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

THE WAR ADMIRAL TOGO'S BASE. IMPERIAL PROCLAMATION. An Imperial Ordinance has been issued in Tokio declaring that a state of siege exists at Mako Har- bour, in the Pescadores Islands. A naval proclamation further creates a Naval Court at Mako. The Tokio Navy Department pronounces the reports of a naval engagement with the Russians off Saigon to be unfounded. According to information received by the Naval General Staff at St. Petersburg a report which reached New York from Manila that the hospital ship Orel had arrived at Saigon with a large number of wounded is incorrect. It is true that the Orel has arrived at Saigon, but she had no wounded on board. The hospital ship Orel remained at Saigon for 36 hours. She shipped 900 tons of coal, as well as food and medical supplies. One of the doctors on board states that the objective of the fleet is Vladivostok. The Russian fleet is reported to be continuing its voyage northwards. Admiral de Jonquieres is at Cape St. Jacques. A message from the Hague says: "Neither from the East Indian Governments nor by the Japanese Legation here has any news been received of a naval fight off the Anamha Islands. lprom official news received previously to the report of an engagement it appeared that the Russian fleet would soon leave Indian waters altogether. RUSSIAN FORCE DEFEATED IN MANCHURIA. An official despatch published in Tohiei announces that the Japanese have encountered and defeated a Russian force at Erh-huo-luo, near Ying-pan. A despatch from General Linievitch, which has reached St. Petersburg, announces that on the 9th inst. a body of Russian cavalry approached the railway in the vicinity of the village of Ma-chen- tai. The scouts destroyed the telegraph wires and the railway line near Ya-ku-tzu, and also at a point where the road from Chang-tu-fu to Kai-yuan crosses the railway. On the 10th inst. the Russian ecouts damaged two wires near Kai-yuan. MORE JAPANESE SUCCESSES. Official reports received in Tokio announce Japanese successes on Friday of last week at Ying-ching and Pa-kia-tse. ROSHDESTVENSKY'S MESSAGE. I The following message from St. Petersburg ha,, been received by the Echo de Paris": "A tele- gram causing great emotion announces that Admiral Roshdestvensky's fleet is going towards Formosa, where it is believed that Admiral Togo's fleet is concentrated. "No news has been received from Admiral Roshdestvensky since his departure from Nossi Be, except a telegram saying: I shall not telegraph again before the battle. If I am beaten, Togo will tell you. If I beat him, I will announce it to you. FLEET IN TWO PARTS. I It was on Saturday rumoured at Hong Kong that the Baltic Fleet had split into two sections, one going to the Anambas and one to Java. The P. and O. steamer Poona has arrived at Hong Kong, having been stopped between Saigor and Singapore and allowed to proceed after being overhauled. Many colliers are arriving from Durban and Cardiff, and are apparently awaiting orders. SEA FIGHTING BEGUN. I The long-expected sea fighting was on Sundaj reported (according to a Hong Kong message) on a small scale between the Russian and Japanese Beets. I

WEATHER WISDOM. I Mr. H. Helm Clayton has been one of the most zealous searchers after some general laws that would enable weather to be predicted a week or a month in advance. In an article on 'this subject he says:- "There is a seven-day period in the weather teo noticeable at times that it has embodied itself in such popular sayings as, If it rains on the first Sunday of a month, it will rain every Sunday. Setting to work to verify this theory, Mr. Clayton, a few years ago, made a series of six and seven day predictions, which corresponded very closely with the daily weather bureau forecasts. Mr. Clayton then found that a 27-day period, Corresponding to one rotation of the sun on its axis, could be distinctly observed in our weather. During this regular cycle storms were observed to follow certain courses in regular succession at intervals of six or seven days, and in some cases by half these periods. "The causes of these periodicities are not elear," says Mr. Clayton, "but the fact that they have definite and rigid lengths renders it almost certain that they are connected with some physical or astronomical period or periods. "The breaks in the six and seven day periods and the redistribution of storm tracks correspond so closely with the accepted length of the sun's revolution on its axis as to make it extremely probable that there is a connection between the two. In this case the sun may perhaps be considered in the light of a tuning fork which sets up the periodic oscillations. "I am still actively engaged in these re- searches," Mr. Clayton adds, "and hope to arrive at a point before many years when the results shall become practically useful in fore- casting.

