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

MANY MOTORS. A Parliamentary return issued on Monday shows that the total number of motor-cars regis- tered up to January 1 last was 8,400 and of motor-cycles 5,121. On April 1 the number of cars registered had increased to 14,887, and of motor-cycles to 16,534.

SHOT ON A MOOR. A serious shooting accident befell Mr. Albert Vickers, senior partner of the firm of Messrs. Vickers, Sons, and Maxim, on the Mealmore Grouse Moor, Sutherla.ndshire. Mr. Vickers was shot in the chest and neck through the accidental discharge of a, gun in a neighbouring butt, and was rendered unconscious. A doctor soon arrived on the scene, and most of the charge was successfully extracted, and Mr. Vickers is now progressing satisfactorily.

SEARCH FOR THE SMOLENSK. I The Admiralty announce that the Commander- in-Chief on the Cape Station has left Seychelles with the battleship Crescent and the cruisers Forte and Pearl, and is proceeding south with the object of communicating with the Russian Volunteer cruisers. The Barrosa and Partridge are engaged in a similar search between Walfisch Bay and Simons Bay, and the Russian message has also been communicated to the Commodore Commanding on the South Atlantic Station, who, with the St. George and Brilliant, is at present in the neighbourhood of Cape Verd.

MISHAP TO MISS ROOSEVELT. It has just become known in New York that Miss Alice Roosevelt met with a motoring accident on August 26, when a collision occurred between motor-cars belonging to Mr. Payne Thompson and Mr. A. de Navarre. Mr. Thompson's car was smashed, and Miss Roose- velt, who was a member of Mr. Thompson's party, was thrown out and remained unconscious for five minutes, but, beyond the shock, she was uninjured. The driver of Mr. Navarro's car was arrested, and sentenced to five days' imprisonment. ——

J A DEAR'S FAILURES. The annual Boa-rd of Trade report on tho failures of the year 1903 was issued on Monday. It states that there was an increase in number both of receiving orders and deeds of arrange- ment as compared with 1902, but the total of estimated liabilities, £ 9,675,282, shows a decrease of C377,515 in comparison with the pre- ceding twelvemonth.

DISAPPOINTING HARVEST. I GRAIN, FRUIT, AND ROOT CROPS SPOILT BY UNTIMELY SHOWERS. Not enough rain-and the little that fell came at the wrong time," is a general complaint of farmers this year. Under July's burning sunshine grain crops ripened too rapidly. They needed rain to fatten them. Then, directly they were ripe for cut- ting, down came the rain. During June, July, and August, the months that matter in the country, there were 2-76 inches of rain in Sussex, against 13*53 inches in the same period last year. Farmers yearned for three inches more rain in June and July. They did not want any last week end the week before. The wheat crop is far below the average in nearly all districts. Where a large area was sown the yield is poor. Barley is yielding badly, and the root crops-potatoes, turnips, &c.-are far below the average. Though the rain of the last two weeks has improved the hops the acreage continues to decrease. It is 47,799, against the 71,789 acres of 1878. The redeeming feature of 1904 is its fruit. Plums were never so cheap; apples and pears are abundant. This does not, however, please the grower as much as it does the consumer.

TROUBLESOME LADYBIRDS. I Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home," is a very popular song in Grimsby just now, for that town has been invaded by millions of ladybirds. They have descended upon the place in clouds. All the foliage in the gardens is smothered by them. They alight in hundreds upon the clothes of men in the streets, and round all the fish markets thousands are being killed hourly. Grimsby is annuaHy in- vaded by great numbers of these insects. It appears that they are attracted by the fish, upon which they eagerly settle. But this year's invasion beats all records. On Monday Lord Onslow and Lord Yarborough paid a special visit to the fish market, and found difficulty in inspecting it, as the ladybirds flew in their faces in such numbers.

