News of the Week.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 33, 14 December 1883, Page 11

News of th e Wee k.

Friday.

On Wednesday night Joseph Fantham, a farmer in Sandhills district, was accidentally drowned. 1 in the Wainiakariri when driving home from Addington saleyards. leaves a wife and family. All the tribt s of the Southern Soudan have now risen in rebellion. There is little hope of saving the Triumph now. She is almost on her team- ends. The water is now in the second compartment) and the vessel is breaking up along the keel. information has been received from Madagascar stating that a great deal of siokness prevails amongst the French troops stationed at Tamatave. Mi. John" Lundon states that the Parliament of Samoa have unanimously agreed to petition for annexation to New Zealand, and will forward the petition -to the Premier and Parliament of New Zealand. Parleyiog has been resumed between the French and Chinese Governments with the view of averting the threatened war. It is hoped that the difficulties which rendered the previous negotiation futile may now be over come, and that an amicable settlement of tbe Tonquia question may be arrived at. It is announced that the Right Hop. Sir E. Sullivan, Master of the Rolls in the Irish High Court of Justice, has been appointed to suceed the Right Hon. Hugh Law as Lord Chancellor for Ireland. The ship Loch Fyne, which left Lyttelton for London on May 14. and has not since beeu, heard of, has been posted at Lloyd's as missing': - ' ~ A telegram has been read at the Sydney Conference yesterday announcing that France lays claim to the following islands or groups in the Pacific :— New Caledonia, the Loyalties, the Pines, the Marquesas (11 islands), the Societies, Tahiti, Morea, Low Archipelago (80 islands), Australs, Tubai, Kaito, and Rapa. France is willing that the Leeward Islands, near Tahiti, should be independent.

Saturday.

The cleaning-up of the first month's crushing of the Te Aroba claim has been finished. The gold yield is 1701oz from 107 trucks of quartz. The new find in the mine has proved the richest, 293 trucks giving 6930z. Despatches to hand from the Soudan state that the panic which arose at Khartoum in consequence of the expectation that El Mahdi would advance and besiege the town after having annihilated the Egyptians under Hicks Pasha, is now subsiding, the rebels having shown no intention of taking advantage of the weakness of the garrison to make an attack. A sawmill at Kawakawa, owned by the Bay of Islands Coal Company, has been burned down. The loss is estimated at £300. Tbe Sydney Conference made several alterations in the draft Imperial Bill for tbe constitution of a Federal Council. Tbe measure now consists of 11 clauses, and ia addition to the points already telegraphed it provides that tbe Governor of Tasmania shall have power to summon the Council and to-hold sessions at Hobart until it is otherwise decided. The presence of a majority will be necessary to constitute a quorum, and the decision of the majority is to prerail. The Federal Council is to have authority over British si ip fisheries beyond territorial limits, ov.er deserters, and over defences within or without territorial limits. The decisions' of tbe Council are to be valid only for those Colonies which agiee to them. Power is vested in the' Governor of the Colony where the Council sits to assent to, dissallow, or reserve for royal assent any measures passed. Any amounts payable by Colonies in case of difference are to be assessed by the Governor of Tasmania. The Act shall be invalid in any Colony until its Legislature mas adopted it, and is not to he operative until four Colonies have passed it. It has transpired that the Chinese Government continues to adopt a firm and unyielding attitude in the negotiations which are now proceeding for the settlement of the Tonquin difficulty, and refuse cither to withdraw or modify their claims on Tonquin. They are prepared to appeal to arms rather than to surrender to France the military forts in Tonquin which are now occupied by Chinese troops.

Monday.

