The Cardiff Times

BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, DEATHS Noticex oj Births, Marriages, and Deaths, are charged at the rate 01 Is for the first Twenty Wcrds, and (id Jor rvrry additional Ten \Vords, and must be PREPAID. 111 all case* the notice must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer, BIRTH. BRETT.—January 11, at Abercarn, Monmouthshire, the wife of Fred W. Brett, of a. daughter. 8603 MARRIAGES. VACHELL—STEWARD.—On the 7th inst., at St George's, Hanover-square, by the Very Rev. the Dean of West, minsteH, and the Rev. W. B. Philpot, of Bersted Bog. nor, Colonel H. T. Vachell, Royal Artillery, to Emma Elizabeth, widow of the Rev. Ambrose Heath Steward, late Rector of Ashby Parva, Leicestershire. 8558 THOMAS-WILLIAMS. — January 9th, at Tredegarville Baptist Chapel, by the Rev. A. Tilly, D. W. Thomas, cashier at Daniel Owen and Co.'s, to Lydia. Jane (Totie), second daughter of Mr W. Williams, Long- cross-place, Roath. 8549 LAWRENCE—HATHERLEY—January, 6, by licence, at St. Margaret's, Roath. by the Rev. N. D. McLeod, Meredith Lawrence, to Charlotte Elizabeth Hatherley (Bird*. LOVIE-GRIFFITHS.— On January 15th, at the Taber. nacle, Cardiff, by the Rev. N. Thomas, assisted by the Hey. J. D. Watters, M.A., W. Bruce Lovie, vice- consul of the United States at Cardiff, to Sarah Hannah, only daughter of William Griffiths, Glan- avon House, Cardiff. 8ó55 DEATHS. HOWELL.—On 8fh January, at the residence of Mi- David Evans, 43, Oakfield-street, Cardiff, Ann, widow of the late Moses Howell, Mill Farm. 8525 HOPE.—January 10th, at Duwiais. Jessie Anne. widow of the late John Hope, surgeon, of Newcasile on- Tyne, oniy daughter of George Martin, of Dowlais. SMART.—On January 12th, 111 London, Mr George Smart, formerly of Cardiff, aged 65. NEEDS.—On January 14th, at the Ro e and Crown, North-street, Mary Jane, wife of George Needs, j m., age 24. 8651

SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 1884. LOCAL. THE DEATH OF AN OLD CARDIFFIAN. THE death of Mr GEORGE SMART has re- moved another of those gentlemen who were the pickers of its present mercantile wealth. Mr SMART was a prominent mer- chant in the town while it was only in the first stage of its prosperity, but unlike others of his then compeers, his wealth did not grow with the growth of the town. The truth is, he made himself somewhat un- popular by ferreting out and putting an end to various abuses in the borough and being regarded as some- what of an enthusiast, was shunned by people who profess to hate bigotry in any shape. But while his worldly means became reduced, his efforts for the good of the people kept on increasing. He was in- strumental in.* starting several British Workman public-houses," the forerunners of the coftee tavern of the present day "public-houses without the drink," as he called them. He spent his days in peram- bulating the streets, especially about the docks, with a bundle of tracts in his hand, and if he could obtain afew minutes conversa- tion with a sailor, would affectionately invite him to the Gospel Hall in the evening. Mr SMART was for many years a staunch vegetarian, boasting that his food cost him 4¥l a day, and that he' could walk twenty miles with the greatest ease. Whilst JOHN ALLEN, the "converted navvy," was in Cardiff, Mr SMART became greatly enamoured of the Christian Mission, which afterwards developed into the Salvation Army, and "General" BOOTH had no more steadfast follower than was GEORGE SMART. The standing paragraph in the War Cry headed" Smart attention" will now be no longer seen the eccentric, but pure-minded man has gone to his account. PUBLIC SPIRIT IN MERTHYR. THE good people of Merthyr are, in the main, a humdrum set of folks. When it was proposed to give the town a mayor and corporation, the inhabitants could not see the good that would accrue thereby, and resolutely—or at least a majority did so— set their faces against such an importation into the capital of the black country of Glamorgan. And now we find that the Parliamentary Debating Society in that lackadaisical town has been obliged to give up the ghost. We have on every possible occasion descanted on the benefits of such societies to the rising generation, that young men may, by means thereof, acquire a facility of putting their thoughts into words with a fluency which could scarcely be obtained in any other way, and also gain much knowledge from the debates. But the young men of Merthyr are content to go on without the advantages of such aids to self- culture. What they do with their spare time in the long evenings of the present season is somewhat of a puzzle to us. There is not much in Merthyr in the way of amusement, and we are thus driven to the conclusion that the public-house has more charim for the young Merthyrian than the hall of the debating society. We regret to form such an opinion, but we see no other solution of the problem. A PERSISTENT KNOCKER. FEW things can be more annoying to a man and his family than to have a person per- sistently knocking at the front door of the house after all the occupants have retired to rest. It is, however, no uncommon nuisance in certain streets. One or two individuals acting in concert keep up the annoyance, once they begin it, until they are run in but the magistrates are often too lenient with them. A Mrs JOHN, at Pembroke petty-sessions on Saturday, was, however, made an example of. She had been guilty of knocking at a gentleman's door one night for three hours at a stretch, and the magis- trates committed her for 14 days. What else can be done with such irrepressible people ? THE DANGERS OF PARAFFIN OIL. To carry a naked light into a bituminous