BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Otago Witness, Issue 3100, 13 August 1913, Page 22

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

LONDON, August 5. Mr Kobhouse has introduced a Bill to prohibit the importation of the plumage and skins of wild birds. August 6. The Rev. Mr Richards, of the Collins Street Congregational Church, Melbourne, in a letter to the Daily News traversing the Frodham case, says a sinister feature of Australian militarism is the association of the press and the military authorities, whereby the majority of the papers engage in a conspiracy of silence regarding the growing opposition to the Defence Act. Mr Richards censures the baneful influence of ecclesiastical jingoes. H.M.S. Triumph (completed 1904, displacement 11,985 tone, four lOin and 14 7.5 in guns, 12,500 h.p., and knots speed) is being commissioned for the China station. Since the Asylums Board took over the casual wards in London a year ago it applied a uniform treatment—insisting that the inmates should perform certain work. The number of vagrants has diminished by 50 per cent, since then.

Mr Otto Beit is founding three science research fellowships of £l5O a year, tenable in the Imperial College, London. They are to bo open to graduates of recognised universities, whether at Home, in the dominions, or the Crown colonies. August 7. The late Sir John Murray Scott's will lias been proved at £728,434. Sir John Scott’s bequests include £150,000 to Lady Sackville, and £IO,OOO and an annuity of £2OOO to his brother Walter. August 8. The Countess of Carlisle has presented seven valuable pictures from the Howard collection to the National Gallery, including Carracci’s “Three Maries,” which was purchased in 1793 from the Orleans collection for 4000 g-s, and Gainsborough’s unfinished portrait of Mrs Graham. At the Medical Congress Ur Rivers described the system of massage carried out by native practitioners in the Solomon Islands. The operations coincided with our own system, but underlying the process was a magico-religicus basis. The applications for the New South Wales loan aggregated £453,000. The underwriters take 69 per cent. The imports for July increased by £3,487,253, the exports £5,177,848, and the re-exports £1,217,674, compared with July, 1912. August 10. Frederick Denison, a youth of 19, who had been dumb for 10 years following on an attack of influenza, .while playing cricket at Leeds, suddenly shouted in an excited manner. He afterwards stole into the woods, where he finally convinced himself that his voice was restored, whereupon he cried for joy. He did not tell anyone till he had written to his mother. The Empire Hospital at Westminster will be opened in October. It is intended for paying patients, primarily those from overseas. The charges will be from £3 3s weekly, compared with £ls 15s in a nursing home. M iss Maria Meroey, a daughter of the inventor of the calico printing process, leaves an estate valued at £140,000, of which all but £IO,OOO is bequeathed to charities, chiefly Wesleyan. The Times’s estimates give the prospects of the British crops on August 1 as follows :—Wheat, 91.4 per cent. ; barley, 85.76 per cent. ; oats, 82.65 per cent. A fire occurred in H. and S. Budgett’s store at Bristol. The butter, cheese, and bacon were destroyed. The damage is estimated at £50,000. PARIS, August 6. An express at the level crossing at Macon caught a waggonette. Of the occupants a husband and wife escaped, but a daughter, aged 15, who was at the back of the waggonette, was caught by the buffers and carried several miles before the driver heard her cries. She was not seriously injured. August 7. The Senate has adopted the Bill providing for three years’ military service. August 10. A farmer named Julien, his wife, and two children have been arrested for beating tile eldest daughter to death. The beating was to exorcise Satan, the girl having told her parents she was possessed of a devil, and in a fit of religious fanaticism the family committed the crime. BRUSSELS, August 6. Scoutmaster White, of the English Scouts in camp at Nieuport-Bains, saved two Boy Scouts from drowning, but was himself drowned. BERLIN. August 7. A motor sailing boat capsized at Swinemunde during a sudden squall. Of the 22 persons aboard five only were saved. August 9. The Kaiser, in addressing the cadets on the school-ship Herthn, is reported to have said : —“ Such are the kind of men I need for my navy, which must make the future of my entire Empire.” The Chess Championship was won by Scheveningen. with Alechin (aged 22yrs) and Janowsky second. Dr Lasker and Yates competed. August 10. An amnesty was granted to 24,000 prisoners in honour of the Kaiser’s jubilee. 7’ 1 E N N A. A ugust 9. The ZGi states that the Armv and Navy

Estimates will be increased- by £10,710,000 until 1918. The mobilisation on account of the Balkan troubles cost £25,200,000. ST. PETERSBURG, August 6. There have been several cases in St. Petersburg recently of workmen burning their eyes with lighted cigarettes for the purpose of obtaining the insurance money on the pretext that sparks had caused their injuries.

KHARTOUM, August 9. The death of Father Ohrivalder, who was captured by the Mahdists in 1882 and who remained in captivity for eight years, is announced.

NEW YORK, August 5. Four men, armed with revolvers, lavin ambush for Richard Rustig, a relative of an employee in the district attorney’s office, Uicy shot him dead on a restaurant floor and escaped in an automobile, throwing their weapons into the street. The police are unable to find a single clue. August 7. Mr John Means, a reporter on the Nevv York Sun, has arrived home.

He succeeded in circling the globe in 35 days 21 hours 35 minutes. He travelled via Paris, the Trans-Siberian railway, the Trans-Pacific, and British Columbia. This constitutes a world's record. August 8. The New York State Legislature Investigating Committee has discovered that Governor Sulzer used the party funds in order to speculate privately on the New York markets. His losses are heavy. No explanation' is forthcoming. OTTAWA,, August 5. Fire destroyed the town of Athabasca, in the far north of Alberta. Hundreds of people are homeless. The outbreak originated in an hotel. Scarcely a building is left standing. August 8. In the course of anti-Japanese riots at Salem (Oregon) three Japanese were killed and a fourth was fatally injured. Later information states the death of the Japanese was not due to riots. The cause is unknown. QUEBEC, August 5. A family of seven, including four women, were burned to death in a pilot’s cottage on the Isle of Orleans. The spectators heard fearful screams by the entrapped inmates, but were unable to rescue them. A priest, raising a cross, uttered the words of absolution to the men and women who knelt, sobbing and praying.