County Observer and Monmouthshire Central Advertiser Abergavenny and Raglan Herald Usk and Pontypool Messenger and Chepstow Argus

I France and Morocco. Paris, Thursday. The French occupying columns will concentrate to-morrow at Maghnia, under General Vignee. The artillery will take up a position on a small height South of Ujda where batteries will command the town. The infantry will advance- by way of Sidi Louhad and Sidi Zuan. Paris, Thursday. An Oran telegram says French, offioers have received orders to avoid collisions with the natives,, and to limit French intervention, to the town of Ujda. Thursday. A Rapallo telegram reports that Prince Beol stated that Germany would take steps at Fez to induce the Sultan to give prompt satis- faction to France.

Judgment in Wagslaff Case. Mr Justice Kekewicb, in the Chancery Court, London, on Tuesday, gave judgment in favour of Mrs Jalland in the action concerning the will of the late Mr James Poole WagstafE, Manor Park, Potton, whose estate, valued at iLIS0,000, is in dispute. The Judge held that the testator used the word widow in his will in a secondary sense, and that Mrs Jalland was entitled to a life interest in the estate.

I Markets. MONMOUTH, CATTLE, Mouday.-There was a good demand for stores and prime beef, and wether mutton and lamb, The auctioh prices obtained by Messrs. Nelmes, Poole, and Atkins were:-Bullocke, £ 15 to zC20 15e; heifers, £ 14 10a ox i fat calves. i:3 511 to 15 17?,; store calves, to 46s wether sheep 47a to 503 6d, ewes 38s 6d rj 8» lambs 28s to 34s 6d; porker pigs, 34a to D poundage prices were quoted as follow: 3 -Best, beef 6fd to 7d, secondary sorts 5id to 6d 2 veal, 8d to 9fd; wether mutton Sid to 9d, ewe ditto 6|d to 7d, lamb Is Id to Is 2d; pigs— porkers 10s to 10s 6d per score, and baconera 9s to 9a 6d.

Newport Sailors' Best. FLAG HOISTED BY LORD TREDEGAR. The first annual meeting of the Newport branch of the Incorporated Seamen and Boat- men s Friend Society was held at the Town Hall, Newport, on Wednesday afternoon. The Mayor (Councillor F. Phillips) presided, and was supported, amongst others, by Lord Tredegar. J His lordship subsequently hoisted the flag at the Sailors Rest in Commercial-road. He said at one time the Bristol Channel was filled with Algerian pirates. The only pirates they had to fear now was the Cardiff and B.rry Docks. (Laughter). But they were not afraid of them. (Hear, near). He felt it was unnecessary to ask wffnr Newport for support of such an institution. He was certain they would all realise the need of such a place, and would give it their unstinted support. As chairman of the Alexandra Docks Company, he was naturally interested in the home for sailors. The home has sleeping accommodation for 22 sailors.

TIME SENSE. I One of our commonest mental operations ia estimating periods of time. Attempts have been made to determine the quality of our time sense," and in the latest experiments at Harvard University, 251 males and 274 females from seventeen to twenty-three years old, were re- quired to judge the length of four intervals—18, 36, 72, and 108sec.—under four different condi- tions. Comparing the sexes, the female proved to be much less accurate than the males. The male judgments ranged from lsec. to 300sec. with an almost invariable tendency to under-estimate; and the range of the females was from lsec. to 400seD" a considerable over-estimate being the rule. The second itself is much shorter to the female than the male. »

CALENDAR CURIOSITIES. I There are some curious facts about our calen- dar. No century begins on Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday. The same calendars can be used every twenty years. October always begins on the same day of the week as January, April as July, September as December. February, March, and November begin on the same days, May, June, and Ang'ust always begin on dif- ferent days from each other and every other month in the year. The first and last days ot the year are always the same. These rules do not apply to leap year, when comparison is made between days before and after February 29th.

TOMBSTONE TO A SPARROW. I Tombstones of an imposing order have often been raised to the memory of pet dogs and cats, but the one in Berlin to the memory of a spar- row is probably unique. It stands outside the Nordring railway-station. It is 18in. high, and is shaded by a miniature oak-tree about 4gft. in height. The inscription runs: "Here rests Kuhe, born 30 April, 1892, died 30 Oct., 1898." Kuhe was a spa,rrow, which became so tame that he would eat out of the hand of the porters and other officials. His days were all spent in the station, his nights above the waiting-room window. His end was tragic, as he was run over by an engine. His railway friends erected the above men ti one d monument in memory of I tb.eil" pet.

Hexham Result. Liberal Majority Reduced by 928. Holt (L). 5,401 Bates (C) 4,244 — —■ —

Departure of the Russian Squadron. The Russian squadron left Ports- mouth this morning for Libau.

