The Montgomeryshire Express and Radnor Times

r-- THE WEEK'S NE) VS. Two prize fighters named Ryan and Ford have 1Jeen committed for trial for engaging in a prize ht at the Manchester Gymnastic Club. Sir John Gilbert has been made an honorary freeman of the City of London in recognition of Ilia eminence as an artist and of his recent gift of I JJictllres to the Corporation. The search for the missing Russian ironclad JSooealka has only resulted in the discovery of jsome more pieces of wreck. The total number of -victims is estimated at 200. The members of the Liberal Churchmen's Union luure sent an address to Mr Gladstone congratu- lating him on the fact that the Home Rule Bill tau passed through the House of Commons. A weaver named Ainsworth, residing at Nelson, was, whilst under the influence of drink, with difficulty prevented by his brother from cutting his throat with a razor. The magistrates have sent him to the workhouse for a few days. At the meeting of the Irish National Federation in Dublin a resolution was passed expressing yegret at the delay in the actiou of the Lord Chancellor correcting the esiating monopoly of the flench by Tory and anti-Nationalist partisans. 16 CADBUR v s COCOA hts, in a remarkable degree, those natural elements of., austen- nee which give the system endur^uce and hardihood, buii ling up muscle and bodily vigour, with a steady action £ iat renders it a must acceptable and reliable beverage." -Health. During souio (twlitay extensions on the Nortl JSaitera fine near L-eds a temporary woo im, tridge fell without warning upon a passing en^inj. Iwo navvies, named Garrett and Lacy, killed, and a third, named Green, was seriously njured. Five men undor the bridge es ;aped. Even in the Orkney Islands people get mad Laøt week a poor fellow suddenly lost his reason, And threw large stones through the windows of his father's house. One of them hit his mother, and severely wounded her. The madman t .en threw himself over a precipice, and died shortly after from the injuries. Three or f ur lads, whose ages rarge from twelve to fourteen, were playing near Sheffi hi, when one of them produced a revolver, belonging, it is said, to his father. Not knowing it was loaded he playfully pointed it at a companion aad •uiled the trigger. The weapon went off, and a Mad named Russell received a bullet in his head. Aa the Countess of Huntingdon was .iding- across country between Parsoustown and Sharan- 4Ww Lar pony failei to clear a fence nd fell backwards on her, breaking her collar-bone arl i inflicting other injuries. Despite the great pain the countesa remounted and rode to Parsonstown, where surgical aid was obtained and the fractured lbone set. There will be fighting in South Africa before Maag. Fort Victoria uavices state that natives jrho have arrived there report that the young warriors have broken away from Lobengula's authority, and confirm the intelligence that the Bfatabeles are preparing for a big fight. Th Company's force is getting ready for the expected ter. Bmily Tubervillehas been giving the workhouse authorities at Brierley Hill an amount of trouble. When charged at the police court with disorderly conduct she counterfeited ilineas. but no sooner tud been taken back to the workhouse than it took seven men to man-ge her. Her language ma also unbecoming. She has been sent to prison for a month. A serious accident occurred on the site of the gww Post-office, Victoria-street, Liverpool, where the fonnda ions of the new buildings are in jKOcess of being laid. A large travelling crane anering on scaffolding through some accident toppled over, and fell to the bottom of the excavations, about fifteen feet. The engine over- turned in its descent, and was wrecked. For- tonately the only man hurt was the driver While excavating in connection with the new grail way from W rexham to Ellesmere two skulls and a number of bones have been unearthed. -The/ were discovered about nine inches below the arfsior There is much speculation as to how thme remains came to be interred. One party is Inclined to think that they were placed there by some doctor in the distant past, while others aesert their belief that they are the grim remains some terrible tragedy the particulars of which aPt now