Mr. Trevelyan, Chief Secretary for Ireland, states that the reports received from the county magistracy are that rents are" now being paid, and that the system of boycotting is being disconiinned. The Tunes says that if the Australian Colonies agree to federate, the Annexation problem will have been more than half solved. Tbe Standard says that the Colonies having limited ' their demands to certain of the Pacific islands, they should insist that over the remainder England should maintain the peace of the Pacific, with a right to exclude all disturbing elements. The Morning Advertiser stronely supports the decision arrived at by the Conference. It is reported that England has seized an island near the eastern terminus of the Panama Canal. A complaint has been made to the authorities regarding the condition of three children named Neilson, recently released from Burnbam Industiial School, after being some 10* months there. When sent there they were clothed, clean, and healthy. On ."being restored to their parents at Maaterton recently, they were ragged, filthy, crawling with vermin, covered with sores, and with dirt, ingrained in cracks of the'skin. " . ; ' Captain Haddock, a diver, announces his intention ot performing next week a novel-diving feat, being no less than a walk from Auckland to North Shore on the bottom of the harbour. , In consequence of the excited and fanatical - state of the native tribes in Upper Egypt, the Porte has ordered 'several frigates to rendezvous in the-Eed-sea, with a view of co-operating with the Egyptian troops now operating' agaimt the rebel Arabs. The Dunstan Times says :— The work of pegging out reof claims on the Old Man Range still continues, and the greatest interest is

being taken in the district. Nothing particular, however, is being done m the way of prospecting, that is, in the direction of sinking shafts or driving tnnnels,— though most of the claims have a greater or lesser number of men at work tracing the course of the reefs on the surface and spotting the most likely places to start permanent operations. The field is to 6 young yet to form anything like an accurate idea as to what it will eventually turn out. The session of the Intercolonial Convention has closed. At the final meeting, Six George Des Vceux's motion for preventing unrestricted pmoha9es of land in New Guinea and the Pacific islands was adopted. A resolution, proposed by Mr. Whitaker, that criminals should be prohibited from landing in the Australian .Colonies was- also carried. . A sad accident occurred at Saddle Hill on Saturday, by which a lad named William Street, son of tre Mayor-elect of Dunedin, lost his life. -Deceased had gone on a rabbit-shooting expedition with three other boys, named Hawkes. Barron, and Thompson, and, by some deplorable mishap, a gun that Hawkes was handling went off, and blew out' his brains.

Tuesday.

A deputation of members ot the United States Congress has petitioned President Arthur to obtain from the British Government a respite for O'Donnell, convicted of the murder of James Carey. The Hon. J. Russell Lowell, Minister in London for the United States, has been requested to forward a report on his case. Yesterday afternoon an application was lodged at the Christchurch Waste Lands office fpr a gold-mining lease for 15 year 3of 16£ acres on the east side of the dividing range at the head waters of the Wilberfocce River, the Company to be styled the Christchurch Quartz-mining Company. It is stated that the North Creek Mining Oompany is to have a trial crushing of half a ton of qoartz brought from the Wilberforce. Dispatches to hand from Souakim, dated the sth inst., state that an attack in force was made on that date by the Arab nillmen upon the Egyptian troops who had been despatched as reinforcements for the garrison at Souakim. The attack was made at some distance outside the town, and resulted in the destruction of 700 Egyptian troops comprising the elite of the force sent to occupy Souakim to operate against the Soudan rebels. Great dismay prevails here at the continuous success with which the partisans of El Mahdi meet in their conflicts with the troops despatched against th«m. Professor Joseph N. Lockyer, F.R.S., the well-known astronomer, attributes the present remarkable sunsets to the presence in the atmosphere of volcanic dust from the Java eruption. The Italian Government have decided to co-operate with the other Powers in adopting measures for the protection of EuropQaus in China, and to that end have despatched two ironclads to Hong Kong. A further engagement with the rebels has taken place in the Soudan. Five hundred Soudanese, with 200 Basbi-Bazouks, 20 cavalry, and armed with mountain guns, were attacked by Osman Luhi, a partisan of El Mahdi, 20 miles from Souakim, on December 2. The Bazouks broke helplessly, throwing the Soudanese into great confusion. The latter resisted bravely, and defented their position with clubbed muskets. The rebels, who numbered 3000, however, completely overwhelmed them, and, with the exception of 45 who esaaped, they were all killed. The followers of El Mabdi lost heavily during the fight". A detachment of Baker Pasha'd gendarmes arrived, at Souakim after the termination of hostilities. A.n attack on Dongohola and Khartoum is expected daily. The Biitish Government have agreed to the presence of Turkish frigates in the Red Sea, wberathey have been ordered to rendezvous by tbe Porte along with the British war-vessels now cruising off the eastern coast of Egypt. James Harvey, a bushfaller, was killed at Letham on Friday by a tree falling on him. He was missed, and was discovered underneath a tree. The work of extricating him was difficult, and was not accomplished till midnight, when he died.

