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

Major J. H. Beacon, who is relinquishing the post of military attache at the American Em- bassy, and Captain S. Clonan, his secceosor, were received at Buckingham Palace by me Klllg, who bade farewell to the former, and cordially welcomed the latter. 'I A Driffield gentleman has given a dinner to the ten oldest inhabitants, whose ages ranged from 97 to 70. The senior guest, who began life as a farmer's boy, and became a farm fore- man, sang twice during the festive evening. An unknown workman lately seen at Ponty- pool commit fed suicide by dropping off the Crumplin viaduct, a well-known bridge 210ft. higlj, Before he fell he was seen hanging to the "viaduct above the chasm.

FISHING FLEET DISASTER. t Valentia Harbour was the scene of a sad calamity on Monday evening. About eight o'clock two boats returning from the fiehing grounds, heavily laden with fish, were upset near the lighthouse, and their crews, number- ing eight men, were drowned. The night was pitch dark, and there was a heavy swell, accom- j panied by a cross-tide. The -leading boat was coming into harbour under sail, and thf other j was being rowed, when the sail of the leading vessel was seen to disappear. Their cries were heard by other returning boats, which, however, were unable to render assistance, as they tlicm- j selves were loaded to the gunwales. At daybreak on Tuesday it was found that the | two boats, with their crews, were missing, It is believed that they were swamped at a poiat where the tides met in the narrow channel. The unfortunate men were among the most ex- perienced fishermen in the Valentia fleet. A third boat nearly came to grief at the same spot on Tuesday morning on her return after a night's fishing. Her crew were flung into the water, but were rescued by a passing boat. While a man named O'Donoghue was running along the cliffs in response to the cries for assistance, he missed his footing and fell. He was found later on with a fractured skull, and little hopes are entertained of his recovery.

THE ARBROATH DISASTER. "You have nothing whatever to do Tvith the question of criminal responsibility or of civil liability," said Sheriff Ferguson in opening the public inquiry at Arbroath into the accident at Elliot-junction on the Dundee and Arbroath Joint Railway, by which 22 lives were lost and many persons seriously injured. The evidence of James Tytier, stationmaster at Easthaven, showed that Mr. George Hamilton, the manager of the joint line, gave instructions lor the work- ing of a single line between, Elliot and East- haven. On the question of responsibility for the accident, several questions were put to Mr. Hamilton. He was asked if a driver on leaving Arbroath would get authority from the station- master there, and replied that the driver would be cautioned at Arbroath. Funher cross-ex- amined as to whether the local tri,in which was standing at Elliot should have been protected by detonators to warn approaching engines not to come up, Mr. Hamilton said it was not im- perative on the'stationmaster to carry out this duty. The signalman at Elliot-junction, Oliver Gibb, admitted that more than one of the danger sig- nals were slightly drooping, bul, they could not be taken for clear signals. William Hagart, the other signalman at Elliot, who was on duty at the time of the accident, corroborated Gibb regarding the drooping signals. For a period of five minutes, when the blizzard was at its height, the home signal could not be seen. That was just about the time the accident hap- pened. Hagart was taken ill while being cross- examined, and would have fallen from the wit- ness-box had not several people rushed to his assistance. He recovered sufficiently, however, to continue his evidence. The position of the signals was described by William Boyd, relief man at Elliot, who wit- nessed the disaster. He said they were at danger both before and after the smash. He thought the driver of the North British train could see them a hundred yards away. At the moment of the crash the storm was as bad as it had been at any time. The dispatch of the 3.15 local train from Arbroath was described by John Grant, the stationniaster there. Before the train left he said to Gourlay, the driver, "You are to call at all stations between Arbroath and Dundee, and go very cautiously." The Procurator Fiscal: Was that all you said to him?