The Aberystwith Observer

WILLS AND BEQUESTS. ) The will (dated Feb. 20, 1886), with a codicil ) (dated Oct. 3, following), of Mr. Frederick William ) Cosens, late of 7, Melbury-road, Kensington, and of The Shellies," Lewes, Sussex, who died on Dec. 10, was proved on Feb. 3, by Francis William Cosens, Frederick George Cosens, Philip John Cosens, and Charles Henry Cosens, the sons, and Fitz Henry Tayler, ) the surviving executors, the value of the personal l estate amounting to upwards of £ 203,000. The testator bequeaths £20,000 to his son, Charles Henry; r £15,000 each to his daughters, Mrs. Fanny Sarah E Boss and Mrs. Florence Rainbow; JE15,000, upon i; trust, for his granddaughter, Frederica Sabrina 1 Hirsch; numerous specific gifts of old plate and works of art to his children.; and legacies to relatives, friends, clerks, porters, and others. The residue of his real and personal estate he leaves to his three ) sons, Francis William, Frederick George, and Philip John, in equal shares. The will (dated Sept. 18, 1888), with two codicils (dated Jan. 28 and Aug. 29, 1889), of Mr. William Henry Barry, late of 7, Birchin-lane, stockbroker, and of 23, Westbourne-terrace, who died on Jan. 15, was r proved on Jan. 29 by Horace Barry, the brother, the sole executor, the value of the personal estate I amounting to over £ 119,000. The testator bequeaths £ 500 to his sister, Eleanor Emma Barry, and £ 5000 ) upon trust for her, for life, and then for the Hospital rfor Sick Children, Great Ormond-street; JE9000 to t his brother Charles John, Md-S 1000 to each of his 1 children; dESO to King's College, London, for the 1 library; £ 25 to King's School, Canterbury, for the L library; JE500 to King's College Hospital; Y,5000 to I the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond-street, 1 for the building fund; and numerous legacies to re- latives, friends, clerks, and servants. The residue of his personal estate he leaves, upon trust, so ) long as the chapel in connection with the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond-street, is under the ) control or charge of the Vicar or Rector of St. George the Martyr, and the services of the Church of England are exclusively used, to pay £ 100 per annum I to the said Vicar or Rector, JB25 per annum towards L the repairs of the said chapel, and the remainder of l the income of his said residuary estate to the said r hospital. Should these conditions be broken, there r is a gift over of such residue to his brother Charles Jobs Barry. l The will (dated April 12, 1886) of Mr. John Mars- ) land Bennett, formerly Mayor of Manchester, late of ) Buile-hill, Pendleton, Lancashire, who died on [ October 19 last, at Charing-cross Hospital, was proved on January 21 at the Manchester District Registry by John Armitage Bennett and Mars- • land Armitage Bennett, the sons, two of the executors, the value of the personal estate amounting to upwards of £ 55,000. The testa- tor bequeaths his furniture, plate, pictures, effects, horses, and carriages to his wife, Mrs. Mary Bowers Bennett. The residue of his real and personal estate ■ he leaves, upon trust, to pay the income to his wife, L for life or widowhood, she maintaining his children under 25. On her death or marriage again he gives a large number of houses and chief rents, upon trust, i for his daughters, Mary Armitage Bennett and Eliza- beth Armitage Bennett, and the ultimate residue of his property to his six sons in equal shares. The will (dated Oct. 31,1874), with a codicil (dated I April 22, 1886), of Mr. Charles Noyce Kernot, M.D., [ formerly of Calcutta, and late of Bishnauth House, l West Brighton, who died on Sept. 5 last, was proved ) on Jan. 31 by Charles Kernot Butt and Mrs. Addaline Laetitia Frances Kersey Kernot, the widow, and acting executors, the value of the personal estate amounting to over £ 53,000. The testator bequeaths £ 200 and the furniture and effects at his residence to his wife; an annuity of E300 to his sister, Jane Anne Newman an annuity of JB100 to his brother William Pearce Kernot; £1000 each to his goddaughter, > Clara Louisa Kernot Butt, and Francis Charles Butt; f and other legacies. The residue of his real and per- E sonal estate he leaves, upon trust, for his wife, for life, and then for all his children, in equal shares. The will (dated January 31, 1888) of Miss Emma Anne Churchill, late of Colliton House, Dorchester, who died on December 28 last, was proved on Janu- ary 30 by Captain Orford Churchill, R.N., and George Onslow Churchill, the nephews, the executors, the value of the personal estate amounting to over £ 51,000. The testatrix bequeaths £200 to the Dorset County Hospital; legacies ranging from JE4000 to S1000 each to nephews and nieces and legacies to servants. The residue of her real and personal estate she gives to her nephews, Orford Churchill and George > Onslow Churchill. The will (dated March 31, 1880), with two codicils i (dated Aug. 11, 1880, and March 12, 1889), of Mr. Henry Norris, J.P., D.L., late of Swalcliffe-park, near Banbury, Oxfordshire, who died on Oct. 19 last, was proved on Jan. 27 by Henry Crawley Norris and George Hugh Norris, the sons, Richard Du Cane, William Gatty, and John Charles Salt, the executors, the value of the personal estate exceeding £ 45,000. The testator bequeaths certain plate to his wife, Mrs. Eleanor Norris; JE10,000, upon trust, for each of his daughters, Ellen Henrietta, Annie Henrietta, and Mary Elizabeth and he makes up the fortune of his daughter Mrs. Albinia Georgians Powell, with what she will receive under settlement, to £ 10,000. His freehold property at Blackfriars he gives to his son George Hugh; and his freehold property at Hackney, his leasehold estate, Swalcliffe-park, and the residue