coal mine is not more dangeruus than to carry a candle into a petroleum store. And this fact was proved in a startling manner to Mr THOMAS FISHER, a shopkeeper at Aber- dare. Mr FISHER was fined by the Aber- daro magistrates on Tuesday for storing petroleum without a license. He had been granted a license, but infringed its conditions by carrying an artificial light into his oil store. About seven o'clock on the morning of the 27th ult. he caused a fire in the store room, which with some difficulty was put out. It then transpired that Mr FISHER took a light into the building to fill the cans, the oil caught fire in consequence, and pro- duced a serious explosion. Defendant was himself badly burnt, and the damage was estimated at £20. Most of the oil sold for consumption in paraffin lamps not only emits noxious fumas, but is of a highly explosive character and, as a matter of fact, oilmen, as one of the metro- politan magistrates explained the other day, have no right to deal in such perilous stuff. The wonder is that such aocidents are not of still more frequent occurrence. Large quantities of this inferior oil are stored up in Cardiff and other towns as well aJ3 Aber- dare, in consequence of which there is a danger of a serious conflagration breaking out at any time. THE MERTHYR MEDICAL CERTIFICATE CASE. MR BISHOP, the learned stipendiary at Merthyr, after reserving his judgment, to carefully consider the case in all its bearings, has acquitted Dr. EVANS, of Beaufort, of the charge of having given a false certificate of death in the case of the deceased woman, MARGARET JONES, of Dowlais. The charge was preferred against him by Dr CRESKWELL, a brother practitioner, whose power to take up the prosecution instead of the Superintendent Registrar was doubted from the very beginning. But Mr BISHOP, it appears, did not base his decision on that point, for he hdd that though the circum- stances clearly showed gross carelessness on the part of EVAXS, he could not say that the doctor wilfully made a false certificate. Dr CRESSWELL, however, is not satisfied, and Mr BISHOP has been asked, and has con- sented, to state a case for the superior court.

GENERAL. WEIGHT AND LONGEVITY. THE man who was buried at Shifnal, in Shropshire, weighing 30 stone, and whose coffin it took ten men to lift, was a mere infant when compared with the celebrated DANIEL LAMBERT, who weighed 52 stone 11 lb. at the time of his death, and whose portrait may still be seen over the entrance to a public-house at the top of Ludgate-hill, London. A Mr WILLIAM LEWIS, of Beau- maris, weighed 40 stone, and died whilst drinking a quart of ale, of which he used to drink eight every evening of his life. Most of the.se abnormally big men die at an early age, but a Mr JAMES MANS- FIELD, who died in 1856, weighing 34 stone, lived to the age of 82. DANIEL LAMBERT could button hi6 waistcoat round seven men weighing 11 stone each. The Tichborne claimant weighed 26 stone at the time of the celebrated trial, but prison life has reduced his bulk to 11 stone, and thus probably adued to his longevity. All these men, like BANTING, the father-in-law of Mr BRINLKY RICHARDS, could have reduced their unnatural proportions by attending to their diet, and thus carried about a ItoSs —of ii=fil3SB a«?5noaa matter. 11" ~r~iTiiiirif' 'ii'inil I u' Irr A BLIND ACTRESS. WE know, by the example of the Postmaster- General, that even a most complicated de- partment like the Post-omce can be governed by a blind man, although it must bo recog- nised that the permanent staff of all public departments affords great help to the heads, who change with the government, and could carry on the work as efficiently without a chief. The Rev. T. SPARROW, a blind man, in 1858 was elected chaplain to the Mercers' Company, and read the services from embossed books. There is, however, now playing in the burlesque of "Prospero" at the Imperial Theatre, a blind actress, and such is the perfection of her performance that no one in front of the theatre can discern her loss of sight throught any imper- fection in her acting. She plays the charac- ter of Ariel. The other night Miss DELAVAL, who performs Ferdinand, became ill, and tho blind actress undertook the part. Although she required considerable prompting, no one in the theatre could discover that she was blind. She is the daughter of one of the property-keepers, and furnishes another ex- ample of what people can accomplish even under the severe deprivation of sight. DEPRESSION IN THE SHIPPING TRADE. ACCORDING to Messrs ANGIER'S circular, there is a gloomy prospect this year before the shipping trade. It was said some five years ago that we were overbuilding when we were constructinj at the rate of one million tons per annum, and those who said so are now proved to be right. Ships have been built for irresponsible people, according to Messrs ANGIER, and they have been thrown on the builders' hands. The shipping trade of this country is enormous, but notwithstanding this fact, we have been building faster than the demands of trade would warrant. If we were to build no more ships for two or three years, the loss at sea which annually occurs, and the natural wear and tear, would bring supply and demand into closer re- lationship. If it were possible to condemn all the rotten and jerry-built ships by some method of Government inspection, it would be a gain to those shipowners who carry on a noble and legitimate trade. There is no fear of the honest shipowner being hanged, as Messrs ANGIER anticipate, by sending unseaworthy ships to sea, but rascality must be stopped at all hazards, and we have no doubt that such exists in the shipping trade.