THE PRINCESS AND THE ROSES. I Attar, or otto, of roses, the world-famous per- fume, is chiefly made in Kasanlik, Bulgaria, the centre of the rose-growing country, where white roses form the hedges of fields. Red roses only are used in making otto of roses, and the per- fume is extracted from the petal, stalks, and leaves. The discovery of the fragrant attar took place 300 years ago. The Persian Princess Nour Djihan was wandering through her palace when she noticed an ugly yellowish oil floating on the surface of the rose-water 'basins. She at once ordered its removal, but it was found that when he oil was taken away the lovely perfume had disappeared. The virtue of the essential oil was found out in this strange way, and the attar of roses in Persia is still called Attar Ujinan. ihe_ botfles peculiar to attar of roses are very quaint, being long and very narrow, and practically "neckless." The glass is de- corated with gold, and the attar is contained in a tiny cylinder of glass inside the bottle.

JOHN O' GAUNT'S CASTLE. The foundations of John o' Gaunt's Castle at Newcastle-under-Lyme, uncovered recently in a new sewer cutting, are being recovered. Al- though the town still benefits from a bequest of old John o' Gaunt, by which every native who serves an apprenticeship and continues to live there is entitled to some 28s. annually, the Gaunt Trustees refused to contribute and the Corporation to take up the cost, about £ 400 of excavating the old masonry. They decided that the acquisition of a historical relic, in however, excellent preservation, was not worth the cost of diverting a Dew street or a small purchase of contiguous property. fis?

FOOT FOREMOST.—"Vanity Fair" reminds us that, after all, Britain has heroes as well as Japan, and asks whether Port Arthur has any finer story of reckless courage than this: A gunner of H.M.S. b "iiesolution was standing by his gun at the Battle of the Saints as the ship came abreast of the French i flagship. The gun was loaded and ready to lire, when a shot entered the port and took the gunner's leg off at the knee. Like lightning the man plucked his neckcloth from his neck and made a quick ligature above the stump. The next instant he seized his leg that was lying on the deck and thrust it into the muzzle of the gun, which went off two seconds later. My foot," shouted the gunner, drunk with patriotism. is the first to board the Ville de Paris." 1

