London.

Manawatu Herald, 27 February 1892, Page 2

London.

Under Mr Chaplin's Small Holdings Bill County Councils will be given power to borrow for the purpose of purchasing lands, and will be allowed to sell between one and fifty acres, , the annual value not to exceed £50. A quarter of the money is to be paid down at the time of purchase a quarter to be perpetual rent charge, redeemable at will, and the balance to extend over fifty years. The leases are not to exceed ten acres. Sir W. V. Harcourt spoke in support of the measure, but said he desired to see a compulsory purchase clause introduced. The Bill was read a first time amid cheers. The Mr Lidderdale who is missing is a banker at Ilminster, in Somersetshire, and not the son of the go* vernor of the Bank of England. The police disbelieve the drowning theory, and consider that Mr Lidderdale has been kidnapped by an American lady, who declared that she would not marry any other man: The Marquis of Blandford, son and heir of the Duke of Marlborough, applied to Mr Justice Butt for an order to compel his father to make an increase in his annual allowance of £380, but His Honour decided that he had no jurisdiction in the matter. An incendiary attempt was made to burn down the Shipping Federation offices at Dundee. The owners of the majority of the collieries in Derbyshire, Nottingham, shire, Leicestershire, Cumberland. Lancashire, and North Wales have arranged for a cessation of operations ; and the owners of the pits in Staffordshire. Durham and Northumberland are expected to join in the arrangement. The men have been given a fortnight's notice. The motion tabled in the House of Commons by Mr Samual Smith, M P. for Flintshire, providing for the disestablishment of the Welsh Church, was rejected by a majority of 47.