EUROPEAN NEWS.

Patea Mail, 20 March 1882, Page 3

EUROPEAN NEWS.

{S.M. Herald Specials.)

Indian Finance and Trade.

The Indian Budget proposes to abolish import duties on cotton and reduce the tax on salt. Proposals are also made for extension of the system of free trade. The Indian deficit this year reaches £4,000,000, but the revenue next ' year is estimated to yield £66,500,000, leaving a small surplus. The outlay in connection with the late Afghan war amounted to nearly twenty millions. The Nihilists. Several bats have been found in St. Petersburg filled with explosives. Turkey and War. The Sultan has ordered Admiral Hobart Pasha to place the Turkish fleet in a thorough state of efficiency, to be ready for any emergency in the present state of European complications. Stealing Pictures. The thief who stole Cowper’s celebrated picture, “ Monarch of the Meadows,” from a house at Lancaster Gate, London, has been sentenced to seven years. Barney Rhodes’s Estate. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council have decided that the natural daughter of Mr B. Rhodes, Wellington, is entitled as residuary legatee to upwards of £BOO,OOO. Ship Railway. Captain Good’s scheme for the construction of a ship railway across the isthmus of Tehuantapec, Mexico, has been approved by the American Senate. American Navy.

A committee of the House of Representatives, United States, to inquire into the present condition of the American navy, has reported that it would be a national crime to further delay strengthening the navy. The committee advises the construction of steel vessels of the largest size. Congress of Colonies.

A union of colonial representatives will meet in London next June, for the discussion of various matters in connection with the colonial empire. The principal topics will be admission of colonial wines into the United Kingdom, confederation of the colonies, representation of various colonies in the Imperial Parliament, and the existing colonial tariffs.