County Observer and Monmouthshire Central Advertiser Abergavenny and Raglan Herald Usk and Pontypool Messenger and Chepstow Argus

USK. PETTY SESSIONS, THURSDAY. Before R. RICKARDS, Esq. (in the chair), H. HUMPHREYS, Esq., and S. A. HILEY, Esq. A SEBIOCS CHARGE. W. J. Walters, farmer, Coedcwnnwr, who was apprehended on a warrant, was charged with cruelly illtreating and torturing two cows by starving and neglecting them, on the 3rd and 4th April. Defendant asked for an adjournment for a fort- might as he had several witnesses to call. In answer to the Bench, Superintendent James said the case was considered so serious that the Chief Constable ordered a warrant to be issued for the arrest of the defendant, which was executed on the previous night. The cows in question, it was stated, had since died, but the defendant remarked that a post- mortem examination was being made that day. There was a further charge against defendant of cruelty to a horse, and Frederick Jones was charged with working the same whilst in an unfit state. The cases were adjourned, Walters being bound over in one surety of Llil and himself in 220. ALLEGED CRUELTY TO CHILDREN. James and Margaret Cutter, Coedcwnnwr, who did not appear, were summoned at the instance of the N.S.P.C.C. for neglectmg their ten children in a manner likely to cause them unnecessary suffering. Mr Lyndon Cooper, solicitor, Newport, prose- cuted, and explained that the defendants were bound to appear, as they had the chance of being tried by jury if they wished. The case was adjourned for a fortnight, a warrant lieiner issued to ensure their attendance. THIS BElJ JULWX* • Mr T. P. H. Watkins, solicitor, Pontypool, applied on behalf of Mr Jonathan Fricker, Usk. fer the transfer of the licence of the Red Lion. He was under the impression that the matter of the licence had been adjourned. The renewal of the licence was refused to Mra Davies, the former tenant, but a fortnight ago it was temporarily transferred to a Mrs Hayward until the expiration of the excise licence on the 5th April. This lady did not now appear, and Mr Fricker only went into occupation on the 7th. After some legal argument, the Chairman said Mr Fricker bad no locus standi in the case, and the application was refused. THB BLACK BEAB. Mr Lot John Davey was granted the full transfer of the licence of the Black Bear, Bettws Newydd, from Mrs C. A. Williams.

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CAERLEON. PETTY SESSIONS, THURSDAY WEEK. Safore F. J. MITCHELL, Esq. (in the chait), Sir ARTHUR MACKWORTH. A. M. PILLINBR, Esq., and D. W. JENKINS, Esq. ALTERATIONi.-Plans of alterations to the Bull Inn, Caerleon, were submitted and approved. TRANSFER.—The license of the Half Way House, Cwmbran, was transferred from Mr D. E. Humphreys to Charlotte Edmunds, the manageress. No CsRTiFi<!iXB.^4Mi. Wfrtktn*, solicitor, Pontypool, appeared in a case in which Charles Giilingham, Croesyceilog, was summoned by the Pontypool Rural District Council for occupying a new house without a certificate as to the water supply.—Mr Watkins said that the case was adjourned from the last court for the defendant to obtain a certificate. Since then Gillingham had entered into an arrangement with a neighbour to obtain water from his supply, but he had not -entered into any legal agreement, and without this the arrangement was of no value.—The CJhairman said that the magistrates had decided to commit, but they would give defendant one month in order to enter into an agreement for the use of water. At the next Court the magistrates would decide what penalty should be inflicted.

MONMOUTH. POLICE CO CRT, TUESDAY. Before the MAYOR (Councillor G. R. Edwards) and H. T. BAILLIE, Esq. DBL-KK & RIOTOITS.-Elizabeth Riley, 50, a well. known character, was sent to gaol for seven days, in default of paying 7s 6d, for being drunk and riotous ,the previous night. 0

I NEWPORT. I POLICE COURT, WEDNESDAY. I GIORGE BARRETT AGAIN.-George Barrett, the .ex.N ewport cyclist, of 39, Dolphin-street, was again before the magistrates, when he was placed in the dock on a warrant .for jB7 10s, maintenance arrears due to his wife.—Mr Lyndon Cooper appeared on behalf of Mrs Barrett, who gave evidence, and defendant, who admitted the arrears, was told he would have to go to Usk for six weeks in default of distress.