of his real and personal estate to his eldest son, Henry Crawley. The will (dated Feb. 3, 1887) of Mr. Edmund Bick Bradley, formerly of St. Margaret's, Guildford, and late of 14, Salisbury-road, West Brighton, who died on Dec. 22 last, was proved on Jan. 22 by Lieutenant- Colonel John Donaldson Bradley, the son, Richard Henn Collins, Q.C., and Augustus Sillem, the execu- tors, the value of the personal estate exceeding £ 20,000. The testator leaves his maltings, with the fixtures, his lands, tenements, and hereditaments at Brentwood, Essex, certain shares, and £ 4000, to his said son; £ 2000, upon trust, for his daughter Mar- garet Alice Collins, for life, and then for his grand- daughter Margaret Alice Collins £ 6000 to his said daughter E2000 to his daughter Helen Jane Culling- ton and bequests to his executors, grandson, sister, and others. The residue of his property he gives to his said three children. The will and five codicils of Mr. Charles Hood, late of 10, Leinster-gardens, Hyde-park, who died on December 10 last, was proved on January 17 by Henry John Hood, the greatnephew, and Henry Harpet Bothamley, the surviving executors, the value of the personal estate amounting to over £ 13,000. The testator gives considerable legacies to relatives and others, and leaves the residue of his property to his trustees, to divide among such hospitals, schools, and such other charitable and philanthropic institu- tions, and in such proportions, as they, in their dis- cretion, shall determine. He directs that his real and personal estate shall be marshalled in favour of the charities, so that the primary fund for the payment of the other legacies shall be the proceeds of the sale of his real estate. An announcement having appeared in some of the London papers to the effect that the personal estate of the late Robert Adolphus Cockburn, of the firm of Oates and Cockburn, of 75, Old Broad- street, and of the Stock Exchange, in the City of London, was sworn to be of the value offll,510 only, we have been requested to state that the per- sonal estate has now been re-sworn to be of the value of £ 55,423.—Illustrated London News.

LIGHT GOLD COINS. An Order of Council has been issued extending the time during which any gold coin of the realm minted before the reign of Queen Victoria that is below the least current weight can be exchanged for cur- rent coin of full weight. Friday was original fixed upon as the limit for this exchange, but in ord. r to give the public better opportunity to got rid light coins the date has been extended to March :3 1 They must be tendered on or before that day during business hours at the Bank of England in London. and left there as long as may be reasonably necessary for examination and weighing. The Master of the Mint is directed to exchange or pay ot as vheir nominal value If all such coins as are s: centered anu have not been illegally aealt with.71 <

GARDENING FOR THE WEEK. NEW HOLLAND PLANTS in the conservatory and green- house generally demand much attention now. Continue to shift such as require it, and any that are looking out of health turn out of their pots to see if the drainage is right and the stuff sweet and porous. In repotting use plenty of fibry peat in rough lumps, sifting out the fine dust if needful, which will be useful in propagating and to put young stuff in from the cutting-pans. SOFT-WOODED PLANTS for summer exhibitions and for decorative purposes ought to be growing freely now, to give time for stopping, so as to have fine j round full heads before allowing them to run into bloom. Cinerarias required extra large may be potted on, and if trusses show nip them out. Pelargoniums will require another shift, as also will herbaceous calceolarias if they have not yet been shifted into the pots in which they ace to bloom. A confined condition of the roots will throw plants into bloom quickly if they are in a suitable temperature; but stopping and shifting on will keep them growing larger and larger, and after the last shift a period of six or ten weeks will generally suffice to bring them into bloom, if the pots are full of roots and stopping is dis- continued. STOVE PLANTS need a general revision at this time of year. Those that have been blooming all winter require to be cut back and encouraged to break, then to be shifted to larger pots if needful, or have top- dressings. Where very large specimens are objec- tionable, the plants may be kept in bounds by the knife, and to obviate the use of larger pots turn them out as soon as they have commenced to make new growth; remove some of the soil from the outside of the balls, and repot them with fresh compost in pots of the same size as those previously occupied. FIGS in the forcing house must have air, but cold draughts must be guarded against. PEACHES AND NECTARINES to be thinned, and the shoots trained in by degrees; to thin out all the sur- plus fruit at once, or train in all the young shoots close, in one day, will be injurious. PINES growing freely will require more liberal sup- plies of water at the root. Those in bloom or fruit must not be wetted overhead, and any beginning to colour to have as much air and light as possible. VINERY.-Vines showing good bunches must have the shoulders carefully tied with worsted or matting. The air of the house where berries are swelling must be kept moist, and it will be well to make a special examination of the border, as this is sometimes wet enough upon the surface and quite dry a few inches down. In watering use water a few degrees warmer than the soil. OUTDOOR GRAPES.