—Certainly, and it was quite sufficient. He said, "All right." I said the same to the guard, Janies Kinear, and to the assistant guard. What did the "caution" imply?—That the North British ought not to have gone beyond the signal at Elliot. The driver should have waited there for permission to proceed. The caution system means that signals are to be taken as at danger. It had not occurred to him, said the stationmaster, in reply to Gourlay's counsel (Mr. Young), when he sent forward the North British, that the local train would pro- bably be detained at Elliot. William D. Hird, an Arbroath draper, said that at noon at Arbroath Station he saw a pas- senger give something in a glass to Gourlay and his fireman. Witness assumed it was alco- holic liquor. George S. Crochet, spirit merchant, of Ar- broath, said that on the day of the accident, be- tween noon and one o'clock, three men came into his shop and were supplied with whisky. One of them was Gourlay, but what the men had would not intoxicate them. George Fairley, clerk, of Arbroath, said he met Gourlay, on the 28th, and offered him re- freshment, but the driver remarked that he had his work to do. Witness saw nothing wrong with Gourlay. There was a crowded court on Monday. Be- fore the, taking of evidence was resumed the Sheriff, members of the jury, the Procurator- Fiscal, counsel, and others taking part in the proceedings all went to the station, where an engine built on the same lines as the North. British Railway locomotive which dashed into the stationary local train was closely inspected. The first witness was a parcel clerk named Whitton. He said he went on the cab of Gourlay's engine at Arbroath shortly before the accident, and saw Gourlay leaning over the side. Gourlay's speech was thick, and witness could not make out what lie said. John Ogilvie, driver of the local train which preceded the North British, said it was only possible to distinguish the signals between the blasts of the storm at about 100 yards. After the collision he found Gourlay lying on his face amid the coals. His left hand was pinned by the cab of his engine, and the first words he uttered were, Where's my bonnet?" Witness saw no sign of drink about Gourlay. James Kinnear, guard of the North British train, put the speed at sixteen to twenty miles an hour. At half-past One in the afternoon Gourlay was practically sober." At the time of the collision there was a blinding blizzard. He did not see either the distant or the home signal at Elliot. It was impossible to see any- thing. On Tuesday evidence was given by Sergeant Alexander, of the Forfarshire Constabulary, who said that, after the accident, Gourlay was staggering about the platform, and Dr. Kelly, who examined the driver, told witness that the man was suffering from drink. Mr. John Porter said Gourlay seemed shaity on his less after the accident, and he gave him three-quarters of a tumblerful of brandy. ac he thought Gourlay was the worse for dnnfc he would not have done so. Dr. Duncan and Dr. pilruth deposed to Gour- lay's suspicious condition. ^he ° Gourlay's speech might have been the conse- quence^ Shock, but not his confused manner, which was'due to alcohol. Henrv Christie, a teacher statea that fifteen minutes after the accident Gourlay said "It's n hnrl hnsiness • we'll hear more of H but I m awfully glad nobody was killed or nijurcd. He then lurched like one under the influence of drink. A spirited defence. of the character and con- duct of Gourlay, the engine-driver concerned in the Arbroath railway disaster, was made by Mr. Richard Bell, M.P., at a series of meetings nn Sunday at the different railway stations at Tunbridge Wells. Mr. Bell said the driver was one of the most experienced and most sober drivers of to-day, and worthy of all honour and praise for his devotion.to his duty..

