NEWS IN BRIEF.

Otago Witness, Issue 2921, 9 March 1910, Page 52

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Prince and Princess Henry of Prussia have concluded their visit to England. In the New Zealand appeal case Greville v. Parker, judgment was reserved. The American battleship Michigan ! attained a speed of 19 2-5 knots. The population of Queensland is 578 548, ■ an increase for the year of 20,311. ! Bush fires in the Vorran district, South i Australia, have destroyed 50,000 acres of grass. | The Canadian iron and steel bounties, | which expire with the fiscal year, will not j be renewed. j An outbreak of pleuropneumonia has occurred in the Narrabri district, New 1 South Wales. A number of cattle have died from the disease. ! Fifty Russian military officials at Kieff | and Odessa have been arrested on charges of corruption and extortion. The English estate of the late Mr Robert Hoe, printing machine manufacturer, has been proved at £113,200. I Not a single Australian tender was received for the 20,000 telephones advertised' : for by the Telegraph Department, New J South Wales. ! The Mansion. House Relief Fund for | the sufferers by the French floods totals '< £64,500. i The Times' Tokio correspondent denies that Japan is laying down two 30,000-torn | battleships. I The drought that has long existed in the j north-western pastoral areas of South AusI tralia has broken, and heavy rains have i fellen.

Aloe Hurley is suing his wife (Marie Lloyd) for "divorce, and claims £SOOO damages. Ben Dillon, the jockey, figures as the co-respondent in the case. Mr Mallinson, a well-known Sydney sheepclasser, has been selected as flockmaster for the Transvaal Government. The Daily Mail states that Mrs J. J. Astor will obtain her decree absolute at once, iand that Mr Astor agreed to pay her an allowance of £BOOO annually. The late Mr Edward Massey, brewer, of Burnley, England, bequeathed £IOO,OOO to philianthropy. Endelsi, the Algerian clerk who wounded General Varand in mistake for the Frenoh Minister of War, has been sent to an. asylum. Forty prisoners at Cartagena, Spain, seized and disarmed the sleeping warders and attempted to escape. They were, however, fired on by the troops, and subsequently overawed. The Telegraph states that Maher has been offered £3OOO to ride Lemberg. It is rumoured that he will receive £SOOO if Neil Gow wins the' Derby. A bomb was thrown into a room afc Noceda, Spain, where a number of priests were at dinner celebrating the clerical victories at a recent municipal slection. Two were killed. Experts havf pronounced the famous Japanese collection in the Weimar Museum as largely fraudulent. The Grand Duke has therefore ordered it to be sold by auction. The total quantity of wheat _ and flour afloat for the United Kingdom, is 3,825.000 quarters and for the Continent 2,000,000 quarters. The Atlantic shipments were 129,000 quarters, and the Pacific 4000 quarters.

Sir James Mills states that consequent on the loss of the Waikare the Union Steam. Ship Company will build another steamer of the Marama type. The Aorangi. which was bought from the New Zealand Shipping Company, is to be thoroughly overhauled and held as a reserve ship. The Daily Express says that Messrs Beecham and Quinlin, the producers of " Electra" at Coventf Garden, propose a season's opera in Australasia, America, and South Africa, and are sending a representative to Australia to arrange for the cooperation of a local impresario. A .monsoonal rainstorm has been operating during the last few days over Australia. It is one of the most extensive on record. Three stations in South Australia received sin of rain, one in Victoria over sin, and 15 in Queensland over lin, and one nearly 7in. The Hull trawlers are now informed by wireless telegraphy of the state of the markets, and are able to hurry shipments to thosf places where supplies are short. Miss Gobbs, a member of the Linna?an Society is reported to have climbed Mount Kinabolu (Borneo), which is 13,700 ft high. Mr Pierpont Morgan is perfecting the reorganisation, on a mutual basis, of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of New York, whereof he recently secured-the control.

