Flintshire Observer Mining Journal and General Advertiser for the Counties of Flint Denbigh

VERY fertile regions continue to be rescued every year in the neighbourhood of Venice and South Venetia from the swamp of the lagoons. The land is generally drained by steam power, and the con- sumption of English coal is considered to be not less than 20,000 tons a year. Small tracts of land are drained by small portable engines. The soil of the redeemed districts is extraordinarily productive, and the crops and plants are of luxuriant growth. 8a'^ that the Nelson, when she has performed n-vtf of co^eying a new crew to Malta for the P«>»^ ^ar' be fitted out to take the place of the «om9Sti&6hiP -at ,,Sim0n,S T°Tn- ^h6 ,i8 steams about 13 m her ?rmaraelnfc; *nd 0^-v awav a K«ots as a maximum, but she is far She was lastfSpWed^fr Penel°P6i in-Chief in Austral th«*hlPoi fcheCommander- Northamoton. Sbe 18 a B,ster to **• J GREATER BRITAIN. I. Tin: thick red volume which l as been known for many venrs as Allen's "India List" will no exist.< The civil portion of it is incorporated with the India Office List, being sty led by the joint n ones, and forms the present volume, while the informa- tion it contained with regard to the military ser- vices in India will be found in the Indian Army List, published quarterly by the Go> em- inent of India. The consequence is that the. new volume is nearly double the size of the okl India Oflice List. It now contains all the regulations respecting the Staff Corps, as well as the medical, clerical, naval, and other Indian services, ana a list of fill the officers in the diflerent, services uf thj various Governments above a certain grade. Tin; volume, therefore, now becomes much more com- plete record of the various non-military services of India, their members, rules, salaries, pensions, the careers of the more prominent officers, and the like, than either of the lists was before. The articles on India and the different provinces and native St.es are retained, as well as the statistics of area, popula- tion, expenditure, railways, &c. The book is thus a more complete record than can be found in the same space elsewhere of the present condition of In,1;:1 and its administration. In this respect it is a small incyclopaidia. IN an article considering the probable course of exchange for the current financial year, the Vivien says: India is now suffering from want of rain. and scarcity haa already declared itself in several parts. How far this scarcity is likely to be extended it is at present impossible to say, and the important question how far it will affect the export trade cannot be accurately estimated. Prices have already risen in parts, but so far. as it is possible to judge from the official reports, it appears that the area affoyted is comparatively small, that it lies only in places where there are no irrigation work?, and that it is in regions which in years of normal rainfall are the least productive. But, looking at the question in its most favourable light, it is evident, that the mere suggestion of famine, however slight, must sooner or later affect the price of produce all round, and a rise in price means a shrinking in the export trade, though the higher price demanded might to some extent counterbalance the deficit in volume in tho adjustment of accounts. Againnt, this a scarcity implies poverty, where the scarcity exists, tnd means a diminution in the wants of those affected, which must result in a diminution of im- ports. Considering all points offered, we arrive at the following conclusions as the probable course of the rupee during the coming Jear. The rupee now stands at 14 19-32d., and the rise has been fairly steady throughout the present month, indicating ;hat. money was required in India through the medium of the Council bill. The monthly propor- tion of 417,000,000, the requirements of the 12 months, is EI,400,000, but there remains to be sold only under half that amount during the remaining five weeks of the year; and as the export trade ap- parently continues brisk, the probabilities appear to be that the rise will continue, and the rupee may touch 15d. before the export season closes. The usual stagnation of trade will then follow, and the rupee will remain practically constant during the following six months, or.if the scarcity in India proves to be a real scarcity, it may even fall a little. Next, assuming a normal rainfall during the year, and a satisfactory management of the sales of Council bills in England, we may expect a slight gradual rise commencing in October next and con- tinuing throughout the export season, reaching the maximum of 16d. by the end of it. Such a result would be highly satisfactory to the supporters of the currency scheme, and it is sufficiently probable to cause the Government to consider in ample time what course to adopt when this point is reached. Is the rupee to have an exchange value of Wd. as its maximum, or is it to be further allowed to ascend to 18d., as was apparently originally intended by Lord Lausdowne and Sir David Barbour ? If 16d. is to be the maximum, it is necessary for Government to consider what steps are to be taken to fix the rupee permanently at that value in other words, how the gold standard is to be established. It is idle to sup- pose that India can enjoy any permanency in the value of her rupee if no further action is taken, and it is a duty which the Government owes to the country to complete the work so well begun, and make the standard of the country a stable one such as so vast and important an Emi ire should possess. TIIK Canadian Ga.:ette, in a recent issue, states that attention has been directed to a line of industry in which British capital and enterprise may find a profitable outlet in Ontario, and, for that matter, in other parts of Canada as well, wherein the manu- facture of the raw material could be effected in Canada for shipment to the United Kingdom, and there made into useful and necessary goods so as not only to be profitable to the firms or corporations engaged in the enterprise, but to build up a large and important trade. The industry relates to veneer and cut-stoék. There are in Ontario con- siderable areas of suitable timber for both "slicing" and "rotary-cut" veneering—such as maple (four varieties), birch (three varieties), oak (three varie- ties). elm (three varieties), beech, sycamore, basa- wood, ash, balm, and whitewood—adjacent, to a line of railway, so as to be convenient for shipping. The most improved machinery for this class of work can be obtained in Canada; and the veneering or cut- stock, properly dried, cut to size, and carefully bundled, can be shipped to Great Britain and made into furniture, house decoration, packing-boxes, nail kegs, barrels, butter-tubs, and an almost infinite num- ber of lesser--thcugh by no means small or unim- portant-lin,as of goods. A great deal of atten- tion and study has been given to this veneer in- dustry, and its development and extension from one line of manufactured goods to another-such as pianos, organs, sewing-machines, &o.—have been such that at this present time large lines that were for- merly manufactured of solid material are now built up," so as to be cheaper, more durable and substan- tial, and much lighter and many other lines of industry are moving into the use of veneer for con- structive material. A trade could, it is believed, be built up reaching into millions per annum; and as the. industries provided for are daily necessities, so the business would increase from year to year. The capital for the mdustry on a large scale, however, would have to come from England. The few large lumbering and timber firms that are in Canada are all concerned with pine, and so special provision for capital would have to be made. A SIIECIAI, board at Melbourne, consisting of Sir Hartley Williams, Judge of the Supreme Court, Professor Kernot, and Captain Carrie, which was appointed to inquire into certain allegations of corruption of honorary Justices of the Peace and Frequent Bench packing, has just issued its report, after an. exhaustive investigation. This report finds that the charges are established in the cases of Justices Rapiport and Baxter, who are declared to have been guilty of corruption in receiving gifts from actual or prospective litigants; that Mr Baxter visited certain use in the city and that both combined in devising means to defer justice. Other justices are condemned for adjudicating upor. cases in which they were personally interested. Justice Bird is found to have adjudicated in the interests of women with whom he had relations. The board further find that many justices migrated to courts in which they were not accustomed to sit, because litigants in them were either customers or old friends, or because they were otherwise inter- ested in them, thereby outnumbering the local justices. Such incursions aroused suspicion and distrust in the administration of justice. The board believe, however, that the inculpated justices were mostly lamentably unconscious of impropriety. They find that Mr. Lormef, at whose instigation the in- Quiry was held, sat in cases in which he had a strong nreiudice against litigants, or against the trade in which they were engaged, but exonerate him from corruption. The board recommend that no honorary £ # £ £ £ in"»V-!S,.otJ and recommend the appointment ofjus ,7.. pendent boards altogether removed from p fluence or patronage.