PONTYPOOL. I POLICE COURT, MONDAY. D. AND D.—William Murphy, labourer, Ponty- pool, was summoned for being drunk and disorderly on March 30tb, and was fined 10s. OBSTRUCTING THE POLICE.—John Roberts, collier, Cwmffrwdoer, was summoned for being drunk and disorderly at Pontypool, on April 3rd, and his brother, David Roberts, collier, Cwmfrw- doer, was summoned for obstructing P.S. Watkins while in the execution of his duty at the same time and place.—P S. Watkins proved seeing John Roberts m a state of intoxication and creating a disturbance. Witness proceeded to take him into custody, and his brother then tried to get him away Both prisoners were afterwards taken into custody.-John was fined 10s, and his brother 15s.

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TWO NOTED PARLIAMENTARIANS. The next Parliament will miss two notable figures in Sir William Harcourt and Sir Michael Hicks Beach. Both have an- nounced their intention to retire at the General Election, though possibly Sir Michael may, like Lord Goschen, accept a peerage, and continue his political career in the House of Lords. He succeeded his father as ninth baronet in 1854, and has been a member of the House of Commons for forty years. He was an office holder long before any member of the present Cabinet, and, with the exception of Mr Gladstone, has produced more Budgets than any other statesman of the past century. Some seventeen years ago Sir Michael re- tired temporarily from active politics on account of an affection of the eyes, but he quickly recovered his accustomed good health, and few, seeing his active and stal- wart figure, would credit him now with. being sixty-seven years of age. 0

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GOING AHEAD. One cannot but wonder, in view of recent events, whether or not we are about to witness a relaxation of the officialism and red tape which have so often made communica- tion with a Government Department extreme- ly unpleasant. First of all one finds that a Blue Book on the Bahamas is illustrated by photographs, and, before one has recovered from the surprise which such an innovation evokes, it is borne upon his mind that the Army Council have given instructions for the communication to local newspapers of such matters as promotion, successes, honours, &c., gained by a soldier during his career with the colours." If we go on at this rate, we shall before long, find the Post Office abandoning its traditional policy of inventing pitfalls and traps for the public to tumble into.

MERRYWEATHER ON WATER SUPPLY AND FIRE PROTECTION of COUNTRY MANSIONS. EXPERTS SENT TO ALL PARTS TO Report on EXISTING Arrangements. WRITE FOR PAMPHLETS: MERRYWEATHER & SONS, 63, LONG ACRE, LONDON, W.G.