KENSAL RIS £ HORROR. I A STARTLING STORY. I The bodiee of a mother and her twin children were (according to the "Times") discovered on Thursday of last week in a tin box, carefully sealed, wnich for mote than a month past had been stored in Messrs. Bannister's warehouse, Buller-road, Kensal-rise. It appears (continues the account) that Messrs. Bannister were called upon early in February by a young man, who gave the name of Arthur Devereux, and who at the time was living with his wife and children in Milton- avenue, Stonebridge-park, and he explained that he had sold most of his belongings, and that he required a large box to store away chemicals and other things. Messrs. Bannister agreed to lend the box, which Devereux took away with him, and afterwards he brought it back to the warehouse. No suspicions' that anything was wrong were entertained until a Mrs. Gregory, mother-in-law to Devereux, became alarmed at the sudden cessation of visits'from her daughter. Knowing that a trunk had been deposited at the warehouse, Mrs. Gregory communicated with the police, and inquiries were immediately made. Messrs. Bannister were called upon and the box was submitted for inspection, with the result that the bodies of the missing woman and her children were found packed away in it. Devereux had made it known that he was pro- ceeding to Coventry, where, being a fully-quali- fied chemist, he obtained a situation at a chemist's shop. Inspector Pollard, who has had charge of the ca-se, communicated with the police at Coventry, and the man was arrested on Thursday night of last week. The prisoner was afterwards conveyed from Coventry to London under police escort. When the discovery of the bodies was made, Dr. Robinson, divisional sur- geon, was called to the warehouse, and he ordered the removal of the box and its contents to the Kilburn mortuary. On examination he formed the opinion that death had been brought about by poison. On the morning following, under his personal direction, a post mortem examination was begun. The bodies were not decomposed, thus showing how carefully the box had been sealed in order to make it air-tight. DEVEREUX CHARGED WITH THE MURDER. The prisoner arrived at Willesden shortly be- fore three o'clock on Friday afternoon in charge of Inspector Pollard and Sergeant Cole, and was conveyed to Harlesden Police-station, where he was charged with murdering his wife, Beatrice Devereux, and his twin children, Eve- lyn Lancelot and Lawrence Roland, aged twenty months. WHAT THE POLICE FOUND. Inspector Pollard said that in company with Sergeants Gill, Tritton, and Cole, he entered the lofts of Messrs. Bannisters' furniture ware- house, Buller-road, Kensal-rise, where he saw a large tin trunk strongly bound with a strap, pad- locked, and doubly sealed with red wax. In his inquiries he had ascertained that the prisoner when warehousing it had stated that it contained chemicals and books. Finding no vibration on shaking the box, be directed Sergeant Cole and other police officers to cut the seals and undo it. Sergeant Cole unlocked the padlock. On lift- ing the lid he found another covering, consist- ing of wood tightly fitted, cross-barred, and rimmed with pieces of wood screwed down in section with 16 screws. It was apparently glued and then sized, and a chemical of some sort was used to preserve the polish. They unscrewed the wood and forced a portion. Under this they found glued strongly together a covering con- sisting of a table cloth and a bed quilt with some other substance. On lifting that he found a child's bead. He immediately sent for the coroner's officer and the divisional surgeon, and the box was taken to the Kilburn Mortuary, where the whole of the wood, the table cloth, and) the quilt were removed. They then found the dead body of a woman and the bodies of the twin children, aged twenty months. In conse- quence of the doctor's statement he communi- cated with the Coventry police, and proceeded there. He saw the prisoner at the police-sta- tion, Coventry, and, After cautioning him, he charged him. He told him they were police officers and that they had been making inquiries respecting his wife and children—Evelyn Lance- lot and Lawrence Roland. He further said he had found that he sold his wife's and children's clothing to a person in Harlesden, who will be called asi a witness, and also that the bodies of the three had been found in a tin box, and that Dr. Robinson, divisional surgeon, had seen them, but was unable to certify the cause of death until he had made a post mortem, although he had formed the opinion that the deaths were by poisoning. The prisoner replied, "Very well, I wish to make a statement, but I will do so later." On his arrival at Harlesden Police- station he was charged, but made no reply. Be- fore he was charged he made a statement which was committed to writing. The statement, which was handed to the magistrates, was not disclosed. Upon this evidence Inspector Pol- lard asked for a remand for a week, which was granted. The third son of Devereux is at a boarding school at Kenilworth. The father went there some weeks ago and said he was a widower desirous of placing his son out. The boy arrived a month ago. Devereux paid Sunday visits, and a few days ago endeavoured to arrange for the lad to be kept during the Easter holidays. Devereux represented that he had a twelve months' engagement at Coventry. POST-MORTEM EXAMINATIONS. I Ori Sunday Professor Pepper and Dr. Robertson. the divisional police surgeon, who conducted the post-mortem examination of the body of one of the two children, whose remains, with those of their mother, Mrs. Devereux, were found in a trunk made the autopsy of the other two bodies. The examination, which lasted several hours, was mainly directed to an attempt to discover any traces of poison. All the well known tests were applied, but without any positive result. While theinvestiga. tion failed to disclose the existence of any of the familiar mineral poisons which are more or less promptly discoverable, it was not, it is stated, of that exhaustive character to negative the supposi- tion that a somewhat obscure vegetable poison may have been employed. In fact, the state of certaio organs was consistent with the theory of the use of aconite, but the question will be left to the further investigations of Sir Thomas Stevenson, the Home Office expert, to determine, certain parts of the remains having been forwarded to the Home Office for this purpose.

THE FORTRESS OF VLADIVOSTOCK. J "The Russians think that the Japanese will never take Vladivostock,"said an intelligent Chinese who arrived on the Canton. "They believe the recently-constructed forts have made the town im- pregnable. Eight miles down the channel, and on the Eastern side of the city, there are six very strong forts which may be seen in the day-time from the deck of any ship passing up or down the channel. The guns of these forts all point to the seaward. There are more than six forts on the Eastern side of the city, but one cannot see them from the channel, although their guns doubtless cover it at every point."

