CABLE ITEMS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIX, Issue IX, 30 August 1902, Page 533

CABLE ITEMS.

Several houses in Hongkong collapsed, killing twenty people.

The American troops are renewing the campaign against the troublesome Moros, in the Philippines.

Cholera is spreading alarmingly along the railway in Manchuria, and also in Southern Korea.

Mr. Scbawb is retiring from the presidentship of the American Steel Trust on account of his health.

Twenty members of the Eighth New Zealand Contingent have joined the South African Constabulary.

Military movements in the Soudan indicate that preparations are being made for another military campaign.

The Canadian Government is arming the militia with the new MetfordRoss rifles.

Miss Agnes Logan, an Australian, has been killed in a motor car accident in Renfrewshire.

The heavy rains in France are seriously affecting the grape and beetroot crops.

A renewed epidemic of cholera has occurred in Egypt, and great mortality is reported.

The rainfall in New South Wales is insufficient, and the outlook for stock-owners is very gloomy.

In- a racial riot at Tupelo, Mississippi, U.S.A., four white people and eight negroes have been killed.

Dr. Lang, Suffragan-Bishop of Stepney. has declined the offer of the Melbourne Bishopric.

Imperial troops have killed a thousand re Eels in the Szechuan province, including their ringleaders.

The Bishopric of Melbourne has been offered to Dr. the suffragan Bishop of Stepney.

Great Britain will be officially represented in the education and art sections at the St. Louis (U.S.A.) Exhibition in 1904.

Three of the newest and fastest steamers of the Russian volunteer fleet have been added to the naval reserve cruisers.

The Limerick corporation, according to a London cable to-day, intends to bestow* the freedom of the city on the Boer generals.

Sydney’s water supply is running short, and the city authorities are adopting more stringent measures to keep down the consumption.

Good rains in Western India have saved the crops, averting* an immediate famine. Some rain has also fallen in the central provinces.

A phonographic record of the Fiji Coronation Contingent singing “Home, Sweet Home,” has been sent to the King.

Great floods have occurred in the Kwangsi province, in the south of China. Thousands of people were drowned. The Maharajah of Gwalior has presented the King* with the sum of £lO,OOO, which His Majesty has handed to the King’s Hospital Fund. The funeral of the late General Lucas Meyer has been postponed for two months. The remains may possibly be interred in South Africa. Fowl tick has become so serious in Victoria that the importation pf live birds from the adjoining States has been stopped. All hope for the missing steamer Qniraing (which left Newcastle for Dunedin, coal-laden. (53 days ago) has been abandoned in Sydney.

A public meeting at Pretoria resolved to urge the Government to introduce State control of the liquor traffic.

Sir E. Barton ami party, on their way back to Australia, will visit New York, Washington, aud the principal Canadian cities, A Royal charter has been granted to the British Academy for the Pro motion of Historical and Philosophical Studies. The United States, Great Britain, France and Germany declare the blockade of Venezuelan ports by Colombia inefficient. The Sirdar of Egypt, Major-General Sir Francis Wingate, shortened his holiday in England, and has returned to Cairo, en route to Khartoum. The inhabitants of Devon presented Colonel Kekewich with a sword in recognition of his heroic defence of Kimberley in the Boer War. The Minister of Marine has ordered that materials of Russian origin must be exclusively used in the construction of all ships built, in Russia.

The warehouse of Messrs. Dyer and Dyer, general merchants, East London, Cape Colony, has been destroyed by fire. The damage is estimated at £ 120.000.

A hundred police evicted four families from Lord Defreyene’s estate in Connaught. One family resisted desperately. using pitchforks ami boiling stirabout.

The death of the widow of Mr Bowen, at one time Speaker of the Canterbury Provincial Council (NewZealand), is announced, aged 100 years.

The British War Office is making experiments with a new 18-pounder field gun, which promises to be superior to anything of the kind possessed by the other Powers.

