The Cardiff Times

He (at breakfast): Are you fond of fish-balls ? —She (from the country): Oh, I don't know-I never attended any. A LITERARY SCANDAL—" Did you htjar of the -discovery they have made .about MarkJTwain?"— No. What r'—««All his'bwia, are ^written &

MILD, BUT FULL OF MEANING. Mr Guzzleton (going out): You need not sit up for me to-night, Maria. Mrs Guzzleton No I suppose yon can do all the "setting-up" that is needed, yourself.

FULLER BIRTILL ANB) COMPANY, CARRIAGE BUILDERS, j CUSTOM HOUSE STREET, CARDIFF,* INVITE INSPECTION OF THEIR LARGE AND VARIED COLLECTION OF CARRIAGES, LIGHT, STYLISH, AND DURABLE, A large number of good Second-hand Carriages Always on Sale. Inspection made and Estimates given for Repairs Free. CARRIAGES SOLD ON COMMISSION OR TAKEN IN EXCHANGE. 44041 TELEGRAMS: "CARRIAGES, CARDIFF." 4093

OETZMANN and Co. SALE 67, 69, 71. 73 75, 77, and 79, HAMPSTEAD ROA D, Near Tottenha.m-co.trt-roa.d. LONDON. Telegraph Address, ''Oetzmann, London." OETZMANN and Co. SALE. GREAT CLEARANCE SALE NOW PROCEEDING. Special Sale Catalogue Post Free. OETZMANN & CO., HAMPSTEAD-ROAD, LONDON. OETZMANN and Co. SAI.E. N-.F Early Orders are recommended, as the quantities of some of the goods, although large. are limited, and :none of the items can be supplied at the Sale prices after the termination of the Sale. OETZMANN and Co., CABINET MAKERS. UPHOLSTERERS, DECORATORS, and COMPLETE HOUSE FURNISHERS, HAMPSTEAD ROAD, LONDON (near Tottenham-court-road.

WORKMEN'S TOPICS. J BY MABON, M.P. EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY. In my last letter was dealt with a master's Lability, including therein the liability of an employer, and I am now going to deal with a further liability on the part of an employer which, however, does not affect domestic servants. NEGLIGENCE OF FELLOW WORKMEN. Under the law, as it formerly stood, an employer was not liable for injuries suffered by a workman in his service through the negligence of another workman, although he was for injuries inflicted upon an out- side member of the public. The reason of that doctrine was set down as two-fold. First, that a man working with another had an opportunity of knowing the disposition and qualifications of the latter, and could, therefore, protect himself from any negli- gence on his part; and secondly, that a Workman accepted the risk naturally incident to the employment he had entered upon, among which was to be included the incompetency of his fellow-workman. It was in 1837 that the law first took that shape, in a case in which the two men con- cerned were equals in the employment of their master, or nearly so. Gradually since that time it appears that the defence of the common employment doctrine to claims against employers had been ex- pounded in a series of judicial de- cisions, till it came to be held that every man in the employment of a particular toaster was the fellow-workman of every other man in the same employment, no matter what their respective positions or respective functions might be; and the Workman had no claim at all against the employer for compensation unless he could prove negligence on the part of the master himself personally. In the case of large industries, where the master or owner stood altogether apart from the workmen, or where he did not himself exercise the func- tions of an employer at all, the workman Was left without any one against whom he Could enforce a claim for compensation. COMMON EMPLOYMENT f For some time after the doctrine of com- mon employment had been enunciated by by the English judges, the Scotch judges Beem to have refused to recognise it as a part of the Scotch law at all and even after their decisions had been overruled, they struggled to keep it within limits, Refusing to recognise a superior servant fcs a fellow workman, and distinguishing, between servants employed in different departments of the same work. It was not till 1867, to their credit be it said, that the last opposition of the Scotch judges was set aside, and the Scotch law assimilated to that of England. Now, the defence of common employment so developed gave rise to a sense of wrong on the part of a large number of workmen. For when a man Worked in a small undertaking personally superintended by the master he could claim compensation for injuries suffered, but if he Happened to be employed in a large under- taking, in the management of which the toaster personally took no part, he was absolutely without remedy, although he might be acting under the instructions and orders of a man who was, to all intents and purposes, the master. Further than this, tt was held, also, that men were fellow- Workmen who had no community or vicinity of work, and who might be absolutely un- known to each other. In fact, as the law ttood, common employment came to be defined as simply service under the same employer. It was not surprising, under these circumstances, that a cry for redress arose on the part of a very considerable fcumber of workmen. J, THE CONSEQUENCE. Various suggestions for dealing with the Uw as between employer and employed were toade. Some people said, "Sweep away all liability on the part of the master for injuries sustained by men in his employment, and let him be liable only for his own personal negligence." Others said, Sweep away the non-liability:of the toaster for injuries sustained by any third person