LITERARY CHAT. The Queen has written to Miss Helene Gin- gold, accepting a copy of her poetic tragedy, "Abelard and Heloise. "The American Scene"—Mr. Henry Jamps's book about America-will be issued by Messrs. Chapman towards the end of January It con- sists of his impressions of hie native country, during a recent visit to it. Mr. Hall Caine's next story will appear hi "Appleton's Magazine," a very enterprising magazine in America, which has also secured novel by Maxim Gorky. An abridged version of Webster's "Interna- tional Dictionary," to be called Webster's Col- legiate Dictionary," is announced by Messrs. G. Bell and Sons. A special edition will be- printed on thin paper, so that its 1,116 pages will have a thickness of only an inch and a half., Messrs T. C. and E. C. Jack, of Edinburgh, are bringing out, in parts, the splendid designs of the most distinguished architects of the day for the great "Palace of Peace at The Hague,, a building which will owe its existence to the munificence of Mr. Carnegie. New books of all kinds published in 1906 num- bered 6,985, says the "Publishers' Circular, the five chief classes being -Novels, tales, etc. 2,883; educational and classical, 916; political and economical, 760; religious, 737; history and biography, 641; and poetry and the drama, 458. Mr. Keir Hardie, M.P., announces that he is committing that "last act of infirmity of noble minds"—writing a book. It is stated that the work will bear the title "Socialism," and will be the first volume of a series entitled "Thee Labour Ideal," published by Mr. George Allen. As a help in his legal work Sir Edward Clarke always uses the ehorthand which he learned for journalism. He has, in spare moments,, prepared a little volume on "easy shorthand," and it will appear soon. An initial quality which Sir Edward claims for his system is that it can readily be mastered without a teacher. A valuable addition to the history of the United States will be made by the publication of the concluding volume of Dr. Rhodes's "His- tory of the United States from the Compromise of i850 to the Final Restoration of Home Rule to the South in 1877," announced by Messrs. Macmillan. Dr. Rhodes's work has' already been recognised as a remarkably complete and. judicious history of the American Civil War.. This last volume describes the "final restoration of Home Rule" to the Southern States in 1877- The new novel of Curtis Yorke, "The World and Delia," announced by Mr. John Long, treats of the marriage of a good-looking widower of forty with a girl half his age whose marriage offers a way out from her cramped and hum- drum existence, and it describes the wife's- gradually developed love for her husband, and his for her. In general etyle the story is among the best of this author's works. Two popular novelists publishing with Mr. T. Werner Laurie are Victoria Cross, the scene of whose new novel, "Life's Shop Window," is laid partly in England and partly in the wild regions of America and M. P. Shiel, who in "The Last Miracle" completes the triology begun with "The Lord of, the Sea" and con- r tinued with "Purple Cloud." "E. Nesbit," whose delightful stories have;' been read by thousands of children-and grown- ups" too-is known in private life as Mrs. Hubert Bland. Mrs. Bland is also a poet as well a a writer of charming proee. She lives in a pleasant old house in Kent, and is fond of out-door exercise and country pleasures. Her first book, "Lays and Legends," was published, in 1886. A popular new edition of Dickens is io bo ■ "T issued by his old publishers, Chapman and Hall. It is being printed in a handsome large type from the text of the famous Gadshill edition, and will be of a rather large pocket size. The price is a shilling, and there will be twenty-two volumes. Those who want this- Everyone's Dickens-as it may fairly be called —in leather need only pay a shilling more fl.. volume. The lady who first won fame as Miss Mary E. Wilkins, and who is still best known to readers- by that name, has written a novel of 500 pages,, which Messrs. Harper announce. By the Light of the Soul is the new book's title, and New England life is the subject. Sir Oliver Lodge is about to publish, with Messrs. Methuen, a little book entitled The Substance of Faith." It is an attempt to draw up a statement of creed which shall, on the one hand, be acceptable to Christians and shall utilise the long experience of the race and the insight- of inspired seers, and, on the other hand, shall be able to stand the strain of scientific scrutiny. The book is an elaboration and expansion of the "catechism" which Sir, Oliver has recently put forth, and which has excited so much interest. It is interesting to learn from the New York Tribune that the six best selling books im one week in New York itself were in the follow- ing order: The Call of the Blood," by Robert Hichens; "The Doctor," by Ralph Connor; "White Fang," by Jack London; The Fighting Chance," by R. W. Cham- bers Resonor, by Gertrude Atherton and Coniston," by Winston Churchill., Of these writers only one is of English birth—that is, Mr. Hichens, who heads the list. Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co. are aDOUfc to adopt a new feature in the book trade. They will agree to accept the return of unsold books before the end of two months after issue, in the proportion of one in every three subscribed for by the retail trade. Messrs. Routledge an- nounce that they will also subscribe ".books on the sale or return principle, and the general opinion in the bookselling trade is that the step is a very desirable one. Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, Limited, who until lately confined themselves to publishing, shorthand, educational, and commercial books, intend to pay more attention in th' future to publications of general literary interest. They are issuing Recollections of a Humorist," by Mr. Arthur W. a Beckett, one of the late em-" bers of the staff of Punch," who as a jour- nalist in his time has met most people worth knowing in the literary and social world. Among the awards of the Geological Society for this .year is that of the Murchison Fuiid to Dr. Felix Oswald, B.A. Dr. Oswafd is the- author of a book on the geology of Armenia, in which he was able for the first time to supply accurate details of the structure of the great volcanoes and lakes of the country. Not the, least remarkable feat accomplished by the author was the personal production of his own book, the type-setting, printing, map-making, and copying, being done at his own house in Dulwich, by his own hands. Mrs. Humphry Ward,, who has been so plea- santly discussing children's games, can recall tp 9 an interesting juvenile recreation that does not, fall to the lot of many girls. She was born in Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, which is the insular State of the Commonwealth. Her father, Thomas Arnold, son of Arnold of Rugby, was the Government inspector of schools in Tasmania in the fifties, and, as he mentions in his autobiography, his little daughter, the future novelist, was wont to accompany him on his official travels through one of the most pictures- que parts of the British Empire. A story entitled The Stooping Lady," which' Mr. Maurice Hewlett has written, will appear late in the summer.

