NEWS ITEMS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10163, 13 February 1911, Page 3

NEWS ITEMS.

The recent earthquake at V.vcn:;.", Russian. Turkestan, made a fisure hi the earth 24ft wide and 33 inih-s long. The South Wiles Miners' Federation's application for an increase of 21 per cent in wages has been wkiulrsiwii. The Board of Trade's decision regarding the loss of the Lund liner Waiatah has been postponed until the 22nd inst. A small re?f has been disccveied at Pine Creek, South Australia. It is estimated to carry a thousand ounces of gold to the ton. The town of FNensburg, in the State of Washington, has decided to tax bachelors and spinsters over 27 years of age. The Federal Land Tax Commissioner declares that no extension of time will be granted for making land tax returns. A special school for candidates desirous of receiving instructions as officers will be opened at Portsea, 37 miles by water from Melbourne, on March Ist. A letter from the King to the nation will be issued a month prior to the Coronation. A facsimile of the letter will be sold for charity. The Western Australia United Goldfields Company has been registered in London. The capital is £750,000, and the object of the company is to acquire, amongst other properties, several Bullfinch claims. One of the King's coaches which it was intended to use in the Coronation Procession was burned in a fire at. a carriage factory at Nottingham. The coach was 200 years old. Sixty detectives raided an Anarchist haunt in the Sschuneu quarter, of Berlin, and arrested a, number of Russians and Austrians, believing that they are implicated in the Houndsditch affi? ir. The amended Customs Act providing for imprisoume it instead of a fine for smuggling opium is operating on Thursday Island where a Chinese was sentenced to six months rmpriii nmont for such'an offence The two ice-breaking ships sent t«» . search for the ice-floe oii which a fish' ing village had been carried to sen from outside Bjorko Sound, have returned after a fruitless search. 4 It is presumed that the 153 men left on the floe have perished. . Fifty thousand Turkish troops have been ordered to the Yemen district.' The Arabs are withdrawing en camels to, inaccessible , mountains. This threatens serious transportation difficulties for the trobps. A farmer named Sheahan, residmg, near Oranmore, County Galway, Ireland, was" shot dead in his house. He had previously been cautioned that it would be advisable to vacate the land he rented, and had twice previously been fired at. - Princess Christian is president of a committee in London, which is seeking to find careers in the colonies for educated women. The committee proposes to establish agencies in the colonies to obtain information," and also to start settlements. The Victorian State Treasurer is arranging to float locally a loan of half a million at 3J per centum, with a \ minimum of £9S 10s. The Government intends to carry .out a works pblicy involving an expenditure of two millions. _' • , . Mr A. W. Jose, Australian correspondent of/The Times, says there was a misconstruction in regard to \ the. 'cabled reference to what he wrote regarding the caucus. ' Wlra't he said was that Ministers had been subject to •attaqk by the caucus, not that the caucus would order Mr -Fisher (Federal Prime Minister) toXniake Ministerial changes.; v '•'•' Five men were struck .'by lightning \ while beneath a treedn the Exhibitip-i Gardens, Melbourne. One, named Andrew Johnson; was killed instantly, and another, named John Anderson, seriously injured. The others were knocked down, but not hurt.