BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Otago Witness, Issue 3029, 3 April 1912, Page 24

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

LONDON, -March 25. A block of tenements at Dartmouth was destroyed by fire. Mrs Maud Callard and her three children were incinerated. 1 A fourth child was thrown from a window and grievously injured. A Mrs Ash carried her mother and Mr Callard, who were unconscious, ealely out of the building. ! Fire in a large shed at Kennington suffocated 10 trained baboons, a mandril, and two performing dogs. ! March 27. | Franz Winzen, a German, was fined £SO for endeavouring to induce a velvet embosser at Leeds to disclose trade secrets. March 28. Divers entered the Oceana’s strongroom and recovered a case of gold specie and some silver bars. Further operations are I progressing. 1 One Hundred thousand people have signed a per.ition asking for the reprieve of Seddon, who was found gir'ty at the Old Bailey of the murder of Miss Barrow, i Further donations totalling £50,000 have been subscribed on behalf of the London University. The Dickens Centenary Fund has closed, the total amonnd subscribed being £12,000. which is sufficient to assure the grandchildren of the great novelist an income of £l5O apiece annually. March 29. Messrs Boulder Bros, contradict the rumour that they intend to amalgamate with Furness, Withy, and Co. Bernard Fspinasse, a member of the staff of Pearson’s Weekly, has been sentenced to seven months’ imprisonment on a charge of conspiracy with Samuel Ullman and Edith Ullman to fraudulently win prizes in the newspaper’s competitions. Samuel and Edith Ullman were sentenced to four months’ and two months’ imprisonment respectively, j March 31. ) The revenue for the year was 1 £185.090,286. Customs yielded a total

of £32,649,000, excise £38,380,000, stamps £9,454,000, and property and income tax £44,804,000. Lord Curzon, Lord George Hamilton, and Sir George Beid presented the King with a badge of the Order of the Garter, studded with diamonds, on behalf of the Georges of the Empire. A movement has started for amalgamating the three principal railwaymen's unions, aggregating 180,'-30 members. The indications are that they will make a joint demand for a minimum wage and shorter hours. April 1. A Great Western train ran 24i miles in 25 minutes with solid oil fuel. PARIS, March 28. Professor Poucet has made an important communication to the Academie de Medicine, showing the virulent infectiousness of the sweat of consumptive patients, and urging their isolation and the disinfection of their linen. March 29. Three burglars were arrested in Paris while attempting to steal arms from a rifle club. Those apprehended include an Anarchist named Randonnett, who has already been convicted of the theft of a motor car. March 30A bank was recently founded for investments in mortgages in South America. The capital was £10,000,000, which the French public subscribed. The first instalment of £400,000 was paid. Yesterday when the police raided the office they found that the only security was 2000* francs. BERLIN, March 27. In connection with . the deaths of 92 paupers at Christmas Julius Scharmach, a- chemist, who is a maker of methylated alcohol, two commercial travellers, and two publicans have been arraigned on a charge of fraud. A tunnel under the Spree caved in, flooding a section of the city tubes. The accident occurred at night time, when traffic had ceased. March 31. The Berlin tube railway continues under 12ft of water. A wireless tower at Potsdam, 650 ft high, which was regarded as a remarkable engineering feat, was blown down in a gale. LISBON, March 25. Three more bodies have been found among the debris at Oporto. Nearly 500 uncharged bombs and a quantity of notes and gold were also found. March 26. An Anglo-French company, with a capital of" £6,000.000, has been formed to purchase the cocoa plantations «t