FOREIGN. FRANCE AND MADAGASCAR. IT has been often urged by the aborigines of Africa and America that white people come among them with the Bible in one hand and the sword in the other. It must, however, be borne in mind that the Bible is carried by the missionary as the servant of a private society, while the sword is carried by the soldier as the servant of some buccaneering European state. Since 1835 we have made great progress in Madagascar in the way of Christianising the people of that island, with its four or five million inhabitants, but it seems probable that the work will be undone by the present French Government, who care nothing for Christianity. All friends of religion must lament this fact. Madagascar is 1,030 miles long, and 350 wide in its broadest part. The French now claim a third of the island, and that third includes its most fertile portion. We can- not expect savage nations to welcome white people if the result is that they are liable to lose their territory. No nation in Europe will step in to prevent this outrage, and so the designs of evil men prevail. LONGEVITY IN THE UNITED STATES. ACCORDING to recent returns, there are a number of people in "the Southern States of America of the age of 100 and upwards, but not so many in proportion to population in the Northern States. A few years ago the negro servant of WASHINGTON was then alive, at the age of 106 years. As the great patriot took the command of the American army in 1775, just 109 years ago, there is every reason to believe that this aged negro was as old as he represented himself to be, more especially as his position as servant to WASHINGTON was recognised by a pension from the State. Alabama contains nine times as many centenarians as New York, and fifteen times a.s many as the State of Maine. Fast life has much to do with this state of things. We find cosy country rectors living in this country to a great age, like the late Canon BEADON, while the High Church clergy in great towns do not live so long because they exist in an inferior atmos- phere, and work much harder. CREMATION IN GERMANY. THERE is only one apparatus for cremation in the whole of Germany, and that is at Gotha, where some 17 or 18 bodies are cremated annually. Seeing that the popu- lation of Germany is 40 millions, it cannot be said to be very popular even among this very advanced race. The most powerful argument against cremation lies in the fact that it favours the designs of' poisoners and other human vampires who wish to get rid of people for profit. If people are buried in the earth, and foul play is suspected, the body can be exhumed and subjected to analysis, and thus crime is sometimes de- tected. The will of the late Lord St. LEONARD was supposed to have been buried with him, as he was interred in the dressing-gown in which he died. If he had been cremated, the doubt could not have been cleared up by exhumation. As certain eccentric a.nd Quixotic people seem desirons of reviving this pagan custom, it is as well that the question should be viewed from other sides than the mere sanitary one.

