GENERAL CABLEGRAMS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1926, 8 December 1913, Page 7

GENERAL CABLEGRAMS.

By Telegraph—Press Association-Oopyrilflit $ SMALLPOX IN SYDNEY. (Rec. December. 8, 1.10 a.m.) Sydney, December 7. A case of smallpox is ro])ortcd from Welkend'. FEDERALS DEFEATED "WITH 1 HEAVY LOSS. Mexico City, Dccombcr 5. A twenty-four hours' battle near Victoria, in Tamaulipas State, resulted in tlio defeat of tho Federal troops, with heavy loss. _ _ ' Fighting is continuing in a desultory manner. "TRUTH" LIBEL CASE. Melbourne, December 6. A stay of proceedings has been granted in tho lloare-Norton case, in which the plaintiff, Benjamin Hoarc, was awarded £750 damages against John Norton, proprietor of the newspaper "Truth," for alleged libel published in tho defendant's paper. A MONTH'S INSURANCE LOSS. ' London, December 5. The underwriters estimate tho losses for November at £1,2-13,200, including £647,000 for tho Canadian .lake disasters.—Sydney "Sun" Special. OLD AGE PENSIONS FOR CANADA. Ottawa, December o. Bio Government is likely to introduce an old-ago ■ pension schemo, based on. tho report of the Commission which investigated tlio Australian, New Zealand, and Belgian systems. DESTRUCTIVE BUSH FIRES. Sydney, December G. Bush fires swept a largo area of grain and grass in tho Wellington distiiet. FIRE IN A BONE MILL. Sydney, December 6. Fire destroyed the Paragon bono mill at Alexandria. The damage is estimated at £10,000. SIEVIER-WOOTTON'LIBEL CASE. London, December 5. Tho Court of Appeal has allowed AVootton's appeal against tho stay of execution respecting costs in tho Sic-vicr-Yv'ootton libel case, and ordered payment of these to Wootton's solicitors, pending Sievior's appeal. Counsel stated that Wootton was going to Australia for a year. SUPPER CLUBS IN LONDON. London, December 6. The growth of supper clubs in the West End of London is prejudicing the business of the big hotels and restaurants. Throo largo society clubs, in imitation of a "cabaret" recently founded, arranged a programme covering supper and dancing, tho participants reaching homo at five o'clock in tho morning.—Sydney "Sun" Special. H.M.S. NEW ZEALAND. London, December 7. Mr. JMackenzio (High Commissioner for New Zealand), has sent a wireless message welcoming tho cruisor battleship H.M.S. New Zealand on her return homo, and inviting tho officers to a reception in their honour on December 16. Captain Halsey has . replied, thanking the High Commissioner for tho invitation. Ho says that all on board look back with pleasuro to their stay in Now Zealand.

LEGISLATION FOR UNEMPLOYMENT. Berlin, December 6. Dr. Delbruck (Minister for Homo Affairs) replying in tho Reichstag to an interpellation, said tlmt legislation against unemployment was at present impracticable, lio promised to extend tho existing systepi of employment bureaus.

Somo interesting reminiscences of Charles Dibdin (1745-181-1), tho onetime popular composeriof■ "Sea Songs," somo of which still survive, mostly for school purposes, aro given in a reprint of the lectures of Professor Edward Taylor (1784-18G3). Dibdin, as tho Graham lecturer shows, was not only a composer, but an actor, a manager, a singer, and a writer. In. tho course of many tours through England ho collected a largo number of impressions, and theso ho later embodied into an immensely popular entertainment entitled "A Tour to tho Land's End." This was a mixture of music and narration. Professor Taylor board him describe. Bath, tho pleasure resort, as follows:— "Next day I arrived at that mixture of lowness and grandeur, pride and meanness, politeness and impertinence—Bath, tho region of fashion and dullness, oi' elegance and stupidity, of public reputation, nnd private intrigue, of extravagance and imposition; where dross is the. no plus ultra of human perfection, whero a graceful minuet is considered tho height of human perfection, whero good breeding is carried to such a pitch of refinement, that sharpers and their dupes associate harmoniously, and tho fox and geese live lilto ouo family; •where Irish adventurers angle for rich heiresses, and whero noblemen, prematurely decrepit, aro wheeled about to drink the waters, qualify Burgundy with spruco beer, hobble to' tho rooms, tho theatro, or tho club, beat false time, scream 'Bravo I' iu tho wrong place, and hiccup out 'Noil nobis Domino.' " By which it will bo seen that Dibdin's powers of (Inscription were by no means of a nature to bo despised. "His voice," says Taylor, "was what is called a 'nifukwip voice.' " But it seems Uj Imve served very well lor tho purpose of sinking his songa,