WALMER SHOOTING CHAtlGE. j Patrick Edward Trainor, a London commer- cial traveller, was brought before the Cinque Port magistrates at Deal on Tuesday charged with attempting to murder Alexander Augustus Gould. Trainor, who says that Gould had taken his wife from him, visited Gould at Wal- mer, and, it is alleged, fired five shots at him with a revolver. Dr. Hardman, who was for the prosecution, said Trainor's wife took a furnished house at Deal in the autumn, and Mrs. Trainor and her daughters and the prosecutor and his wife visited one another. Mrs. Trainor, who lived apart from her husband, never consulted him as to her affairs. On the date of the charge Mrs. Trainor and her daughters came from Folkestone to Walmer. The prisoner, who was at Margate, received a telegram from an inquiry agent, and came to Deal in consequence. After driving to the house he called at the police- I station, and told an inspector he had reason to believe his wife was at Mr. Gould's house, I and said he was going to see her. He drove to the house and was told that Mr. Gould was in but was "not at home," but that Mrs. Trainor was there. In the drawing-room were Mr. Gould, Mrs. Trainor, and her two daughters. The prisoner was admitted to the hall, and followed the maid to the drawing-room. Mr. ¡ Gould came forward, put his hand on Trainor's shoulder, and said: "You must, please, leave j my house." The prisoner replied: "You had better be careful," and went back into the hall, followed by Mr. Gould. The prisoner demanded to see his wife, and Gould called to the maid to send for a constable. Trainor said: "Do you mean that?" and, feeling about his coat, said: "You have taken my wife." Producing a re- volver he fired five shots in quick succession. Two glancing shots struck Gould's head, one his chin, one his side, and one entered his arm. Since his arrest the prisoner had inquired whether Gould was dead, and said Gould had taken his wife from him three months ago. Mr. Gould, cross-examined, denied that there were any grounds for the prisoner's assertions that he had taken away his wife. The case was adjourned. Mr. Armstrong, in applying for bail, said that the prisoner had no intention of committing murder when he went to the house to see his wife about his son's schooling. Dr. Hardman opposed the application on the ground that it would endanger the wife. Bail was allowed in two sureties of £ 200 and the prisoner's own of £ 400. I

BALACLAVA HERO DEAD. I Mr. Nehemiah Eastoe, who had been in fail- ing health for some considerable time, died at Leytonstone on Monday evening. He was said to be the youngest survivor of the famous charge nf the Light Brigade at Balaclava, being at the time of his death in his seventy-fourth year. He joined the army very much under age. Mr. Eastoe belonged to the 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own), and with that regiment served throughout the Crimean campaign, obtaining the medal and four clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman, and Sebastopol, and the Turkish medal In the charge he received no fewer than seven severe wounds. Mr. Eastoe was the father of twenty-two children, the youngest of ivhom is now only eight years old.