"DRUID" PRICE AND CREMATION. CREMATION may be the best method of disposing of the dead, but it is not ap- proved of by the country just yet; and any one who attempts to carry it out incurs con- eiderable risk of interference on the part of his neighbours and the public generally. There have very recently been recorded in- stances of cremation where the furnace and the other paraphernadia have been provided on the private property of those who wish to carry out the behests of deceased relatives or friends who prefer the quick action of fire to the slow progress of natural decay but this is only in very isolated cases. It is not quite certain that in a discussion of this question the worm would have alto- gether the best of the argument against the' devouring elements," and perhaps mainly for the reason that the space at disposal in the neighbourhoods of large centres of populations is becoming so limited that one of these days we may have, willy-nilly, to have recourse to cremation, not merely out of sentiments of delicacy for the dead, but out of consideration for the health of the living. Burning the dead was, as our readers are aware, practised by the Greeks and Romans, and HOMER gives us minute particulars as to how it was accomplished. It is beyond dis- pute that about 1225 B.C. the practice was general in the countries we have mentioned and elsewhere, and the manufacture of costly urns for the reception of the ashes which remained after the fiery pro- cess was not only of an extensive character, but it developed artistic instincts which probably had a marked effect in the moulding, designing, and colouring of these post-mortem depositories and pottery generally. Burying, however, came to be practised by both Greeks and Romans, the former having their burial places at a distance from the towns, the latter near the highways. Half-a-century before the birth of the SAVIOUR, there was a revival, under SYLLA, of the practice of cremation, and although it became pretty general for a time, busying-places or ceme- teries eventually held their own, and became, as they are to this day, the ap- proved depositories of all that is mortal. of earth's denizens. I Attention has this week been forcibly attracted to the subject of disposing of the dead by the extraordinary action of Dr. PRICE, of Pontypridd. It is no figure of speech to say that the name of the gentleman who disputes with another the title or Arch-Druid, whatever honours or emolu- ments may attach to the mythical office, has these last few days been on the lips of nearly every man, woman, and child in the king- dom, who have doubtless pictured to them- selves the old man, with a white flowing beard, and wearing curiously cut and coloured raiment, performing a heathen funereal eere'iiony on thp W p.lI!h mount?5* .0" no other witnesses than the "spirits of the hills, with all their dewy hair blown back like flame." In these parts we know the eccentric individual, and if wo are not sur- prised when we hear of his mysterious doings on tho ridges and tho elevations in the neighbourhood pf his home, and have almost ceased to elevate our eyebrows when we observe him solemnly parad- ing the streets with pea green un- mentionables picked out with scarlet, a snow jumper, and an arrangement of fog- skin for a head-dress, it cannot be cxpected that our breath will be wholly taken away when we hear of his attempting to cremate, with such simple appliances as an old barrel and a quantity of paraffin oil, the body of a child, of which he, an octogenarian, is the self-admitted father. Unfortunately for the object the doctor had in view, his actions were observed, and he soon discovered that instead of performing the rite upon which he had set his heart in thd solemn solitude of the hills, he had gathered at his heels a crowd of excited persons who would, so we are informed, have expressed their antagonism to his proceedings in something louder than words, something deeper than sentiment, but for the presence of the custodians of the peace, who, after some difficulty, rescued him from the hands and tongues of his tor- mentors, and placed him within the security of the police-station. We have none of us any right to question the sincerity of Dr. PRICE'S motives, or to interfere with him in the performance of the religious ceremonies which he believes to be the only "correct thing;" but it must be added that if in carrying out these ceremonies, and making manifest this belief, he creates, or is likely to create, a breach of the peace, or to bring down upon himself the indignation of the public, then it becomes a matter of duty for those who are charged with seeing that the peace of tho realm is not broken to take action. As to the proceedings at the inquest, we have nothing very particular to say. It may not be in accordance with the Druidical law to register the birth of children, but that is neither here nor there. It is the law of the land, and Dr. PRICE, like a good citizen, should have shown the loyalty of his disposition by con- forming to it. There may be excuses for the anti-vaccinators, because it is alleged that bad physical results may follow from vaccination but nothing of the kind can bo asserted about the registration of infants, which, for obvious reasons, the State insists upon. No doubt the worthy doctor has been put to considerable pain and inconvenience by recent occurrences, but although he may personally deny him- self the consolation which others will have in the reflection that his unusual proceed- ings were at the bottom of the miscliief, he will find, if he chooses to pursue the en- quiry, that he has few sympathisers in his misfortunes. If men will do such unreason- able things as to go at night to the top of a mountain to burn in a barrel of paraffin the body of a recently-deceased child, he must not expect the unearthly proceedings to pass without notice or comment of any kind. It would be asking too much of an inquiring and inquisitive public.

