CURRENT NEWS.

Wairoa Bell, Volume V, Issue 192, 7 April 1893, Page 2

CURRENT NEWS.

The will of the late Sir Andrew Walker, brewer, has been proved at nearly three millions sterling. The Danish Peace Society presented the King with a petition bearing 35,000 signatures in favour of arbitration being resorted to in the ease of a threatened outbreak of war, the principal powers acting as arbitrators, aud urging a reduction of the military strength of all countries. The King replied that there were great difficulties in the way of such a proposal, and said any movement in the direction indicated must be initiated by a leading Power. Mr Mitchelson, M.H.R. for Eden, has now finally deckled to stand again for that constituency at the next election. Mr Mitchelson had, on business grounds, been hesitating whether he should not retire from politics for a while, but in consequence of strong representations made to him by many supporters in all parts of the new electorate of Eden, he now promises to comply with their request and again offer himself for their suffrages. A Port Chalmers photographer was the first to feel the force of the new law which forbids the sale of indecent pictures &c. The offender was fined £5 and costs. Captain McKenzie, of the brigantine Eillan Donan, which recently arrived at Sydney from the Kaipara, writes over to say that he had very rough weather on the third day out. It was the worst he had ever experienced since first going to sea. One of his crew got badly hurt, and one cf the small boats was stove in. On one side of the vessel the deck cargo of timber got adrift, but none of it was lost. He encountered that severe westerly gale which caused such an amount of damage to shipping. Another monster bank failure has taken place, the Commercial Bank of Australia having stopped payment. Several millions are involved. The small steamer Ruby, 44 tons register, belonging to Auckland was totally wrecked on the Mangapai bar on Priduy morning. The steamer appears to have broached to just as a big sea caught her, and this lifted the screw and rudder clear out of the water. She struck how on. The first the passengers knew of the accident wa* the bumping of the steamer on the rocks. Heavy seas broke over the unfortunate vessel at once, sweeping the deck cargo and moveables overboard and all over the ship, and the cabin doors were blocked by tire deck cargo (chiefly drain, pipes and timber), aud the passengers were forced to clamber out through the cabin skylight. One of the two passengers drowned, Mr Smallwood, aged 84 years, had his legs broken by the wreckage shortly afier he got ou deck. The captain carried him on to the bridge, but he was washed overboard aud drowned. The boy Dowson, who was drowned, was clinging on to the after rigging when last seen. Messrs Hastie and Bramley, two of the passengers, assisted by a Fijian named Joe, did a great deal towards rescuing the rest of the passengers. The survivors got on to a detached rock from the steamer and were then taken ashore by boat.