NEWS IN BRIEF.

Otago Witness, Issue 2815, 26 February 1908, Page 52

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Madame Melba, who has been paying a * _visit to her relatives in Victoria, aailed for ■ lßi Europe on, the 22nd. :< j Fifteen hundred Zulus who were in cusIk tody for being; concerned in the recent t- rebellion have been released in Natal, n The death ie reported of Colonel Thomas c- F. Kelly, a noted Fenian, in his day. p The shareholders in the shipbuilding firm »1 of Sir James Laing and Co. have "decided il to wind up the company. One hundred and twenty-five entries have n been received for the championship athletic w meeting at Hobart on Saturday and Monday. * A south-easterly gale, with heavy rain, ** was experienced in New South Wales on i Saturday and Sunday last. " It i* stated that Mr Haldane, Secretary for War, is reducing the garrison in South 0 Africa from 16,353 men to 12,000. The State Government has accepted tenders .for the erection of a State building d. in London, to cost over £15,000. d , The thieves who stole the Queen's miniad . tures have received sentences ranging from I- 12 to 18- months. >y . Miss Francis Alda, of Melbourne {grandit daughter of Madame Fanny Simoxisen), >t achieved" a - great success in. the opera "Luisa" at La ScaJa Theatre, Milan. The ** local newspapers are enthusiastic. * A Napier car Has establiahed some new * records a-t Brooldands (England), dom^ 50, * 100, and 150 "miles at an average of 85 miles an hour. _ The repairs to the Norwegian steamer X Thode Fageiund, which ran ashore & few t weeks ago, and is now in deck at Sydney, a cost just under £18,000. . The FederaJ. Minister of Defence has c concluded preparations for the established ment of a cordite factory "near Melbourne >f and a small arms factory near Lithgow. d - The Stradivarim violin belonging to k Eugene Ysaye, the noted Belgian violinist,. W costinjr S2AQQ, was stolen at St. Petersburg: and sold in a. Moravian town for 355. The 8 seller has disappeared. * The crew of the Claremont, a Queensland |° lightship, who put off in a small boat to a * passing steamer; were unable to regain the lightship, anfi' were six days without food. After great hardships they landed on the ' mainland, where some friendly- blacks fed _ them. ,_ The N.S.W. State Treasurer states a that the revenue for the seven months of >f the current financial year shows an advance ,f of £706,000 over the same period of last l- year. He expects to -maintain this advance v- to the- close of the yearr, Th&-R.M.S. Chsna, frenr London, arrived s "at Fremantle' (VT.A.)- nyinjjt the quarantine ■fl*g. Inquiry showed that Lieutenant * Fisher, of Admiral Poore's staff, had conP tracted a. mild. o.ttadc of smallpox afte; T leaving Marseilles^ and was laaded a+"Port 8 Said. These wpre no further eases- orr the veesa^ wdifch was admitted to pratique. | For kicking. & horse which sesame Testire- , at* passing electric tramcar, Al&ed Dyer j, was fined 40s' and coots, at the Dunedin Police Court,, and 5s Son Feaving the horse CUMk-fifcexidecß. »- The' Forbury Club- opened its new club- * rooHi ob the 21st inst-. - Starting very L humbly in 1897 fqr pusely social pui-poaes, r the club 'now -possesses s piano, a, KUiard 1 table, and means for- plkyrag- -various ■games. Under no fircomstances is gamb- » ling permitjtexL t , ; Sir GL .Ward states that" a Friendly 1 Societies Bill will be introduced- unfo Parf liament next session. Provision ,would be made for adequate contributions and a : competent audit one« a year. fc In order to compile the early history of [- friendly aocietries the- Government has ap- _ pointed a stenographer to visit old men»- * bers, and pbtain interesting recollections t and old records. , ■ At the South Dunedin Baptist Church on Tuesday evening come 300 members and! ! friends met to welcome* home from- India L Mr Thomas Evans, whose' health