.0- THE CRISIS IN EGYPT. AMONG the subjects dealt with by Tory members in haranging their constituents the csisis in Egypt seems at present to be the favourite topic. It has been seized upon by all the foreign and domestic adversaries of the Government as a pretext for taunts and reproaches, which we believe will soon bo refuted by the progress of events. Tory criticism does not, however, present a very formidable attitude. As Mr CHAMBERLAIN remarked at Newcastle on Tuesday night, one of the things in which the exponents of Toryism are adepts is to ask questions, and the question propounded within the last few days by more than one of these gentlemen is, Where is the Egyptian Government at this moment? Is it in Downing-street or Cairo ?" We may reply that while, at Cairo, the ablest of Egyptian Ministers, NUBAP. Pasha, with the KHEDIVE'S willing consent, and with the assistance of several of the ablest British administrators, has under- taken the government of that country, our own statesmen in Downing-street mean to take care of British interests. And these in- terests which Mr GLADSTONE and his colleagues will look after consist not merely of the special British investments in Egypt, the Suez Canal, the route to India, and the com- merce and finance that we have fought to protect, but the interests of English tax- payers here at home. It is, we feel assured, the fixed resolution of our own Government, and will be made the rule of its dealings with the KHEDIVE to withhold its permission, or rather to interpose a prohibition, of further Egyptian military enterprise. In justice to Egypt, which would be inevitably and irretrievably ruined by such action, this rule is henceforth to be main- tained. In justice to England, who must ultimately pay the cost, we have no right to insist upon forbidding the re- conquest of the Soudan. These are con- siderations of which no account is taken by those eminent men, Sir SAMUEL BAKER and Major-General GORDON, two Englishmen of whom we all feel proud, who have laboured in vain, one after the other, to reform the Soudan administration. We can sympathise with their personal regret at the final aban- donment of that vast ueld of their past faithful services, fruitless and hopeless as these were to the cause of civilisation. The history of every age presents equal examples of heroic effort and not inglo rious failure. But while esteeming and admiring these distinguished countrymen ef ours whose special knowledge of the'Soudan, or at least of the Equatorial provinces, cannot be doubted, we must reject their counsel with regard to other considerations, with which they seem very little acquainted. Neither of them was ever called upon, like Sir EVELYN BARING, to investigate the actual military, financial, and political resources of Egypt, and to estimate its capacity of holding and ruling an immense East African empire. Neither of them has had anything to do with Egypt in its :present broken-down, disorganised, and bankrupt condition. Neither of them is qualified, as a practical man of business, to judge of the degree in which substantial British interests, financial and mercantile, in Egypt as it is, can be supposed to depend upon the retention of the Soudan. Above all, neither of them seems capable of ap- proaching the question as an English poli- tician with due regard to the circumstances of our own country, to the principles of our national policy, our manifold obligations elsewhere, and our relations to foreign States. We say, therefore, without hesita- tion, that Chinese GORDON" and the cele- brated explorer of the Upper Nile, brave aid strong men as they are, cannot be safe ad- visers upon this occasion. Their opinions being contrary to the decision of a Literal Government, may be used with avidity by its party opponents, or by those who speak and write under no sense of responsibility, to discredit the recent action of Miiisters. But it will be shown by the official corres- pondence to be laid before Parliameit—nay, it is already manifest from the knovn facts of the case—that the peremptory demand upon the KHEDIVE to relinquish hij remote and indefensible dominion vas am- ply justified. This subject, which must necessarily come under dis- cussion among the earliest topics of debate at the opening of the Session, may fitly be examined in view of present orcumstances, when a new Egyptian Govern/ient has been formed, in accordance wit", the policy adopted by that of Great Britain. As a matter of principle, with regard to the duty and responsibility of a Br> sh Government, if it be *droitw that our orgible interven- -'c. tion in Egypt was possibly •>$ the necessity of protecting British interests there, we are certainly bound to look to the welfare of the Egyptian people. It would be a disgrace to us as a nation to neglect this duty, Tho actual dependence of the KHEDIVE, whose authority we have restored, upon the protection of British arms, entitles our Government to dictate to him such mea- sureaasare needful for the good of hIs subjects within the limits embraced by our occupation of the country. Now it is the KHEDIVE himself who bears testimony, by the latest report of his sayings, to the fact that the cruel oppression of his people, in Egypt proper, has been partly caused by his dominion of the Soudan. He told the Times correspondent, afew days since, that while he had not been able, in all these years, to lessen the evils of slavery, and the slave trade in the Soudan, his efforts in that quarter had produced in Egypt "another sort of slavery, that of conscripts dragged from their villages to meet their death as soldiers in the Soudan." It is the KHEDIVE, the legitimate reigning Prince of Egypt, who makes this sad confession, and who generously declares that he now prefers the surrender of such vast territories, and the loss of imperial rank, to the continuance of such misery in his country. It is, therefore, for the salvation of the Egyptian people, and with the conscientious assent of their lawful ruler, that the British Govern- ment has imposed its positive decree upon the Egyptian Government. It is for this reason, and with no less warrant than this, that the late Ministry of SHERIF Pasha, which would not give up the Soudan, has been obliged to retire, and the same con- dition has prevented RlAz Pasha taking his place. The correspondent above quoted, who has frequently been in conver- sation with all these persons, remarks that SHERIF and his colleagues never spoke of the interests tf the "fellaheen" of the native Egyptian peasantry, but that the KHEDIVE often does so. These are the interests, we take it, along with the British public interests in Egypt, which our own Government ought to look after, if there be any possible justification for send- ing British troops to hold Egypt. The KHEDIVE, therefore, can bear witness on behalf of Mr GLADSTONE'S Ministry, in answer to the Tory party in England, that what has been done at Cairo is for the good of IJgypt. On the other hand, it was high time to stop the evil that was being done by the late Egyptian Ministry in the reckless and ruinous prosecution of its undertaking to re-conquer the Soudan. During the past twelve months millions of money have been spent, and many thousands of lives have been sacrificed in this disas- trous enterprise, against the advice of the British Government. A whole army, under j | European officers, with complete equip- ment and artillery, provided at great cost, has been sent to destruction. The remaining army of Egypt, properly so called, is a body of 6,000 or 7,000 regular troops, under the command of Sir EvELYN WOOD, organised and trained with great care, and has not been allowed to go to the Soudan. The Egyptian Government, being denied the use of these troops, re- sorted to the trick of sending to that hateful service, under BAKER Pasha, some 3,000 of the gendarmerie, who were enlisted for home service exclusively, and who are not soldiers at all. It was time, indeed, that the British Government should interpose, as it has now done, to prevent this enormous waste of life and means in Egypt, which could profit none but the corrupt officials and venal intriguers connected with the Soudan. We wish to relieve Egypt, and to make it possible for Egypt to discharge her huge liabilities, to develop her pro- ductive resources, to elevate her Buffering people, to become a wealthy, orderly, safe, and happy country, under a native Mussul- man Government, when the work of British intervention shall have been com- pleted.

