NEWS IN BRIEF.

Otago Witness, Issue 2895, 8 September 1909, Page 50

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Lord Selborne has started for South) Africa. Cholera has spread to two villages near , Amsterdam. \ A sharp shock of earthquake has been! experienced at Panama. Both as regards Quantity and quality the- ! Royal Agricultural show at Melbourne -is \ said not to have been previously eurpassect. The Queensland Parliament ihas been pro* '. rojrued, and the' elections will take place on the 2nd October. • The Westfalen, Germany's fiirst Dread- ! nought, «a completed, and is now lying- in ■ the Weser. A coffee-house keeper at Sedan has been, arrested for employing carrier pigeons for ' flights to Germany. Frank Wootton got dome three times at • the Lewes races. The ex-Australian has ridden 102 winners this sea6on. . Ross, a Daily Mail electrician, of the . Polytechnic Ha-nriers, won the London-to-Brighton walk in Bhr llmin 14sec, estab* i liahing a record. A man named Atkins, when examiningthe machinery at the Royal show, got his •■ coat caught in some belting-. He was whirled round and killed. A passenger by the s.s. Mauretania, • travelling -via Fiehgtiard-, .iid the journey between New York and Paddington Railway - Sterion (London) in 5 days 51mm. Welden, the A.M.P. insurance agent against whom £1000 damages and eoeta - were recently, awarded to the Mutual Life and Citizens' Insurance Company, wad found dead hanging from a tree- ncaa. ■ Boonah, Queensland. Owdng to the, prevalence of aphis blight it is estimated that the English hop crop is the shortest since 1882. The whole population of Simla gave Lord Kitchener an ovation on bis departureThere wer© many remarkable demonstrations. The total quantity of wheat and flour afloat for the United Kingdom is 1,980,000 quarters, and for the Continent 1,250,000 quarters. The Atlantic shipments were 332,000 quarters. Eight armoured cruisers belonging to the American Pacific ffcet have sailed- for San Francisco on half a year's cruise, includinga month's battle practice at the Philippines. A gang of train robbers near Newcastle (Pennsylvania) precipitated an express train, ovei an embankment, killing two persons and injuring 20. Tha ruffians fled on- seeing the completeness of the wreck. A girl named Lundie, 13 years old; shot her father dead near Braidwood, New South Wales. The father had threatened his wife, and the girl secured a gun, then, raising the sash of her father's bedroom, she shot hi in dead. The child has been arrested. The Brisbane Municipal Council celebrated the jubilee of the city with a demonstration at the Exhibition Buildings, which was attended by 20,000 people. The King cabled congratulating the city, and wishing it future prosperity. Ba.rker, an official in the engineers' branch of the Perth Post Office, has been arrested on a charge of victimising the department - of £1400 by systematic forgery in the requisition of material for bogus contracts and of certificate? for work done. Dr Cook states that he had no definite idea of going to the Pole, but finding the Eskimos' dogs ready he started. He saw no traces of Peary's expedition, which left last September. The leading Catholic r.ewspaper of Brussels declares that Prirv.-o Albert, during hir recent visit to the Congo, was grieved and exasperated to see the terrible devastation I and destruction of native life caused by the' Leopoldian system. I Sir William MacGregoi. ex-Governor of I Newfoundland, who was appointed Governor of Queensland in March last, ie making progress as regards his health, but it will be some months before he will be able to sail for Queensland. The Swedish Labour Federation has ordered 11,500 workmen wl-ow l -o were not involved in the original dispute to return to work unconditionally to-d'a.y. Other 12,000 strikers will return when the wages dispute is settled, wherein the Government probably will negotiate. In consequence of the theft at Chalons, France, of the machine gun plans, General Brun has circularised the commanders of the army corps with a view to the stricter guarding of the materials of war. The public is convinced that the plans of the g"un are now in Germany's hands. The newspapers state that the missing corporal reached Metz. Five persons suspected of complicity were arrested at Chalons. News from Now Britain states that a man named Lindsay, the owner of a recruiting- vessel, roussd the angor of the natives by carrying off some boys andgirls. Fhey set upon him, and clubbed his brains out, and smilarly dealt with the crew. Ten native cannibals near Herbfrtshoke captured three natives, and killed and u.te them. A serious rising is feared" amonsr the natives who massacred the Catholic missionaries a few years back Eitrht natives have been massacred. There is a strong apita.tion in Noumea against the action of the French Government in stopping the public works already undertaken. A mafs meeting of citizens decided, after some fiery speeches, to request the Governor to ase his influence with the French Government to quell the discontent, which, if allowed to grow, mitrhi reach serious proportions. The Governor has sent a cable, and ie awaiting a reply. Mr Oscar Briggs, of Caversham, has boen appointed janitor of the Girls' High School, Dunedin. i Mr A. W. Hoger, M.P., has arrived in Dunedin, and will lecture on Wednesday evonine; on '" Land, labour, and Currency Reform." Mr Andrew Carnpfri". the millionaire, has agreed to give £2000 for the erection of a new five public- library at On^hunga, Auckland. A C'liri->t-chur<-h Tienevolent Association has bp"ii foinru'l with the object of pre\ontintc o\ <■>) la;>pinof in the way of relief and to foll"ct information concerning persons obtaining or applying for relir-f. At a special meeting of tho Dunedin, City Council a balance vh'Tt prepared by Mr Peter Barr (chairman of the Finance Committee) was '•übmittcd, and piaised by other coun-cilloi > as putting the position of th-^ City Corporat-on in a manner that would enable those who are not expcite *•

(Understand it. The gas de-oartment, after "the transference of £3070 to the municipal Account, shows a net profit for tile year of ££5800, and the water department, after the transference of £3070, a net profit of ,'£7050. The tramways show a net profit ■ tof £6862, the cost of street widening a-mil the George street bridge having been, .wiped off. A profit of £854 was made ton the working account of iihe electric light and power department, but there is no allowance for depreciation or sinking fund, so that the profit is a fictitious one. ■Parliament, it is anticipated, will reTfesemble on October 7, when the usual formalities will take place. Business will ibegin in earnest on the- following Tuesday. Sir J. G. Ward, th© Prime Minister, is expected to reach Wellington about the 30th- of September. The Dunedin Presbytery at its meeting tin Tuesday was asked to sustain the call Srom . the congregation of Knox Church, ■Dunedin, to th© Rev. R. E. Davies, of GPefcersham, Sydney, New South Wales. The call was signed by 487 members, and 47 adherents. Included with the> members ,were 51 office-bearers. The number on the roll was 1002. Professor Hewitson ex plained that but for the stormy night the call would- have been more numerously signed. . After considerable discussion it was .resolved that th-e call be left in the hands of the' commissioners for further signature for ~ two more Sundays. 3^ was also •decided - to hold a special "meeting of "the" Presbytery on the 21dt Jnst. to de&l with the call. Mr Davies is a graduate, of the University of Wales, and after' taking his degree went to Cam- - bridge, -where he won the- four years' ~ "theological tripos. „