-In the cultivation of grape- vines out of doors a moderately fertile sandy loam will be found the best adapted for securing a firm well ripened growth. Rich soils and fat manures are not at all desirable for the growth of outdoor grapes; and in a cold wet weather the vines on the poorest and driest borders will do better than those on most well-manured borders. It must not be supposed, how- ever, that the grape-vine can live upon nothing; in- deed, it would be a folly to plant grape-vines on a worn-out, sour, or pasty loam on which nothing else could be grown satisfactorily. Should it be necessary to prepare a border for vines, two feet depth of pre- pared earth will be sufficient, and this should rest on a dry bottom if on a stratum of stones or bricks all the better; but this is not needful. STRAWBERRY BEDS formed last autumn- must now be trodden to make the ground firm. A coat of manure may then be spread over the ground. Old beds must be cleared of dead leaves and weeds, and have a good coat of rotten dung laid on. If it buries the crowns no harm will be done; they will soon push through. ARTICHOKES will soon require to be dressed for the spring. If the mild open weather continues, remove the protecting material, fork over the ground between the rows, and give a good dressing of rotten manure and wood-ashes. CAULIFLOWERS in the seed pans should have a little dry earth or wood-ashes strewed amongst them occasionally to prevent their damping off. Autumn- sown plants in frames must have the lights drawn off in mild weather to keep them stocky and prevent their buttoning." The most forward should be planted on sheltered borders or be placed under hand-glasses and ground vineries if the soil is in proper condition. CUCUMBERS for ridge culture should be sown within a week or so. Sow also for frame culture to succeed plants now bearing, and maintain a supply during the summer season. It is preferable to sow in three-inch pots at the rate of two seeds in each, the strongest plant in each to be kept to avoid damage to the roots by shifting, so as to have them strong and short for turning out. ONIONS required to be very large may now be pro- vided with a deep, well-manured bed in a rather dry position. Transplant into this bed from the seed bed of autumn-sown stock, putting the bulbs nine inches apart; if only serviceable bulbs be required, put them six inches apart. After planting, strew wood- ashes or fine siftings of charred rubbish over the bed. PARSNIPS, although less popular than many other vegetables, should have good cultivation where grown. To produce large handsome roots, which alone are worth cooking, it is essential to sow the seeds to- wards the end of the month, in liberally-manured and deeply-stirred soil, and thin out as soon as the plants are of sufficient size. The drills should be 15 inches apart, and the plants thinned to nine inches apart in the rows. PEAS and beans sown on strips of turf or in pots or boxes should be hardened by gradual exposure. After eight or ten days' exposure they may be planted,pro- vided the weather is favourable.- Gardener's Magazine. VEGETABLE FORCING.—Vegetable forcing may now be practised with success and little trouble. Rhu- barb and seakale grow readily with the aid of a fermenting bed placed over the crowns and pots, and asparagus is ready In 10 or 12 days after being placed in a temperature of 65 deg. or 70 deg. Surplus roots of all these should be used for forcing before the season is further advanced, but there is no economy in forcing roots that are required to keep up the desired supply when the time comes for them to grow naturally. Those who force roots should always provide some for the purpose without having to interfere with the ordinar stock SPINACH.- The autumn-sown prickly sort has been ) luxuriant all the winter, but it becomes coarse in spring, and as spinach is one of the first crops that. may safely be sown in the open several rows may be put it on the first opportunity. The plants early in the season run rapidly to seed, and that is the reason why we always sow in small quantities and often. A sunny-sheltered corner is the best position for it thus early. CABBAGES.-As these have received little or no check the whole winter they promise to be ready unusually early in the spring. Make up the blanks in the rows, clear the dead leaves and weeds from amongst the plants, and draw a little more Boil to the stems with a drag hoe. Should there be a deficiency of plants in the main quarter manure and dig another piecs of ground, and plant out more from the seed bed. We have often found this plantation in almost as soon as the autumn planted ones, and our practice is always to plant out some in the spring, no matter how extensive our autumn lot may be. TOMATOES.—Cuttings rooted in the autumn should be potted into 6in. pots. Do not give them a rich soil, as this only induces them to make superfluous growth. Make the soil, which should be chiefly loam, very firm round the roots, and place them near the glass in a temperature of 65 deg. or 70 deg. These plants will fruit before any of this year's seedlings. Those who omitted to take cuttings, however, must depend on seedlings. Do not give them over-rich soil. This is a rule we apply to all tomatoes, and keep them growing in brisk heat. Plants that will fruit in March and ripen in April must be confined to one stem and placed in favourable positions in the houses. Where they are grown as a market crop plant them out in the forcing pit like cucumbers, 1ft. apart, but do not give more than an Sin. potfulof soil to each plant at present, as this is ample to make them produce fruit, and more can be added if neces- sary. Sow a little lettuce seed again in a pot or box under glass, also a pinch of early celery, leek, cauli- flower, and Brussels sprout seed; but avoid as yet sowing anything like the main crop of any of them.— Journal of Horticulture.