Mil J AMES BHOvVN AND RAILWAY GRIEVANCES. On Wednesday a well-attended mesting of Newport ratepayers took place at the Albert- hall, the object of the gathering beinsr, as set forth in the printed placard, to memorialise the Board of Trade concerning1 the non-complianca of tho Great Western Railway Company with the Cheap Trains Act of last session, and also their total disregard of the circular of the Board of Trade on the subject. Mr L. B. Moore was voted to the chair, Mr James Brown, who, it had been announced would address the meeting, being also on the platform. The CHAIRMAN having briefly opened the meet- ing, and pointed to one or two particulars in which the Great Western Company had not acted in accordance with the act of last session, Mr JAMES BROWN was then called upon. The railway companies, said Mr Brown, were told unmistakably that the remission of duty was conditional only, and. that if they wished to benefit by it they must take care to comply with the conditions. The reductions were expressly subject to ths condition that if a due proportion of the accommo- dation afforded by each company was not afforded to passengers at fares not exceeding Id a mile, between six at night and eight in the morning, at such fares and such hours as the Board of Trade think reasonable, enquiry be made, and if the company proved to be in default, the above- mentioned conditions of taxation would be with- drawn from the company. The speaker then gave a series of statistics which, he contended, proved that the Great Western Railway Company had not complied with the new act. A memorial setting forth these facts was then read and adopted by the meeting on the motion of Mr WELLSFOBD, seconded by Mr J. YOUNG, Mr J. WILLIAMS attempted to address the meeting in opposition to the views enunciated by Mr Brown, but was, refused a hearing by those present owing to his remark that Mr Brown should have learned better than to be continually tantalising the Great Western Company. The meeting closed with a vote of thanks to Mr Brown for his action in the matter.

COLLISION IN PENARTH ROADS. About seven o'clock on Saturday night the large new ship Cressington, of Liverpool, Captain John Broiniey, and the new screw steamer Firdene, of Newcastle, were in collision off Penarth Head, resulting in serious damage to both vessels. It appears that the Cressington had left Roath Basin, Cardiff, by the evening tide with a cargo of coal, coke, &c., for San Francisco, in tow of the steam tug Mount Etna, of Cardiff, and when off Penarth Head the screw steamer Firdene, light, for Cardiff, oollided with her. The Cressington was struck on the port bow, driven ashore on the beach, and had to discharge part of her car^o during the night, and on Sunday morn- ing W{s towed off by the tugs Falcon, Mount Etna, and Primrose, and docked in Roath Basin at Cardiff. The Firdene was run ashore to the eastward of the Low-water Pier. She has a large hole in her side abreast of the mainmast into which the anchor of the Cressiugton has been driven. The steamer has also about 40 feet of her bulwarks carried away on the port side and other damage. I

AGRICULTURE AND THE GRAIN TRADE. [FROM MONDAY'S MARK-LANE EXPRKS3 "1 With the exception of one or two chilly nights and mornings when white frosts have occurred the weather during the past week has continued unseasonably mild. It is a wonder that wheats are not too forward on kind land, but up to the present there has been very little the matter in that respect. The plant retains its healthy colour, and is everywhere strong and thick on the ground! The trade gets from bad 80 worse; and through- out the past week values have been against sellers even in respect of good samples in sound condi- tion. In fact, all else has been absolutely un- saleable. Flour has also been difficult of sale and all but the finest and most desirable makes have been rather lower to buy. Bread is relatively dearer than either flour or wheat, and has been throughout the past year. Anything coming within the designation of malting barleys has been easier of sale and something dearer. Other articles remain unchanged. Trade for wheat off stands in London remains lifeless, and values begin to tend downward again, as here and there pressure to sell is manifested. Foot-and-mouth disease shows a further decrease on the week. I

The election of an Anglican bishop for the united sees of Killaloe and Ardfert, in the room of the late Dr. Fitzgerald, took place on Wednes- day, in St. Mary's Cathedral, Limerick. The choice fell upon Archdeacon Chester, of Killaloe, Archbishop French presided, and Judge Warren acted as legal assessor. At a largely attended meeting in Edinburgh on ) Wednesday, of representatives from all parts of Scotland, a resolution was unanimously adopted asking for the appointment of a Minister for Scotch affairs. The Marquis of Lothian presided, and amongst the speakers were Lord Aberdeen and Dr. Cameron. TRUSS.—Merrick's Patent Suspension no steal springs; no hard pads. Pamphlet, with testimonials, post freq,—Keevil, Chemist, CiiiCgu, Bristol. 11112 w

