Barry Herald

A COLONIAL OFFICE VETO. As Lieutenant-Governor of British New Guinea for 10 years, Sir William McGregor, who is shortly proceeding to West Africa, was able to tell a striking story to the members of the Royal Colonial Insti- tute of the remarkable progress of the possession from a land of lawlessness and cannibalism to one of civilisation and large commercial possibilities. In the discussion which followed passing allusion was made to the controversy as to the vetoing by the Colonial Office of the concession granted by Sir William to the Vine-Lowles Syndicate, for the development of the country, and Mr. John Lowles, M.P., maintained that the negotiations had been marked by the strictest rectitude, and were entered upon with the favourable cognisance of the Colonial Office and Australian Premiers. Sir William MacGregor made no allusion to the matter in his reply.

SEVEN HUSBANDS IN FIFTEEN YEARS. A Mexican lady, known as Mme. Key Castillo, holds the widowhood record. She has been married seven times in 15 years, and each of her husbands for the time being has come to a tragic end. No. 1.—Fell from a waggon. No. 2.—Accidentally poisoned. No. 3.-Mining disaster. No. 4.—Suicide. No. 5.-Burned to death. No. 6.-Fell from a scaffold. No; 7.-Drowned. The unlucky lady has now made up her mind that she will not tempt Providence again by taking an eighth husband.

THE "ANDREE REMAINS." The Berlin correspondent of the Daily News states: A telegram from St. Petersburg says that the Souoe Vremya publishes a letter from the Siberian hunts- man Ljalin, who, as will be remembered, launched the story of the discovery of the remains of the Andree expedition. He positively reaffirms that the Tunguses told him of the discovery, and were even ready to accompany him to the spot on condition that he betrayed nothing to the authorities, as they feared they would be bothered. They stated that three corpses were to be seen not clad in Russian dress, and Wearing shoes of a special make, and next to them lay the balloon. Ljalin goes on: I wanted to traverse at once to the dis- tance (200 versts) on snow shoes, but had unhappily no provisions, and no documents, and it was dangerous to go alone. I therefore decided to go to Krasnoyask, to beg the Governor of Yenis- seisk for assistance. First I wrote to the editor of the Sibirski, Herr Preismann, begging him to prepare the field for me. I certainly never thought that my private letter would be published in the paper. On my arrival at Krasnoyarsk I at once drove to the Governor, who was, I am sorry to say, not there. But I learned that the Andree report was already known. I then went to Tomsk, where the newspaper Yeneissei had already referred to the report. I then intended to go on the search on my own hook. Should I really find anything in- teresting, I shall at once inform the University of Tomsk. I cannot say beforehand whether this fin d has really anything to do with Andree."

RETRIBUTION! A remarkable tragedy has occurred in the village of Mewmieh, near Sidon. A villager, having sold some property, consulted with his wife as to where they should hide the purchase-money, and together they decided to place it in their infant's cot, under the mattress. That night three robbers, knowing that the villager had the money in his possession, broke into his house, and on being interrupted by the crying of the child carried the cot bodily outside lest the inmates should be disturbed and foil their plans. The mother, however, woke up, and hearing the child's cries, rushed out with her husband. The robbers meanwhile were continuing their search in the house, when the building collapsed, burying the three marauders in its ruins.

THE WESLEYAN MILLION." The promoters of the Twentieth Century Million Guineas Fund for the Wesleyan Methodist Con- nexion have every reason to be satisfied with the result of their labours so far. They have until January 1, 1901, to complete these labours, and, as a consequence of their first five months' endeavours; they have received the promise of 606,926 guineas. Of the individual districts Manchester heads the list with 21,721, but Birmingham runs up very Closely with 21,550, while Nottingham gives 20,012, Liverpool 19,826, First London 17,355, Second London 13,093, and Third London 11,454.

THB resignation is announced ot the Most Rev. Hngh Jermyn, Bishop of Brechin and the Primus of the Episcopal Church in Scotland, owing to ill- health. TiiBKEr'a adherence to the Venice Sanitary Confer- ence is subject to important reservations with regard to pilgrimages and quarantines. ALL the manufacturers of wringers and mangles in the United Kingdom have been invited to sell their vbuMbessea to a London syndicate.