I American Railroads. New York, Thursday. Mr Carnegie informed the New York American representative that he favoured giving the interest of' Commerce Commission restraining power over American railroads. Washington, Thursday. It is believed that President Roosevelt is again planning govern- ment control scheme for rail- roads.

I Bank Rate. Bank rate unaltered.

Civil Service Estimates. Estimates for the Civil Service for the coming financial year show a nett increase of 2346,847.

Leeds Express Accident. Mr W. Watson, of Stockton, who was injured in the Leeds express accident died to-day.

CURRENT TOPICS. I IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT. I Whatever party may be in power, an abstract resolution of the House of Com- mons does not necessarily count for very much. That fact was demonstrated at the time when Mr Gladstone was in office, and the House passed Session after Session a brief resolution in favour of a measure of local option, and it will probably be evi- denced again by the fate of Mr PickersgiU'a resolution declaring that the present powers of committing to prison for non- payment; of a debt ought to be restricted." The motion was carried without dissent, but it may be doubted whether all the hon. members who voted for it considered the subject in all its aspects, or seriously con- templated legislation on the lines of a resolution which in itself was rather of a vague description. Taken literally it does not appear to mean very much, but the general trend of the debate was in the direction of the total abolition of imprison- ment for debt. Before Parliament enacts each a measure as that, it will need to con- aider both sides of the question, and to remember among other things that there are not a few men and women who would never pay for anything unless they are compelled to do so. Of course if a system of ready money payment could be intro- duced all round much would be gained, both by the man who sells and by him who ouys. seeing that the one would incur less risk in business, and the other would not have to contribute his share to compensate for the vendor's bad debts. But while a aready-monev system is infinitely preferable to one of credit, at the same time there are .-many people who would experience great! difficulty in obtaining cash down, and would incur very grave risk of offending rthose with whom they deal if they made tany such suggestion. Of course if Mr TPickersgill can induce Parliament to pass a Bill penalising the giving of credit, he will, in that event, confer a benefit on all; but the dishonest, or extremely impecu- nious, but, until such an unlikely measure is passed, it is to be apprehended that tradespeople and others would find that county courts were only able to enforce payment or levy distress in the case of honest respectable people who are always ready to pay when they can, and that all others would laugh at proceedings which the law would be powerless to enforce. -j-y-ira— r.ff.g.wft.r. -= THE MONEYLENDERS' ACT. It is to be feared that the Moneylenders' Act must be added to the somewhat ex- tended list of those measures which are for all practical purposes a dead letter. In the first place it was apparently intended to inform the public and the Courts, who are professional moneylenders, but County Court Judges have now no more facilities than they had before, and the public can only obtain the information with a good deal of trouble and some expense. There are, for instance, in many metropolitan fac- tories, as well as in those in the great provincial towns, men who lend money on the most extortionate terms, such as a penny in the shilling, or a shilling in the pound, a week. If an employer knows such a thing is going on in his factory, he ought surely to be able to ascertain the name of the offender from the register, but that is by no means such an easy task as people might suppose. There is only one list to be aeen in London, r nd that is at Somerset House, which appears to be the office for all public business which has not had a .special department allotted to it. There the officials will tell him, courteously enough, that he can search for any name, but that the fee is Is. for each name. Moreover, if some M.P. were to put a question as to how many prosecutions have taken place under the Moneylenders' Act, both he and the public would be surprised at the answer. Nearly all the Act has done is to deter those respectable people who used to lend money at moderate rates but are now pre- -r" .2, .=1;J' vented from lending by needless fears of prosecutiou. SOCIAL IMPROVEMENTS. I During the past few years the rage for cheapness has been making great progress, but there are some departments of life in which the discovery has been made that it pays to do things well. There are, for ex- ample, the old coffee houses, which have been superseded in London and the pro- vinces, except in the poorest districts, by establishments of a much more inviting description. That is a gain all round, and some of the new establishments pay remark- ably well Then there are the common lodging. houses-the old "doss-houses"- which have been succeeded in London, Dublin, Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Hull, and elsewhere, by buildings after the style of the Rowton Houses, of which it was truly said at a meeting a few days ago, that they are as different from the old lodging-houses, as night is from day. The shareholders in Rowton Houses are not, as a rule very much concerned about dividends, but still it is well to find that it is possible to do a good work without losing any money, and a dividend of five per cent. is at least as satisfactory as the reflection that virtue is its own reward.

