CABLEGRAMS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 11 August 1909, Page 26

CABLEGRAMS.

BBITISH AND FOEEIGN. LONDON, August 3. The ignition of a film of a cinematograph ' set fire to a theatre in Dresden. Two hundred stalls and 30 roundabouts were burnt, and 50 people were uijured in the ensuing panic. The Prince of Wales has provisionally promised to open the South African Parlia- I anent. , August 4. I King Manuel, of Portugal, has accepted j King Edwards invitation to pay a yearly i .visit to England. August 5. Two of the suffragettes who were recently released from Holloway Prison have been sentenced to a month and 10 •days' imprisonment respectively for assaulting wardrefees. The magistrates declined to order second division, treatment. * Owing to an expected diminution in tobacco production, the German Finance i Bill provides the States, with -££00,000 for distribution amongst the tobacco workers who become- unemployed through the new"taxes. Mr Hodgson, chaplain of the Leeds Rifle. Club, when .ws^eh^g M jyh 4 eJ^«»iterrhfi~ t manoeuvres "at "Brisborough, was killed by , a stray bullet from a live cartridge, which j had been mixed into the blank ammuni- j ifcion. - - - | The bad summer has seriously affected i the hop crop. The position in Kent is critical. Mr Roosevelt was banqueted at Nairobi. In the course of an address he said that few people realised that, under the Equator was a real white man's land. During lv's journey he . had seen large tracts of country suitable for settlers, though the ocast regions and the far interior were only suitable for blacks under •white supervision. He added that the blacks must be treated without brutality, and without sentiment. The latter probably was the most harmful. August 6. Arrangements have been made for The Times, Daily" Chronicle, Daily Mail, Observer, Yorkshire Post, and representatives of the Chambers of Commerce to attend the Empire Conference at Sydney as guests of the Commonwealth. Mr Yarwood, representing the Australasian Corporation of Accountants, is urging the Colonial Office to grant .a charter. He asserts that the Victorian Government is under a misapprehension, as the charter will not deprive existing •Institutes of their rights under Victorian legislation, but will enable the accountants in other States to practise anywhere in Australia with an Australian degree. The Earl of Jersey is supporting the application. Six suffragettes have been released from Holloway, they having refused food since the'r conviction. Mr H. Gladstone,, in a letter to the Women's Freedom League, said he was prepared to give the fullest effect to the right of all subjects to petition the King, but that right did not carry with it the right of a personal audience with the Kirg or Prime Minister. Mr Taverner, the Agent-general for Victor *a. interviewed Mr Winston Churchill, ! President of the Board of Trade, respect- ! inj the Victorian Tanners' Association's • ooa.plaint that America and Canada were i exporting loaded leather to London. He j urged that action be taken to prevent unfair competition. Yir Churchill said that if looked like cheating. He would make full inquiries and see what he could do. BERLIN, August 3. Tiie Cologne Gazelta now admits that one of the four Dreadnoughts figuring in the German naval programme for the" financial year 1909 was laid down before i the end of financial year 1908. LISBON, August 3. Two sharp shocks of earthquake were felt in Portugal. No damage followed, but there was a pa-njc at Santarem. OTTAWA. August 3. An amalgamation of the principal Canadian cement companies has been effected. The capital is £5.000,000. j The German Commercial Treatie? Asso- | ciation is urging the Chancellor to ap- I point a trade expert in Canada. August 5. | The City Council of Winnipeg ha* voted sufficient money to discharge all , obligations in connection with the forth- \ coming visit of the British Association of Science. CALCUTTA. August 3. Cholera has ceased at the Calcutta lio.«- j pital. Thirteen Europeans were attacked, 1 10 of whom died. The cause of the outbreak is a mystery. August 8. The Budget shows a deficit of three and three-quart-er millions instead of an expected surplus of half a million. This is chiefly due to the lower receipts from the railways caused, by heavier working exPEKING. August 9. China has opened a maritime Customhouse at Aigun. in Ma-nchuria. M. levc.Kky (Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs) contends that this is a violation of treaties ; hence the whole question of the navigation of the Amur f s Tai&ed. I «, | INTERCOLONIAL. MELBOURNE, Au C u.=t a Mr Groom, Minister of External Affairs,

in moving the second reading of the Norfolk Island Bill in the House of Representatives, said that the islanders were a specially fine and courageous race. Under happier auspices they should give a better account of themselves. The island was a Pacific cable station, and for that reason alone it was desirable that the territory should be controlled by the Commonwealth. The coroner, wnen holding an inquest on three infants whose death in each case was due to suffocation, declared that i£elbourne was drifting into a condition similar to what existed at the worst period of the Roman Empire, when infanticide was so common that its punishment was neglected altogether. August 5. The Victorian Employers' Federation has decided to make every effort to prevent the use of the union badge. The federation considers that it is being introduced as a weapon of the boycott. August 6. The Senate has amended the Old-age Pensions Bill so as to extend invalid pensions to naturalised Asiatics, Maoris, and African- Wacks. ~— ' The Senate carried an- amendment to the Old-age Pensions Bill excluding naturalised Chinese, Pacific Islander*, Maoris, and other coloured races from "pensioner — The sitting of the State Assembly was suspended for a, couple of hours at the invitation .of the Treasurer, while mock elections were held in one of the committee rooms to demonstrate the working of the preferential voting system. A section of the House objects to the introduction of the system in the Electoral Bill, and took this novel way of illustrating its objections. August 9. The seismograph records at the Observatory show that 20 distinct earth tremors were felt in Melbourne between 9.20 and 10 on the evening of tne 30th of July, and that there was a more pronounced shock on the morning of the Ist of August. A footballers' special train clashed into a buggy at Geelong, killing the occupants — a man named Faver and a boy named Maurer« SYDNEY. August 4. Two trams collided at Botany. Seven