forgotten. On Tuesday evening, whilst the performances were taking place in Womb well's menagerie, at Sirkenhead, Captain Lawrence, the lion tamer, watered the den of the lioness Spitfire, and while fatting it through its performances, the lioness savagely attacked him. tearing his clothes to ribands, and mauling him severely. He managed to beat the infuriated animal off, and retired. Aftor changing his attire Lxwrence once more pluckily entered the den and compelled the lioness, after a severe struggle, to go through her per- formance. An imp rtant circular has been issued by the jfSducation Department respecting the new system Of schools contemplated by i he Evening Continua- tion School Code. Their lordships consider that those subjects should be chosen which are most aqitable to the locality and the class of scholars for which the school is intended, and that evening achools should not be established as mere grant- naming machines, but as a means of raising and furthering the education of the scholar so as to fans a solid foundation of knowledge upon which lie can build in his later life. Mary Backhouse, a married woman living apart frolD her husband in a cellar at 23, Charlotte- t, Preston, left her two children in bed on the floor of the cellar, while she went to market. Ten minutes afterwards a girl, who lives in the fame house, went to a man named Tiim thy Singleton and told him the cellar was on fire, and that one of the children was screaming. He ran to the cellar, burst open the door, and found the -ehild in flames. The poor little sufferer was taken to the infirmary and died the same night. Burnt matches were found in the cellar. At the Central Criminil Court, after seven days' feearing, the trial was concluded of the five men named Hill, Goldring, Weir, Henry, and French charged witi conspiring, in conjunction with a nan named Frank Bowerman, who pleaded guilty, $o defraud the public in connection with an alleged frandulent negotiation of bills of exchange o the amount of £11,000 obtained from the Earl of Dudley. Hill was sentenced to ten years' penal servitude, Goldring to twelve months' hard labour, Bowerman to eighteen months, Henry to opyin months, and Weir and French to eight months' hard labour. A lad nam d Samuel Holland was charged with discharging fireworks to the common danger of the public at Thorne-street, Wandsworth Road, According to the evidence of Police Constable Campbell, the prisoner was one of the ringleaders of a gang of boys who gave a firework display. They threw fireworks under the horses attached to tramcard, filled empty ginger beer bottles with aquibs and thus converted them into bombs, and wound up by pushing open the doors of an adjacent church and throwing lighted fireworks amongst the congregation. The prisoner was ordered to pay a fine, or go to prison for 14 days with hard labour. A smart-looking young gentleman from Mar Chester is reported to have been carrying on an impudent glad extensive system of swindling Douglas boarriing- boase keepers and others. He eecured lodgings, representing that his father was an hotAl keeper near aaeheeter, and no suspicion was aroused. After ataying a week or so and borrowing money be decamped without paying his lodgil)g or refunding the borrowed money. He took a lady for a. drive and disappeared without paying the car driver, who could sot And him. He went to other houses and vanished without settling hit bills. He was finally arrested, aDd will probably have to suffer for his conduct. UNITY IS STRENGTH may indeed be said with regard to Holloway's Pills and Ointment, for when used together, they are remarkable in their effects upon disease. No matter how stubborn the symp- toms may be, they cannot long withstand these remedies. All sufferers, whom other treatments have failed to relieve, should try the celebrated Ointment, which will strengthen and cure them. The Pills recommend themselves to the attention of all sufferers. No injurious consequences can jresult from their use no mistake can be made in their administration. In indigestion, confirmed ,OLrWpoia, and.chronic constipation, the most bene- Odal effects have been, and always must be, obtained from the wholesome power exerted by ,Jomm purifying Pills over the digestion.

