THE UNITED STATES AND CHILI.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2277, 7 November 1891, Page 3

THE UNITED STATES AND CHILI.

Washington, Nov. 3. The Hon. B. F. Tracy, Secretary of the Navy, has received a cable message from the officer commanding the American squadron on the Chilian station, stating that it was the Chilian police who killed the sailor belonging to the United States cruiser Baltimore, and that they dragged the wounded seamen to prison. The communication goes on to say that the authorities in Valparaiso endeavoured to conduct an enquiry into the circumstances of the outrage in secret. A complaint having been lodged that Mr Egan exceded his instructions regarding the matter, Mr Blaine has called upon him to reply to the accusation. Valparaiso, Nov. 3. A report is again in circulation that General Balmaceda did not commit suicide, but escaped from the country disguised as a drunken sailor. Nov. 4. The enquiry held by the naval officers show that the sailors of the United States cruiser pluckily defended their companions who were attacked by Chilians in the streets of the city.

LABOUR. London, Nov. 3. Collisions frequently occur at Carron wharf between unionists and free labourers. Many men have been hurt. Nov. 4. A majority of the bootmakers do not approve of a strike, and the difference with the employers is being settled. The efforts to bring about a reconciliation between the engineers and their employers have proved futile, and the strike is extending. New York, Nov. 3.

The strike of miners at Pittsburgh has collapsed, the men having been defeated. The miners working in the coal mine .at Knoxville, a town in Tennesse, have liberated another batch of two hundred convicts who were employed in the mines. The warders were powerless to offer any resistance.

IRISH AFFAIRS. London, Nov. 3. McDermott, nephew of the late Mr Parnell, whipped Mr Tim Healy, M.P., in the Dublin Law Courts for, as he stated, publicly insulting the city. Fearing that Mr Healey would be seriously injured the onlookers were compelled to rescue him from his euraged assailant. Mr Michael Davitt declares that Ireland will return seven labour representatives at the forthcoming general elections. It has been ascertained that fully 400 persons were injured during the disturbances in Cork last week. Nov. 4. The Press, commenting on the episode in the Dublin Law Courts, generally consider that Mr Healey’s attack on Mrs Parnell justified the thrashing McDermott gave him. Mr Healey asserts that the whole affair was of a very trivial nature, and that his assailant was drunk. Oct. 4. The report of the proceedings at the Boulogne Conference between Messrs O’Brien, Dillon, and Parnell, has been published. It shows that Mr Parnell offered to retire from the leadership of the party, provided that Mr Gladstone gave a guarantee to accept his (Mr Parnell’s proposals with regard to the settlement of the land and the transfer of the control of the police from the Imperial authorities to the Irish Executive at the end of five years. It was arranged that the party should meet after the guarantee had been obtained, and pass a formal resolution declaring Mr McCarthy’s election to the leadership informal. This having been done, both Mr Parnell and Mr McCarthy were to retire from the head of affairs, and Mr Dillon was to act as chairman of the party. Mr Parnell afterwards quibbled over the details of the agreement, and it was apparent he was not sincere in his desire to effect a reconciliation. Nov. 5. Mr John Redmond and Mr Harrington declare that O’Brien’s account of what took place at Boulogne Conference is grossly untrue, and that it was artfully given out with the deliberate intention of misleading the public. They state that Mr Parnell’s retirement was only to be temporary, and that he was always to have the power to veto in connection with Irish legislation. They challenge Mr O’Brien to produce the documents relating to the conference, but it is alleged that the papers have been burnt so that the scheme for misleading the people might be complete. Rioting took place at the convention of seceders at Waterford. Two hundred persons were hurt, many of them seriously. Mr Dillon, who was among those present, escaped without injury. Mr Healey is undeterred by Mr McDermott’s attack on him, and says that he will still pursue the same policy.

Much is heard just now of Western Australia, and an idea is current (says the Post) that anybody who goes thither is quite safe to drop into a good ‘ ‘billet,”or at all events to find well-paid employment awaiting him to be had for asking, or, indeed, to be pressed upon his acceptance. To our knowledge some journeymen in a certain skilled trade were seriously considering only a day or two ago the wisdom of emigrating to Perth (W.A.) under the firm impression that they would make £2 or £3 a day there working at their trade. Now a letter was received yesterday from a former resident in this city who went to Western Australia, and that letter we have been permitted to quote. It is dated from Perth on Sept, 29, and runs as follows ;—“ As I said before, my luck is ‘dead out.’ Western Australia will be all right for those who can afford to ‘watch and wait,’ but in the meantime, to men of my limited means and ability, it is a fraud. There is more real poverty here than I have ever seen in the Colonies. Families who left New Zealand, Victoria, and New South Wales, encouraged by the glowing reports contained in the telegrams from this Colony, have been awfully deceived. As a matter of fact there is no employment for man, woman, or child. The labour market is completely overdone. The street corners here would remind you of Dunedin during the strike. I am sick of it, anyway, and shall return to Victoria, even if I have to do a perish.