BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 14043, 29 October 1909, Page 5

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Press Asrociation-By Telegraph-Copyright FLOODS IX EXGLAXD. LONDON. Oct. 27. Heavy rains have Hooded the south <il" England. A railway bridge between Ticehurst and Effingham collapsed, and part of :v goods train fell into the river. AEROS AT DOXCASTER. M. Dc hi Grange. at Doncasfor, aeroplaned at the rate of fifty-four miles an hour. THE COLONIAL INSTITUTE. The Royal Colonial Institute has agreed to a new constitution, including the admission • of ladies as associates, and the establishment of local centres throughout tlfc Empire. ROYAL TRIPPERS. The Queen and Princess Victoria have returned to London from Norway. They arc accompanied by the Queen of Norway. UNEMPLOYED IN LONDON. Twenty thousand unemployed are registered in London, chiefly in the. building, cigar-marking and brewing trades. "Work has been found for 200. The Government will vote £200,000 under the Unemployment Act. Received 9.15 p.m., Oct. 28th. THE SUEZ CANAL. LOXDOX, Oct. 28. Renter's Cairo corrosixwident reports that the initial parlc.vings for a renewal of the Suez Canal concession continue. Probably Egypt will share the company's profits after 1921, when the profits will be graduated until 1068, and the concession be prolonged until 2008. In addition to the profits, Egypt will receive a lump sum of £3,000,000 or £4,000,000. THE KING'S SORROW. King Edward .has sent an aulo•Taph letter expressing abhorrence at Prince lto's murder. Received 10.5 p.m., Oct. 28th. EXPERIM ENTA L LEG IS L ATI ON. The "Financial News" says that one of the many satisfactory features of government in the British overseas dominions is the energy and vitality displayed in the administration of their finances. A good instance in New Zealand is the establishment of a State guaranteed advances department. The Bill proposes a somewhat original. line of action which must bo regarded as largely experimental, but there is convincing evidence of the Government's recognition of public; necessities, and its intention to supply them on business-like lines. CLAIMS FOR SALVAGE. Eight sets of plaintiffs sued the New Zealand Shipping Company in connection with the salvage of the AA'hakatane after July 4th. The total value of tho claims was £140,000, and Mr Justice Bingham awarded £OOOO. Received 10.10 p.m., Oct. 28th. SERIOUS RUMOURS. There arc many rumours that confidential drawings relating to the cruiser-battleship Invincible, which the Admiralty sent to the Elswick works, arc missing. Mr Reginald McKenna, First Lord of the Admiralty, will be questioned oit the subject. CANADIAN DOCKS. OTTAWA, Oct. 27. Messrs Ilarland, Wolfe, and others have provisionally formed a company to build dry docks at Levis at a cost of £700,000 sterling and at St. Johns, Newfoundland, at a cost of £500,000. An influential deputation urged Sir "Wilfrid Lauricr to grant an annual subsidy to Levis of £25,000 and St. Johns of £20,000. Sir Wilfrid Lauricr promised to consult the Cabinet. A DIAMOND LAW SUIT. The De Beers Diamond Company is suing the British South African Company in the London Chancery Court, claiming, under certain agreements, all diamonds found in Rhodesia. The defendant company contends that the agreements are ultra vires and contrary to.public policy. BOMBS IN PORTUGAL. LISBON, Oct. 27. A large dynamite bomb was found in the chapel of the Irish Dominican monks at Lisbon. • A SOCIETY DIVORCE. NEW YORIC, Oct. 27. Mrs J. J. Astor, a society leader of New York, is seeking a divorce from Colonel Astor. THE TARIFF WAR. PARIS, Oct. 28. In the French Chamber, M. Jaures urged that France should take the initiative in proposing an entente in the general tariff war throughout the world. THE FEDERAL PRINCIPLE. OTTAAYA, Oct. 28. Sir AVilfrid Lauricr, in a brilliant address at Montreal upon the British Constitution, declared that Britain is more democratic, elastic and responsive to public needs than America. One point wherein America was superior was the federated union, whereas the British was legislative union. Experience had shown that federation was the most potent instrument for unity, despite ethnological and geographical divisions. It was astonishing that William Ewart Gladstone did not hit on the federated principle as a remedy for the Irish question. The British Parliament was now overloaded with

petty details. Perhaps some time the federated principle, would be applied to England, Scotland and Ireland, in a new constitution for the Empire.