiently staffed tropical agricultural college in the islands. The Daily Mail says that it is understood that the Canadian scheme seeks to reduce oable rates to Great Britain by nearly a-halt, and to give a direct news service with Canada. J-hus avoiding the bias which now attaches to messages passing through American channels. January 20. Owing to the snapping of a. chain a cage was precipitated into a colliery near Coatsbridge to a depth of one-third of a mile. Eight of the occupants were killed. The Chinese Naval Commissioners, who are at present in Great Britain, have given a. provisional order for £IOO,OOO -worth of heavy guns. The Daily Mail's correspondent says, that with a v*ew to meeting the plentiful orders that have been received considerable extensions are being made at Krupp's ordnance works, to be completed this year. When finished one thousand new men will bs employed. January 21. A syndicate o* leading British and United* States capitalists is projecting 2000 miles of railway, joining Winnipeg and Yukon. January 22. The Scotsman anticipates that Earl Dudley (Governor-General of Australia) will succeed to the Vice-royalty of India or the Goernor-Generalship of Canada. January 23. Reuter advises that 30 members of the kitchen and stewards' staff aboard the Kais-erin Augusta; a Hamburg-American liner, have been arrested for stealing store provisions^ January 24. The censor has banned the performance of Strauss's " Salome" at the Covent Garden Theatre. Mary Gaunt protests that the libraries' censorship ; s damning her new West African novel " The Uncounted Cost." The Observer justifies the protest, and adds : " This elephantine censorship is General Sir R. S. Baden-Powell is resigning from the army in order to devote his time to the Boy Scouts movement. PARIS, January 19. Trench imports last year increased by sixteen millions sterling, whereof~twelve millions were for raw material. The increase in exports is twenty millions. These returns indicate unexampled prosperity. January 23. The most violent earthquake shock on record was registered at Paris, also at Tortona (Italy) and Brussels. It was of long duration. It is believed to have its centre in the Caucasus or Armenia. BERLIN, January 19. Dahlsen, an engineer, was fined £l2O at Munich, beeidas £3550 as compensation to the State for smuggling Italianmade automobiles across the Bavarian frontier. German imports in 1909 were 25 millions, and the exports 15 millions sterling over those of 190 S. MADRID, January 18. A party of brigands attacked the convent at Bocairent for the purpose of despoiling its historic church. The nuns barricaded the windows and doors, and armed themselves with pistols and guns until the guard rescued them. Six brigands were killed and wounded, and three of the nuns were injured. ST. PETERSBURG, January 23. Twenty-four persons were arrested for attending the recent anti-alcohol congress. TEHERAN, January 21. The Balucbe tribesmen in Southern Persia, who are well equipped with modern rifles, have renounced their allegiance to the Shah, and threaten to resist the enforcement of his authority. NEW YORK, January 18. After fighting his case in every court for two years, John Walsh, president of the Chicago National Bank, failed to secure the quashing of his original conviction. He now serves five years for fraud. January 19. Mr Henry Elliott, an eminent naturalist, was killed by a snowslide. He has left

£400,000 for a home for friendless children. January 23. The blasting operations in a tunnel connected with the aqueduct between Fishkill and Hudson led to a premature explosion, in which 15 persons were killed. The cause is attributed to a workman stumbling with a lighted torch. SA'N FRANCISCO, .January 20. Mr Paulhan flew from Los Angelos to Arcadia, a distance of 47£ miles at a height of from 1000 ft to 2130 ft in 120 min 43sec. _ ... .a»