TXIE mother of an unmanageable Irish boy thus excused him to the police "Sure Dennis isn't a bad boy at itll, btit he is a trouble with a roosh of mind to the brain." ON a child being told that he must be broken of a bad habit, he naively replied, Papa, hadn't I better be mended? MOTHER, said the lad," is it wrong to break egg- shells ? Certemly not, my dear," replied the mother; but what do you ask such silly questions for ?" Because I ve just dropped the bask'-t with ail the egga in it, roplied he*.

OLD COACHING INNS. At Waltham Cross, just where the Ncrth Rrtad joins the road leading to Waltham Abbey, stands two famous old coaching hostelrie. the Falcon and the Four Swans, .the latter of which may, ia pnrt at least, probably date from the time of Edward I., if its quaint signboard, dated 1206, is to be believed. The spot is, indeed, historically connected with the first Edward, for clpse beside the two infis stands an Eleanor Cross, erected by Edward in memory of his consort. Just at the spot i. question Eleanor's body rested as it was being conveyed from Lincolnshire to Westminster. The cross (says a contemporary) is the f n existing specimen of the Eleanor Crosses, of wuich there were originally 12, though only three now remain. This example has suffered from three restorations," but still shows a rich embellishment of tabernacle work, and pendent shields displaying the arms of England, Castile, Leon, and Ponthieu. Other famous coaching inns on the York Koacl were the Falcon at Huntingdon and the Angel at Grantham, halting-places right acceptable to the weary ones who had to spend two days and three nights on the lv)9 miles between London and York, or longer if luck were not on their side. Yet some, the I chronicler saith, died of this mad career. Hunting- don was a great place for inns its George was long famous, and, but for, l)ress of circumstances, Turpin ¡ would have refreshed himself and Black Bess there. They must have needed it sorely, for they had covered the 58 miles from London to Huntingdon in something like four hours. I Stamford town had also its George, a house that knew Walter Scott well; but perhaps the most beautiful and interesting of all the coaching inns on i this road is the Angel at Grantham. That it was I founded, as legend says, by the Knights Templars, I Mr. Outram Tristram begs leave to doubt; but he is certain that it was originally one of those Maisons I du lk")i, whieh were placed at the special services of Kings, when they rode on Royal progresses or marched to put down rebellion. In the oriel-windowed room over the gateway of the Angel, Richard III. signed he death wanant of the Duke of Buckingham, Turning to the Bath Itond, one finds at Newbury the "Jack,"an inevitable sign, seeing how the place is pervaded by the memory of the right valiant cloth- maker, John Sinailwood or Winchcombe, nicknamed Jack of Newbury," whose doughty performance during the Scottish invasion built him a name that will outlive signboards. Mr. Secretary Bolmgtrcke's lady, so Swift avers, claimed descent from this Jack, J of whom books and ballads are written." On the Brighton Road, again, the Clayton Arms, originally the White Hart, is said to have been a hostelry in Richard the Second's time. Its associations are many and adverse. One of its traditions is that in 1815 it entertained the Regent, the Czar of Russia, and other Royal sportsmen, on their way to witness the fight for the championship of England, which was held at Blindley-heath, four miles from Godstone- green.

