OUR MAIL BUDGET.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 27 May 1907, Page 4

OUR MAIL BUDGET.

SI'JIMAEY OF WORLD'S lIAPPJCXINGS. London, .March 15. Herman;- intends to fortify Heligoland strong.y and make it a powerful base. Owing to the illegal methods adopt d 3 foreign trawlers in the Channel. Kng" Uslt fishermen have been driven oil' the sea. Members of the Order of Nebuchadnezzari'.cs, which has been founded in Chicago, eat their nicais and take their exercises oil all fours to promote health. Great crowds of erippl.'d pilgrims are arriving in Zion City to kiss 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 Mvditteranean will lead to the creation of a new Comman-der-in-Chief with a salary of LSOIK) a year. The Duke of Comnng'.it will be ■the first holder of the post. ■ Cinada is doing a rapidly expanding Hour export trade with China. Fanatical Afghan miLlahs denounce the Ameer for having become a Freemason while in India, and declare that he is unfit to remain ruler.

Floods have caused >erious damage iu Western Pennsylvania and We-t Virginia (I'.K.A.). anil 100 towns are reported to be submerged. Mr Richard Bell, the Labor member, has introduced a Hill in the Commons making it obligitorv on employers to j give a reference to their servants under a penalty of £25. Hundreds of inventors are at work endeavoring to make the perfect airsnip. Many of their models will be on view at the Aero Club's exhibition at the Agricultural Hall next month. An official return issued yesterday shows that the total cost of the British Navy has been £133,556,071). Sir J. West Eidgeway, who was sent by the Government to report on the conditions in the Transvaal, declares that there is no "Chinese slavery," and that the coolies are allowed so much freedom as to he a positive danger. Seedless lemons are the latest novel 1 )' in the fruit, world. There have just beeu 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 Gd each. Mine. Melba has unexpectedly determined to remain in New York for another week to sing into a specially manufactured talking machine. For this service Mme. Melba will rec-eivc royalties guaranteed to the extent of 1:10,1100. His Majesty the King will pay a visit to Ireland at an early date.

The State Legislature of California lias decided. without debate, to take no action in the Japanese question during this session.

Wild deer and chamois have become so tame in the cantou of Orisons, Switzerland, owing to starvation, that they arc being caught like sheep by the peasants. Mining prospectors from Johannesburg have discovered a diamond reef in the crater of an extinct volcano in Kcntuckev.

The House of Lords passed a resolution against Sunday trading, and urging tile Government to take steps to remedy the evil. The Chilian Government has placed £33,000 at the disposal of the President to lie spent in securing immigrants for that Republic. To protect against the growing increase of house rents, 5000 people met at Naples ou Sunday and all took a solemn oath not to pay rent until they were evicted, says LafTan.

The feelings of the Ameer on leaving India overcame him, and an interpreter read part of his farewell speech. His Majesty then spurred his horse and galloped away, followed by his cavalry.

On the United States railways 0703 persons were killed and SO,OOB injured during l!)0(i.

H. I). Anderson, the Manchester Bank of England clerk arrested at Winnipeg, is alleged to have abstracted tIOSI from bags of gold made up by him, .and to have weighted the bags with copper. The net profit on the gas department this year at Leicester have been £3!), 158 l(is fid: the electric lighting profits £5032 Od 2d, and the water profits £14,815 2s 7d. which, with the £13,000 profit on the tramways, make a total for the year of over £72,000.

A daring rohbeiV lias taken place at the South African Exhibition in the Horticultural Hall. Westminster, where gold in lots valued at £l(i00 were stolen and successfully carried through the crowd twenty minutes before the exhibition closed on Tuesday ni^ht.

The secretary of the Paris electricians' trade union says that the recent ftrike was ordered merely to test the discip line 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 this '•pell-mell desertion" is becoming a national pe 'il, and ask the Government to take measures to check the movement.

A New York telegram states that Mr G. H. Earle, tlie Philadelphia financier, is suing the Sugar Trust for thirty millions of dollars as damages. Hee'iar gos President Havemeyer and others with conspiracy, which c.inscd thf. failure of the Philadelphia Trust Company and the suicide of the president. Jlr Hippie. The bad winter, followed by a spell of unclouded weather almost amounting to a drought, has kept hack all vogeta tion in Spain. The outlook is mOs; serious for the country. Distress is already felt severely, and unless rain falls soon it is to be feared th-.it agriculture wi 1 suffer another disaster. A train was wrecked on Tuesday at Alkinaar, on the Delagoa Bay line, Transvaal. Dr. Adam Jameson, ex(.'oinmissioner of Lands, and 11 others were killed, and 11 were injured. The disaster, so far as is known, was due to -the sudden collapse of a culvert owing to the action of heavy rains. No negligence is attributed to tiie authorities. On Mondiv, while thousands of men were striving to clear away the remains of last month's storms a heavy snowstorm occurred in New York. It raged eight hours and added six inches to the snow and ice heaps which clogged the streets. The surface ear lines were helpless for an hour until snow ploughs cleired the tracks. Tin- steam railway lines were also seriously hampered.

Messrs Harland and Wolff state that, if satisfactory arrangements and agree jurats can be made with the dock and railway company at Southampton, the firm proposes erecting a large ship and engine repairing works at that place. Should this intention be cirried out the loss to the working classes and small traders of Belfast will be very considerable.

Last Sunday, in one of the St. Peters bnr« streets, a subaltern of the Horse Guards met three private* of the F.ngi neers, who did uol. salute properly, lie wisher! to have them arrested, but lliey took to their heels. The officer follow eil shouting ''Stop/' A naval lieutenant oil the opposite side of the streej b'ockcd the path of the runaways and, ing hi* revolver, shot one of them twice m the body. The crowd was so much incensed by the incident that I lie olli cers were ill danger of lynching, and ha : to take refuge in a cab.

It is stated that the British (lovcrn ment are in treaty for the purchase of

smokeless powder, which is also Hash less, invented by a Swiss chemist ami successfully tested. To the military and naval services the importance of such an explosive wi!l strongly appeal, as the use of an explosive thai gives no visible (lash means impossibility oi location of guns and ship- during action. A thrilling story was related at Plymouth bv tile erew of the schooner f,uc ile. which was abandoned in miU-Atlan ic ill a sinking condition 011 February jfith. The vessel was then nine days Out from St. .Tohn's. Newfoundland, bound for Brazil. For a week she iv;i; beset by storms, which smashed tae liu - warks. stove in the lifeboat, ami s J ,arte l the decks, whil-t one huge sen carried away a plank from the stern. 111 a tor. rible gale, the crew were rescued by th ■ rencb steamer Roma.

STATE OF /AT/IT,AND. Important developments are pending in connection with Zuiuland. Tt is believed that Dinizulu is about to vi-i. Pietermaritzburg to discuss tile allegations of disloyalty during the recent rebellion which h.ivc been brought a gainst him. The Villus are alleged i.<> possess many unregistered rilles. but a recrudescence of the rebellion is not anticipated. Tile authorities, however, are acting with caution.