KRUGER'S TREASURE. I A QUARTER OF A MILLION'S WORTH RECOVERED. I Mr. Kemp, a cousin of General Kemp, has, according to a Johannesburg correspondent, discovered beyond Spelonken buried treasure, removed from Pretoria before Lord Roberts's entry. The value of the find is estimated at E250,000, of which the Government will receive half. A detailed account says that the treasure con- sists of 60,000 ounces of gold and coin, believed to have been taken from the Pretoria Mint before the British occupation. The question as to what became of the Trans- vaal Government's treasure was one of the unsolved mysteries of the South African war. When Mr. Kruger left Pretoria prior to the entry of Lord Roberts' army he is said to have taken with him in his special train the archives of the Transvaal, as well as a vast quantity of gold coin and bullion from the Pretoria Mint, the value of which has been variously estimated at from C2,000,000 to 96,000,000. For some time his train remained at Nelspruit, on the Middelburg line, but eventually he was compelled to retreat across the Portuguese frontier to Lorenzo Marquez. Here he remained until October 19, 1900, when he sailed for Europe in the Dutch cruiser Gelderland. A story was current shortly before he sailed that the gold had been sent on to Europe in advance by way of Madagascar. To ensure safety it was said that he had shipped it in small quantities to this island, thence to be shipped to European banks. Altogether, it was stated he had sent off £ 2,000,000 sterling in this way, besides a quantity of diamonds, the whole amount being transmitted in his wife's maiden name. The fact that the President died leaving a fortune of between E750,000 and a million sterling shows that he must have carried off a very con- siderable sum. But it is believed that the other Boer leaders would not allow him to remove the whole amount of the treasure, and that much of it was buried in various parts of the country. This theory was strengthened by the dis- covery in March, 1901, of two caches of treasure, evidently belonging to the Boer head- quarters, by Steinacker's Horse. One of £6000 was found at Bremersdorp, in Swaziland, and the other of £ 3500 across the Transvaal frontier. Spelonken, where the latest discovery has been made, is a gold-mining district 80 miles from Pietersburg, the chief town of the Zoutpansberg district in the Northern Transvaal.

RIGHT OF WAY DISPUTE. A DUKE DEFIED. For some months an agitation has been on foot in Trentham, North Staffordshire, against the action of the Duke of Sutherland in closing a road which it is declared has been open to the public for at least 300 years. Miss S. Benett, formerly a member of the Burslem School Board, has been the prime mover in the agita- tion, and last week end a demonstration was succeeded by the demolition of the gates and fences. The locks and chains were broken by a blacksmith, and the woodwork was sawed away. A large crowd of people walked in procession, and in the presence of the Deputy- Chief-Constable of Staffordshire and a large force of police the barriers were overthrown. Miss Benett marched through the gap, and delivered a speech, in which she accepted all responsibility for the action, and expressed the hope that the road would be kept open for ever. The names of I all those engaged in the demolition were taken, and it is expected that an interesting lawsuit will be the result.

j So badly cracked are the walls of Dormston Church, Worcestershire, that wind blows freely through the fissures during the services. Hull trawlers are roaming farther afield, and have commenced to work new ground off the coast of Spain. The first cargo has just reached Hull, and sold for £300.