THE CLIMATE OF THE BAHAMAS. Thereport of the Governor of the Bahamas ought to have the effect of inducing some people from these islands to visit that de- pendency of the British Crown, instead of hurrying to the Riviera for relief from the inclemency of our British winter. The climate of the Bahamas is described as a "perpetual summer," and although there is a heavy rainfall from May to October. yet there is very little rain during the win- ter months, and from November to April the weather is delightful. So far the islands appear to have been appreciated more highly by the people of Canada and the United States than by dwellers in Britain, and possibly that is one reason why the trade with the United Kingdom is very much less than that with America. Besides the senti- mental tie which binds those who own a common Sovereign, the Bahamas present the attraction of an interesting and eventful history. Columbus, when he discovered the islands, wrote to Ferdinand :—"This Coun- try excels all others as far as the day sur- passes the night in splendour. The natives love their neighbours as themselves, their conversation is the sweetest imaginable; their faces always smiling, and so gentle and affectionate are they, that I swear to your highness that there is not a better people in the world." But it was not very long before the cruel Spaniards made a wilderness of this happy scene. Finding that the natives believed in a future state and were looking forward to meet their dead friends, they offered to convey the islanders in their ships to the country where their departed friends were dwelling. By this means they secured 40,000 of them to work in the mines as slaves. THE BANN DRAINAGE. If the Bann drainage scheme is carried out, it will cause the disappearance of what is now, and always has been, the largest lake in the British Islands. This is Lough Neagh, in the north of Ireland, and it is about 18 miles long, and 11 or 12 miles broad. Its greatest depth is 102 feet, but the average ranges from 20 to 40 feet, and it is said that its drainage is quite possible from an engineering standpoint. It could be dainly effected by deepening the river Bann. The area is about 155 square miles, and the object of the scheme is to make the land available for agriculture and other purposes. Amongst the fishermen there is AD old belief that a buried city lies under the lake, but this is known to be only a legend. There is, however, a Lord High Admiral of Lough Neagh, and no doubt the Marquis of Donegal, who holds the title of hereditary right, would have something to say about the disappearance of his domain. THE DEFENCE OF INDIA. Lord Curzon, in his speeeh to the Council at Calcutta, touched upon a subject which has been much discussed, not only in India and Britain, but on the Continent. It is that of the defence of our Indian Empire., Nearly all writers who have visited the frontier agree in saying that the invasion of India by Russia would be a task of enor- mous difficulty, and many of them think that she would never attempt it. That she should be suspected of designs upon our Empire is scarcely a matter for wonder, but it may be that her object is-as Skobeleff put it-to keep Britain 11 occupied in India, and prevent her from impeding Russia in other parts of the world." On this subject Sir Richard Temple, who spoke with great authority, said:—"It were needless to inquire whether Russia ambitiously hopes ever to advance upon India, or means only to set up a standing menace on the Kerat Border with a view to ulterior policy in other quarters of the East, or Far East. If the object be not the former it must be the latter." WAR CORRESPONDENTS. It is scarcely likely that the Russian Government share the dislike with which war correspondents were regarded by Lord Wolseley, who spoke of them as the curse of modern armies," and a race of drones who eat the rations of fighting men, and do no work at all." But whatever the opinion of the Government may be they have instituted a new rule that only one corres- pondent shall be allowed to each newspaper represented with their forces. This decision must affect in some measure the efficiency of the news service. Archibald Forbes generally had somebody to help him, and a similar course has been adopted by all the most successful correspondents, who, wonderful men as they are, cannot very well be in two places at once. CALIFORNIAN TREES. There are numbers of people who seem to think that nature produces her greatest mar- vels in order to furnish them with something to destroy. We see an illustration of this view in the destruction of wild animals, which has gained for Englishmen the repu- tation of taking pleasure in the slaughter of the brute creation. Another example ap- pears to have been afforded by the mam- moth trees of California, concerning which the Yankee playfully says. that it requires two men and a boy to see to the top of them. These trees are found in detached groves, at an altitude of from 4,000 to 5,000 feet from the sea level, and some of them grow to a height of more than 300 feet. There is reason to believe that many of them are 3,000 years old, and most of them bear marks of having been injured in distant time by forest fires. Large numbers have been cut down and the bark of one of the finest trunks was stripped off to the height of 116 feet and was exhibited in New York and London. The tree which was 321 feet high, and 90 feet girth, soon died. There are now but ten groves left, and of these only one is owned and protected by the United States Government- An attempt is being made to secure a second grove for the States.

Skipping as an Exercise. m Dr. Bond of Gloucester, who is favourably known both to the profession and to the public on account of his exertions in the cause of vaccination, is also the main sup- port of a society for the promotion of sanitary teaching in the city in which he resides, says "The Hospital." In this capacity he has lately put forth a pamphlet on the advantages to be derived from skipping" as a systematic exercise; a C, pamphlet the first mention of which is per- haps likely to provoke a smile, but which deserves, nevertheless, to be seriously con- sidered. Dr. Bond does not use the word to skip in its wide Johnsonian meaning, nor does he refer at all to the exercise at- tributed to the high hills by the Psalmist; but he intends to express only the methods of springing over a revolving rope which found much favour with the young people of fifty years ago, although, if we are not mistaken, they have fallen into at least com- parative disuse in the present day. He has even gone so far as to invent an improved rope with which the exercise may be most advantageously performed, and fias be- stowed upon his invention the name of Girbola," and there can be no doubt that the contrivance, which consists of a rope of easily adjustable length, somewhat weighted in the centre, and protected there by being enclosed within a tube of vulcanised india- rubber, is calculated materially to facilitate the efforts of an adult who tries for the first time to recover some portion of the agility of childhood. We cannot but feel that the chief impediment to the general acceptance of Dr. Bond's views, and the general prac- tice of his recommendations, is to be found in their simplicity; and we think he has done well to bring out his 11 girbola," even if only as a means of reaching the somewhat dull imagination of the average man. The injunction to "skip and be well" is fairly comparable with that to wash and be clean," and deserves at least a correspond- ing degree of attention.