whatever in connection with his Work." These propositions, though simple and intelligent enough, were not practical. Anyone injured by a person in the employ of another would hardly be content to be told, You have a remedy against the servant, who presumably cannot pay you compensation, but not against the owner, who, presumably, can." Again, it would be felt that to make a master or an Owner indiscriminately and unconditionally responsible for the act of anyone among per- haps a hundred, or even a thousand, work- men in his employ, whom he himself could Hot possibly know or control, would be to impose on him an unreasonable and, in some cases, an intolerable burden. At least this was the feeling of a great majority of those who had to do with amending the law on the subject. Hence the act which came in force on the first day of January, 1881, took a middle course, and made the toaster responsible not merely for his own personal negligence, but also for the negli gence of persons to whom he had deputed the exercise of his own powers as a master. NEW PRIVILEGES. jat act created a new class of litigation, al1.d gave the employed the privilege of fringing an action against his employer in Case of an accident happening to him in the ,Conrse of his employment, the basis of suc- cessful proceedings being the ability to prove Some negligence on the part of his employers, or their manager, foreman, or anyone specially appointed to superintend any particular part of the general work to be done, and whose orders the workmen are bound to obey. DEFINITION OF WORKMEN UNDER THE ACT. The act as it stands does not apply to domestic or menial servants, or even to all workmen, for the definition that is given to the word workmen by the act is that it shall mean and include railway Servants, and any person who, being a labourer, servant in husbandry, journey- men artificer, hand-craftsman, miner, or otherwise engaged in manual labour, whether under 21 years or above that age, has entered into or works under a contract with an employer, &c. Hence there are toany workmen who are not affected by this act at all. Again, the limitations in the act Itself are so numerous, and go so much against the workmen, that there are very few who really come under its benefits. INJURIES ARISING FROM NEGLIGENCE. But let us proceed to examine the act a little further. It declares that where per- sonal injury is caused to a workman by Season of any defect in the condition of the Ways, works, machinery, or plant connected with or used in the business of the employer, the workman, or, in case the injury results in death, the legal. personal repre- sentative of the workman, and any Person entitled in case of death shall have the same right of compensation and remedies against the employer as. if the workman had not been a workman nor in the service of the employer nor engaged in his work. But it is declared that a workman shall not be entitled to any right of compensation or Remedy against the employer unless the defect above mentioned arose from, Or had not been discovered or reme- died owing to the negligence of the 6lnployer, or of some person in the service of the employer, and entrusted by him with the duty of seeing that the ways, works, and machinery, or plsuit were in proper condition. The effect of the above is to declare that an employer is now liable for injury caused to his workman by any defect arising 'Rom, <j? not discovered or remedied owing the negligoijco of the master or some Person whose duty it was to see to such dffyct.

», The chief canker at the rooo of some WOmeil'tJ "Vee the 0f egmethipg to dot.

NO. 2.-MR C. H. SPURGEON. If the first ten persons one should meet in the street were asked to mention the most popular preacher in the country, probably at least nine of them would without hesitation name the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle. That he is the greatest preacher few would assert who have anything like an extensive acquaintance with the pulpit oratory of the day, however high may be the place they assign to him. It is easy to think of men who produce more immediately powerful effects. There are some who can appeal more cogently to the intellect; others there are who can unlock springs of feeling that lie deeper than any he ever touches. Yet who among them is there whose popularity could stand the test over which Mr Spurgeon's has achieved a stand- ing triumph? To attract thousands to West- minster Abbey or St. Paul's now and again is one thing; to fill the huge building at Newington- butts twice every Sunday the whole year round- except when overwork and November fogs neces- sitate a few weeks sojourn in the South of France -is another. Nor is his popularity that of4he pulpit merely. He has published many books, some of which have had a sale nothing short of phenomenal. For many years past, too, he has printed his sermons with unfailing regularity, and these find their way to all parts of the world, and have a circulation which, though the average is probably much less, has nearly touched so high a figure as half a million. No one would say that Mr Spurgeon in print is the same as Mr Spurgeon in the pulpit; he cares so little, indeed, for literary graces, and the colours ho uses are so simple and primary, that he loses more by the translation than most great preachers; nor does he aim at any such elevation