CURIOUS MARRIAGE TANGLE. I Elizabeth Jones, after having been married for thirty years and having had thirteen chil- dren, discovered that the marriage was illegal and went away with William GarDutt, who had been her lodger. This was the story told to the South Shields magistrates on Tuesday, when Israel Jones, a miner, charged Elizabeth, who had believed herself to be his wife, with having stolen household goods belonging to him, and Garbutt with having received the goods. Israel Jones said that his mother had a daughter be- fore marriage, and that illegitimate child had a daughter whom he had married. It thus ap- peared that he had married his own niece. A police-sergeant stated that, when arrested the woman Elizabeth claimed the things in question as her own, saying that they were wedding presents. She intended to marry Gar- butt, having t/.ken legal advice as to the marriage with Jones. Elizabeth told the Bench that the thought of her marriage being invalid and her children illegitimate had preyed upon her mind and had broken her heart. But for Garbutt she would have committed suicide. ■

——————————— I PRINCE ATTEMPTS SUICIDE. I Prince Shon es Sultaneh, a younger brother of the new Shah, has, according to the New York Herald," tried to commit suicide by taking opium. He declares that he will take his life unless the Shah gi ants him the Governorship of the Province of Fars. The new monarch has declared the late Shah's firmans for the last four months void. This is particularly hard on Prince Shon es Sultaneh, who obtained many grants from the dying Shah, including an extra twelve thousand sterling annually.

ARRESTED AFTER SEVEN YEARS. I At Monaghan, on Tuesday, John McCaffrey,, of Cornamurvey, was charged with the murder of Patrick McMahon, of Drumgiff, on June 29, 1899, between Corbane and Cornamurvey. From the evidence it appeared that McMahon had taken possession of a piece of disputed land on the day in question, and that a quarrel ensued between him, the accused, and the latter's sister and mother. A brother-in-law of McMahon said that when he went to the scene he found McCaffrey holding McMahon, while McCaffrey's mother and sister were beating him about the head with sticks, and Mary Anne McCaffrey, the sister, struck McMahon with a pitchfork while the witness was dragging him away from them. He took McMahon across the stream to the opposite bank, where he collspsed and died. Evidence was given of the arrest of the two women on the day following the occurrence and of the issuing of the warrant for McCaffrey, who had disappeared. On the 31st of December last he was arrested at Thornaby-on-Tees, in Eng- land. McCaffrey was committed for trial.

Mr. Henry Wilson, 75, of Farnborough Granpe, Kent, while riding a tricycle along the Bromlev-road, Catford, in the direction of home, in passing a van. fell, cr was knocked on his machine. The wheels of the van passed over his chest, causing instantaneous death.

I NEWS IN BRIEF. I Tragedies and Disasters. If Henry Allen, engineman at Messrs. Simp- son's cotton spinning mills at Mayfield, Stalls, was instantly killed on Monday by the bursting of the main feed-pipe. Mr. Henry Morris, aged 66, father of the Mr. Henry Morris, aged 66, father of the Great Western Railway stationmaster at Paignton, was crossing the railway at Young's park, on Monday, when he was knocked down by a train and killed. The J wheels passed over his body, which was ter- ribly mutilated. 'I Thomas Hallett, 70 years old, a Crimean veteran, was found dead in bed on Monday at his residence at York. He had hanged I himself to the bedpost. A farmer named Hollow was driving home from Broxbourne on Monday when his trap overturned, and he was thrown out -and i killed. A man whom he had picked up on the road was badly injured. An oil stove which she was carrying up- stairs exploded and killed Mrs. Sarah Shen- ton at Burnt Tree, Tipton. During a football match Francis McManus, a player, expired on the field after scoring a goal. Dr. Fowler told a Sunderland jury on Monday that death was due to heart failure from excitement, or to sudden apoplexy. When proceeding to Lowestoft with a good cargo of fish on Monday the smack Ivanhoe was run down by a steamer. The mate, named Buckles, was drowned, and the skip- per, Charles Willgross, died soon after being picked up. Frederick Turner, a platelayer, was deca- pitated by the Eastbourne express. "Acci- dental death" was the verdict at the in- dues t. Accidents. When a horse and cart were passing a dis- used marl hole at Tividale on Monday the earth subsided. Horse and cart fell into the hole, the animal being drowned. Two public-houses in Broad-street, Lime- rick, fell with a crash., The inmates