CABLE ITEMS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIX, Issue XI, 13 September 1902, Page 661

CABLE ITEMS.

The Tasmanian Assembly has decided in favour of women's franchise.

General rains have fallen in India, and the fear of a famine is over.

A railway catastrophe is reported from Alabama.

Thfc Bishop of North Queensland has been enthroned at Townsville.

The total of the season's fatalities on the Alps is sixty-two.

The King’s Hospital Fund has reached £ 76,000.

The Boer generals maintain strict silence. They remain in London for the present.

A British steel trust is being organised to resist American and German competition.

The King of Italy has left Berlin, leading ten thousand lira (about £400) for distribution to the poor.

A prospector unearthed a gold nugget weighing a pound and a-half at Avoca, Victoria.

Lord Hopetoun, under medical advice, has declined all public engagements until after the New Year.

The War Office has decided not to accept - a new gun invented by MeGloin, of Otago, New Zealand, and offered to the'authorities.

Twelve political prisoners, while exercising 'in Kieff Gao], overcame the warder and escaped. ' They have not yet been captured.

In the Council the Gaining Bill was passed through Committee. The chief provision legalises the delivery of letters by hand to Tattersalls.

Besides 20 alleged murders, 350 violent deaths, including- 62 suicides, have been reported in London-dur-ing the last five weeks.

Ex-President Steyn’s doctor anticipates his complete restoration to health, after a long period of convalescence. In the Federal House the Minister of Customs stated that he hoped to make inter-State free trade an actual faet before many weeks. Ln the Federal House Mr. Deakin announced that the Commonwealth was willing to undertake the control of Norfolk Island. Mr Chamberlain regrets that his official duties at present preclude his eeptance of the colonial Premiers’ warm invitation to visit the colonies.

While a negro train was proceeding on its journey it became derailed and 25 of its passengers, all coloured people, were killed and 50 injured. The Scotia, the vessel of the Scottish Antarctic Expedition, intends to operate southwards from the Weddel Sea. The Senate has passed a vote of £5300 for the next Governor-Gene-ral's expenditure on the Government Houses in Melbourne ad Sydney. • Strikers have fired the Pocahontas colliers in Virginia, which are burning furiously. The mine guards and strikers 10 ve exchanged volleys. Burglars tunnelled under Costa's bank, gained access to the strongroom, and stole a sum amounting to £20,000. Several Australians at Shornclift'e complain that they were robbed on thr> troopship en route from South Africa. One lost £4O, another £3O. Byron Walters, an Australian recruit, committed suicide by shooting —himself with a rifle at the Exeter Bartacks. Lund's new liner, Commonwealth, for the Australian trade, has been launched on the Clyde. The Countess of Hopetoun performed the christening ceremony.

The drought is critically affecting the Argentine agricultural and pastoral industries.

Lord George Hamilton is mentioned a-s successor to the Earl of Hopetoun as Governor-General of Australia. i

Torrential rains have fallen in the North of Ireland. The rains flooded the Belfast railway stations, and the Opera House was unapproachable.

Mr W. K. Vanderbilt, jun., and three other millionaires, have been fined at New York for driving motor cars at an excessive speed.

A tornado struck and hurled down a steep embankment the. Chicago express train. Three persons were killed and 20 fatally Injured.

The English hop crop, under the roost favourable conditions, will be only half of last year's crop, and u’ill possibly not exceed one-third of it.

A company, with a capital of a million dollars, which has been formed in New \ork proposes to compress wine and spirits into tablets.

A bricklayer working in a tunnel in Melbourne placed his hands on. a live electric wire. He was instantly electrocuted his hands being burned to the bone. . .

Mr Chamberlain lias asked the Board of Education to report on the -Earl of Meath’s scheme for an Empire Holiday in State schools on Queen Victoria’s birthday.

On her passage from Fiji the flagship Royal Arthur did a speed trial, attaining a rate of 19.2 knots per hour, under full power, with natural dra light.

Parliamentary ;>aj>erH show that the total of British forces employed in the Boer war was 448,435. The killed number 5774; wounded, 22,829; died of wounds and disease, 16,169.

The Bank of Australasia has declared a dividend of 11 per cent, and added £40,000 to the reserve, £16,000 to premises account, and carried forward £14.705. -. ,

Mrs Roosevelt left home on the oeS’on of the Grand Duke Boris of Russia lunching with the President, owing to reports in circulation concerning' the guest’s loose behaviour.