of thought and feel- ing as must be attained before sermons can become literature. Yet the fact that almost from the beginning of his ministry at Newington he has sent his sermons to the press, is at least evidence of a mental fertility truly surprising. It is curious, in visiting the Tabernacle, to notice the anxiety which is felt on all hands, not merely among strangers, but also by his own people, lest Mr Spurgeon should be unable to preach. The apprehension is not a reasonable one, for except in the beginning of the winter, when he is peculiarly liable to the attacks of his y besetting malady, he is one of the most regular of preachers, and the feeling is only to be ac- counted for by the intensity of the desire to hear him, and not another, however eminent. When, punctually as the clock points to eleven, or half- past six, as the case may be, the sturdy figure with the massive head, the hair now iron-grey, the face too frequently drawn with pain, appears and slowly descends the stairs leading to the platform, there is an an ill-suppressed exclamation of relief. As soon as he stands up to utter a few words of prayer, or announce the opening hymn, the bustle inseparable to the assembling of so vast a con- gregation subsides, and it is not necessary for the speaker to raise his voice much beyond its ordinary tones for the words to penetrate to the remotest point of the upper gallery. There are few voices equal to such a feat as this. Voices of richer timbre, voices with more variety of intona- tion there may be, but for silvery clearness and resonancy this is without an equal. And of those who only hear it occasionally, few, perhaps, know the full extent of its capacity. With his superiority to mere self-exhibition and his absorption in his message, Mr Spurgeon often delivers a whole sermon with compara- tively little change of note and it is only when there happens to be something in the discourse which claims exceptional treatment — as, for example, some stirring pruclamatory passage from the Scriptures, which has to be repeated again and again-that its full power and compass are brought into requisition. At such times the effect is almost startling. The enormous building is flooded with sound, and yet the ear is never offended by a strident tone, for neither invoice nor language, nor in gesture, does Mr Spurgeon ever "give himself away." The restraint which marks most great speakers of the Anglo-Saxon race, and comes no doubt from the reserve that belongs to this type of character, is never thrown off, and the result is an added sense of pleasure, since it is felt, unconsciously it may be, that the preacher means more than he says, not less. A striking feature of the service at the Taber- nacle is the pithy, racy comments on what would be called elsewhere "the lessons for the day." They are often intended, perhaps, not so much to elucidate the sacred writer's meaning as to apply it to the present-day life of the individual and the community but whether the one or the other, they are invariably pointed and pregnant. The singing is massive and robust, especially when the time happens to be some universal favourite like the Old Hundredth. It must be confessed, however, that in the absence of an organ, to which Mr Spurgeon objects, the music often drags, and the preacher has not seldom to interpose to point out that it is the business of the congregation to accompany the precentor, and not follow him at a distance. One ancient custom which he religiously observes is that of reading each verse of the hymn before it is sung. As he does this, especially when the sacred song is of a spirited character, it is easy to understand his contempt for elocution as an art, for it is clear that his orator's instinct has taught him what others can only acquire from laborious imitation and exercise. When Henry Ward Beecher mentioned that he usually composed his sermons on the morning of the day of their delivery, a hostile critic re- torted that he could easily believe it, and the hit was a palpable one. No one would make such a reply to the statement that Mr Spurgeon's ser- mons are not elaborately prepared, for though they do not profess to be profound, and though their freshness is in the illustration and the setting" rather than in the thought, they are as compact and coherent as the most systematic mind could desire. The direct preparation only takes a few hours-although it must be remembered that in another sense all the preacher's life has been a preparation— and nothing is committed to paper beyond the heads," which fill half a sheet of notepaper. From this "brief" he speaks for thirty or forty minutes with a fluency which is scarcely ever known to falter, and yet which never degenerates into diffuseness or repetition—which, on the con- trary, is never anything but pointed and forcible. In the measure in which, speaking with absolute unpremeditation so far as the language is con- cerned, Mr Spurgeon unites fluency with concise- ness and strength, he is probably without an equal among our orators, whether sacred or secular. Another salient quality of his work is his humour. On the platform he can convulse-an audioncA with laygfrter. and keep it up, with i flashes of seriousness, throughout a long speech and even in the pulpit he does not disdain this precious gift, though careful to avoid its broader effects, and to use it