BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Otago Witness, Issue 3101, 20 August 1913, Page 22

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

LONDON, August 11. As the outcome of a circular letter to the newspapers from many eminent medical men appealing for a Royal Commission on secret diseases Mr Asquith announced in the House of Commons that the Government was instituting an inquiry, but its terms and scope had not yet been decided. The Trade Union Conference now meeting at Newcastle discussed the use of union funds for political purposes. It was resolved that the efficiency of trade unionism depended on the exercise of political powers, and that only legislation could abolish poverty. August 12. A parliamentary paper which has been published states that the human leopards on the Gold Coast of West Africa, some of whose doings have been previously cabled, belong to a very powerful and widespread organisation. The members are bound by the strictest oath of secrecy, and a secret mark is branded on the body of each. Despite many trials and convictions the task of stamping out the practice is very difficult, as it has existed probably for centuries. The Japanese are displaying the greatest anxiety for the loss of a torpedo from the battleship Kongo, now in Belfast Lough. The torpedo embodied the most important secrets. The engines are worked by hot air generated by spirits, the composition of which is a secret. The torpedo lias a much longer range than any of British make. The Government is offering a sum 40 times greater than usual for the recovery of the torpedo. The Channel tunnel scheme for submission to Parliament provides for a length of 24 miles 100 ft below the sea, and for electric trains to run at a speed of 48 miles an hour. The cost is estimated at £16,000.000, August 13. The Marconi Company has declared a dividend for the year of 20 per cent. It has added £IOO,OOO to the reserve, and will carry forward £145,000. Joseph Phillips, aged 64, second cashier in the Bank of England, has been arrested on a charge of forging South American share transfers. Since his disappearance last April he has lived at Boxmcor in a state of abject poverty. Sir George Reid entertained Senator Elihu Root (United States) at dinner at the United Service Club The Select Committee on postal employees’ hours and wages proposes an additional annual expenditure of £1,009,000 on increases in salaries. The Commonwealth has engaged 60 picture theatres in the provinces to show exclusively Australian films during the winter months. The members of the Boilermakers’ Society on the Clyde have accepted an advance of Is weekly, and 2J, per cent, for piecework. The Liverpool Journal of Commerce lias stated that the Board of Trade has decided that candidates with higher certificates than those of the mercantile marine are not required to undergo colour vision tests. August 14. Statistics regarding Congregationalism throughout the world show an increase of 124 churches, 6464 church members, and 10,750 Sunday School scholars. The Athenic sails to-day with 114 farmers and farm labourers, their wives and families, 68 domestics, and 101 nominated passengers for New Zealand. The overdue barque Americana has been reinsured at 92 guineas per cent. The British Australasian Oil Company lias approved the scheme for the reconstruction of the Leith dock. The Lothian miners lost £40,000 in wages during the stoppage of the collieries owing to the Leith dockers’ strike August 15. A love drama 200 years old has been unearthed by the Historical Manuscripts Commission. Lady Florence wrote to Viscount Molesworth as follows with blood drawn from her own veins : “Here with my blood I confirm that until death I’ll always be constant, not loving anybody but you, who are my real god.” August 17. During a performance at the Elephant and Castle Theatre, South London, Herbert Wilson, the hero, was wounded in the shoulder by the wads from a gun, and lie has since succumbed. • Lord Lincolnshire announces his retirement from public life. It is reported that a Bolton Corporation labourer named Lunstall has inherited £200,000 from his father-in-law, a Mr West well, who was engaged in the West Australian pearl fisheries. In his presidential address before the British Association Sir Oliver Lodge will combat the new schools of physicists, who dispute the universality of ether in favour of the theory of relativity. Parliament’s last act before the prorogation was to create three new bishoprics — viz., Sheffield, Chelmsford, and Suffolk. The census returns disclose the fact that the common size of tenement houses in England is four rooms for an average family of three persons. In London 13 per cent, of the tenements only contain one room. The agricultural counties have the highest proportion of small families, and

the mining and industrial counties of large families.

