LATEST BRITISH AND FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

Kumara Times, Issue 2371, 3 April 1884, Page 2

LATEST BRITISH AND FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

[REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.] By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. AUSTRALIAN CRICKETERS. WRECK OP A FRENCH STEAMER. THE RECIDIVATE QUESTION. THE RIOT AT CINCINNATI. A LONDON AND COLONIAL MEAT COMPANY. (Received April 3, 12.45 p.m.) Colombo, April 2. Arrived, yesterday, the P. and 0. steamship Sutlej, from Australia, homeward bound. The Australian cricketers, who are passengers, are reported all well. >-•—< [special to press association.] London, March 27. The French steamer Villecaen, bouud from Havre to Noumea has been totally wrecked at Jubal. The crew were rescued. Mr Murray Smith has had a long interview with M. Waddington on the recidiviste question. March 28. Mr Murray Smith's interview with Waddington on the recidiviste question was not wholly unsatisfactory. The price of frozen meat is improving. March 30. The French Minister of Marine has informed the Recidiviste Commiltee of the senate that the Government is willing to send convicts to Guiana, but that it is only possible to receive 2000 of them at present. He asks that the operation of the law may be delayed for a year. The Pall Mall Gazette doubts whether the Australian Governments seriously threaten such a step as to exclude French ships from Australian ports. Mr Gladstone's health is improving, and he is now enabled to take outdoor exercise. March 31. Her Majesty the Queen and the Duchess of Albany are recovering from the shuck occasioned by the sudden death of the Duke of Albany. The funeral is announced to take place on Saturday.

Signor Depretis, the Italian Premier, has succeeded in re-constructing the Cabinet.

At Cincinnati an immense mob of roughs, indignant at the lenient sentence passed on a murderer, burnt the local court-house, and after sacking the gnnshops, assanlted the gaol which was defended by nine hundred soldiers. In the attack dynamite bombs were used, and one officer and three soldiers were killed. In return, the military used their Gatling guns, which movement speedily repulsed the mob, killing a hundred and wounding hundreds. ♦ THE DEATH OF THE DUKE OF ALBANY. [special to press association.] London, March 28. His Royal Highness Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, died suddenly to-day at Cannes. He had attended a ball in tbe early part of the week. His illness had not been reported in England. March 29. Particulars of J1.8.H. the Duke of Albany's death show that he slipped on the stairs of the Club house and sustained an injury to the knee. He was removed to Captain Percival's villa, close by, and put to bed. Nothing serious was feared, and he read the papers, conversed freely with those around, and partook of supper. Dr. Boyle was in attendance, and slept in the same room, and at two o'clock in the morning he was startled by the Duke's heavy breathing, and found him iu an epileptic fit, and he died in six minutes in the arms of his bost, Captain Percival. The immediate cause of death was effusion of blood on the brain. He was previously in splendid health, and wrote cheerfully to his wife on Thursday. She is at Clareraoot, awaiting her expected confinement. The Queen is seriously prostrated by the news, and the ex-Empress Eugene was with her for several hours.

His Royal Highness Leopold George Duncan Albert K.G., K.T., G.C.5.1., G.C.M.G., P. 0., D.C.L., was the fourth and youngest son of her Majesty, and was born April 7th, 1853. He matriculated 'at Oxford University, 1872, was installed Proviucial Grand Master of Freemasons of Oxfordshire, February, 1876, and became a Bencher of Lincoln's Inn 1877. Boyton Manor, near Cudford, in Wiltshire, was his country seat, and in town he had a suite of apartments in Buckingham Palace. In 1874 he was granted £15,000 a year by Act of Parliament, though not without opposition from the Radical side of the House. On the 24th of May, 1881, he was created Baron Arklow, Earl of Clarence, and Duke of Albany in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The history of the latter title is a melancholy one. Four of the princes who previously bore it died violent deaths, two were dethroned, and one of the last of them is known to history as the Young Pretender. Consequently superstitious people regarded its selection as an ill omen. From every other point of view, however, the bestowal of the dignity was regarded with pleasure in England. After several postponements on account of his ill health the Prince's marriage with the Princess Helena Frederica Augusta of Waldeck and Pyrinont was celebrated on the 27th April, 1882. Of this marriage there is issue, a daughter, born last year. The wedding excited great interest in England, and the papers were full of details concerning it. Prince Leopold was unquestionably one of the most popular : personages in the British Empire. RuI moms of his feeble health, studious habits, and filial attention, gained for him a general feeling of kindly regard, and to this was added the feeling of respect which his speeches excited. These were attractive alike to the hearer and to the reader, and the opinions set forth in them were always attentively considered. But, popular as he was, his removal is a greater loss to the Royal Family than to the nation. For he bore no official position. As a Prince of the Blood Royal he could not be Viceroy of Ireland in its late disturbed state, and the Governorships of the colonies are bestowed nowadays on men of tried power and proved ability. The recent proposal to give him an elevated position in the English Church fell to the ground, and Englishmen knew him chiefly as the dignified President and Chairman of the Philanthropic Societies and scientific and artistic gatherings. But his position iu the Royal Family was unique. He was considered the most cultivated and thoughtful Prince of his House. The one most like his father, the one who took most interest in the aspirations and improvement of the people. His death will no doubt be severely felt by her Majesty, and in the present critical state of her health, there is ground fur considerable uneasiness.—Press.