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News from Abroad

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 20, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 34.

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News from Abroad

The transport Drayton Grange, which conveyed a detachment of troops from South Africa to Australia, was found to be fearfully overcrowded. Five men died on the voyage, and 90 had to be taken to hospitals on the arrival of the ship at Melbourne. The medical officer of the ship states that the air was poisonous and foul and the decks always wet, causing pleurisy and pneumonia, and that the supply of medicines was wholly inadequate.
On August 9 Edward VII. was crowned king of Great Britain and emperor of India. Altho the ceremony had been curtailed somewhat to relieve the strain on the king, it was still one of great pomp and ceremony. There were warm demonstrations of popular regard from the thousands of persons massed along the route of the royal procession, and the coronation scene within old Westminster Abbey was one of surpassing brilliance. The crowning ceremony was performed by the aged and feeble archbishop of Canterbury. Notwithstanding the king’s physical condition, he is reported to have stood the taxing ordeal remarkably well.
The New Freie Presse, an Austrian paper which has been making an investigation among the peasants of eastern Austria where strikes have been numerous and riots have occurred within the past few weeks, draws a gloomy picture of the conditions which exist there; and upon those conditions is laid the blame for the troubles in that part of the country. Regular day’s wages there for men are from 8 to 10 cents a day, and for women from 4 to 8 cents a day. The peasants rarely taste bread, and exist chiefly on a kind of soup made from herbs and water.
The Venezuelan rebels have captured the city of Barcelona, inflicting upon the government forces a loss of 60 men killed. The port of Rio Hache, Colombia, has been shelled by a government gunboat to force the rebels to evacuate. Much damage was caused by the bombardment, but the rebels continue to hold the town. In the department of Tolima, Colombia, the rebel forces are reported to have been destroyed by the government troops. The government forces continue to hold Agua Dulce, and have repulsed one attempt of the rebels to capture it.
The government has finally consented to turn over to the Pacific Commercial Cable Company the records of the soundings and other data made by the officers of the government cable survey ship Nero last year, but makes the gift of these records dependent upon the company’s agreeing to certain conditions in reference to landing places, government control in time of war, permission for government ownership in the future if such should be thought advisable by the government, rates for service, etc. The company will accept the conditions, and lay the cable.
The dispute between certain citizens of the United States and the Government of Japan over the ownership of a small island 800 miles off the coast of Japan has brought out the fact that many citizens of Japan have settled on the islands of Midway and Wake, which are claimed by the United States. There is indication of an international controversy over the ownership of these Pacific Islands. The latter are the islands at which the American cable is to touch on its way to Manila.
Capt. Richmond P. Hobson, of Merrimac fame, is lecturing in different parts of the country, with the approval of the Navy Department, advocating a material and steady increase in the size and efficiency of the American navy. He is advocating a regular yearly increase of $5,000,000 in the naval appropriations, which he thinks would enable the American navy to outstrip that of Great Britain by the year 1930.
The work of the inspectors on the Brooklyn Bridge is revealing many defects and weaknesses. Many of the rods which help to support the great structure are having to be replaced by new ones. The strain on the bridge has become so great that the question of its future maintenance has become a very serious one. The present demands on the bridge are more than its constructors contemplated.
Emperor William of Germany arrived at Reval, Russia, on August 6, where he was met by the czar and entertained on the royal Russian yacht. The purpose of this meeting is not known, but is thought to be in the interests of the renewal of commercial treaties between Russia and Germany. It is feared that a failure to renew these treaties will result in serious complications between these two nations.
A report on the agricultural imports of Great Britain for the years 1898–1900 inclusive, shows that the United Kingdom is the principal market for the surplus agricultural products of the United States, the latter country furnishing one-third of all such imports of Great Britain during those years. Such products comprised 62 per cent. of all Great Britain’s imports, amounting in 1900 to $1,578,000,000.
A report from Rome states that the Vatican is greatly stirred by the action of France in closing the unauthorized schools, and is on the point of breaking off her diplomatic relations with France in consequence. There have been numerous angry demonstrations of the people in various parts of France during the week where the police or soldiery have forced the schools to close.
