The Wide World.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIV, Issue 6, 9 February 1910, Page 7

The Wide World.

CABLE NEWS IN BRIEF.

IMPERIAL. THE British elections are now practically over, there being only three more returns to come. The Liberals have a lead of four, the figures being: Liberals 276, Unionists 272. Nationalists 81, Labour 38. Considerable speculation is going on at Home as to the probable course of affairs, and some of the Liberals’ friends go so far as to advise them not to remain in office if some reform of the Lords be not promised. The bearing the Labour party will have on the balance of parties is bringing them into considerable prominence. Changes in the Cabinet are pretty sure to be announced. It is understood that Mr' A. Birrell, at present Chief Secretary for Ireland, will be appointed Home Secretary in succession to Mr. Herbert Gladstone, who has been appointed Governor-General in South Africa. Mr. Winston Churchill will become Chief Secretary for Ireland, and his present position as President of the Board of Trade will be filled by Mr. John Burns, President bf the Local Government Board, who will in turn be succeeded by Mr. Herbert Samuel, now Parliamentary Secretary to the Home Office. The “Daily Telegraph,” in discussing the probable Cabinet changes, considers that there is a likelihood of Mr. Haldane, at present Secretary of State for War, taking the position of First Lord of the Admiralty, which is at present held by Mr. McKenna. The premises of Messrs. Morris and Sons, tobacco manufacturers, in Highstreet, Whitechapel, London, were destroyed by fire. The flames spread, and a number of adjoining houses were also destroyed. Seventy-five engines were engaged in quelling the conflagration. The damage to property runs into £100,600, and 400 workpeople are thrown out of employment.

There has been a recrudescence of the rouble in the British coal industry. The South Wales masters are claiming damages from the men for their refusal to work the extra 60 hours under the award, aggregating £300.000. The colliers are retaliating by claiming for the payment of short coal for which the existing agreement does not enforce payment. Northumberland men continue to fiercely oppose the three shifts, and it is expected that the Northumberland ballot next week will order a strike. The splendid new Roman Catholic Cathedral at Westminster is to be consecrated in June. The cost of the structure has now been defrayed. By an accident which happened to the London-Brighton express, seven passengers were killed instantly and 20 were injured. A coupling broke when the train was crossing the points at Stoats’ Nest, and a coach was thrown across the platform at Croydon, after running for some distance. Sir Ernest Shackleton doubts if the American Expedition to the Antarctic can land because the region they propose to start from is unknown, the United States expedition will be handicapped by this fact, and also that their starting base is 200 miles more north than Captain Scott’s. The latter has the advantage of traversing a known route to witliiu 07 miles of the Pole. By the end of 1912, according to the London “Daily Mail,” Great Britain will have 20 Dreadnoughts and 44 pre-Dread-nought's, compared with Germany's 13 Dreadnoughts and 21 of an earlier class. According to the cable man, whose political views are not to be trusted as impartial, there is a sharp diflerence of opinion amongst Liberal papers whether the House of Lords question or the Budget shall come first. At a conference of representatives ot breeding societies and horse owners, •

rcsohrWW* in favour of earmarking horses suitable for army and national defence purposes, and advocating State subsidies for the breeding of Army horses, was carried. The Earl of Errol says France spends £30,000 annually in encouraging horse-breeding, whilst Great Britain only gives £SOOO. A conference at Bloemfontein to settle the language question in the Orange River t'olony failed. General Hertzog (Minister for Education) declined to make any concession to the Englishspeaking parents. Wales beat Scotland in international Rugby by 14 to nil.

FOREIGN. 'Die Paris floods caused over £50,000,000 damage in the capital and its environs alone, and 100,000 people were rendered homeless. Miles of streets in Paris were Hooded, and many quarters resembled Venice. A boat service used the street to deliver food, etc. An idea of the extent of the floods may be gathered from the fact that the whole of the Seine Valley from Harvre to Paris was inundated. The relief funds were supported in a most noble manner. Nearly all the European monarchs gave £ 1000 each, and thq publie subscribed most liberally. 'Die Mansion House fund on Monday stood at £50,000. A terrible mining disaster is reported from Colorado. While the miners were at work in the Colorado Iron and Coal Company’s mine an explosion occurred, and the exits were blocked. Out of 149 men entonubed was only one survivor. The day after came news that an explosion occurred in a colliery at Drakesbro, Kentucky, resulting in 40 men being entombed. Twenty bodies have been recovered, and it is feared that the other 20 have also perished. The preliminary inquiry into the frauds perpetrated by M. Alberti has been concluded, and it appears that his defalcations amounted to £833,000. M. Alberti was formerly a member of the Danish Cabinet, and was concerned in very extensive frauds in connection with the dairying industry. The German Ambassador in London (Count Paul Wolff-Metternich), at a banquet in London on tire Kaiser’s birthday, said the Germans were a peaceloving people They had no thought of war for attaining their national aims, and east no longing eyes on territory for settling their surplus population, for emigration bad declined to an insignificant figure. What the German people required was employment at home, and therefore they depended to a larger extent on their exports. No market, continued the Ambassador, was gained by brute force, but the peaceful conquest of trade was accomplished by intellectual industry, skill, and knowledge. The Greek crisis has advanced a stage during the week, King George having yielded to the demands of the Military League to call a National Assembly, and a provisional new ministry has been formed. M. Dracomis is Premier and Minister for Finance, M. Zorbas, Minister for War, and M. Kallergis, Minister for Foreign Affairs. Jay Gould’s estate is valued at £25,000,000. In 1903 his income amounted to £939,500.

COMMONWEALTH. The arrest and imprisonment of Peter Bowling and his colleagues, seems to have taken the sting out of the coal strike, and some of the men are now talking about resuming work. The Newcastle mineowners, who at first stood out when the Board was appointed, have informed the Wages Board of their desire to eo.me before the Court, and have submitted a list of claims which is very comprehensive. The claims generally demand a reduction upon the present rates of payment. The reductions asked may lie fairly gaug'd by taking any of the first-class seams on the basis of borehole seams. The hewing rate proposed is 3 10 per ton, when it is declared that tho selling price of coal is 11/, with a riseor fall of 4d for every 1/ of alteration in tho selling price. For working pillars the rate is 3<l le««. while for tops the claim is that the average earnings be compiled, ami a rate struck to give 11/, a day. On the Maitland scam, for pick miners, the rate to be 22 per ton, with a selling price of 11/, with a decrease of 2d for every 1/ the price falls. The wages of machine men to be fixed at 11/, a day. The rates proposed for filling dirt and working wet and deficient places are Considerably lower than those demanded

by the miners. The owners demand eight hours at the faee. Wednesday next was fixed as the date for the miners to file their replies to the owners’ claims. The damage done at Brewarrina, N.S.W., by a terrific cyclone amounted to f 10,000. Unless there be further rain the danger from floods has passed. Dr. Carlo Fiaschi and a nurse named Eleanor Young have been committed for trial at the Coroner’s Court for the murder of a girl named Nightingale at Lithgow. Fiasehi, in evidence, stated that he performed an operation for hemorrhoids and the patient died from shock and Bright’s disease. The medical evidence showed that there was no indication of an operation for hemorrhoids, while an important organ was missing. Bail was refused. A goods train, drawn by two engines from Ararat, Victoria, ran into the buffer stops. The two firemen and a driver were killed, whilst the other driver was badly scalded. The signalman states, to prevent a collision, he switched the goods train, which was running at a terrific speed, into the dead end. Complaints are made that the train crew were on duty for eighteen hours without a break.