of the bars, some of them in the act of lifting glasses to their lips, were warned of the col- lapse iust in time to scurry out. The Lowestoft trawler Godild was wrecked at the mouth of the Maas, on the Dutch coast. The crew were saved.. In conscquc-n Ic-e of the derailment of a train at the Angel station, Islington, on the City and South London Railway, traffic between that station and Old-street was stopped for nearly two hours. Whilst two men were pouring water into a gas chandelier at Bristol one of them lit a candle. An explosion followed, knocking both men down, and damaging the room. From Other Lands. Alfonso Iamuzzo, a builder, of New York, dropped dead recently while singing. He was straining to emulate Caruso's highest note, and the effort caused heart failure. The Mexican courts have refused to recog- nise the claim of the negress Flora Wolfy that she was, under the common law, wife of the late Lord Delaval Beresford, and there- fore entitled to a larger share of the estate than the £ 2,000 bequeathed to her According to the New York World," two cats belonging to Mr. John Konig, of New York, became disgracefully intoxicated re- cently. Mr. Konig could not account for their lapse, until he discovered that they had killed and eaten mice which had feasted on a, fruit cake which had been seasoning for weeks in brandy. Admiral Gervais and M. Lockroy, formerly French Minister of Marine, have had a con- sultation, with a view to the development of the French merchant marine and the im- provement of large ships and large ports. The American National Rifle Association has directed its secretary to arrange a match with Great Britain. National and Pottiictil. Sir Montague Ommanney relinquished on Tuesday the post of Permanent Secretary at the Colonial Office, and Sir Francis Hop- wood, his successor, formally took over the duties of the post on Wednesday. Durham miners have decided to run their president, Alderman W. House, as an addi- tional Labour parliamentary candidate at the first opportunity. Convened at the request of a number of miners, a meeting held in the IIkeston, Division of Derbyshire took preliminary steps to form a Miners' Unionist Association. Many miners are opposed to supporting Labour and Socialist candidates. The Harringay Liberal and Radical Asso- ciation have passed a resolution.expressing strong disapproval of the principles upon which the Lord Chancellor proposes to select names for the position of magistrates, having regard to the Tory preponderance. The association urge that a more democratic method be adopted. Told in the Courts. Four-hundred and fifty-one summonses, in- cluding thirty-five against passive resisters, were granted by the magistrates at Scar- borough on Monday. Eleven seamen were sentenced at Liverpool on Monday to a month's imprisonment for combining to disobey orders on board the Welsford liner Ilcali. Mrs. Elizabeth Slowe was committed for trial at Salford on Monday on the charge of feloniously setting fire to the arches under- "c neath the Exchange Station, Manchester. George Garton who stopped a little boy on an errand, and took from him a shilling was sent to prison for four months at Hull on Monday. Mrs. Gillard, whose husband was sent to gaol at the last Bristol Assizes for attempt- ing her life, and Mrs. Marsden were on Mon- day ordered to pay fares to the amount of 24s. to a cabman who had driven them to and from the court during the assizes. Each pleaded that the other ought to pay. You are a blooming toff," exclaimed William Gibson, labourer, when sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment by the Hull Re. corder on Mondajr. Judge Emden refused to make an oi'der in the Bromley County Court against a labourer who was earning 32s. a week, and had a wife and four children. He said it would be tak- ing bread out of the children's mouths. Charlotte Hughes was awarded X300 under the Workmen's Compensation Act at West Bromwich for the loss of her husband, who was employed by the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Waggon Company. The World of Sport. An exciting partridge drive took place within the premises of Messrs. Shirreff and Co., in Liidgate-hill Arches, City of London, where a young bird, which had probably been brought up to town on one of the Chat- ham Railway goods trains, afforded gooS sport before being caught. An angling competition for R5 at Lowes- toft attracted 104 competitors, but no fish. The utmost that any of the anglers could boast of after four hours was a bite. The Duchess of Marl borough sent two valu- able articles as prizes to be given to the two best all-round players in the football section of St. John's Club, Peckham Rye. Commercial and Industrial. In millions of tons the estimated produc- tion of pig-iron last year in the United States, Germany, and Great Britain was 25, 11$, and 10-}- respectively, says Messrs. W. Fallows and Co.'s annual circular, as com- pared with 4, 2:i, and 7f in 1880. 