FOILED r A rainy night on the main street of a small modern city is not at all depressing; the flash and glimmer of the electric lights on the wet pavements and the rattle of carriages dashing throngh the rains produce a metropolitan effect that is very satisfactory to the passers-by. On this particular rainy night, a resident of Junction City, passing the most imposing struc- ture on the main street, would have noticed that the building was partially lighted and would have in- ferred correctly that the quartette of the First Parish Church was holding its weekly rehearsal. Inside the church the quartette was preparing to leave. The rehearsal had passed off well and all were in good humour. As was usual, the tenor had helped the contralto into her coat, and as was unusual the organist had helped the soprano, his wife, into hers. The bass, young Holworth, his tall figure in- cased in a long light rain coat, stood waiting for the others, and was incidentally looking at Danny Curran, the blow boy, who was not a favourite with the quartette on account of his habitually disrespect- ful attitude towards them, and towards musical things in general. There was certainly nothing pitiful or appealing in Danny's usual attitude towards the world, but as the young man looked at the boy sitting with hands thrust deeply into his pockets and head thrown for- ward, he felt moved at the other's loneliness, damp- ness, and general appearance' of being at odds with the world. Holworth was to make a call later, and had in his pocket Ji very artistic box filled with chocolate creams. He stepped over to the boy and held out the box to him, remarking: Here, my son, this belongs to you." The boy looked up with a shrewd, startled look and said," Aw, come off!" at which Holworth smiled laid the box on the seat, and moved away with the rest, nodding a reply to the muttered and confused, Much obliged," of the other. Five minutes later found him in the library of a very attractive modern cottage, seated beside a pretty girl to whom he was saying Well, the matter stands just here; Hannaford has decided to go within two week s; and at the end of that time either Clark or myself will have his place as paying teller of the Merchants' National, and in- cidentally, very incidentally, you and I will know whether our marriage will be in the immediate or distant future. The place should come to me, but Clark's uncle has a very strong pull." Arthur, they must see that there is no com- parison between Clark and you!" Holworth threw back his head and laughed delightfully. "I wish you were on the board of directors. I have never believed in woman suffrage, but I see plainly that in this case you would be justice personified." For a week or more Junction City and its best hotel, the Saint James, had been the hosts of two investors and dealers in real estate, Mr. Ezra Gray- son and Mr. J. Hamilton Fales. These gentlemen were much interested in the thriving city, and had in mind several large real estate deals there. They were also large owners in a Chicago suburb, concering whose growth they had unlimited faith and rumour, reinforced by an item in the Evening Sun had it that Colonel Nevens, one of Junction City's richest men, was much interested in this direction. Two nights following the quartet rehearsal, Dannv Curran, the day bell boy of the Saint James, was passing the room, No. 45, in which the strangers lodged, and noticed that the transome window that opened into the hall was being closed. Danny's curiosity was aroused. He knew that the room adjoining connected with No. 45, and two minutes later he was in this adjoining room, with his ear pressed against the thin connecting door. He could catch most of the conversation, and its import made his heart thump. Fales was speaking: "Dutch, this is going to be fruit for us. The Merchants' and the First National do the same. Hannaford, the teller at the Merchants', goes to lunch at twelve and Holworth takes his place; and at the First, the teller goes at half past and young Mason takes his place." There was a pause in which the speaker was evidently examining a signa- ture, for his next remark was, It's the best work you ever did. I don't know that Nevens himself would have the nerve to deny that signature." The talk continued for some time, and though the boy could not hear all the conversation and was not familiar with the methods of a bank, he was naturally sharp, and the hotel life had not dulled him. He understood the plan clearly. Colonel Nevens was a heavy depositor in both the Merchants' and the First National; Greyson had forged the colonel's name to a check on each bank, to be presented when the tellers' substitutes, were on duty. Colonel Nevens was to be called to his former home in Massachuesetts by a bogus telegram announcing the death of his brother, and with him out of the way for a few days, the plan seemed perfect. Danny listened till he had these facts and then slipped noiselessly from the room. Ten minutes later he was in a big arm-chair in Mr. Arthur Hol- worth's handsome room, talking earnestly with that gentleman, who have just been perusing what seemed a most interesting book, the title of which was Plans for Modern Houses." Holworth listened at first carelessly, and then with the closest attention to the boy's rapid and slangy utterance. As Danny left the room at the close of a long talk he said earnestly: Now, Mr. Holworth, you has always used me white, and I mean just what I said; nobody is going to know anything about this by my tellin' Holworth nodded understandingly, shook hands with him and said As I told you, Danny, you won't lose anything by this night's work." No, sir," said the boy, and disappeared into outer darkness. The next day, shortly after Mr. Hannaford, the paying teller, had gone to lunch, Mr. Ezra Grayson entered the Merchants' National Bank and took his place at the window before Holworth, whom he knew slightly. As he passed over a big cheque with Colonel Nevens' bold signature at the bottom be re- marked You see that the colonel has some faith in Chicago's growth." Holworth assented with a very nervous laugh and said: How will you have this, Mr. Grayson ?" One thousand in notes and the balance in a draft on Chicago, please," responded Mr. Grayson suavely. Holworth remarked that he would have to get some large notes from the safe, and as he spoke pressed the button that connected them with the police station, two blocks away. On his way to the vault he stopped at the cashier's desk, and with a few muttered words laid the cheque down in front of him. When Holworth came back to the teller's window with the cashier at his side, two policemen stood in the doorway, and after a short and stormy scene, Mr. Grayson was under arrest. A month later the cashier, in talking with Mr. Holworth, happened to refer to the latter's appoint- ment as paying teller. I don't mind telling you "now," said he, that Clark was booked for that place but y°ur lightning work on the Nevens' signature impressed the directors too much." Holworth smiled and, with true m odesty, changed the subject.

