NEWS OF THE WORLD.

Otago Witness, Issue 2955, 2 November 1910, Page 65

NEWS OF THE WORLD.

The following items have appeared in the Australian papers employing the independent cable service : LONDON, October 12. The Westminster Gazette publishes the statement of a New South Wales member of Parliament to the effect that some Australian frozen meat which was discharged into barges was infected with vermin. London importers are indignant at what is characterised as an absurd allegation. They pointed out that the erystem of inspection enforced by the port authorities in London renders such conditions as those described impossible. It is very unfortunate, however, that these reports should receive publicity at the present time, when Sir George Reid is doing so much to advance the interests of the Australian frozen meat trade. A Calcutta telegram reports that intense excitement prevails in Tibet. The Chinese authorities had arrested an abbot, who was going to suffer the loss of his head for having sent supplies to the Dalai Lama at Darjeeling, in India. The abbot was put in prison, but with the aid of some friends he contrived to make his escape. NEW YORK, October 4. Mr Edison, the great inventor, has made a startling declaration of his nonbelief in a future state of existence for human beings. He says, in as many words, that there is not, and cannot be, any hereafter for mankind. Mr Edison was being interwiewed by the representative< of a New York newspaper on the alleged reappearance, in sensational circumstances, of the spirit of Professor James, the distinguished scientist, with whom- he had been intimately associated, and whose death was reported recently. The inventor promptly discredited the whole uncanny story, declaring it impossible for the reason that there was no form of existence after death, and that, therefore, there could be no spirits and no reappearance. In the course of the interview, which is described as having been of an amazing character, Mr Edison said that people might as well claim a future life for a wax cylinder as for a human cylinder. Mr Edison hinted that he believed that discoveries of vast import will be made by man among the hidden mysteries of life, but pointed out that at present the wave of psychic study is being conducted on wrong lines, and is so utterly at fault that it is not likely to produce important information. NEW YORK, October 12. Financiers predict the bitterest struggle that has taken place for years when the oil interests of Texas, headed by Mr John Gates, begin operations against the Standard Oil Company. The Texan syndicate has established 35 stations in the east, and it will shortly open,a .distributing station at Brooklyn, where lower priced oil is sold. Mr Armstrong, general manager of the Pacific Coast branch of the United Wireless Company, has left Seattle for New York to confer with the management as to the advisableness of establishing another division office in Sydney. This office and Australian business generally will be controlled through Seattle. October 14. Two miners, Vargarien and Metz, met with dreadful deaths yesterday at Treadwell, one of the most important of the Alaskan goldfielcls. The men were ascending a shaft, when the cable of the cage in which they were being hauled up suddenly began to give way. From sheer fright they jumped from the cage, and plunging 300 ft to the rock floor of the shaft, were dashed to death. VIENNA, October- 14. Mdlle. Gaby Deslys, the "gay Parisiennc." ivhom King Manuel loved-not wisely but too well, and who was largely responsible for that indiscreet young monarch's downfall, is the sensation of the hour in Vienna. As all the world knows, the pretty little Frenchwoman is a dansease, and it is in thai role that she is now appearing hero at the Theatre Apollo. Neeilless to say, mademoiselle is the star attraction at the Apollo. All Vienna is going to see her, and the fair one has realised ere this what a good thing it is, in a financial sense, to have caused a King to lose his crown. After leaving Vienna. " Gaby " will return to Paris to take a leading part in a revue at the Folies Bergere, where she is billed to appear in December. LISBON. October 14. Driven out of her mind as a result of her experiences in the recent fighting between Lisbon mobs and the clericals. Sister Tipping, a well-known nun, has ended her life in a violent, manner. During the late disturbances she was given shelter at the residence of the secretary to the British Legation. « Today, when momentarily out of sight of those who were in charge of her, the demented woman got through one of the windows on-the third floor of the house, and jumping to the pavement below was killed instantly. PARIS, October 4. The Rome correspondent of one of the Paris dailies, La Liberie, telegraphs that the Papal Consistory is definitely fixed for November 11, when the Pope will name 12 new Cardinals, 10 of whom will be Italians and two French. VANCOUVER, October 16. May Yohe_ the once favourite London music hall star, who was seized with a paralytic stroke in New York about two months ago, is now singing at a cafe chantonl in Seattle. ROME, October 16. Count Tulumeilo, formerly Mayor of Girgenti, a city in Sicily, has been sentenced to 21 * years' imprisonment for having obtained £25,000 by means of forgery. The frauds were perpetrated during the count's mayoralty. SAN FRANCISCO. "October 16. Speaking at a banquet last night, Mr George Von L. Meyer, Secretary of the Navy, declared that in its unfortunate