THE GRASSY WAYSIDES OF ENGLAND. The beauty and the vegetation of the road-margin, though varying with locality and soil, conforms in each to a certain order (says a writer in the SpectatorT writing on The Grassy Way side? of England.") By the great high-roads m ihe agricultural counties this roughly corresponds to the lawn, flower-border, and background of shrubs of the cultivated garden. IThe finest turf that grows, exefrt that which has for 800 years been cropped oy the cattle I of the New Forest, fringes the highway. It owes its quality first to the passing travellers' feet, which have pressed it for centuries without I wearing it away, and secondly to the con- stant powdering with road-dust, the finest and most nourishing of grass fertilisers. The herbage consists mainly of the tiniest clovers and the best lawn-grasses, Between the turf and the hedge lies the roadside flower-garden, to which the fence forms a background of shrubbery. On the level margin of the flat- bordered roads this is also a preserve of wild herbaceous plants. Among the dwarf bushes of bramble, rest-harrow, and dog-rose,, or on the rougher and less-trodden margin, where these do not flourish,, grows the legion of roadside flowers. It is the ground sacred to the wild snapdragon, the musk-thistle, crane's-bill and speedwell, eyebright and white nettle,. piak convolvulus, and wild-carrot, mallow, and the big pink clover. Some plants seem to love^ the dust | and sun nearest to the roadway. AaronV rod, pink nettles, grey scabious, and the bright-blue v'iper's- I bugloss and pennywort thrive with a coating of dust,, washed off by passing showers. On heavy soil the wayside needs a ditch to drain the road; therefore meadow-sweet, loosestrife, vetch, and" cherry-pie," I and all the ditch plants flourish there. When the road is bordered by a running stream, the floral wealth of this wayside garden is doubled or trebled. The refraction of the sun from the road, the confine- ment. of the fences, the water, dust, and light, here force the roadside vegetation to the utmost. There grow the largest marsh-marigolds, the longe&t harts- tongues, the tallest teazles, and the greenest burdocks. Butterflies and birds of certain species always prefer the roadside to any other haunt. The sociable yellow- hammers and white-throats seldom leave the road- hedges, and partridges have a special liking for this dangerous nesting-place. Where the road is cut deep and the margins slope upwards, the character of the flower-border changes. Loosely growing grasses take the place of the compact turf ana these are set in spring with beds of white and purple violets, star of Bethlehem, white nettle, speedwell, and celandine, and later with masses of mellows and ragged-robin. The ants and bumble-bees are the characteristic insects of these warm borders, tbe former piling their hills among the loose grasses, and the latter burrowing in the warm slopes. There the old countrywomen, active and industrious to the last, come to gather the medicinal plants which seem to grow nowhere else except by the roadsides. No one but these old dames know the plants by sight, though they all fetch their price when sent up in bundles to the dealers in Covent-garden.

THE OLDEST RAILWAY PASSENGER. The Yorkshire Post says: News has just been received from New Zealand of the death of Mr. Crawf jrd Marley at the age of 83. Mr. Marley, who emigrated from Darlington to New Zealand about 14 years since, was for a long time well known in connection with the Durham coal trade. He is believed to have been the last survivor of those who had a first ride on Stevenson's No. 1 engine when the Stockton and Darlington Railway was opened. He was about 13 years of age at the time, and with two other boys he went to see the iron horse," which was brought from Newcastle on a dray by eight horses. When the locomotive had been got on the line, George Stevenson's brother Joseph, who was in charge of it, asked the lads to run to a farttihouse for some buckets, and the boiler was filled fraiii a spring near at hand. The fire having been lighted and steam raised, the boys, in return for their assistance, were invited to have a first ride.