There is a recrudescence of cholera in Egypt. Every province except Keneh is infected. Three thousand ■cases have occurred, most of them proving fatal. Kruger is said to be bitterly disappointed at the determination of the Boer generals to become faithful subjects of the King. The Mar Office is making experiments with a new eighteen-pounder field gun, which promises to be superior to anything in the possession of the other Powers. The latest type of British submarine boat has been severely tested at Barrow. The craft maintained a speed of fifteen knots an hour under the water. The Tahiti authorities are urging the French Government to subsidise the extension of the Marseilles-Syd-ney steam line to San Francisco, via Tahiti, Heavy rain is considerably damaging the standing corn in Great Britain. The hop and fruit crops in • Kent are also much in jured. The Duke and Duchess of Argyll witnessed a Maori war-dance, performed by the New Zealand Native Contingent, un<k-r Captain Taranaki Te Ua, at Alex, a.lra Park. A fire, which occurred in a publichouse in London at daybreak, isolated nine barmaids and servants on the upper floors. Intense excitement prevailed until fire escapes arrived, when aJI the women wore rescued, attired only in their night dresses. Ihe Duke of Bedford has contributed £3OOO towards the cancer research fund, which is to encourage the dose study of cancer, with a view to the discovery of a cure. The N.S.W. Treasurer declares that owing to the serious falling oft' in revenue through the drought and other causes, systematic retrenchment in all departments is absolutely necessary. It is believed that one form will be a percentage reduction of civil service salaries.

It is possible that Canada, the Australian Commonwealth, aaid New Zealand will co-operate in a fast steam line across the Pacific, if Great Britain joins in the scheme.

Dennis Kilbride, a prominent Irish' Nationalist, has been charged at Athlone with inciting Westmeath Nationalists to murder a landlord. The Magistrates disagreed. Kilbride was admitted to bail.

At the suggestion of Sir Edward Poynter, President of the Royal Academy, Academicians ase enthusiastically subscribing to rebuild the Campanile of St. Mark’s, Venlee, which recently collapsed. The public are invited to co-operate.

“Truth” declares that the Archbishop of Canterbury’s infirmities are increasing, and that he resigns at the end of the year, the Bishop of Winchester succeeding him.

A preliminary meeting of employers have been held with a view to forming a federation to fight against democratic legislation ou similar lines to that of New Zealand.

The question of the suspension of the fodder duties was again discussed in the Federal Parliament. Mr. Deakin said it rested with the States to take action; the Federal Government would take none.

Shoeing-smith A. Ford, of the Royal Horse Artillery, has been awarded the Victoria Cross for serving a gun under heavy tire in the Taflekop fight. South Africa, after the rest of the gun team had been killed.

Tn reply to English criticisms the Ttansvartl Political Association declares that its chief objects are to support Lord Milner and to bring the British and Dutch together, and co-operate in evolving a united nation. The British cruiser Phaeton has been sent to Buena Vista, owing to the Colombian Government endeavouring to compel the British steamer Ecuador to convey troops to Panama. M. Leroy Beaulieu, the well-known publicist, expresses alarm at the continued decline of french revenue, and anticipates u deficit of over 200,000.000 francs for the present year. It is reported that the late Mr Cecil Rhodes left the Countess of Warwick lands in South Africa worth £200,000. Lady Warwick denies having received the bequest alleged to have 'been made to her by Mr Cecil Rhodes. A severe eruption occurred at Mount Pelee at. Martinique on Thursday. Tiie heavy dust showers caused total darkness for twenty minutes, extending seawards a distance of five miles. The tide overtook and drowned five little girls who were paddling on Kiley Beach, despite the frantic efforts of their mothers to rescue them. The elder girls held the younger children in their anus till they were overwhelmed. The office of Quong Tart, the wellknown Sydney merchant, in the heart of the city, was entered by a man at noon, who felled Tart with an iron bar, inflicting severe wounds on the head. The robber stole £2(l and escaped. ( De Wet’s staff-officeif slates that, about 500 Irishmen and 500 Americans fought on the side of the Boers. One commando, numbering 300, included men of thirteen different nationalities. “Truth” stales that, the King’s cruise includes Ireland, and that he will visit the Cork Exhibition. He arrives at Aberdeen at the end of the month, and thence goes to Balmoral. In spite of official secrecy it- has leaked out that a terrible catastrophe occurred to a squadron of Russian cavalry during the recent army manoeuvres in the neighbourhood of St. Petersburg. The squadron in the course of the manoeuvres was ordered to plunge into a river. The cavalry mon obeyed the order, and as a result fifty of them were drowned.

The steamer Queen Wilhelmina, bound from New York to Adelaide, was picked up fifty miles off Albany with a broken tail-shaft, and towed in, after drifting about for four days.

In a speech Lord Kitchener advocated the addition of instruction in the elements of military drill to the school courses, and appealed to employers to find good permanent work for those returning soldiers who needed it.