ARTICLE CLUB EXHIBITION. This industrial exhibition, to be opened in May at the Crystal Palace, is now getting ^e^. UT1cfer way. Over 100 exhibits will be made, including no|- onJy those of the most important firms in their respective departments in the country, but also exhibits by the Colonial Governments. A quite unique feature of the exhibition is the fact that as the club does not admit competitive firms into membership, each in- dustry having but one representative. it follows that there will be no two exhibits of the same character. This will give a remarkable amount of diveroity, and is a feature which should prove of great attractiveness. The club exhibits will be particularly strong^n the engineering section. Railway and steamship com- panies will also be represented, and the London and South-Western Railway will put side by side their newest and oldest passenger coaches, thus bringing the past and present into interesting Juxtaposition. The colonial exhibits also cannot tall to attract attention, and one of the objects of the club is to help in welding closer together the commercial ties between the mother country and her colonies. Sir Arthur Sullivan has charge of the musical arrange- ments. and the outdoor sports are i the hands of Dr. W. G. Grace, who, inter alia, will Captain an Article Club cricket team against one drawn from the Houses of Parliament.

THE Xaeienal of Madrid has been suppressed for publishing an absurd story that the Queen Regent intended to abdicate and marry an Austrian arch- duke. LORD RUSSELL or KILLOWBN has given notice that he will present his bill in the House of Lords on the subject of illicit commissions on April 20 next. THE appointment of Brigade Major to the Infantry Brigade at Gibraltar has been bestowed on Captain H. Ruggles-Brise, of the Grenadier Guards. MR. ALGER has gone to Cuba, nominally to com- pose some military dissensions. The New York Press criticises the journey as a pleasure trip* TUOUIIIIE is reported from the Gola CoaBt Hinter- land, and detachments of the local and Accra Hausas have been ordered to Coomassie. TUB King and Queen of Italy are to leave Rome on April 10, and embark at Genoa on board the Roytil yacht Savoia for their^ kpg-pr$mised. visit to Sardina.