with scrupulous moderation. It is, perhaps, in consequence of his readiness to enter into a. jest that so many practical jokes have been played off upon him, and so many idle stories told at his expense. He has himself taken occasion, not, of course, in a very serious spirit, to deny that he ever preached a funeral sermon for a deceased deacon from the text, "And it came to pass that the beggar died;" or that he once illustrated the ease with which the Christian may backslide by slipping down the pulpit banister, and the difficulty of recovery by frantic efforts to climb up again. He admits, however, that on Palm Sunday he preaches with a crown on his head and a palm in each hand! That Mr Spurgeon has unusual powers of organisation, including the faculty of putting the right man in the right place, the many agencies that cluster around the Metropolitan Tabernacle are ample evidence. Among the most important of these are the Pastors' College, the Stockwell Orphanage, and the Colportage Society. The first of these is by far the largest training college for ministers which the Baptists possess, and while its work has not met with universal appreciation, even in the denomination itself, the feeling of some being that its two years' training is quite insufficient, especially in the case of men who start with the merest rudiments of education, it is able to point to preachers like Mr Archibald Brown, Mr Cuff, and Mr Gange, as proofs of the kind of work it does. For the Orphanage no one can have anything but the warmest sympathy. It originated in an unusually interesting way. Mr Spurgeon had written an article for the Sword and Trowel," urging the desirability of founding an orphange on cer- tain definite lines, and within a few days a letter came from a Mrs Hillyard, inti- mating her readiness to give £ 20,000 for the purpose, and desiring him to call upon her. He went to the address given, strongly suspecting that this was nothing more than a hoax. He found, however, that the lady was expecting him. Then he nervously conjectured that he had misread the amount, and named B200 as the sum mentioned in the letter. She at once corrected him, and at last he was able to believe the good news. A subscription was set on foot, and enough money was obtained from other sources to erect the Orphanage and add £5,000 to the Endow- ment Fund. If Mr Spurgeon's career has, in many ways, been one of abounding prosperity, he has not gone without sharp discipline. He has had to bear much acute pain himself, and to witness suffering in others which it is hard to be unable to relieve. Pain, also, of a mental kind there has been in plenty. With aU his sturdiness and somewhat boisterous common-sense, he has the sensitiveness of temperament which few men are without who have themselves been moved by deep religious experiences, and who possess the power of greatly moving their fellows. His intonations are too natural for him to be troubled with clergyman's sore throat, but few men have suffered more from the nervous dread which pre- cedes appearance before a vast audience. It may seem surprising that this should be so with one to whom speaking seems every bit as easy as breathing. But with an orator, and especially one who is handling solemn themes under a. profound sense of responsibility, the feeling is some- thing very different from a commonplace fear of breaking down probably it is first and most an instinctive shrinking of the whole nature, mental and moral, as well as physical, from the expenditure of "virtue" that is about to be exacted from it. Further than this, Mr Spurgeon has found a good deal to be pained with in the signs of the times," especially in connection with his own de- nomination. He is no believer in modern thought;" there is nothing indeed which he more scornfully assails than the attempts at greater breadth and freedom in religion which the last two or three decades especially have witnessed. He is in theology pretty much where the Puritans were more than two hundred years ago, and he must have suffered much before he gave utterance to the sharp words which started the famous "Down Grade" controversy. His brethren of the Baptist Union have remembered this, and have for the most part treated him with a forbearance and generosity which no other man could command. The end is not yet; but, what- ever the issue, and whatever view may be taken of his action, no one who knows him can doubt that he is a truly great man—great in character as well as in mind. and with that power of im- pressing himself upon others, and of drawing them into passionate devotion to himself and his causes, for which there is no name but genius.

A FRIENDLY REGARD. Ý.b'9\.r'J Sin WAASKED LAWSON How long have yow been in the clutches of this vile demon, whiskey ? OLD RATS THE SOAK Oh, on'y 'bout forty-t'ree years. Yoti see, boss, when I wus a kid I had a awful tussel Wid de aguer, and everybody t'ought de jig were upLj-bnt whiskey saved my life, and natur'ly I been sorter under obligation to do old stuff ever since. -New York Judge.

"We made a big mistake, Adam," said Eve, after they had settled outside the garden. 11 How, dear V' We should have insisted upon having that matter arbitrated." Parent: Can 1 get this boy into the circus at half-price?—Ticket-seller Of course you can't. The boy is over fifteen, ain't he ^Parent; Yep but he's blind in one eye.

