EUROPE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XL, Issue 20, 13 May 1908, Page 7

EUROPE.

'Lhc Sultan of Turkey has purchased the famous Blue Hop.* Diamond in Paris for £BO,OOO. l hc Kaiser has ordered the pr<»-(‘(*utioii of a G uinan officer of <omplicity in the theft of (he marri tges lines of tin* Emperor of Ciiina. Mdlh*. Girandin. niece of Vein Gould, the Monaco murderer, has died in tho Imspital at Monaco as the result oi a decline caused by her grief at the terribly crime of her relatives. At the Antwerp sales 3228 bales of La Plata wool were offered and 9IS \\ero sold. The market was inanimate, merinos, as coinp.ired with March, showing a fall of 15 to 20 per cent, lint* crossbreds 15 per cent, and coarse up to 25 per <<*nt. King Alfonso, on the first anniversary of the birth of the heir 1<» the- throne, pardoiiol three prisoners, \akeno. Ibarra, and Mala, under going imprisonment for attempting to uss tssjnate and the Queen when the\ w’Tc returning to the Palace on their wedding day, in May, 1906

Russian Ferry Disaster. ’A ferry boat, containing one hundred and fifty Russian peasants, who were returning from church, capsized in the River Dnieper, near KhofT. (inly thirty of the passengers reached the banks of the river, one hundred and twenty being drowned. Socialism in France. Collectivist and Socialist candidates for re-election to the French municipal councils experienced numerous defeats. Though the Socialists were re-elected in Paris their former majorities were diminished. Etna in Eruption. A series of earthquake shocks caused a panic among the residents of the villages in the vicinity of the active volcano Et na. Several houses in the village of Santa Verona were damaged, but no very serious losses were occasioned. A Prince’s Amusement. The “Vossische Zeitung” states that the Crown Prince of Servia was amusing himself by shooting the ash of a lighted cigarette held in a soldier’s mouth when he missed his aim and shot the smoker through the head, killing him instantly. With brutal callousness tne body was placed in a coflin and, without a word of remark or explanation, was sent to the residence of the dead soldier’s parents. I he lather, on opening the coffin, was horrified to find therein the body of his son, this being the first intimation he received of the tragedy. Fires in Berlin. Two hundred incendiary fires have occurred in Berlin since February last, and the number is still being added to. I lie police have tried by every means to discover the criminals, but have failed at each attempt, and are now at their wits' end. lhey are watching some 7000 houses. German Enterprise. Ih< Reichstag has read a third time the Bill providing for the expenditure of .£7,500,000 in the construction of 000 miles of additional railways in Germany’s African colonies. Ihe Bill authorising the payment of a grant of £11.50(1 to the North-German Lloyd’s tor the steamship line from Australia to Japan, via Island ports, has also been read a third time. I'lio steamer Boveric, bound from Astoria to Sydney, struck an unknown object. and has had to put into San Francisco. The steamer will have to discharge her cargo and go into dock for repairs. Austrian Emperor’s Diamond Jubilee. The Kaiser, the Kings of Saxony and Wurtcmburg, and many German princes journeyed to Vienna and congratulated tin Emperor Francis Josef of AustriaHungary upon the celebration of his diamond jubilee. The event was marked by popular rejoicing, choral and other festivities. King Victor Emanuel of Italy and other sovereigns and heads of States sent special messages to the EmP‘*ror.