HOME NEWS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2466, 2 April 1909, Page 2

HOME NEWS.

INTERESTING ITEMS BY MAIL.

LONDON. February 12

An extraordinary speech has been made at West Hartlepool by Mr. J. Ramsay Macdonald, M.P., the secretary of the Parliamentary Labor party (says the “Standard of Empire”). He declared the. increase in armaments and battleships by tlie great Powers was going to end in war. He described the competition in armaments as a game of “beggar my neighbor,” and said it was simply a question which country was going first into the Bankruptcy Court without a fight. "Every British Army and Naval officer, and especially every naval officer, lie said, felt that that : was inevitable, and wanted it to come now because we were prepared for it. Juage Graham, at the Colne (Lancashire) County Court, has given an import judgment on tlie question of railway travellers’ rights. A. local manufacturer claimed damages against a railway company for having his comfort as a first-class passenger interfered;with by the company filling the compartment in which he was travelling with third-class passengers. The Judge, in giving his reserved judgment, allowed 5s as damages, and - ordered the railway company to 'pay costs. ; Leave to •appeal, it is understood, lias been given. . . . . • Nine lives were lost in a fire which broke out in a common lodging-house in Manchester. Two hundred and fifty men had taken beds in the building, and it was a long time before those sleeping in distant parts of the building could be awakened and got to realise their danger. The chief work of the firemen, who arrived shortly after the outbreak, was to drag tlie inmates out of their beds, but several, unfortunately, were suffocated by the smoke before help’ could be brought. Two of’ the lodgers, in their hurry to escape jumped from a third-floor window, with the result that one was badly hurt and the other killed. , A remarkable free fight marked the meeting of the Irish National Convention in Dublin. Mr. "W. O’Brien, M.P., proposed an amendment in opposition to Mr. John Redmond’s proposal that Mr. Birrell’s Land Bill should be reintroduced, but was silenced by yells of “Traitor” and hooting. Immediately a- violent attack was made on the platform, and stewards, priests, and members of the rival factions were embroiled in .a terrific struggle, while the main body of the meeting rose to watch the outbreak with interest, shrieking, and cat-calling on behalf of their various parties. When silence and order had been obtained at last, Mr. Redknond’s motion was carried by a very large majority.