BBITISU * N»» FOKF?n?t OA.

Otago Witness, Issue 3111, 29 October 1913, Page 24

BBITISU * N»» FOKF?n?t OA.

LONDON, October 20. The Post Office returns show that 3298 million letters were delivered in the year, an ncrease’of 3j per cent, on the previous year ; also 202 million newspapers, an in- , crease of 1.8 per cent. ! Licht estimates that the production of beet sugar has decreased by 19,000 tons, tut the campaign will show a surplus of 95.000 tons. | *; Mr Charles "Brookfield, drastic censor, 5s dead. ' I October g2l. j The eldest son of Sir Almroth Wright, while cleaning a revolver, fatally shot himself. I Charles M‘lvor, a Rugby international three-quarter, died from concussion of the I brain, which he received in a practice match. ■ Mr Lloyd George is heading a Baptist i campaign to complete the raising before S the spring assembly of a quarter of a , million in order to secure a minimum wage for Baptist ministers. The sum of £IOO,OOO is still required. There was an unprecedented large .attendance of the Bench, Bar, and public at j fiir Rufus Isaacs’s inauguration as Lord Chief Justice. The Lord Chancellor (Viscount Haldane), addressing the assembled Bar, said : “ We .knew him as a man of the highest honour and with the highest desire to pursue the truth.” The Daily Mail states that the New Zealand loan has rallied, and is now quoted at a quarter per cent, discount. It ‘ ■ays the loan is exceptionally cheap, and it strongly recommends it as an investment by trustees. By converting the debentures into 4 per cent, stock the loan can be obtained _at a little above 96. October 22. .Booklets (printed in various languages) concerning Australian immigration are being distributed, over the Continent. The German Government has given the Commonwealth authorities a strong hint that they do not want Australian immigration agents in Germany. October 23. One million five hundred thousand feet of films, valued at £50,000, in the British and Colonial Kinematograph Company's buildings in Eudel street, London, weredestroyed by fire, which was caused by the fusing of an electric wire. The Volturno has been yghted. She is still on fii'e. There are indications that the hall is likely to float. A conference of the provision trades section of the London Chamber of Commerce

and the Wholesale Produce Merchants’ Association, called to consider the serious shortage of hog and cattle products, resolved to send a deputation to Mr Runciinan to suggest that greater help be afforded farmers to establish co-operative abattoirs and bacon factories. October 24. The Hon. Stephen Coleridge slates that Lionel Arbuthnot, secretary of the National Anti-vivisection Society, has disappeared, and that the sum of £SOOO is missing. Irregularities were noticed, and Arbuthnot was asked for an explanation. He made an excuse and walked out of the directors’ room, and has not been seen since. Bishop Thornton intends to marry Mrs Rice, the\ widow of his curate when he was rector of St. George’s Church, Birmingham. Karl Henischel, a British subject and a teacher of languages, has been remanded on a cTiarge of inciting Parrott to betray naval secrets. The prosecution stated that Hentschel was charged on his own confession. Edward Jones, a chimney sweep, has been charged at Llandudno with stealing jewels. In Jones’s house the police found a quantity of articles which are believed to form part of jewellery, valued at £IO,OOO, which was stolen from Mr Wartski, an i which had been exhibited at the Grand Hotel. Jones lived" above Mr Wartski’s office. October 26. English schools are gradually being supplied with enlarged photographic views of Australia. The last order was for 12,500, which are to be shipped before the end of the year. After quarrelling with, and wounding his married sister at Edinburgh with a revolver, a man named Ross, a civil engineer, who recently came from the Far East, -committed suicide in hari-kari fashion. He opened a pen-knife, placed the handle on a table, and fell on the blade. He was wounded near the heart and he died in a few minutes. October 27. Two mysterious explosions of bombs occurred in different streets in Dublin, and injured a |nan and a boy. PARIS, October 20. A hairdresser’s wife at Templeuv6 has given birth to her 25th child. October 21. A girl who was working in a wine vat at Correze was asphyxiated by the fumes. Four persona who tried to rescue her were also overcome and died. October 26. Several bogus pearls made by a Hindoo

