BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Otago Witness, Issue 3019, 24 January 1912, Page 24

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

LONDON, January 15.

The Hon. William Lawson has secured a divorce from his wife. Lord Hamilton Dalzell was cited as co-respondent, and there was no defence.

The naval and military authorities are testing a rifle-sighting device invented by Sergeant Ommundsen, the King’s prizewinner, which, he claims, eliminates the necessity of judging distance. Lloyd’s Register states that 700 steamers (aggregating 1,782,908 tons), 72 sailers (20,956 tons), and 50 warships (250.786 tons) were launched in the Lhiitod Kingdom in 1911.

January 16.

A doctor has bequeathed £150,000 for the erection of almshouses in Hull. Preference is to be given to inmates who have been in better circumstances.

The Chronicle states semi officially that Welsh Disestablishment will take precedence over Home Rule next session.

Reinhardt’s production of Mr Gilbert Murray’s translation of “ CEdipus ” was a success at the Covent Garden Theatre, the scenic and crowd effects being remarkable. Mr Martin Harvey took the part of CEdipus, and Miss Liliah M'Cafthy that of Jocasta

Petrol tramcare have been inaugurated at Morecambe. The cost of fuel is Id per running mile.

January 17.

Mr Oscar Hammerstein, the theatrical manager, states that unless opera-lovers subscribe to the boxes and stalls it will be impossible to continue the London Opera House, on which £350,000 has been spent. Sir Richard Solomon has opened preliminary negotiations with a view to South African produce, particularly fruit, being admitted to France at a minimum tariff.

The personalty of the late Caroline Dowager-Countess of Seafield has been proved at £210,094. A company with a capital of £2,500,000 has been formed in England to acquire the patent permutil system for softening and purifying water and all luminator patents for preventing scale in pipes and boilers. January 18.

The Cardiff ship-ownere, being aggrieved over recent strictures alleging

over-insurance of ships, have resolved to transfer their registry of vessels, aggregating 70,000 tons, to London. This will depose Cardiff from the position of third to that of the sixth or seventh shipping port of the United Kingdom. Fifty trays of Kelsey plums are selling at Covent Garden which were brought over in a cool chamber from Argentina. January 19. The late Mr Justice Grantham’s estate is valued at £177,000.

In the course of a lecture entitled “The New Astronomy ” before the Royal Institution, Professor Bickerton gave an outline of his solar collision theory. January 20. A scheme for the amalgamation of the underground railways and the General Omnibus Company has been published. It offers securities of an estimated value of £272 for every £IOO worth of omnibus stock.

A man named Hubener, formerly employed at the Austrian Embassy, -who was suspected of a jewel robbery from the Embassy, was found in the Congregational Church in Tahner square at midnight. The police attempted to arrest him, but Hubener shot himself dead with a revolver.

Four thousand ministers attended a matinee of the miracle play. Fifty Kensitites, with a “No Popery ” banner, demonstrated at the entrance of the theatre, but the supernumeraries quickly routed them. One Kensitite was badly mobbed, and is still semi-conscious.

January 21. A man (aged 70) and a ~, were arrested aboard a yacht at Falmouth. They ate accused of extensive frauds in Paris, having induced people from all parts of the country to invest some 3,000,000 francs on a promise of returning them 1 per cent, daily. The male prisoner has several aliases. He declares that he thrice broke the bank at Monte Carlo.

There was an imposing ceremony and reception at Westminster Cathedral this afternoon in honour of Cardinal Bourne. Three hundred priests, the Lord Mayor of London, and the Mayor of Westminster were among those present. The Young Men’s Christian Association fund has reached £52,156. Many Anglo-Australians bade farewell to Oscar Asche and his wife (Lily Brayton) on their departure. The Pall Mall Gazette reports some discontent in India because 35,000 Coronation medals were distributed to civilians and only 5000 to the soldiery.

The balance eheet of the Union Bank of Australia for the half-year to August 31 shows that the deposits are £22.576,544;

cash investments and remittances, £10,605,995; bills discounted and advances, £16,454,910.

Sir T. Gibson-Carmiohael, who was appointed Governor of Madras last year, and who' was formerly Governor of Victoria, has been appointed Governor of Bengal.

January 22,

The Admiralty has diverted orders for coal from Cardiff to the North of England, and large Italian State railway contracts have been placed in Yorkshire, the contractors indicating that the Welsh market lias been swept bare.

Reuter states that the late Mr Labouchere’s estate is valued at £2,000,000., The bulk of it has been bequeathed to his daughter,' Madame Marchesa Rudina.

The Conference of the Royal College of Surgeons at Edinburgh formed a. Medical Insurance Council to represent the profession in relation to the Insurance Act.

PAHIS, January 16.

At the instance of M. Briand, President Fallieres has pardoned Lacour, who was sentenced in December, 1910, to three years’ imprisonment for assaulting M. Briand on the occasion of the unveiling of a monument to Jules Ferry on November 20.

January 21

The aviator Verrep ascended with two passengers to an altitude of 3526 ft at Senlis. This is a world’s record. BERLIN, January 15.

At the expiry of hie nine months’ sentence Conpt Wolff Matternich will be rearrested at the prison doors on a charge of card-sharping.

.January 17.

The sugar experts have unanimously decided on the absolute rejection of a proposal at the Brussels Convention that Russia shall be permitted to increase her export quota of sugar as fixed in 1907. January 18.

The directors of the Hamburg American Shipping Company have declared a dividend of 9 per cent. The profit for the year was £2,020.000, as compared with *;i.830,000 in 1910. The Hambnrg-American Shipping Company is increasing its capital by £1.250,000 in view of the opening of the Panama Canal.