4 A dispute at Trowell Colliery, Notts, "'hif!h has affected about 250 men 'and boys and necessitated closing down of pits since December 12, has ended. The questions in dispute are to be referred to arbitration. A circular was issued announcing the amal- gamation of the Birmingham Distrief; and Counties Banking Company and the Brad ford Old Bank. Military and Naval. I Lord Tweedmouth, First Lord of the Ad- miralty, will open on February 28 the new Sailors' Home at Weymouth. Mr. Haldane has consented to visit Shef- field on January 31 to distribute the prizes to the Hallamshire Rifles. Captain C. H. Coke succeeded Commo- dore A. A. C. Galloway in the command of the gunnery establishments at Sheerness on Monday, and was succeeded in the command of the battleship Cornwallis by Captain W. L. Grant, late of the cruiser Hawke. The funeral of the late Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. Wcnman Walpole Clarence Coke. brother of the Earl of Leicester, and a Crimean veteran, took place at Longford, Derbyshire, on Monday. He died in London, aged 78 years. The executive committee of the Navy League passed a resolution- on Monday re- cording its most earnest and emphatic pro- test against the construction of a. Channel tunnel. The ill-fated battleship Montagu is to be sold as she lies on the rocky coast of Lundy Island. The Admiralty announce that offers will, be received up to noon on the 28th. A' sapper of the Royal Engineers has been admitted to the Royal Herbert Hospital, Woolwich, suffering from wounds in the throat, supposed to have been self-iiifiieted. Major-General Franklyn, commanding the 4th Division at Aldershot, has issued orders for an important divisional staff ride to last four days, in the area between Salisbury and Ttmpleeombe, beginning on January 28. Music end the Drama. Miss Ellen Terry had a great send-off when she, left Waterloo on Saturday morn- ing for Southampton en route for America, where her season opens in New York on January 28. "I shall be back in tnree months," said Miss Terry, in reply to a run- ning fire of questions. Believing that a reconstruction scheme for the London Coliseum may yet be carried through, the shareholders-" committee of in- quiry decided at Cardiff on Saturday not to support a suggestion by Mr. Stoll that the Coliseum should be sold. One of the chief events of the theatrical season in Manchester is the annual Shake- spearean revival by Mr. Richard Flanagan at the Queen's Theatre, which has just taken place. The Hildenborough Village players have this season been invited to perform" at a theatre, and will shortly present their play at the Tunbridge Wells Opera House. The Playgoers' Club entertained on Satur- day about 4,500 poor children at pantomime performances. Some 2,300 were invited to the Broadway Theatre, Deptford, while a similar number were present at the Elephant and Castle Theatre. Sbcial. The Pilgrims will give a banquet at the Savoy Hotel on February 6 in honour of Mr. Bryce before his departure for Washington. The Anglo-American League, of which Mr. Bryce is the chairman, will be associated with the Pilgrims at Mr. Bryce's request. Princess Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, eldest daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Cannaught, celebrated her twenty fifth birthday on Tuesday, having been born on January 15, 1882. It was officially announced on Monday that the Prince and Princess of Wales will visit Plymouth on February 21 next to open the new dock extension works at Keyham, which have been constructed at a cost of £ 6,000,000. The Marquis of Lansdowne and his eldest son, the Earl of Kerry, celebrated the anni- versary of their birthdays on Monday, the former being sixty-two and the latter thirty- five. The Eighty Club is arranging to hold a private conference on "Liberalism and So- cialism on January 29. Viscount Llandaff, K. C., who was Home Secretary from 1886 to 1892, celebrated his 81st birthday on Sunday. Prince Arthur of Connaught, the only son of the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, cele- brated his twenty-fourth birthday on Sun- day In recognition of her services as president of the Huddersfield Women's Liberal Asso- ciation, Lady Woodhouse, wife. of Sir J. T. Woodhouse, ex-M.P. for the borough, was on Saturday night presented with a gold and opal pendant. Under the patronage of Princess Henry of Battenberg, two performances of "A Pair of Spectacles" in aid of