DEATH OF THE BISHOP OP I SOUTHWELL. FINEST GREEK SCHOLAR. The Bishop of Southwell died late on August 30, after a long illness, at Thurgarton Priory. Dr. Ridding belonged to the group of school- master bishops of whom the late Dr. Temple and the late Dr. Benson were remarkable examples. He was born in 1828, the third son of the Rev. Charles Ridding, Vicar of Andover, and was educated at Winchester and Balliol. His Oxford career was distinguished, and included the Craven Scholarship. For 13 years, from 1851, be was Fellow of Exeter College; then he went back to his old school as second master, and four years I later he was appointed headmaster. This position he held until the Bishopric of Southwell was created in 1884. In his new position he worked hard, and has organised the See thoroughly. By his death the EpiscoDal Bench loses its finest Greek scholar. Under his reign Winchester produced many good men, including the present Lord Selborne, who had the uncommon experience for a school- boy of seeing his headmaster marry his sister. This was the bishop's second marriage. In, 1858 he married Mary, daughter of Dr. Moberly, whom, when he became Bishop of Salisbury. he succeeded as headmaster of Winchester His first wife died a year after their marriage and it was in 1876 that he married Lady Laura Palmer, daughter of the first Lord Selborne. Her co-operation was of great value to him in his work in Nottinghamshire, where, at Thurgarton Priory, the episcopal residence, they entertained largely. With all his scholarship, the bishop was a singularly careless speaker. There is a story that while he was headmaster of Win- chester he once began a sermon with the extraordi- nary phrase, "I feel a feeling which we all feel." Most of Dr. Ridding's friends denied the story, but as a matter of fact the phrase is actually to be found in a subsequently published edition of the bishop's sermons. The late bishop was not merely a scholar and ecclesiastic. He rowed in the Balliol boat for three years, he was some time later presi- dent of the Notts Cricket Club, and till the end of his life he was devoted to coin collecting. The vacancy created on the Episcopal Bench will be filled by the Bishop of Wakefield.

THE RICHEST WIDOW. The will of Mr. William Weightman, the "Quinine King," head of the firm of Powers and Weightman, manufacturing chemists, who died a few days ago at the age of ninety-nine, has just been proved in Philadelphia. The entire estate, estimated at over ten million sterling, is left to his daughter, Mrs. Anna Walker, widow of the: late John Walker, a member of Congress. This makes her the richest widow in America and one of the richest women in the world. By the terms of the will Mrs. Walker will assume the active manage- ment of the great chemical works, besides looking after the property left by her father, who was one of the largest landowners in America. Mr. Weight- man was born in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, and emigrated to America when he was sixteen years old.

THE DUKE'S ADVICE. FARMERS NEED NOT TRUST TO THE PROMISE OF POLITICIANS. The Duke of Devonshire, speaking at the Jubilee Show of the Craven Agricultural Society on Saturday, said, in his view, co-operation in agriculture ought to be the most valuable to the farmers. If there continued to be a migration of labourers from the country to the towns, that was not due to agricultural depression, but to the superior attractions of the towns. He attributed.. much of this migration in recent times to the imperfect system of educa- tion in our schools. The education which labourers' children had received had been directed rather to preparing them to become clerks or shop assistants than useful agricultural labourers. The girls had been led by the same system to think that they would be better and happier as dressmakers or waitresses than as dairymaids or useful house- wives. They had almost too many advisers on the subject of agricultural depression. They had political advisers who put forward the remedies ranging from land nationalisation to Tariff Reform. Before putting any faith in any of these remedies, let them look all round, and when they were told that better prices were the only remedy for agricultural depression, consider how much more they might have to pay for everything which concerned their homes and their living. They must not expect that any statesman or Parliament would ever work a miracle for them. They must put their own shoulders to the wheel, and remember that Providence helped those who helped themselves. —————————————————

HOW TO COLLECT. When a collector or lover of old things takes his holiday, or leaves town for some country place, writes Mr. S.. E. Austin in "Vanity Fair," one of the first things he does is to explore the neighbourhood in search of old curiosity shops on the chance of finding some treasure to add to his collection. To the uninitiated these shops are veritable pitfalls, and in most cases contain a marvellous assortment of rubbish and forgeries which the proprietor will assure the would-be purchaser came from certain old houses or impecunious families in the district. Whereas, if the real truth be known, these shops belong to some London dealers, who fill them up with the rubbish they are unable to dispose of at their own establishments. There are, of course, exceptions to the rule, and in certain country towns there are dealers who can be relied upon, but who have rarely anything exceptionally good, as their special customers do not readily let any- thing of value pass by. These dealers, however, are not dependent on chance custom, as they are well-known to most collectors. Nobody can truly be said to be a successful collector unless pos- sessed of knowledge by instinct—that inward knowledge, quite inexplicable, of what is right or wrono. This instinct is a gift bestowed on but few,°and is a thing which unfortunately can- not be acquired, and it is this instinctive know- ledge which makes a collector a successful and undeniable judge of works of art. If this is properly cultivated, it may lead him to become extremely proficient in any branch of collecting he may care to take up.