The King has appointed the Duke of Connaught Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Service Corps, to mark his appreciation of the corps’ good work in South Africa.

A patient at Parramatta Lunatic Asylum, while working in a quarry evaded the keeper and lay across a charged hole after the fuse was lighted, his body being blown to pieces.

Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India, states that he asked the King to be crowned at Delhi. King Edward was delighted with the idea, but is unable to leave England for so long.

Mr. Chamberlain and Lord Kitchener met the Boer generals on Friday. It is understood that the generals have abandoned their intention to re-open the terms of settlement.

Senator Platt, the “boss” of the Republican Convention of New York State, declares that the convention will not pledge itself to support President Roosevelt. i

Lord Strathcona and Mount Stephen has given to the King’s Hospital endowment fund property which produces £16,0W a year, and which is likely to increase in value.

Reuter's Agency states that China has rescinded the abolition of the likin duty until all the Powers are agreed to an increase of the import and export duties.

'Hie Boxer proclamation issued at Cunton, inciting the massacre of foreigners, is attributed to the commencement of the building af the Canton-Hankau railway.

Owing’ to an explosion of gas at Abertysowg colliery, Wales, 16 men were killed and 24 injured out of 113 below. 'Rescuers displayed great heroism in saving the survivors.

The Union Coal-pit, in the Forest of Deal (Gloucestershire), was suddenly flooded. Seven miners were cut off, and are believed to have been drowned. Two escaped. The whole of the provinces of Connaught and Munster, excepting the county of Kerry, have been brought under the summary jurisdiction system of the Criminal law and Procedure Bill.

Judge Storrs accidentally shot dead Mr Charles Smaylie, a millionaire liquor manuacturer, while deer-stalk-ing on the Adirondack Mountains, in New York State, a great pleasure resort for sportsmen.

Driving excavations at High Wycombe, 100 ft of earth collapsed, and eight men were entombed. Two were extricated badly injured, but the situation of the rest is hopeless, though the rescuers continue work.

Mews from the Philippines states that an American sentinel on the Island of Mindanao shot and killed the Suitan of Binidoyou, who was attempting to escape while being held as a hostage.

The quarrymen employed at Lord Penrhyn’s quarries have asked him to accept Mr. Balfour or Lord Rosebery, or both, as conciliators with a view to terminating the dispute which has so long existed.

Four hundred native chiefs attended an indaba at Pretoria and quietly heard the proclamation that natives must surrender their arms and ammunition. It is hoped that trouble has been averted.

President Roosevelt, speaking at Worcester, said only a quack or an bmemy of the Republic would recklessly destroy all trusts, thus paralysing industries. It would be sufficient if national legislation destroyed the evil in trusts.

In the Assembly Mr Stone gave notice of a motion favouring the separation of Western Australia from the Federal Union, the present time being more opportune than a more distant date, when the State may have to share a heavy Federal deficit.

Spectators, while playing with a captive war balloon at Leatherhead, in Surrey, released it. A man clinging to a rope was carried up a hundred feet and then dropped, being killed on the spot. Three persons inside the car pulled the valve rope and descended safely. A force of Berber tribesmen attacked the town of Mequineq and raided the cattle markets. The Governor pacified them.

It is rumoured that the attack was in connection with a revolutionary movement in favour of the Sultan’s brother.

Mr. and Mrs. and Miss Seddon sail in the B.s. Tongariro for New Zealand, the doctors advising the voyage for the benefit of Mrs. Seddon’s health. Mr. 'Seddon took farewell of Mr. Chamberlain and joined the Tongariro at Plymouth.

Hie “Standard” states that the recent French military manoeuvres were carried out on the lines of a century ago. The generals apparently had learnt nothing from the Boer War. The infantry disregarded cover and advanced in the open in dense masses.

Mr Arnold-Forster, Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty, has inspected the German Imperial Dockyards and naval establishments at Kiel and Wilhelmshaven, and the chief private shipping yards on the Baltic and the North Sea.

A meet famine prevails in Germany. A widespread demand is made to allow the importation of foreign cattle, but Ministers refuse on the ground that the agrarian ring which exists could supply all needs. Great Aissatisfaetion is expressed. The poor in Saxony ara slaughtering dogs for food. y

Because a local foundry dismissed a few men, 40,000 workers at Florence struck in sympathy. Feeling runs so high that the street lamps are only lighted under military escort. Practically all the workmen in Florence, excepting metal workers, hove returned tio work, and the town has resumed its ordinary aspect.