SHOULD MARRIED WOMEN FOLLOW PROFESSIONS ? Writing on this subject in The Ycnnig Worn/in, Madame Sarah Grand says: When one is asked. should married women follow professions? one is torceu to allow that it depends, and fain to add, not if !lw}' can help it. But if it be the woman who must 'iork, let her have her chance as the men would have, let, her go to her work unhampered by other cares. The fairest division of labour in the social .-ysiein is for the husband to make the money and he wife to make the home: if she does that well, she will have enough to do. And this arrangement need not entail the suppression of any great gift. In bygone days women of extraordinary talent were con- demned for no crime but their sex to do plain needle- work. which might justas well have been done for them by women of no talent at all; that was a waste of good material for which there can rarely be any necessity. Home as the woman's sphere used to mean that life began and ended there, in a round of amateur performances and the suppression of all that was individual in everybody. Home was a prison in those days. Now home is a training school, in which sons and daughters are fitted to grace any position in life, and it is not more the woman's sphere than the man's. Home is essentially the human sphere, and marriage the highest calling. The great object in life of all married people should be to make marriage a success, but how this can best be done is a question for themselves alone. Each case must be dealt with singly. In one case it might be a great hardship for a married women to have to follow a profession; bnt in another it might be an even greater hardship to prevent her from doing so. If you are well off, you have no business to take up a paying profession. I know that there are some unprincipled women who rob their poorer sisters by earning money they do not require and spending it on themselves. In that they are utterly despicable. If you want work, surely there is enough to be done for others without adding to the misery of those whom poverty already severely handicaps in their struggle for life, by driving past them in a carriage to reach a goal which you would never have gained had you been obliged as they are to plod your weary way towards it on foot. A woman should have the same chances in the professions as a man. But a woman's work about the house is never ending the care of a child is the sweetest of professions and that woman is neglect- ful of her best interests who goes out into the world to work when she can get a nice man to do the work for her."

EiANCIP A TION" ON THE CONTINENT. Pressure is to be brought to bear on members of the Prussian Bundesrath to consent to the introduc- tion of a measure which would give women equal rights with men in attending university lectures for medical students, dentists, and apothecaries, and would permit them to be examined and tested in the same way as male students. Of the 414 women attending lectures in Prussian universities 300 are over "25 years of age. Fifty are Americans. A large gathering of women and girls assembled recently in Vienna to discuss the question of Women's Suffrage and the importance and use of a thorough education for their sex. Frau Lainisch addressed her audience in eloquent terms, exhorting them to abandon the 1. polite seclusion in which freethinking women lived and to come forward as champions of free thought.' A resolution was then adopted protesting against the unworthy social position of women, and demanding, on economical and political grounds, the introduction of Women's Suffrage.