DEATH OF THE SULTAN OF ZANZIBAR. j Seyyid Khalifa-bin-Said, Sultan of Zanzibar, has < died at Zanzibar after a reign of rather less than two 1 years. Sunstroke, it is supposed, was the cause of I death. The doctors report that the Arabs will not f permit a post-mortem examination. There are no < apcar, nt signs of an unnatural death. Seyyid Ali, Srotiier ot che late Sultan, has been elected his suc- cessor.

AGRICULTURAL ITEMS, VALUE OF SKIM MILK. — The value of skimmed milk for too many years has been ignored. Not only has it of late years been advised for making bread, but for feeding purposes with young growing pigs its nutritive qualities are beyond dispute. It is as- tonishing how they thrive with a fair supply of un- skimmed milk with other food. The Canadian farmers, especially, are more alive to this fact than ever, and many of them attribute their success in pig raising to its use. The days are past when it was believed that any kind of food was good enough for the pig, and considering that we import pork by the 1000 tons, and yet can make its production a profitable industry at home, it is a pity that even fruit growers do not pay more attention to the pi. There is no doubt that the bad name which pork has received, especially of late years, arises principally from two things. First, the coarse-grained speci- mens sent into English markets from the United States, and the idea that any food is good enough for the porker. SCIENTIFIC FEEDING.—In Germany farmers and chemists are uniting in the useful work of feeding economic animals in a scientific manner, that is, by weighing the different kinds of food given, and care- fully noting the results. By using corn, skim milk, whey, and other articles in this methodical way, one farmer has come to the conclusion that the common view that pigs make more profitable use of their food when it is largely diluted with water in the form of ordinary pig-wash is entirely fallacious. The generally accepted belief that pigs make more weight when kept confined in a small space, is confirmed by the observations made in Germany that the advantages gained by this course of treatment are more than neutralised by the animals being rendered more liable to disease. The experiments also show that 12 parts by weight of whey, six of skim milk, one of bruised barley, and one of bruised rice aie of approxi- mately equal feeding value. In one case six pigs from the same litter were taken when 100 dayo old, and while three of them received an unlimited amount of maize-meal, the other three were fed on one part by weight of dried blood, six of bran, and 14 of skim milk. There is consider- able difference in the composition of these two foods. In the latter case one-half of the dry weight was albuminoid or nitrogenous, and in the first only one- seventh or one-eighth, the excess being carbohy- drates or farinaceous. At the end of 130 days the pigs were killed and compared, with the following results The total live weight of the maize-fed set was 19 per cent, less than that of the others; and while 46 per cent. of the whole body (excluding bone) was fat in the first set, it was only 38 per cent. in the case of the pigs fed on bran, skim milk, &c. The dead carcases of the maize-fed set weighed 21 per cent. less than the others; while the strength of 'the thigh-bones — determined by a specially-contrived machine-was found to be 62 per cent. less. The obvious teaching of this experiment is that fat or lean in pigs can be cultivated at will, the carbohy- drates being the most effective fat-producers but that excessive fat is obtained at the expense of the muscles and to the detriment of the animals if used for breeding. SPRING CORN.—How little (observes the seasonable annotator of the Agricultural Gazette) we now hear of spring wheat! To all intents and purposes it is as extinct as the dodo or the moa. There is as little temptation to sow a piece of cleared root land with the chief cereal as to put it into maize. The reign of wheat is over in Great Britain, and we must no longer gauge our prospect by the wheat market. Alas the same appears equally true of barley and oats, and yet I corn we must grow. Still, it is wortbyof considera- tion whether the breadth of corn land should not be seriously narrowed on our farms. We have come to the conclusion that a good piece of early roots or rape is better than a good piece of corn, and by adopting this idea we can at once lessen our corn area and yet grow as many bushels of grain on the farm, as well as maintain more sheep and cattle. Let us then pause a little before fixing our cropping for the coming season, and deviate a little from the four-course rotation. Can anyone tell us who invented this wonderful