The Aberystwith Observer

THE CHANNEL TUNNEL. On Wednesday the Attorney-General, acting on behalf of the Crown, applied to the Court of Chancery for an injunction against the South-Eastern Railway Company and the other parties promoting the Channel Tunnel. He stated that the learned counsel repre- senting the defendants had acquiesced in the proposal made on behalf of the Crown. They had consented that an order should be issued for an inspection by the Board of Trade, and that no works should be carried on under the bed of the sea until the action had been determined. Mr. Justice Kay directed that an order to this effect should be issued.

LORD CARNARVON ON EDUCATION. The Earl of Carnarvon on Friday afternoon in last week opened the new rooms at Uppingham School, in the presence of a large and distinguished company. The decorations, which are by Mr. Roasiter, consist of frescoes of representatives of literature with alternate panels of 13th century ornamentation. Among those on the platform were the Rev. Edward Thring, the warder of the school, the Bishop of Car- lisle, Bishop Mitchinson, Sir George Cowper, and Sir Henry Thring. Lord Carnarvon addressing the school, pointed out the enormous difference between school life 25 years ago and to-day. In former days clever boys were favoured at the expense of thedull,theclasses were enor- mous,the teachers were simply overburdened with work, and there was no system by which the teacher and the boys were brought into personal and kindly relations with each other. For five generations he and his family had been brought up at Eton, and the bare walls and oak panellings there had remained un- altered since the days of Henry VI., but the work before them-the crowning work of Mr. Thring's life — showed him the completeness of the change. The great characteristics of English public schools would, he believed, be maintained in the future, though the life of the coming generation would be very different from that of the past. There would be different trials, different duties, different avoca- tions but the old principles which had made English gentlemen what they were would still continue, and it would be their own fault if these principles yielded new and inferior fruit.

AGRICULTURAL PROSPECTS. The Murk Lane Express says:-The fact of our cor- respondents having been too busy to send us many reports during the past week must be taken as an indi- cation that they were attending to their hay crops. There has been some haymaking weather, and as the thunder rains were for the most part of a partial and local character, it is to be hoped that a good deal of hay has been got together. The meadows are turning out heavy swathes, and the more there is seen of the hay crop the bigger it proves to be. The weather having been of a very forcing nature, the root crops have made considerable progress, and the mangel crop, especially, has done a good week's work. The spring corn is having a hard struggle with charlock, bladder-weed, and other abominations. With regard to the hop crop, it appears that it is nearly or quite overpowered by the aphides, which have lived on its juices and sapped its vitals prospects for a crop are now very bad indeed. At the close of the week potate disease made very rapid pro- gress in some of the seuthern and south-eastern dis- tricts. Wool is at a low level and no signs of im- provement, but mutton is very dear, and no immediate prospect of it being cheaper. Ripe things are very scarce, and store stock of all kinds remain excep- tionally dear.

SEA-WATER BENEFICIAL TO SMALL. POX PATIENTS. Cold sea-water baths seem to be beneficial to small- pox patients (says the St. James's Gazette). At any rate such is the conclusion arrived at in medical circles at San Francisco, owing to the extraordinary recovery of sixteen men suffering from this disease who were the other day nearly drowned in the bay in conse- quence of the upsetting of a boat conveying them from the vessel in which they were attached to the hospital. When they were rescued it was thought that death would be the inevitable result of the accident, more especially as the patients, after their extrication from the water were exposed for an hour to a cold wind in their wet clothing. Instead, however, of dying, every one of the sufferers has reooverad with a rapidity described as "truly astonishing." Many of the patients taken from the same vessel who had not the good fortune to be upset in a boat were, by latest accounts, still struggling with the disease, while the half-drowned men had been discharged from the hospital anii were walking about San Francisco in perfect health.