IVALLS A V 'MEW 1 The foundation ■- n.It' Welsh church, to be erected as a >« .■ ft* 4».m Ptnry, has j be(-ii I;ii,l at ChP,t, r. At Denbigh the v.. l'iou ilenwninations simul- taneously held harvest thanksgiving services, the] day being observed as a general holiday. Mr Charles Morley, son of the late Mr Samuel Morley, has been chosen as the Liberal candidate j for Breconshire., at the retirement of Mr Fuller Mai tl and. Lord Windsor has consented to lay the founda- tion stone on October 6 of a public hall to be erected at Cardiff, in memory of the late Mr David Davies, of Llandinani. The Pwllbeli bench of magistrates dismissed a charge of having committed wilful perjury which was brought, on behalf of the Treasury, against Robert Roberts, a farmer of Pensarn, Llangybi. A charge of fraud against Robert Roberts was adjourned pending further instructions from the Treasu, y. The Diocesan Welsh Choral Festival, which took place at Bangor Cathedral, proved a great success. The united choir was composed of upwards of a thousand voices, and its performance of the selected music bore testimony to the care and judgment wi h which it had been trained by Mr T. Westlake Morgan, the conductor, 'l'heie wits so large an attendance of the public that mem- bers failed to gain admission to the Cathedral. A literary policeman is at present spending his w 11-earned holiday in the reading loom of the British Museum, engaged upon a work to be en tit;ed The Bibliography of Wales." Mr Charles Ashton, who was born in 1848, entered the Mer- lOnetiisiiire Police Force in 18,)9, a.nd is still a con- "t le in the vill ge of Dinas Mawddwy. In his leisu e hours he dev.»tes himself to literature, and after winning many prizes at the eisteddfodau, lias g lined one at the eisteddfod recently held at '.J albugo The time-honoured Welsh custom of rewarding farm la;, urers' long service by means of premiums and gifts in kind has practically died out. Form- erly in South-West Wales every servant who remained in the same place of service for seven yeaia was entitled to a heifer, while maid servants were similarly rewarded with a pair of blankets. Money premiums were also given by farmers* ctubs in recognition of long service, but not a single instance of the kind came under notice as still extant in the course of the late inquiry. The agricultural 1 enants on the Vaynol Park estate, Bangor, have forwarded to their landlord, Mr Assheton Smith, a letter thanking him in cor, lial terms for an abatement of 25 per cent. which be allowed them off the last half-year's rents. Mr Smith in his reply expresses a hope that that the day may be far distant when the good feeling existing between himself and his tenants shall be done away with, and adds:' This seems to me to be the aim and object of certain outsiders, who, while pretending to do good, are really enemies of us both." The report published in connection with the Royal Commission on Labour states that there is a much greater bcarcity of maids for farm service than of (mate) labourers in every part of Wales. One reason is that their hours of work are longer, and their work comparatively speaking is harder than is the case with lai-oiirers; they are the earliest to rise in the morning and the latest to retire at night, and dnring the whole day they are, perhaps, under the vigilant eye of their mistress. A Glamorganshire correspondent speaks of the work as hard and endless." A trmendous hoax heis been perpetrated on a large number of sporting men throughout the country. The victims were invited to send entries for horse and foot races, which were to come off at Rhyl on Monday. Many did so, and sent entrance fees as well, and on Monday several horse-boxes turned up at Rhyl station, and the owners went to look for the secretary of the sports. He, how- ever, was not to be found, neither was anybody who knew anything about the sports, and the field on which the sports were to have been held was unguarded. The rage of the victims may be imagined, many of them having come long dia- tances at great expense. Says the Pittsburg Press:—The charming lady vocalists composing the celebrated Welsh Choir have come and gone, and will soon be on the homeward voyage across the Atlantic. With a courage and confidence born of many months of hard study and persistent effort, they came to America, captured the first prize at the Inter- national Eisteddfod at the World's Fair, and won all the laurels in sight Their visit to Pittsburg was of ehort duration, but long enough for the little ladies to win the unbounded admiration and respect of all who saw and heard them. From the moment of their arrival here they were the recipients of kind words and expressions of good will from every quarter, and it is doubtful if any foreign musical organisation was ever received here with such enthusiasm as greeted these win- some Welsh maidens. An important conference of Poor-law Guardians, representing a large number of unions in North Wales was held at Rhyl to consider measures for suppressing vagrancy in North Wales. Mr Bircham, Local Government Board inspector, described the methods which he desired to see adopted, and argued that before demanding legis- lative changes efforts should be made to put the existing law for the regulation of vagrants in operation. A discussion followed, in which a number of suggestions were made, the general feeling being in favour of a more stringent en- forcement of the law. Resolutions were passed requesting all boards of guardians to carry out the Act of 1882 aud