CYCLE OF WOMEN'S NAMES. I wonder if my readers have ever noticed now names, especially women's names, go in generations (says" Calpurnia." in the Bystander "). Our grandmothers were called Anne, and Emma, and Susan, and Ellen; our mothers Adelaide, Louisa, Henrietta, Caroline our own contempories-I am speaking of women in middle-aga—are Winifreds, Hildas, Ethels, and Muriels; our daughters are mostly Dorothys, Dorises, Veras, and Sheilas; while for the little grandchildren who are begin- ning to appear on the scene, we are getting back again to old-fashioned names of Betty, Nancy, Joan, and the like. I think that the taste will go further still, and we shall. get back to Elizabeth, Sarah, and Anne again. All the servants will be christened Victoria by that time.

Friend: "Moved* back to the city, I. see.- Suburban Resident: "Yes. A human hog Suburban Resident: "Yes. A human hog bought the vacant lot next door to me, stuck up hds house close to the street, and built a barn alongside of my windows." "What have you done with the property?" "Rented it to a man who plays a bass horn." When Mr. Ackerman, or Bisnops Stortford discovered a colony of bats in his best bedroom he showed fight. He killed forty-four of his visitors. The rest took flight. It return for a aubstantial rise in wages the messenger boys of the postal telegraph office in Newark, New Jersey, have all signed an i agreement not to smoke 01* read sensational novels during working hours.

CYCLIST CHARGED WITH MAN- I SLAUGHTER. James Frederick Skipper, aged eighteen, was charged at Yarmouth on Tuesday with causing the death of Robert Snow, whom he was al- leged to have knocked down while descending a hill on a bicycle at Gorleston. Snow walked away after the accident, but died after reach- ing his home. Police-inspector Johnson, who witnessed the occurrence, said that Skipper was travelling at a very fast rate and did not ring his bell until within two yards of Snow. Skipper told him that he could not help the accident as he was unable to stop his machine. Skipper was remanded. An inquest was held subsequently. The evidence of eye-witnesses was to the effect that Skipper was going at the rate of from nine to ten miles an hour, that he rang his bell, but that the warning was disre- garded by Snow, who was talking to another man in the roadway. A verdict of "Accidental death" was returned, but at the request of the jury the Coroner cautioned Skipper.

KENTISH TRAGEDY. I A dockyard pensioner, named Samuel Reed, living at Gillingham, Chatham, on Tuesday murdered his second wife by cutting her throat, and inflicted a wound in his own neck, which shortly afterwards caused his death. Although they were regarded as a model couple by some of their neighbours, Reed and his wife had con- siderable unpleasantness, and grown-up children on both sides took part in family quarrels. Mrs. Reed slept at her daughter's on Monday night, and the crimes were committed imme- diately after her return on Tuesday morning.

CAPTURE OF A GENERAL. I An amusing incident is recorded by the "Portsmouth Evening News" as occurring in the recent operations on Salisbury Plain. The operation, it is observed, was remarkable for the dash shown by the Portsmouth troops be- longing to the 11th Brigade, which resulted in taking Major-General Grierson and his staff prisoners. The major-general, who was in command of the Western Army, was viewing the fight from Silk-hill, in ignorance of the near approach of the enemy, and a battery of artil- lery was also in action on the hill, when the enemy captured a plantation in the locality and gathered together preparatory to storming the position. The officer in command of the in- fantry in the Silk-hill plantation neglected to notify the commander that he and his men were put out of action, and when the Ports- mouth infantry surrounded the hill and sur- prised the battery in the rear, the staff en- deavoured to beat a retreat, which proved to be impossible, and the umpires decided that they all must be regarded as prisoners. The in- cident created much amusement, and Sir Evelyn Wood smiled when he saw his former Chief Staff Officer in the enemy's hands.

STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. I On Tuesday morning a sharp thunderstorm broke over Newport (Mon.), and a sailor named John Lacey, a stranger to the town, who was in a field, was struck by lightning and instantly killed. An examination of the body showed that the point of contact of the electric fluid was the head and back of the neck. The whole of the front part of the man's clothing was carried away; the right leg was also stripped, whilst the left trouser leg was torn into long shreds. The clothing on the back was noticed to be burning. Documents found upon the body state that deceased acted for several months as second engineer on the steamship Microphone, and was paid off at Cardiff re- cently.

COMMANDER REPRIMANDED. Commander Tyrwhitt, of the destroyer A run, was tried by court-martial, at Devonport, on Tuesday, charged with neglect, resulting in hazard to his own vessel and the foundering of the destroyer Decoy, off Scilly, on August 13. The Court found the charge of hazarding alone proved, and ordered the officer to be r. pri- manded.

UNDESIRABLE ALIENS. As the pleasure steamer Ravenswood was crossing from Cardiff to Weston at noon, on Tuesday, she ran into a dense mass of f:es, which quickly found lodgment all over the deck and fixtures, and covered the passengers. Manv declared that they were bitten, and it was stated that the unwelcome visitors were a swarm of mosquitos. Weston Pier was also found to have been visited, and the swarms were still there when the passengers boarded the return boat in the evening.

BUCKINGHAM PALACE CHANGES. The foundations of the new wall of the fore- court of Buckingham Palace have been laid and a few sections of the railings have been erected. When finished the railings will be about fourteen feet further from the P&lace than the old ones, but the additional space thus acquired will be balanced by cutting off the end sections. The work is necessitated by the Victoria Memorial scheme.

t TERRORISED BY A GIRL. I THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD PAUPER SENT TO PRISON. ine sentence of fourteen days' imprisonment passed upon little Anna Bond, the thirteen-year- old inmate of the Walsingha.m. Workhouse, is likely to cause considerable trouble. The guardians controlling the workhouse emphati- cally repudiate all responsibility for this extraordinary sentence. The matter, they state, lies between the master of the workhouse, who prosecuted the child, and the magistrate who sentenced her. The sentence has caused intense indignation in East Anglia, with the result that the attention of the Local Government Board was called to the case, and the guardians were asked to furnish an explanation. They state that the prosecution of the girl was entirely without their sanction. At a recent meeting she was brought before them by the workhouse master, who alleged that she was entirely beyond control, and had become a terror to the house." Her case was adjourned for consideration, but when it was again raised at the next meeting it was found that the master had taken her before the local magistrates on a charge of disorder and assault on an inmate. A sentence of fourteen days' imprisonment had been imposed. The master said he had been obliged to take the girl before the Bench. She was a terror to the house and the inmates, and was of such a nature that she could provoke any of the inmates to anger. These facts were laid before the Local Govern- ment Board. In commenting on them, the guardians say they considered the prosecution as inhuman and ill-advised. It was taken with- out their consent, the master acting entirely apon his own responsibility, and against their wishes. No reply has yet been received from the Local Government Board, but it is understood that an. inquiry will be held. Meanwhile the little girl has served her fourteen days' imprison- ment, and is to be handed over to Dr. Barnardo as arranged.

The Hon. Hugh Clifford, who has been acting us Colonial Secretary of Trinidad since October, 1903, will now be confirmed in that office owing to the appointment of Sir Courtenay Knollys as Governor of the Leeward Islands. Twelve insurance policies had been taken out on the life of a destitute pauper who has just died m the Ruthin workhouse. His relatives would never contribute towards his Maintenance.