broke b down while laßourfnjr on behalf of the E Poona and Indian ViQage Mission. Mr i -Evans said the best factor for the spread E of the Qospet-adbng the Brahmin, or upper b* class in In-dia, was the knowjedgia of the L ; English language. * Durinjt the four years the Otago Mutual >- Starr-Bowkett Society has been, in existence 61 members have* henefited t<x the | extent of £l?, 100, white; the profit and loss ' account shows at credit baJamce of £1674. ; The writer of a Tetter in the Ljtttelton ' Times last vteek. made serious, aQse^ations aftainat a nuißxber of Christehuich rawing. . i men who misbehavdd themselves in retujtn1 inf front- the Little River regatta. The ' > writer said he could make allowance fos a ■ , ; certain, amount of horseplay, but- h» deI olines to excuse ,the grossly indecent, ; obscene-, and even blaspfeemous utterances t - used in a first-class sffiokinsr railway cari riage. It is under-stood inquiries are feeing 'made into the complaint. The Times announces that Cana>da. has r agreed jointly with N«w.foundland to subt mit the Atlantic fisheries question to The Hague Tribunal. / The Daily Mail state* that Sir Edward Grey, is making friendly representations to Japan, regarding the Fa-ku-mer railway, in i ' Manchuria. . , F The column of French troops which re- !' cently repelled with the bayonet seven at- ' taoks by the Moors - near Fed&lla. in Morocco, had exhausted their ammunition, ■ - and were obliged to cut their way out, as the army of- Mulsti Hand suddenly appeared and reinforced' the enemy. An Italian Anarchist at" Denver (Colorado), white kneeling at the altar receiving- . the sacromei}t, shot and killed Pere Heinriohs, the ofi&ciatinK priest. He then !• 1 escaped, but was captured later, and nearly I 3 nched. ■■ »^ \ A seiious -fijiancia-t panic pffevails in ' Japan. Twelve^ Japanese firms, chiefly deal- J ing;, in metals' at' Osaiks. Kyoto and Kobe. \ have failed, with lktEilitiee- amoujrtin* to 1 -.i!6DO'.QOO: .Thrte, smill T<Dlgk>, haaks; -£%^ 6U^)ended .payment, and raw areprcceCd'r F ma on others. ", -' - ,f ,The'*United" Stats*"-House of- ifcepresenta- . ' tives Naval Committee has reduced the pro-*' posed battleship. programme, from four DeJa- ' wares to two, possibly to one, and his -X?: > •commended the construction of eight" «ub- | marines of tne Holland type v iijstead- of ; . four. . • „ ,> A - man named Chard was ceaCencecr at ' > Melbourne to fou* years' imprisonment -Foe- - sttemnting to cease*" poison to be adminifttered to a baby oE which he was the father. ~ Chard wrote to- the -mother sugjrestinft' «he should poison their child, but tfife mother -conmunicatebS witlfthe pojiee. ' - ' ' _ An anonymous Aurtraliau,' claimrnK to have been'reeently «- Brftiife seers* service agent, has published m book ia Berlin, pnrnorting to include de£Dalcft«s and tategrams ; to Lord Milner supplying detailed! T«v«fa-

ment oj

passing liffhtahi

tions of a Pan-German anti-British movement in South Africa. He alleges that- German^ is trying to create discontent between the natives and the Boers. Canon Greene, late- rector of Clyham, after setting aside legacies to ibis two nepjiews, has left the balance- of hia Ans'tralian property, to th© Archbishop of Melbourne and Bishop of Wanoaratta equally, upon trust, for purposes of trie dioceses. The health of the Hon. W. Hall-Jones is not so satisfactory; as his friends would" desire after his holiday tour. The Dunedin police have been unable to discover; any trace of a .fruiterer named Joseph Dajßaville. \rho_ walked out of his house at Caversham a week ago,, taking the road to St. Clair. Property in Main street, Gore, .was sold by auction on Tuesday for JB6OOO, equal to £91 per foot frontage. MesSTs Hallenstein ;Bros. were the purchasers. The Araiva. from London, tiaa arrived at "Wellington with 270 passengers^ of which number 207 were third class.