TIlmli is a pretty and true story told by Af r. Clsment Scott, of the good old actcr lately passod away-Henry Howe. It contrasts pleasantly with the tales in circulation of exaggerated salaries claimed and given for poor, indifferent merit. "Some time since Henry Howe lost his wife, and 1!1 an interview with Sir Henry Irving intimated to him that, as his wants were now very much less, he considered he was receiving more salary than his work justified, and therefore asked Sir Henry Irving to reduce it by half, as the sum was more in accordance with the work lie was doing. Sir Henry replied, There is only one man in England who underrates the services of Henry Howe, and that is Henry Howe himself. His salary would continue just as it was before until the bell rang down the final green curtain." And so it was. TIIB Duke of Devonshire's trip to Spain is not wholly of a tourist nature. At Madrid he is to w!iio^ ,our Ambassador, Sir Henry Drummond r' w ° '? ,a Pa8t master with regard to certain m"nd STthl V » exerc}sing the diplomatic stands the Sii^f ° u ♦♦ r°'>u one' *n(leocl> under- stands the Sultan better than Sir Henry and he is an earnest advocate of the importance of lWawhen considering matters of Oriental importance Indeed the second visit of the Shah to England was entirely of his contriving. It is rn.rpr.Bin. how Persia has dropped out of the problems which have Constan- tinople for their basis. Yet, to all inteuts and pur- poses, it is just as much a buffer State as Afahanistan Furthermore, Sir Henry, as an art critic and art col- lector, will be able to show the duke treasures belonging to the Spanish Crown not accessible to the ordinary visitor. Is distributing telegraph wires for army purposes, preparatory to establishing communicating stations, it has been found that a great economy in time ig effected bv mounting the reel on a oicyole.

A PEEP AT SANDRTNGHAM. A writer in the English Illustrated Magaftm describes a recent visit to the Norfolk home of the Prince and Princess of Wales. "Walking quietly alung in the grounds that fine September afternoon, I was confronted with a monster, not a real live one, but a huge Indian god of stone, seated beneath a gorgeously-painted canopy, which the Prince had brought home with him from his travels in the East. The monster surveys the whole world-not unkindly — from his eminence, and casts a vacant but smiling eve on the long line of trees stretching from the outer gates right up to the house itself, and which have I b^en planted by distinguished visitors staying from time to time at Sandringham. Here is a fir-tree planted by the King of Greece, here another by the ]>owager Duchess of Sutherland. Indeed, I don't know who has not planted a tree at Sandringham Before going indoors I paid a visit to the little church, St. Mary Magdalene, on the estate. Such a pretty church it is, and so evidently cared for by loving hands. Nobody at Sandringham is allowed to nii-s church on Sunday morning, and the Princess positively loves both church and churchyard. One of the most noticeable things in the building is a beautiful lectern placed there by the Princess as a thank offering for the recovery of the prince from his attack of typhoid, now many yean ago. The lectern bears the inscription: 'To the glory of God, a thank-offering for His meroy 14th day of December, 1871. When I was in trouble 1 called upon the Lord and He heard me. Within the chancel there are monuments to the Emperor Frederick, the late Duke of Clarence, the Duke of Albany, and the Princess Alice. In the churchyard itself a simple cross marks the grave of the groom who was taken ill at the same time as the ) Prince and succumbed. The one taken and the i ether left' is written on the stone. A plainer stone f siands at the head of the grave of the third son of the Prince and Prinoese, with the words, Suffer little children to come unto me.' "The stables of the Prince are alone worth a journey down to Norfolk to see. The building, painted white and blue, is, of course, constructed } on tlie most approved principles. The Princess rarely spends a day without making a morning call on her ponies, and comes, too, laden with apples, carrots, sugar, and bread for their benefit. The ponies re- served for her four ii hand are particularly fascinating, and before I forget their names here they are Huffy,' Puffy,' Beans,' Bene.' In the saddle- room, which is full to overflowing with sets of harness (I may mention that the Prince and Princess have a taste for brown harness), are many mementoes of trainers and jockeys, and an amusing caricature of the Prince of Wales surrounded by his friends at the race-meeting at Newmarket is framed and hung upon the wall. Within doors the scene is one of supreme cosi- ness. It is a regular English home, and the life spent there is essentially English. As for the furni- ture, it is most luxurious, and needs, I think, no further description. Wherever you may go, up- stairs or downstairs or in my lady's chamber, is a profusion of palms, and during the Prince and Princess's stay at the Hall the conservatories are just ransacked. The house appears a perfect bower of flowers, for the Princess wills it so. Close by the conservatory you find the Princess's own private sitting-room, and a few doors off the Prince's writthg-room. And there is—happy thought!—a regular little post-office in the house, where stamps and money orders, &c., may be bought, and telegrams sent. No more generous land- lord than the Prince can be found throughout the length and breadth of England. He and his gentle Princess are simply adored round about their Norfolk home, and deservedly, for they make their people's troubles their own, and are never known to forget a kindly face, however humble."