are in circulation. One was seized, on which a value of £IO.OOO had been put. BERLIN, October 20. The Crown Prince, in the course of a second letter to the Imperial Chancellor, regrets v the publication of his first letter, and denies that he has opposed the Kaiser’s wishes regarding the Brunswick throne. , He also admits that the Chancellor’s reply largely removes his personal apprehensions. , October 21. Lord Redesdale’s son is engaged to Fraulein Friedlanderfuld, the only child of Berlin’s coal king, whose fortune is five millions sterling. Ex-King Manuel’s wife has recovered, and they have both gone to Sigmaringen. ROME, October 20. Massetti, a criminal who had served part of his life sentence for murdering his sweetheart, was pardoned, and returned to his home at Rovato, but his relatives refused him shelter, owing to his violent temper. Massetti then set fire to the homestead, and killed his father, brother, and another relative, two women, and a child, after which he took refuge in the woods. An art 4ealer from London, who was touring in Umbria, offered £4OOO for Pinturiccho’s picture at Spello. A nobleman secured a reproduction of the picture, and Santarelli, the parish priest, admits that he assisted the nobleman in its substitution for the original on a basis of half the profits. An examination of the church shows that other ancient treasures are missing. October 21. The Pope gave an audience to the Bishop , of Christchurch, and discussed developments in the dominion and its relations with Australia and Japan. ST. PETERSBURG, October 21. A steam launch which was towing three boats full of men was dashed on the beach at Okhotsk by the heavy seas. Eleven men were drowned in one boat. The men in the second boat were rescued, but the third boat was driven out to sea, and the fate of its occupants is not known. , NEW YORK, October 21. A heavy storm, accompanied by a fail of snow, has been experienced in Wisconsin. Two boats capsized and five people were drowned during a storm in Maryland. Several fishing boats were wrecked. October 22. Tire grand jury, as a result of investigation, has indicted 28 officials and members of the City Council of East St. Louis for graft and corruption while holding municipal office. The ex-Mayor and ex-

Treasurer are also involved in grave charges of maladministration. ( October 23. ' After a sharp debate the bench of j, Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal« Church postpdhed a proposal to give the! southern negroes one bishop to represent them directly in church government, j Much opposition was directed against the scheme. j October 25. J Langeard, in order to provide a new picture film sensation, took a motor boat through the whirlpool rapids at Niagara Falls. The motor failed, and he circled round the whirlpool for four hours before some rescuers reached him in another motor boat. A tornado in Southern Louisiana greatly damaged the cotton plantations and razed a number of negroes’ dwellings. i One white, woman and seven negroes were killed. The explosion of a light and power plant at Staten Island wrecked the entire buildings, and killed six men and injured many other employees. The island is in darkness, and the trolley services are suspended. Owing to a cloudburst causing a cave-in ' seven Mexican minors were entombed in a mine at Rockdale (Texas). After five days’ strenuous drillings the men were taken out alive, but much emaciated SAN FRANCISCO, October 21. | Mr Guiney said that New Zealanders sought not merely to be entertained, but to be instructed by the newspapers. New f Zealanders took a great interest in their press. The American newspapers reported events as they occurred in the reporters’ i opinions, while the New Zealand press gave facts without colouring. ' American interest in the world's affairs was behind that of other nations if one could judge from the newspapers. j OTTAWA, October 21. ! The Alberta Provincial Legislature has increased the salary of the Premier of the province to 10,000dol (£2000), and agreed , to provide 4000dol (£800) for the Leader . of the Opposition. The Conservatives won the by-election for East Middlesex (Ontario). The issue was chiefly fought on Mr Borden’s naval policy. The President, of the Canadian-Pacific Railway Company announces that if the experiments now being carried out in the Rocky Mountains for operating trains solely by electricity are successful the whole of its transcontinental line will be electrified. The ’company’s engineers .declare that the scheme is not impracticable in view of Canada’s extensive water power.

October 25. 7he Federal Government has Renewed the contract with the New Zealand Shipping Company for a service between Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, with a subsidy of £28,000 yearly uhtil 1915. The Government has drawn up new regulations governing Oriental immigration into Canada, and has submitted them to the Home Government for approval. Such action is declared to be urgent by the press in view of the fact that Hindus are now able to evade the existing regulations providing for uninterrupted passages from their country of birth in order to enter the dominion. JOHANNESBURG,, October 21. The Labourites have decided to boycott the banquet to the British Parliamentarians, and have refused to associate with Lord Gladstone and others, whom they hold to be indirectly responsible for the bloodshed during the riots. October 24. The British Parliamentary visitors were entertained at a banquet by the Union Government. Mr Smuts, who presided, said the South African problem might appear insoluble, but the people were determined to make the country a triumph for white civilisation and to square their ideals with their ethical principles. BOMBAY, October 22. A tremendous fall in Bombay mill shares caused a panic in the share market. The Stock Exchange has been closed. One broker has failed, his liabilities amounting to £160,000. DELHI, October 23. The financial excitement in Bombay continues. A pearl merchant has failed for 40 lakhs of rupees. PEKING, October 22. The Tibetans have demanded that China shall recognise their complete autonomy. The Chinese Government is painfully surprised over the demand.