THE OLD COUNTRY.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 26, 23 December 1908, Page 6

THE OLD COUNTRY.

Fifty Turner drawings were found hidden in the Nulional Callery. The Port of London Bill has been rand n second time in the House of Lords without a division being called for. General Booth, head of the Salvation 'Army, has successfully undergone an operation for the removal 4 of a cataract. The Port of l/uidon Bill has now passed into law, its third reading having been agreed to by the House of Lords to-day. Earl Rosebery announces that a sum of £2OO has been subscribed for the erection of a statue of the Marquis of Linlithgow in Edinburgh. Welsh Liberal members or the House threaten secession from the party in revenge for Mr. Asquith's failure to enforce Welsh <1 isestab!ishinent. William Begg, an actor, well-known in Australia, recovered £2OO damages from Edward Collis, lor a breach of agreement in not producing in London a play entitled “For the King.” Mr. Asquith, replying to questions in the House of Commons, said the Government’s views as to the two-Power standard were unchanged. He would later make a full statement on the subject. 'l’he Education Committee is applying to the London County Council for £lO,00(1 from the rates to provide meals for under fed children, this sum being required to supplement voluntary subscriptions. My< Augustine Birrell, Chief Secretary for, Ireland, in reply to Lord Lonsdale, stated that there were 234 agrarian outlages in In land during 1900,-372 in 1907, and 537 during the first eleven months of tlir present. year. King Edward has sent to Mr. Andrew Carnegie his portrait, with a letter, expressing his sense of the .millionaire’s benefactions towards great public objects in tin* .Motherland, and his appreciation of the great care he has exercised to prevent any misuse of his gifts. A Huge Task. Mr. Asquith assured a deputation from the London Central Unemployed Committee that he hoped soon to submit proposals of a permanent, definite, and businesslike character setting up machinery to prevent the re appearance at intervals of the spectre of unemployment, thus going to the root of the problem. W. and A. McArthur. The liquidator of the \V. and A. MeArthui Co.. Ltd., estimates that £130,090 will be available to meet unsecured creditors. He claims that they will probably receive 14/0 in the £. Worth Encouraging. Addressing the annual meeting of the British Empire League at Mansion House. Sir 10 ginaid Talbot (ex-Governor oi Victoria) remarked that it would be a thousand pities if the growing feeling in favour of an Australian squadron were discmirag <l. since such a provision Would leave the Imperial Navy free to defend the Empire unhampered by considerations <»f local defence of Australia. A deep debt of gratitude was. he considered. due to the ( ommonwralt h Parliament foi ri cognising the principle that every able-liodied man should qualify to defend his country. Jjtiuctraty verKiib Aristocracy. Tin Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr Lloyd George). addressing a gathering of Welshmen at Ih< National Libcial ( lub, declared that the whole fortunes of Liberalism would hr staked on one great atL mpl to shattei the sceptre of the House of fjord*. ft may be, he said, t lie final struggle between democracy and aristocracy. Mr Asquith statea that he is not prepared at present to take any action on

the report of the Earl of Rosebery’s Committee, for the reform of the House of Lords. State-owned Cables. The London “Daily Telegraph” says that it is considered certain that the Motherland will take the lead in the' early ownership of a caole between Britain and Canada. Tn the House of Commons. Mr. Sydney Buxton, Postmaster-General, stated that after dissatisfaction expressed by Mr. Rodolphe Lemieux, Canadian PostmasterGeneral. on the question of Atlantic cable rates, the Government had arranged that British ami Canadian representatives should consider the subject in the spring. Does not Appeal to the Scotch. Mrs. Carrie Nation, the Kansas saloon smasher, is campaigning in Glasgow, but is meeting with little success. She conies into frequent collision with the crowd. To Stop Sweating. • An influential deputation representing the Anti-Sweating League, which urged, legislation against sweated labour, was introduced to Mr Asquith last week by the Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Davidson). Sir Charles Dilke, M.P., Mr G. N. Barnes .(Labour member for the Blackfriars division of Glasgow), the Earl of Dun raven, and Mr Sidney Webb (lecturer on political economy) supported the League, expressing entire sympathy with its objects. Personally they favoured proceeding by way of wages board, ami he hoped the Government would be able to devise machinery of that kind to deal promptly with cases of under ' paid industries. The board, however, would have to proceed cautiously, recognising the delicacy of the problem. The report of Mr Ernest Aves, who last year visited Australia and New Zealand, had created the impression, several of the speakers said, that the home work problem in Australia was very much less serious than in the Old Country. The Rhodes Scholars. The annual report shows that there are one hundred and eighty-nine Rhodes scholars in residence at Oxford, including 11 ex-scholars, who are remaining for further studies or as fellows and tutors. The “Times*’ says that the scholars have gained a respectable but by no •fmoiiauipqp jo SupupqMJdAO suuoui The King's Health. After the investiture of the recipients of Birthday honours, at’ Buckingham Palace, King Edward, on the advice of Sir Francis Laking (the Kiiig's physician), and in deference to Queen Alexandra's wish, returned to Brighton, in order to thoroughly re-establish his st l ength. His Majesty looks pale, but walks with his usual energy. Checkmating the Suffragette. A bill introduced by Lord Robert Cecil, punishing offenders who wilfully disturb public meetings, has been read a third time in the House of Commons.. The bill is aimed at such offences as are constantly committed by suffragettes when Ministers of the ( ,-rown are addressing public meetings. Contempt of Court. Mr Horatio Bottomley. M.P., has been lined £3OO for contempt of court in publishing an aiticle in his paper, “John Bull.*’ commenting on the Guildhall proceedings. On December | Mr Horatio Bottomley, MP. for South Hackney since 190(1, ami one of the city’s ablest tinayciers, answered a summons to appear at the Guildhall on a charge of conspiracy to defraud the public (luring the operations of the .Joint Stock Trust and Finance ('orpoi atimi. Miner’s Hight Honr Day. The House of Lordb has amended the Eight Hours in Mines Bill, increasing the day’s labour by ba I fan hour and deferring the dace of the coining into up- < ration of the Act.