A Hampshire inn bears the following tem- perance sermon on the signboard, "Be ye tem- perate in all things." A record mail from Calais has been made, nearly 7,000 bags of mail and parcel-post baskets passing through the port of Dov^r. Salt Lake City has imposed a ten-mile speed- limit for motors, on the ground that one motor accident in a Mormon community may create half-a-dozen widows and convert an entire school-house into an orphanage. Killing a Mormon, says "Motoring Illustrated," entails consequences which do mot apply to an average human man. A tramp arrested at Ratiabon proved to be a former German soldier, who, after fightin'g jn the war of 1870, was taken prisoner and con- veyed to Oran, whence he was carried away by Algerian, brigands, who have held him prisoner for more than thirty years. A resident at Winterswyk, Holland, has re- ceived a German letter bearing General Nogi's signature and expressing the general's thanks for a congratulatory postcard despatched to him on the occasion of tbe fall of Poet Arthur.

I HEALTH UTTERLY BROKEN. I 4NJEMIA, NERVOUS BREAKDOWN, INDIGESTION, RAPID WASTING, PALPITATIONS, INCIPIENT CONSUMPTION CURED BY DR. WILLIAMS' PINK PILLS. diUBmici Iccl to d complication o7 disorders and threatening Con- sumption. Dr. Williams' IJink Pills effected a complete euro. sumption. Dr. Williams' Pink Pill. effected a complete euro. The history of a terrible break- down, the result of lack of blood (Aritemia), and its wonderful cure bv Dr. Williains, Pink Pills for Pale People, the greatest strength- ening medicine ever discovered, is here given b y Mrs. Luxton, 39, Wingfield -ro ad, Sherborne. The best doc- tors I Could find I consulted," said she. "Each of them gave my complaint a differ- ent name, but my friends thought I was in Consumption. So WEAK AND FRAIL had I become that I could neither eat, sleep, nor work. For some time I had suffered very badly from indigestion and a nervous breakdown. I lost hope of ever being better, and never thought I should got out again. I had palpitations and severe pains in the chest. I fell away to a shadow. All food was repugnant. The Consumption I was hastening to was really due to lack of blood. Dr. Williams' Pink Pills gave me the blood I needed so badly, and that is why they cured me when no ordinary remedies could. Other medicine might brace me up, but what I wanted was new blood." How soon after beginning Dr. Williams' Pink Pills did you feel a change ? After I had taken two boxes I began to feel a different woman. I took five or six boxes, and by that time could eat my meals and enjoy them. I have since taken Dr. Williams' Pink Pills when I required a tonic, but my old complaint has never returned." Loss of appetite is a sign that food is not digesting. Weakness and Bile naturally follow. The splendid appetite which Dr. Williams' Pink Pills give shows that they cure Indigestion at once, They do it by making New Blood. Mothers know why they and their daughters need new blood more than men; but men can be Anaemic, too. The weak back, easy fatigue, lack of interest of life and general nervous weakness which trouble both men and women, need New Blood to cure them. Nerves that need new blood to feed them show their need in Neuralgia, fits, St. Vitus' dance, eventually Paralysis, locomotor ataxy and utter breakdown. Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People can cure all these things: but only the genuine pills. To avoid substitutes, purchasers should take care to see the full name, as above, on the wrapper, before paying.

I A PIGEON TALE. A correspondent of the "Spectator" quotes from a friend's letter an amusing story of colum- barian vanity: The two fantail pigeons you gave us have two young ones, who have been going about on their own account, only for the last week. They are beautiful; just like their parents, except that one of them has three black feathers in the middle of his tail. This morning I was called to the window to see the two old birds in their bath, the young bird between them, trying to wash his tail white! They were alternately stamping on the tail in the water and pecking at it. This is a fact. They do not behave unkindly at all; on the contrary, they are extremely affectionate to both young ones alike."

I SOLDIER AND NURSE. A pathetic story of the war is told by the Express" correspondent at Kobe. Teodore Chesnetzky, a stalwart young soldier, was taken to the Red Cross Hospital at Matsuyama riddled with shrapnel. His ribs and limbs were ampu- tated, and after the operation, to the amazement of the doctors, Chesnetzky lived for eight months, lying quite helpless on his 'mattresses. He was attended by Nurse Kawaguchi, and he became so much attached to her that he would cry like a child when he could not see her. Her devotion and tenderness were such that she scarcely left him for eight months, and she was with him when he died.