AN OLD-TIME FREAK. "It was in a time of war- I think when we were fighting France and the American colonies" (writes. Sir Walter Besant in the Queen) that nine girls in the frolicsome City of London resolved on a freak. that should be memorable. They, therefore, dressed themselvewas sailors; one assumed the uniform of a captain in the Royal Navy; another that of a lieu- tenant the others wore the dress of common sailors. The captain and the lieutenant carried drawn cut- lasses; the sailors carried clubs. Thus disguised, these bold spirits appeared in Ratcliff highway., Instantly upon that paradise of Mercantile Jack, where every other house was a tavern and a dancing crib, and wheraall day and all night there resounded a perpetual clinking of cans, calling for pots, singing of songs, and hammering of heels in the dance, there fell a silence terrible. 'Twas the whisper of' The press-gang. They are on us cried the sailors, and they fled; they ran down the street; they escaped by the backs of the houses; they jumped into boats and so across the river to a safer shore; the taverns were empty; the fiddlers lost their ex- pected guerdon the sailors' partners—the aforesaid ladies of Ratchiff highway—were disconsolate; they wrung their tender hands; they bewailed the flight of their men in strains of poetic melan. choly. Then something happened—I know not what —something which caused suspicion—perhaps their back hair came down—something which caused a row-perhaps the injudicious use of the clubs; per- haps the fiddlers turned out-a fiddler baffled of his pay is like a demi-god in his fury; perhaps ths ladies themselves of Ratcliff-highway attacked the press. Howerer that may be, the valiant press-gang turned and fled with what speed they could. They all got away except the unfortunate lieutenant, who was caught and carried before a magistrate. But on her assuring him that their only object was to see how many young men they could frighten, and that they had no other design, she was dismissed with a caution. Judicious magistrate!"

THE DOCTOR'S SECRET. Apropos of the- Kitson case, the London cor- respondent of the Yorkshire Post says it may be re- called that the question of professional etiquette which played so prominent a part in the proceedings was raised in an almost identical form in France some 10 or a dozen years ago. About that time Dr. Del- pech. one of the- most distinguished professors of the Faculty of Montpelier, was consulted by a mother as to the healthiness of one of his patients, who was a suitor for her daughter's hand. l'he- doctor at first gave an evasive answer to the questions addressed to him, but when the lady point-blank asked him whether, as the father of a family, he would give his daughter to the young man, he felt constrained-as most people will think, rightly-to reply in the negative. As a consequence of this communication the marriage was broken off, and apparently the professional verdict was accepted. But some days afterwards, the doctor's carriage drew up at the local school of medicine, which he was in the habit of attending, without either tke physician or his coachman. Search was instantly made, and ulti- mately the unfortunate men were discovered lying dead on the road some distance away. For a time the origin of the crime was wrapped in mystery, but eventually the act was traced to the disappointed suiior, who, however, had blown out his own brains before the discovery was made.

Fivil young women converts were baptised in a creek at Richmond, Kentucky, the other day, with four inches of snow on the ground, several inches of ice on the shoal waters of the creek, and the tempera- ture considerably below freezing. KING rRM31PETIS ornaments, swords, and quaint tramples of barbaric splendour and workmanship have been transferred from the Colonial Office to the Royal United Service Institution in Whitehall A WELL-KNOWN man in unitago lives in an 2xact copy, on a small small scale, of Windsor Castle. THE number of emigrants who left Irish ports in 1895 was 48,934, or 10'7 per 1000 of the estimated population of Ireland in the middle of the year, being an increase of 12,976 as compared with the number in 1894. A CHINEM Imperial decree has been issued con- ferring honours upon General Tung for crushing the Mohammedan rebellion. Private advices state that the rebels are still undefeated, and will soon emerge I from their winter auarters. WHEN ne was In Madras, general xvootn was informed that it was net an uncommon practice for the father of a family, when he borrowed money to defray the expenses of his daughter's wedding, to j pledge the first born son as a security for the pay- ment of the debt. General Booth was incredulous untl one of his own officers in Madras told him that he had some cadets in the Madras Salvation Army who had thus been mortgaged by their grandfathers io payment for the festivities of their mother s marriage, and who recognised their obligation to dis- charge the debt when nnaaihle.