PARIS, August 12,

M. Coniby alleges that Mr Salomons proposed that Coniby should act as intermediary for the restoration of the missing necklace. He declares that he was to obtain a written promise of a reward of £6OOO. Mr Salomon’s share was to he £20,000. Mr Salomons reiterates his denial of complicity. A father and son in the village of Bussi ere were in love with a dairymaid. They quarrelled, and fought a duel with revolvers in her presence. Six shots were exchanged without result. They then decided to finish their horrible conflict with knives, during which the son stabbed the father to death. He has been arrested on a charge of murder. August 16. Maxim Gorky is seriously ill at Capri from consumption. COPENHAGEN, August 13. Koch, the Danish explorer, crossed Greenland 600 miles further north than Nansen. STOCKHOLM, August 15. As a result of the Swedish naval manoeuvres there is a renewed agitation in favour of increased naval armaments, including a naval station near Gothenburg. BERLIN, August 11. At Lubeck the Kaiser thanked the Hanseatic merchants for securing for German trade a place in the world. Other States envied them on this account. He would do his utmost to protect German merchants abroad, so that Germany would keep her proper place. He was the protector of the merchants, whose enemy was his enemy. August 16. A balloon which ascended south-east of Berlin drifted into Russia. A fusillade of 200 shots was fired and damaged the balloon. The occupants, who were not injured, were arrested on a charge of espionage. • VIENNA, August 17. It is proposed to raise the annual recruit levy to 260,000, or an additional 40,000, 20,000 of whom will be used in the army and 20,000 in the navy. The remainder will be merged in the Lnndwehr. There will also be an increase in the number of cavalry and artillerv. WASHINGTON, August' 12. Cardinal Gibbons denounced the science of eugenics as an infringement of personal liberty. He said that marriage was something sacred, and no civil law should interfere. Of the various States which had passed legislation aiming at sterilising criminals only two were enforcing it. The State judges have upheld the conviction of Mrs Hazzard for causing the deatli of Miss Claire Williamson. Civil cases claiming £SOOO damages on the ground of the desecration of Miss Williamson’s body by performing an autopsy arc pending against Mrs Hazzard. NEW YORK, August 12. The Minnesota State Federation of Women’s Clubs has started a crusade against the split skirt. The federation is sending requests to manufacturers throughout the country asking them to refuse to make such an article, also to makers of dress patterns asking them to modify the present extreme styles. Clergymen everywhere are united in denouncing the present-day fashions. August 13. A policeman waving an American flag in the face of a member of the Industrial Workers of the World, who was declaiming Socialism in a street at Salt Lake City, caused a riot. The industrial workers attacked the policeman, other police were called out who fired at the mob with revolvers, and seven people were wounded. August 14. Niue men were killed in the Coronado mine at Clifton (Arizona) through the cable connecting the ore cars breaking. The cars dashed down a slope at terrific speed, and were wrecked at the bottom. Several miners leapt off safely, but others who remained on the cars were killed. KANSAS CITY, August 17. After prayers for rain in all the churches the greatest drought in the history of Kansas State has broken. Enormous damage was caused to crops by the heat. The temperature in some cities reached 100 Fahrenheit daily for weeks, and the mines were compelled to close because of the water famine. Showers are now general. OTTAWA, August 14. Mr Taft is spending a holiday here. In the course of an interview he said some Utopians believed that some day they would see union between Canada and the United States, but lie thought it would never occur. War between Britain and the United States over any question was impossible. August 17. General lan Hamilton’s report on the Canadian militia recommends the establishment of a national reserve, the creation of adequate war stores, and longer periods of training. Colonel Sam Hughes, Minister of Militia, has taken an active interest in increasing the numbers of the militia, with the result that the force was never so efficient as it is at present. CARACAS, August 12. Ex-President Castro’s revolution has failed, and the leaders in the eastern part of Venezuela have been taken prisoners. RTO JANEIRO, August 11. A rock slide occurred at the quarry at

Porto Bello, by which 13 labourers were killed. The men were operating a steam eho.vel.

CAPETOWN, August 12,

The Union Government has invited the Chief Health Officer for the Panama Canal zone to visit the Rand and investigate miners’ phthisis

August 13

The Meyer-Charlton mines on the Rand have introduced a system of electric blasting, which is controlled from the surface, with a view to reducing dust —the deadliest cause of phthisis. The Magistrate who is presiding over the Immigration Board at Durban read a communication from the Minister of the Interior stating that under the Immigration Regulations of 1913 the Minister deems every Asiatic an undesirable person on economic grounds. There been torrential rain in Capetown and surrounding districts. I here have been numerous railway washouts and collapses of bridges and dwellings. All trains northward have been cancelled. August 15.

Speaking at Dundee the Postmastergeneral (Sir T. Watt) advocated a land tax in order to force unoccupied areas on the market for closer settlement. CALCUTTA, August 11.

Timely warning enabled 1000 people to escape from Bardwan. The officials employed elephants to drive the people to places of safetv. SHANGHAI, August 15.

The Belgian constructors of the Hai chow-Lanchow railway are building 1000 miles of line from Kwiehaucheng to Tatung, Taiyuanufu, Tungukan, and Chengtu.