Current Notes on Agriculture, t; 1 By a Practical Farmer. I ARTIFICIAL MANURES. i I am informed, through a reliable source, that the leading manure manufacturers of Great Britain have come to an understanding to advance the prices of their productions this year again, notably superphosphates. Last year this manure was advanced some 6 or 7 per cent., and this, added to the forthcoming advance, which is about the same, makes it altogether 12 to 14 per cent. in the two years. Farmers will naturally ask them- selves if the article for which this increased price is demanded is worth this increase. That depends upon the quality. Some manufacturers sell a good article which will repay the farmer, whilst others palm on the unwary stuff that is worthless. On this matter of manure value the average Welsh farmer is very careless, and through this wilful ignorance a great deal of money is thrown away. annually. VALUATION AND TESTING. On the valuation and testing of manures, Mr Thomas Brown-Lynn, in his speech last week at the Norfolk Chamber of Agriculture, said :— It is calculated that over a million tons of arti- ficial manures are used annually in this country. Assuming each farmer to use 10 tons on the average, we have over 100,000 manure consuming armers. The number of samples of artificial manures ,sent to the Royal Agricultural Society's labora- tory is only about 500 annually. We may assume, I think, that this laboratory receives a moiety of the samples that are tested. But if we assume tour times as many are tested in local labora- tories, we shall note that only 2 per cent. of the consumers of artificial manures concern them- selves about their quality. This fact is not con- cealed from the dishonest manure maker. Seldom does a half-year pass without the chemical committee of the R.A.S. bringing pro- minently before the agricultural public cases of gross fraud or adulteration that have been de- tected in their laboratory. But we assume this laboratory tests only 1.200th part of the bulks delivered to farmers. The President of the Manure Manufacturers. Association, a few weeks since, by means of an address to the Royal Agricultural Society, called the attention of the public to the existence of what must be described as wholesale fraud. In the interest of the honest manufacturer alone he had to advise that every bag of superphosphate should be branded with its minimum percentage. This action of such a corporation speaks volumes. The neces- sity of having more tests made cannot be too strongly emphasized. Artificial manures cannot be valued by their look, their feel, nor by their smell. They can be tested and classified by chemical means alone. After being thus tested and scheduled it is easy to ascertain their true money value. THE TESTING OF MANURES. You will not as Englishmen object, I trust, to the statement that in this matter of testing manures we are sadly behind many other nations. Our legislature has interested itself with the general question of adulteration. It has arranged a fairly complete system, with the object of preventing the public from being defrauded. You need not that I recount the means open to any householder of having milk, coffee, butter, &c., tested by the public analyst. And rightly, too. Last year 70,000 tests were made, and 5,000 cases of fraud detected. I would suggest that agriculture may also be defended bv similar machinery. It is generally admitted that it is for the public good that the soil of England should produce a maximum of food things. It is also admitted that this end cannot be attained without a large consumption of so-called artificial manures, imitations of which are more easily produced and less easily detected than are those of food things. Therefore it must be a public necessity that a stop be put to the sale of useless imitations or fraudalent adulterations of these admittedly necessary substances. I said that England in this was behind other countries. It is well that in Ger- many, France, the United States, of America, Canada, &c., the Governments have established public stations where farmers can have samples of manures tested free of cost, and adulteration, if present, detected and punished. In the United States I am informed the common law runs in this fashion :—Every bag of manure exhibits its presumed contents by a brand on its face. If it is proved by these public stations that the manure is not what it professes, the law assumes that the seller has not performed his contract, and the farmer cannot be called upon to perform his share of the same contract, i.e., to pay, nor can payment be recovered in any court. FRAUDS IN THE MAXUBE TRADE. In France, I am told, it is deoined a criminal, not a civil, offence to misrepresent an artificial manure. The importance of protecting the manure trade from its fraudulent members has appeared so great that it has been suggested to establish a central station at the cost of the asso- ciation above referred to, where tests may be made for farmers gratuitously. Upon further consideration I must hold firmly to the opinion that action ought to be taken by the Government. I venture to suggest that chambers of agriculture should lay before the Secretary of the Board of Agriculture the necessity that exists of protecting the farmer, and suggesting the establishment, for that purpose, of four or five stations in different parts of the country. I beg to supplement the foregoing remarks