BURGLARS' BIG MEAL. I Burglars with epicurean tastes paid a visit to Otway House, Pinchbeck, near Spalding, in the early hours of Monday morning. Obtaining an entrance through the coal-cellar, they proceeded to the larder, and there disposed of a leg of mutton, some pies, a bowl of cream, and other luxuries. They then proceeded to business, and having annexed the cash-box vanished, the traces of their visit being discovered in the morning.

KILLED BY A WASP. I A coachman named Fisher, employed by Mr. J. Compton Rickett, M.P., has died at Lewes as the result of a wasp sting. Fisher was employed on Mr. Rickett's estate at East Hoathly. The wasp, unnoticed by the coachman, had fallen into a jug of beer. Fisher drank the beer, and swallowed the wasp. He was severely stung internally, and died from the stings and suffocation due to the wasp remaining in his throat.

ANTWERP OIL BLAZE. I A fire at Antwerp, involving nearly all the great petroleum tanks at the Hoboken tanks, broke out on Friday of last week, and was on Tuesday still burning. The fire was caused by an explosion of gas near some of the reservoirs. The greater part of the tanks first attacked belonged to Russian companies, but the fire soon spread to the tanks of the American Standard Oil Company, which were completely destroyed. So far as is known, the number of victims of the fire up to a late hour on Monday night was about thirty, but as the flames were still burning fiercely it was almost impossible to search for bodies. The destruction of property is calculated to exceed four hundred thousand pounds.

THE SCOTTISH KIRKS. The United Free Church Advisory Committee has written to the Free Church accepting the 27th of September as the date for the Conference between the two Churches as to an arrangement about the use by the United Free Church of the properties during the ensuing months. At the same time the United Free Church authorities express regret that an earlier date was not agreed upon.

A VINDICTIVE EPITAPH. An old tombstone recently unearthed at Rhayader, in Wales, had the following inscrip- tion: I plant these shrubs upon your grave, dear wife That something on this spot may boast of life. Shrubs may wither, and all earth must rot; ot Shrubs may revive—thank goodness, you will not."

THE REVENUE. le receipts on account of Revenue from April 1, 1904, when there was a balance of £ 4.263,842, to August 27, 1904, were E47,799,759, against £51,476,266 in the corresponding period of the preceding financial year, which began with a balance of £ 6,637,127. The net expen- diture was E56,803,290, against C59,462,919 to the same date in the previous year. The Treasury balances on August 27, 1904, amounted to £ 3,998,301, and at the same date in 1903 to £ 5,548,746.

AN M.P.'S MARRIAGE. At the fashionable London St. George's Church, Hanover-square, on Tuesday, at ten in the morning, Mr. George Lambert, M.P. for the South Molton Division of North Devon, was married to Miss Barbara Robinson Stav;;rs, daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. George Stavers, of Morpeth, Northumberland. The Bishop of Exeter officiated, assisted by the Rev. E. C. Harris, of St. Anselm's Church. The bride was given away by her mother, Mr. 1. R. Stavers, and Mr. A. E. Dunn, ex-Mayor of Exeter, and Liberal candidate for the Cam- borne Division of Cornwall, was best man. There were neither bridesmaids nor pages. Miss Stavers was married in a gown ef white chiffon over soft white satin, with a long full skirt, ihe bodice being arranged with a deep transparp-tit tucked yoke, and a frill of old Honiton lace, with a spray of orange-blossoms and white heather, and a white chiffon picture hat, with long white feather, and draped Homton lace veil.

SHOT IN BARRACKS. ^orporai Ihomas Budgeon, of the Royal leld Artillery, was on Tuesday morning found dead in his quarters at the Shrapnell Barracks, Woolwich-common. A young woman named Neville, to whom he was engaged to be married, was lying in another part of the room suffering from gunshot wounds in the head, from which v?6 11)110^ exPected to recover. It is supposed that Budgeon, who was a very smart soldier, first shot Miss Neville, who had been secretly admitted to the barracks, and then killed him- self. self.