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Markets. I USK, CATTLE, Monday.—Notwithstanding that this was a Bank Holiday-market, there was a capital attendance and supply, and there seemed to be an improvement in the business done. The following were the quotations --Best quality beef 6d to 6!d per lb, seconds 51d to 6d; wether mutton 7d to 8d, ewe 6d to 7d, lambs 25s—Is per lb; Teal 8d to Sid per lb cows and calves ZI5 to £ 18, yearlings £ 6 to £10, two-year-olds tll to €14; sows and piga £ 7 to £ 10, strong stores 35s to 45s each, three months old 20s to 23s, weaners 168 to 20s each, heavy-weight porkers 811 6d, light ditto 9s, and baconers 8s 6d per score. PONTYPOOL SPRING FAIR.—The first of the spring fairs annually promoted by the Pontypool Urban District Council was held on Saturday. The supply of cattle was good, but trade was, on the whole, slow. A few of the best beasts, with calves, sold at 215, prices, however, varying from £ 12 to X17 three-year-olds fetched from JE7 to X10, but a couple of good two-year-old bullocks made as much as £14. Sheep were the poorest section in the fair, 27s and 28s a couple being asked for the few lots of Welsh ewes and lambs in the pens. The demand was also slow in the pig division, although there was a fine show to select from. For good strong store pigs 25s to 30a was asked and 15s to 18s for weaners. Porker pigs were rather scarce, and fetched 9s to 10s per score. In one pen there was a very pretty litter of thirteen sucklings, but these were not sold. There was a fair show of horses, some of the best animals making 945 to £ 50. The poorer horses varied in price from Y,5 to L15. The best colliery horse sold at £ 35. NEWPORT, CORN, Wednesday.—The corn market was a holiday one, and there were no changes in any kind of grain. NEWPORT, CATTLE, Wednesday.—The supply of cattle and calves was large, but that of sheep and lambs small to-day. The attendance was large, and trade very good all round. Quotations:— Best beef. 6id per lb; seconds, 5fd to 6d; cows, 4 5d to 5-id best wether muttou, 8|d to 9d ewes, 6td to 7d; veal, 8d to lOd; lamb, Is per lb. Porker pigs were from 9s to 9s 6d, and bacon pigs 8s per score. NEWPORT, CHEESE, Wednesday,-There was a good supply at the cheese market here to-day, the attendance being an average and the business quiet. Quotations :-Caerphillys, 44s to 50s per cwt; fancy dairies, 528 to 54s Derbys, 61s to 65s ditto, doubles, 68s to 60s; truckles, 63a to 68a ditto, singles, 45s to 50s.

EXECUTION AT BIRMINGHAM.—At Birmingham on Tuesday, Charles Samuel Dyer, an ex-soldier, described as a hawker, was executed for the murder of Martha Eliza Simpson, with whom he lived. The parties had been drinking freely, and it appeared that Dyer, who was very fond of the woman, was angry at her having been in company with another man. He cut her throat, and she died almost immediately. The defence at the trial was that Dyer was soddened by drink. The execution, which was private, was carried out by William Billington, in the presence of some gaol officers.

— FACTS AND FANCIES. THE tramways, omnibuses, and underground railway round London within a radius of five mileis carry each year about 453,000,000 passengers. HOUSEKEEPING IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. There was a very clever method of keeping a large retinue of servants up to the mark several hundred years ago. For every offence, every neglect of a specified duty, a fine of from one to twelve pence was exacted. It cost a servant a penny to swear, or to leave open a door that he found shut, or to appear on Sunday with soiled linen or missing buttons, while to toy with the maids meant fourpence, and to revile a fellow servant was a expensive luxury that came to twelvepence. All such annoy- ances as unmade beds, halls left unswept, and candlesticks unscraped were provided against in the same way, and the sums, taken out of the quarterly wages, were given to the poor.