PRACTICAL COOKERY. For several years the Cook's Company (City of London) has selected a number of children from each of the ward schools of the City, and has paid the cost of their education in practical cookery at the National School established for that purpose at South Kensing- ton. On Saturday afternoon there was an illustration of the results which follow the system. A dozen healthy-looking girls, selected from Aldersgate, Castle Baynard, and Portsoken Ward Schools, were tested before a number of ladies and gentlemen as to their knowledge of cookery after sixteen lessons. The programme consisted in providing the guests with such simple dishes as milk and lentil soups, fried soles, broiled mackerel, fish cake and pudding, chops, beef-steak puddings, liver and bacon, pancakes, rock cakes, fruit tarts, baked plum puddings, and ginger- bread nuts. The children drew lots for the several dishes to be cooked, so that none of them knew before- hand what her task was to be. Each child went to work with ready skill, and each dish was finished in the most admirable manner. Mr. Millar, the Master of the Company, addressed the visitors on the satisfactory performance of the children's duties and of the many economical lessons which, under the auspices of the company, had been imparted to them. So satisfactory had been the work that the company were determined to continue it indefinitely. It was hoped that these children would become teachers of cookery amongst the class in which they lived, for in the homes of working men the knowledge of economical cookery was too little known and too little studied. The first prize was taken by Alice Stattle, of Portsoken Ward School the second by Amy Bass, of the Alders- gate School; and the third by Annie Styring, of the Portsoken School. To each of these girls Mr. Millar presented a book on cookery, and presents of a less value were given to the other pupils. At the close a cordial vote of thanks was awarded to Mr. Millar.

THE LATE SEIZURE OF ARMS IN CLERKENWELL. In London, an Monday, at the Bow-street Police- court, Thomas Walsh, 38, described as a carpet- planner, was brought up in custody, on remand, before Sir James Ingham, for further examination on the charge of treason-felony, which was substituted last week for the original charge made against him of feloniously dealing with rifles and other arms and ammunition seized by the police, on the night of June 16, in a stable, at 99, St. John's-street road, Clerkenwell. Mr. Morton, a gunmaker, near London-bridge, and the representatives of two other firms which deal in rifles and ammunition testified that from 1875 up to the present time the prisoner had made continuous and extensive purchases of rifles, swords, and ammunition. The examination was adjourned until Tuesday, when other witnesses were examined, amongst whom was Sergeant Gallagher, of the Royal Irish Constabu- lary, who said he came to London in October, 1880, and had been constantly watching the,prisoner. He traced his removal of the cases from the gun dealers' to his warehouses in different parts of London, and then to the railway stations. Gallagher copied the addresses, which were to places in Ireland, had the cases opened, and examined the rifles and ammunition they contained. They were then closed and de- spatched to their destination. Gallagher said his only duty was to report to his superior officer. He was acting under instructions from Dublin Castle. There were several Irish police officers over in London. He was never told to arrest the prisoner, as his action in dealing in firearms was perfectly lawful. The proceedings were adjourned until Wednesday, when several members of the Royal Irish Consta- bulary, who had been in London for the purpose, gave evidence as to watching the prisoner and seeing him book packages to various parts of Ireland, and which, on further scrutiny, proved to be consignments of arms and ammunition to that country. The proceedings were again adjourned.

