BRITISH AND FOREIGN ITEMS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13240, 11 August 1906, Page 3

BRITISH AND FOREIGN ITEMS.

London, June 30. . Millions will bo required this year to keep the Russian peasantry from

death by famin'C. The Paris Municipal Council has d'ecidod to i«Kue a 10-aai of '£4,200,(;00 for, the purchase of the 'gasworks. A camtoittee of -the B-otird of Supervisors has cteci.kd in favour of the establishment of a jaumuipal pawnshop at San Francisco. American contracts for tho Panama Canal arc. being accepted oven thloug-h i/h« prices are hi'O'hor than those ottered by foreign lira^s.' general Clayton told the War S terra Commission that the local conimct system iaa South Africa was most, iniquitous, and resulted in tremendous swindling. , ' An extaarordinary Tamstoi'm brolce over Londom, the rainfall for the 12 hours b«tw«en midniiglht and noon totalling ir&axly 2£ inches. AVadesprea'd Hoods Wre causal. The Twentieth Century calculates that holders of Russian bonds have lost £200,000,000 through th« depreciation of Kus"sian securities. It has now been definHoly ascertained th-at 23 pcrsonfl wore killed •amcl 99 injured' by the bomb explosion in Madrid an the wedding day of tho King and Queen of Spain. Tho latest saying credited to Presi-dent-Roosevelt is " This is iAvs day for the m-a-n with a patcihi ow his breeches to come forward, and for tho onan-of-thc^Joltar to g-o to the rear." Tho. "bridge on! thto Cape to Cairo railway ' over <th« ! Kafuo river, 266 miles north of 'the Victoria Falls, has been: cdmpl-et&d, »ays the Afrirati World, «,nd the first tram has passed over -it. ' A Berlin '.imrjrterssa'rio has dom^tructed a floating theatre, on which he will tour on live- Rhine, {with >an opera company, this summer. It will seat 2500 people, and' vrill lis- jtowed from one town to another. Aft^r Sotno ■exciting scenes a 'ton of coal was sold' in I>ublm recently for a shilling. It «belong«d to at Mr 0'Carroll, who sofnw ti'ine ago refu-sod to pay a fine imiJoscd.by the police magistrate 'because h? paiinljeUl 'lure! name in Irish characters on 'his caa"tQ. The police seized 'tho coal, -and .-it w^as offeroH for sale in Messrs iHii^s lauoti on

rooms. 'A Gvn&va. 'telegram says : A Swiss J cyclist 'warned -Rdtlilm, was returning ivom Flu-era to Som«n after dark, . took tJie -wrong road, a!ndci*aS'hed t'hroug-h the wooden barrier on the ■edge of a p)x>cipice. His body was foan-d 2000 feet below on tJh<u rocks next morning. Mr Golden, Connni'ssionetf for ilmmigrntion, M-anitofea, ■estinita'fca th a t froan 20,000, to 25^000 hi^niesters wiil be required -for tho 'province this year. He fearfr- thait th«ere may be> n laibour faming, " as there is not a sufficient supply of labourers in sight, and the railways-" tare 'takiing. 'diE the (available men. It is a matter -"of open , knowledge (says the. London correspondent of the Liverpool Post) in the mo-i^ intimate Court circles "that thfl Cz-ar has bocn in communicatiooi with titoctfvmg in thej last . lew days. It 'has, iracfeed, ]yenn almokt a habit on th<o part of the Czar in «th« las*^*two. years lo^ appeal to the British" for. sympathy and advice. Kin ( g Alfonso aawl ' Queen ' Ena, whese devotion has been 'Strengthened by .^ye^yful .trial lf tp . v w,irich an. i ass<assin • subjected thorn (writes a Madrid cojrrclpDii'dc'nt) have solemnly \ owcxi to each 1 -other' that tihe*y will not appear in public except togothcr. Tlviy anticipate, with a conviction -almoWt fatalistic, that another 'assassin will hurl a bomb at t-h-ppi. If it prove fatal, 'it Shall -be to bot'i, they ' aro detoi'miiiNvl. Vno report of the Commission appoihited by the Duma to enquire into the Bielostok massacres charges the police with having enrolled hooligans under -tho 'guise of firemen,, and having, employed, them to beat the Jews. These, it is declared, -were take.n to the "police station, where some of them were actually killed., T^Ke. maltreatment waft with<i tlig.(too}wledgo of M. the Chief of Police. . ' During the • enquiry into tho financial position ' .of Zion City "tne cashier of Dodo's bank' gave ©vidience in the court that Dowie's account was overdrawn to the -.amount of £96, 24/7.1 iHis personal expenses averaged £1(5,800 a year. , There , were overdrafts of £131,54.0 from various Z'iou City industries since 1899. . Mr S' v F. ISdge' writes that tho latest Board of Trade returns show a fall of ,9 par cent., in the importation of- foreign motor-cars, and a rise of 66 per cen t. in • the export of Britis>h\ caa*s for tho first .five months of 1906, .£,s compared with the • same period of 1905. c 'Thesc figure, % " , he adds, '.''are *tho finest indication that we arc coming within' nxeasurablf* distance of the time when " tiie Briton w>jll be ashamed to be • seen roh a foreign vehicle/

1 " U3io ■greatest virtue any people can possess -is thrift." said >pr Rockefeller in an interview with a ErcmcK journalist. ■ - ' • . , 'Father Viaughan a<rain denounced -bho sins of ' the Smart Set. ' He declared the West' End wa«s littered with broken marriage vows. A'mjan. was murd'erod -by ©Tie of four escaping' burglars in ."Gla-sgow, and subsequently a m-an who- is supposed to •be one of the burglars' committed suicide.' . ■ > ,„ ,-« . Szisz won the motor car <Gr.and Prix at an Javera'go- speed •01<53£ "miles an hour.. At. oixp time fixe flew along at 92i males an hour. ' . Mr- Ch'atn'berlain, speaking in aid of the sanatoria * or consumptives, said that millionaireS could -give no K<r eater ibe-nefit to humanity than by qnttwravg 'schemes for srodititti research.

James Cook, a disciple of -the Peculiar People, was sentenced to nine mouth's' hard labour for tho manslatightei: of his children 'by "neglect. A committee of the Commons has thrown out, tht) .Bill seeking Parliamentary powers for the London County Council's great scheme to supply electricity in bulk to the whole of London. On her recent journey from 'New York <tha iG-ei^man liner Barbarqssn, which 'arrived aY Plymouth yesterday, reports passing 1 a burning ship mx m)MAtlaii'tic on June 19. No trace -of Kfe could be spon on board.