CABLE ITEMS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVIII, Issue XXV, 21 June 1902, Page 1285

CABLE ITEMS.

A clerk of the Bank of France embezaled £40,000 sterling and absconded. Lieut. C. Tapper, of the New Zealand forces, is convalescent and has resumed duty. It is anticipated that the Colonial Conference, which the various Premiers will attend, will last a month. A fund has been started at Johannesburg to re-build De Wet's and De la Rey’s farmhouses. One out of every six of the blockhouses erected in connection with the war will be left standing. Mr John Morley, speaking at Edinburgh, strongly condemned any attempt to form a colonial zollverein. The Council of the Governor-General of India has imposed countervailing duties on Austrian and German sugar. It is considered in London that the new form of tax on gold in the Transvaal favours the miners. The barbed wire fences that were maintained between the blockhouses within the late war area, have been removed. The King has notified corporations that he would prefer contribution to the hospital fund instead of addresses of congratulation on peace. Fifty teachers of the national schools in St. Petersburg have been arrested in connection with the circulation of revolutionary propaganda. A tornado three miles by two swept the Lake Park district, Minnesota, killing ten people, and destroying a chureh and nine farmhouses. Hirsch Lockerby, who last month shot and wounded the Governor of the Russian province of Virenao, has been executed. Five of the largest shipbuilding firms in America have amalgamated with a capital of 25,000,000 dollars. They will compete for foreign orders. Mr Seddon, in the course of an interview at Madeira (on his way from the Cape to London), said he would have preferred firmer peace conditions. Leyds and his Hollander confrere Langermans announce that funds are being collected to reinstate the German combatants on their farms, and to maintain the Boer propaganda. The War Office grants a special gratuity to troops who have served more than eighteen months in Africa for additional service after the end of last year. Mr. John Morley, speaking at Edinburgh, said that unless representative institutions were promptly granted to the Boers there would be a repetition of troubles in South Africa. The dominant note in the conversation of those who have surrendered is a eulogy of British firmness as shown by the execution of the two British officers of the Bush Veldt Carbineers—Lieutenants Movant and Handcock. Indignation is expressed in London (in connection with the recent fatal fire in a five-floored warehouse) that no fire-escapes above 50ft high exist. Three “Hooligans” have been arrested and charged with the manslaughter of Mr. Spicer, paper manufacturer; who was killed in an encounter with a gang on his way home after the peace celebrations in London. A mass meeting at Capetown resolved to memoralise Mr. Chamberlain to suspend the Constitution. Mr. Smart declared that it was imperative, otherwise the rebels would capture the Government.

Lord Strathcona and the colonial Agents-General are much dissatisfied at not being invited to fhe thanks-

giving service at St. Paul’s. Only Mr Grainger. the South Australian Agent-General, was present. Tne Government organs attribute the omission to inadvertence. Signor Prinetti. the Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs, is enquiring of the authorities at Pretoria as to the possibility of sending emigrants to South Africa. The proclamation issued at Pretoria imposes a tax equal to onetenth of the value of the goid produced after deduction of the cost of production and sums allowed for the exhaustion of capital. A conference of magistrates of the Orange River Colony discussed the question of the earliest date for the repatriation of the Boers. The Berlin newspapers “Neue Presse’’ and “Kreuz Zeitung" urge that German/ and America should cooperate to secure the maintenance of the open-door policy in South Africa. Mr Barton, the Australian Federal Premier, and Sir John Forrest, Federal Minister for Defence, are visiting Rome. The Roman newspapers cordially welcome them, recalling Mr Barton's expressed sympathy with Italians in Australia. The Canadian Ministers who are proceeding to London are authorised to co-operate substantially with the Imperial Government in any decision favouring a fast Canadian steamship line. The German Kaiser's recent antiPolish speech led to racial recriminations in the Lower House of the AustroHungarian Reichsrath. The sitting was abruptly closed. China has agreed in the treaty now being negotiated with Great Britain to provide for the removal within two years of the barriers which impede traffic and cause silt to accumulate in the Canton River. Sir Michael Hicks-Beaeh, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in his revised estimates puts the expenditure at £ 176,000.000, and the revenue at £152,000,000. The deficit will be met bv the consols loan, leaving a surplus of £6,000,000. In connection with the Federal military retrenchment proposal, it is understood that a number of prominent officers will be amongst those asked to retire. Sir E. M. Satow, British Minister at Pekin, has accepted the principle of a pro rata reduction of all foreign indemnity claims against China arising out of the recent disturbances. In consequence of the revolution in Venezuela gunboats are bombarding the town of Lagetayra. The German warships Gazelle and Falke. on the West Indian station, are proceeding to the locality. Mr D. Sheehan, M.P. for Mid-Cork, lias been sentenced to five weeks' imprisonment at Thurles on a charge of inciting and intimidation. He refused to give securities for his good behaviour for a year. A violent storm burst over Perioa, Illinois, causing many fatalities. Thousands of acres of com were destroyed. Havoc was caused among the shipping, and great devastation wrought elsewhere. Wash-outs have occurred on the Illinois and lowa railways, causing loss of life. The Pope accorded an audience to Mr Barton (Federal Premier) and Sir John Forrest. He declared he had followed with keen interest Australia’s progress, and was delighted at peace. He joined heartily in the festivities of the Coronation of Good King Edward. The Auckland-built, schooner Advance was wrecked at Botany Heads this morning. The captain (Ingstrom) was drowned. The schooner was leaving Botany Bay in ballast. In a heavy sea she missed stays, and drifted on the reef and sank, while Captain Ingstrom was