THE BRITISH MUSEUM. The Times notices the latest annual report of the Trustees of the British Museum in a leader, from which we take the following:— Even they who either have not or do not use their opportunities of visiting and studying at the British Museum must be very apathetic if they feel no curiosity in examining the accounts of this great item of public property as summed up for them ia the annual reports of the Trustees. The report for 1881 has just been presented to Parliament. It indicates a satisfactory increase of the treasures in the keeping of the Trustees, and of the benefits derived from them. To the Library 28,284 complete volumes and pamphlets were added and 43,513 parts of volumes. It received, besides, many thousands of playbills, and broadsides, and songs, and Parliamentary papers, from which, were the British Empire as entirely overthrown as the empire of Assyria, its essential characteristics could be pieced together. By purchase the Didot collection has contributed several curiosities, and the Sunderland Library 81 books wanting in the Museum, many of them rare and important." There is a German Bible printed at Strassburg in 1485, and a copy of Luther's Pentateuch of 1S23, which Tyndale consulted for his English version. Other auctions have furnished a Macix translation of Paradise Lost, and precious editions of Pope and Swift. The munificence of Mr. William Burges, the lamented architect, has prema- turely endowed the kingdom with exquisitely illumi- nated Psalters and Hours of the Virgin, and Bibles, as well as helmets and oeats of mail, and ivories and crystals, and divers precious objects. A living bene- factor has presented to the Print Room 77 chalk Italian landscapes by Richard Wilson, and the Trustees have bought a multitude of other drawings and etchings from their own resources. The Oriental Antiquities are enriched with a monumental stone from the temple of the sun god at Sipara, a town de- voted to books and tablets. Every other department has its own list of acquisitions to boast, from the most delicate examples of Etruaean and Greek art to a tiger trap from Amoy, and a wig from the Fiji Isles. The authorities of the Museum are constantly watching to supply gaps. They have their ideal of what a national museum should be. They do not disdain to accept articles which will simply amuse or amaze. In a col- lection planned on deep and broad lines everything finds its place. What elsewhere might be eccentric and grotesque fills a void, and is the missing link in the chain. These yearly enumerations of fresh accumulations in Bloomsbury or at South Kensington ought to be at least as interesting to the whole community as is the inventory o ja distant mansion to many an absentee inventory o ja distant mansion to many an absentee °f artistic masterpieces. To thousands of ■Englishmen the hoards of the British Museum are as personally profitable and dear as if all were individually their own. Of these the principal contingent is provided by the readers. The number of visits is recorded in the return, and not of y^s. The Reading Room received in 1881 visits, as against 109,442 in 1876. A ?'^ PROPortion of these visits was paid by daily students, to whom the Reading Room answers every purpose of a private library. Although the merits of their researches differ widely, in all the diligence and patience of investigation are exemplary. Were the i t? v9.raea 8en? Museum in 1881 in pursuance copyright laws traced to their origin, it would be seen that not a few had returned as naturally to their source as a salmon to the stream in which it was born. The other departments can claim a respec- table average of visitors as real students. Fifteen thousand visits for purposes of study are credited last year to the Sculpture Galleries, 10,890 to the Natural History Collections, and 4,312 to the Print Jtioom. In the first two instances the numbers 1ve doubled in five years; in the third alone they are stationary. In all three it may be presumed that the applications for leave on the ground of an intention to study were made in good faIth and acted upon. Nothing is more significant ? .j a<3vance of taste and ef the zeal for know- ledge of nature than the statistics the Trustees have put together. In numbers of visits the Gold Ornament and Gem Room can show as remarkable figures. In 1881 the room received 28,168 visits, as compared with 14,632 in 1876. The Trustees, however, discreetly refrain from describing those visits as paid for purposes of study. In addition, 5+ /faster 764,405 persons as having been ad- mittedin the course of the year to view the general collections on no special pretext of study, or on any S?ietJ. aPP^cat»on" Yet it is not to be supposed that 4-i?et6 Promiscuous visitors came from idle curiosity, or that, whatever their motive, they left without any addition to their stock of ideas. The advantage of an institution like the Museum is that it casts its nets in all varieties of water and for all kinds of fish. It recruits future inquirers and students even from the crowds which wander aimlessly through its galleries on an Easter Monday or Boxing Day. 2