GASTRIC CATARRH AND INDIGESTION. The root of all physical weakness is indigestion and exhausted nerve cells; when the stomach gives out Enumerable troubles follow. A healthy stomach is our best investment. Mrs. J. W. Beacher, 24, Frederick-road, Gorleston-on-Sea, was suffering from loss of flesh, chronic indigestion and nervous weakness, with severe headaches. Nothing appeared to do her good until she took VBNO'S SEAWEED TONIC; this famous remedy accomplished a complete cure. VENO'S SEAWEED TONIC possesses marvellous strengthening and healing properties. The most successful remedy for stomach, liver, kidney and blood diseases especially successful in female weakness and constipation. For purity, medicinal activity, and all-round potency it has not its equal anywhere. Cures permanently. No return. Price Is. lid. and 2s. 9d., at Chemists everywhere.

— A COMIC CONSPIRACY. It is now asserted that the mysterious rifles of the French conspirators were convened from Belgium'in canal barges, and that they were disembarked at some place on the river near Puteaux or Courbevoie, whence they were taken away with the accompanying con- signments of sword-bayonets to a safe place. In connection with this strange affair, which is considered serious by some and utterly ludicrous by others (says the "Telegraph's" correspon- dent), it is affirmed that Captain Tamburini, or his agent, went to London m the course of last February for the purpose of obtaining recruits among the young Frenchmen living in the capi- tal of England. The recruiter visited public- houses frequented by French persons, but he does not seem to have accomplished his object. There is another theory to the effect that the sham plot was simply and solely the pet project of Captain Tamburini, who, according to the testimony of some persons who know him, is touched with the "folie desi grandeurs," and im- agines that he ought to be carrying out, enter- prises of "great pith and moment." Hence he hatched the bogus plot, at which the majority of people are laughing.

ANOTHER FLOATING EXHIBITION. According to reports from Brussels, King Leopold has conceived an original idea to show to the world what Belgium produces. A boat is to be specially fitted out under proper Govern- ment supervision and carrying the Belgian flag and having specially arranged exhibits of Bel- gian products. The vessel would carry guns re- quired for saluting, and would have special pri- vileges assuring proper reception at foreign ports. If the first experiment proves to be a success, a second floating exhibition of the kind would be equipped.

PELTIC LANGUAGE."—There id a language of flowers, of fans, of handkerchiefs, and various other things, but what of a language of furs? The invention is a recent creation, but has still the approving voice of the authorities, and is called the Peltic Language." Ermine denotes purity, combined witha changeable and violent disposition, Sable means refinement and generosity. Astrachan denotes jealousy. Chinchilla modesty. Beaver, as might be imagined, stands for industry, and a temperament that is able to surmount difficulties. Lynx, as the name suggests, is evidence of pene- tration and carefulness. Otter shows a calm, calculating, but withal just naturo. Mole is the iynonym of avarice.

IF THERE'S TROUBLE IN THE KITCHEN, THERE'S WORRY IN THE HOUSE; Then don't have trouble, but see that your Cook has plenty of Keating's Powder and uses it. Sprinkle it on the floor at night, and sweep up the dead Beetles in the morn- ing. Sold everywhere. Tins only, 3d., 6d., & Is. Bellows (full) 9d. Plymoiifii "possesses a nine-year-old heroine, named Clara Smith. From a pool of water six feet deep, under the Hoe, she rescued a girl companion of-the same age. The proposalform a spot market for cotton in Manchester, Intended to counteract future operations of gamblers in America has for the present fallen through. Venturing down a railway cutting at Alder- -shot, in search of birds' nests, a nine year old boy named Jepp was cut to pieces by a pas. seiiger train. .4 t j for ww for „ | f If yours won't, TRY NEXT SHOP, j Sec the name || I 'Pi&lW IDEXTHL3 FoPt to an the Band'. I Yon will SAVE MONEY V 2 "fco^toorth A'&ocb/ r and get A GOOD SMOKE. | y M vlf enable to progare, write to the makera^/ M 8S> {ESS R.UDEXTER-SonS 1? nOTTlMGHAry. 1.- -A_ .?

I "THE LAWS DELAY." I Had "Jarndyce v. Jarndyce" lasted a hundred years, says the "Law Journal," when it came to a premature end because all the pro- perty in dispute had been eaten up in costs, Dickens does not say. But he tells us, while it is still alive, that fair wards of Court have faded into mothers and grandmothers, and the little plaintift or defendant who was promised a new rocking-horse when it should be settled had grown up, possessed himself of a real horse, and trotted into the other world. This may seem the language of exaggeration. Yet there is, at the present moment, a veritable centenarian among Chancery causes, which was before the Court of Appeal last week. It arose out of the will of one Antonio de Souza of Madras, who died in 1797, and the question to be decided was whether some great-grandchildren of the testator or certain charities were entitled to a fund in Court.