The United States has instructed Mr Conger, the United States Minister to China, to conclude a treaty with China similar to the AngloChinese commercial treaty, in order to secure any trade advantages that may be given to the British.

The New Zealanders at the last moment abandoned their march through London. A special train conveyed them from Aidershot to Tilbury. They were accorded an enthusiastic send-off at Aidershot, [Major-General Douglas and officers of the garrison attending.

The Queensland Government are investigating a report that a party of police in April last shot in cold blood four aboriginals, who, it was alleged, had stolen a cow, in the vicinity of MacDonald, in the back country.

Since the appointment of the administrators of the late Mr .James Tyson’s estates, the total receipts have been £1,138,070. The sum of £65,000 has been distributed to the beneficiaries. The realisable value of the undivided assets, exclusive of certain pastoral properties, is upwards Of £320,000.

Lord Curzon estimates that the durbar to be held at Delhi to celebrate the proclamation of. King Edward as Emperor of India will cost 39 lakhs of rupees. The Duke and Duchess of Connaught will represent the King. The Prince of Wales is expected to visit India later.

The Society for the Protection of Animals will prosecute the organisers of the recent military international race from Brussels to Ostend for cruelty to horses, a number of horses having been killed on the ride (including that of the winner, a French lieutenant). Stfnce the conclusion of peace, 60 well-armed Damara-land natives, under a Kaffir “boy” named Borst, have been looting extensively in the Kenhardt district, Cape Colony, dose to the border of the German territory Of Damaraland. An expedition has been despatched against the looters, the Germans co-operating.

Mr. Mackay, the British Commissioner, has refused to sign the new Chinese commercial treaty owing to the indefinite wording of the Imperial edict sanctioning the signature. The complication is attributable to the abolition of the likin duties before arrangements were completed to compensate the provisional tribute con-cession-holders for loss of revenue.

President Roosevelt, speaking at Proctor, said the Monroe doctrine was not aggressive. It was necessary to enable America to develop peaceably. The doctrine would only be respected while backed up by a first-class navy. It would be shameful if America idly boasted, and was not prepared to back her words by deeds.

The Washington ,r Post” says that President Roosevelt is tentatively discussing the annexation of Hayti (the negro republic in the West Indies), where a revolution is now proceeding, if the Haytians shou’d, under the present disturbed conditions, call upon America to restore order. The. United States Government denies the report that it is their intention to annex Hayti.

The Dominion Millers’ Association of Toronto is urging Sir W. Laurier to Impose retaliatory duties on German imports owing to German’s exclusion of Canadian grain; also to withdraw the rebate granted to British imports unless Britain reciprocates with regard to colonial agricultural products.

The Military Council at Nantes tried Colonel Descinhemy for refusing to expel nuns in Brittany under the Religious Associations Act. Ha admitted ha was aware of the oonse-

quences of refusing, but preferred to confront an earthly court to offending God. The Court unanimously acquitted accused of the charge of disobeying his general, and sentenced him to nominal imprisonment for disobeying the requisition of the civil authorities.

Russia is planning a great strategic railway through Persia to India. It starts from Khannlken, in Asiatic Turkey, close to the Persian frontier, passes Kermanshashan and Ispahan to Kerman, and thence through Beluchistan. A branch line is projected from Kerman to Bandar Ablas on the Persian Gulf.

The Tasmanian Assembly, dealing with the Licensing Bill, fixed barmaids* hours at 54 per week. Glauses allowing limited Sunday trading were rejected. Music, dancing and gaming were made permissible in hotel rooms not connected with the bar. It was decided that debts for liquor should not be recoverable when the amount is less than £l.

The “Times,’ commenting on Lord Hopetoun’s return, says that if Australia is reluctant to provide a salary proportionate to the scale of viceregal magnificence expected it may be necessary to appoint as GovernorGeneral some eminent person whose qualifications do not include a large private fortune, and whose, expenditure would be conditioned by his salary.

Owing to a dynamite outrage, and the difficulty of protecting free labourers in connection with the Pennsylvania coal strike, General Gobin has ordered the troops to fire upon the strikers at the least provocation. The losses during the four months the strike has existed are £ 18,000,000. Coal is selling at 50/ a ton.

