VARIOUS CABLES

Southland Times, Issue 17607, 23 March 1914, Page 6

VARIOUS CABLES

A ROYAL DIVORCE. JBy Telegraph—press Assn.—Copyright, STOCKHOLM, March 20. .'he Council of State has declared Prince 'William’s marriage dissolved. Prince 'William is the second son of King Gustave of Sweden, and is aged 23. In October his wife, formerly the Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna of Russia, aged 2.1. left Stockholm and went to her father in Paris, declaring that she would not return to the Prince. In November the Czar, granted, in principle. Iter demand for a divorce. lOR THE BLIND. ! LONDON’. March 20. ■' vhe Mansion House is appealing for £120.000 on behalf of the National Institute for the Blind, for the purpose of cheapening and amplifying Braille litera- I, ture. The King, at the opening of the institute, strongly supported the scheme. GRECIAN NAVT. ATHENS. March 20. ‘.he Minister of Marine lias announced that the navy will, be strengthened by three battleships, three armoured crui- > cers, and a proportionate number of light I units. ENGULFED IN A SUBSIDENCE. NEW YORK. March 21. hvo miners engaged working in a shanty on a mountain side near a colliery at Potisville, Pennsylvania, disappeared through the earth inside a building engulfed in a subsidence. It is believed they were swallowed up alive, descending 500 ft in abandoned works. KAISER AND RELIGION. BERLIN. March 21. Received March 22. 5.5 p.m. he newspapers publish a letter that was in the- late Herr Kopp’s possession In which the Kaiser, in 1901. writing to Princess Anna of Hesse, when she became a Roman Catholic, strongly diapproved of her change in faith, and added. "I hate the re'igion you have adopted." Newspapers stale that His Majesty expressed himself in similar terms on other occasions though in a milder form and in confidential conversation. COMPULSORY MILITARY FORCE. (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) LONDON. March 20. Lord Roberts opposed Lord Wiloughby de Broke’s Bill to establish compulsory military force among the wealthy classes, to be called "His Majesty’s Imperial Force." He was anxious to see defence put on a satisfactory basis, but the Bill was not a practical method of Its attainment. The Bill was rejected fcy 134 to 52 votes. LIMITATION OF ARMAMENTS. ST. PETERSBUEGH, March 20. A journalistic sensation has been caused by the publication in the Novoe Vremya of conversations between a Russian Minister and distinguished personages in Berlin and Paris on the limitation of armaments. An expression of Germany’s willingness to surrender Alsace in order to adhere to the Powers’ triple entente occurred during the Balkan j war, and is regarded as a reason lor tne j present fanciful speculations. BRITAIN’S DRINK BILL. ' LONDON, March 20. j The amount spent in drink in Britain during 1915 totals £166.681,000, an increase of £5.000,000 on the figures for 1912, but a per capita decrease in consumption is shown as compared with the previous period. KAISER IN AMERICA. ST. PETERSBURG, March 20.The Novoe Vremya asserts that Russian statesman professing the most profound detestation of England tried to persuade the Kaiser to join the FrancoRussian alliance. The Kaiser was agreeable to the principle, but was unwilling to provoke hostility with England. because he believed that Europe S&ould combine against AmericuGBRMAN OFFICER’S SUICIDE. PARIS, March 20. Le Journal states that a German officer named Von Sturgen. employed ‘by the Triplice. visited an English girl’s residence at Constantinople and left his portfolio behind. This the police edVon Sturgen has committed suicide.