A FORTUNE FROM MARRIAGE ANNOUNCEMENTS. At first marriage announcements were pub- lished free, as they still are by many provincial papers. But in the early days of the "Times" it was the custom, in announcing a marriage, to state the amount of the bride's dowry— £ 20,000 or E30,000, whatever it might happen to be- and in looking over the paper one morning Mrs. Walter threw out the suggestion that if a man married all that money he might certainly pay a trifling amount to the printer for acquainting the world with the fact. "These marriage fees would form a nice little pocket money for me, my dear," added Mrs. Walter, and as a joke her husband tried the experiment. The charge at first was but a trifle, and the annual amount probably not much; but Mrs. Walter, at her death, passed this prescriptive right of hers to her daughter; and when, a few years ago, the right was repurchased by the present'pro- prietor, it was assessed at C4,000 or £5,000 a year.

I MR. ROOSEVELT'S HOLIDAY. I EIGHTEEN WOLYES KILLED. The following despatch has been received in New York from Frederick, Oklahoma: President Roosevelt has been here en route to Colorado for bears. His party killed eighteen wolves near here. The skins will be shipped to Washington for Mr. Roosevelt as mementoes of the hunt. The usual precautions were taken for the President's safety, including a track walker at I' every mile on the line over which the special train passes."

BLOOD SPITTING AND WEAK LUNGS. DOCTORS FAILED. CUBED BY VENO'S LIGHTNING COUGH CURE. Mr. Clarke, 58, Nelson-street, Aberdeen, writes I I have been suffering many years with chronic I bronchitis and asthma. For a long time I was in a low state, having been weakened by continual j vomiting and spitfiing of blood. In July last I | commenced taking VENO'S LIGHTNING COUGH CURE; I had then been off work six months. The j first dose gave me relief and I rapidly improved. I am now cured, enjoying good health, quite a new man; everybody is surprised. I breathe freely, my cough and vomiting is stopped. I cannot realise after so much doctoring and suffering how your Cough Cure has cured me so quickly." VENO'S LIGHTNING COUGH CURE is the most efficient remedy procurable for coughs, colds. bronchitis, asthma, catarrh, weak lungs, and children's coughs. 9!d., Is. lid., and 2s. 9d., at 2 Chemists everywhere.

J DISPUTE OVER OLD BONES. I A quarrel of a somewhat gruesome aspect is I at present taking place at NeuvilLer, in Al- saee. It seems, says the "Advertiser," that the j vicar of the place, after coming to an arrange- | ment with tbe Consistory, desired to instalf a j heating boiler in the church. In order to do this the old cemetery which surrounds. the chuiuh had to be dug up. In the operations no fewer than 1,200 skeletons were brought to light. The pastor decided to bury the bones in the Protestant cemetery, but the Roman Catholic priest of the place claimed the skeletons, alleg- ¡ ing that they were those of people who died at I a time when the whole of Neuvilter professed I the Roman Catholic faith. The Protestant pastor disputes this claim. The civil and ec- clesiastical authorities have intervened in the I quarrel, but no arrangement has as yet been » arrived at. i —=======

The Romford Guardians have cautioned two pensioners, who, it was reported, drove back to the workhouse in a cab, after spending their pension money. One member characterised it a.s "splendid poverty." A little town called Chilliwick, on the Fraser River, holds the curious record of having per- formed a play in which no fewer than two thou- sand individuals took part. All the characters 'were Red men. Each of the 2,922 votes recorded for Mr. Leif Jones the successful Liberal candidate, at the recent bye-election in North Westmoreland, cost 8s. lid. Major Noble's figure for 2,702 votes works out at 8s. llfd. each. 4 The election at Asgarby, near Horacastle, for a rural district councillor was a novelty. There were votes recorded by every elector, and eacii of the two candidates received seven votes the process of drawing lots the vicar was de- the process of drawing lots the vicar was de- clared returned. The. confession made by William Richardson at Wood-green that he murdered a woman in Jamaica eleven years ago proves to be a bogus one. It is supposed that he was umdei the impression that he would be .sent to his own country for trial, and so get a free passage home. w