BACK TO SAVAGERY. EXTRAOHDINAHY RELAPSE OF THE PEOPLE OF PITCAIRN ISLAND. Startling news from Pitcairn Island is brought (observes the Daily Mail) by the crew of a missionary vessel !o San Francisco. According to the men in the forecastle, genera- tions of intermarriage in a few families, coupled with vices bred: in the plenty and idleness of a tropical island, have reduced the islanders to a state where ordinary attributes of civilised life are fast dis- appearing. The sailors are borne out in their statements by the findings of Mr. Hamilton Hunter, a special com- missioner sent by the Government of New South Wales to investigate the condition of affairs on the island. The facts are further testified to by the officers of H.M.S. Comuss, now at Victoria, on which vessel Air. Hunter was conveyed to the island. Mr. Hunter writes to the Government of New South Wales that the islanders are "lax in morals. low in intellect, and rapidly degenerating." They have the low brow, retreating from the eves, and aU the stigmata of the degenerate; but their condition is not so much a lapse of men once civilised into the darkness of savagery, which state has some virtues of its own. as a development of the brute instincts of men falling below the savage plane. On Pitcairn Island, according to Mr. Hunter, is to be seen the result of generations reared in idle- ness. without proper control, and the mental and physical weakness coming from intermarriage. curried, of necessity, into the dangerous regipn of consanguinity. Possibly, also, there is a reversion to the. brutes who shocked the world when the story of the mutiny of the Bounty was first told. Although there are a few bright men and some virtuous women among the Pitcairn Islanders, these len and women are the exceptions, and will become rarer if steps are not taken to change the conditions of the colonists. Pitcairn Island was discovered by Carlleret early in the last century. It is one of the smallest itlands in the South Pacific. and derives its name from Mid- shipman Pitcairn, who described it from the mast- head. It is 2t miles long, and not quite so broad. The world first heard of this spot in 1789. In April of that year a memorable mutiny occurred on board the British ship Bounty, which was employed hy the Government to convey young bread fruit trees from Tahiti to the West Indies. The mutineers triumphed, and the commander of the vessel. Lieu- tenant Bligh, and the officers and sailors who re- mained faithful were set adrift in a launch, but ulti- mately reached England. A storm of indignation burst when their story became known. Six mutineers were apprehended, and three of them were publicly executed in 1792. Meanwhile, the other mutineers had gone to Tahiti. an island which is much larger than Pitcairn and about 75 miles north-west of it. They grew weary of Tahiti, and in 17C0 they sailed to Pitcairn, where they set fire to the Bounty and took possession of the island. In the party there were nine Englishmen, six Polynesian women, and several Polynesian men. It may be thought that here was a golden oppor- tunity for these desperate Englishmen to begin life anew, but it must be remembered that they had allied themselves with untutored natives, and history shows that an alliance of criminal whites with uncultured savages has always proved a despicable failure. No law, no religion, no sense of decency restrained these men. and the natural result was that they were very soon transformed into debauchees and outlaws of the worst type. Happily, the worst of them did not live long, and when all the white men except one had disappeared a beneficent change came over the island. The one white man left in 1800 was Alexander j Smith, better known as John or "Jack" Adams. He saw that his companions on the island were fast sinking below the level of brutes, and he resolved to regenerate them. Education and religion were the tools which he used. He started a school for the children, and from a Bible and prayer book which he had aved from the burning Bounty he con- struffed a form of service similar to that in the Church of England. He also framed a brief code of laws, by which all crimes were punishable, and an embargo was laid on tobacco and spirits. Under his rule the island began to prosper, and when he died, on March 29, 1829, hi* little band of followers were fairly on the ro&d towards civilisation. The next notable event occurred in 1837, when Joshua Hall was landed I from a passing vessel. He announced that he had been delegated by the British Government to look alter the island's affairs, and the islanders, never drcaming tbat there could be a mistake," promptly elected him Governor. After some months, however, he began to act in so irrational and irresponsible a manner that the islanders removed him to a British man-of-war, which took him back to England. The islanders then resumed their quiet, uneventful life, tintit when they suddenly discovered that the little, island was too small for them, the population at that time consisting of 60 married persons and 13 1 young men, women, and children. They resolved to migrate, and this time they went to Norfolk Island, where they prospered until 1858, when two of their number, William and Moses Young, returned to their old home. Their example was soon followed by others, and it is from these that, the present population of Pitcairn Island is derived. There are only seven families on the island, and every man, woman, and child bears one of these seven family names. Three of these, Young, McCoy, and Christian, belong to the original families, and four, Buffet, Warren, Butler, and Coffin, belong to men who joined the colony in recent years. As, there are between 150 and 200 souls on the island, all of whom are descended from these seven families, it can at once be seen that inter-marriages have for some vears been inevitable.

TOM "T don't know whether she sings or not" Jack: She doesn't. I beard her."

POST FREE. Of neglecting your health. Especially o. if you suffer from any NERVOUS DISEASE. You may be assured that your condition will not imrnove, and that you will go from bad to worse if you do not have your ailments properly attended to. If you s:;l:er from Lost Manhood, Youthful Imprudence, Spermatorrhoea, Exhausted Vitality. Despondency, \\ea.kne; Braill Fag, Dimness of Sight, Blotches Oil lhe kin, of Noises in the Efirc, 1'i-imiry O^gans! Yhf.ve r^ilv to write to me (,f L SUP, ZE ou, particulars of a SURS CURE "for your malady. Thou- S2.ndS of Sufferers have benefitted by tiii- means of cure, and the I have given Send envelope, w hich must be pl-uniy wntt"ii, to Henry Cavis. Copford Lociga, Chichester Place, 5rt £ ritC!i, Lusoex, EngS&nd • and name this paper.

LONDON GOVERNMENT BILL. There is likely to be a stiff contest on the resump tion of Parliamentary business as to whether women shall be eligible for municipal dignities when the new metropolitan boroughs are established. Mr. Boulnois has given notice of an instruction to the Committee on the London Government Bill, which would provide that no woman shall be eligible for election as mayor, alderman, or councillor." Three additional pages of amendments to the bill have been issued. Sir G. Fardell proposes to link the London County Council with the new municipalities, by pro- viding that those who represent a district on the former body shall be ex-officio members of its borough council. He would, however, prevent their election to the office of mayor or alderman.