Thirty prisoners in the Fremantle gaol rushed the kitchen, seized the gruel, and threw it over the floor, the walls and the warders. Assistance arrived, and the rioters were overpowered. Eight of them were sentenced to a month in irons. The ■•’Morning Post's'* Johannesburg correspondent asserts that the cattle plague in Rhodesia originated with the Australian imported cattle. The Chartered Company’s authorities have requested the Australian Government to send a staff of experts to Rhodesia to cope with the disease at the company’s expense. At the fat sheep sales 22.000 were offered. Prices generally showed an improvement on the last sale. The majority of New Zealand consignments have not arrived. For about 100 previously unsold there was a strong demand, and prices ranged from 28/ to 37/. Lewanika, the paramount chief of Barotseland, South Af ica, who came’ to England for the Coronation, has sailed on his return voyage to the Cape. He is greatly impressed with what he has seen in England, and intends adopting European methods in his country as far as possible. The number of persons who paid for admission to Westminster Abbey to view the Coronation arrangements totalled 96,907. The receipts, which ate to be devoted to charitable purposes, were nearly £ 5000. The Abbey is now closed to the public. The Parliamentary and Financial Indemnity Bill has t een read a second time in the Cape Assembly. The debate revealed the existence of sympathy between Sir Gordon Sprigg’ and the Afrikander Bond. Mr Merriman, leader of the Bond, indicating that he was anxious to work with the Premier. Admiral Beaumont and the officers of the British warships in Suva attended a successful bn?l tendered to the Administrator by the Fiji Cl.:b. The Bega fire-walkers performed very successfully in the Government Domain in honour of the Admiral's visit to Fiji. There was a large attendance and business was suspended for the day. Information has been received here of a serious rising of East Indian coolie labourers, which occurred on a sugar plantation in British Guiana (Demerara). South America. Three hundred coolies were attacking the residence of the owner of the estate, when an armed police force arrived. The police fired on the Indians, killing 21 and wounding 32. The “Daily Telegraph” says that the Hague authorities contradict the statement that the Boer generals claimed Kruger's money. They allege that Kruger, when leaving the Transvaal, lent the Government the whole of his bank balance of £40.000, with interest, to meet the commando’s expenses. Prince Arthur of Connaught, on behalf of the King, welcomed the Shah of Persia Muzzafer-ed-Din, at Dover, in the presence of an immense and enthusiastic crowd. The Prince of Wales returned to London to receive the Shah to-day and has placed Marlborough House at his disposal. The British four-masted barque Highfields, n steel vessel of 2280 tons, from Cardiff, with coal, collided with the German-African line steamer Kaiser, anchored in Table Bay. The Highfields sank, and the captain, second officer and 21 of the crew were drowned, only four being saved. The report of the commission appointed to inquire into the West Australian pearling industry is to the •fleet that it is practically impossible

to carry on without blaek labour. The Premier declares that if the Federal Government, despite Judge Dashwood’s report on pearl shelling, persists in its policy, the industry will be either ruined or transferred to the Dutch.

Sir E. Barton and Sir John Forrest have left on their return to Australia. They started from Euston station, where large crowds heartily farewelled them. Amongst those present were several Australian ex-Go-vernors. Lord Monkbretton. representing Mr Chamberlain, expressed Mr Chamberlain’s regret that he was unable personally to farewell them.

Mr Seddon, on being interviewed, was enigmatical regarding Mr Stead’s statement that it was rumoured that he (Mr Seddon) was impressed with the need of a strong statesman in South Africa, and intended becoming the leader of the labour party on the Rand. Mr Seddon remarked that “time would prove,” adding: “Nobody is justified or authorised to say that I will renounce New Zealand and reside at Capetown.” Mr Seddon is visiting Hull. He intends visiting various other English towns.

A volcano, which is still in eruption, overwhelmed the Japanese island of Torishima. All the 150 inhabitants of the island perished. [The islands of Japan are dotted in places with volcanoes, some dormant and others active. In the island of Y'ezo there are three active volcanoes Throughout the Empire there are many solfataras and sulphurous springs.]