January 19.

Twenty-one , million pounds’ worth of Prussian fours has been issued at 101.45

January 21,

At Leipzig Max Holst, a native of Schwerin, was sentenced to four years’ penal servitude for offering Russia, France, and Great Britain a plan of the Kiel fortifications.

charge of murdering a jeweller, his wife.

and daughter, who were found with their skulls shattered last week. January 22. Dr Solf is visiting London, where he will discuss Anglo-German colonial interests. VIENNA, January 15. Miss Mary Puddy, of Adelaide, pianist, gave a successful recital here. January 18. A 17-year-old schoolboy at the Grammar School at Suczava fired four shots, fatally wounding M. Mokranski, a mathematical master, whose severity had angered the class. The boy immediately shot himself dead with his revolver. January 20. Count Aeranthel is in a critical state of health. ROME, January 17. The newspapers announce the discovery of archives indicating where the ancient Popovs concealed their treasure. Search is being made in the Villa Gandolf. At Los Angeles a motor cycle, a man, a horse, an automobile, and an aeroplane contested a handicap dash of 100yds. The motor cycle won easily. The man was second, the horse third, and the automobile fourth. January 18. A jeweller named Introvini placed a bag containing 400,000 francs’ worth of jewels momentarily on a waiting-room table at Turin. When he entered the train he found that he was carrying a similar, but a substituted, bag. The thieves escaped. ST. PETERSBURG, January 15. Beurmann and Korn, members of the Saxony Aero Club, travelled by balloon from Dresden to Ekaterinoslav, a distance of 1800 kilometres, in 40 hours. SOFIA, January 22. At Istib a court-martial has sentenced to death eight Bulgarians, six Turks, and five others. CONSTANTINOPLE, January 16. The Sultan has dissolved the Chamber on condition that the elections are held and that Parliament will reassemble within three months. WASHINGTON, January 19. Mr W. J. Bryan denies a report that it is his intention to seek the Presidential nomination, but his friends believe that they can overcome his objections. NEW YORK, January 16. All the indictments against Detective Burns and other parties implicated in the alleged kidnapping of the M'Namaras were dismissed. •January 17. Fire swept through the seven-storey warehouse of the Terminal Warehouse Company, near North River. The loss is estimated at £250,000. Several firemen were seriously injured. The Duke and Duchess of Connaught intend visiting Mr Whitelaw Reid (United States Ambassador in England) when he is in this city. The trip will bo purely informal. January 18. A fire broke out in the packing plant belonging to Messrs Sc-iietartscliild and Sulberger, in Chicago. The firemen confined the outbreak to one building, which was destroyed. ' An engine exploded at the Coal and Iron Company’s power-house in Central City (Kentucky), and killed four persons, while another workman was fatally injured. One million pounds’ worth of securities were taken out unharmed from the ruins of the Equitable Life Building. January 20. President Rojas (Paraguay) has regained power and re-established his Government. The Metropolitan Trust Company of New York intends financing a new company to take over the holdings of the bankrupt Western Steel Corporation. The river steamer at Kahuna (Oregon) blew up, and the captain and two of the crew were killed. Nine other persons escaped from the sinking vessel by means of lifeboats, many being attired in their nightclothes. A terrific dynamite explosion wrecked the laundry buildings and other neigh-

bouring structures in the heart of the town of Pueblo (California). A dynamite fuse was found near by. The police believe the outrage to lie due to parties connected with the dynamite conspiracy now being investigated throughout the country. January 21. The United States Attorney-general is taking measures to ensure the dissolution of the International Harvester Company. He informed the Congressional Committee that it was not necessary to hold a Federal investigation. January 22. The American death rate by suicide in 1910 was 16 per 100,000 of the population. California led the States in the number of suicides, San Francisco heading the list. ATLANTA (Georgia), January 18. Morse, the banker, who is serving a term in the penitentiary, is dying. GREENVILLE (Tennessee), Jan. 18. The Rev. Dr Macfarland has been arrested on the charge that he is guilty of the death of his secretary, Elsie Coe. OTTAWA, January 17. Numerous nuggets of gold have been found in fowls feed on a farm near Mi niton as, and as a result the whole population of the village has stampeded in order to stake out claims. It is believed that the amounts of gold are not large. January 19. Mr Bradbury has introduced a bill in the Federal Parliament forbidding the defacing of the Union Jack or ensigns by the use of additional letters, words, etc. The prohibition is directed against the abuse of the flag by advertisers.

A fire at Toronto destroyed the Allam Manufacturing Company’s block of buildings. Three firemen were badly injured. Ice stiffened the hose whenever the water was turned off. TORONTO, January 18. A coroner’s jury decided that the death of a woman who was killed on a street car was due to the overcrowded state of the car, which caused a failure of the brakes to work. The authorities were urged to regulate the overcrowding of cars. VANCOUVER, January 15. Two armed men held up a street car at night time, and robbed froth the conductor and raotorman. They shot the conductor, wounding him slightly, and then dashed off in an automobile. The police gave chase, but were unsuccessful. January 17. Hold-ups and robberies are so numerous in Vancouver that the Mayor has sworn in special constables and additional detectives. Prompt efforts will be made to exterminate the criminal element, most (jf which arrives from the United States. SANTIAGO DE CHILE, January 22. Large coal deposits have been discovered at Aranco, and the Government has been requested to construct a railway to the coast. DURBAN, January 17. Two cases of plague are reported, one of which has proved fatal. TOKIO, January 16. Thirteen hundred houses have been destroyed by fire at Osaka. The fire is still burning, and a strong -wind prevails. January 20. General Count Oku, after a brief command of the army, has resigned. Viscount Hasegawa succeeds him.