A PRINCESS'S SARCOPHAGUS. Professor Naville and Mr. Hall are still pro- ceeding apace with their discoveries at Deir-el- Bahari (Thebes). They have found in the eleventh dynasty temple a sarcophagus of white marble. It was made for the Princess Kaa, and asfits like for fine workmanship has as yet not been seen, it will be kept by the Egyptian Museum authorities. From certain inscriptions they have been able to determine that King Nebkheru-ra's wife was an Ethiopian. These two gentlemen have also un- earthed some magnificent statues of Usertsen IL. and two of these will be exhibited at the Egypt Exploration Fund Exhibition in London this summer, the remainder of the statues being re- tained in the Cairo Museum.

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A PRISON MARRIAGE. Not long ago the dead-walls of London were placarded with a huge pictorial poster illustrat- ing a prison marriage, and intended to advertise a forthcoming sensational story. An actual in- cident of the sort is narrated in the latest Australian mail news. A young woman at Ben- digo was convicted of perjury and sentenced to a month's imprisonment. The perjury consisted in her saying that she was married to a certain man when she was not. Before the trial the man wanted to make her legally his wife, but the authorities objected. After the conviction they allowed the couple to be married in the gaol chapel, with two warders as witnesses.

RAT-RIDDEJN ISLAND. Mr. T. C. Kerry, the well-known explorer, is due in England shortly in his yacht Pandora, after visiting the lonely island of Tristan Da Cunha and some neighbouring islets in the South Atlantic. Tristan Da Cunha, which lies out of the track of most South Atlantic vessels, was peopled by a few artillerymen, who were sent there by the British Government in 1816 to keep watch (over 1500 miles of sea) on Napoleon's movements in St. Hele-aa. At the time of the Challenger expedition's visit in 1873, the colony had grown to seventy people; now it has increased by ten. The men, Mr. Kerry in- formed the Express Capetown correspondent, are very poorly dressed-only a few have jackets —but all are healthy. The women, who are comely looking, are better off. The little commu- nity has no money, no church, no law. The island is so overrun with rats that cereal crops cannot be grown. Kr. Kerry ohiained a twenty-five years concession from the Colonial Office to examine and exploit the guano deposits ofjlnaccessible, Nightin- gale, and Gough Islands, which are neighbours to Tristan Da Cunha. He reached the islands in the middle of February, and states that the d& posits are very large, and of exceptionally good quality. He proposes to make arrangements in England for Working them. One member of the expedition (Mr. Macan) lost his life while shooting on some dangerous rocks in Inaccessible island, where he had been warned by natives not to g(-. His body was subsequently found, and buried in a coffin made of the boxes in which Mr. Kerry hac4 carried the mails from England to Tristan D* Cunha.

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FrSd yoU your old school friend, Sophy Smythe?" She: "Yes, indeed, I foo WW? absurd-looking thing. So silly, too! What he,came of her?" He: cc Oh, nothing. Only-l marrilOO ller."    ""S'Dg speech last night George decla-red that he could not live without me, and asked me to be his wife." Gladys: "In a ringing speech, eh?" Grayce "Y's; and if you don t believe it, there's the ring." Employer (to new office boy): "Has the cashier told you what you are to do this after- noon ?" Office Boy: "Yes, sir I'm to wake him when I see vou coming. "I'm getting along much better now with Mies !Roxley." "You don't say? I was toldt her j father kicked you out every time you called, i So be does; but he doesn't kick me as hard he used to."

I "WIRELESS" PUZZLE. The captain of the steamship Bermudian, when 380 miles out from New York, sent a wire- less message to the agents, in spite of his opera- tor's protest that it would be useless to transmit it, because it was impossible that it should be received. The agents got it, however, but only by mail from Cleveland, Ohio. The message had skipped every other wireless telegraphy station, and chosen an operator 900 miles away, who had no idea of its coming, but who received every signal with the utmost clearness.

King Edward's public visit to Manchester, when His Majesty will open the new large dock of the Ship Canal, will probably take place during the latter part of July. In France there are 6,000,000 smokers, and of every fifteen there are eight who smoke a pipe, five who smoke cigars, and only two who use cigarettes. Still the French consume more than 8,000,000 cigarettes^a.yean