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——————————————— The Policy of Home Rule. j A good many of Sir Henry Campbell- I Bannerman's followers in the House of Commons must have rubbed their eyes when they read the reports of the Lord Chan- cellor's speech on Home Rule. For years they have been exerting all their ingenuity in trying to run with the Irish Home Rulers, and at the same time hunt with those Eng- lish voters who are opposed to Home Rule, and they had always regarded it as a most unfriendly action on the part of any elector to ask them the plain question "Are you, or are you not, in favour of Home Rule, and if you are in favour of it will you kindly say what you understand by Home Rule ? So long as they were left alone they could maintain A DISCREET SILENCE, or else promise the Irish voters something which they would regard as better than ZD the Unionists offered, and at the same time would appear to the English voter to be very much short of what Mr Gladstone proposed in his Home Rule Bill. In this way, by the exercise of a good deal of ingenuity, they had been able to manage very well, and now here was a lawyer, a member of the Government, who had spoilt everything by his outspokenness. They had been attempting to conceal Sir Henry Campbell-Banner man's policy in a cloud of words, and now a member of the Cabinet had told the nation that Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman was "a Home Ruler sans phrase," that "the Premier's purpose and policy had not altersd since he adopted the views propounded by Mr Gladstone." Further, the Lord Chancellor, while stating that it was not a Home Rule Bill which was going to be introduced, declared that it must inevitably lead up to Home Rule, and that however much the peers might dread its consequences, Home Rule was certain to come as to-morrow's sun would rise. This was an extremely awkward statement, be- cause, whatever the Lord Chancellor might say about Home Rule being inevitable, it was well-known that the Conservatives and Unionists would not touch it, and it would be impossible to persuade the electors that Home Rule was coming through the .00 action of anybody but a Liberal. Home Rule is a policy fraught with the most disastrous and fatal consequences, and it is a course to which the people of Great Britain have shewn themselves entirely opposed. Nor are they likely to change their opinion for the reasons adduced by the Lord Chancellor. It is perfectly true that there is in this country a love of free- dom and self-government which deters the people when they realise it from exercising a yoke over another country. But ° IT IS SIMPLY RIDICULOUS to say that Great Britain exercises a yoke over Ireland. The youngest schoolboy knows that there is no necessity to be always reminding us of what took place long ago, especially when every English- man admits the fact, and expresses his regret that in times for which he is not responsible Ireland was treated badly. But no greater nonsense was ever uttered than to suggest that England is now exercising a yoke over Ireland. The people of the Green Isle are being treated to day every bit as well as the people of Scotland, and indeed rather better, for special legisla- tion has been passed for the benefit of Ireland. The professional agitators are the curse of Ireland, and would be a curse to any other country whose people allowed themselves to be deluded by them.

FLANNELETTE. If purchasers of this useful material for underwear all the year round would buy the best English make, which can be obtained from all leading Drapers, they would avoid the risks they undoubtedly run with the inferior qualities of Flannelette. HORROCKSES' FLANNELETTES, made by the manufacturers of the celebrated Longcloths, Twills and Sheetings. are the best. II UfTD "D finXTQIT^Q Stamped on sel- nUMUUAijJllij vedge every 5 yds

I The Socialists' Budget. King John's method of raising the wind in times of monetary stringency was to seize rich Jews and hold them to ransom, and the socialistic platform utterances have had too strong a resemblance to this plan to render them palatable to ordinary law- abiding citizens. The attention, however, would not now be confined to professors of the Hebrew faith. The economic object of Socialism." says Mr Keir Hardie, is to make land and industrial capital common property, to cease to produce for the profit of the landlord and the capitalist, and to begin to produce for the use of the com- munity." Obviously, to make LAND AND CAPITAL COMMON PROPERTY I they must be forcibly taken from the present owners, but how ? Presumably by a specially manufactured system of taxation. And this proposed system is now for the first time, practically exploited in a little work entitled "The Socialists' Budget": its author is Mr Philip Snowden, M.P. for Blackburn, who has the reputation of being about the most moderate and thoughtful" of Socialist leaders. It may be premised that. in this brochure, the rich are always idle, and the poor always industrious, The individual with over £ 160 a year is to be included in that objectionable class, the capitalist; so not only the rich, but the middle and lower-middle classes are to be mulct to relieve the "industrious" poor. We have not the space to quote Mr Snow- den as freely as we could wish, to show how the Socialist State would divert into the national pure portions of the rent, interest, and profit, which now go to keep an idle class in luxury, at the expense of the industrious poor," but indirect taxation is violently attacked throughout. All in- direct taxes are to be abolished, with the exception — for the present-of those on tobacco, wines, spirits, and beer, although of these four-fifths are paid by the poor according to Mr Snowden, upon whom they constitute a heavy drain.

IMPORTANT TO MOTHERS.—Every Mother i. who values the Health and Cleanliness of her Child should use Harrison's I Reliable' Nursery Pomade. One application kills all Nits and Vermin, beau- tifies and Strengthens the Hair. In Tins, 4|d. and 9d. Postage Id. Geo. W. Harrison, Chemist, 118, Broad Street, Reading. Agent for Usk :-P. AULT Chemist, Medical Hall.

