MAIL NEWS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1869, 10 February 1892, Page 6

MAIL NEWS.

Mr Joseph Chamberlain assured a labor delegate that waited on him recently of the Government's willingness to adopt legislation looking to the amelioration of the laboring classes— particularly agricultural— throughout the country, by the improvement of their dwellings, and would introduce measures to allow laborers to acquire smallholdings and to assist them in procuring land.

The Liverpool Chamber of Commerce decided on December 18 not to take part in the Chicago World's Fair, as a local centre, on the ground that the M'Kinley tariff law had deprived Liverpool of Chicago's trade, and American manufacturers would copy English exhibits.

Much alarm is felt in English shipping and commercial circles because of the resignation of the underwriters at Lloyd's. A London despatch of December 11 sayß that three more gentlemen engaged in marine assurance business had concluded to withdraw, as their losses are very heavy. This will make a total of seventeen underwriters who have withdrawn from Lloyd's within a few weeks.

The Czar has given offence by declaring publicly that no famine exists, and that there has only been a. partial failure of the crops. This expression of opinion is very very_ general in official circles. In several provinces of the Empire the Zemstovs have decided to issue loans at a low rate of interest. This measure is designed for the relief of the famine-stricken peasants, and to prevent their selling or pawning their toolS or farming implements. The Chinese Government will not be represented at the World's Fair in Chicago. The Emperor's reasons for declining to send an exhibit are that the United States haß discriminated against the citizens of that Empire, and that the Chinese could not come to the Exposition without being put in a humiliating attitude, needing a special passport to be granted by a special Act of Congress.

JamesJMurphy, with his sister Mary, were found dead in a house in Newry on December 30. They were misers, and died of starvation. Their bodies lay upon heaps of straw. The money and property found belonging to the pair amounts to L 40.000. Mr Gladstone, replying to a correspondent inquiring the position of the labor question in Parliament if the Irish members are withdrawn, says: "The fear that British labor will be unable to fight its own battle without the Irish members is entirely visionary."

The American Bell Telephone Company have so far forwarded experiments in the telephone field that they have now in their possession a perfect' telephone by which whispers can be transmitted 500 miles distant.

A war has been commenced against Sunday newspapers in Pennsylvania by the Law and Order Society. Thirty-five employe's were arrested on January 6 on a charge of being engaged in worldly employment on the Sabbath. The information was laid under a law enacted 100 years ago. Just as the marriage of William Wright and Miss Phillips had been solemnised at Meridian (Mass.), on December 25, a disappointed rival for the lady's hand, named Johnson, killed the bridegroom, shooting him through the window with a doublebarrelled shot gun, He told the woman he would do this, and he kept his word. Lieutenant Perry, his wife, and party, having been despatched a year or two ago to find the north pole, the usual second step in such cases is to be taken in the spring by the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, and an expedition ia to be sent out to discover the would-be discoverers. The London police claim that they have effected an important arrest of a group of anarchists residing at Walsall, in Staffordshire. In connection with the recent explosion at Dublin Castle a man who was recently passing the police station in London attracted the attention of the police by his peculiar manner, and he was taken into custody as a suspicious character. The police say that they soon found ample justification for arresting this man. When searched at the police station on his person were found" papers giving the details of the anarchists' plots, and the names of persons implicated in the conspiracies. The papers showed that the headquarters of the anarchists were at Walsall, and steps were immediately taken to place them under arrest. The result was that a Frenchman named Victor Cailes, a woman named Marie Pibelne, and Frederick Charles, all residing in Walsall were soon in custody.- The prisoners belonged to the Socialist Club in Walsall. The club room and residences of the prisoners were searched by the police, and the investigation led to the most important discoveries concerning the machinations and work of the plotters. The prisoners were charged with having in their possession explosives which they intended to devote to an unlawlul purpose. The magistrate discharged Marie Pibelne. It is the intention of the authorities to use her as a witness against the others. The prisoners had in their possession matrices which were used in making bombs. They are of a conical shape, and four or five inches long. The models of other parts of the paraphernalia used in making bombs were also found in the possession of the prisoners. The chief constable asked for an adjournment of the case, hinting at the same time that it was probable that other arrests would shortly . follow. The magistrate granted tbe re- " cyiest, and the prisoners were remanded for a week. The police have discovered the secret foundry for the manufacture of bombs, the place where evplosives were made by anarchists. The Walsall Club, to which the prisoners belong, has been the centre of an anarchist propaganda for several years It has transpired tlfat the police for a long time have been suspicious of the members of the club, and that for three months had been watching the club rooms day and night. They did not feel warranted in making arrests, however, until the arrest of the man in London, and the incriminating documents found on him had established beyond doubt that the members of the club were engaged in unlawful practices. Among the articles seized by the police is a supply of anarchist pamphlets teaching the manufacture of explosives, be. sides a quantity of material for bombs and bolts,