by estimating the annual direct loss to agriculture through the sale of inferior and worthless manures to amount to an annual sum represented by seven figures. A far larger sum is lost indirectly in the resulting deficient crops. This indirect loss farmers can com- pute better than I. I may now assume that analyses of manures have been obtained. We now require to possess the means of putting a money value to the manures represented by the analyses. I assume you will admit that available nitrogen, bone phosphate, or potash has but little more value in one form than in another. Non-available nitrogen, in the form of horn, leather, or wool waste has very little manurial value because of the insolubility of these substances. For the- same reason phosphates insoluble in dilute acids. must be deemed of very little value. I have ventured to give insoluble mineral phosphate in superphosphates no money value. I take the value of nitrogen to be that which is determined by the current price of nitrate of soda, sulphate of am- monia, dried blood and fish, guano, in which nitrogen can be abtained in a,n available and con- venient form. If it cannot be obtained as cheaply from other sources I can but advise such to be neglected. It must be held that superphosphates determine the money value of available phos- phates. I can see no reason for pricing the phos- phates in guano or in bone higher than that in ordinary superphosphate. I take commercial muriate of potash to give the measure of value for potash in manures, holding the potash in this salt to be as available and efficient as that in more costly salts, SUPERPHOSPHATES. To value a superphosphate, we have but to remember that each unit is worth 2s 6d, and to multiply this by the number of units to arrive at the full value. In dissolved bone we must multiply 2s 6d by the number of units of soluble; multiply 2s by the units of insoluble phosphate (assuming, of course, they have not a mineral origin), and 12s 9d by the number of units of nitrogen to get the full value of the manure. We thus obtain the intrinsic value of a pure dis- solved bone to be £5 19s lid, and of the inferior manure, £5 4s 7d. The same method will give the value of a complete manure, if we supplement our former operation by multiplying 3s 5d by the units of potash present. The figures are given as the value at the factory for cash pay- ments. I have not deemed it necessary to add the com- position of grossly ill-prepared barley or other special crop manures. Farmers have already dis- covered that they have bought at £6 to £8 per ton productions that they might have prepared on the farm at £4 to d35 per ton. Last year the company with which I am connected offered to test manures free of cost. This led to the dis- covery that some superphosphates professing to contain a minimum of 26 per cent. yielded only 20 per cent. of soluble phosphate. The value of such a manure was, of course, 20 times 2s 6d, or or £ 2 10s; 159 under the assumed value. G*os§er cases than t&i&«re reported, only note that 3 tons of 27 per cent. supers con- tain as much as 4 tons of 20 per cent. to see how great is the loss-to the farm of such a. fraudulent c transaction. DISSOLVED BONE. A few remarks may yet be made respecting dissolved bone. The chemist is constantly asked if he would advise its use in preference to that of mineral superphosphates. Now, if phosphatic food alone is required by the soil or the crop, then superphosphates will meet all the necessities of the situation as well as dissolved bone. Soluble phosphate is identical in both manures. It is advisable to add nitrogen as well as phosphate, then dissolved bone, if genuine, will supply the former body as cheaply and effi- ciently if applied as a bottom dressing as other sources. If dissolved bono is so priced that the nitrogen or the phosphates cost more than in other manurial substances, the chemist will be justified in advising the farmer to neglect the dissolved bone and to purchase one of those other sub- stances. I assume that dissolved bone, made from pure raw bone, at £6 per ton, will yield phosphate and nitrogen as cheaply as other bodies,.

Controlling Sex of Offspring. Herr G. Horz, in a contribution to the German Archives of Scientific and Practical Veterinary Surgery on the possibility of pre-determining the sex, gives an elaborate review of the numerous theories of the sexual differentiation, from which it appears that we are still entirely ignorant of the cause of such difference. He enlarges on the theory of Fiquet, which is also favoured by his own experiments. Mr Fiquet, a cattle farmer, at Houston, in Texas, had observed that the sex of the young was usually that of the weaker parent. He produced for experimental purposes a marked parental difference by a certain system of keeping and feeding his cattle. If he wanted a bull calf he gave the cow plenty of particularly nourishing fodder, while the bull was given far less fodder, and that of inferior quality, and was made to serve the largest number of cows. If, on the contrary, he wanted to produce heifera, he fed the bull well, and allowed him no chance of serving other cows but those on which he wanted to experiment, and which were kept on poor fodder. Mr Fiquet says that he was successful in 32 cases, and Her Herz verified the theory by experiments of his own on goats, which gave the same results as Mr Fiquet's experiments on cattle.—Farm and Home.

