NEWS OF THE WORLD

Otago Witness, Issue 3034, 8 May 1912, Page 6

NEWS OF THE WORLD

The following items have appeared in the Australian papers employing the independent cable service : London, April 12. There is a revolt among the temperance people in Leeds at the action of the oivic authorities in accepting liquor advertisements for the tickets issued on the city tramways. A request was made that no > advertisements of this character should be allowed to appear on the tram tickets, but the authorities declined to forego this source of revenue. The teetotal section of the community is, therefore, now refusing to patronise the trams, but the tramway management predicts that the boycott will not last long. I April 14. I Some pitiful stories of slum. life are contained in the annual report of the London Comity Club. " The great amount of anamria and malnutrition among children in the slums," says the report, "is attributable to poverty and the resultant evils of dirt, under-feeding, and female labour. Approximately a third of the children in the neighbourhood of London are supported by female labour, owing to the inability of the men to get work. It is not uncommon for a girl of 10 years of age to do 10 hours' work outside her school hours." | A remarkable scene was witnessed in London streets on Friday night. About 500 Anglican Church Socialists assembled at midnight, and, headed by Mr G. Lanebury, M.P., bearing a cross, the Rev. , Mr Noel, wearing a cassock and a biretta, and the Countess of Warwick, marched in procession from Westminster to the Archbishop of Canterbury's Palace in Lambeth. Here they presented a memo- \ rial in which they expressed their aston- j ishment and dismay at the action of the bishops in not supporting the miners dur- I ing the late strike. The Archbishop aaid his chaplain received the memorial. I The Belfast correspondent of the Daily , Mail says that the Orange lodges have ' issued orders to their members that public i disturbances at present must be sup- | pressed, but nobody in touch with the , Orangemen doubts that ultimately there will be riot and-bloodshed over the Home I Rule Bill. Arrangements are being made , by the Unionist organisers for a special j meeting in a fortnight's time to decide , upon the best methods of having peace preserved in the early stages of the bill, j and to organise a plan of campaign j against the possible eventuality of the j bill becoming law. In the meantime the j Unionists' organisation is so complete that | it is hoped that anything in the way of | riots will be avoided. The danger, it is pointed out, lies in the burning of bonfires by the Roman Catholics within range of the Protestant lines. Peking, April 12. Yuan Shih-Kai has issued an order which states that since the outbreak of the revolution the enforcement of the prohibition against opium has been lax, and , that it is feared that the evil will again spread throughout the country. All offi- I cials are therefore commanded to exert. themselves to the utmost in preventing I the cultivation or the sale of the drug. Hongkong, April 12. Travellers arriving here from Siam predict that in that country before long a republic will be substituted for the pre- i sent monarchy. The situation is said to ' be alarming, despite the failure of a re- [ cent plot of the revolutionists to change the existing form of government. It is officially reported that Prince Deahil did not know of the conspiracy to make him President, but, according to the tourists who have reached Hongkong, the Prince was t;hief instigator of the plot. The authorities, however, were afraid to apprehend him, lest their action might precipitate a revolt. It is further stated that the Republicans control the army.