Americans are indignant over the action of Admiral Higginson, commanding the American North Atlantic squadron, in entering Newport during the progress of the naval manoeuvres to receive the Duchess of Marlborough, the Vanderbilts and the Astors. The captains of the fleet protest against this and refused to attend the reception given by the admiral.

Some of the pastoralists are obtaining men to fill the shearing sheds. The Union men are making great efforts to persuade them not to start, except on the Workers’ Union terms.. At Horsefalls, Wldglewa Station, the unionists surrounded waggons, containing thirty-nine non-unionists, and removed the harness. The police were powerless. The unionists persuaded all the men, with the exception of five, not to start.

The Duke of Connaught, as Grand Master of the English Masons, has conferred the title of Past Grand Wardenship upon the Hon. R. J. Seddon, Admiral Rawson (Governor of New South Wales), the Hon. J. W. Hackett (of Western Australia), and a Deaconship on the Hon. Dr. Cockburn, of South Australia. Mr Seddon

states that there is no foundation for the report that he will renounce New Zealand in order to settle in South Africa.

In the New South Wales Assembly Mr Dan O’Connor made a strong attack on the administration of the police force. He said innumerable crimes were committed in the city at night, owing to the want of sufficient protection, and there was in the community a general sense of insecurity. The majority of members repudiated the statement, and defended the force.

It is reported that a meat trust is being formed in Chicago with Mr Armour as its president. The capital is to be five million dollars. The object is to absorb evei-y stockyard in the United States and also Sir Th os. Lipton’s meat interests.

The “New York Herald” states that the formation of the meat trust has been postponed owing to President Roosevelt’s attacks upon trusts of this kind.

A pay clerk named Henry, at the Brisbane gasworks, was proceeding to the works at Breakfast Creek With a bag containing £ 225 in wages, when a man galloped up and presented a revolver and demanded the money. In response to Henry’s calls two employees of the works came to his assistance, and he threw fihe 'bag towards them. The robber covered them with his revolver, dismounted, snatched the bag, and got clear away.

The death is announced of Lord Connemara, aged 75 years.

[The late Lord Connemara, who received the title in 1887, for distinguished service as Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs for ten years, was the son of the Earl of Mayo. He was M.P, for King’s Lynn for many years, and was Governor of Madras from 1887 to 1891.]

Mr. Chamberlain, addressing the St. John Ambulance Association at Birmingham, condemned the sordid lies and libels circulated on the Continent impugning the honour and humanity of the British. Army. He added that public opinion would never submit to the expenditure necessary to ensure full preparedness for such an exceptional emergency as the Boer war. Therefore the nation must rely on voluntary patriotism to supply deficiencies.

During the bombardment of Ciudad Bolivar, in Venezuela, 42 sailors were killed on board the gunboats Bolivar and Restaurador by the relel artillery fire from the . shore. Both vessels were extensively damaged.

It is stated that 550 Venezuelan troops deserted to the revolutionists, taking their general as a prisoner. The insurgents have captured Losteque, defeating a force of 600 Government troops. The Venezuelan revolutionists on Friday occupied the heights around Caracas (the capital of Venezuela). The Government troops routed them after four hours’ fighting.

Mr Seddon has invited the Federal Steam Navigation Company, Houlder Brothers, Bucknell’s Steamship Lines, the Elder, Dempster Company, the Shaw, Savill and Albion Company, the New Zealand Shipping Company, the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand, the Ocean, the J. P. Cory, the George Thompson and the McArthur shipping companies to tender for a direct eteam service between South Africa and New Zealand.

• The Hon. W. Brodrick (Secretary of State for War), Lord Roberts, and Generals French and lan Hamilton, at the Kaiser’s invitation, have started for Germany to view the army manoeuvres.

Lord Roberts and Mr Brodrick (Secretary of State for War), received an extremely chilly reception at Berlin. There were no cheers, and a few Germans saluted them. The Kaiser warmly welcomed them. The visitors are attending a parade of the Third Army Corps at Markendorf.

Sir Thomas Lipton intends to again compete for the America Cup. A new challenger, Shamrock the Third, will be designed by William Fife, and built by the Dennys, of Dumbarton.

[The following despatch from New York regarding the next Cup race appeared in the London papers on July 23rd: “Referring to Sir Thomas Lipton’s challenge for next year, the New York ‘Sun* says that it believes Mr Herreshof will design a new defender, and Barr will be skipper. Mr August Belmont will act as managing director, and with three other wealthy men will form the construction syndicate.]

