The Wide World.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIV, Issue 14, 6 April 1910, Page 7

The Wide World.

CABLE NEWS IN BRIEF.

IMPERIAL. HEN Parliament met again on // I Tuesday after the Easter adjournment, Mr. Asquith gave notice of his reform resolutions, the principle of which had already been affirmed by the House. He moved; “That the House resolve itself into a committee to consider the relations of the two Houses and duration of Parliament.” He admitted that he had changed his youthful opinions, ami now considered two chambers expedient. He proceeded to propound a long constitutional argument to prove that limitation of the veto and the shortening of Parliaments was the most practical way of securing that the popular will should not be frustrated. A -referendum or joint session of the two Houses, as in Australia, was inadmissible under existing circumstances. He concluded that the Lords* absolute veto must follow the Crown’s veto before the road was cleared for the advance of full-grown and un-

fettered democracy. Sir R. B. Finlay moved the official amendment of the Opposition: “That this House regards a strong and efficient .second chamber as necessary; it is willing to consider proposals to reform, but declines proposals for destroying the usefulness of any second chamber, however constituted, and removing the only safeguard against great changes being made by the Government of the day, not only without the consent, but against the wishes, of the majority of the electors.” The division on the amendment and motion will lx* taken on Monday. America and Canada have reached an agreement upon the tariff question, and the threatened war has been averted. In return for the Payne minimum tariff Canada extends by Order-in-Council the international rate on a dozen items of American exports which compete with French products entering at reduced rates, including cotton seed oil, manufactured silks, some wines and fruits. The agreement provides for legislation for the mutual reduction of duties on articles of natural exchange. Thirty thousand emigrants leave Britain this month for Canada. Bishop Barry, formerly Bishop of Sydney and Primate of Australia, died at Windsor last Friday. Britain's drink bill decreased by elevon millions sterling during last year. COMMONWEALTH. The most sensational happening of the week was the foundering of the Aber-deen-White Star liner Pericles, a new vessel, which was launched less than two years ago. Particulars of the disaster will be found in another column. At the sitting of the Labour Congress in Sydney a proposal in favour of the repeal or amendment of the Industrial Disputes Act was lengthily discussed. Most of the speakers advocated amendment. The statement was freely made that the Act had practically killed militant unionism. The Congress adopted a resolution emphatically protesting against Mr. Wade’s coercive Industrial Disputes Amendment Act of 1909. and pledging itself to make every effort to return labour members at next election in sufficient numbers to have the amended Act repealed and the Industrial Disputes Act itself amended so as to be suitable to the workers. Another resolution was carried that the Congress favours obtaining its ideals and redressing its grievances by constitutional methods, and is of opinion that strikes should only be resorted to when every possible hope of conciliation has failed. Tommy Burns, the ex-champion heavyweight, has accepted a challenge to fight Sam Langford, the coloured boxer, who teat lan Hague, at Richmond, near Oaklands, California, on September 25, for a purse of 25,000 dollars (£5000). Sir George Reid says that there is room in Australia for tens of thousands of English girls and boys, and that juvenile emigration is the best emigration for Australia. FOREIGN. The dancing room of an inn in thfl

village of Mekoerito, in Hungary, took fire while a village ball was in progress on Saturday night. One door had been nailed up to keep unauthorised persons out, and it could not be opened from within. Many were trampled to death in the struggle to escape, while the majority of the remainder were burned to death. The roof fell in and completed the holocaust, 325 of the 400 present losing their lives. Another dreadful tragedy is reported from Russia, where, while a gipsy caravan consisting of a number of vehicles drawn by horses and donkeys was crossing the frozen surface of Lake Cheremenetzki, the iee suddenly broke under the weight. The whole party were precipitated into the icy waters, and 50 were drowned. Mount Etna has been in-violent eruption all the week, and two villages have been destroyed by streams of lava which have devastated large areas of the country. Heavy shocks of earthquake have been felt in Catania and Messina. The Russian Government is introducing into the Douma a shipbuilding programme for ten years. totalling £75.000.000. The Douma is asked to vote the first annual instalment. The main base of the German navy has been shifted from Kiel to Wilhebnshafen. or. the North Sea, with advance posts at Heligoland and Borkum. After extensive tests, the French navy has adopted wireless telephony as a means of communication between the ships. A dreadful crime, which evidently involves many others, is reported from New York, where the body of a 16-vear-old girl named Ruth Wheeler, a typiste, was found on a fire escape outside a flat occupied by a youth named Woltei, She had been strangled and partly incinerated. jt is alleged that numbers of girls have visited Wolter’s flat, and that 15 of them have disappeared. Wolter's counsel declares that he was but the tool of a gang of “white slave” traffickers. Dr. Brengus. a highly-respected doctor practising at Nimes. has been arrested on a charge of murdering his brother inla w. It has been-discovered that tin* famous Hope diamond was sold before 1 lie wreck of the La Seyne. During 1909 more than 1400 people committed suicide in St. Petersburg.