NURSING AS A PROFESSION. Among the many occupations once relegated to th4 poorer classes, but now eagerly sought for by edu- cated and refined women, nursing the sick standi first favourite. Girls of high educational and intel- lectuiil yowers, the daughters of men in excellent j positions, now join the nurses' ranks, and Sairey Uam;> is entirely superseded. It attracts the idle and incompetent often, as many a worried matron could testify, but after the first month spent in hard and unattractive duties, these young ladies usually retire disgusted. Two years' "probation" work is' about the average time expected to be spent in train- ing, though at St. Bartholomew's in London, where most excellent general training is to be had, the time is four years. Some girls prefer to spend the first years of their course in an institution devoted to the work, such as the York Home for Nurses. The can- didates trained hert3 usually go in for private nursing, and command very good salaries. It is a fine train- ing anyway, that of a nurse; and even if she marries, as many do, before she has given many years to the work, she will not make a less worthy helpmeet for some lucky man, for the lessons in order, kindness, self-discipline, and watchfulness that she has learnt in tending the sick and suffering. There is a huge lield of labour open for nurses in India, in the Zenanas especially in the Colonies, and perspee- tivt-ly in the Army. For it is proposed to have a body of women nurses attached to each ambulance corps in future. When a nurse accepts a position abroad, she promises to hold it for at least one year. Should she desire to be released she forfeits one hundred pounds. Of thirty nurses who lately pro- ceeded to Johannesburg, four had the forfeit-money paid for them soon after their arrival. The Princess: Christian, the Duke of Connaught, and several other members of the Royal Family, take the keenest interest in nursing, and nursing associations, and do much to make them increasingly useful and successful.

——————————————— COMING VISITORS FROM AI-IURICA. The arrangements for the pilgrimage of American Congregationalists to England and the Continent are now practically complete. The party, which is expected te number about 50, sails from New York on June 4 in the Columbia, which is due at Plymouth on June 11. After a day or two in the town whence the Pilgrim Patibeys set sail in the Mayflower in 1G20, the party will proceed via Exeter, Wells, Glastonbury, Winchester; Salisbury, and Bedford to London. The Bishop of Winchester has invited them to Farnham, wherelunch will be provided in the hall of the ChAle. At Oxford, Principal Fair- bairn will hold a reception at Mansfield College, and at Bedford Dr. John Brown will take the party over the ground associated with John Bunyan. During the stay in London (June 20 to 25) a reception will be held at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon-street. Dean Bradley will receive and address the pilgrims in the Jerusalem Chamber of West- minster Abbey, and an excursion will be made to Canterbury, where Dean Farrar will conduct them over the Cathedral and entertain them tot the Deanery. On June 25 the party leaves London for Cambridge, Ely, Boston, and Lincoln, whence excursions will be niade to Scrooby, Bawtry, Gainsborough, and other places associated with the Pilgrim Fathers. The American Ambassador has promised to join the party at Gainsborough on June 29, when he will lay the memorial stone of the John Robinson Memorial Clmrcb, which is being erected there. From Gains- borough the party proceed to Norw ich, where Dean Lefroy is arranging a special afternoon service in the Cathedral, and will provide tea at the Deanery. Subsequent arrangements include a trip to Holland, the Rhine, Heidelberg, Baden-Baden, the Black Forest, Fallg of the Rhine, Zurich, &c. A night will be spent on the summit of the and the pilgrims will refurn viA Lucerne and Paris to London, sailing from Southampton for New York on July 2-1. BLOODHO AS AIDS TO THE

POLICE. From time to time a great deal has been written with regard to the utilisation of the modern blood- hound in tracing poachers and criminals. Some few years ago sundry hounds were brought to the Metropolis with a view of using them as aids to the police in attempting to trace the perpetrators of a diabolical crime who are yet at large but (says the Field) as we pointed out at thb time would be the the case, hounds were quite useless in making out the scent of a man whose footsteps had been repeatedly j trodden over, and all odour therefrom either oblite- j rated or so mixed with other scent as to be untrackable. Shortly, bloodhounds, or hounds of any other kind would be simply of no avail as detec- tives in thoroughfares and other places where passers-by are frequent; but in country districts it is a different matter altogether. No doubt, too, a b.oudhound trained for the purpose might be of considerable use to the rural constabulary in the detection of poachers: and criminals, who otherwise; might escape justice. Still, the employment of dogs for such a purpose will probably meet with strong opposition until it is satisfactorily understood that wiit-n the bound has brought his human quarry to bay," he will not worry and eat him. As a fact, the bloodhound is not such a cruel and eavage beast as his name implies; and when he has found the man whose footsteps he has carefully scented out, he is content to bay or bark at him until assistance comes. The modern hound never attempts to make a meal of his game. We have been hunted by bloodhounds ourselves, have seen youths act as their quarry, and in no case was there the slightest danger of being bitten or attacked. We have been led to return to the subject by the copy of some correspondence which has recently been forwarded to us, where a constable in a country district was enabled, with the aid of a young bloodhound bitch, to apprehend certain poachers who otherwise would have escaped. For obvious reasons there is a desiro to omit the name of the locality where this took place; but the truth of the narrative is vouched for by the superintendent of the police of the district, by his constable who used the hound, and by the breeder of the hound. I The story is as follows: Some time this year a constable was out in the early morning, when about, 8.30 a.m. he came across a couple of notorious poachers who were walking along a footpath through j 3ome fields. They, seeing the constable, called out in alarm as a signal to their companions, who were no doubt coming behind. Owing to the darkness the tatter escaped but the constabiw took some rabbits and nets from the men he had met, for being in the possession of which under such circumstances they were later on punished. At daybreak the constable, accompanied by a young bloodhound bitch, returned to the place, and was able to distinguish the footsteps of a number of men who had come out of a turnip field. They had separated, some going in one direc- tion, otbers in another. The hoand was put upon I the tracks, and with her nose to the ground she hunted them across two fields, going straight up to sundry bags of game which had been hidden in a hedgerow. So far so good; but the constable was not yet satisfied, and he took his hound back to where she bad originally been laid on the line. This time she went off in another direction, and soon left the policeman far behind. He following up, how- ever, ultimately found her standing at another hedge- row, where more bags of game were found concealed. These were secretly watched all day, but the poachers must have smelled a rat," for none of themselves or their families came near. At night the constable and the lessee of the shooting concealed themselves near the place where the first lot of game was dis- covered. Now they had not long to wait, for in about haif-an-hour there came a sound of approaching footsteps, and two men appeared, who immediately appropriated the bags and their contents, which in- cluded nets and the usual poachers' paraphernalia. They were at once recognised, and, the spoil taken from them, were allowed to go. Summonses followed in due course, and when the case was heard a plea was set up that they had not taken the game them- selves, but had been sent for it by their mates. Fines of 40s. and costs were imposed, or, failing the pay- ment, a month's imprisonment.