Rack-Renting in Wales, Commenting upon what I said in this column a week or two ago, a special correspondent of the Liverpool^ Mcrcury says AVelsh landlords have in many instances endeavoured to take advantage of the temporary agricultural prosperity of the last 18 months. It is said that on one Carmar- thenshire estate, 40 notices to quit were given last Michaelmas, and in another South Wales county, the landlord informed his tenant that the continuance of their tenancy was subject to a rise of 15 per cent. in their rent. It is satisfactory to know that in this latter instance, the condition was ultimately withdrawn, for the farmers stood side by side, and preferred to leave their farms rather than submit to an increased rent. This combination is a rare event. Land-grabbing is at its worst in Wales, and no sooner is there strained relationship be- tween landlord and tenant than applications pour in for the expected vacancy. With these evi- dences of land-greed it is impossible to fight the battle of the tenant farmers, and it is an essential condition of a successful campaign for land reform that tenants shall oome to an understanding to abide together and jointly resist the enemy. It is evident that landlords in Wales know little of the real points at issue. Sir Theodore Martin chose to manifest his ignorance in the Times a few weeks ago, and in this column an appeal was made to him to justify his calumny upon Welsh Nonconformist ministers. More recently Mr David OweD, of Sangor, has replied in detail to the Royal biographer. It is significant that the Times, refused to publish Mr Owen's reply to Sir Theodore Martin, and preferred to give a one-sided view of the Welsh land question; but this does not cause surprise when one remembers that the Times is run in the gentry interest. The only answer made to the demand of the tenant farmers for a land court to fix rents is a reminder of the prices which have been realised in recent sales of land in Wales. This selling of land in Wales forms one of the most crying grievances. It is true that high prices are given, but it is not stated that in many cases the tenant who purchases is placed in a most serious dilemma. It is not merely to him a question! whether the farm is worth so much money, but he has to consider whether he had better give that price or lose all the advantages of his own labour and ex- penditure upon the farm. Beyond this he cannot but remember the associations of homo and hearth, and the memories which cluster round the place. Under -these circumstances the tenant over-reaches the Market price, and pays the landlord for that which the landlord ought to have no right to sell. The.remedy for this state of things is to curtail the unfettered power of sale now possessed by the landowners, to establish a and court to fix the priced land in the market, and to give the sitting tenant a right to pre- emption to the land he cultivates. The Weather a|d the Crops. The Mark-lane ExpteA of Monday says :— Threshings during the past week have not been very heavy, especially in. districts where barley also is grown. The deliveries of maltsters and distillers' staple have boiWextreinely liberal, and prices have been locally affected by this pressure on sale. Demand has boon, fair, but a rise in the temperature since Wednesdav has rendered it less animated than it would .otherwise have been. Nearly all the country markets are a trifle dearer on the week for sound samples of English wheat, and the London average is 32s lOd, a fair price, and 2d dearer on the week. Foreign wheat has recoyafed 6d of the recent decline, but is not an active sale at the price. The spring corn trade has been rather dearer for maize and beans, and fairfy steady for peas and rye. Barley has bean firm for Russian and Roumanian grinding Sorts, but cheaper for Turkish. The English barley offered has ranged from 22s to 44s in price, but in London the mean value is 31s 9d. Oats fairly undersell all foreign except Russian sorts. Linseed is .now steady at 438 per qr.

TO THE NORTH POLE IN A BALLOON. • r^roL?em^srs of the College of Aerial Naviga- tion M. Besancon (aeronaut) and M. Hermite (astronomer)—propose seriously to reach the North Pole by means of a balloon, and have ex- plained to their colleagues the means by which- they hope to succeed in their object. The balloon in which they are to travel will be made of two thicknesses of Chineso silk, covered with an. Impenetrable varnish, will hold about ( forty. five thousand cubic feet of pure hydrogen gas, and carry a, weight of over 8,000v pounds. They will ■also take with them four small pilot balloons, which will be sent up from the North Pole- should they ever reach that much-longed-for spot tii test the air-currents prevailing there, and four huge bags of hydrogen gas, to replenish the large balloon, should waste occur. Tho car in which the aeronauts will 1JJave to live is to be coated with thin steeE and will contain, in addition to its human, ['occupants and their scientmc instruments, eight dogs and a sleigh, a small unsinkable canoe, and provisions for a month. In order that the balloon may be kept at a regular distance from the earth, it will be fur- nished with a heavy rope and an anchor, to drag along the surface either^ ice or water. The intention is to equip two? vessels at a French port and sail to Spitzbergeoj -There- the hydrogen gas will be manufactured, Mid the great balloon and its satellites inflated} the seronauts starting on their voyage of discovery with the first favourable wind. They expect to be about ten days In the air, a»d. to be able to take photographs and science observations. Wher.) they will descend they have no idea, but if all goes well they hope to reach some civilised point either m North America or Western Asia. The duration of the expedition,from France and back is estimated at six months and the cost is put down at nearly £23,OOO,c,tbÐ larger part of which goes for the hire and equipment of the two vessels to Spitzbergeri; This will be mainly defrayed by the aeronauts jtheinsel ves, assisted by subsidies they hope to receav0 both English and French scientific sodietties. The start will not bemado until May, |892, the interval being; devoted to experiments to ascertain how long it is possible to remain in$balloon without descend- ing. The project is attracting much attention in scientmc circles here.