WHAT A WHALE WEIGHS. It is curious how little real idea most people have of the size of the common Greenland whale. Nillson, the zoologist, estimates the full-grown animal to average 100 tons, or 224,0001b. That is to say. a whale weighs as much as about 60 elephants or 400 bears. Of course, some run larger than this. There are tales among old whalers of whales 110ft. long and weighing at least 150 tons. But such are not seen in these days. A 70ft. whale is a big one now. Still, it may give some idea of what monsters are occasionally killed when we mention that a ton of oil has been extracted from the tongue alone of a single whale!

STRENGTH OF THE EYE. I You are either left-eyed or right-eyed, unless you are the one person out of every fifteen who has eyes of_ equal strength. You also belong to the small minority of one out of every ten persons if your left eye is stronger than your right. As a rule, just as people are right-handed, they are right-eyed. This is probably due to the generally greater use of the Organs of the right side of the body, as, for example, a sportsman using his right arm and shoulder uses his right eye to sight the gun, thereby strengthening it with exercise. Old sea captains, after long use of the telescope, find their right eye much stronger than the left. This law is confirmed by the experi- ence of aurists. If a person who has ears of equal hearing has cause to use one ear more than the other for a long period, the ear brought into requisition is found to be much strengthened, and the ear which is not used loses its hearing in a corresponding degree.

NOTEWORTHY AVALANCHES. I The kind of avalanche most heard about is that which one of our poets has termed the thunderbolt of snow." At first nothing more than a simple snow-slip, it descends with accelerating velocity, and ultimately sweeps all before it with irresis- tible force. In most Alpine regions they recur from time to time, generally in winter and spring. In January, 1885, enormous avalanches fell in some of the Alpine valleys of Piedmont, and buried houses and hamlets under 40ft., 50ft., and 60ft. of snow. In the Provinces of Turin and Cuneo more than two hundred persons were killed. In some dwellings entire families perished, either from suffo- cation, starvation, or injuries. In one chalet there were a man and wife, a boy and a baby. The man was killed outright by the fall of a beam, and the wife was fixed down immovable by another. The boy cried for assistance for thirty-six hours and then died. The woman prolonged her life by "catch- ing a fowl, plucking it and eating it raw, using the feathers to put under her neck, which was in con- tact with the snow." Ultimately, she and the baby were rescued, it was computed that a single avalanche which came down at this time in the Valley of Susa contained 360,000 cubic metres, and weighed 45,000 tons! Three years later much pro- perty was again destroyed in ti).e Alps by avalanches, and more than one hundred lives, it is said, were lost by them in the Northern Italian valleys alone. In the same winter, in the Tyrol, five hundred and ten head of cattle and fifty-three persons fell victims to them, and more than 1,200 buildings were de- stroyed. The Valley of Saas, in Switzerland, is rather notorious for its snow-avalanches. Avalanches of ice, although occurring frequently, are not much heard about by the world at large, because, as a rule, they do not come down in situations where they will be destructive to life or property; but everyone who has frequented the glaciers of the High Alps knows that falls of this description are common, almost every-day occurrences, that they descend with tremendous fury, and that the noise which is created by them will sound like thunder or the roar of cannon miles away.

JAPAN'S POSTAL SERVICE. The cheapest postal service in the world is that of Japan, where letters are conveyed all over the empire for two sen-about seven-tenths of a penny. This is the more wonderful considering the difficulties of transport over a mountainous and irregular country, which has less than 100 miles of railway, while waggons can pass over only a few of the chief roads and the steamers connect but ft small number of coast statiqns.

A TERRIBLE INSTRUMENT OF WAS. I At Keyport, New Jersey, there is a dynamite gun in process of preparation, for which the inventor makes strong claims. Its bore is 3in. and it is lift. long. A 5ft. carriage has been constructed for it. The gun is known s a low-pressure weapon. It throws a projectile 2ft. long and 161b. in weight, of which 35 per cent is explosive. It is stated th-,t the gun will throw 51b. of dynamite a mile with enough force to pierce a iin. steel plate. The inventor believes that a projectile from this gun striking at the water-line will blow up a battleship or other large war vessel. Satisfactory private tests of the gun are said to have been made.