Wednesday.

In the French Chambers a resolution of confidence in the present Government to maintain and defend the influence and honour of France in Tonquin hasTseen adopted by a majority of 109. The Triumph is now breaking up. The sea on Monday night drove her farther on to the rocks, and was making clean breaches over her, while to-day it is found that the bottom is ont of the forehold, The engine-room and No. 2 compartment are fall of water. Captains Worsp, Clayton, and Fraser went down and made a survey. They recommend that everything that can be got out of her be taken, out at once, and be sold ; and this will be done. An official enquiry has been arranged to take place on Thursday next. A .steamer and barge have gone down with a winch to remove the engine, threshing machines, and other large packages of cargo for southern ports. - ' The Hon. Mr. Bryce is making arrangements for the construction of a round head at Aotea Harbour ; also for the exploration and opening tip of a track between Kawbia and Alexandria. He has «lso given instructions for the survey of the block of Government land at the head of Aotea Harbour, which was purchased in 1856. It is officially announced that Alfred Tennyson, Poet Laureate, has been raised to the peerage with the ifrtle of Baron. The number of persons who arrived in the Colony last month was 2380, the departures being only 723, the balance in favour of the Colony thus being 1657. An elderly .woman, named Hamlin died at the Wellington Hospital on' Monday night under peculiar circumstances. She is a resident of Stokes Valley, Upper, H.utt, and on the 30th ult., when entering her bouse, a lad fired a gnn off. There was no shot in tlio" gun, but the powder lodged in her left arm above the wrist. Amputation of the hand was deemed necessary, and the poor old lady succumbed under the operation. She was 70 years of age. It is not yet known under, what circumstances the gun. was fired, but the police have gone out to make inquiries.

Lord Rosebery was present on Monday night at a dinner given by the Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, and, in replying to the toast of his health, spolufhighly of the importance' which must be attached to the Intercolonial Convention as marking a distinctive epoch in the history of the Australian colonies. In its resolution regarding the convict question, the Convention (Lord Bosebery remarked) spoke with a power which could not be claimed by the colonies individually. The Convention spoke to the whole world as the mouthpiece of a united nation, with a determination to take part in future. events, and determined' to control the present as regards its individual self.

Thcbsday.

A meeting of the members of the Irish National League took - place at Dublin on Tuesday, when Mr. Paraell received tbe tribute of the various branches of the League to tbe amount of £38,000. In the course of his addreES to the meeting Mr. Parnell made a bitter attack upon Earl Bpencer and Mr. Trevelyan. Mr. Parnell, however, expressed fall confidence in the ultimate success of the cause. It has bean decided by the casting vote of the Chairman not to use Port Chalmers stone for the Calliope Dock. The engineer opposed the -use of this stone oa the ground that its qualities had not been sufficiently determined by use and experience. The Arab hillmen are mustering in large numbers in the neighbourhood of Souakim, and it is expected that they will make a night attack upon the garrison and town. H.-M. gun-vessel Banger, now cruising off the coast, is attacking tbe rebels with rocket fire with the view of preventing their approach against the town. The farmers of the West Coast are!complaining of the boisterous weather experienced, and say if it continues much longer it will be useless to cut a large portion of tbe crops. ' The Enterprise ' Gold-mining Company at Terawhiti have decided to wind up. , A miner named named Felix M'Cann was killed in- a sluicing olaim at Larrikins yesterday morning by a fall of stone from the face of the claim. ,He was 31 years of age, and a native of Armagh, Ireland. An inquest will be held. At the meeting of the Otago Land Board yesterday, it was decided that the re-hearing of Borthwick's and Hertslet's cases shonld take place oa January 10, 1884, at 11 o'clock. It was further resolved to hold an inquiry into the Strath-Taieri cases on January 24. The term of the present Board ends with the present year.