course of cropping ? It bears the impress of science, and yet probably its origin was innocent of any idea of chemistry. We venture to say that the sequence of crops in the Norfolk rotation is thoroughly scientific and correct in theory. Corn after turnips, and wheat after clover, can hardly be excelled; yet the times are at present against it. What we urge is modification rather than abandonment. Early cleared root land may still go into barley or oats, but root land eaten off later is better put agaia into roots. Two root crops in two consecutive years, when taken upon poor tillage land of light character, are excellent. In such circumstances a full wheat crop may be looked for, and, if thought advisable, barley may follow the wheat. Even Mr. Clare Sewell Read has recently de- clared in favour of keeping clover down a second year, which is noteworthy, as the eastern country men until very lately did not see their way to this change. As TO THE TIRADE against the root crop, of which we have heard a good deal of late years, all we can say is that no tillage farmer can afford to quarrel with two such friends and allies as corn and roots both at once. If root-growing is a loss, and corn does not pay, then there is only one other alternative- namely, to get the ground down into permanent pasture with as little delay as possible. Such a course is simply throwing up the sponge, and if we have to deal with arable land at all, we must con- tinue to cultivate both these classes of crops. Under the general term "roots" are included a great diversity of crops, such as mangel, swedes, turnips, cabbages, kale, rape, and, associated with these, we have the winter fodder crops, which may in many cases precede the main root crop. There is, there- fore, great scope for ingenuity in planning out the cropping of the so-called "root land. As to the ques- tion, Will such a course pay ? we say it must depend upon how it is carried out. Given good sheep and dairy land, a first-rate flock of ewes, and a good stock of cows, with young stock of all ages, we see no reason why it should not pay as well as ever this un- certain business did pay. JERSEYS AND ALDERNEYS.-This breed, a native of the islands bearing their name, have (remarks a correspondent of the Farmer and Stockbreeder) from time immemorial been celebrated for the rich- ness of their milk, and for their great butter yield. At one time, and for a great number of years, they were looked upon more as fancy cattle, pets for the lawn, or for the small family, without any regard to their practical utility as being so well calculated to meet a rapidly-increasing demand for first-class butter, which, apart from this and the sister breed, would have to be met largely by the foreigner. From these circumstances the breed has very largely increased during the past decade, and is now to be found all over England, and also in Ireland and Scotland. Their com- parative worthlessness for other purposes, and their somewhat more delicate constitution, has kept them very much out of the hands of tenant- farmers, but even these, now, finding their produce < enriched by the admixture of milk from this breed, 1 are beginning to add one or two, to their stock, and j in some small dairies where butter only is required, ] the whole stock when of this breed will be found ] more profitable. The English-bred Jersey is a fairly I useful fattener, though she cannot be reckoned, amongst the best for this purpose. A very ] continuous milker, though not giving an excessive quantity, the Jersey will yield on an average about 600 gallons per year, the richness of which varies I very considerably, but from 18 to 201b. of milk to make lib. of butter will be a fair average. Where I very high feeding is practised, these quantities I will be much exceeded, and some very good herds j have made a yearly average of 71b. butter per 1 week per cow. The Jersey is a small consumer, is ] early ready for the dairy, coming in at two years old, many at 20 months. This breed requires slightly more care during winter than the breeds mentioned previously, especially those imported rect from the island. They can be purchased at oy time in the year, and are as plentiful in the aatumn as the spring. The usual course for obtaining them from the island is through the importing dealers. English- bred ones are best obtained direct from thHr 1 breeders. Where island animals are purchased, ¡on f excellent plan is to buy in October, keeping them in the sheds all through the winter, when they will gradually acclimatise the following summer without feeling so much the effect of the change to a colder t climate.

SOME words are very descriptive, but some of them —gratis, for instance— §e for nothing.