The New High Sheriff. Colonel Charles Thomas Wallis, who has been sworn in gas High Sheriff of Monmouthshire, is a Justice of the Peace for the County, and also of the borough of Newport. He is the eldest surviving son of Mr William Robert Wallis, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, Calcutta, and Newport. He was born on the 10th June, 1841, and was educated at Burlington House, Hammersmith. He is a colonel (retired) of the 1st Monmouthshire R.G. Artillery (Vols.). and served during the Indian Mutiny in 1857-59 as a volunteer. He has been presented with a volunteer officer's decoration. He married in 1868, Helen Augusta, only child of Captain Evan Evans, of Bristol. His residence, Chesterholme, Newport, is charmingly situated, and commands views of the Bristol Channel.

I l nY-ARCHER&Cq I REG I.STERICD dGDLDEHRETDRHS 1 I I-ac-siitiile of One-Ounce Packet. I Archer's Golden Returns | The Perfection of Pipe Tobacco. | COOL. SWEET, A.VP FRAGRANT. j

Matches in the Mine I Albert Hayward, labourer, was summoned at Abertillerjr, on Wednesday, for having a match in his possession at the Arrael Griffin Colliery, Aber- tillery, on March 2Int. Mr W. J. Everett, Abertillery, who proarcuted for the colliery company, said they wished to press the charge to the utmost, the reason being that a full box of live matches had recently been found put on one eide in one of the meat dangerous parts of 'he colliery. Thomas Jones, fireman, said he found a match in defendant's coat. There were quite 2»0 men in the pit at the time. Defendant admitted that the match wall found in his pocket, and said he had not the slightest idea how it got there. He was fined 40s, or twenty-one daya'.

The Hanover Estates. I Mr Justice Swinfen Eady, in the Chancery Divi- sion on Tuesday, delivered his reserved judgment upon the summons by Mrs Herbert asking to be admitted as tenant for life of the Llanover Estates or, in the alternative, a declaration that according to the terms of the will of the Baruiess Llanover and the settled Lands Act, she was vested with the powers of a tenant for life. His Lordship decided that Mrs Herbert had not the powers of a tenant for life that there were no surplus rents payable to the plaintiff until the period for accumulation had expired or the encum- brances had been discharged. Costs of all the parties as between solicitor and client to be paid out of the accumulation.

lord William Sevill. At Clerkenwell Sessions on Wednesday the grand Cm Th a. tnf biU against Lord William Sessions was PostPoned until next

WHERE SUNDAY IS MONDAY. I Manila is one of the most important ports ip the Philippine Islands, but, strange to say, is one day behind all other places of its size in the world. This curious fact is accounted for in this way. Although the Philippine Islands lie near the Asiatic coast, they were discovered by Spaniards who sailed from America. When they crossed the magic line where Sunday clianges "into Monday these fiery dons of proud Castilian ancestors did not revise, their calendar. When told of this years later, and informed that their mode of reckoning time was not up to modern notions, they merely said that was so much the worse for modern notions. Anyhow, the fact re- mains that these islanders keep plodding along one day behind the rest of the world, which reckons time by new style. A—

WHY ALL FOAM IS WHITE. I I The question as to why all to am is wnite is not an easy one to understand, but the fact is chat foam is always white, whatever be the colour of the liquid. The froth produced on a bottle of the blackest ink is white, and would be perfectly so were it I not tinged, to a certain extent, by' particles of the liquid which the bubbles hold in mechanical suspension. As to the cause if this whiteness, it is sufficient to say that it is due to the large number of reflecting surfaces formed by the foam, for it is these sur- faces which, by reflecting the light, produce upon our eyes the impression of white.

FOR PRINTING TRY THE "County Observer99 Office, Memorandum Forms Note Paper Envelopes BlllHeadLs Counter "Rills Frienaiy Societies' Members' Oards Rules Forms Balance Slieets Programmes for Concerts Balls Sports — Fetes &c. Atliletic Clubs' Fixtures Fosters lor Auction Saxes -1 nts Flower Sliows &c.} in one or more colours— bold, attractive Sale Catalogues 3L.itliOsrrapH.lc Flans particulars of Sale Visiting and Trade cards Memorial cards Menu Cards Receipts Assistant Overseers' Requisites TRY THE County Observet." Office FOR PRINTING.

Fishing Roat Crew Landed. Eighteen of the crew of the' Dunkerque fishing boat, Promise,, were landed at Dover this morning by a Hull fishing boat. They had encountered terrible weather in the North Sea, their vessel eventually foundering. o

Stocks cheerful. Printed and Published by THE COUNTY OBSERVER," NEWSPAPER and PRINTING COMPANY, Limited, b" JAMES HENRY CLARK, a their Oilice., Bridge' Street, Usk, in the County of Monmouth, Saturday. March 30th, 19U7.