BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Otago Witness, 1 June 1910, Page 29

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

m » n‘J LONDON, May 23. The committee appointed to consider the decision to grant £IBOO annually for the training of from 100 to 150 lads suggests that only from 50 to 100 country lads be sent the first year, and that the age be lowered to 16 or 17. It is also pi-oposed that the trustees advance £SOO towards the cost of the passages, to be collectable afterwards from the lads. The members of a mixed school at Teraine (Luxemburg) when out walking were overtaken by a violent thunderstorm. Lightning killed four and injured 22. May 24. Mr Asquith will join the -Admiralty yacht Enchantress and complete his holiday, which was interrupted by the death of the King. His daughters have presented £25,000 to the University of Capetown for the construction of a hall as a permanent memorial to the late Sir Donald Currie. The sum of £l5O per annum will be devoted to the foundation of a Currie scholarship. A Conciliation Committee representing all parties in the House of Commons has prepared a bill which will be supported by both the front and back benches enacting women’s parliamentary suffrage on the basis of the existing Local Government Board register. May 25. The Registrar-general's report for 1909 shows a decrease in the rate of marriages and the lowest birth-rate on record—namely, 25.6. An archbishop, eight Polish bishops, 1000 priests, and half a million pilgrims assisted at the recrowning of the Virgin’s statue in the Pauline Convent (Czenstochowa), which in 1909 thieves despoiled of jewels valued at £IOO,OOO. The Pope presented the new crown, which is valued at a large sum. King George has approved of the reconstitution of the Royal Commission on Mines (Sir Henry Cunynghame chairman) to inquire into the health and safety of persons employed in metalliferous mines and quarries. The Edward medal has been conferred on Evan Owen (under manager), Edmund Davies (fireman), and Dr Turner for heroism and daring. displayed by them in connection with an explosion at the Darran colliery in Wales in October last. All of them were severely affected with noxious gas. The Standard’s Berlin correspondent states that France and Germany have entered into a commercial agreement. The agreement is limited in its scope concerning tariff questions. May 26. The Liverpool Post says that Lord Rosebery will postpone his resolutions relating to the House of Lords until November 19. The Hon. W. Hall-Jones and Lord Tennyson attended the Copyright Conference, and discussed the general outlines of a draft bill capable of adoption by all the dominions. The conference has adjourned for a fortnight. Lieutenant Boyd Alexander lost his life through quitting Abeshr for Darfur notwithstanding French official Warnings. The body was recovered and brought to Maifoni, a British post near Lake Chad. The director of the Anarchist journal Land and Liberty was arrested at Madrid for asserting that the Barcelona Anarchists were accomplices of Taborelli. The. Pope granted an audience to visitors from Brisbane and Kalgoorlie, and expressed his satisfaction with the rapid development of the schools and colleges of the Irish Christian Brothers in Australia and New Zealand. A Brennan’s mono-rail has been installed at the Anglo-Japanese Exhibition, so that the public may be able to take trial trips. In a test case the court decided that the London County Council had exceeded its powers in prohibiting cinematograph exhibitions on iSundays,

The hold of the Prinz Fried'rich Wilhelm is on fire. Hundreds of bales of cotton have been destroyed. Mulai Hafid has informed the Powei-s of his determination to abolish tortures. This decision is attributed' to Britain's refusal to receive the Moroccan Ambassador owing to the practice of tortures. The impeachment of M. C'hristensen in connection with the Alberti frauds has commenced before a State tribunal at Copenhagen. A gang of burglars ransacked- the establishment of Lawrence and Co., jewellers, Cheapside. Several thousand pounds' worth of diamond rings and brooches were secured. Gallas, a jockey, pulled his horse at a race meeting at Biaila (Roumania). The crowd excitedly protested, and several bookmakers, drawing revolvers, shot at Gallas, who fell riddled with bullets. The murderers escaped An Australasian banquet was held at the Whits City. Three hundred guests were present, including Lord Goschen. Mr Moore (Premier of Western Australia), Mr Kirkpatrick (Agent-general for South Australia), Hon. J. M'Call (Agent-general for Tasmania), Sir J. A. Ccckburn, Captain Collins, Admiral Rawson, and a representative gathejfing of bankers, shipowners, and merchants. Sir George Reid presided. Lord Kitchener had an enthusiastic reception. The keel of the first Australian armoured cruiser will be laid on the 23rd of June. Sir G. H. Reid is arranging a ceremony in honour of the occasion. The steam gun trials of the Parramatta will h% completed' on June 18. Mr Brennan is laying 110 miles of mono-rail through the mountainous country of Alaska, as an extension of the present railway. Lord Rosebery has contradicted the Liverpool Post's assertion that he does mot intend to bring forward his Lords reform proposals until November. In the first part of the French naval manoeuvres the submarines were entrusted with the defence of Corsica; and met with remarkable success They pursued six battleships for three hours and torpedoed four. May 28. Mr Coughlain, Agent-general for New South Wales, has issued a circular to the press warning fitters and ironworkers that openings are at present scarce in Sydney, and that conditions are unlikely to improve for some time. As a sequel to the Whitehaven colliery disaster, 900 workers in the pit adjoining the ill-fated colliery have decided to cease work for a fortnight, alleging the appearance of black-damp. The British Empire League has started a movement to raise £3OOO to erect a monument in London to the memory of Captain Cook. The treasurer of the movement is Lord Brassey. The Times' Washington correspondent reports that the prospects of Taft's Railway Bill have improved -ring to the defeat of the most dangerous of the insurgents' amendments, an.d the outlook of the Postal Savings Bank Billi« brighter. May 29. The Whitehaven Relief Fund now amounts to £32,997. The members of the London Stock Exchange subscribed £2669. British submarines are training in a deep tank at Portsmouth. They use airtight helmets and jackets, containing oxylithe. In case of accident the crew will don these chemically charged helmets and open the canning: tower. The air in the helmets will enable them to rise to the surface. The Emperor Francis Joseph is touring the annexed- provinces of Herzegovina and Bosnia. Splendid pageants have been arranged along the line of route. The accounts of the Suez Canal Company show a profit of £4.930.000. which is a record. The advance is due to the increased exports of Indian wheat and Manchurian beans, and. to the growing European trade with Australia arod Japan. May 30.