-==:- TALK U Y Tljtf WEEK. iE* GOHEBYDD.j J-lui Uik i* that a town without good and aUlJl"y water is in sore straits. In L:a-di;T, last summer, the townsfolk were, unforo tll:Lt,Jy, within a weasurahb distance of awatef famine, and thh cireunia: ai 09 doubUe.s served to spin- on the local authorities ui their endeavout-to bring a supply of wholesome water to the ever' increasing- population of an ever-widening tOWJJ. The meeting called at the Town-hall on Monday for the purpose of sanctioning the bill which the corporation is about to promote in Parliament was a large and influential one, and it was per- fectly unanimous in its acquiescence in the Taff Fawr scheme, which has, after considerable con- federation and discussion, been decided upon by the representatives of tho ratepayers. The admirable speech of tho mayor, who dealt exhaustively with the whole subject, carrieu conviction with it in every sell- tence, and, if there were any who went to the meeting with doubt or hesitation, they must have lost them somewhere before his worship resumed his scat. His speech was a rivulet of lucidity and an avalanche of indisputable fact, and it is the talk of the week that by it he has gained a reputation as a reasoner and a speaker which his fellow townsmen will not fail to recall when they are in need of those invaluable qualities in a public man. The talk is that sentiment does not always run hand-in-hand with common-sense. The Cardiff Town Council, in the bill to which I have referred, proposed to insert a clavise giving them power t; exercise supervision over a class which has of late years sprung into existence, the public street hauliers—that is to say, men and carts who stand in certain streets ready for any odd job of carting they are able to pick up. There is nothing so very unreasonable in this; if there is, then it is as unreasonable for the cabs committee to exer- cise authority over the public vehicles which p!y for hire within the borough. A terrible hulla- baloo about the proposal was caused at the meet- ing on Monday, and a considerable amount of butterine was wasted in declaiming against any interference with the rights and privileges of the working classes. This, of course, tickled tho ears of the groundlings," and the sentiment was vociferously applauded by those who did not, or would not, understand the point at issue. Caidiff is making very great progressiva strides, and the necessity for these street hauliers will become emphasised every month we live, and is it to be supposed for a moment that thoy can be permitted to overrun our thorough- fares at their own sweet will without control of any kind ? It will be infinitely better for the meIl themselves if a Is licensing system is adopted ill their case, because it will prevent the market from being glutted, and be a guarantee that thorC will be none but good characters in their coin* pany. In every large town tiicse itinerant hauliers are under the surveillance of the authorities, and not only so, they are subject to pains and penalties, some of them of a drastic character, for miscon* duct or disobedience. The mayo>- withdrew the clause, not wishing to jeopardise for a moment tha important question of the water, but the matter is bound to be dealt with the next time the towc council goes to Parliament. The talk is that nothing is more indecorous thaJJ a scone in a place devoted to the worship of the Almighty. I regret to say that we are not alto- gether strangers to this sort of thing in this pOl" tion of the kingdom. Another has just reached my ears, and my pen will not be quiet. Not > hundred miles—to use an ancient form of expres' sion, which is very frequently trotted out as a harmless transparency—from Whitchurch, there is a parish church in which the scats are free and open." A family in the congregation, however, lays claim to a particular pew, and if any unfor- tunate strangers find their way into the sanctunt sanctorum on the Lord's Day, they are incow tinently hustled out by tho claimants. ThiS mode of procedure has como to be most obnoxious to those who desire to perform thetf devotions amid surroundings of decency and order while others, piqued at the presumption of those who insist upon a privilege which no on'" else possesses, add fuel to the fire by sometimeS occupying the sitting for mere annoyance sake. Last Sunday a stalwart young fellow ensconced himself comfortably in the pew, and when one of the members of the family, who claim to be JJJ possession, arrived, a scuffle ensued. Eventually the intruder was thrust out, out only to his position when the thru.iter had taken his seat. This is a scandal, and should bo put a stop to What are th9 clergyman and churchwarden* about in allowing such an unseemly exhibition ? Tho talk is that the streets of Cardiff are in better position than they were. Thanks to tbf weather, and not to mine ancient enemy, tbl steam-roller. Sound the loud timbrel! another notable convert to my