M. DE LESSEPS ON THE PANAMA AND SUEZ CANALS. On Monday M. de Lesseps received a deputation from the executive committee of the International Arbitration and Peace Association, and had a two hours' conversation with them. The conference had been primarily arranged with a view to arrive at some common basis of action in order to secure, first, the unmolested completion, second the permanent neu* trality of the Panama Canal and its adjuncts. M. de Lesseps gave a full history of the Panama question and of the attitude of the United States and the posi- tion of England with regard to influence over the isthmus. Being asked if, as the essence of the Monroe doctrine is the desire to assure the American Continent from the intrusion of any and all belligerent European Powers, the United States publicists would not be willing to strive for the absolute neutralization of the Canal-that is, to forbid its use at any and all times for the passage of war vessels and material of war- M. de Lesseps replied in the negative. He did not think such entirely non-combatant principles could be admitted. As indicating the practical line to be worked, he said they will propose to place the Canal (and, doubtless, its banks and approaches) in the same international or all-nations category as jurists do the high seas. As regards the Suez Canal, M. de Lesseps expressed the strongest possible objection to the intervention of any foreign Power whatever, not excepting Turkey. He asserted that Egypt, by the Assembly of Notables, was properly working out its own national life, that Arabi Pasha had only taken that part which as Minister of War and a patriotic leader he was per- fectly justified in taking. Speaking from full and in- timate knowledge of Egypt and its population M. de Lesseps asserted that, just as the massacre at Alexandria was the inevitable though deplorable result of the excitement caused by the presence of the combined fleets, so any attempt to land European or even Turkish troops would be fol- lowed by greater calamities. The Canal he contended is perfectly safe, but only on the condition that no armed intervention takes place. M. de Lesseps and his correspondents believe that especially if English troops are landed with the object of protecting the mouth of the Canal all its navigation will be at once arrested, with consequences to the world's commerce which would be deplored. On the further question as to the probable results of British intervention alone, M. de Lesseps thought that this would arouse great opposition from France, even if such intervention should be advised by the Conference or a majority of the Powers.

THE POISONOUS CONSTITUENTS OF TOBACCO- SMOKE. A series of experiments has been recently conducted by Herr Kissling of Bremen, with the view of ascer- taining the proportions of nicotine and other poisonous substances in the smoke of cigars. His paper, in Dingler's Polytechnisches Journal, gives a useful risum6 of the work of previous observers. He specifies, as strongly poisonous constituents, car- bonic oxide, sulphuretted hydrogen, prussic acid, picoline bases, and nicotine. The first three occur, however, in such small proportion, and their volatility is so great that their share in the action of tobacco- smoke on the system may be neglected. The picoline bases, too, are present in comparatively small quan- tity so that the poisonous character of the smoke may be almost exclusively attributed to the large pro- portion of nicotine present. Only a small part of the nicotine in a cigar is destroyed by the process of smoking, and a relatively large portion passes off with the smoke. The proportion of nicotine in the smoke depends, of course, essentially on the kind of tobacco; but the relative amount of nicotine which passes from a cigar into smoke depends chiefly on how far the cigar has been smoked, as the nicotine-content of the unsmoked part of a cigar is in inverse ratio to the size of this part-i.e., more nicotine the shorter the part. Evidently, in a burning cigar, the slowly-advancing zone of glow drives before it the distillable matters, so that in the yet unburnt portion a constant accumula- tion of these takes place. It would appear that in the case of cigars that are poor in nicotine, more of this substance relatively passes into smoke than in the case of cigars with much nicotine; also that nicotine, notwithstanding its high boiling point, has remarkable volatility.

PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUENCIES- A parliamentary return has been issued] showing the population, the number of electors, &c., in the various counties, cities, and boroughs of the United Kingdom. From this it appears that the constituencies in England and Wales, which return 489 members, and which had a population in 1881 of 25,960,276, com- pared with 22,709,840 in 1871, had, 2,537,810 electors in the first-mentioned year, as against 2,065,534 in 1871. Scotland, which returns 60 members, had a popu- lation of 3,728,124, and an electorate of 310,218 in 1881, compared with 3,352,469 and 260,074 respectively in 1871. Ireland, with ;103 members, had a population of 5,159,839, and a electorate] of 229,461 in 1881, as against 5,412,377>nd 226,683. respectively in 1871.