KEPOKTS received at Bombay point to the intention of the Lamas of Thibet of making a movement against Nepaul. Parties of armed men are said to be movmg towards the Nepaulese frontier. TUKKB are large districts in China where labour is so cheap that it can hardly be reckoned on a money standard. Thousands of Chinese labourers live on a little more than a handful of rice or so a day, and yet even then there are thousands of unemployed practically starving. OWING to the heavy expenses of the African cam- paign, the construction of the Italian armoured cruiser Garibaldi, designed to replace the one scld last year to the Argentine Republic, and of the small cruisers Principe di Napoli and Ilegina llareherita j ia suspended. I

TlN PERSONS BURNT TO DEATH. A New York telegram says that a teuement house in Lnion-street, Brooklyn" occupied exclusively by Italians, was the scene of a fatal fire on the 1st inst. The flumes spread so rapidly that the stairs were in- volved before the occupants of the houee could be awakened. One family on the thfrd floor crawled along the projecting window tops to the next house. and were saved, and two of those who fhus made their escape eveii carried babies with them. Every other person on the third and fourth floors, except the family who escaped as described, was burnt to death. Altogether 10 persons lost their lives.

— THE POST OFFICE BURGLARY. At the South-Western Police-court in London, on the 1st, inst., George Roberts, alias James Muirhead, sged 44, described as a diamond merchant, and giving an address at Wilson-street, Peckham, was brought, up on remand, charged with being concerned in breaking and entering the Eglinton-street, Gias- ?ow, post-office on February 27, and stealing money, stumps, and postal orders to the value of £ 407. When the prisoner was first before the Court, Inspector Marshall, of Scotland-yard, mentioned that he was suspected of complicity in the Muswell-hill murder. Witnesses, however, had failed to identify the pn- soner, and the inspector now asked permission to elate that the accused had nothing to do with the murder. Detective-sergeant Fuller said he did not propose to offer any further evidence at the court. Mr. Sheil accordingly discharged the prisoner, who was immediately re-arrested by the Scotch police. At Southwark, James Girdle, 26, of Marcia-road, Old Kent-road, general dealer, was charged on remand with stealing from the branch post-office at 1G5, Blackfriars-road, on March 24, a letter dabe stamp. At the prisoner's lodgings postal orders of the value of £ 319—part of the proceeds of the Glasgow post- office burglary were found, some of which had been stamped by the stolen date stamp. It was stated that the Postmaster-General had withdrawn the charge, and the prisoner was discharged. He was at once re-arrested on a Scotch warrant, and conveyed ta- King-street Police-station, cn route for Glasgow.

A BRITISH VICTORY. News of a brilliant engagement fought by Lieu- tenant Scott, of the Indian contingent, against < force of rebels in the Shamba Hills shows that the latter, who were numerically strong, occupied a good position from which the attacking force of 64 men ultimately drove them with a loss of 12 killed. A native gunner has just reported that Lieutenant Scott has signally defeated the chief Ayoub's forces. Much work's being done on the line to Uganda, but beyond a pile driver to bridge over the ford near Kilindini no plant has yet been imported.

