VARIOUS CABLES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10520, 8 January 1912, Page 3

VARIOUS CABLES.

J J (United Press Association — By Eles- | trie Telqjrayk — Uvpyriynt./ PEACE. THE TRIPOLITAN WAR. (Received January 6, 8.10 a.m.) •, LONDON, January 5. The Times 'Salonika correspondent states that .there is reason to ibelieve (that general conditions for peace have been arranged, iaaid that hostilities will terminate in the near future. , PANAMA CANAL. WILL AMERICA CLAIM PREFERENCE. (Received January 6, 8.10 a.m.) LONDON, January 5. The ramotrr that the United States is contemplating indirect preference on vessels passing through the Panama Canal is exciting a controversy. Sir William Hall-Jones, New Zealand High Commissioner, in an interview, declared that the United States could give compensating bonuses equivalent to canal dues without infringing the Bay-Pouncefote treaty. In ad- I dition to the gain in mileage to New j Zealand vessels using the Panama Canal, it will mean a saving of 30 to 40 per cent, of coal or oil, compared with coaling at Monte Video. The American mercantile marine, said Sir William, was not strong enough to become a formidable competitor with British vessels, therefore it was not likely that the United States would damage the interests of the cazial by imaking it unprofitable to the principal 'potential users. DIVISION OF CHINA. NATIONAL CONVENTION ELECTIONS. (Received Janpary 6, 8.4.0 a.m.) PEKIN, January 5. The Government is directing elections for the National Convention in <t!he northern provinces of Turkestan, • Tibet, and Mongolia. f The Republicans are organising in the south. This arrangement suggests the possibility of a division of the Empire in the absence of an agreement by the , convention. < s Renter's correspondent at Nanking states that Sun Yat S<m has received a courteous letter from Yuan Shih Eai thanking 'him for the offer of the position of President of the Republic, and declaring that the entire people should he permitted to decide the form of Government. BRIGANDS CONTROL TAIYUAN. (Received January 6, 8.10 a.m.) PEKIN, January 5. Brigands control Taiyuan. Thirty Italian priests and two foreign residents are in jeapardy. The Italian and British Ministers are endeavouring to persuade General Yuan Shih Kai to send troops. A VICEROY EXECUTED. (Received January 6, 9.30 a.m.) PEKIN; January 5. ... Consular advices state that revolutionaries' executed the Viceroy of Ohooerfong, and Tieii, an Imperialist general. ; "•■'.■ WALLIS ISLAND. THE PRIESTS AND THE RESI- - • DENT. ( (Received January 6, 9.15 a.m.) SYDNEY, January 6. Dr. Borchard, French Resident at Wallis Island, replying to the_ state- ■ ment made by Father Chevrevil,_ procurator of the Marist Missions in the South Seas, in defence of the priests at Wallis Island, whom he (Father Chevlevil) asserts have been "libelled by the Resident," reiterates his accusations. Ho declares that he is returning to Wallis Island to take certain action which is supported by the French Government. Dr. Borchard denies the Mission paper's report that he held the hand of , the King, and compelled him to sign a , decree for the expulsion of Father Brazin from itlhe island. LOOKING THE DOOR. RESTRICTIONS ON ENGLISH SPIES. (Received January 6, 8.40 a.m.) BERLIN, January 5. Brandon and Trench, the two Englishmen who, in December, 1910, were sentenced to four years' confinement in a fortress on charges of espionage, have been subjected to the most rigorous restriction owing to the escape of Captain Lux, who was also serving a term of six years' confinement on similar charges. (Brandon and Trench were allowed

all tho comforts and aociety of the Governor and officers of -the fortress.) MAIL ROBBERY. ON AN EXPRESS TRAIN. (Received January 6, 10.20 a.m.) NEW YORK, January 5. At Redding, California, two men, not wearing masks, robbed a northbound Oregon express on the Southern Pacific Company's railway. They forced an entrance to the mail van near Red Bluff, and bound and gagged three; mail clerks. They then leisurely rifled the sacks of mails and escaped with a large quantity of booty. The mail clerks were found hurried beneath the torn sacks.

SOUTH AFRICA.

LABOUR CONFERENCE RECOMMENDATIONS. (Received January 6, 8.5 a.m.) CAPETOWN, January 5. A Labour conference, which sat for three days at Bloemfontein, recommended a white labour policy and the establishment of a defence force, but precluding its use in industrial disputes. The conference also favoured bounties in lieu of a protected tariff; the separation of the whites and natives, each with advisory councils. It disapproved of the extension of the franchise to natives.