The agents of the s.s. Drayton Grange have been advised that the Netherlands Government has awarded Captain Bennett a medal for his services in rescuing the shipwrecked crew of the Dutch barque Gertruida Gerarda, while carrying New Zealand troops (the Tenth Contingent) to South Africa some months ago. The owner of the barque has written thanking Captain Bennett and crew for their generous treatment of the castaways. The steamer Wakanui reached Hobart from the Cape last week with two convalescent small pox patients on board. Th local authorities refused to allow 33 Australian soldiers who were on board to land. They will have to proceed to Auckland with the members of the New Zealand contingents who are on board the steamer. Professor Parkin, of Toronto College, whom the trustees of Cecil Rhodes' will instructed to prepare a scheme awarding colonial and American Rhodes scholarships, is trying to interest Mr Pierpont Morgan in the scheme whereby American capitalists would create scholarships for English youths at American colleges on the lines of Rhodes’ bequest. The suggestion is likely to bear fruit. Mr Balfour, in letters to Mr Forster, points out that under the Education Bill the whole question of secular education is now being transferred to the control of the popularly elected body, and the system of oneman management was disappearing. On the other hand, Sir Henry Camp-bell-Bannerman, in a letter to the Liberal candidate, Mr Morice, states that the Bill infringes the rights of conscience and thereby gives a taint which is fatal to its efficiency. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Canadian Premier, speaking here, advocated an Anglo-French alliance as a guarantee of universal peace. It is reported that Sir W. Laurier is willing to concede to French products imported into Canada a measure of preference if Canadian products are admitted into France at a minimum tariff. Sir Wilfred Laurier, who has interviewed M. Delcasse, denies the reported negotiations, though he is endeavouring to obtain a reduction of duties on some articles exported from Canada to France. The Australian Coronation Contingent was given a hearty send-off r«t Alexandra Park". They marched thence to the Albert Docks, and embarked on the steamer Arcnd'a. Lieut - Cob nel Cameron, the offi< er commanding, thanked Gen 'r<4 Cooke for

the treatment of the troops, and sa’d be was confident the exceptional opportunities afford el fee meeting the King’s troops from al; pans of the world had strongly cemented the ecirradeship, wl i?h was u d’stinguistiing feature of the soldiers of the British Empire.

Japan has ordered two first-class cruisers, to be built on the Clyde. They are to be of larger displacement than the Admiralty's latest cruisers. Viscount Hayashi, the Japanese Minister in London, has informed a correspondent of the “Standard” that the sending of a Japanese squadron to the yiaval review was not merely the act of the Japanese Government, but was even more the act of the people, who insisted on paying every honour to the King. He added that the visit of Prince Akihito Kometsu, the Japanese envoy, to the Coronation, marked the cordial character of the alliance between Great Britain and Janan.

A special service, arranged for the colonial contingents, was held in Westminster Abbey yesterday. The colonials occupied the galleries erected for the Peers and Commoners for the Coronation service. They listened to the sing-ing of the Abbey choirs without joining in the psalms. When the hymn, “Onward, Christian Soldiers, ’ was announced, Bishop Weldon, who preached, mounted the pulpit, and, glancing towards the galleries, beat time with his hand, whereupon every colonial sang. He declared, in the course of his sermon, that the character of the people made the Empire great, and alone preserved it.

The Mount Kembla colliery disaster inquest has been resumed. One miner stated that he used damp coal dust in tariiping" shots. Another declared that he frequently found gas in the mine, but not in a sufficient quantity to report. Another gave instances as to finding gas in the mine. He said the last time was nine months ago. He admitted that the nanajemsat- was very careful, and directly they received the report they stopped work and took precautions.

The Mount Kembla inquest is proceeding. One pf the mine deputies gave evidence that all the working places were examined on the morning of the explosion, and reported all safe. Seven days before the disaster he discovered black damp in the abandoned workings, but did not report the fact.

At the Mt- Kembla inquiry counsel for the relatives of the deceased miners announced that they had been instructed that gas existed in the mine before the explosion, and that its presence was known.

Trouble continues in France in connection with the Religious Associations Act, enforcing the closing of clerical schools. The Commissary, in the course of the execution of the Government decrees, in one town threatened to dynamite a school which had been barricaded. The defenders replied, “You will have to dynamite us too.” Ultimately the school was entered, the police making a breach in the wall. At Ponteroix the gendarmes charged the crowd, and terrible melees ensued. Women were overthrown, and one had both her arms broken. Two priests were knocked down and roughly handled, upon which the mob unhorsed the Commissary, and beat him until the priests were rescued. In connection, with the Religious Association’s trouble in France, the populace barricaded a school at Plouharnel, Delured. - The gendarmes and soldiers were attacked with mud and stones. The troops used scaling ladders. The defenders threw burning faggots and trusses of straw, twice compelling the troops to retreat. Eventually the school people capitulated at nightfall. Another serious conflict at St. Meen between gendarmes armed with swords and peasants armed with cudgels and stones. Twentyseven people were injured. The Church party in Brittany propose to boycott lay schools, and tradesmen threaten to refuse to supply the teachers with food.

The Banal Nuncio hire 1 as wrinel the Vatican that any encouragement given to the French Nationalists in view of the excesses in connection with the enforcement of the Association’s Law against the religious orders (in the closing of clerical schools) will result in the denunciation of the Concordat (the agreement between the Vatican and the French Government regarding the relations between the ecclesiastical and civil authorities in France).