VARIOUS CABLES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10560, 16 February 1912, Page 3

VARIOUS CABLES.

(United Fres-i Association—By Elwtrie Telegraph — Copyright.; FLOODS IX SPAIN. TWELVE VILLAGES DESTROYED, FOOD BOATS ARRIVE. HEAVY DEATH ROLL. (Reoived February 15, 8.5 a.m.) MADRID, February 14. In twelve riversido villages on the banks of the Gaudolquivor River, witM. a population of 34,000, there is not a house above the Hood level. '.Clio first boats with bread from Seville readied t'ie villages after the inhabitants had starved for six days. There were many deaths from drowning and exposure. A largo number of bulls at Yillafranca, near Lisbon, •which wore being trained for Spanish bull-fights, stampeded owing to.t'he gale destroying their sheds, and plunged into the Taigus. Over a. thousand were drowned.

LABOUR'S DEFEAT. MINISTRY TO RESIGN. i i (Recivcd February 15, 8.5 a.m.) ADELAIDE, February 15. Tli© Ministry will resign to-day . (At the -Soutib Australian state elections last week tho Labour Government was defeated b ythe Liberals, who obtained 2-1 seats to Labour's 14.) COLLAPSE OF PROMENADE. ! THIRTY SCHOOL-BOYS ENGULFED. (Received February 15, 8.5 a.m.) J ROME, February 14. i Forty-five schoolboys were walking on the San Remo 'promenade, which, being weakened by rain, collapsed, and : thirty were engulfed. Five are dead, and eight are in a critical condition. , The accident is attributed to the boys marching in step. TRIPOLITAN WAR. PRISONERS DETAINED. (Received February lu, 5.5 a.m.)' ,' 'MALTA, February, 14. j Three Arab prisoners, who were j found, heavily ironed, aboard the I Euna, en route from Sicily to Tripoli, | ■have been detained, pending the Brit- ,' isli Government's decision. I i AFFAIRS IN CHINA. EDICTS WELL RECEIVED. CAUSE OF WEI-HAI-WEI j TROUBLE. (Received February 15, 8.5 a.m.) PEKLN, February 14. The edicts were well-received. Tho Revolutionaries attribute the Wei Hai Wei insurrection to hundreds of sympathisers being tortured and j killed. _ j Tho officials state that .the trouble , is due to irresponsible Revolutionaries. seeking to control the town. Tho Times' correspondent in Nankii says that many Revolutionaries arc dissatisfied with the edicts', but the Moderates, realising tho financial difficulties and tho military inferiority of tho Revolutionary armies, favour a settlement, SMALLPOX IN HONGKONG. TERRIBLE SUFFERING. PIRACY RAMPANT. (Received February 15, 12.30 p.m.) PORT DARWIN, February 14. A steamer from the East reports ] that a virulent type of smallpox is i raging in Hong Kong, and there are | a largo percentage of deaths. There is a severe famine in eight districts in China, covering thirty J thousand .square miles, and appalling accounts of suffering are given. The ancient city walls round Canton are being destroyed by the new* Republican authorities. Many daring cases of piracy arc reported on tho West river and elsewhere.

TAXATION PROPOSALS. BITTERLY OPPOSED. EXORBITANT RENTS. (Received February 15, 9.15 a.m.) SYDNEY, February 15. Mr Wac]e, Leader of the Opposition, is leading a strong campaign against the Government's new taxation proposals, which ho declares arQ unnecessary. Referring to the rapid rise in rents, lie declared that Mr Griffiths, Minister of Works, seized the opportunity to ask the exorbitant rent of 21s per week for a cottage of three rooms and a kitchen. BRITAIN AND GERMANY. BRITISH ANIMOSITY. A CROWNING PROOF. (Received February 15, 5.5 a.m.) BERLIN, February U. The Chauvinist newspapers allego that the creation of.Sir Edward Grey as a Knight of the Garter is the crowning proof of British animosity towards Germany.