below recovering bin property- The crew of three men scrambled ashore un the rocks, and were much bruised. The miners on strike in Pennsylvania, U.S.A., urge the colliery companies to raise the prices of coal and pay their demands. The “Times’” New York correspondent says it is a question whether the owners or the unionists control the mmes. A number of Ritualists declare that they are unable to use the service recommended for Coronation Day. They decline to announce the King’s oaths to maintain the Protestant reformed religion as established by law. on the ground that the word "Protestant” does not occur in the Prayer Book. Mr Barton, Premier of the Australian Commonwealth, has been elected an honorary bencher of Gray's Inn. Edinburgh University confers the Doctorship of Laws on the visiting colonial Premiers. The House of Representatives passed the Anti-Anarchist Bill by 175 votes to 38. A motion to omit one section, making the killing of a foreign ambassador punishable by death, was lost. Eastern files to hand add a few details to the cabled reports of the recent loss, with all hands, of the British India steamer Camorta in a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal. The Camorta had six hundred and fifty native passengers on board, besides the captain and eight European officers and a crew of seventy-nine natives. The committee on military education has recommended that promotion in future be by selection, instead of seniority. It is urged that the only chance of general improvement in army education is an honest system of promotion by merit. The Norddeutscher Lloyd's new steamer, Kronprinz Wilhelm (of 14.800 tons and 33,000 horsepower) has performed the passage across the Atlantic from New York to Plymouth in 5 days 11 hours 32 minutes, thus establishing a record. Signor Prinettl, the Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs, resigned and fought a duel, wounding a deputynamed Franchetti. owing to an altercation respecting the Italian colonyof Erythrea, in Africa. He now resumes office. Captain MacDonald, Lieutenants Blair, Hardham and Wilson, and 51 of the New Zealand Mounteds, also Captain Taranaki, Lieutenant Uru and 31 Maoris, of the Coronation Contingent, are passengers by the Kinfauns Castle from Capetown to England. Fourteen hundred troops representing the army in South Africa are aboard the transport Bavaria, and are expected to arrive cn the 25th, in time to take part in the Coronation festivities if the steamer makes a fast passage. The Federal House rejected an item of £ 360 to pay the expenses of the Coronation church service in Melbourne. The feeling is strongly against subsidising of churches, as likely to cause irritation amongst the religious bodies. Lord Kitchener reports that 2500 rifles were surrendered on Saturday and Sunday, and 4-80 by the Cape rebels. The remainder were chiefly De Wet's followers. All cheered the King heartily. The State Premier has cabled to Lord Milner ou behalf of the people of Australia asking him to welcome as fellow citizens the brave men recently in arms against us, and to express the conviction that the membership of the British Empire is air everlasting guarantee of freedom. Major-General Featherstonhaugh has succeeded Lieut.-General Lyttelton in command of the forces in Natal. General Lyttelton has gone from Natal as a preliminary to succeeding Lord Kitchener. The Lord Mayor of London presided at a great meeting at the Mansion House to arrange a Coronation gift to the King, who desired to give it to a hospital. It was resolved to open a national fund. Fifty-five thousand was subscribed'll t the meeting.

