MAIL ITEMS.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8801, 1 May 1907, Page 3

MAIL ITEMS.

London, March 15. Germany intends to fortify Heligoland strongly and make it a powerful base.

Members of the Order of Nibuehadnezzarites, which has bsen founded in Chicago, oat their meals And take their exorcisoa on all fours to promote health. Great crowds of crippled pilgrims are arriving in Zion City to kis3 the robes in which the remains of the " Prophet " Dowie are laid, hoping to receive miraculous cures. The reorganisation of the military commands in the Mediterranean will lead to the creation of a new Com- j mandcr in-Chkf with a salary of £SOOO a year. The Duke of Connaugbi will be the first holder of the post. Canada is doing a rapidly expanding flour trade with China. A scheme for the reafforle3tatior of 80,009 acres in Scotland is under the consideration of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests. Mr Eichard Bell, the Labor member, has introduced a Bill in the Commons making it obligatory on employers to give a reference to thoir servants under a penalty of ;925. Hundreds of inventors are at work endea oring <o make the perfect airship. Many of their models will be on view at the Aero Club's exhibition.

An official return shows that the total cost of the British Navy has ! been £1!}8,556,679. Sir J. West Eidgeway, who was sent by the Government to report on the conditions in the Trsnsvaal, declares that there is no " Chinese slavery," and that the coolies are allowed so much freedom a 3 to be a positive danger. Seedless Jemon3 are the late t novelty in the fruit world. There bave just been received 150 of them from California. They will be a boon to lemonade and squash makers, but they will not be cheap for a couple of years yet. They are now 6d each.

Mme. Melba has unexpectedly de termined to remain in New York for another week to sing into a specially manufactured talking machine. For this service Mme. Melba will receive royalties guaranteed to the extent of £IO,OOO. His Majesty the King will pay a visit to Ireland at an early date. The State Legislature of California has decided, without debate, to take no action iu the Japanese question during this session. Wild dter and chamcis have be coma eo tame in tho canton of Orisons, (Switzerland, owing to starvation, tibab they are being caught like sheep by the peasants. Mining prospectors from Johannesburg have discovered a diamond reef in the crater of an extinct volcano in Kentucky.

The Chilian Government has placed £33,000 at the disposal of the Pre. iciest, to be spent in securing immigrants for that- Republic. To protest against tho growing increase of house rent?, 5000 people met at Naples on Sunday and all took a solemn oath not to pay rent until they were evicted. The feelings of the Ameer on leaving India overcame him, Bnd an interpreter read part of his farewell speech. His Majesty then spurred his boi\ ; e and galloped away, fol-

lowed by his cavalry. On the United States railways 9703 persons were killed and 86,003 injuved during 1906. H. D. Anderson, the-Manchester Bank cf England clerk, arrested at Winnipeg, is a'leged to have abstracted £lOBl from bags of gold made up by him, and to have weighted the bags with copper. The net profits on the gas depart? ment thn year at Leicester have been £33.158 16s 6d, the electric lighting profits £5632 03 2d, and the water profits £14,815 2s 7<l, which with the £13,000 profit on the tramways, make a tolal for the year of over £72,000. The secretary of the Paris electricians' trede union says that the recent strike was ordered merely to test the discipline of the men, and to show working men their power to bring about a social revolution by the same methods. Emigration from Spain is increasing to an extent hitherto unknown. Every day hundreds of workmen and their families leave the different ports. The newspapers declare that (his "pell-mell desertion" is becoming a national peril, and ask the Government to take measures to cheek the movement. A New York telegram states that Mr G. H. Earle, the Philadelphia financier, is suing the Sugar Trust for thirty millions of dollars as damages. He charges President Havemeyer and others with con-

ppiraey, which caused the failure of Philadelphia Trust Company and the suicide of the president, Mr Hippie. Intense indignation has been aroused throughout Canada by the action of the two Socialist members of the British Columbia Legislature in refusing to rise in their places in courtesy to th 9 King's representative. They say they will not do so hereafter when prayers are read by any clergyman. Boorishness of this kind is not calculated to advance the Socialistic caufe in Canada. The Nov? York Herald states that the Kavy Department has been un? officially informed that Jajran has constructed a remarkable torpedo which is fired by wireless telegraphy. It is declared that tests have proved the invention to be a grtat success.