the Local Government regu- lations of 1883, with a view to uniformity of treat- ment at all workhouses; advising the adoption of the ticket system" in force at Aberystwith; and recommending the holding of a biennial con- ference of North Wales guardians. The small holdings committee of the Brecon- shire County Council met on Tuesday to consider a petition from 15 electors residing near Brecon, to the Breconshire County Council -1 to put into operation that part of the Small Holdings Act (1892), which empowers the council to acquire land for the purpose of letting out in small hold- ings to persons desirous of cultivating the same in accordance with the provisions of the Act." The committee had the petitioners—all of whom were artisans and labourers—before them. The majority of the memorialists were desirous of renting holdings ranging from three to eight acres, but there was one case where a petitioner sought aft r a small farm. At the close of the inquiry the Chairman informed the petitioners that the council had no compulsory power of buy- ing land at all. No evidence had been given that any application for land had been made to the landowners, and as the committee considered that sach applications were essential, had decided to adjourn the inquiry until evidence could be given as to the result of. Mich applications, which they recommended shooft be made as soon as possible. At Cerrig-y-Druidion, before Colonel C. S. Mainwa'ing, a farmer named David Roberts, of Ty Heu Farm, was prosecuted by Inspector Hampshire (Wrexham). of the Royal Society f r the Prevention of Crue ty to Animals, for having cruelly illtreated a herd of young cattle. The accused, wf o admitted the offence, entered a field called the Ffraith, and sent a sheep dug to attack a herd of cattle. The dog caught a young bullock by the tail, lacerating it with his teeth. The incited animal also tore the poor beast's hocks, exposing the flesh. After a while another d og entered the field, and was urged to attack the cattle. The two dogs drove the terrified beasts to a birbed wire fence, and through this they forced themselves, tearing their flesh in the passage. The accused joined in the cruelty by striking the cattle with a stick One young bullock had its eye torn a.nd was totally blind.— Three witnesses testfied to the cruel behaviour of the accused, which they said was prolonged long after they remonstrated with him. He threatened to kill tne cattle and injure the men if they interfered. He was fined.22 and.22 4s 6d costs, or fourteen days imprisonment.

DR. POLLARD SAYS OF SHERMAN RUPTURE TREATMENT :-He thanks God and every other influence that determined him to try it. All who want to get rid of Rupture and Trusses should send to J. A. Sherman, Hernia Specialist, 64, chancery Lane, London, for his book with English endorsements, post free, 7dr

EXTRACTS AND REVIEWS. The follow ng announeeine t, taken from a L i 'n- lia,s been sent to in Ae I ftm i ot MV that I k ow w'lat it precisely uiea IS, 1 hink it safeot to offer no èomment Lee.un- iay, 17ta last: 10.1.5 a.m., at May Bank, Choriey Old-road, Boiton, the wife of Joseph Richard Lee, of a son. Not unto us. but unto Him be the glory. &c.-Truth. Dr Talmage, referring to the standard anecdotes about Rowland's Hill making shoes in the pulpit by cutting off the top of a pair of boots; Whit- field's prophesying the doom of a sinner by the result of his catching a fly; Spurgeon's ridi; g down the rail of the pulpit in the presence of his audience to show how easy it is to go into sir and Mr Beecher's wiping the perspiration from his forehead and exclaiming, It's hot! -hot! These, says Dr Talmage, are lies! all of them lies! Captain Tucker, of Leamington, who is editor, proprietor, and publisher of The Heretic, a sixpenny quarterly magazine, does not confine himself to attacking Romanist and Ritualistic mummeries. He has in the current number an article on Paul's idea of Christianity as opposed to that of the Founder; notes on all kinds of social subjects; fancy tales," which terve as a medium for teach- ing the theories of the versatile author; an lastly, a beautif-illy printed analysis of Lytton's "King Arthur," with the original illustrations. TH gallant Captain, we fear, is not appreciated ub he has complete faith in his own ideas. Truth also has the following: Amongst examples of pious sentiments missing their iiiitrk the following beats all competitions that I have come across. It is said to come from a tombstone in the North-West Provinces. I a' not know whether it is new, but it is g od enough to bear repetition :— SACRKD TO THI MEMORY OF THK REV. Who, after twenty yeara' unremitting labour as a M ssionary, was accidentally shot by his Kitmagar. IVell Uonrt thou good and Jaithjul Servant." The Old Gold Lion Hotel at Brecon occupied the site of the chief offices of the BreconshireCoal aud Lime Company, in High-street. The land- lord's name 75 years ago w" Longfellow, and about 70 years ago a wag, who apparently had suffered from long waiting, wrote the following lines on a panel of the coftee-room;- Tom L:mgfellow'ø name is m >at justly his dne- Long his neck, long his bill (which is very long too); Long the time Are your horse to the stable is ied- Long before he's rubbed down, much longer till fed Long, indeed, may you sit in the oomfortiess room, Till trom kitchen long dirty your dinner shall come Long the oft-told tale your boat will relate; Long his face while complaining how long people eitt; Loug may Longfellow long ere he sees Gilt again, Long