Rhyl Record and Advertiser

FORESTERS IN CONFERENCE. The High Court of the Ancient Order of Forest era t77is opened on Mondiy at Barrow-in-Furness, Mr. Wood, the Chief Ranger, presiding. T! ore were present eight hundred delegates.representing nearly one million members in the United Kingdom, the Colonies, and America. The Chief Ranger, in his inaugural address, quoted figures to she v. the con- tinuous growth of the Order, both numerically a*'d financially, and spoke in condemnation 131' any scheme of universal old age pensions,which he said lie regarded as the greatest or all mistakes. It. was for the pecple to try and better their condition by their own exertions rather than by depending iq on doles from the Stare. At Tuesday's session the permanent secretary, Mr. J. Lister Stead, read a series of telegrams and letters conveying congratulations and express mis Tiiese included a message from San Francisco, representing 10.000 Pacific Coast Foresters, a tele- giam from the Chief Shepherd of the executive committee, of the Ancient Order of Shepherds (Ashton Unity), and the Furness branch ol' lv. cha- bites. A resolution that an expression of loyalty should be forwarded to his Majesty the King, con- veying congratulations on his iceovery, hoping that the Coronation would be carried out on Saturday, and thanking his Majesty tor his recognition of friendly societies, was agreed to. A discussion ensued, with reference to the election of delegates to attend the National Conference,of Friendly S. eie- ties; ;.nd ultimately the following were appointed: Messrs. Abbot (Sheffield), Henrctt (London). 11. Ilulse (Chester), J. G. JacKsou Lindsay (Dundee), H. W. Sandford (South-WY.-tern district), T. Wildbcar (London United district ), and R. Wood, H.C.R. (lJairmv), the High Court R gistrar-elect, the permanent sec: et: ry, and t he Parliamentary agent.

VOLUNTARY SCHOOLS UNDER THE EDUCATION ACT. Mr. Balfour, in a printed reply to a euivtmn by Mr. Herbert Roberts, says: "It is not pioptocd by the Education Bill ch.At voluntary schools should be transffired to local education authorities. !!■ ard schools, 011 the otlier hand, are so transferred, and accordingly those schools and not voluntary school; \1"(' dealt with in the schedule referred 't 0, 'IIa-: local education authority will be responsible tor the cost of maintenance of voluntary schools after ..lie appointed day, but they will have nothing to (h with any ddicit on the accounts or those schools existing on that day, or with any expenses incurred jy the managers before that day."

DISASTROUS FIRE AT LAR NE. Some visitors residing in the neighbourhood of Dunluce-strert, Larue, noticed dense volumes of smoke issuing from one of the warehouses m that thoroughfare at a quarter past one o'clock on Tues- day morning. They at once raised the cry of !"Fire and in a very short time the local fire brigade was on the spot. It was then found that Hamilton's hardware store and Wilson's drapery sstablishment were both burning fiercely, and all the cffuri s of the firemen were consequently directed to preventing the fire from spreading to the adjoin- ing buildings. The fire appliances, however, were scarcely sufficient to deal with an outbreak o' Midi magnitude, and the flames, fanned by the wind, sr< adily made way. Despite the strenuous efforts of t' e brigade four newly-eiected buildings situated in to. middle of a blo^k of houses separating P,lint- street and Dunlucu-streel were soon alight, and burning with great fierceness, while before long three entire blocks were a. bl '/■iiiLv lmss. No one could venture within two hundred yards of the scene with safety. It was soon apparent that the blocks attacked were doomed. Finally the fire burnt itself out, the firemen being success- ful in saving the neighbouring blocks. Altogether eighteen large warehouses and. two entire streets vvese burnt down. There was no loss of life, the inmates making an escape directly the alarm was S'ven.

SCHOOL BOARD EXPENDITURE. In the Court of Appeal, composed of Lords Justices Vaughan Williams, Romer, and Mat hew, on Tuesday, the hearing was concluded of the case of Dyer and Others v. the London School Board, on the appeal of defendants from an order of Mr. Justice Farwell, raising the question whether the School Board are entitled to apply any funds, raised by a local rate, in the erection of a "building in the parish of St. Mary, Islington, to be used as a pupil teachers' centre. Mr. Justice Farwell, on a motion by the plaintiffs. granted an interim injunction, restinin- ing the defendants until trial or lurther order from making any further payments under the contract for the erection of the building. At the conclusion of the argument; of counsel, their lordships held that the application of the local rates ror the purpose of a pupil teachers' centre was not authorised under the Elementary Educal ion Act, they being of opinion that any other decision would be contrary to the judgment in the Coekerton case. Lord Justice Vaughan Williams observed that the only purpose for which the School Board could apply the rates was that, of public elementary education, and pupil teachers' centres could not be said to come within that definition.

