LATE EUROPEAN NEWS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 2, Issue 324, 21 April 1881, Page 2

LATE EUROPEAN NEWS.

[Per s.s. Tabard a, at Russell.]

London, April 12.

Lords Cairns and Salisbury are rival candidates for tire leadership of the Opposition. It is rumored that Lord Salisbury’s chances have been endangered by secret pledges given to M. Waddington, the French Minister »for Foreign Affairs, with regard to the Tunis difficulty, which it is thought might possibly compromise England.

The Fall Mall Gazette, commenting on the determination of Mr Patterson, the Victorian Minister for Railways, to surrender all patronage in his department, expresses the opinion that such an action is perfectly consonant with the Democratic institutions of the colony, and that party control of a department is calculated to endanger popular rule in Australia. The spiritist medium, Fletcher, has been sentenced to a year’s imprisonment for imposition. The election for the St. Ives seat, which became vacant through the death of Sir Charles Reed (Liberal), has resulted in the return of a Tory candidate.

Mr Dillon, the member for Tipperary, delivered a speech strongly condemning the Irish Land Bill of the Government. He counsels the Irish members to oppose its passing.