NEWS OF THE DAY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXX, Issue 8452, 17 May 1906, Page 5

NEWS OF THE DAY.

A Ministeral crisis in Natal, over the Uuoccupied Land Tax Bill, was narrowly averted. The Chairman of Committees was voted out of the chair. The House did not wish the Hon. C. J. Smythe, Premier, and his colleagues to resign at the preseht, juncture. Mr Smythe emphasised the need of revenue. There are indications that the Bill will be reintroduced, subject to slight amendments. The London Tribune says that massacres of French missionaries have occurred in the Nganhwei province of China. King Edward appeared at Newmarket on horseback for the first time since his accident last September. A Royal Commission has been appointed to make enquiries into the working of the vivisection law. The police last night raided the Sydney (or Wren's) Club, in Pitt-street, and arrested over a hundred people. They seized implements of gaming and £27. The Royal Commission appointed last March (of which Sir J. West Ridgeway is chairman) to visit South Africa and advise respecting the new constitutions of Orange River Colony and the Transvaal has finished its labours. It is understood the elections will take place in December. The Board of Trade proposes to set up a Commission to investigate the extent and nature of the competition encountered in Canada by British manufacturers. The Toronto Star recommends the establishment by British manufacturers of branch factories in Canada similar to those of United States industrial concerns. Among the Ministerialists in the House of Commons neariy one hundred Churchmen support the general principles of the Education Bill, but do not oppose reasonable concessions. They were to hold a conference on the matter to-day. Tho Standard's correspondent says that a Special Committee of the Canadian House of Commons recommends compulsory voting at elections to the Dominion Parliament The Tokio correspondent of tho Daily Telegraph states that Viscount Hayashi, Japanese Ambassador to Britain (who recently left London on a trip to Japan) becomes Minister of Foreign Affairs, and that Baron Komura, the present Foreign Minister, succeeds Viscount Hayashi as Ambassador. At the Postal Congress at Rome, the American delegate declared that universal penny postage was bound to come. The voting at the present Congress had given the movement a great lift. Sir Joseph Ward expressed the hope that America would soon enter the restricted penny postage treaty with New Zealand. Excitement at Home with regard to tin continues. Many old mines are being reopened in Cornwall. The semi-official Press, in Berlin, states that Britain and Russia are on the eve of a treaty, safeguarding the present Asiatic possessions of both countries; also, regulating the position of both in Persia. The German newspapers are alarmed at the appearance of entirely new international combinations in Europe.

The Westralian Minister of Mines has received the report of the discovery of asphaltum of excellent quality, in Albany Harbour. [Asphaltum is otherwise known as mineral pitch, and is used, in the rock form, for paving, and, in its soft state, in the preparation of varnish and Japan.] Latest London quotations for Canterbury mutton are 4d; Napier, Wellington, and North Island, 3|d ; lamb, first quality, 4|d ; second, 4; I ,d. Beef—Hindquarters, 3Jd ; forequarters, 2j|-d. The Colonial Marriages Bill was read a second time in the House of Lords without division. Lord Elgin explained that the Bill legalises marriage with a deceased wife's sister between parties domiciled in the colonies.

The racehorse, Up to-Date, has been sold to a Melbourne purchaser. A cargo of Victorian wheat has been sold in London at 30s 9d per quarter.

The Great Cobar copper mine, in New South Wales, has been sold to an English syndicate for £800,000. The German Reichstag has passed a Bill paying each of its members £100 a year.