A COSTLY LIFEBOAT. On Saturday the new sailing lifeboat William Horling, destined for service on the Lancashire coast, was officially christened at Southport by Lady Pilkington, wife of Sir George Pilkington. The boat cost £3,000 to construct, and Lieutenant Maclean, district inspector of life- boats, in handing over the craft on behalf of the National L*boat Amociotion to the Southport Town Council, said she was the most expensive boat of any of her size in the British Isles.

Mr. Balfour has offered the Loyal Women's Guild of South Africa a prize, to be competed for by British and Dutch children, for the best essay on the British Empire. The State apartments at Osborne House and the museum at the Swiss Cottage will, after the I first of next month and during the winter, he epen each week on Fridays only.

ART AND LITERATURE The tercentenary of the publication of "Dan Quixote" falls next January, and the event is to be adequately celebrated in Spain. It is ob- vious that we in this country ought to manifest our sympathy and interest, of course in the usual way, by a dinner. To this end a movement is already on foot, and it is suggested that Mr. John Morley should be invited to take the chair at the dinner. Mr. Clement Shorter is a leading spirit in the movement, and those who desire to share in it should communicate with him. The late artist von Lenbach, says" Vanity Fair," was a man of mediaeval opinions, and it was not a pleasure to him to paint portraits of everyone. He had the habit, as a rule, of accep- ting all orders that came to him, but took a grim pleasure in painting the portraits of those sitters who did not please him as carelessly as possible. He would hastily paint a picture, hardly looking at the sitter, and then send it to the purchaser as his portrait, though often tho resemblance was hardly to be seen. On one oc- casion a wealthy manufacturer came to him and said he wished to be painted. Lenbach looked at, the burly impersonation of freshly-acquired wealth, and then asked an exorbitant price- The gentleman complained of this, saying that he knew that the artist had painted a portrait of Bismarck for a quarter of the money. "You are right," said Lenbach; "but then it was a plea- sure to paint the Prince." Some valuable pictures belonging to Miss Helen Gould have been damaged at the St. Louis Ex- hibition. They were stored to await the arrival of a New York artist, to open them. He was delayed three or four weeks, and in that time the pictures became damp, and the paper around them stuck to the paint, leaving spots, which had to be touched over. Millet's "Washerwo- man at the Creek," valued at £ 10,000, was badly damaged. Meissonier's "The Smoker, valued at £ 7000, and Stevens's "The Lady with a Fan," were also seriously damaged. Mr. Rudyard Kipling's new book of short stories will be published early in October. Its contents are more than twenty short stories and verse pieces, which he has recently written. Most of them have appeared in the English and Ameri- can magazines, and are now revised. Two of the stories, "Their Lawful Occasions," and "The Army of a Dream," are long enough to be ia two parts. The took is already being translated into several foreign languages. There is every reason to welcome the an- nouncement that a new scheme has been pro- jected for the reorganisation of the Scottish Na- tional Art Gallery. For some while past the condition of the gallery has been unsatisfactory, and the need for improvement in the existing arrangements, and for adequate provision for the future, has become too evident to be dis- puted. The new sehome is comprehensive, for it proposes to deal with the housing of the Royal Scottish Academy and its schools, as well as with that of the national collection. It vnll involve the removal of the Royal Institution from the building it occupies at present, but it can be carried out at a comparatively small cost. It certainly shows that the Edinburgh people are fully alive to the need for continued progress in art matters, and that the remarkable activity of Glasgow in this direction has set an example which other cities are prepared to follow. The Duchess of Sutherland is editing and contributing to a volume of poems, which are to be published for the benefit of the Potteries and Newcastle Cripples' Guild. The list of forty- five contributors-all well-known writers—in- cludes Carmen Sylva," Mr. Thomas