t'will be ere I long for Longfellow's Inn. CasseU's Storehouse for October has excellent articles (amongst a host of others) on Charles Lamb, the kidney, Lebanon, lamps; and persons, places, or things deserving notice. Here is part of one on lace :-The manufacture of pillow-lace arose, either in Flanders or in Italy, towards the close of the 15th century. It throve chiefly in Flanders and in England, where it was introduced by Flemish refugees in the latter part of the 16th century. The new industry was established at several places in the south-western counties, the most important being Honiton in Devonshire. Although the importation of foreign lace was prohibited from the reign of Charles II. onwards, smuggling was carried on extensively, and much of the lace sold at Honiton was really made in the Low Countries. Pillow-lace is so called because the worker holds on her knees a pillow with a piece of parchment fixed to it on which the pattern has previously been drawn. The parchment is pierced with holes at certain points on the outline of the pattern to mark the place where the pins are to be inserted; this is an operation requiting special knowledge and skill. When the pins have been placed in the holes, the threads of laces are plaited and twisted round them from a large number of small bobbins. Sometimes as many as 1,300 bobbins are used, and the work is so intrieate that the skilled lace-maker completes only about one inch in three weeks. DEVIL'S BELIDGIL-Tbe Devil's Badge, near Aberystwith, which we visit next, is a poor subject for word-painting—the theme suits better with the pencil. There are two bridges: one a rude arch, built, probably, in the twelfth century by the monks of Strata Florida Abbey; and the other, the upper bridge, built in 1754. The waterfall is good, but, as a mere waterfall, it is surpassed by many to be seen in Switzerland. It has, never- theless, one superiority over all the Swiss cascades, and that superiority consists in the luxuriance, variety, and delicacy of the vegetation and foliage which surround our present Devil's Bridge. The charm of the place consists, in my judgment, in the exquisite beauty of its natural surroundings. The valley of Rheidol is distinctly fine; the hilly road from Aberystwith is very pleasant; and the wood-clothed rocks which enclose the roaring splash of foamy, falling waters, for ever hurrying madly downwards, are very striking. In such weather as that in which I was recently in Wales, the watery coolness of the tree-shadowed air is simple luxury. The longest leap of the mad waters, so rudely disturbed in their generally quiet haDit of finding their own level, is one of 110 feet. The fourth, or Rheidol cascade, is 70 feet deep. Ravine, gorge, mountains, cataracts, foliage, all combine to form a very pretty picture, —From Cassell's Picturesque Europe for October.

THE CHOLERA. OFFICIAL REPORT: FIVE CASES IN STAFFORDSHIRE. The following official statement with reference to cholera WIIS issued on Thursday afternoon by the Local Government Board: No death from cholera or choleraic diarrhoea has been reported to the board as having occurred on Wednesday in England and Wales. The medical officer of the county of London reports that the suspicious case which was notified on the 26th inst. in the parish of St. George the Martyr, and has since proved fatal, is culturally indistinguishable from true cholera. The antecedents of the case are now under investigation. Dr. Sweeting reports on his return from Rowley Regis, that in addition to the two fatal cases of cholera in the hamlet of Tivi- dale, three out of four other fatal occurrences of recent date in the hamlet may be considered as cases of true cholera. »

Prince Bismarck and the German Emperor have been writing to each other, and a reconcilia- tion between them is expected. Mp.s. F. SIMMONDS. Laundress, Eastborne, has used Messrs. RECKITT'S PARIS BLUE for the put six years, and oonsiuers it unequalled for beauty and economy. Certainly much superior te thumb or Liquid Blue. 188 CAMBRIAN RAILWAYS.—Approximate return of traffio receipts for the week ending Sept. 24th. 1893: -Miles open, 237. Passenger, parcels, horses, carriages, dogs. and mails, J £ 3,298 merchandise, minerals, and live stock, X2,181 total for the week, j?5.579; aggregate from commencement of half.year, £ 73,221. Actual traffic receipts for the corresponding week last year :—Miles open, 237. Passengers, parcels, horses, carriages, dogs, and mails, £ 3,274; merchandise, minerals, and live stock, X2,219 total for the week, Y,5,493 aggregate from commencement of corresponding period last year, i572,239. Increase for the week, passengers, &o., £ 124; merohandue, minerals, &c.. XUOO; total incretse for the week, £ 86 aggregate increase from commencement of half-year, £ 000. Decrease, Passengers, parcels, &c., .£000; merchandise, &o £ 38; total decrease for the week, jEUOO; aggregate decrease from commence- ment of balf-year, .£000. Aggregate increase, pas- sengers, parcels, &c., £ 1,153 merchandise, minerals, and live stook, £ 000; total for the week, .£000; aggre- gate increase from commencement of half-year, .£982. Aggregate decrease, passengers, parcels, &c., .£000; merchandise, minerals, and live stock, £171 total for the week, tOOO; aggregate decrease from commencement of half-year, .£000. THE MOST DANGEROUS PART OF A Housic is the scullery oink. A packt of HUDSON'S EXTRACT oe So At or HUDSON'S DRY SOAP in a bucket cf hot water, ponred down the sink every week, removes all dangeroused oompoaing matter.