AN ELECTION ACCOUNT. In the King's Bench Division, on Tuesday, before Justices Wright and Darling, Air. Lanyon said he was instructed on behalf of Mr. L. Sinclair, M.P. for the Romford Division of Essex, to apply for permission to pay a sum of £200 w hich hail been found by arbitrators to be due to Mr. C.Roberts, who acted as lr. Sinclair's election agent at the last general election. Mr. Sinclair gave his agent authority to spend £ 1,S00, but after the election the agelit submitted an account beyond that sum. The account was disputed arid it was referred to the arbitration of two members of Parliament—Mr. Lowe and Mr. Doughty—who had awarded fr. Roberts £c..00 for his services, in addition to £50 which he had already received. Mr. Sinclair was anxious to pay this sum, but he could not do so without the leave of the court. If their lordships allowed this sum to be paid, Mr. Sinclair's expenditure would still be £400 below the maximum allowed by statute. Their lordships granted the application.

MOTOR CYCLE FATALITY. At Hammersmith, on Tuesday, Mr. Drew- held an inquest on the body of William August llall, aged thirty .seven,. a builder, of Church-street, Kensing- ton.-—On Friday evening the deceased was riding in a trailer (a bath chair on two wheels attached to a motor cycle). The cycle was bjing driven by his brother, Mr. Albert E. Hall. Whilst proceeding along the Kensington High-street there came lip a van which turned from the main road down Warwick road. By some means or other the cycle and van came into collision, and the deceased was thrown out. He sustained a fractured skull and other injuries which resulted in death.—The driver stated that before turning down Warwick- road from the main road he gave due warning by waving his whip.—.Mr. Albert Hall, however, said he was riding at the side of the van. r.r.d the driver gave him no signal.-—Eventually the jury returned a verdict of accidental death.

CHILD-STEALING AND BEGGING. At Worship-street Police-court, London, Jane Kelly, forty-five, a professional beggar, was charged, on remand, with having exposed a boy under the age of fourteen in the public street?, forthepurpo.se of gathning alms, and she was now furi lier charged with stealing" the hoy- Wi I LlIll Crawford by name— and taking him out of the custody of his parents.— The woman was found offering matches for sale in the streets, and on being questioned by the con- stable she Eaitl the boy "vy^S Ji<n- son, a"d tiiiit lijs name was John Kelly. The buy', Wi:6Se Li <jgi:t years, said his name was Billy Kelly, and after- wards, when the woman had been taken to the station, he said the woman was not his mother. He now said that when he was sitting en the step of a public-house the woman s; oke to him and said she would give him a few halfpence to come with her. She bought him some cakes, and then bought some matches at. an oilshop. She gave him some to hold while he stood by her side in the street. She told him to say she was his mother, ar.cl that his name was Billy Kellj-.—The prisoner, a strange- looking woman, said she never stole the boy, and never told him to say anything.—Detective-sergeant Laing, aid the woman had been convicted of child- stealing more than once; and a wardress from Wormwood Scrubbs Prison proved that the prisoner was only just free after her last sentence of three years, whilst she had had eighteen months and seven years previously for similar offences.—The prisoner was committed for trial lor stealing the boy, and left the dock laughing.

THE DUN MOW FLITCH. About 20,000 people visited Bunmow, Essex, on Monday to see the trials for the flitch of bacon, which were conducted with the ceremonies which have always marked the occasion. Two couples made application for the award, Mr. and Mrs. George Willes, of Derby, and Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Brook, of Bromley, Kent, and the searching cross- examination of them caused much merriment. The applicants, however, answered all the questions satisfactorily, and in the result each couple were awarded a flitch. The jury was, as usual, composed of bachelors and spinsters. It is officially announced at The Hague with regard to the plantation riots in Dutch Guiana that work has been resumed. The murdered manager of the Marienburg plantation was a British subject named Mavor. Ex-Queen Natalie of Servia is engaged in writing her memoirs. The Shans of North Siam have, sacked the' Govern- ment offices at Muang Pray. Troops have been tent against the marauders.