ANOTHER MURDER IN DUBLIN. Another murder was perpetrated in I>nb!ra shortly after midnight on Monday.-In the Hovm of Com- mons en Tuesday night, Mr. Trevelvaa, the Irish Secretary, gave the following particulars respecting it "At 40 minutes past midnight two mea reported that they heard four shots fired in the direction of Savile-place, Dublin, somewhere at the back of the Custom-house Docks. They went in the direction from which the sounds proceeded and found a man on his hands and knees en the foot- way, apparently dead. He was taken to the hospital and was there pronounced to be dead by the doctor. Two gunshot wounds were found in his head and two in his body, and seven stabs were sim found over the heart. The shots must have been fired dose to the body, as the coat was singed. Some people living in the neighbourhood also heard the gunshots. Two respectably dressed men ran past a man who was near the scene of the murder at the time, and another man said that he saw three or five men running away. The body is that of a man named John Kenny. The deceased wore a belt, on the buckle of which was stamped God save Ireland' and a device represent- ing the sun bursting through clouds. The initials O'B.' and A. L.' were also stamped upon it, They are supposed to refer to O'Brien and L&rkin, two men 11 who were executed at Manchebb&r EjLe years ago." The Dublin Correspondent of The Times gives the f following details of the murder:— An altercation was heard in Seville-place, near tl arches under the Great Northern Railway. it attracted little attention at first, as it was rappo Jed to be merely a street brawl. Then a person pasr fog at a short distance heard a sound which seemed t "be the stroke of a stick, a voice exclaimed, "Oh, do 4't .« and immediately afterwards firearms were discb two or three times. One of the men was obser led to fall to the ground, and two others to runaway jje could not see them with sufficient distinctness to able to identify them. The shots were also heard b II other persons near the spot. Two men named Ed war d palais and Patrick Egan, who live in the neigh b carbood. hearing the shots, ran down to the pLa On coming within a few yards of the railway aen they found a man on his hands and knees. H z was un. able to speak and was bleeding freely. Lo fi!ring Kim in charge of one of the bystanders, Ennig e_ ncj Egan ran to the Summerhill police-station and 1 jgperted occurrence. All the available men at or 1C<3 hastened to the pi ace, and, procuring a car, remove d tiie body- for the man had died in the interval-tr t the nearest hospital, Jervis street, where they a, xived at one o'clock. He was a strongly built youn r maa, a little above the middle height, of the labou X&mg class, and rather poorly clad. The holes made by < ike bullets were easily discernible in his coat. The ed teS LsA a singed appearance, as though the revolver ha A been tired very close to him. He had also been woun fed with a knife He had on a leathern belt well w &tui a buckle having on it the words "G lid save Ireland" and a harp. There are bullet wou' ..ds -on the left side of the body, on the left shoulder, f And on the back of the head, Mid seven punctured on the left •ide 1 region of the hear* The deceased was identified in the hospital on Tues momLag by his wife as a labourer named John J Cenny, for some years in the employment of the Port- mod Docks Board. He was about 35 years of age, and leaves a wife and two children. He lived about a stone's throw from the scene of the murder. He had been a 8teadv and hard- working man. The place wh the rrurd|r was com. mitted is dark, even durir C the day time, and no more suitable place for such a crime could ha.ve been selected.

A VESSEL STRUT M BY LIGHTHINK Particulars have been received at Liverpool ef a re* markable disaster to tb ,e vessel Gertie May. The Gertie May w as about 174 miles from Marti- nicus on the 18th ult when she was struck by light- ning, which first caur dlt the foretopmast, breaking some three feet off it, anf l tMn ran to the bow, smashing a portion of the sten 4. thence to the forecastle where were ten of the erf JWindifferent attitudes, some sitting and some standin g. All alike were rendered instantly insensible, but recovered a short time afterwards. The lightning cr Jursed through the vessel, eventually returning to th a fore part, where it knocked oat two of the vessel B planks in the stem. Fortunately the damage lias above the water-line. The vessel had a quanti ty of salt on board, and this was removed to right her and prevent her sinking. The flag which was flying on the mainmast, was completely con- sumed. The Of frtie May reached Portland on the following day, ane" i lay up for repairs.