objection to mud' making by a machine which costs the ratejiaye^ a lump of money to own aud maintain, and con" verts their streets into quagmires in winter and dust-bins in summer. At a meeting of the tow" council this week, the Mayor, who is also thf chairman of tho health committee, aud eoase" quently an expert in these matters, expressed the opinion that he had great doubt as to tbØ present method of making the streets he believed that grinding up the stones into mere powder waf a great mistake, and that the mode must either bØ modified or abandoned." "And so say all of us! etc., etc. While I am on the subject of the Cardiff street f pr&y permit me to congratulate the builder of tbl fifty feet of wall, out of the two or three hundred feet in course of erection, from which the hoard"3# has been token, on the Angel-street ..ido of tb* Castle. It is worthy of a ducal or oven" royal palace, and is quite an ornament to that part of the town. But it is such a little bit, and h&* been so many long months making! I wondet how many more months will elapse before th' entire work is completed It will not be tbil year, I am afraid, if an inference may be draW from what has already been done. I suppose however, we must be thankful for small mercie8*' and take with gratitude the good the gods pro' • vide. So that for what we have received, and fot I what we may receive in 1885, let us all be trul/ thankful. Amen! The talk is that the Tories of Cardiff have bee" holding high festival during the week. TbeY" have embraced their future candidate with pO end of fervour, and have hung transported on his lips. I am not, I trust, All eavesdropper* but if psoplo will talk loudly when they walls 1* the streets, I cannot take the trouble to stop C'y ears or walk another way. After the meeting oI the Conservative Club on Tuesday night,$ which Mr Harben, the man whom the Conserve tives of the town have delighted to honour witb. their confidence, had given his hearers a taste 0 his qualities as a thinker, a politician, and orator, I overheard two gentlemen who were pr6' sent recording their respective opinions of proceedings. So-and-so's and what-shall-we-ca^' liim's addresses were good, but a too windy; but there was a good de*^ too much of a certain personal element about whole affair." Onp wanted to know why their old and tried friend, Mr Guest, was not on the job* which brought the prompt remark, Oh, he d' clined point blank from tho fir.st." Mr Hart was said to be a man capable of giving expressio- to the thoughts which arise in him, although b' is no orator as Brutus is." He looked, so theS two interested ones concurred, "more cut out fo work than for talk," and as he will have to do good deal of both before he returns to the bosoi of his family, the Tory electors are to be congrat1 lated on tha matter of their selection. j The talk is that although cremation is n< against the law of the land, it is not safe to pra' tice it in the eyes of the public, who may bo a! to be shocked at the post-mortem spectacle. V Price, in his singular escapade on the Llantrissa knoll, which is his own property it is sai has eclipsed all his previous performances in eccÆ trie directions. He has also, I believe, tra' gressed the law. Cremation is not, as far as I c f laarn, illegal, provided it be accomplished minu5 the obnoxious details of last Sunday evening" although it is a method which is not so far ad' vanced in public estimation as to render its adop' ion as all general. If Dr. Price had built him furnace, and provided the adjuncts to decef* f cremation in the manner we read of the other daf* f it would have been no doubt a 1Jin8 days' wonder- | andtlienanendtoit; but then, t iiu[Jposl ¡ that this would not have beea Dnudtstf t as the venerable doctor believes m it | and hence the tar barrel or paraffin cask» j as if "he had been about to burn a Guy Fawkes.' r I do not think the present charge against Dt; Price is likely to succeed. There it something i vague about a misdemeanour in common lAd f- in not burying the body decently." Thereof F many ideas as to what decency m.ty be. Is it not U any offence-and I put it forward with atJ ¡ humility in the face of the light and leading lega^ lnmiuaries by whom we are surrounded—to bury the body of a child before such child has bee' l duly registered? If the Public Prosecutor'* | opinion is to be obtained on Dr Price's c;i-.€ Lb/J query might be put to him, without any hartf* ( being done. It is a more serious offence, would think, than burying indecently,' what. i ever that may mean.

i Justice Pearson, on Wednesday, ordered tbl i release of Edward Dale, who, with his brothe'j was on Tuesday committed to gaol for infringi"* the Telephone Patents Act. Edward Dale j led an affidavit denying his connection with tb* j usiness. 1 The Press Aseociation learns that the TransvafJ* | leputation have found it impossible to t their answer to Earl Derby for delivery I Wednesday night, but will have it ready by t1?o. t to-day, when it will be sent to the Colop.uil O;IiG6 >