TORTURING PER FORMING DOGS. Fnoti^h Illustrated Magazine contains an in* tei e-tin? article on this subject, in the course of which the wr,ier says Herr X is an Austrian, with nearly a riiizen pprformin<r hounds. On the night of his first performance in London they were brought upon t \11' stize by attendants, closely muzzled. Before tlie eur:ain rose Herr X went to each dog and half stmim-d it with a loaded stick- He then gave orders for the muzzles to b taken off and went through his turn, lashing the dazed animals freely with a long whip of hide and wire. Immediately afier the curtain fell the animals were muzzled and led away. The stoge-manager called Herr X to and said that such a treatment was infamous and must not be repeated. The Austrian went into a violent passion and said that he only did in London what lie did abroad, and that it was no concern of anybody's. Finding that he would not be allowed to iii spite of his- bluster, be went through future performances with the muzzles on his dogil. At. smother theatre of varieties, whose manage- ment is of the very best,, a foreigner and hia wile came with a dog shv\v, Nothing was nut iced on the first night, and the proprietor left with his animals, saving he would come to reheasse on the following morniisg. At about half- past elevon on the succeeding day he rushed into the manager's office a sorry spectacle. His coat was torn, his linen disarranged, one of his eyes was as black without as within. He hurriedly explained to the startled manager that while quietly rehearsing some ruffians bo had never seen before set upon and him. At his request the representative of the house accompanied him to the stage, and there found the dogs cowering in a coiner, and the wife of the owner screaming out uncomplimentary remarks in a foreign tongue to pome three or four stage hands, who ftood together in a group. What's the mean- ingot this disgraceful conduct ?I cried the manager; 'wh-.ts the cause of it 'This here, sir/ said one of the men, quietly handing & dog-collar, with a cord attached, to the man: 7. 'The brute had collars like this on aii 'ho dogs, and was jerking them. We've* proiiiifd to lyr.ch him if we catch him at it again. The manager took up the big broad collar it was full of sh- rp Ragged nails. He went up to the dogs, and they "lVmk from him howling. Their necks were scarr- d and bleeding. Thereupon the case assumed a different complexion, and the trainer was forbidden to rehearse with the collars, and advised that he had brought his punishment upon himself. As may be Ertle- q, the man thenceforward ceased to rehearse at tlje re, and probably used tbe collars on his own prewrscs, where there were no English workmen to iaiitil-st."

i. it' in a- Per ways, is very methodical, > "o means careless of her possessions. Hot ,t ;:ice (many, of course, of very great value) —11 cleaaed over and over ngain. The crimson vehoi :i;id ermine gowns she wore at Parliament c|-wi, -ts, and the pink satin gown in which she 'rated the ISol Exhibition, are still among her t re .:red possessions. Few would believe how a psirt the Queen takes in her own packing, Hl'i■■<■ Ilgh we have her own words for it in one of her dwhen on the point of leaving the Hilii- '■■■T London "Am so busy packing all this 'J I ( IT is not, perhaps, generally IMOWU that the jealous rivalry between Norway and Ilwadwi, which has taken another form in the recent vote of the Norwegian Odelsthing for a separate hag, has much to do with the interest the Swedes are taking ia Herr Andree's ballaon project. >ansen ia a Norwegian, and Andree is a Swede; it is, tlierefore, a race for the Pule between the two countries. Andree mav yet carry away honour from Nansen bv » KnlrJ dash in his ballooa. The Societe Nordenfelt i we j.M&sron sp,ubw8M- '^< £ 2 A RK.MA.UKA.RLE and unexpected effect of the Counts Louncn muzzling order has been brought to OUT 30 ic>\ It seems that a gentleman in Notting-hill, 0 f°r s«me years carried a walking-stick oon- spiciioiioly ornamented with a dog's head, has felt constrained to have a muzzle fitted to it. Whether this is done as a protest against parental government, or to add artistic verisimilitude to the wal'ling-stick, or to save it from seizure by the police, cannot be told, but the spectacle continues to excite the unfil- ing interest of his fellow passengers in his m.Qrning omnibus. <

LORD HARRIS AND MR. BALFOUR. Lord Harris, responding to the toast of the "Houses of Parliament," at a dinner given on April 1 at Chatham to the local cricket, football, bicycle, and golf clubs by the Mayor (Mr. G. H. Leavey), said they could congratulate themselves that the leader of the present House of Commons was a most devoted for ower of the pastime of golf. And they could also congratulate themselves, whether they were Conservatives or Liberals, that such a right good fellow, such a talented scholar, and such a bright, genial, sympathetic, and gentlemanly politician as Mr. Arthur Balfour had been saved to their country from two almost disastrous collisions. He thought it would he discreet of Mr. Balfour if he kept to golf and left off bicycling.

ATTEMPT TO WRECK A TRAIN. An attempt to wreck a train was discovered early on tLe morning of the 1st inst. on the line from Sheffield to Doncaster just in time to avert a disaster. Near Conisborough two blocks of limestone, each weighing a hundredweight, were found on the metals, and near by a third obstruction of a similar cha- racter was found. Fortunately a goods driver noticed the stones, and warned the nearest signal- man in time to enable him to stop an approaching passenger train.