NEWS IN BRIEF.

Otago Witness, Issue 2955, 2 November 1910, Page 53

NEWS IN BRIEF.

The Austro-Hungary vintage is the worst for many years. Mr T Healy, M.P., is among the newlyannounced .King's Counsel. Bcaurepaire, the Australian swimmer, is returning oy the Mooltan. The personal estate wf the late Mr Holman-Hunt is valued at £15,833. The Anglo-Saxon Company, ot London, has struck oil .in its bore in Borneo at a depth of 450 ft. A fire at Mourilyan, Queensland, destroyed over 200 tons of sugar cane, two farms being devastated. The Daily Mail states that Lord Kitchener will visit Egypt and the Soudan in the winter. Lewis Waller and h's company will visit 'Australia under the Clarke-Meynell management in 1912. The Wade Government's last act was to order £300,000 worth of locomotives an hour before resigning. The Times' Paris correspondent states that M. Viviane, the French Minister ot Labour, proposes to resign. General Brun (French Minister of War) is adopting khaki, grey, or other neutral tint for the army uniforms. Mr Fairlie Cunningham, a sculptor, of Sydney, has been granted a year's tuition at the Royal College of Art, London. The warship Fantome will conduct the search for the rock on which the Pericles waa wrecked on the Westralian coast. A large section of 'the temporary seats in the old City Hail, Pittsburg, collapsed during a prize-fight. Many were injured. A fire in the medical section of the Toulouse University, France, destroyed 3U,UUj volumes, valued at £30,000. Miss Bates, an Englishwoman who started to olimb Col de Balme (Switzerland) a fortnight ago, is missing. Mr Pritchard Jones is giving £17,000 to provide a great hall for the North Wales University College. ; The Egyptian Government has warned ; ' the. journal Lewa a second time for its violent attacks on Britain. | The seismograph at the Melbourne Obser- j vatory recorded two slight earthquake ; shocks during the past week. I It is reported that the United States | Ambassador to Turkey has resigned. The j report, however, is not confirmed. i The Westralian Council passed an Elec- : torai Act Amendment Bill, making pre- ; ferential voting compulsory. At the annual conference of the Country Press Association in Sydney the report referred to the scandalous inadequacy of the telegraphic service. The Tasmanian Fruitgrowers' Conference carried a resolution against any attempt to fix wages or hours of labour in rural industries Mr Griffiths, New South Wales Minister ,of Public Works, says the Government is determined to carry out its policy of dc j centralisation of railways. I The Clyde Engineering Company. Sydney, has secured the contract for the sup- j ply of 50 additional railway locomotives, j at a cost of £283,500. A return tabled in the Victorian As- > sembly shows that the total net wealth of j Victoria is £429,250,000, and the total rate- j able value of property £252,000.000. i The Temps urges M. Briand to adopt the excellent Canadian'labour legislation; for France or borrow some measures from England, Belgium, or Austria. ; The New South Wales Cricket Association has decided that in future the cap- ' tains of all State teams shall be chosen ; by the Selection Committee. j According to the mining warden the • Broken Hill miue3 have paid thirteen and I a-half million pounds in dividends, and their present weekly output is £IOO,OOO. I The Belgium University has arranged for a series of lectures by Sir George Reid, Mr Reeves, and others on commerce and Industry in the chief Dominions. According to the Paris correspondent of The Times, France will present President Fonseca. who is now in Brazil, with the charger he rodo at the recent French militarv manoeuvres at Picardy. The Scottish Agricultural Commissioner?, after an exhaustive tour in Queensland, are now visiting 1 New South Wales and the northern rivers. The members of the Duke of Con naught s party were ■accorded an ovation on landing at St. Helena on their way to South Africa. They inspected the public buildings j and the flaxmills. A Chinaman, who was armed with two revolver* and a sheath -knife, ran amok at Surrv Hills, Sydney. He fired four shots, j wounding a countryman, before he was ar- j rested. j Miss- Blanche Johnson, of Adelaide, .has been engaged for the nrincinal contralto oaxt in"Rinaklo" (Handel's first opera I «* the Queen's Hall. London, on the occasion , of Handel's birthday festival in February. I The (Canadian Government surveyors re- j port that there are no insuperable obstacles j to the construction of the projected canal | from Winnipeg Lake to the Rocky Moun- . iains. via the Saskatchewan River. | 1 Miss Estella Stead, daughter of Mr \V T. Stead, made her debut in " The Merchant of Venice" in a London theatre on October 24. She received sympathetic and fairly favourable oress -notice*. There is a consensus of opinion that her voice and physiqu? are , better suited for Ladv Macbeth than Portia, i Subscription lists have been opened in . London to establish a mosaue in the city j ; for the benefit of Oriental students and visitors, also for' a library and lecture room to discuss all subjects except politics. Addressing the Telegraph Operators' Con- i ference at * Melbourne, the Acting Prime 1 Minister (Mr Hughes) intimated that the ( Government intended to make the Tele- I | graph Department a paying concern, and j , at the same time to give the public a ' thoroughly efficient service. • The eastern province? ot Canada will hold ' in December ;i conference to consider the i I nuestion of representation in the Federal J Parliament, immigration to westward i \ Canada is altering the balance of political power.

