COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2763, 18 March 1910, Page 5

COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS.

H.M.S. ENCOUNTER

United Press Association —Copyright SYDNEY, March 17. Sailed, the cruiser Encounter for Colombo, where she recommissions. THE FLEET FLAGSHIP. Mr Deakin has announced that the contract for an armoured cruiser, which will be the flagship of the Commonwealth 'fleet, has been let to John Brown and Company, of Glasgow. It is to be completed in two years. VALUABLE WINDFALL. Marshall, a working man at Lithgow, has come in for a windfall. His uncle, late senior member of Marshall, Stewart, .and Company } shipbuilders, of Glasgow, has made him chief beneficiary in property valued at £40,000. AUSTRALIAN NAVY LEAGUE.

MELBOURNE, .March 17

The Australian Natives’ Association has adopted a resolution in favor of toe Government’s defence policy, but against borrowing money to carry out the proposal. It also recommends the establishment of an Australian Navy League. ARBITRATION CASE. The Federal Arbitration Court has commenced the hearing of the Enginedrivers’ and Firemen’s Association’s case. It involves the whole conditions of employment in connection with land engines. LABOR LEADER’S PROi *aECY. BRISBANE, March 17. Speaking at Maryborough Mr Fisher, the Labor leader, prophesied that he would soon be leading a Labor Ministry. STRANGE DEATHS. PERTH, March 17. Two well-known graziers in Wyndham district have died under peculiar circumstances. John Mackenzie shot himself drawing a. revolver from a sad-dle-bag. Sam Muggleston was found lying unconscious on a bush track, and succumbed.

A BARQUE’S NARROW ESCAPE. (Received March i<, 9.20 p.m.) SYDNEY, March 17. The barque Pharos from Antofagasta, narrowly escaped foundering. She was caught in a cyclone eighty miles off the Cook Group and l thrown on her beam ends, the ballast shifting. The crew awaited the end, when a shift of wind caused the vessel to right, only to be thrown over on the other side. She again righted, and the weather moderated. A GIFT TO CARDINAL MORAN. The Roman Catholic laity presented Cardinal Moran with £2500 in recognition of his services and to mark his silver jubilee in Australia.