MRS. GRUNDY. In the New York Forum a clever article is written by Mrs. Lynn Linton, attacking, yet not altogether condemning, the self-constituted guardian of society. SEMPER EADBM. Kings may come and Kings may go, Princes may die and heirs-apparent may be born like meaner folk, dynasties may fall and Ministries may change; but one thing goes on for ever and one person is the true Immortal-the power of Mrs. Grundy never fails and Mrs. Grundy herself never dies. Twin sister to Mrs. Partington, but of a sterner type, Mrs. Grundy is the tutelary deity of opposition and negation. She is the culminating point of the conservative element, and denies all good in change of any kind. A NATIONAL VIGILANT. Mrs. Grundy is the impersonation of the higher morality -the impersonation and the guardian. No cat scents out a mouse with more keenness of detec- tion, no truffie-hunter unearths his underground fungus with more precision, than the keenness and precision with which she finds out the hidden sin where others see only futility or, at the broadest, folly. All life is to her, as it were, embroidered over with secret designs whereof she knows the occult meaning; and a kind of diabolical telepathy is ever at work between young people, more especially between those of the opposite sexes. Mrs. Grundy does not believe ia innocence. She relegates to the Horse Marines and the nursery all stories of unde- signednessand absence of intention, and would as soon give credence to the old fairy-tales of her own child- hood as to the simplicity in thought and conduct claimed by the boys and girls of the period. To her mind, more nuts have maggots in the kernel than are whole and wholesome fruit; and where do- you find a peach with its bloom intact? A CRITIC OF ART. In art she will have nothing that is not nice, pretty, tame, and commonplace. She discounte- nances all but the merest supe, ficiality of intention, and understands only things with the most trite and trivial meaning. The nude is, as we know, her great bete noire, and she cannot understand the need of students drawing the human body from nature, or the obligation laid on women painters to know some- thing about the bones, the muscles, or the outline of the figures they represent. As a subject, tragedy is j unfit for art, she says. Realism is ugly and vulgar -or "improper," which is worse. The smooth, simpering, pink-and-white commonplaces of life, and landscapes that are like the things she sees every- day—these are what she patronises; and with her ferule she raps pretty smartly the knuckles of the in- surgents who think otherwise. So in literature. Nodeep emotion, no picture of the warring of human nature with social obligations, of the struggle of life with fate, of the fiery lava of passion overflowing the ap- pointed bounds, of the sordid miseries of the poor, of the conflict of faith and doubt, of principles which clash and jar with realities—nothing of all this is allowed on her book-shelves. She endorses only well- conducted little dramas, where the obstacles to happi- ness are no bigger than straws, and where love con- quers in the end, and everyone is satisfied. USEFUL AS A SCARECROW. For all this, Mrs. Grundy has her uses. All things have their uses, even the grey lump of mottled clamminess" at the foot of the lily-stalks, even the vulture and the four-footed conquerors in the jungle. Without her to keep things taut and shipshape, society would have a tendency to sprawl and slop over not conducive to true beauty of form. If there were no standard there would be no order and, like an army composed wholly of captainless Bashi Bazouks, society without a standard would be a mass of dis- sociated atoms in which no two would coalesce. It would be a rabble rout and not an orderly assembly. It is only the fear of Mrs. Grundy, incul- cated and called education, that prevents a lazy man from going to a smart evening reception in his morn- ing smoking suit; just as it is Mrs. Grundy herself who insists on the nakedness of undress for a Court afternoon in March. If there were no Mrs. Grundy, we should bave our returned adventurers and ex. plorers turning up at my lady's receptions in shirt- sleeves and belted waists, boots up to the knee, and a rakish sombrero set well over the eyes-more pic- turesque than many of the figures at a fancy ball, but not exactly in line with one's inherited ideas of fitness. Were it not for Mrs. Grundy, fathers and mothers would be at a greater discount than they are even now; and experience would be still more in- operative than it is at present to check the wild desires of inexperience. SNIFF V. WHIFF. We do not like to be the advocatus diaboli; but even Mrs. Grundy has some good in her, and is not altogether useless! Also, we do not think she is quite amiss in her disapprobation of the feminine cigar. Sweet ruddy lips will not be quite so fresh and sweet when fevered by the heat and tainted with the scent of tobacco. That. however, is a matter of opinion, and Mrs. Grundy may sniff her hardest, but if the women choose to take to nicotine, not all the sniffs in the world will prevent them. For the women, who are in part Mrs. Grundy's most devoted adherents, are also in part her most intractable rebels, and When they will they will, you may depend on't; And when they won't they won't, and there's an end on't. So that here we come to the uncertain, indeterminate, phantasmagoric, and relative conclusion to which all reasoning on human life leads us. In some things Mrs. Grundy is a saving grace; in others she is an obstructive disaster.

A TEACUP STORM. The Premier of New Zealand, Sir Harry Atkinson, had to go away to Tasmania the other day for the benefit of his health, and during his absence his col- leagues have been getting themselves into a fine pother. For some years past a number of sealers and whalers who make New Zealand their head- quarters have been making use of Macquarie Island for sealing and other purposes, and a brilliant idea appears to have occurred to a Wellington official in connection with the matter. The island did not belong officially to New Zealand, and fore- seeing some kudos for himself if he, by recom- mending such a course to his superiors, could bring about the annexation of the island, he acted accordingly, and with commendable prompti- tude. The chief of his department took the matter up witl^puch loyal cordiality, and the executive was soon set in motion. The necessary preparations were completed, and in due course the Government steamer Hinemoa, fully equipped and armed with the requisite officials and official forms, steamed forth on her voyage of territorial conquest. Fortunately the Hinemoa, before clearing the New Zealand coast, called in at one of the southern ports, where her progress was promptly arrested by wire from Wellington. The news of the projected expedition of the Hinemoa had been wired to the Australian colonies and Tasmania as an item of general intelligence, and when it was published in the newspapers in the latter colony, no end of genuine excitement appears to have been created. For Mac- quarie Island belongs to Tasmania, having been annexed in proper form to that colony in the year 1880. Remonstrances were speedily wired from Etobart to the Government at Wellington, and it was extremely lucky that the latter were enabled to stop che Hinemoa before she went off and re-annexed the island to New Zealand. If that unfortunate step had been taken, we might by this time have heard of Tas- mania borrowing a gunboat from Victoria-she has ao gunboats of her own, and is friendly with Victoria withal-to make hostile demonstrations in front of Dunedin or Wellington.

