NEWS IN BRIEF.

Otago Witness, 1 June 1910, Page 53

NEWS IN BRIEF.

At a meeting at Toronto it was decided! to form Canadian branches of the Army Nursing Reserves. Canada's total trade for April was 10.985,000 dollars (£2,197,000) above that for April, 1909. TKe Dewey dry clock at Manila has sunk to a depth of 70ft owing to a failure of the valves.

Empire collections will be taken among the Baptist Churches on behalf of the Baptist Colonial Society. Lord and Lady Chelmsford were warmly welcomed on their arrival at Norfolk Island in H.M.S. Cambrian, and presented with an address. The fossilised remains of an extinct quadruped have been found at- Mullaley, New South Wales. The backbone measures 18ft, and the leg bones are 9ip. through. The last consignment of Commonwealth special silver coinage, consisting of two million threepenny pieces, has arrived at Melbourne. Naval Commander Tickell, of Australia, goes to England to bring.out the Commonwealth destroyers. The U.-S. Treasury has installed machinery for washing, germ-destroying, and ironing dollar notes. In ladies' tennis matches Victoria defeated New South Wales by 114- to 96 games. _ The United States Senates Committee on Foreign Relations approves of the treaty fixing the Maine-New Brunswick boundary. Extensive ironworks are being established at Puerto de Corral, and plant is being set nip to manufacture steel plates, rails, and other products. , The New South Wales Wages Board award, operating from July 1, increases the wages of carpenters and joiners in the building trades by l£d an hour, or to Is ♦Ad The Bible in schools referendum in Queensland is now completed, the final figures being:—For Bible mading, 77,003; against, 56,403, majority for, 20,6.00. Owing to' the National Liberals voting against° the Prussian Franchise Bili as amended by the Upper House, Dr \on Hollweg, the German Imperial Chancellor, has withdrawn the measure. The Kin«- and Queen of Italy, together with 100,000 delegates, including many Garibaldians who participated in the expedition of 1860, attended the unveiling of a monument of Liberty at Palermo. During the fire-escape drill by the employees of the United Service Club (London) the canvas of the chute split and fatally precipitated a girl on to the pavement beneath. A bill is in course of preparation to incorporate the suburbs of Aston Manor, Handsworth, etc, with Birmingham, thus., bringing the total population of that city up to 895,000. Allan Woodman, the young New Zealander who sustained a fractured leg as the result of a collision while training for a motor evele race, is in a serious condition. It'was found necessary to amputate his leg. The. Royal Life-saving Society has arranged for Mr Henry, the secretary, to visit all the head centres of Australia and New Zealand to give lectures and demonstrations and to hold examinations. ■ He will arrive at Melbourne at the end of October. The representatives of the trustees of the Felton bequest have purchased for the Melbourne Art Gallery Purvis de Chavannes' "Winter" for £2OOO, Bastin le Page's "Annunciation to the Shepherds" for £1365. Fantin -Latour's "La Source" for £l2O, and De la. Croix's " A Giaour's Confession" for £IBO.

A Genoa working man named Morctte, suspecting his wife of an intrigue with a married man. shot the latter and the latter's wife when they were at dinner. He then returned home and shot his own wife while she was asleep. Afterwards he committed suicide.

There have been successful War Office trials at Aldershot with a traction engine of the Caterpillar type, which drew an eight-ton Long Torn gun a distance of eight miles an hour over the roadway, also across loose sand, a 4ft diteh, and a bog. After eluding the Russian police for many \ears. owing to his many disguises, Shuralefr, who is guilty of seven murders a.nd numerous robberies with violence in the vicinity of Moscow, was arrested at Moscow alv.er a desperate chase, during which he killed a detective who was in pursuit. The total quantitv of wheat and flour afloat for the United Kingdom is 4.090.000 quarters, and for the Continent 1,820,000 Quarters. The Atlantic shipments were 245.000 quarters,, and the Pacific 30,000 quarters. The total from Euvopo was 1.275.000 ouarters. Argentina 152.000 auarters, Russia 475,000 quarters. India 98,000 quarters, and Australasia 60,000 quarters. At Vienna Lieutenant Hofrichter, who confessed to an attemot to poison 10 members of the General Officers' Staff in order to create vacancies and make way for his own promotion, was sentenced to be hanged by a. secret court martial. The accused was not allowed to bo present at the trial. The evidence of 2000 witnesses was read. It is believed a. recommendation has been made to commute the death sentence to one of "mnrisonment, the doctors describing Hofrichter as morally abnormal.