British and Foreign.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 15 October 1913, Page 3

British and Foreign.

[eI.ECTMC TELEGRAPH, COrYIUGIIT.] [I'Elt riIESS ASSOCIATION.] (Received This Day, 9.15 a.m.) MINE EXPLOSION. London, October 1-1. An explosion that shook the neighbourhood and • was heard a long distance away occurred in j the Univeral Colliery's mine at 7 o'clock in the morning, shortly | alter the day shift had descended. The rescue brigades, doctors, and policemen hurried to the scene, and a party, with Edward Shaw as manager, descended the adjoining shaft, but was unable to gel neat' the vicinity of the explosion, owing- to deadly fumes and the many heavy .falls that had occurred. The rescuers discovered a number of terribly mutilated bodies. Heartrending scenes were witnessed at the pit head, especially among the women and children, when the officials exclaimed that there was no hope, and the position could not be worse. Other rescue parties descended later, and found hundreds huddled together where the ventilation still was good. The rescuers conducted them to the bottom of the shaft, where the machinery was repaired and unwound so expeditiously that 027 of those entombed reached the surface by eleven o'clock. There are 511 now accounted for. The fire is raging m the west pit. There are thousands of spectators on the mountains watching the scenes. Another explosion occurred in Universal Colliery in 1901, by which eighty-one wen; killed. From the mine where the explosion occurred, a total of 489 have been rescued, and 418 still are cut oil' by lire. In the west side pit there is little chance of rescuing the imprisoned miners until the lire is extinguished. The King has telegraphed: • "The Queen and 1 are appalled at the terrible disaster, and the more shocked through having visited the district in 1912. Trust the loss is not so great as at first anticipated. Deeply sympathise with bereaved: will be grateful for particulars regarding injured." (deceived This Day, 9.-10 a.m.) By the explosion at the Universal Colliery, Senghenydd, Cardiff, machinery at the pit mouth was destroyed. A man standing twenty yards away had his head blown off. Seven hundred hands are entombed. Later news states that .127 were rescued. Several bodies have been recovered. INDIA'S PROBLEMS. Delhi, October 14. The continued failure of the September rains resulted in a partial failure of the harvest in the united central provinces of Pajput an a and Central India. The Government has advanced three hundred thousand sterling for relief of distress in the united provinces. ENGLISH LAND TENUUE. (Sydney Sun). London, October l ; i. The Times, in a leading article on the policy speech delivered by Mr Lloyd George (Chancellor of the Exchequer), on the subject of land tenure, before 2500 delegates from the Home, Midland and Liberal Federations, remarks: "What is the use of misrepresenting tilings by employing one-sided, inaccurate evidence, and omitting all other. We call it darkening counsel. The general upshot of Mr Lloyd George's pronouncement is that the Government is introducing very drastic land-tenure legislation. Mr Lloyd-George postulates a false .state of tiling's, leaving it there without indicating, even vaguely, how the Government proposes to carry ont its proposals/' ENGLAND'S CHIEF JUSTICE. London, October 13. Lord Alverstone, who has bs*n in ill-health for some time, has resigned the Lord Chief Justiceship of England, a position which lie has occupied since 1900. Lord Alverstone's career at the Bar was singularly rapid. He was called to the liar in 1808, and ten years later took ilk. He unsuccessfully contested Bewdley in 1880. lii 1880, though he had not been elected to Parliament, he was nominated Attorney-Gen-eral by Lord Salisbury, and a seat was found for him at Lanneeston. At the general elections in the same year he was elected for the Isle of Wight, which constituency lie represented until .1900. On Lord Salisbury taking office in 1895, Lord Alverstone, or Sir Richard "Webster as lie was then, was appointed Attorney-General— the third- occasion on which the honour had been conferred upon him. He conducted, while'At-torney-General in 1889, the case for The Times before the Parnell Commission, and the battles between him and the late Sir Charles I (Lord) Russell were Homeric. He J was "given away" by Pigott, and because he did not choose to disbelieve Pigott's confession as fully as Russell disbelieved Pigott's evidence, he was made the butt of the Radical hack and caricaturist of the time to a striking extent. In 1893 he conducted the case for Great Britain before the arbitrators on the claims of the ( United States in the Behring Sea, and this brought him a G.C.M.G.

( He succeeded this exploit by carj rying most of the claims of Great 1 Britain before the Venezuela Ar- ! bit ration Court, which brought him his baronetcy. He became Master of the Roils in 1900, and Lord Chief Justice the same year, on the death of Lord Russell. THE VOLTURNO. It is believed that seventy-eight of the crew of the Volturno out of ninety-three perished, while most of the officers were saved. This lends colour to the statement that the crew rushed the boats. It may.also account for the failure of the Volturno to make some attempt to get a line aboard tlie Car mania. The Narraganseft's timeJy arrival was an important factor in the rescue. The oil which she put from her tanks into the sea calmed the waters, and enabled the boats to reach the Volturno. The hitter's passengers were reduced to a state of collapse after their day and night of horror when they saw the heroic elforts of the boats from the Minneapolis and other steamers fail. VISCOUNT INGESTER. In connection with the case of Viscount Ingest re, it is stated that he Earl of Shrewsbury was a bachelor until 1882, when he married Mrs Mary Muinlay (011 June 21st of that year), at Hanover Square, in a registry office. On September 18th of the same year, Viscount Ingestre was born. Evidence was tendered that Mrs Munday left her husband in April, 1881, and did not live with him afterwards. The Earl of Shrewsbury was a daily visitor to her house, and subsequently she lived with him at a hotel.-- Sydney Sun Special.