Despite a suggestion from the At-torney-General that much evidence was being given wide of the mark, and the Coroner’s declaration that the evidence throughout showed that the men "died from carbon monoxide poisoning, the jury refused bo close the Mount Kemhla inquest, declaring that they were not satisfied as to the cause, and desiring to hear the miners’ evidence and visit the mine.

A great fall of earth, the result of heavy rain, has blocked the entrance to the main tunnel at Mount Kembla mine, impeding the restoration work. At the Mount Kembla inquest an expert who examined the mine after the disaster, gave it as his opinion that the cause of the explosion was fire-damp. He discovered (twenty places where the conditions were such that explosions might have occurred.

The Emperor and Empress made a state entry into Posen. Their reception by the Polish population was courteous, but there.was no enthusiasm. There was a vast display of troops in the surrounding country, which was practically an armed camp. The visit is regarded as a demonstration to support the Kaiser’s determination to Germanise the Polish provinces. The Kaiser, in the course of a conciliatory speech, ordered the removal of certain fortifications in order to facilitate the enlargement of the city. The Poles in Posen did not participate in the Kaiser’s reception. The nobility withdrew from the city. The editor of a Polish newspaper has been arrested and charged with lese majeste and treason. When unveiling a statue of the Emperor Frederick at Posen the Kaiser, in the course of his speech, expressed regret that a section of his subjects of non-German origin had experienced difficulty in accepting his Polish policy. He had no intention of interfering with anyone’s religion, nor would racial peculiarities and traditions be extirpated. He added: “My duty is to see that the province remains irrevocably .bound to Prussia, and to see that it becomes good Prussian and good German territory.’

The death is announced of Professor Virchow, the famous German pathologist, and discoverer of the cellular system in the human organism, at the age of 81.

[Professor Rudolf Virchow was born at Schlvelbeln in Pomerania, October 13, 1831. and studied medicine at Berlin. In 1849 he was appointed Professor of Pathological Anatomy at Wurzburg. and •oon became eno of the foremost expo-

nents of the so-called Wurzburg School. In 1858 he returned to Berlin as Professor; here he did excellent work la the newly-founded pathological institute, which at once became the centre of Independent research amongst the younger men of science. He had always taken a great interest tn politics, and has contributed Important speeches to the parliamentary debates. At the Naturalists' Conference at Innsbruck In 1869, hp was one of the founders of the German Anthropological Society. In 1873 he became a member of the Academy of Sciences. He took a great interest in the spreading of scientific knowledge amongst tha people, and since 1866 was part editor of a series of popular lectures, to which he has contributed essays on various historical and scientific subjects. His principal works are: "Cellular Pathology," "Collection of Treatises on Public Medicine and Epidemiology,” "Goethe as a Naturalist,” “The Education of Women,” "The Function of Science in the New National Life of Germany," “Free Knowledge in the Modern State,” and "The Necropolis of Koban in the Caucasus.”]

Captain Cootes has contributed £5OOO towards the expedition.

[The Scottish expedition to the Antarctic regions will be under the leadership of Mr Bruce, whose vessel, the Scotia, was formerly the Norwegian whaler Hekla. She has been fitted out on the Clyde, at Troon, by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Co., under the guidance of Mr G. L. Watson, the well known yacht designer. The Scotia Is a barque rigged auxiliary screw steamer, of about 400 tons register, measuring 140 ft In length, 29ft in breadth, and having a depth of 15Jft. She is excellently fitted for the work she has to undertake, being immensely strong, in spite of which her lines are graceful. The ship is being especially fitted out to carry on oceanographical research, both from the physical and biological standpoint. For this purpose two great drums, each containing 6000 fathoms of cable for trawling and trapping in what is supposed to be the deepest part of the Antarctic Ocean, are being taken. Mr Bruce Intends to follow along the track of Captain Weddell, who sailed from Leith in 1823, and “ lad ? a . ot 74 - 155 - the Farthest South of his day. Eastward of this track Ross obtained a sounding of 4000 fathoms without bottom, and later Swedish and German Investigation confirms the belief that the Weddell Sea is the deepest part of the Antarctic Ocean. Mr Bruce will call at the Falkland Islands, where he f’ 0 !’ 63 . receiv e some assistance from the Admiralty. He will Investigate the Sandwich Group to the eastward, and will then strike south.]