A special train which wa~ lx»ing us:'d hv Sir Thomas Shaughnessy (Canadian Pacific Raihvav president) struck a farmer's waggon near Winnipeg, and tbo farmer and horses were killed. Sir T. Shaughnetsy stonped the train to render aid. The wnort is denied that the two Australian destroyers are being stokered by British bluejackets owing to the Australians not being acquainted with oil fuel. Tks Australians are capable. The Admiralty has only lent some stokers to make up the complement. As a result of the recent strike of the rifle rang2-makcT.s at. Melbourne, the Minisfcg «bi Defence has issued a U»*i

T no member of the naval or military forces I should be. required to do work or to act in the place or civilians who have 'refused , work because of a dispute about wages, j hours, or conditions of labour until the j matter has been referred; to the Minister i and his consent obtained to do such work. Both the employers and employees in the engineering trade in Dunedin favour a I Dominion award. Consideration of some I points which they wish embodied was adj journed by Mr J. R. Triggs, Conciliation Commissioner, until the 7th inst. j The Waihi Municipal Council, finding j that the law does not authorise the council to start and carry on a municipal butchery, an offer by a local butcher to sell his busiI ness, plant, etc., could not be accepted. | At a meeting in Dunedin of about a dozen ladies and gentlemen, it was decided I to form a Food Reform Humanitarian Society, and Mr J. A. Forbes was appointed president, Mrs J. VV. Stables as secretary, and Misses H. Hartley and M'George as a : committee. It is probable an attempt will be made to start a vegetarian cafe in Dun- . edin. Owing to a strike of the coal trimmers at Newcastle, N.S. Wales, a number of j vessels are held up. There will be 92 gates used in the 1 Panama Canal. They will weigh 60,000 ' tons, and cost over a million pounds. There are numerous oases of cholera ' among the Turkish troops at the mai nceuvres. Eight infected battalions have ' been isolated, including the Students' Military School. I The late Miss Florence "Nightingale's estate is valued at £35,649. She left legacies to several nursing homes, and bequeathed the jewels, medals, and orders she had received from Queen Victoria and the Sultan to the soldiers' homes at Netley and Aldershot. I

The Persian Government having requested the withdrawal of British bluejackets recently landed at Lingah to protect the' town when threatened with an attack by a notorious marauder, the British Minister refused until all danger had passed- The Kashgai tribesmen raided the Jewish quarter at Shiraz. The total quantity of wheat and flour afloat for the United Kingdom is estimated at 2,660,000 quarters, and for the Continent at 2,475.000 quarters. The Atlantic shipments are 254,000 quarters, and, the Pacific 45,000 quarters. The total European shipments are 1,775,000 quarters; Argentine, 60,000 quarters; Russian, 870.000 quarters; Danubian provinces, 255,000 quarters; India, 82,000 quarters; Australasian. 95,000 quarters.