-0 BOER GENERALS IN EUROPE. Before leaving Capetown,Generals Botha, It Wet, and Delarey issued an address to Boer families, in which they stated that they were coming to Europe in obedience to the mandate confided to thani at Verec-niging, to collect, gifts and to provide Mr the maintenance of their widows,orphans, and wounded, and for the housing and education of the orphans. They counselled the Boer families not to be dis- couraged, but to be tolerant and remain in the land. In an interview- at Hague, General Lucas Meyer declared that Peace was forced upon the Boers by sheer necessity, and that he was not on any political mission.

WAR MEMORIAL AT PLYMOUTH. Lady Butler, wife of General Sir William Butler, on Monday laill the corner stone or a nWll10rial on Plymouth Hoe to Prince Christian Victor and soldiers of the West of England who fell during the Soutii Alrican war. The memorial is being erected by Mr. Molesley, who said that as he had as an Englishman and an old Colonial done something for the wounded, he now desired to commeinovs fe those who had fallen. The Mavor of Ti;. mouth opened the proceedings, and Lndv Butler, having laid the stone, read an extract from a letter lle had received isvm Princess Chris! inn. wrote: "It is a great pleasure to me that you are going to lay the foundation-stone of that beal1tiful- memorial to those brave m n who 1 ave laid down their lives for Ei gland in South Africa, among whom is my beloved son."

DEATH OF SIR E. IIERTSLET. Sir Edward Hertslet, K.C.B., who served at the Foreign for fifty-six years, died on Monday afternoon at his residence, Bellevue Lodge, Rich- mond, at the age of sevi uty-eight. La-t week he underwent an operation, the shock of which proved too much for his powers of recovery. Sir Edv ard bore a name which has been associated with the ]•'< ri i;-n GfFce ior generations. A Ih rtslet was there in 175, late knight's father, air. Lewis lIert "i¡.t. was there in 1801, and stayed until alter the Crimean War. Son succeeded father in the inn oitant < flice of librarian,, an office which Sir Edward only relinquished six years ago. It was lor his work at the Berlin Ceiigrets that. Queen Victoria gave him his C.B. in 1878.

CHANNEL STEAMER ON THE ROCKS On returning from lioulngne.the steamer Brighton Queen on Monday night struck on the rocks off Hastings. Investiga: ion shewed that she was admitting wafer. The whole of the passengers, to tlJ('1Iumb'i"uf (¡Jl('hulIl1l'l.d and fitty or two hundred, were landed at Hastings. A number of them belonged to Eastbourne, itrijihton.and Southampton, and considerable confusion nsued. as the last train along the coast had left. A special tiain, however, took them to their destination, and the vessel went to Newhaven, the damage being slight.

HEAVY DAMAGES FOR INJURIES. A special jury at the ilirmin-jham Assizes has awarded Harry Kcndrieic, a commercial traveller, of Willenhall, near damages again.-t the London and N> -lib Western Kail way (;mp;1JJY, for damages SUM aineel ill :1 collision upon the defendants' railway :it Albion Stalion in December la-t, When tin* train came into collision the plaintiff was thrown v. ii h <:reaf violence against the opposite side of tl e carriage to that on which he was sitting, and sustained injury to the spine. Medical evidence for the plaintiff was to the effect that he would never recover the use of one leg.

INSULTING THE KING. At Kilrush Petty Sessions, Martin Moloney, of Kilkec, attached to the Naval Reserve, was charged with being drunk at the railway station, and using profane language respecting the King. Although cautioned by the Head Con-table he continued to use disloyal expressions. lie said that he owed no allegiance to his Majesty, anil claimed to be American born. There was no defence. The Chair- man imposed a fine for drunkenness and a month's impri onment on the charge of misconduct.

LORD CHEYLESMORE'S WILL. Mr. Justice Barnes, sitting in the Probate Division, has had before him an application to grant probate of certain drafts of a will and two codicils made by the late Lord Cheylesmore, who died on July 10th last. Lord Cheylesmore made his will on February 6th, 1896, adding one codicil in November, 18S8, and another in October, 2C00. In December of last; year, while lie was travelling from Waterloo Station, his dressing-bag, containing the will with the codicils, was stolen by George mith, a convict now undergoing penal servitude, who finding the documents useless to him destroyed them hence the- present motion. Mr. Justice Barnes pronounced for the will and codicils as contained in the draits.