The strike of the Pennsylvania coal miners has resulted in the flooding of many of the mines, and it is reported that some of these the operators will permanently abandon. The value placed upon those which will not be operated again is $1,500,000. Were the strike closed now, it would still be many months before some of the other mines could be operated.
The Santiago volcano of Nicaragua, at whose base is situated a city of 22,000 inhabitants, is showing vigorous signs of an eruption, emitting vapors and giving out deep subterranean rumblings.
A battle was fought between rebels and supporters of the provisional government of Hayti on August 8, in which 50 men were killed and 15 wounded men were burned to death in a house where they had taken refuge. Before leaving the town in which he was attacked, the commander of the rebels set fire to the village, and most of the buildings were consumed.
A report from Rome states that the Vatican is displeased with the action of that portion of the friars in the Philippines who have sold their holdings of land to corporations of laymen. The lands are considered to be church property. It is stated that these friars will be obliged to show the amounts received for these lands, and reimburse the church for the same.
The United States Ship Building Company, or trust, will be formally organized the present week, when all constituent companies will be taken over. The capital stock of the new company will be $45,000,000, an increase of $25,000,000 over that at first proposed. This increase is due to the absorption of the Bethlehem Steel Company.
Harry Tracey, the escaped Oregon convict who had terrorized the people of a portion of Oregon and Washington, was surrounded by a posse of citizens in Eastern Washington on August 5 and wounded by them, and seeing that he could not escape, killed himself. His body was brought back to the Oregon penitentiary and buried.
The Mohammedan priest who has been the principal opposer of American influence and the American forces in the island of Mindanao has surrendered to the American forces, and has promised to induce the remainder of the defiant Moros to follow his example. It is thought that this will end the resistance in that island.
Great damage has been caused by forest fires in the State of Wyoming during the week, which have already destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of timber. As the fires continue, it is feared that the loss will aggregate several millions. Extensive forest fires have also been raging in British Columbia.
The government has started the work of establishing the largest military post in Alaska in the immediate vicinity of the territory which is in dispute between this government and Canada. This military reservation will embrace six square miles, and barracks will be built for the accommodation of 500 men.
The police of Dawson are taking energetic measures to rid that city of all its vagrant and non-producing inhabitants before the close of the warm season. All who do remain and are unemployed will be forced to work on the government woodpile.
Thousands of members of the secret order, Knights of Pythias, are now convened in San Francisco in their annual conclave, and the city has been brilliantly decorated and illuminated in honor of these visitors from all portions of the country.
The Cuban Government has voted a loan of $35,000,000 American gold for the purpose of paying those who served in the war against Spain, and also helping the sugar planters who have been unable to market their last year’s product.
The elaborately-outfitted expedition which left Victoria, B.C., last year, to search for buried treasure on Cocos Island, has returned, having failed to locate the treasure. This is but one of a number of such expeditions to that island.
The German emperor is reported as ridiculing the disarmament proposal of the king of Italy, intimating that this proposal is inspired by fear of Germany’s effective military establishment.
The threat of the Haytian rebels to cut the cable between Hayti and New York has caused the Navy Department to order the American war vessel in that vicinity to prevent any act of that kind.
Heavy rains have flooded and devastated much of the country around the Black Sea, and many lives have been lost. The press reports do not give exact details of the calamity.
The Chicago Board of Trade has suspended those of its members who recently appealed to the courts to prevent certain speculators from carrying on their “corner” on corn.
The latest advices from Siam state that the rebellion in that country is spreading. The Shans, who are in rebellion, have captured two towns and are threatening others.
Two of Costa Rica’s volcanoes which have been active recently have now quieted down, but another, known as Turrialba, is reported to be in active eruption.
Great Britain, according to reports from London, has refused to take part in the anti-trust conference proposed by the Czar of Russia.
Thirteen miners lost their lives in an explosion in the Bowen mine near Trinidad, Colorado, on August 7.
Seven persons were burned to death in the destruction of a hotel at San Angelo, Texas, on August 10.
The Boxers are reported to be again causing trouble in certain parts of China.