The Nova Scotia Government Commission, has reported against a compulsory provincial eght-hour day. It states that_ it is calculated to injure local industries owing to the competition of other provinces. 1 The Federal Government has decided' to , limit its representation at the Pageant of Empire (London) to a display of photo- , graphs depicting various aspects of Aus- ' tralian life and industries during the century. ; In- the course of a debate in the German. I Reichstag the Government repudiated the • American official report alleging immorality and malpractices in the steerage of erai- ! grant steamers, and claimed that the j charges did not apply to German lines. ! Incessant rains have caused a bog-slide at Castlerea (Ireland), which is closing in upon the houses and destroying the crops. The terrified occupants ha.ve released their stock and fled to dry land with as much personal property as possible. Sir James Mills has' supplied the postal administration with particulars of the wire- [ less installation on the steamer Manuka. I It is undeistood that one of the tenders ' for the proposed wireless stations in SydI ney and Fremantle is acceptable. _ ! Miss Frances Adler was seized with pains I while singing in Verdi's " Otello " at the ! Metropolitan Opera House, New York. She was carried to her hotel in a fainting' condition-, and an- operation for appendicitis | was performed at 3 in the morning. She j is in a critical state. ! The Times is publishing a series of letters ; from Dr George Morrison, its Peking cor- ! respondent, who is journeying across China ' and Turkestan. Dr Morrison states that the management of the Peking-Hankau Railway Company have to contend with the pilfering of 60,000 bolts monthly and 10,000 plates yearly. Returning unexpectedly to his home, Mr John, P. Cudahy, the millionaire ni^* packer of Chicago, found there and attacked . Mr-J. Lillis, a wealthy banker, whom h«

suspected of intriguing with his wife. He •inflicted a number of criss-cross cuts with a. knife on Lillis's face, after binding the banker with a strong rope. Cudahy was arrested, but admitted to bail.

Id Philadelphia there are 40,000 persons on. strike, including cab-drivers, bricklayers, ■textile workers, carpenters, plumbers, and tailors. During further rioting many of the rioters were badly clubed by the police. There were numerous arrests. A woman .was fatally shot. Mr Jacob SchifE, a well-known New York financier, is reported to have told the Republican Cub that the understanding between Russia, Japan, and Great Britain will constitute within the next few decades the world's greatest menace. "I was greatly mortified to learn," he said, "that Jap?.n had joined hands witn Russia in order to keep China in a state of vassalage. It is a perfidious action to be a party to such a compact." Mr Schiff was prominent in financing Japan during the Russo-Japan-ese war, and was decorated by the Mikado for bis services.

An outbreak of trouble amongst sheep in (Poverty Bay, known as " nasal bot," is causing some concern. The bot fly (similar to that which attacks horses) finds sheep most vulnerable in the head, the grub ibeing located in the nasal air passage, causing irritation and swelling. In one large coastal station 400 sheep are reported to ibe affected. The Agricultural Department staff have been kept busy during the lastfew, days responding to demands for treatment. So far there has beer ittle mortality. With respect to the cablegram on another page giving particulars of a fatal fire at »he residence of Constable Day, of MeliboUrne, in which Mrs Day and her infant lost their iives, information is to hand that (the two little boys who were rescued by a jaeigbboar have since died as the result of injuries received.

At the Dunec'in Police Court a charge brought against a Highcliff settler of stealing a horse-feed box was dismissed, the magistrate stating that proceedings should have been taken in the civil court. .It appeared that Mrs M'R«ndry, the ivife, »vho was recently, killed by a buggy accident, •had leased some land from Donald Edwards. After her death M'Kendry sold her effects, including the feed-box in question, believing- the box belonged to his wife. The Auckland Harbour Board has decided to proceed with a re-survey of Ran(gicto Channel, and to blast away the rock in lihe fairway on which the Kaipara struck. The board's solicitors (Messrs Russell and Campbell) took exception to some of the statements in the findings of the Court of Inquiry into the striking of the Kaipara. They contend it is no more the duty of harbour boards to survey harbours and provide plans than it is of the Marine Department.