WE were present, not long since, at an "affair of lonour." The principals met at the appointed time ind place, and one-loaned the other X100 without security. FARMER DERBEN kept a large flock of geese. His fences were good, and his geese rarely escap d from ;he pasture where they were confined. His n- ^hbour, Farmer Cole, also kept a flock of geese; but 11. -4 fences were not so carefully repaired, and his ge< -o often strayed into his neighbour's grain-fields Last summer this annoyance became intolerable to Farmer Derben, and he resolved to make an end cf it. Meet- ing Farmer Col. "n? day in the road, he told hi '1 of the mnoyance, and a ded: I now give you a fair warning :hat if I again find y i-c geese trespassing on my land I will kill them." Afewdays after as Farmer Dert en was litting at dinner he chanced to look out of the window, and there, on his very lawn, he beheld a J lock of geese enjoying themselves. Not waiiing to i jet his hat, he seized his cane, and, rushing into the f nidst of the flock, he laid abc- t him with such vigour ihat several geese were ki ed and several more I wounded, when his daughter, bounding up ,) her rate parent's side screamed in his ear: Papa. these we our geese!" This story is kept as a ;atnily met t

DELAGOA BAY. The official correspondence has been published re- specting the action of Portugal in regard to the Delagoa Bay Railway, ranging from October, 1888, to 20th December, 1889. A telegram was received from Acting Vice-Consul Knee at Delagoa Bay on 23rd June, 1889, stating that in consequence of the arbitary action of the Portuguese authorities towards the railway officials and others the presence of a British man-of-war was necessary. Her Majesty's ships Bramble and Peacock sailed thither, followed by the Stork. Rear-Admiral Sir W. Hunt Grabbe, writing from Simon's Bay on 3rd July to announce this, says: From what I could hear and read in the local papers at Port Elizabeth, Acting Vice-Consul Knee's telegram to me that lives, were in danger, &c., was highly coloured. Mr. Knee is traffic manager on the railway, as well as Acting Vice-Consul at Delagoa Bay." Mr. Knee, writing on the 29th June, stated that the Portuguese- Government had torn up the English railway the head of the police fired on an English driver on an engine the English residents were being arrested without any provocation by anyone; and his inter- preter had been arrested while interpreting a letter from the Government to Mr. Knee. On 5th July Mr. Knee wrote, announcing that his interpreter had been released, and on the 15th Mr. Knee resigned the Vice- Consulate on the ground of ill-health in favour of Mr. J. Guildford. Lord Salisbury wrote to Mr. Petre, British Minister at Lisbon, on 10th September last, expressing the views of her Majesty's Government on the seizure of the Delagoa Bay Railway, and relying on the sense of justice of the Portuguese Government to repair the wrong done to the British Company by the seizure of the line. Senhor Barros Gomes, the Portu- guese Foreign Minister, in replying to this on the 13th" November, contended that the Portuguese Company, who were part owners of the line, still existed, and that they would treat with the English Company in a Court of Arbitration. This despatch was forwarded to the British Company by Lord Salisbury, and in commenting on it, Mr. Horn, the Secretary, writing on 15th December, says the Portuguese Company had ceased practically to exist, and points out that if the Portuguese Government are in earnest in this matter, a speedy settle- ment cannot but be to their advantage, as. the Netherlands Company is commencing operations on its line, and any delay can only tend to make manifest the value of the property of which the company has been deprived. On the other hand, it is the object of the Portuguese Government, by pro- crastination, to weaken the financial position of the company, and on this point my directors beg to make special reference to their letter of the 5th instant. My directors feel that their interests are secure in your lordship's hands. They are convinced that not only will the Portuguese Government be held re- sponsible for the wrong and financial damage inflicted on their company, but also for any further liabilities that may result from their present course of action, and that any determination, however studied, on the part of the Government to delay a settlement will be no longer tolerated by your lordship."