J nELIGIOV AND TEMPERANCE By a benefaction under the will of the Rev T mies Spurrell of X50,000, the total receipts of the Church Missionary Society for the year have reached, with one exception, the highe&t amount, viz., £ 282.805, ever realised.. Notwithstanding this windfall, the work of the new year is com- menced with an adverse balance. Toe English delegates who have returned from America declare that the World's Sunday School Convention at St. Louis was the largest assembly of its kind ever held. The statist cal returns showed a total for the world of 227,496 Sunday schools, 2,239,674 teachers, and 20,158,134 scholars. The most importan action taken was to endorse the International Lesson system, and to remove certain restrictions which hitherto had rested on the Committee. The annual meetings of the Anglesey Temper- ance Association are reported to have been unusu- ally successful. Amongst the speakers was Lady Reade, who delivered am interesting address, in which she pointed out the various ways in which temperance might be promoted and the spec a] aspects of the question which affected women. Speeches were also delivered and papers read by local ministers and temperance advocates, who offered a number of useful suggestions for the suppression of intemperance. Dr Parker's mission" in Birmingham was. from first to last, an unqualified success. The largest chapels were too small, and then the large Town Hall proved inadequate. Thousand*, swarmed round the building seeking admission. One person states that it took him an hour t. secure admission. Dr Parker is starting a fun-i for such mission purposes, and the Birmingham Nonconformist Committee contributed seventy guineas towards it. The Southpoil Free Churche lore hopeful that his next "mission" will be it. that town. Owing to the heavy floods recently experience in East Bengal, several missionaries are writing to England reporting many disasters to both pro- perty and persons. In one distriet, which oug,t, at the time the missionary WL"Jtt to have been full of rice, nothing but water WAS to be seen, and the croi-s had all been destroyed by the floods-, Sadder still, fever and cholera were rife in man; of the villages, and want and famine existed o^ all hands amongst the people. In view of thes- facts the Baptist Missionary Society's Committee has rosolved to make an immediate appeal fo: special contributions. In oponing the proceedings of the Oxfor Dioceasan Conference the Bishop of Oxford (Dr. Stubbs) said the attack on the Wolsh dioceses wa. a section of a carefully prepared scheme of attack- ing their Church as a whole, and of attacking h-r in her spiritual and temporal, her moral and relig- ious, her national and corporate character. It was an attack by men and schools who were justi- fied in their action by the belief that her teaching wad false, her national position a usurpation, her moral influence opposed to freedom, and her prop- erty unrighteously vested. All that Churchmen held dear was at stake in thia struggle, and so at stake that no compromise was possible. INDKPKNQKNT ORimm 08 GOOD TKMPLAKS.— The twentieth annual session of the English Grand Lodge of Wales was held at Wrexham last week. On Sunday morning a united prayer meeting was conducted by Bro. Wm. Cooke, G. Sec., Newtown, at the Cheater-street Baptist Chapel, and Bro. J. Swarbrick, G.V.T. of Tredegar, preached a special sermon at the Wesleyan Mission Room, Hightown. The offici -1 Good Templar service was held in the Cb ester- street Baptist Chapel on Sunday evening, ",h--I! most of the Grand Lodge officers were present and took part in the service. The sermon wAs preached by Rev. S. Jones. D. Co., of Cefn. There was a good congregation. On Monday evening a reception soiree was held in Hill-street Schoolroom, when there was a large attendance. Bro. Jones Parry expressed regret that the Montgomery boroughs returned a member who did not support the Local Option Bill. On Tuesday the annual session was opened. The Grand Chief Templar (Bro. T. Jones Parry) occupied the chair. The officers* reports were submitted, and showed that the Order had been increased by 1,200 new members. In the after- noon a large procession marched through the streets of the town, headed by a band. In the evening a united juvenile temperance dem mstra- tion was held in the Public Hall, which was