Hardy, Mr. Edmund Gosse, Mr. Austin Dobson, Mr. Maurice Hewlett, Mr. Arthur Symons, Mr. William Watson, Mr. W. B. Yeats, Fiona. Macleod, Mr. W. S. Blunt, Mr. Henry Newbolt. Mr. Andrew Lang, Lord Crewe, Mr. G. K. Chesterton, Mr. A. E. Housman, Mr. Robert Bridges, Mr. Laurence Binyon, Lady Margaret Sackville, Mr. John Davidson, Mrs. Alice Meynell, Mr. George Wyndham, M. Maurice Maeterlinck, Sir Renneil Rodd, and Mr. Owen Seaman. The volume on Raphael, which has just been, published as one of the series of art hand-books known as Newnes' Art Library, can be praised as a convenient summary of the achievement of the master. It is arranged on the same lines as the other volumes of the series, and includes a reasonably complete biographical notice writ- ten by Mr. Edgcumbe Staiey, a lengthy anno- tated list of Raphael's chief works, and sixty- five full-page ilustrations, of which one, "The Betrothal of the Virgin," is in photogravure. These illustrations are for the most part ex- cellently reproduced and printed, though occa- sionally they are a little too low in tone and they have been selected with commendable judg- ment so as to represent sufficiently the various phases of Raphael's art. The book altogether will be widely useful both to art-lovers and general readers, who are in search of a work which condenses the chief facts of the master's life. The "Cornish Telegraph" has lately printed a number of the "by-words" of the Duchy. Thus the "pride of Trur-o" is as notorious be- yond the Tamar as are the "gallants of Fowey." The saying "Not a word of Penzance" refers to the ignominious manner in which the inhabi- tants behaved when the Spaniards landed and invaded Mousehole and Newlyn, burning Paul Church, where Dolly Pentreath was afterwards to be buried and honoured as the last speaker of the Cornish language. One is reminded of the saying of a well-known man of letters with regard to the same town. "They would be very nice people," he said, after a visit to the town, "if they did not think they had invented the sciences and the arts." Mr. J. J. Foster's book Concerning the True Portraiture of Mary Queen of Scot" will be ready this autumn. The publishers draw atten- tion to the fact that the work will contain between sixty and seventy illustrations, or nearly doubte the number originally announced. These have been reproduced in photogravure from originals in the collections of the King, the Dukes of Devonshire and Portland, Lord Ailsa,; Lord Cathcart, Lord Denbigh, Lord Morton, Lord Leven and Melville, and national collec- tions at home and abroad. The letterpress includes a chapter by M. Dimier on the Janets and the painters at the Court of France during the period of Mary's residence thereat. Another feature of the book will be the binding, which is a copy of a volume at one time belonging to Mary and now in the King's Library. An exhibitor in the interesting picture show just opened in Dublin, as mentioned in "The Daily Chronicle," is Mr. George Russell, one ol the best and hardest-working officials on the Congested Districts Board. As "A. E. he paints landscapes of Ireland's romantic west and occasional portraits of his friends. Under these initials h^ has also published "The Divine Vision," and other poems of fine quality, and also some admirable essays. He is besides an exponent of theosophy; and has many disciples* who are by no means godless young people,, although they are sometimes spoken of as "A-E-theists." Their master has a fund of witt and humour which he never allows to appear ia print, but he uses it freely in delicate squtbs and social satires for private circulation, to the great delight of all those privileged to see them. Professor Goldwin Smith's estimate of Glad- stone in his forthcoming book about him, witt be read with interest. It is understood to bo in general accordance with that which Mr. John Mcrlev gives in the "Life." There are, how- ever, differences, and they chiefly refer to Glad- stone's conduct of the Irish question. Professor Goldwin Smith comments on the Grand Old Man's literary work, a subject which is not muck noticed in the "Life."

The village of Shepston, Devonshire. is for some unknown reason the only place in Englanci shunned by sparrows. Life, it is said, is very pleasant in Shepton. I Nine thousand new claims for votes have been lodged in Dublin. There are also 12,00ft ofi* jections. The revising barrist-ers anticidate trouble.