A CRY FROM SIBERIA. In connection with the lurid stories which have recently reached Western Europe from Siberia, the Pall Mall Gazette publishes some extracts from a letter received not long ago from Russia. In the spring of this year in the town Yakoutsk, the principal town of a district of the same name in East Siberia, a bloody event took place, that brings to light with a terrifying evidence the frightful bar- barity with which the agents of the Russian Govern- ment treat the defenceless sacrifices of the tyranny which throws yearly hundreds of noble men and women, old and young, in the toundras (deserts) of Siberia, giving them up to famine, cold, despair, and to the worst of all evils, to the tyranny of the administration of Siberia. Thirty and one persons, men and women, without any show of judgment, banished to East Siberia, following their way through Yakoutsk, were bloodily attacked at the order of the Vice-Governor, Mr. Ostaskin, by a group of soldiers, who acted with guns and bayonets against defence- less men and women, which resulted in six killed and wounded, of whom five (wounded) died on the same day. It is for a long time that the Government of Russia has made it its usual practice of banishing all the persons which have in any way displayed some independence of thought or sympathies to liberty, but against whom even for Russian law and Russian justice it is impossible to find out any ground for a judicial persecution, to the remotest quarters of Siberia. The party was to be transported to such places as Sriedniekolimsk, &c., at a distance from Yakoutsk of 3000 to 4000 "werst," and it is but through months long and with great difficulties and perils for life that it is possible to make the way to such places. It was before a practice to give some money for providing food for such a long journey, to declare the time of going out some weeks before, not a little time being necessary for making all preparations in such an isolated point as Yakoutsk, and to permit to carry baggage in an illimited quan- tity. Unfortunately, this year all these privileges were refused by the Administration. The Vice- Governor of Yakoutsk, Mr. Ostaskin, found these pri- vileges superfluous, suddenly declared that the party must in these days go out without money and food and prohibited to carry with them all their baggage. The banished sued for delay. Their suit was refused as a collective" one. In Russia to sue in a collec- tive form, though not forbidden by the law, is yet a grave offence. They repeated their suits each sepa- rately. The head of the police declares that their suits are refused, as composed by all in the same style, and that therefore they must instantly set out. Astonished, the assembly refuses. Then called by the head of the police comes the Vice-Governor, Mr. Ostaskin, attended by soldiers. The refuse repeated, he proclaimed in a grossly insulting style that they shall be put to the way violently, and from word to deed he orders the soldiers to tie them up, attending his order with such invectives and outrages as in no other civilised country can be heard from the mouth of a public officer. It was too much. The string, over- strained, burst. One of the assieged, mad with in- dignation, gave a shoot on the author of the violence, who was lightly wounded. Immediately the soldiers were ordered by the Vice-Governor to flre on the thick crowd of the assembled in a narrow room, with the consequences already described. These are the names of the killed and wounded — (1) Killed: Podbielski Pappius, Vourewitch Sophia (a woman), Piek Sergei, Mouchanow Petr, Notkin Jakob, Shour Grigori; (2) deadly wounded: Cohan-Bern. stein Leon, Minor Joseph, Moc Michail. Fundaminski Matthew, Orlow Michail, Zotow Nicolai, Estrowitch Joseph; (3) wounded and imprisoned: Cantther Sergei, Zoroastrowa Anna (a woman), Frank Rosalia (a woman), Bolotina Anissia (a. woman), Berman Leonid, Hassock Wiera (a woman), Shechter N assoffia (a woman), Gourewitch Eugenia (a woman), Goura- witch Alexander, Huffiand Michail, Ratner Samuel, Kauffman Albert and his wife, Bramson Moses and his wife, Jereshkiewitch Konstantin, Estrowitch Michail, Heiman Beris, Braginski, Perli Paulina (a woman), Baranowa (the wife of the deadly-wounded Rohan).

SELF-AIDED EMIGRATION. The Self-Help Emigration Society have just pub- lished their fifth annual report, which shows that its work is steadily increasing in amount and value. Since 1884, when the society was formed, nearly 3000 emigrants have been sent away at a cost of about jEl3,213, of which sum £ 8354 was con- tributed by auxiliary committees, by the emigrants themselves, or by those interested in them. The remainder was received from voluntary subscrip- tions and donations, &c. During 1889, the number of emigrants assisted was 816. Of these 702 were sent to Canada, 93 to Australasia, and 21 to the United States. Nearly all these per- sons were successful in getting employment, the society being especially careful to despatch only those who are thoroughly suitable. The financial re- port shows a total income of JE4725 17s. 5d., and a nominal bank balance of £ 18, but against this there are debts amounting to jE72 odd. The total expendi- ture on emigrants amounted to J64229 2s. 2d., the re- maining £ 500 being spent on administration, &c. The Rev. Dr. Leach, who accompanied a large body )f emigrants to Canada in April, points out in his report that clerks and persons who are afraid of work ire not wanted in Canada. The people needed are servants and farm labourers who don't mind roughing t. Dr. Leach believes that for such, Canada is a and of Goschen."

Too thin for connubial comlort--A slender salary. CiBCCiT Court—Sneaking round the house to avoid liedog.