KITE AMONGST THE CLOUDS. The United States have recovered the record for kite flying, having sent up a kite in the interests of science to a height of close upon two and a third miles. The experiment was made at the Blue Hill Observatory, Massachusetts, with a string of four kites made after the pattern of birds' wings with curved surfaces. The upper kite carried an alumi- nium instrument weighing 41b., which recorded graphically temperature, wind velocity, humidity, and atmospheric pressure. At the highest point the temperature fell 18deg. below that at, the enr; i. surface, and the wind velocity was 40 miles an hour. The combined kites had an area of 205 square fpct. and weighed 261b. The line, of steel wire. wei<rh< 761b., and the actual height reached was 12,440; t.

EXPLORING THE UPPER AIR. The chief of the Meteorological Department of Alsace-Lorraine, in company with a lieutenant of the German Army, made an ascent by balloon to an altitude of 19,000ft. The lowest temperature they encountered was 65deg. F. below freezing-point. An experimental balloon released at Berlin attained an altitude of 27.000ft., and its thermometers on the descent of the balloon were found to register a minimum temperature of 80deg. F. below freezing- point.

THE NEW YORK HOTEL FIRE. SOME THRILLING INCIDENTS. The New York Tribune relates some thrilling inci- dents in connection with the recent terrible fire at the Windsor Hotel in that city. A man, it appears, who had rooms on the fifth floor was in one of his rooms with his wife and two children. He opened his door, and found the hall flooded with flame. He shut the door, and, taking one of the ropes in the room, carefully tied it around the waist of his youngest child, and let it carefully down to the street. At the bottom eager hands unknotted the rope, which was hurriedly drawn up again. Then the second child came down the same way. Then the woman followed, and for the last time the rope was drawn up. Little bits of flame began to appear at the window. The man carefully tied the rope to a'fixture in the room, covered his hands with a towel, and then, twisting the rope around his leg, slid down like a circus performer. He was greeted with a cheer, and hardly had he reached the ground before the flames reached out, and with one lick parted the rope down which he had travelled. One of the first and the prettiest rescuei (says the Tribune) was made by a sixteen-year-old boy from the second floor on the Forty-sixth-street side. This young fellow would not tell the news- paper men his name, and the confusion was so great that it could not be learned. He evidently found egress by the stairways shut off, for he was one of the first to get a window up and a rope out. He twined his legs around a rope, steadied himself like a gymnast, and then a nurse handed out to him a crying and kicking baby. He tucked it under his left arm,and then took a still younger baby under the other arm. Then he gracefully lowered himself to the ground, to the intense delight of the spec- tators, who relieved him of the babies as soon as he got within reach. A ladder was soon placed under the window, and the nurse followed him with a satchel and some children's clothing."

"DOG MURDER." A PROTEST BY OUIDA. Mr. Fred E. Pirkis, hon. treasurer National Canine Defence League, has received the following letter from Ouida on the subject of the destruction of a dog by a policeman at Finchley It is urgently necessary to excite the attention of the public to the facts of a dog murder committed at Finchley and brought before the Bench at Highgate on March 8 in this year. A constable met an un- happy dog suffering from gastritis, and without any endeavour to aid him or discover the cause and extent of the malady, beat him to death with his truncheon. The size and the race of the dog are not stated, but it is said that the murder was accomplished with difficulty—i.e., that there were still much life and power to resist in the victim. A still more frightful fact is that the magistrate justified and praised the action of the murderer; although veterinary evidence by autopsy proved that the dog was suffering from inflammation produced by having swallowed a cork and a plum-stone. The dog was not in any sense a stray' dog, but had both owner and home the first was well known to the policemen, the second was only 200 yards off, yet he slaughtered the poor creature without even attempting to find its friends. This heartless and savage wretch should surely have been at once dismissed from the force. Instead of being punished as he deserves, he receives praise in an official form. A more disgusting end disgraceful history was never put on record in the annals of English police news, although, unhappily, similar incidents are but too general in a time when the hunting-down of innocent animals occupies the chief .time and attention of these guardians of the peace. Is every kind of illness in a dog to be dealt with as a crime? Is every title of proprietorship, and every legal and moral right of his owners to be ignored ? Is every brutal and ignorant policeman to be at liberty to brain any animal met by him on his beat whose pain appears to him to be a fault which merits death? Are magistrates to be allowed to pre- side at a police-court merely to demoralise the public mind by encomiums upon such wickedness ? Of what use is it for law to punish other kinds of cruelty when such cruelty as this is excused—nay, lauded by a person vested with authority ? With what justice is a poor man fined for cruelty when a magistrate dares publicly to praise the liveried brute who considered sickness as an offence only to be treated by the blows of his loaded truncheon ? The Board of Agriculture, the magistracy, and the police are teaching brutality by object-lessons to the man- hood and youth of Great Britain, in a manner with which it is hopeless for any human influence of education to contend. The character of the nation is being poisoned at its roots. Side by side with boastful political swagger and inflated self-admiration, a cynical and Ditiless temper is inoculated into the public at large, which can only result in the destruction of all tenderness and mercy, the withering up of all gentle and magnanimous feel- ings. That these sickening scenes can take place in English streets and on English roads is to all by whom dogs are valued as they merit an inexpressible shame and calamity. All those whose natures are attuned to any nobler and finer issues than a craven's poltroonery, are every day and every hour outraged throughout England by the occurrence of such scenes as this at Finchley. This would be in itself an evil and pain immeasurable. But it is not only the dogs and their defenders who suffer, although this alone would be bad enough. It is the whole of the popu- lation which is being demoralised by being forced to witness such public brutality, and hear it officially excused and lauded, with incalculable injury to all its better instincts and emotions, whilst base fear, vile cruelty, and credulous cowardice become the dominant qualities publicly offered by government and law for national imitation."

