LATEST ENGLISH NEWS.

Waikato Times, Volume V, Issue 277, 19 February 1874, Page 2

LATEST ENGLISH NEWS.

London, February 7. The Duke and Bucbrw of Edinburgh, with several mem ben of the Russian Court., have arrived at Aloscow. The German Parliament w** opeued by an Imperial speech. It a <pi esses confidence iuthe efforts of the Qio»t Powers to m.unt*m peace. Alderman Cotton, and Messrs Hubbird and Twella (Conservatives), and the ltight ilon G. J. Gosuheii h*Vb bteu returned for the city of London. T«o Conservatives have bet n retui ued for Westminster. For the electorates of Oheidea, Mai>lebone, Souihwnik, and the Tower Huinleta, Messrs Ayiton, Fawcett, and Jacob Bright wem deteated, and Mr Thomas Hughes retired. Mr Roebuck dm been re-elected for Shellield. The Aight Hon the Marquis of Hartiogtoo baa beou reelected for Radnor. Four hundred and thirty members hare been returned. The Conservatives gain sixty-one seats, and the Liberals have ousted twenty-four Conservatives. Up to the present time 253 Conservatives hare been elected, and 229 Liberals. The latter gain 27 aea't, but th<- ConservatiTes have secured 71 seats from the Liberals. ft is asserted that Mr Gladstone has resigned.

(From the New Zkaund Hibaxd.) The following item* aie iv addition to the mail iteni» brought per Bangalore :— Lmdon, December 2(>. Sir Lyon Playfair, the new Postmaster-General, is considering a scheme for the reduction of telegrams from one shilling to sixpence, and another plan for dispensing with the system of registering newspapers. The Ri|»ht Hon John Bright has written a lotter on thr licensing system of public houses, recommending that town councils should grant licences. It is stated that a measure to amend the Education Act will bo initiated by Government next session. Mr Robert Lowe, in a speech at Fishmonger's Hall, yin dicated the police, who have been much abused of late, and pleaded for publio confidence in them at a body. The Smitbfielii Ulub Cattle Show was marred by four days of extraordinary fog. The entries were more numerous , than last year, and the quality of the bensts unusually excellent. In Devon* the Queen secured the principal piize in the tirat two classes Mr Edward Wilson, of the Argus, obtained the fiist prize among pigs of the black breed. After the second day many of the finest animals began to succumb to the stifling atmosphere ; some died, others were killed, and altogether upwards of an hundred had to be removed. Something like a panic prevailed, many poraons dreading tho outbreak of some fatal disease, winch Sbiiouoly affected the pecuniary success of the show, thousands of peisons baing prevented fioui attending Mass Maigaret Thomas, an anist from Melbourne it achieving distinguished success as a portrait painter in London ; the commissions to her are plentiful. Colombo, January 16 The Liverpool Star Lin<* steamor Arcturus, houu>vwird bound, wilh a full cargo from Calcutta to London, struck on the Crindurah rock, near dalle, on Monday, December 29, and got strnnded ; tha nctt day the went oiT the reef into sixteen fathoms water, ont irely disappearing, and is a total loss. The vosiel's papers, chrnnonietsri, and a feK case* of tea only were saved. No lives lost. Coffee is still rising m price; middling plantation is now being quotod m Colombo at over 130* pt>r cwt ; larf»e con - tract* are being made for the Ceylon crops, deliverable early in 1875. TV throatened ricf fanrnic throughout Northern India is assuming a less senou* aspect, and although scarcity may be more felt toward* the mid<He» of Msvch , vet it is expected thnt Government will fully meet tho crisis. In consequpnoe of tlio lar^e imaifinonts of the Government in purchasos of r"ife tbpro ii n ffi-ent dpiiisnd for sp>-cie in India, tuvl a. monetary chm^ on asmall scale i» threatened. The fojin"»')My rmO bptprpfn Hon^ Kon^ md San Francisco has bet)»,*n*pknoVd.

The Qeclong Advertiser announceh the arrival of a friend to the finnors •— Jfot only tlie in«fot pe-ts, but alsn the sparrow*, whiuh j rndti^e «o much hnroo among tb« cropi, hnv<- oncniintei-ci n formidable cnomy thifl «eaion. Just as the caterpillars were beginning to occasion lorno alarm vmoni: the fnrmeri of the MopraHool, a florlf of b'rdu about (.he sizo of tho EngluL tin mil, of it bnutiful bluo plumage, with » red breait, were ob.oivtiu vi,,ikntly hovering in the Ticmily of Cue gptthi crop§ The connfaaf chirruping whioh thoy niaintained appeared to kopp thf> iparrow at tt re*f,fct' tul distant, liiul, i>wjii(f to tne inanntr In wluofi f/'jejdi Vt)a iinon«»tli« bftrlev ami (Wroyed the rattprpillarijogtM they wmv climbiut up the nuUi pieparatory to oiting off &t head* of t>><> grain, mmiy oi u\« farmer* in the uevehbour hood of Bau-bibrU ate in^m^d to ntftbut* tlie m.vi of their crops from almosl tomfiletn druiructmu to their '"flu••lice. Whether thii is the .pooies of bird tlmt tim been observed doing »o much good eorricc tiuoug the locuitv at liiverleigh has not been ascertained.