Sao Thome (Principe). The company offers the owners 60 per cent, in cash and 40 per cent, in shares. March 30. The townsfolk of Braganza, armed with fowling pieces in consequence of misconduct by some students, attacked the students, who were armed with automatic pistols. A desperate encounter ensued, women armed with stilettos joining in the fray. Five people were killed and 23 were wounded. The military re-established order. Many arrests were made. VIENNA, March 26. An avalanche buried 11 ski excursionists at Hochschneeburg. Seven corpses have been recovered. Another party was caught in an avalanche at Steinernemeer, two members being killed. March 30. Declaring that her relatives had exerted pressure 1o make her marry a man whom; she disliked, the Countess Katinka Andrassy. a beautiful girl, aged 19 years, and the step-daughter of Julius Andrassy, shot herself with a revolver, the bullet lodging near her heart. Her condition is critical. ROME, March 30. An express train bound from Vienna to Nice collided with a goods train at Melo. The driver and stoker were killed and several people were injured. ATHENS, March 30. During an election riot at Aivalikdere, which was caused by the gendarmes attempting to prevent the Liberals from voting, 20 people were killed and 50 injured, chiefly Liberal Mussulmans. The newspaper Messager, of Athens, accuses the Young Turks of " gerrymandering " the elections with a view to excluding from the Ottoman Chamber all the prominent Greeks and Libera] candi» dates of various nationalities. April 1. Advices from Salonica state that the agents of the Committee of Union and Progress have murdered two Greek electors in the Verrin district. ST. PETERSBURG, March 27. A youth named Ratkewitsch, who is a magistrate's son and an extraordinary degenerate, has been sentenced to eight years' hard labour for strangling and stabbing a young girl, inflicting 35 wounds. Ho kept a diary, which showed he had sought to analyse his own feelings while mutilating his victim, whom he selected at random. The fact that he was a minor mitigated his sentence. CONSTANTINOPLE, March 29. The Greek who assassinated K©T>assaa

Effendi, the Governor of Samoa, by shooting him with a revolver, has died from his wounds. He confessed that he was despatchel from Athens by the Sophonlis party, who threatened the" death of M. Kopa-ssas if he refused an amnesty to the Santos refugees. SAND POINT (Idaho), March 25. A freight train of 60 car<s struck a rock slide on tha Great Northern line. The engine rolled over the embankment, and three cars were wrecked. The enginedriver, fireman, and brakesman were lulled. A huge quantity of rock that had loosened during some excavation work had collapsed, completely blocking the line NEW YORK, March 30. A man named Hector Jewell, alias Henry Johnson, has been arrested in San Francisco on a charge of stealing £2OOO worth of diamonds in Sydney. SAN BERNARDINO (California). March 27. Messrs Covington and Albert, two wealthy Englishmen, when climbing Mount Bernardino, were caught by an avalanche and swept with tremendous force down the north side of the mountain. The avalanche hurled them aside on to a huge snow bank, their lives thus being saved. OAKLAND (California), March 28. Following on an old quarrel, wherein ex-Mayor Snow, of Oakland, near San Francisco, fought an assailant named Goldman, a little after his release from the penitentiary, Goldman encountered Snow in the assembly rooms of the First Congregational Church. A revolver duel followed. Snow is now in a hospital dying, and Goldman is dead. Goldman was sentenced to five years in the penitentiary after his first attack on Mr Snow, who, while Mayor of Oakland, incurred his enmitv. OTTAWA. March 25. A protest has been made to the United States Government against the proposal to take an additional water supply for the Chicago Drainage Canal from the Great Lakes, as the scheme is likely to lower the level of the canals on the St. Laurence River route, and gravely interfere with Canadian shipping. TORONTO, March 28. The Presbyterian Church of Canada favours church union by a vote of nearly 3to 1. The Methodist and Congregational vote is not yet complete. VANCOUVER, March 26. On the waterfront an insane Swede began firing a revolver indiscriminately. He was ordered by a policeman to cease, whereupon the Swede shot him dead on the spot. A squad of police surrounded the cabin where the Swede L'.rricaded himself and riddled the structure with bullets. The Swede was afterwards found dving from his wounds. BUENOS AIRES, March 27. A violent cyclone swept the city and surrounding district of Buenos Aires. Eighteen persons were killed and 50 injured. CALCUTTA, March 27. Three hundred houses at Peshawur were burnt. Many persons are destitute. TOKIO, March 29. A French and Japanese bank is being founded with a view to encouraging the introduction of French capital. The Japanese bankers found themselves unable to take a full share of the Chinese loan without external assistance.