A GREAT MAGNETIC STORM. I In November, 1882, says the Leisure Hour, a great spot was seen on the sun, covering an area of more than three thousand millions of square miles. The weather in London happened to be somewhat foggy, and the sun loomed, a dull red ball, through tne haze, a ball it was perfectly easy to look at without shading the eyes. So large a spot under such circumstances was quite visible to the naked eye, and it caught the attention of a great number of people, many of whom knew nothing about the existence of spots on the surface of the sun. This great disturbance, evidently something of the nature of a storm in the solar atmosphere, stretched over one hundred thousand miles on the surface of the sun. The disturbance extended further still, even to nearly one hundred millions of miles. For simul- taneously with the appearance of the spot the magnetic needles at Greenwich began to suffer from a strange excitement, an excitement which grew from day to day until it had passed half-way across the sun's disc. As the twitchings of the magnetic needles increased in frequency and violence, other symptoms were noticed throughout the length of the British Isles. Telegraphic communication was greatly interfered with. The telegraph lines had other messages to carry, more urgent than those of men. The needles in the telegraph instruments twitched to and fre. The signal bells on many of the railways were rung, and some of the operators received shocks from their instruments. Lastly, on November 17th, a superb aurora was witnessed, the culminating feature of which was the appearance, at about six o'clock in the evening, of a mysterious beam of greenish light, in shape something like a cigar, and many degrees in length, which rose in the east and crossed the sky at a pace much quicker but nearly as even as that of sun, moon, or stars, till it set in the west two minutes after its rising.

ANTS THAT GO TO SEA. There are certain ants that shew wonderful intel- ligence, "and the driver ants not only build boats but launch them too; only these boats are formed of their own bodies. They are called "drivers" because of their ferocity. Nothing can stand before the attacks of these little creatures. Large pythons have been killed by them in a single night, while chickens, lizards, and other animals in Western Africa flee from them in terror. To protect them- selves from the heat, says Pearson's Weekly, they erect arches, under which numerous armies of them pass in safety. Sometimes the arch is made of grass and earth gummed together by some secretion, and again it is formed by the bodies of the larger ants, which hold themselves together by their strong nippers while the workers pass under them. At certain times of the year, freshets overflow the country inhabited by the "drivers," and it is then that these ants go to sea. The rain comes suddenly, and the walls of their houses are broken in by the flood, but, instead of coming to the surface in scattered hundreds and being swept to destruction, out of the ruins rises a black ball that rides safely on the water and drifts away. At the first warning of danger, the little creatures run together, and form a solid body of ants, the weaker in the centre often this ball is larger than a common cricket ball; and in this way they float about until they lodge against some tree, upon the branches of which they are soon safe and sound.

