THE QUEEN IN BAD HEALTH.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 494, 22 April 1869, Page 2

THE QUEEN IN BAD HEALTH.

RELEASE OF FENIAN PRISONERS. ANOTHER GOLDFIELD FOUND IN SUTHERLANDSHIRE. DISASTROUS WRECKS AND FLOODS. EIGHT PERSONS KILLED IN GLASGOW. LORD SLINGSBT AND SIX OTHERS DROWNED. DEATH OF LORD GOUGH AND LAMARTINE. THE ALABAMA TREATY REJECTED BY AMERICA. WRECK AND LOSS OF 400 LIVES IN CHINA. CAPTURE OF CHINESE PIRATES. (BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPM.) (fbom our own cobbespondent.) Bluff Habboe, April 19. The s.s. Tararua arrived at nine o'clock this morning, bringing the English news received by the February mail. GENERAL SUMMARY. London, Feb. 26. A levee is to be held at Buckingham Palace on the sth of March, and a drawing-room on the 10th. Prince Arthur is also to hold levees on the 12th and 19th. The Queen is ill, and her return to Windsor is consequently postponed. The Prince and Princess of Wales, with Prince Leopold, are now visiting Constantinople and Athens. Mr Henderson, formerly of Western Australia, has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Metropolitan Police, in the room of Sir Richard Mayne, deceased. Two Admiralty officials have been committed for trial on a charge of conspiring to extract money from a tenderer for a Government, contract.

The Central Asian question is causing great alarm. The Times suggests the propriety of immediate negociations being held with Russia respecting Afghanistan. Eight persons have been killed in Glasgow by the fall of a chimney.

There have been four huudred wrecks since the beginning of the year.

Great destruction has been caused throughout England by floods. Another goldfield has been discovered in Sutherlaudshire.

The last reports of the Maori outrages in New Zealand have drawn from Her Majesty, through Ministers, an expression of sympathy with the colonists, but the principles which associate the obligation of self-defence with the right of self-government are re-asserted.

Bills have been introduced into Parliament for the prevention of crime, for a uniform assessment on all rateable property, for the abolition of all religious tests in the Universities, for voting by ballot, for preventing the spread of the cattle-plague, and for educational endowments.

The Theatre Royal at Hull has been destroyed by fire.

Mr Gordon, of the firm Overend Gurney, and Co., has resigned his offices in connection with the other Banks.

Mr Edwards, official assignee, whose evidence at the trial created so much surprise and indignation, has been called upon by the Lord Chancellor for an explanation of his conduct in connection with the business of Overend, Gurney, and Co. Sir Charles Slingsby and six others have been drowned, when out foxbunting, and while attempting to cross a river. OBITUARY. Joseph Hodgson, the Marquess of Anglesea, Robert Keeley, Dr Epps, Sir J. K. James, Mrs Bernard, Lady Murchison, Lord Russell, Professor Stranways, Lady Pixie, and Sir John Johnstone.

COMMERCIAL. There ia an active demand for money. The rate of discount is increasing. Consols are quoted at 93. Foreign stocks are dealt in largely.

Australiau securities are steady, and 11 have mostly advanced. Victorian six < per-cents., January and July, £ll2 ss. Ditto, April and October, £ll2 15s. New South Wales five per-cents., January and July, £100! Ditto," 1868 78, £IOO. New Zealand fives, 1891, consolidated, £94. Ditto, sixes, 1891, £lO7. Queensland sixes, January and July, 1891, £lO7. Hobson's Bay railway shares, £33. Ditto bonds, 1818, £IOO. Ditto 1895, £9O. THE WOOL SALES. The first series of Colonial sale? commenced on February 25. There were 554,858 bales in stock. There was a good attendance, but the bidding was not animated. Sydney and New Zealand wools were offered in too limited quantities to present a fair criterion of their value. The late arrivals amounted to 117,340 bales. FRANCE. Some Native tribes in Algeria revolted, but were subdued. BELGIUM. A feeling of temporary agitation exists with reference to Erance, arising out of the Coshem railway question. SPAIN. The Serranos programme announces the freedom of worship, the liberty of the Press, public education, the right of meeting, and the abolition of slavery in the Spanish colonies. The Government are still unsettled as to the form of government to be adopted. Some talk of a directory, and others of a triumvirate. Eive persons are to be executed for complicity in the assassination at Bayos. PRUSSIA. Parliament has affirmed the confiscation of the private property of the King of Hanover as Elector of Hesse Cassel. RUSSIA. An imperial ukase has been issued, ordering all recruits who had obtained a year's leave to join the ranks of the surplus soldiers of the army sent on furlough. GREECE. There is a change in the Ministry. The new Ministry have accepted the proposals of the Spanish Conference. AMERICA. The treaty for the settlement of the Alabama claims are being much discussed by the Press. General Grant has declared that he will faithfully fulfil the duties of his office, and call around him men who will earnestly carry out the principles of economy and honesty. He declined to announce the names of his Cabinet until their nominations are sent to the Senate. A new Tariff Bill has been passed. The Paraguayan war is stated to be over. Lopez is a fugitive in the interior. INDIA. In India there is a proposal to levy a tax on all incomes over £SO a year. The "proceeds are estimated at nine hundred thousand pounds. A loan is to be raised, partly in England. The Government is engaged in relieving the distressed. The Madras mint is closed. CHINA. Twelve piratical boats have been attacked and destroyed by Lieutenant Grey, off the island of Lognia. Four junks, containing valuable cargoes, were released from the pirates. A French missionary has been murdered. The ship Herman has beeen totally wrecked near Hong-Kong, and four hundred lives were lost. LATEST TELEGRAMS. London, March 19. The Government has resolved to release fifty-nine Fenian prisoners. The Princess Christian has given birth to a son. The cost of the Abyssinian grant is £3,600,000. It has passed the House of Commons. Edwards,of the Court of Bankruptcy, and who was concerned in the case of

Overend, Gurney, and Co., has been dismissed by the Lord Chancellor. Lord Gougk and Sir Evison Tennan t are dead. The debate on the Irish Church question has been postponed until th e 20th. Kew York, March 19. The Senate have unanimously recommended the rejection of the Alabam treaty. Pabis, March 19. Lamartine is dead. Prance and Belgium have agreed to refer their differences to a mixed eommiision.