The Steamship companies estimate that from 100,000 to 150,000 Americans are

making holiday trips to Europe in 1910. Sir Edward Grey is communicating with the United States in view of alleged illtreatment of Putumayo "Valley Indians by the Peruvian Amazon Rubber Company. PARIS, May 25. An agreement has been signed in Paris admitting the American group to participation in the Hankau-Szechuan railway loan issued by China. Eighty French Reservists, who objected to go into camp owing to the wetness of the ground,- entered Nimes singing " LTnternatioin-ale." They were arrested', but the inquiry showed that they were not actuated by a spirit of anti-militarism. May 28. Fifty-five mutinous Reservists at Nimes have been sentenced to a month in the cells and a month's imprisonment, and 40 to a week's imprisonment. Four of the ringleaders have been interned in a fortress pending trial. HAMBURG, May 24. The chairman of the North German Lloyd Company is leaving Germany by the s.s. Prinz Regent Luitpold He proposes to visit the chief ports of Australia and to study their trade requirements. BERLIN, May 24. The masters and men concern °d in the German building trades dispute have accepted the Government's offer of mediation. May WAn earthquake violently shook several towns and villages in Western Germany, Alsace, and Switzerland: MADRID, May 30. The Barcelona police arrest-ad Jose Jordan, and seized 25 dynamite cartridges. ST. PETERSBURG, May 24. The authorities at the Hermitage Gallery have discovered that two Rembrandtsi, a Murillo, and several other pictures have been replaced by clever forgeries. There is much consternation, particularly after the conviction of Lehmann, one of the' Hermitage directors, for replacing the Imperial jewels with imitations. - May 26. The Czar and Czaritza will visit Germany towards the end of the summer. MOROCCO, May 28. Mulai Hafid is greatly alarmed owing to the Berber tribesmen proclaiming his brother Mulai Kebir Sultan of Morocco. WASHINGTON, May 29. Following Senator Lorimer's impassioned denial in the United States Senate that he had bought his senatorship, Mr Holt Law, an Illinois State Senator, confessed to the grand jury that Mr Broderick, another State Senator, had paid him 2500 dollars (£500) for voting for Lorimer. NEW YORK, May 23. The United States Senate has voted the two Dreadnoughts approved by the House of Representatives. May 27. The State troops have forcibly deported without a legal trial 25 Italian miners who intimidated an official of the Durham Coal and Coke Company, in Georgia. Spitzer, an ex-dock superintendent, has testified in connection with the sugar frauds on the Government that his confession in connection' with the frauds was delayed until now, as be did not wish to involve one of the Havemeyers, who is mow dead. Contrary to expectations, Mr Hughes won a decisive vi '-"v in the final passage through both IK ,-rs of bills prohibiting betting at races and making the directors of racecourses criminally responsible for gambling thereon. May 30. Governor Hughes is calling an extra session of the New York Legislature to pass a law for destroying the power of political bosses. SAN FRANCISCO, May 30. The Californian Labour Commissioner reports that an exhaustive investigation shows that some form of unskilled labour similar to Japanese is essential for the development of specialised Californian agricultural industries. If the Japanese are excluded Hindus will have to replace them. This will probably end the antiJapanese .agitation.

OTTAWA, May 26. Six hundred Canadians, selected from the various regiments throughout th« Dominion, will go to England for King George's coronation. PRETORIA, May 30. The Transvaal Government's prize of £SOOO for a hand drill has been divided between the Holman and Saskol drills, which will enable highly skilled whites So work at a cost of lOd per foot, as compared with the natives' 14d per foot. The Government is experimentally training 50 whites in the use of tha drills. PEKING, May 25. An Imperial edict has been issued at Peking establishing the standard currency as follows :■ —Dollar, weighing 72 candareens, and subsidiary pieces of 50, 25, and 10 cents in silver, 5 cents ia nickel, 5 milles and 1 mille in copper. All have fixed values in a decimal ratio, and cannot b? refused or discounted in any part of the empire, through which they will gradually circulate.