, 1896-03-28

luat tlle senator's Will not push matters IC
extremity. They are as a loGy too old and
too rich.
johann esburg ha, suffered from q strange
misfortune. Enormous quantities OF dynamite
are ussd in the mines, and on Wednesday
eight trucks full Of the explosive. which had
besn standing for three days in the sun, ex-
ploded in tie stati,n Of NIelendO.p, a work
suburb Of the great mining town. A hole
was torn in The earth thirty feet deep and 200
feet IOng; every house in the suburb was
lsvelled. and every window IN the town was
shattel ed. Most Of the miners wsle away;
but the women aud children were killed or
injured in scores, one man, for instance, los
ing his wife and six children at a blow. The
true numbers cannot be given yet, but mole
than hundred ale dead and many hundreds
injured. three thousand people, chiefly ma
tives, but including many Dutch. are home
less, and There would be terrible privation
but that he capitalists instantly subscribed
AG3, 600 il aid Of the sflicIrd. There will
Of course. be inquiry, bul it is clear Il at the
caus Of the catastrophe was the mad lndiffer-
ence to danger Which the use Of high expIo-
sives for years without injury is sure to pro
duce. 1t IS tie haidcst lin III HE woIId to
compel he hand employed III tie mauufac-
ture Of gunpowder to abstain from smoking.
Tho experts still differ az to the prohabi-
lity that Nausen is returning after having
reached the North Pole. They all, however,
allow that it is possible, and all hold that the
news sent lorwalo was be.ieyeo by hushna.
ref, who is the Btring Of The Siberian re-
gion, and who is known To be absent on a
tracing speculation in the Siberian islands.
Probably The most authentic account OF the
recent Of the news, whether tIue or false, Is
quoted bv l.. klupotkin from the Russian
IelrgraphIc Agency in q letter to the Times
- IrkutsG. January 81 February '2)--
The CONTRACTOR fer Nansen, kushnaretf,
through the Kol>msk isprornik (chief Of
poIice) KmdaEoff. by mail from Iakgtsk to
Ki,eusk md thence hy telegraph, informs
the Eastern Reriew that Nansen hns reached
the Pole, has discovered land. and returns"
The description If Kandakoff, AIDES Prince
Krapotkiu, is inaccurate. He is not police
Off er, but a Councillor in the PROVINCIAL
Government OF Yakutsk. and a m'mber Of
the Yakutsk expedition Detailed news, If
the report is true. should reach Western Eu-
rope in the early days OF June.
The Struggle in Abyssiuia. which concen-
trates ALI thoughts in lcaiy, bnt almost es-
capss attention III tie rest OF Europe is draw
ing to a head. A final effort after agree
Iuent has failed. the Euperol Menelek rrfus-
pcremptorly t. submit ~ a'y Ir"tect"ra'e.
it is leliev,d, thel elo5e, thal 'helr must
be a greal battle. the result II which i iy 10
means certain. General BaratieH has more
than thiriv-hve thousanu men, with an e1-
celient artillery; but Menel1k has tNIct the
number, all armed with fairly good rifles,
and rs brave as the Soudanese, who "bIoke
a British square" The result should de
pend upon the strategic skill Of the tw"Gene-
rails; and although General B%arotieri E's the
full confidence Of the Italian Army, he has
hitherto been rather outmopmuVrcd. We
SEQ reason to suspect that lie Is troubled
about commissaliat, being dependent to a
great extent on imported food. The AbySSl-
mans eat everything for miles round them,
and the Italian General must have a gfe"t
swarm of camp-followerS to feed. 1t wall be
recoIltcted thar Makaleh was lost While still
tenable. for want of food and water. Outside
Egypt we have never moved armies IN Africa
on that scale.