The "Daily Telegraph” says it is stated on good authority that ten

thousand tons of damaged wheat in New Zealand will be available as feed for starring stock if the duty is taken off, and also that a consider able supply of mangv|d», turnips, hay and ehaff is available from New Zealand, but not in large quantiue* The police complain that the difficuk ties experienced by them in hunting th* KenitT bushrangers are largely increased by settlers supplying the fugitives with necessaries and information. The South Australian Government is carrying out retrenchment in the public service. Eighteen officers have been retrenched. A Septuagenarian Bill will be shortly introduced, and numbers of others will be retired. The ‘‘Standard’s - ’ Berlin correspondent states that the T-ar informally recognises Bulgarian independence, the Sultan of Turkey’s name not being mentioned in the toasts during Prince Ferdinand’s visit to St. Petersburg. Reuter’s Agency states that Russia early next year will commence building a railway to the Persian frontier, the intention being to ultimately continue the line to Taboriz, in North Persia. The Upper House of the German Diet referred to a committee a Bill to provide twelve million pounds sterling to buy land in Polish districts, on which to settle German peasantry. As a sequel to the notorious Dreyfus ease, the widow of Colonel Henry (who died mysteriously in prison during tha progress of the trial), has recovered £2O damages and costs from M. Joseph Reinach, on the grounds of libelling her late husband. The “Times" ” Pekin correspondent states that in order to meet the Russian view. China, with Britain’s consent, promises that China herself will build any railway between Pekin and the Great Wall without foreign capital, and will not mortgage it as security to any foreign Power. Lord Salisbury, in congratulating the Hartford Militia on their return from the war, said: "If we are disappointed in regard to the duration of peace, and In years not distant there rhould be a demand for action on the part of English soldiers, I am afraid ? cannot comfort you by saying that the militia can be spared.” A Spanish scientist named Figueras, Professor of Physics at Las Palmas, claims to have invented a simple generator capable of collecting atmospheric electricity and storing it for the use of railways and factories. He predicts a tremendous economic and industrial revolution. He will visit Europe with the object of patenting his discovery. The agreement establishing intercolonial free trade in British South Africa fixes the transit rate of goods imported into the Transvaal through the Cape and Natal ports at 1 instead of 3 per cent., and admits Cape and Natal goods into the Transvaal free of duty. A violent earthquake, with shocks extending over a fortnight, has been experienced in Tulcan, Ecuador, an independent State of South America. [The western part of Ecuador includes the great chain of the Andes, which there attain their highest elevation in the summits of Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, Antisana. and Cazainba.J In the House of Commons Mr Brodrick stated that a small Royal Commission would be appointed to make a general inquiry into the conduct of the war. It would be impossible to make a special inquiry with regard to army contracts simultaneously. The promoters of the New Zealand and South African steam service have secured a steamer. They will begin in a couple of months, co-operating with the Cold Storage Corflpany, which will establish refrigerating depots at Beira, and in Rhodesia and Mashonaland. - J Sixty arrests, including a lawyer, a doctor and a chemist among the Hollander prisoners on parole, have been made at Pretoria since the declaration of peace, on suspicion of being concerned in a plot identical with that for which Lieutenant Hans Cordua was shot fn August last. The plotters, it is alleged, intended