packed to over-flowing. The Chairman en- deavoured to address the meeting, but owing to the noise made by the children, it was impossible to hear his remarks. At Wednesday's sitting the following officer were elected :-G.C.T., Mr Jones Parry; G.C., Mr Swarbrick, Tredegar; G.S.J.T., Mr Jenkins, Swansea; G.V.T., Mis- Johns, Cardiff; G.Sec., Alderman Cooke, New- town; G.T., Mi Reddaway, Cardiff. Eight of the brethren of the Order and one sister were elected to the International Supreme Council of the Order. The session concluded on Thurs- day. A committee was appointed to consider the advisability of publishing once a fortnight a Grand Lodge organ. The following officers, in addition to those chosen on Wednesday, were appointed: Grand Chaplain, Mr Taylor, Merthyr Tydvil; Grand Marshall, Mr Davies, Summerhill, Wrexham Grand Guard, Mr Morgan, Llanelly Grand Sentinel, Mr Tucker, Swansea; Grand Vice Chaplin, Miss Pryce, Summerhill; Grand Messenger, Miss Morgan, Llanelly. It was re- solved to open a fund for the purchase of a mission van. With a view of assisting the funds it was decided to hold a bazaar and institute a week of set denial. It was resolved unanimously to hold the next annual conference at Merthyr Tydvil.

THE GRAND OLD MAN ON THE POLITICAL SITU ATI jJN. Mr Gladstone was received with great enthusiasm by the Liberal workers of Midlothian in the Albert Hall, Edinburgh, on Wednesday, and in his speech touched upon many political topics. After express- ing a hope that the Local Government and Parish Councils Bill would this aesnion be practically extended to Sc.-)tland, he referred to the question of Scotch Disestablishment, and, mentioning bir Charles Cameron's bill as a measure for the practical settle- ment of the Chnrch queittion, said he tru-sted that many staunch friend* of the Scotch Establishment would see in the bill an opportunity which might not always be at their command, and that they wnuid arrive at an equitable and moderate s^tt'ement of a question which had presented a painful anomaly The session could not be counted a barren one, tor the Employers' Liabili'y Bill had made urea:, pro- gress and the Railway Servan'a Bill had become law. Though the grand Act of the sus-dou wan periiap« regardod by many in the light of a failure, they might depend upon it that it was not so, for the days, weeks, and months expended in dealing with the Home Rule Bill would have their record in hittory, and the reeds sown would yield a harvest. He maintained that owing to the tactics of the Opposi- tion there was a legislative famine in the land, th"t Parliament bai been unable to advance temperance legislation and the Miners' Eight Hours Bill, and incidentally he contrasted the Home Secretary's readiness to grant an inquiry into the disturbance lit Featherstone with the refusal by the Tory Govern- ment of an inquiry into the shooting at Mitchelstown. The Irish question still stood as a great barrier againat the legislative demands of the nation. But who was responsible for that barrier ? The question could only receive one answer. The responsibility rested with the House of Lords. Then he pointed out that the legislation of th Hoase of Commons had been a perpetual challenge to the House of Lords, and that when the Peers had tilted against the Commons they bad Buffered defeat and discredit. In the rejection of the Home Rule Bill they had been misled into a crisis graver than any that had ari-en since 1831. There was no such thing on record in any period of our hi-tory as a dissolution brought about by a vote of the House of Lords. It. was a gross and monstrous innovation, a new-fangled doctrine, of which Tories and Unionists were for d. But he held that the doctrine of allowing the House of Lords to hold the prerogative of bringing about a dissolution was nothing less than high treason to a great nation's title to be a self-governing country. If a dissolution came, the question of Irish govern- ment would not be the only one considered. There might be mixed up with it another question, and possibly the House of Lords would bitterly repent, when too late, that they had raised another issue. He hoped they would be induced to give satisfaction to the just aspirations of the Irish people; but if ..lot, they would find that the nation would not be jarred in its progress by a phalanx of fire hundred peers.