THE BROKEN GATES OF DEATH. Most Irish country people believe that only those who die of old age go straight to some distant Hell or Heaven or Purgatory. The young are believed to be taken by the others," as the country people call the fairies, and live, until they die a second time, in the green forts," the remnants of the houses of the old inhabitants of Ireland, or in the woods. Thia nearness of the dead to the living gives rise to an abundance of stories, of which Mr. W. B. Yeats contributes a most interesting collection to the Fortniyhtly Review. Most of the stories are about women who are brought back by their husbands, but almost always against their will, because their will is under enchantment. An old man at Lisadell, in county Sligo, told a number of traditional tales of the kind, that are repeated generation after generation, in the same words and in the same chanting voice. His father had told him "never to refuse a night's lodging to any poor travelling person," and one night "a travelling woman," or beggar woman, told him that in her place a woman had died and was taken by the gentry," and her husband often saw her after she was dead, and was afraid to speak to her. He told his brother, and his brother said he would come to speak to her, and he came, and at night lay on a settle at the foot of the bed. When she came in, he laid hold of her and would not let her go, although she begged him to let her go, "because sh#was nursing the child of the king." Twelve messengers came in one after the other, and begged him to let her go, but he would not; and at last the king came himself, and said that she had always been well treated, and let come and nurse her own child, and that if she might stay until his child was weaned he would send her home again, and leave, where they could find it, money to pay a debt of some forty pounds that was over" her husband. The man said: Do you promise this on your honour as a king ? and the king said "I do," and so the man let her go, and all happened as the king had promised. People, indeed, come back for all kinds of pur- poses. The writer of the paper was told at Sligo about four years ago of a man who was being con- stantly beaten by a dead person. Sometimes, it was said, you could hear the blows as he came along the r road, and sometimes he would be dragged out of bed at night and his wife would hear the blows, but you could never see anything. He had thought to escape the dead person by going to a distant place, but he had been followed there. Nobody seemed to give him any pity, for it was an old uncle of his own that was beating him." Many and many are believed to come back to pay some debt, for, as a woman at Gort says: When someone goes that owes money, the weight of the soul is more than the weight of the body, and it can't get away until someone has the courage to question it." Here is another story: A man had come back from Boston, and one day he was out in the bay, going to Arran with L3 worth of cable he was after getting in M'Donough's store, in Galway. And he waa steering the boat, and there were two surf-boats along with him, and all in a minute the men in them saw he was gone, swept off the boat with a wave, and it was a dead calm. And they saw him come up once, straight up as if he was pushed, and then he was brought down again and rose no more. And it was some time after that a friend of his in Boston, and that was coming home to this place, was in a crowd of people out there. And he saw him coming to him, and he said: "I heard you were drowned." And the man said: "I am not dead, but I was brought here, and when you go home bring these three guineas to Michael M'Donough, in Galway, for it's owed thim for the cable I got from him." And he put the three guinew in his haud and vanished away.

OBSEQUIES OF A THIBETAN OF RANK. The highest functionary advanced towards the corpse with slow and stately stride, and with great assumption of solemnity. Arriving at a mat placed alongside of the body, he slowly and gradually allowed his knees to bend under him till he knelt upon the mat. Stooping, he proceeded to dissect the body into pieces no larger than filberts. The dogs in the meantime were kept off by the attend- ants. When he had concluded the dissection, the dogs were permitted to approach nearer, and then, bit by bit, he threw morsels to them, repeating with each morsel the Ineffable Prayer. When nothing but the big bones remained, these were powdered up in a mortar and mixed with meal-brose (Tsang Pa), and then the officiating priest threw the mixture as he had thrown the rest-absolutely nothing must be left unconsumed. That not the smallest particle should remain unaseimilated or out of its natural "plane," he then did that which, while it confirmed Karma in his opinion of the exalted rank of the deceased, as it is only done for the very highest personages, formed a fit climax to this gruesome rite. Without washing his hands, says Blackwood's Magazine, the officiating priest next deliberately and with all solemnity mixed a cup of Tsang Pa (brose made of meal mixed with broth or the national drink, buttered tea, which broae is the national dish, and is always mixed with the fingers), and then—ate it himself!

A Russian's would-be Sacrifice. St. Petersburg, Friday. The Czar has declined a gift towards the war from a peasant of a small Siberian village, who practically g offered his entire property. The Czar says circumstances do" not require such great sacrifices.

The Introspective Glance. Washington, Friday. President Roosevelt, in address- ing a meeting last night, urged American journalists to see that., matters were right at home before attacking the institutions of other nations.

Suicide of a Lady at Maidstone. Miss Ellis, a well known lady at Maidstone, committed suicide last night by throwing herself before a" train.

The Knowing Little Japs, St. Petersburg, Thursday. Irkutsk journal Vostochuve? Obosrenie says that the Japanes& at Port Arthur continually direct fire upon Electric Hill, knowing that behind the hill a ship laden with torpedoes is anchored; an explosion on board her would ruin Port Arthur.

Success of the Japanese Ladies" Appeal in London. The appeal of the Japanese ladies in London, on behalf of the, widows and orphans of the war,, has been so successful, that the Japanese Consul has already forwarded a first instalment of twelve thousand pounds to Tokio. ■ i

'—————————— Stocks. Stocks quiet. V Printed and Published by THE COUNTY OBSERVES," NEWSPAPER and PRINTING COMPANY, Limited, by JAMES HaNRY CLARK, at their Offices, Bridget Street, Usk, in the County of Monmouth, Saturday April 9th, 1904. ,«