MAIL NEWS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1726, 18 April 1906, Page 2

MAIL NEWS.

PUGNACIOUS LEGISLATORS.

(By Telegraph.) (Per R.M.S. Sierra at Auckland.). London, Maroh 29. The correspondent at Tokio of the Daily Telegraph reports that the submission of the House of Peers’ amendments to the Bill for nationalisation of tho railways to the House of Representlives caused a free fight. There was a considerable exchange of blows and tearing of clothes mombers. Eventually the police were summoned, restoring order and closed the doors in order to frustrate an attempt of the Opposition to leavo the House in a body. The Bill was adopted by a vote of 214, tho Opposition declining to reoord tta vote, os it considered the Government’s action inconsistent with the principle of conßtitu. tional government. RAILWAY COLLISION.

Ban Francieoo, Ma»ch 25. A despatch from Pueblo, Colorado, March 16, says :-Two, trains of the Denvc and Rio Grand Ranway had a head-on collision four miles ea t of Fbrr-Dce this morning, with horrible results. J h ® trains met on » sharp curve, and were less than two hundred yards apart when the enginomen discovered a collision was train put forth every effort to bring the train to a standstill. He went to death with his hand on the throttle. This is shown, by the fireman who jumped and lived. The engine crew on the east bound train all died at t heU : P OB1 ®’ The disaster wsb made most horrible the manner of death of many of the passengers, variously estimated at 20 to M. Fire swept over the wreck, engulfing it m the cauldron of flames, and leaving only oba-red and blackened bones to tell the story of the disaster. The accident ooourred in a blinding storm at 2.30 a.m. The sohedule of the trains was changed owing to the snow and wind, which made it neoessary to exercise unusual care.. A telegraph operator who should have given the changed order to the train crew admits he was asleep at bis post, The incidents of the disaster were infinitely patbetio. ' One passenger had his legs broken and could not go to the assistance of fat 3 wife and baby, though he could hear them calling him from the sleepers’ car, whioh was just bursting into fl’mes, in which they were burned. The rtmains of viotims were beyond identification, befog practically destroyed. STEAMER FOUNDERS.

A despatch from Boston, Maroh_l4, says :— Suffering, mental and physical, and numerous acts of heroism in saving life have rarely equalled in the reoords of tragedies of the sea that whioh attended the loss of the Phoenix line steamer> British King, which on Sunday last in an Atlantic storm foundered about 160 miles south of Sable Island, and carried to de >th twenty-seven members of the erew. Thirteen were rescued from the sinking vessel by the Leyland liner Bostonian, bound from Manchester to Boston, and eleven by the tank steamer Mannhein, from Rotterdam to New York. Five_ others, who bad been drawn into the* vortex when the British King sank, were pioked up by the Bostonian from a frail bit of wreckage they had grasped after a desperate struggle in the whirlpool. Captain Tames O'Lagon, of the British King, died aboard the Bostonian from in* juries sustained in trying to save the ship. The rescued brought here inolude the second officer, chief eogineer, fourth engineer, steward, and a number of ooal passers and sailors, mostly Belgians, and one stowaway from New York. Tw.O lifeboats of the Bostonian were crushed, and the volunteer crews were thrown into the high-running seas while engaged in the work of rescue, but all safely reached the steamer again. They were rescued by lines thrown from their own steamer. A second boatload of rescuers was thrown into the sea. and only rescued after an hour’s work by their comrades The British King sailed from New York for Antwerp on March 7th, with a miscellaneous cargo and 151 oattle Previous to the appearance of the resouing steamers every small boat of the British King had been demolished, and there was no way of esonpe. The vessel was owned by the British Shipowners’ Company, of Liverpool. BRITAIN’S DEFENCES.

A despatch from London, March Bth, saysla introducing the Army estimates, amounting to nearly 1)30,000,000, House ot Commons to-day, War Secretary Haldane announoed that the Liberals did not desire to destroy the Army, but required greater efficiency at less expenditure. The Government accepted what be dominated the 11 blue-water principle,” namely, that the Navy at its present strength was capable of defending Britain from invasion, and though a strong Navy was a costly thing, it was useful, as it made it possible to out off much of what would otherwise be necessary Army expenditure. In pursuanoe of this policy of dependency on the Navy it was deoided ammunitioo stores eonstrueted tor the defenoe of London were unnecessary, and would at onoe be rooted up. Some three hundred guns mounted at various points for the defence of the ooaßt would be swept away. The troops at Weihaiwei, China, would be withdrawn, and some oolonial garrisons would be reduoed. These changes did not involve an enormous sqm, but "would mark the beginning. The British army required for oversea purposes must be of high quality, nos to be pbi&ined by conscription, and should be strictly limited in dimensions. The sige of the army depended chiefiy on policy, and Mr Haldane wished the nations wonld consider together whether a redaction could not be made in the armament burden, whioh was pressing on civilised nations. The War Minister said he thought the north-west frontier of China was no longer eadangered, and later he pointed out Great Britain was not alone in spending enormous sums for the army. He instanced Germany and France, and added: The United States is a very efficient and confines itself to an army of 60,000 - men ; nevertheless, that army ooßta close cn £23,000,000. 11 Greß Britain," he added, " will never be able to reduce her striking fores without providing some power of expansion behind it at home. All t aining must be voluntary. Anything like oonaoription would defeat tta objects,”

GAMBLING. Nice, March. 25. ' Never before has the' mania’ for gambling reaened such a pitch on the Riviera. Nightly at baccarat at the Grand Circle the game is for stakes as high as those at Monte Carlo; To such proportions! has the te : v‘ei risfed that extensive arrangements are in progress for affording hosts of players vastly enlarged facilities next season. A magnificent new Casino is building at Monte Carlo. Another splendid new gaming Casino is to be erected here on the Avenue Massena, and a syndicate has also bought the beautiful Park Cuambrun, outside of Nice, where it is proposed to erect still another huge gambling house to rival that at Monte Carlo. At Cannes, too, a syndicate is busy constructing a palatial Casino. Rich Americans are contributing largely, though involuntarily, to the building of ..the new Uasinos.