YESTERDAY'S NEWS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7727, 10 June 1903, Page 1

YESTERDAY'S NEWS.

A SUMMARY.

The following is a. summary of news which did not appear in yesterday's "Star":-- , : tfbp hospital collection! at St Paul's totalled £1800. * . . : ' . -. ■ ■■■ *»r An American squadron has been ordered to /Valparaiso, owing to social disturbances ithere. > ■ . . ■; ■ V Tho House of Commons approved the vote for sending a relief ship to the Discovery expedition. .. Tho Pull Court confirmed; th© sentences, of Jonas and Grand, who were •condemned to 'death for the murder o; Constable Lang. ■:'.v • ••• Captain Wells, chief of tho Metropolitan 'Fire Brigade, 'has .succeeded Mr A. W. E. >Middleton as chief agent of ilhe Conservative 'Party. ■„ -• ■ The Eev George Lane, president of tho Australasian. Methodist Conferences, (has received tho degree of Doctor of Divinity irom Victoria University, Toronto. A group of cities on ihe x east side of the Mississippi and north; east of St Louis is ten >to eighteen feot under water. Seven hundred people' spent the night oni the 'housetops, and were rescued in boats. Bailway traffic in flooded district is suspended. Three thousand five hundred French troops, .with ten guns, are operating against Figig. Six' huTidr'ea melinite shells' were fired by the ■French' gunboat Massie against' Zenaga, and occasioned much damage. If the Arabs eor>' 'iinue • stubborn, other villages will be bom-, <b*rded. ' . ; . ;■-;'■ '■.:■■%» ■ • . -tii;the House of Commons, Mr Brodrick, .Secretary , of State ior War, stated that an> .enormous stock, of unwashed military 'blankets* and stores it- Cape Town took fire from. «pontineoua conrbustionv Eighty thousand were -sold for £1495, owing to am officer's error of ijudgmen't; , • , The A'byasi^n General states there too ' English pTiaonerSi in tihe Mullah's camp. • Thty are supposed ■ to be ofißcers of Captain' Plunkofct'a ' force wounded 'during the recent fighting at Jiunburru. Negotiations for their exchange for prisoners 'held 'by; the -British are proceeding. , ' < A court-martial convicted nine officers*. of tlio 21st iAncers, stationed at Dublin, tff "ragging" Lieutenant- Willows, « colonial, for not joining in amusements. The commanding officer was iblained for an> error of judgment, one major was ordered to resign, . •mi cnobber major and two oaptains andi four Keute;nants were censured, end their pro:motion stopped.' \ ''"■■■ The silo wers that have fallen 'have diminished; the danger from forest firea in Canada, »nd . they are now confined io three counties bordering lie' St Lawrence. Many women 'heroically aided in fighting tihe flames. Several towns have. -been compretely iuoluted for days owing to tfhe suspension of railways and the destruction of telegraph lines. '"»* In the House of Commons, Mr Austeoi - Chamberlain ' eaid that it was inadvisable to Appoint a select committee to inquire into the question of mail contracts An interdepartmental committee would elicit full information. A big question had arisen in connection with the Australian^ contract. ■ The Imperial Government was precluded' from ex- ' eluding any 3ritiffh subject from employment ott the .ground ot colour, and it was doubly, impossible in any contract where India was a **«* ■;:■■,.- „■■. ■% . ■• • .:;■;.■ In *he Federal House, Mr Deakin, ininorSng tjie 6«cond reading of th© Judiciary Bill, eaid that it w«s practically theeame -Bill aa •that introduced last year. Combine^ with the Procedure Bill to follow, it would provide tbo complete equipment of a High. Court. The object was to create an Austrulian; Court pi Appeal, which would decide finally matWfg affected bx local >l«.ws, and et> aniirimisa

i'he number of cases senb to the Privy Council, wi'ta the attendant delays and great expense. Touching delays and dangers, he said that it took tho Privy Council from on© to five years to deal with appeals, the, average being twenty-one months. He instanced tho recent New Zealand*case to show the risks of appealing to the Privy Council on questions of purely local lay/s. The total , cost of the High Court was estimated, at £30,000.