possession of the Philippines the United States had a colony where the spark of war might be ignited at any moment. If the nary was to be kept as a unit he believed that it would be better in the Pacific than in the Atlantic. "We should do all in our power," added Mr Meyer, " to attract to Hawaii immigrants from Southern Europe—immigrants of the white race, who will stand with us for defence, and not turn on our flag in case of a hostile demonstration by the greatest military Power in the Pacific." LONDON, October 16. Some startling disclosures of municipal corruption havo been made in the Straits Settlement. A commission was appointed to investigate the methods of municipal government, and its report, - which has just been issued, reveals the shocking venality of high officials. It was shown that many of these individuals were in the habit of receiving secret commissions for the contracts that they gave on behalf of the municipality. The report recommends that the offices of secretary, financial assistant, and assessor should be abolished. The abolition of the Public Representation Board is also recommended. TOKIO, October 16. The Japanese newspapers continue to manifest enmity towards the United States. This hostile attitude strongly recalls that taken up against Russia previously to the war with Russia. Russia then was pictured as being resolved to dominate Asia to the detriment of Japan, just as America is " now declared to be fired with the determination to rule the Pacific to Japan's disadvantage. After discussing the effect of the RussoJapanese Convention, and dwelling on the assumption that this leaves Japan's hands free for other things than watching Russia, one of the Tolrio papers, the Chuo Shimbun, insists that Japan must take advantage of the opportunity she now has to build up a. navy far stronger than any that has heretofore been contemplated. " The proper sphere in which Japan has a right to expand," adds the Chuo Shimbun, "is the vast Pacific Ocean." NEW YORK, October 16. Stanley Ketchell, the world's middleweight champion boxer, is dead, as the result of a murderous attack that was made upon him yesterday morning. Ketshell, who a short while back injured his foot, and whose fight with Bill Lang had to be postponed as a consequence, had been recuperating at a ranch five miles out of Conway, a small town 30 miles from Springfield, Massachusetts. On Friday -night Ketchell and one. Hurtz, a man who is employed by the owner of the lanch, had a wordy encounter. The men after wards went to bed, and nothing more was thought of the matter, though others who were present now recall the ugly mood that Hurtz was in when he retired for the night. Ketchell was up early yesterday morning, and was having breakfast at half-past 6, when Hurtz entered the ranch-house, and, pointing a rifle at Ketchell, tofd him to throw up his hands. Although taken by surprise, Ketchell remained cool. Instead of doing as requested, he rose from the table, with his back half turned to Hurtz, when the latter fired a shot, the bullet striking Ketchell below, the right shoulder blade and entering the right lung. Hearing the report of firearms, a man named Bailey rushed in, but was just in time to 6ee the assailant disappearing through the doorway. "He shot me! " feebly cried the wounded boxer, pointing in the direction Hurtz had gone. Ketchell then briefly related what had happened, when he became unconscious, and in that condition was conveyed to Springfield. Here he was admitted to the local hospital, where, however, he died at 7 o'clock last night.- Hurtz- contrived to make his escape after the shooting. Mr Dickerson, the millionaire ranch-owner, with \vhom Ketchell was staying, has offered £IOOO for Kurtz's dead body, but he will give nothing if tha murderer is taken alive.