TELEGRAMS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2623, 20 February 1894, Page 1

TELEGRAMS.

ENGLISH AND FOREIGN.

London, Feb. 16. Harness, of.' the Medical Electric Company, has withdrawn the libel action against the Pall Mall Gazette. Sir E. Gray, Parliamentary Secretary to the Foreign Office, states that the report of the special Committee to enquire into the seizure of the New South Wales vessel Costa Rica Packet by the Dutch will be referred to the Law Officers. " Feb. 17. Mr Reid, the Victorian delagate, dined at the House of Commons to-night as the guest of Mr Arnold Morley, the Post-master-General, and Mr Campbell Ba'nnerman, Secretary, for War. He pressed on Mr Morley the necessity of Great Britain subsidising the Pacific mail steamers, and urged that the Imperial Government should guarantee half interest on the cost of construction of the Pacific cable; Australia and Canada to bear the other half. He dwelt especially on the value of purely English lines in the event of war. Mr Reid pressed upon Mr Campbell Bannerman the question of frozen meat being taken for the Indian army, and urged that freezing stores should be erected in Calcutta similar to those in Malta. He also discussed the question of Australia defence with the Secretary of War. Mr Bannerman expressed himself favourably towards the suggestions of Mr Reid for frozen meat for India.

Mr Cork, London manager of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney, reads a paper on the banking crisis in Australia before the Bankers' Institute in March.

Advices report that cataract has obliterated the sight of one of Mr Gladstone's eyes, and that cataract is forming in the other. Mr Gladstone wished to undergo an operation, but the doctors refused to perform it. In the billiard match of 7000 up, Peall beat Memmott, the Victorian, by 15 points. Paris, Feb. 17. The Paris Courts have decided that Princess Colonna must sue for divorce at Naples. Relations between Portugal and France are strained, owing to the reluctance of the Government of the former country to safeguard French investors in their capital for the construction of Portuguese railways. In consequence, the French Minister has been recalled from Lisbon.

Beblin, Feb. 17. By the bursting of the steam-pipe on board the cruiser Brandenburg, at Kiel, 39 men were killed instantly, nine others were injured, and of these two have since died. The accident occurred while the cruiser was engaged in speed trials.

St. Petersburg, Feb. 17. Five hundred persona drifted to sea on an ice floe at Ingermannland, Helsingfors, in the Gulf of Finland. Hopes are entertained that they are safe, and rescue parties have been sent out. Owing to the brutality of Colonel Akertsk, of a dragoon regiment at Warsaw, the officers drew lots who should murder him. The lot fell to the adjutant to shoot the colonel dead. Teheran, Feb. 15. The Shah of Persia intends to pay another visit to London. Cairo, Feb. 15. Lohrah Pasha, who is friendly to the British, succeeds Maher Pasher as UnderSecretary for War. Hon a Kong, Feb. 15. A disastrous fire occurred at Foochow, in China. Fifteen hundred houses were burned. Calcutta, Feb. 15. It is stated that the sons of the Ameer of Afghanistan will shortly visit England. San Francisco, Feb. 16. A tamer named Thieman was performing with lions in San Francisco by the electric light when it suddenly went out and the animals immediately sprang upon Thieman and badly worried him. He died shortly afterwards. Washington, Feb. 15. The Republicans of Ohio have nominated Mr McEinley as their candidate for the Presidency. Feb. 16. Mr Secretary Gresham objects to the modus vivendi arranged upon the Behring Sea question, on the ground that it involves a reduction in the reveu jo. He is uegotiatiug with the British Government on the subject. New York, Feb. 17. The death is announced here of Mr Frank Byrne, one of the Irish "Invincibles." , Capetown, Feb. 17. An enquiry has been ordered into Commander Raaf's death, owing to a rumour that he w<.B murdered. King Lobengula died of smallpox. All his regiments are now surrendering to the British Chartered Company except the Inyato, which guards the King's grave. The Government of Cape Colony are taking steps to annex Pondoland.

Rio de Janeiro, Feb. 15. Yellow fever has broken out among the shipping in port.

AUSTRALIAN CABLE.

Svi.ney, Fob. 16. Mr Barton advised the Governor that he did not thiuk it necessary to reserve the Electoral Bill for the Queen's assent. The Governor has received a cable from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, informing him that the Biil should have been reserved, and has cabled for further details of the Bill introduced into the Assembly by a pvivata member, proriding flogging as a punishment for Huj-gli»ry, packet-picking, confidence-men and larrikins. Fi»b. IT, Th'i Primer ha?. reo-;ved i; ".able explaining Vli.ap c-:;:;.i:i 1iU1.% "hick had beon passed by tho of ouo or more of the Australian colonies, had received the Governor's assent, and no disallowanco by the Queen having been declared, tho Acts consequently came into operation. As, however, doubts recently arose as to the validity of some Acts so passed, because they were not reserved for tho Queen's assent, it was doomed expedient to remove them by passing a Validation Act in the Imperial Parliament.

The Rev. Mr Symons, one of the oldest ■NYesleyans in Australia is dead. The Bishop of Grafton is tho first graduate of Mtlb mrua University raised

to the Episcopal Bench. He is 37 years of age. The Colonial Treasurer states that the imports of last year show a decrese of £2,269,000, as compared with the previous year. Melbourne, Feb. 16. The case against Mcßedie, Drew, and I Bruce, charged with defrauding Scheurer and Lauth, a Paris firm, has begun. ! Drew is the only defendant present. The trial of Knox and Gent to-day for the murder ot young Crancourt, whose they attempted to burglarise, resulted in Knox being, sentenced to death, and Gent to three years, as an accomplice before the fact. Feb. 17. The defendant in the Speight v. Syme case has moved the the Full Court to upset the verdict, on the ground that the Judge receiv«d-th# on-- January 2nd, notwithstanding that the Court did not sit on that day or at any time in January ; and further, that the Court sat in the long vacation which began on December 20th, which, it is contended, is illegal.

Brisbane, Feb. 16. Word has been received that the natives of Cornwalls Island are starving, owing to the destruction of their food supplies by storms. Relief is being sent from Thursday Isiand.