AT a London police-court the wife of a carpenter was sent to gaol for neglecting her children. The husband stated in evidence that after he had de- stroyed his wife's clothing to prevent her going °?t j to- obtain drini, Bite visited a public-hofise with only • table-cloth wrapped round ber,

THE AUSTRALIAN ELEVEN. ITS COMPOSITION AND ITS CHANCES. The Australian team of cricketers now on its way to this country is believed by many competent judges of the game in the colonies to be the strongest com- bination vet sent to do battle with the cricketers of the Mother Country. Whether this be so or not (says the Daily Sews) it differs from previous teams in one important respect, at any rate it without doubt is the very best eleven that Australia can just now put into the field. Extraordinary pains have been bestowed on its selection—as may be gathered from the fact that George Giffen and McKibbin have reluctantly been left out. Moreover, colonial cricket this season has been exceptionally keen and inte- resting. and in the well-fought, evenly-balanced matches between the colonies genuine talent has had every opportunity of asserting itself. The result is now on its way to England in the shape of 14 repre- sentatives of the cricket of Victoria. New South Wales, and South Australia. None of the other colonies has been thought worthy to contribute a player. And. seeing the ridiculous ease with which New Zealand-the strongest of them-has been recently beaten in Sydney and Melbourne, this is not surprising. The strength of the coming team as a side is un" doubted. Yet there is no reason to suppose that it contains a bowler as good as Spofforth or Turner at their best, a wicket-keeper as brilliant as Blackham, a batsman quite equal to Murdoch in his prime, or any hitter to be exactly classed with Massie, McDonnell, Bonnor, or Lyons. In cricket, however, two or three luminaries do not make a brilliant team. The side which is to try conclusions with Eng- land so many times this summer has the supreme quality of even excellence. Not so many times in the history if cricket has an eleven gone into the field with seven batsmen of such equal merit as Darling, Hill, Gregory, Iredale. Noble. Worrall, and McLeod. Kelly and Trumble, too, are good batsmen, the first-named especially having shown a great advance with the bat last summer. Jones and Howell, who will usually go in 10th and 11th, can at least hit. The 11 names just mentioned will probably constitute the ordinary playing team. Three emergency men have, however, been brought over in Johns, Laver, and Trumper. On last season's form Johns is, perhaps, slightly the best wicket- keeper in the colonies, but is so much weaker with the bat than Kelly that he is not likely to be played except when the latter needs a rest. Laver is a tall batsman who has been scoring with the most stub- born consistency of late, and who is also a useful bowler. His ungainly style, however, is in strong contrast to that of Trumper, the promising young Sydney batsman, who is being brought over as 14th man. In Australia the exceptional strength of the team is believed to lie in the level goodness and variety of its bowling. Three of the best bowlers, Noble, McLeod, and Trumble happen also to be fine bats. In consequence the team, without unduly weakening its baiting, is able to play five bowlers of almost the same degree of merit, namely-Trumble, McLeod, Noble, Jones, and Howell. Trumble and Jones are known here, and, by their play of the last few months, should be quite as good as they were in 1896. Noble, McLeod, and Howell are strangers to England, and their performances will supply a novel feature of interest in the tour. Worrall, the Vic- torian captain, played here some seasons ago, but has made such remarkable strides in his cricket that be may be regarded as a new man. His speciality in Australia is that he can score on sticky wickets. A hitter who can make many runs on the wickets of Sydney and Melbourne when they are really sticky needs to be good indeed. As against all this collection of talent, it may bo pointed out that, as compared with the team of 1896, the Australians will now be without Giffen, Harry Trott. and McKibbin. A glance at the matches of three years ago will show the important share which these three had in the Australian successes. Three other members of the late team, who are now absent, are Donnan, Graham, and Eady. While it may be believed that their places have been taken by better men, and that the coming team is in this respect stronger than the last, it may well be doubted whether the new combination has in it any bowler likely to be more successful on wet wickets than the tricky McKibbin; any veteran of the blended cleverness and experience of George Giffen, or a captain as im- perturbable and wary withal as the burly and good- humoured Trott. |Noble and McLeod may be, as it is claimed they are, the best all-round players Australia has turned out for the last 10 years but cricket in Australia is one thing and cricket in Eng- land another, and-they have yet to learn to adapt themselves to our duller skies and spongier turf. Still, there is no doubt that the Australiahs are bringing over a very powerful side, and well pro- vided as England is with fine cricketers at the present time, the contests between the champions of the Mother and the Daughter should be of extra- ordinary interest. The colonists reckon that Eng- land will be weaker than in 1896 by the loss of Ranjitsinhji, Peel, Stoddart, and Lohmann also that Grace, Richardson, and Briggs are not quite what they were. So while they have met All England much too often to be confident they believe that their representatives will, at least, run the Old Country's champions hard, and that it may not impossibly be a case of Australia, this time

