NEWS IN BRIEF.

Otago Witness, Issue 2896, 15 September 1909, Page 53

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Sisver, 23 11-16 d pei ounce. The deposed Shah, Mahomed AH, has left Persia. Emilis Lunghi ran 700 yawls in 87 2-ssec at New York. Soaking rains have fallen for the last few days in New South Wales, and the crop prospects are good. Ths new Sultan of Turkey has returned to CorustaiAinople from Brusa with greatly increased popularitj. A start has been made at Vancouver with the enrolment of naval Volunteers, 175 having been enrolled. Twenty-nina Russian immigrants have arrived ?t Brisbane from Siberia and Manchuria to take up land in. Victoria and Queensland. Owing to the overturning of a taxi-cab ♦i Melbourne Miss Florence Young, the • well-known actress, had one of her ribs broken. __ _ < Six men who were found guilty in Melbourne of brutal assaults were sentenced ' to floggings, in addition to a term of im- J prisonment. WoedvLlle. a clerk in the English, Scottish, and Australian Chartered Bank in Melbourne, has been arrested on a charge of extensive embezzlement. The Shipwreck Relief and Humane Society of New South Wales has presented Captain Ho'iford with a pair of binoculars in recognition of his humanity towards the survivors whom he rescued after the wreck of the barque ErroJ Nicholas Luxemburg. tb<* British merchant who was wrongly imprisoned some time ago, arid whom Russia compensated fcr his false arrest in Odessa, was rearre&ted on landing at Ya'lto, in the Crimea. As a sequell to the Sydney case wherein Daley was acquitted on a charge of attempting to extort inonev from W. N. Willis, Daley has sued Willis for alleged false impiisoninent, claiming £2000 damages. Tho jury returned a verdict for the defendant The Australian Bank of Commerce (late the Joint Stock Bank) was registered at S.\diiey o~ the 9th, with a canital of £2,000,000. A meeting of shareholders of the Joint Stock BanTc had pieviotrely approved of the scheme cf reconstruction, which included the sale \o the reconstructed! compaiay of the old bank's business. Th.*> British Trades' Union Congress carried a resolution protesting against the Government concluding arrangements with foreign Powers without first consulting the people, despite Mr Shackleton, M.P., characterising- the proposal as " democracy run. -jnaifi

A. Cutler, a member of a New South Wales family of well-known rifle shots, using a B.S.A. aperture sighter, fired 25 shots, and scored an inne* and four bull'seyes each at 500, 600, and 700 yards, the possible at 800 yards, and an inner, three bull's-eyes, and a magpie at 100 C yards. The Brisbane Municipal Council celebrated the jubnee of the city with a demonstration at the Exhibition Buildings, which was attended by 20,000 people. The King oableid congratulating the city, and wishing it future prosperity. One Hundred Spanish and French Anarchists stoned the Spanish Embassy's doors in PariSj 'as a protest against the arrest of the ruffian Ferrers, who was the instigator of the recejit Barcelona riots and outrages. Thirty-nine of the gang were arrested. The Council of the General Confederation 61 I.r! our met afterwards to decide what measures should be taker to SDCUTe the liberation of Ferrers. Commander Peary says that five miles fiom the Pole his soundings showed 1500 fathoms, but he found no bottom. Six policemen accompanied Mr Asquith round the golf links, while he was spending the week-end at Lympna. to prevent any suffragettes annoying him. The Standard reports that it is officially admitted that 1800 Armenian Christians were slaughtered at Adana. As a result of the Government inquiry 50 persons have been condemned to death. The Times states that the impression is gaining ground that a section of the Cabinet regards the present Budget land taxation and valuation proposals as the - first steps towards land nationalisation. Prince Henry of" Prussia has been elected president of the German National Society, which is arranging to explore the Arctic Sea with a Zeppelin airship The Kaiser is a patron of *he society. Replying to the critics of his Dreadnought fund proposals, the Lord Mayor of Sydney states that all subscribers of over £1000 approve of his scheme. Mr Whitney, a millionaire explorer, on a sporting expedition in the neighourhood of Etah, states that he met Dr Coo.c, who spoke of his journey north, but did not mention that Tie had reached the Pole. The total quantity of wheat and flour afloat for the United Kingdom is 1,800,000 quarters, and for the Continent 1,445,000 quarters. The Atlantic shipments are 178,000 quarters, and the total shipments •to "Europe for the week 1,300,000 quarters, not including any from the Argentine and Uruguay. With a view to making Hawaii (the Sandwich Islands) a naval and military stronghold, a contract has been signed at Washington for the construction' of a dry dock at Pearl Harbour. It is to be 1195 ft long, which is the largest dock ever built for the use of a navy. The Daily Mail's New York correspondent reports that British importers are suffering from the ruthless acts of American Custom house appraisers since the Tariff Act came into force. Values on invoices are often arbitrarily increased 40 per cent., and the importers' only remedy is the law courts. Commander Peary, cabling to the New York Times, says: — "If Dr Cook makes a statement before any reputable body, or over his signature, that he reachad the Pole, I will furnish material of great public interest." Peary's fifth companion at the Pole was a negro servant named Hewson. M. Cochery, French Minister of Finance, for his 1910 Budget proposes to meet the anticipated deficit of eight millions sterling by an increase of two and a-half nilllions on tobacco, a million and a-half increase on wine, brandy, and absinthe, a million and a-half increase on legacy duties, md also by taxes on motor-cars, petrol, and receipt stamps. Speaking on the defence question, Mr Cook (Federal Minister of Defence) said that the answer to the first question of importance to Australia must be sought in the cradles, and the next in a constant stream of over-sea immigration. He had hopes that the financial arrangement with the States would furnish enough to meet •the expenses of defence without further taxation. Mr Harriman, knowing that h<s was dying, summoned Mr Pierpont Morgan, who had been his chief opponent, and conferred with him for two hours on Thursday. He arranged with him to uphold the market for the protection of -the Harriman interests. During the funeral ceremony all trains over 64,000 miles of railway will be simultaneously halted for 10 minutes. A new wing for famale patients is to be added at once to the Porirua Asylum. Wellington, at. a cost of £8600. The work is ro be done by the Public Works Department, arid will be completed in about five months' time. In connection with the finding of a dead body of an ' infant in a garden at Epsom, Auckland, the police have arrested a girl named Isabella Sinclair at Mount Albert. She was charged with concealment of birth to-day and remanded. A Wellington telegram states that Messrs R H. Abbott and Co. have closed up their warehouse there, and Messrs D. Benjamin and Co. are about to follow suit. In another wholesale firm n number of dismissals have occurred, and salaries have been reduced 10 per cent.