SUMMARY OF ENGLISH NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1174, 8 May 1874, Page 4

SUMMARY OF ENGLISH NEWS.

London, March 2G. The directors of the Bank of Australasia have declared a half-yearly dividend on the capital of the bank—£l,2oo,ooo—at the rate of eleven per cent, per annum. A petition for winding up the Colonial Foreigu Meat Supply Company wa3 to be heard before the ViceChancellor on March 13. Dr Featherstou proceeded to Plymouth to inquire into the cause of the return of the Atrato, which left London on the 10th February, with New Zealand immigrauts, and returned to Plymouth on the 6th March. It appears that the low pressure piston broke and the cylinders cracked, and the ship will have to be docked. Taller man's Australian Meat Agency shows a profit of £IS99 for the halfyear, and a dividend of ten per cent, has been declared. The company extended the issue of 1072 unallotted shares at par. Earl Pembroke is appointed UnderSecretary of War. The appointment causes great surprise, owing to Pembroke's youth and inexperience. The Duke of Edinburgh and his bride's journey from St Petersburg to London was one of triumphal demonstrations and rejoicings in Germany and Belgium. At Gravesend, a band of ladies dropped flowers in their path. Despatches from Ashantee show that General Wolseley was unable to get an interview with the King, to negotiate the treaty of peace, and was compelled therefore to burn Cornmassie, and make his return march as speedily as possible, as the rainy season was advancing. When returning the King sent a messenger for the expedition to halt that he might scud in his submission. A strong party under Captain Glover was left, but no intelligence is yet received from him. Wolseley states that the Ashantee policy is so wholly treacherous that it is impossibly to rely upon negotiations. But their defeat and the burning of Commassie, it is thought will give them the desired lesson.

Since his imprisonment in Newgate, the Tichborne claimant refuses to answer to any name but Tichborne. His hair has been cropped, and he is dressed in prison clothes. He seems to take kindly to picking oakum. Plimsoll, M.P., has been presented with an illuminated address by seamen. Captain Blake, of 11.M.5. Druid, who took part, and was wounded in the Maori war, died in the service of the Ashantee expedition. After his death his old wound was probed, and a Maori bullet was found near his heart. Mrs Robert Heir is playing with great success in America. In the House of Commons a motion by an Irish member that Parliament should take some measure to remove the distrust felt in Ireland in the present system of Government was rejected. A \ery high tide has taken place, causing a flood at London, Hull, and Falmouth. The Thames overflowed its banks and flooded Putney. Warehouses were filled with water, sewers lurst, and a large number of children and horses drowned. Houses were filled with water, and families had to abandon them. Lord Derby favors a universal patent law. The return of the Ashantee troops was attended with many affecting scenes in the streets. They were enthusiastically received, 10,000 people witnessing the landing of the 42nd Highlanders, and the pressure caused several accidents. Mr Mundella, M. P., at a meeting said that the party that had abolished slavery would yet succeed in getting all inter-national disputes referred to arbitration. A fire has occurred iu Charleston, damage 200,000d01. Cuban despatches announce the killing of the insurgent Colonel and sixteen insurgents by the Spaniards. Severe earthquakes at Bald Mount, North Carolina, accompanied by constant loud noise. The citizens in the vicinity are fleeing, and religious meetings are held nightly and large numbers made preparations for the end of the world. The temperance agitation continues. There is great religious excitement near New York. A prayer meeting was held for sixteen days consecutively, , people leaving their shops to take care of themselves.

. The Mississippi si earner Crescent City exploded, and sixteen lives were lost, and loss 300,000 do],

General Wolseloy is to be rewarded with the rank of Major-General and a pension of £7500 per annum for two lives.