the sufferers by the re- cent lifeboat disaster was given at the Theatre Royal, Rvde. The Prince of Wales will be the guest of the evening at the winter dinner of the Cast- away Club, to be held at the Empire Rooms, Trocadero Restaurant, on February 9. Mr. H. H. Asquith will be the principal giiest at the Birmingham Chamber of Com- I merce banquet on March 1. Mr. Jesse Col- lings will preside. Other Interesting Items. Mr. W. Walter Crotch, F.S.S., the Presi- lent of the Peoples Banks Association and author of several works on credit banking and allied subjects, has just had conferred upon him by the Pope the Order of the Cross I Lateranense. The Shepton Mallet Urban Council on Monday appointed. Dr. Annie Wainwright I Hyatt "as deputy medical officer of health to her father, Dr. James Taylor Hyatt, subject to the approval of the Local Government Board. While making a post-mortem examination of a boy who was burned to death at Mile- end, a needle, an inch and a half long, was discovered' in the child's body. The needle had caused the boy neither inconvenience nor injury. Northumberland miners are organising a mass meeting to protest against the Concilia- tion Board and to consider a proposal to de- mand a substantial increase in wages. In front of the historic mission house in the main street of Kettering, a fox was killed by the Pyiehley hounds, and Lord An- naly, the M.F.H., presented Mr. Stockburn, J.P., the owner of the house, with the brush. Owing to failing health, the Rev. Canon Knox Little has resigned the living of Hoar Cross (Staffs), being succeeded by the Rev. Frank Fuller, curate of St. Matthew's, West- minster. The destroyer Kale, while entering Port- land Harbour on Monday, picked up the body of a second class petty officer named McAllister, who fell overboard when return- ifi^g to the ship after short leave on December 6 last, and was drowned. A young woman who should have apr^arect before the Hull Recorder on Monday nas died in prison whilst she was awaiting tna. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Abbott, of Norwich, who celebrated the sixty-seventh anniversary of their wedding on Christmas Day, and Weie the oldest married couple in East Ang la, have both died, Mrs. Abbott surviving her, husband bv only six days. The Wrotham Urban Council, Kent, have received 144 applications for the joint post of surveyor and sanitary inspector. The salary offered is only £ 100 per annum. The Home Secretary has granted' a remis- sion of the unexpired sentence of forty-two days' imprisonment passed by the Spelthorne justices on Mrs. Harriette Pain Davenport an authoress, for alleged neglect of her four children. A bronze case containing some hundreds of Roman coins was found by some workmen shovelling soil on the slope of Little Orme's Head, Llandudno. The Newton Guardians pickled eggs in the' autumn when they were selling at sixpence a j dozen, with the idea of reducing the winter egg bill at the workhouse. The result has not been satisfactory. < The Birmingham Licensing Committee pro- poses to raise a loan of zC17,000 which is re- quired for compensation for surrendered; licenses.

TRAIN IN THE WRONG LINE. ) At Camberley, on the London and South. western Railway, a train had completed shunt- iiig operations, and had just left the station platforjn, when by some means, instead of con- tinuing on the down line, it swerved on the points on to a short set of rails in the goods yard. This line terminates at Park-street bridge, which spans one of the principal thoroughfares in the town. Being aware that he was or. the wrong line the driver imme. diately applied his brakes, but not in sufficient time to avoid a collision with the wooden buffers at the end of the line. The locomotive, which was proceeding tender first, crashed into the obstruction, and, turning turtle, plunged down a steep embankment. The coaches did not leave the rails, and no one was seriously injured.

A B-IVAHS has been seen in the nieghbourhood of Bude (Cornwall) during the last few days. Their appearance is thought locally to foretell the approach of rough Weather. Vailima., the Samofin residence of the late Robert Louis Stevenson, is, according to a tele- gram from Honolulu, to be purchased by Dr. tiolf, the governor of the island, for use as a Government House. The traffic returns of the London County Council tramways show that the receipts dur- ing the week ended December 29 were k-23,540, and from April 1, 1906, to December 29, they amounted to £ 1,023,266. It was the man's first offence, and it was not often that the truth was spoken in that court, said the Mayor of Birkenhead in dismissing the Summons against a young man who pleaded guilty to having been drunk.