ADULTERATION OF DAIRY PRODUCTS. At a recent meeting of the Farmers' Club in London, a paper by Mr. T. Carrington Smith on The Adulteration of Dairy Products Bill" was read in his absence by the secretary, Mr. J. R. Eve pre- sided. The writer, after alluding to the changes in relation to the Food and Drugs Bill, said they ought to consider whether in the present state it would prove acceptable to farmers. They were passing througk a time of exceptional anxiety to dairy farmers, accentuated by a reasonable regard for the public health and also by unreasonable suspicion. By the provisions of the bill three out of the four demands they had put forward had been granted in some degree—viz., establishment of a Board of Beference authorised to fix standards of purity, examination of imports at the place of debarkation, and the prohibition of the mixture of margarine and butter for sale. The prohibition of artificial colouring of margarine was refused. It might be better to accept with regret the decision of the Government and the House of Commons, and consider whether half a loaf would not be better than no bread. Mr. Smith entered at length into the question of how best to secure the purity of milk, and submitted a table of analysis that might help to form a basis for a stan- dard. By other tables he showed how the adultera- tion of foreign butter had been checked ly careful inspection and analysis. The author also dealt fully with the clause of the bill referring to the addition of preservatives to milk, expressing his decided opinion that boiling, sterilising;, and the addition of preservatives all effected some change in the charactef and value of the milk, and were neither n sary nor desirable. The great thing was to gel the milk into immediate consumption with the least possible change in its natural condition. As tl butter and margarine, France and Belgium prd* hihibited the colouring of margarine to inoitatt butter, and insisted on separate shops. Farmers would not be seeking for protection except again"* fraud if they asked that margarine and bntter not be sold in separate shops. In conclusion, M% Smith adverted to inspection, which he declared ha€ already done a great deal towards checking fludu- lent dealing. Mr. Orlebor moved a vote of thanks to the author of the paper, but could not entirely agree with his conclusions. Dr. F. J. Lloyd seconded t motion, and the discussion was continued by Mr. Clare Sewell Read, Professor Long, Dr. Voelcker. and Ir. Jasper More, M.P.

DANTE'S DESCENDANT. The last lineal descendant of Dante, Countess Gozzadini, has just died m Bologna. Being childless (savs the Home correspondent of the Mornina Post) she left her large fortune to the hospitals of bologna. Countess Gozzadmi s mother was the Countess Maria Teresa d Alighieri, who was descended in direct liae from, and retained the name of, the illustrious Itftliftl poet.