GREAT FIRE IN AMERICA. New York papers report a destructive fire, which occurred on the night of the 23rd ult. at Lawrence, Mass., in the storehouse of the Pacific Mills, in Broadway, within 42ft. of the main Pacific Mill, and adjoining it in the rear. The storehouse building is of brick, with a stone basement, three stories high, 300ft. long, &nd 50ft. deep. In the basement were stored madder dyes, cloths in Process of manufacture, and 2)200 bales of cotton* The first floor w&s for a supply office, and here also chemicals used in dyeing were stored. The last two upper floors were used for the sorting of wood and as storage rooms. On these floors there were 200,0001b. of wool ready for sorting, besides nearly 100,0001b. already sorted. The fire had gained considerable headway when discovered, and it was only by the most strenuous exertions on the part of the firemen that the mill itself was saved. The flames rose high in the air, and the smoke from the burning cotton, wool, and chemicals clouded the entire city. The building w&s flooded with water from the automatic extinguishers in the upper story and from 40 lines of hose, but when the tire. men thought they had the fire under control it again burst forth, threatening the Pacific uoper works with destruction. The origin of the fire was in doubt, but from indica. tions it appeared that the disaster originated in the basement of the storehouse from spontaneous combus- tion, and being fanned by the draught through the elevator hatchway which was about eighty feet from the front of the building, attacked evervttuag in its course. The total loss on the building and stock will exceed 1,000,000 dels., which is fully covered by insurance in Boston offices. There were many accidents at the fire.

LORD SHAFTESBURY ON THRIFT. In London, on Wednesday evening, the Earl of Shaftesbury, K.G., presided at a meeting held at the Cannon-street Hotel, in connection with the Provi. dent Savings Bank formed for the convenience and benefit of the South-Eastern Railway Company's employes. The report showed the receipts of the past year amounted to £41,052, to which £ 6,255 was added for interest, while £ 30,654 had been withdrawn. Lord Shaftesbury enlarged on the benefits of being provident, careful, and sober, and congratulated the meeting upon the improvement that had taken plaee in the condition of the workine classes. He had ob- tained experience of them through fifty year*, and knew their. habits, feelings, and character. He had loved them then and loved them now. and his love was better placed, because he saw in them a mani- fest sense of improvement and a determination to go on to higher and better things. The greatest improvement had been among those operatives who earned the higher wages, and he was glad to see that the children had made many deposits, because by the young practising a healthy spirit of thrift they were laying the foundation of an admirable, safe, and noble life. England was a notoriously spending and extravagant country, and formed a great- contrast to our neighbours on the other side of the ChanueL He earnestly besought his hearers early to inculcate saving habits, and never to look forward, but witliout abso- lute horror, to the workhouse as a refuge ill. oLd age. He trusted mutual intercourse would extend more and more among all classes, and they would never he aosafe as a kingdom as when capital recognised the rights of labour and labour the rights of capital.

FRENCH HONOURS FOR AN ENGLISH LIFEBOAT CREW. The French Government have sent, thraagh the Foreign Office, a gold medal to each of the first and second coxswains, and a silver medal to each «? the eleven men forming the crew of the Albert E-tu-ird lifeboat, belonging to the National Lifeboat Eo*?u;.u- tion, and stationed at Clacton-on-Sea, in rec3gi>;ition of their services in rescuing the crew of the fishing lugger La Madeleine, of Boulogne, which was Iwc on the Gunfleet Sands on the 23rd October last. The Albert Edward lifeboat has a; together saved fifty-six lives from various wrecks. The Lifwas presented to the institution in 1877 by the United Grand Lodge of FreemaRons of En 'land ¡r\ c m- memoration of their thankfulness at the safe return of the Prince of Wales from India.

Recent cheese fairs show an advance of 2s, M. to 5s. per cwt. in the pric" of that article.