to explode the Government buildings and Lord Kitchener's residence, and spike the guns st the arsenal. The liquidator of the London and Globe Finance Corporation sued several brokers for £1,000,000 damages for breach of contract in regard to dealing in Lake View Consols shares, Mr VS hittaker Wright alleging that they agreed not to sell under £l7 per share and to divide the profits with the London and Globe. The verdict was for the defendants, the jury finding that no contract had been made. Admiral Beaumont has advised Mr Deakin that the French Government have issued regulations in the New Hebrides, similar to the British, in reference to the recruiting of native women and the importation of firearms and spirits. The effect is to remove the advantage French traders have held over the British. The action is regarded as showing a desire to work in harmony with Great Britain. The French fishery grounds on the banks of Newfoundland are a complete failure. Hundreds of vessels at 6t. Pierre are helpless. Bait is unobtainable, owing to the stringent gent laws of Newfoundland. The notorious Italian bandit Musolino, who eluded pursuit for years till October last, when he was arrested on charges of murder, has been found guilty on all counts and sentenced to imprisonment for life, with solitary confinement for eight years. It is alleged that he was guilty of some twenty murders. An appalling fire occurred at the General Electric Lighting Company’s five-floored warehouse in Queen Victoria - street, London, on June the 10th. The buildings are 70 feet high, and the fire escapes being only 60 feet, were unable to relieve a number of girls on the upper floors. Several jumped from a height of 60 feet, into tarpaulins held in the street by the firemen. seven being grievously hurt and two uninjured. Eight girls and one boy were suffocated. Several heroic rescues were made by the firemen. A terrible conflagration occurred on June 9 in St. Luke’s sanatorium, a popular place of resort for invalids In Chicago. The building at the time of the outbreak was occupied by a large number of people, and the flames spread with such awful rapidity that a great many of the inmates were entrapped. Seven persons were burned to death or killed in trying to escape from the burning building, and thirty others were badly injured. The killed and injured included several patients suffering from delerium tremens, who were strapped to their beds when the fire broke out. At the instance of Lord Defreyn, and with the view of enforcing the law laid down by the House of Lords in the case of Quinn versus Latham, the Court of Chancery in Dublin has issued writs against thirty persons, including several Nationalist members of the House of Commons, Mr Michael Davitt and other members of the United Irish League, and the proprietors of the “Freeman’s Journal.’’ on a charge of conspiracy to -compel the sale of property below its value in the course of the no-rent agitation regarding Lord Defreyn’s Connaught estate. Damages are claimed. The trial will be the most important for years. A Government Gazette, issued in Cape Colony, announces that rebels surrendering before July 10, or who have been captured or have surrendered since April 12, will not be punished with death on admitting they were guilty of high treason, but will be disfranchised for life. This does not apply to justices of the peace, field-cornets or colonial officials, who will be tried, but wil not incur the death penaltv. Murderers and others found guilty of acts contrary to the usages of warfare are not exempted from the utmost •everities of the law. Many yeeks ago 300 bushmen failing to get included in the South African contingents cabled in the name of their representative, named McMillan, offering their services direct to the Imperial authorities. The men hung about the city for weeks, but no reply came. It Bow transpires that Lord Kitchener replied that Lord Tullabardine would be (lad to aeeept them for his Scottish

Horse. The Postal Department sent the reply to Sir Wm. McMillan, but he was unaware of the Sydney movement, and thinking the request was for more men handed the telegram to the Minister for Defence. The Utter informed Lord Kitchener that the Government was raising its own contingents, and wa* unable to recruit for others. On May 10 Lord Tullabardine cabled urging the despatch of the men. This message also went to the wrong McMillan, and a reply was sent that the Federal Government could do nothing in the matter of Lord Tullabardine's proposal. The 300 were thus robbed of a second chance of going to the front. In the House a statement was made that the primary object of the Queensland Timber Trust was to get local timber used for butter boxes and reduce the price. Questioned as to whether he would carry out his promise to take action against trusts, Mr Kingston said the Government was determined to legislate against trusts that oppressed the public. A Bill would be introduced next session. There was no proof that this trust was intended to raise prices, and only when prices were unduly raised the Government proposed to act. Mr Fuller’s motion was negatived by 22 to 7. Colonel A. Lynch, member for Galway, who fought for the Boers in South Africa, was arrested at the Victoria station, London, on his arrival from Paris. “Colonel” Lynch, the pro-Boer member for Galway, has been remanded for a week. The Crown has produced evidence of treason against him. In the House of Commons Mr O’Kelly asked if Lynch had not a burgher’s right to surrender. Mr Balfour said he was not a burgher. Mr McNeill asked: Is it not a Minister's bounden duty to communicate to the House a member’s arrest? The Speaker replied that he was not bound to do so, but the usual practice was to write informing the Speaker. Mr John Redmond gave notice of a question as to whether the Government would extend to Lynch the same terms of surrender as to the Cape Dutch.