CYCLIST'S SAD DEATH. A cyclist, named Henry Tillbrook, aged twenty- four, at midnight, on Saturday, was found lying under his machine,bleeding and unconscious, in one of the loads near Braintree. E-sex. A few yards away lay a drunken man, also insensible and bleed- ing. Both were removed to the hospital, where Tillbrook died cn Sunday without having recovered consciousness. At the inquest the jury returned a verdict of accidental death, censuring the drunken man as being the cause of the fatality.

ALLEGED EMBEZZLEMENT OF £3:000 At Bow-street Police-court, London, Mr. Marsham made an order for the extradition to New South Wales of James Sidney Manning, aged thirty, an insurance agent, of Oxford. The accused was arrested by Detective-sergeant Wallace two months ago. and he has been in custody awaiting the arrival of the depositions ever since. He was formerly employed at Sydney, New South Wales, and it was alleged that he absconded to England after embezzling £3,000.

KILLED WHILST RABBIT SHOOTING A fatal gun accident occurred at Milford. near Belpcr, on Monday morning. Mr. Thomas Fletcher, of Leicester Corn Mills, was staying with his brother, Mr. Jonathan Fletcher. He went out rabbit shooting, and as he did not return to breakfast a search was made, and he was found in a ditch with part of his head blown off. Deceased had apparently neglected to empty the breach of his gun when passing through a hedge. lie leaves a widow and several children.

ETHER DRINKING IN GLASGOW. In a report on ether drinking in the city, sub- mitted at a meeting of the Glasgow Corporation this week, Chief Constable Stevenson states that, having made inquiry at a large number of wholesale and retail chemists and other persons, he is satisfied that a considerable quantity of ether is purchased frcm a limited number of chemists for drinking in certain low-class localities. The ether drinkers do not, he states, appear to be numerically a large class. The sales are principally carried through on Sundays.

FRENCH HORSE-RACING FRAUDS. Startling disclosures have been made of horse- racing frauds which have been carried on for years- on a large scale at Bordeaux and 'other townsT^ South-W est 1-ranee. The sharpest detectives of the "Surete Generale department have been sent down from Paris to investigate what promises to be a tremendous turf scandal. The police have seized three racehorses—Coligny, at Vic-Fczensac, and Indienne and Soprano, at Bouscat. The authori- ties have reason to believe that they are thorough- breds that have been entered as half-breds. The head of the Paris detective service has spent a week at Marmande, Auch, Laguupie, and has seized a. number of letters affording evidence, of collusion among four persons well known on the turf. These four persons were called as witnesses before a sporting committee some months ago, and owing to their misleading replies the inquiry instituted at the time into the scandalous rumours already in the air came to naught. The police are convinced that thoy have come on the track of a rast and derp-Iaid conspiracy. ;,0.

.L.. v After jumping 55ft. from the top of the Mayor's house at Wisbech, a Persian cat alighted on its. feet apparently none the worse for its adventure. The three new Liberal members, Mr. Barran, Mr. Shackleton, and Mr. Cathcart Wilson, will be enter- tained at dinner by their friends at the House of Commons on Wednesday. The Home Secretary has issued an order closing Metropolitan police-courts until three o'clock on the afternoon of Coronation Day, when only charges against persons in custody will be gone into. Provision will be made in next year's estimate for increasing the effective of the German navy by 55,000 men. The Hev. W. H. Bolton, Vicar of St. John's, Upper Norwood, who preached on Sunday night in St. raid's Cathedral, died suddenly on Monday night. He was formerly Sub-warden of St. Augustine's College, Canterbury, but he worked during most of his life in the West cf England. Lord Hen cage has resigned his membership of the Committee for the Promotion of a Deep Water Dock at Grimsby. rf he King has signified his intention of presenting the Victoria Cross to Sergeant S. Lawrence, 17th Lancers, on August 11th or 12th in London. The Hon. John Gordon, M.P., who underwent an operation for appendicitis, is now making slow but satistactory vrogres- although his condition still cavses considerable anxiety.