CABLE NEWS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 3509, 13 April 1905, Page 3

CABLE NEWS.

Various Cabled Items.

BRITISH IMPERIAL MATTERS. I London, April 10. Mr Crooks asked whether Mr Balfour would submit to the Colonial Conference a joint scheme for emigration. Mr Balfour replied dial the time had hardly arrived to propose topics for the Conference, EQUITABLE LIFE SOCIETY. Nmv York, April 8, The stockholders of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of New' York have applied for an injunction to prevent the mutualisation of the society, which is alleged to be a violation of the State insurance law. INDIAN EARTHQUAKES. London, April ir. The Paris Municipal Council condoled with King Edward regarding the earthquake in India. Calcutta, April n. It is officially estimated that there were to,ooo deaths in the Kangra sub district, 3000 in the Pelampur sub-dis-trict, and 424 at Dharmsala. BREACH OF PROMISE. London, April 8* A farcical breach of promise case was heard in which Agnes Isabel Hales sued the Hon. Rupert Guinness. There was no documents, no witnesses were called, and there was no corroborative evidence, and counsel for the plaintiff withdrew at the outset. The plaintiff made some damaging admissions as to her past life, and also made a false statement as to her age, hut was confronted with the register. She admitted she had two aliases. A verdict was immediately returned for the defendant with costs. AUSTRALIA DEFENDED. Lond6n, April 10. Mr Coglan, acting Agent-General for New South Wales, writing to the “ Times ” correcting the Sydney correspondent, shows that Australian imports for 1904 declined by £1,875,263, and not by £6,710,470 as the correspondent asserted, or if those imports had been required for home consumption the decrease would have been £1,615,720. This decline had caused a cessation of state borrowing and non-import of private capital. Australia had the right to be proud of a surplus of 5I- millions on her trade contracts. Regarding the assertion that her population was declining he complains that a campaign of misrepresentation was the chief cause 01 the avoidance of Australia by British emigrants.

MINOR MATTERS EPITOMISED

The Somaliland Mullah has been given the seaport of lllig for his headquarters. The British Budget realised a surplus of £1,414,000. The tea duty lias been reduced 2d. The income tax will be unchanged.

The seismograph at the Melbourne observatory recorded an earth tremor at a time "equivalent to the Indian shocks last week.

Henry Corbett Jones, late Town Clerk of Holborn, has been sentenced at Old Bailey to seven years’imprisonment for embezzling £11,820. Colonel Morgan has been awarded £250 damages for a libellous article published in the “Times” on June 4th, 1904. The steamer Nile, from Buenos Ayres, brought smallpox to Southampton. There are seventeen cases, including ten of the crew. The “Times ” states that the Ormuz has been manned with a white crew, her Lascar sailors returning to Colombo as passengers. The Ormuz embarks mails at Naples, Owing to the want of protection against music pirates, nineteen of the chief publishing houses have decided not to publish new music, neither to pay composers nor advertisers. The steamer Ashmonnt, 3579 tons, Captain McDowell, which left Adelaide on March 2nd for Liverpool, is stranded near Last London, South Africa, with sixteen of water in the hold. The crew has left her. The Administrator of New Guinea has furnished to the Federal Government a report on an expedition to a part of the interior hitherton considered inaccessible from the south coast. The journey was very successful, The country explored _is mountainous, well watered, and includes some fine forests. The natives are strikingly fine specimens of the Papuan races, both intellectually and physically. Friendly relations were established.