NEWS BY CABLE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3383, 15 January 1919, Page 36

NEWS BY CABLE.

REPORTED SHIPPING DEALS. It is rumoured in the city that the P. and O. Company has acquired a controlling interest in the Orient Company, its greatest rival in the Australian trade. The New York Times Washington, correspondent says that Shipping Board officials have denied the truth of the report that the proposed purchase of the International Mercantile Marine ships by the United States Government has been abandoned. LORD JELLICOE'S VISIT. Admiral Lord Jellicoe will hoist his flag aboard the New Zealand on February 15 and sail for Australia 10 days later. LIGHT RAILWAYS. The Government proposes to utilise a large quantity of light railway material now in France for connecting country districts -in Britain with the-main railway lines, and thus increasing the supply of farm products. OBITUARY. The death is reported of Baron Michelham, senior partner in the firm of. Herbert Stern and "Co., of London and Paris, who is estimated to be worth £20,000,000. His son was married on the 4th, and Lord Michelham gave the bride—Miss Beatrice Capel—£l.ooo,ooo. The death is announced of Sir' Donald Mackenzie, K.C., V.A., the famous .journal ist. Born in Dumbartonshire, Scotland, hewas educated at Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities and on the Continent. He was private secretary to the- Marquess of Duffern and Marquess of LaUsdowhe as Viceroys of India' (1884-89); attached to the Czarewitch as political officer during his tour in India and Ceylon (1889-91); assistant private secretary to H.R.H. the Duke of Cornwall and York during his colonial tour (1901). His publications included "Egypt and the, Egyptian Question," "The Web of • Empire,*' and "Russia," which has long been recognised as a standard work on the subject. From 1891 to 1899 he was director of the foreign department of The Times, and was a famous special correspondent. AMERICAN WHEAT. . Reports from Chicago state that the visible supply of wheat and flour east of the Rockies is 125,880,000 bushels. Mr Hoover says that 1,400,000 tons of food will be .needed from, the United States to save Europe from early famine. The cost -of this delivery will be 350 million dollars. TRANSVAAL GOLD PRODUCTION. Tho gold production last year from the Transvaal mines was valued at £35,736,683, compared with £38,323,921 for 1917. The deficit is large.'y attributable to dislocation during the epidemic SERIOUS FLOODS- IN ITALY.: ~- Terrible floods have occurred in the Po, Arno, and Tiber Rivers, which burst their banks. Many villages and a hundred miles of country have been inundated, in some places to' a depth of from. 10ft to 20ft. The damage done amounts to millions sterling. CHINESE AFFAIRS. Public opinion amongst the Chinese and foreigners is strongly in favour -of internationalising the railways and settlements of China as the only means of securing equal opportunity for all. The Japanese - have secured a paramount position hi conmerce with China, and are saving • the Chinese inhabitants of Manchuria and Shantung . from foreign rule, under which they were likely to fall. The matter is regarded as of international interest. • . VARIOUS ITEMS. Lover Bros, have decided to increase their capital to £60,000,000. The British Agricultural Wages Board recommends a labourer's half-holiday weekly. The late Sir George Reid's will has been proved at £8340 gross and £7713 net personalty. Twenty persons were killed and 48 injured in a railroad wreck at Batavia, New York State.

The Indian National Congress resolved in favour of full provincial antonomy and against special electorates for Europeans. The police at Montevideo have discovered a "Bolshevist plot to overthrow the Uruguayan and Argentine Governments and establish Soviets. There have been many arrests. A British Government official asserts that Germany- is preparing an industrial invasion of England by the use of many shops which are now being rented by neutrals. The London Stock Exchange forbids members employing any person of enemy birth, or any ex-member who., has been exP°^ ec * - 1 • Arrangements are well m hand for taking the licensing poll of the New Zealand troops in England. France, and Egypt in April. . . , There were 46.410 convictions for drunkenness in England and Wales during; 1917. compared with 84,191 in 1916 and 183,828 in 1914. . , • ... Thro Dutch companies are undertaking the repairs to 60 British vessels damaged during the war period. . . The Star states that recruiting for the regular British army on the pre-war basis will be resumed on the 15th inst. This will provide drafts to serve in distant -theatres. Prince Victor Dtileep Singh, of Lahore, left an estate valued at £67,192. He wai

educated at Eton and Cambridge, and married a daughter of the Earl ol Threo y foreigners were charged at Marylebone with possessing, forged. bpamsn nationality certificates. The prosecution stated that one carried anarchist propaganda urging the soldiers to lay down their ar Accoiding to a German wireless message Mr Bernard' Shaw, Mr Zanjrwill, and Mr Jerome Jerome are the spiritual and intellectual leaders of the Jurists. . "A United Press message frorn iokio states that the next World's Press Congress will be held in Sydney on November 11, 1919.