I WELSH GLEANINGS. By Lloffwr. WILLIAM GLANFFRWD THOMAS. IN MEMORIAM. God said to Glanffrwd, I have need of thee." He buckled on his armour, fought the fight Against the forces of iniquity, With courage sweet, and kept his armour bright • He gained the world's applause, for honesty Of faith and speech, but suffered for the right. And God again said, "I have need of thee, Thou'st done thy work, come up and rest with me PEDR MOSTIN. d- Glanffrwd anwyl! mab Awenydd, Hwn etholwyd gan y Nev, Llivai'r enaint cysegredig Ar ei ben seraphaidd ev: Er ei varw, siarad eto Bydd ei ddelw ar ei sedd, A llyth'renau pur ei enw Byth ddisglaeriant ar ei vedd. Llys Hwva. HWTA MON. The various Nationalist organs have been much evercised over Sir Robert Cunliffe's address on Welsh nationality and Welsh patriotism. This is what the Liverpool Mercury Welsh correspondent says :— The dangers to which Sir Robert Cunliffe alluded are, for the most part, the product of his own imagination. There is no attempt in Wales to secure isolation and aloofness from England, and the cry of Wales for the Welsh," in the sense of limiting Welsh endeavours within Welsh territory, has never been held up for public accep- tance. If this statement is doubted, 'the test of its accuracy is ready at hand. Let Sir Robert Cunliffe and his supporters mention half-a-dozen public men in Wales who either in public or in private advocate a policy of exclusiveness and isolation for Wales, and if they find this is impossible, let them admit that they have been combating a cry which has no reality, and which is only dwelt upon by Tory speakers anxious to place the worst construction upon the views of young Wales. There is a sense in which the policy of Welsh Radicals may be said to be anti-English. Where offices are such that no one can properly under- stand them without a knowledge of the Welsh language, I, for one, contend that an Englishman is incompetent for the post. In many Welsh counties it is a notorious fact that judicial appoint- ments are made entirely regardless of acquaint- ance with the Welsh Language. The county-court judges of Wales persist in ignoring the necessity tl of appointing Welsh-speaking men to posts in Welsh-speaking districts, and it will bccome necessary to call attention to the manner in which Wales is being imposed upon. The only remedy of the present state of affairs, in so far as judicial appointments are concerned, is to transfer the powers now vested in the county-court judge to the county council, so that occupiers of public positions may owe their election not to the nomi- nation of a judge, but, indirectly at least, to the voice of the people. Associated with the accusation of exclusive- ness, we find invariably a reference to Welsh clannishness. In my opinion it is a mistake to suppose that the Welsh are as clannish as the Scotch or Irish, and it is a matter of complaint by Welshmen in English towns that they are not as a rule supported by their fellow-countrymen. When they have succeeded, it is true that due notice is taken of their success but when at the commencement of their career, a time when assistance is of the utmost value, their com- patriots are not eager to countenance their initial efforts. This is explained to some extent by the fact that in Wales until recently racial superi- ority was the acknowledged prerogative of the Englishman, and the advantages of position, knowledge, and wealth, were naturally asso- ciated with the nationality of the stranger. Gradually a change has come about. Welshmen have become lord-lieutenants, and occasionally have been permitted to turn in county society. At Oxford and Cambridge and other universities Welshmen have shown themselves not inferior to their fellow-students. In the world of commerce fortunes have fallen to the hands of Welshmen, and their wealth has given them the facilities of meeting the Saxon upon equal terms. Thus on all sides the idea of inferiority is disappearing, and whilst the Welshman does not claim to be superior to his fellow-citizens in Great Britain he does demand to be treated as an equal in all respects. It is hardly worth while to discuss the causes which have led in recent years to greater self- assertion on the part of the Welsh people. The Welsh aristocracy knew nothing of Wales, and cared less. Welsh landlords represented an alien element in religion, language, and politics. Welsh clergymen represented the squire's house and the tithes. On the one side were the Welsh- speaking people on the other the English-speaking gentryand clerics. What wonder is it if Welshmen began to look with suspicion upon the representa- tives of this foreign order, whereby the most lucrative posts and the most honoured duties de- volved upon those who had no sympathy with the people or language of Wales ? The regime of the quarter sessions has not yet been superseded. The old magistrates knew of only three qualifica- tions for public posts- Toryi.sm, Churchism, and Anglicism. Given these three, with a relation- ship to a county magnate thrown in, and the vacancy was at once offered to a suitable candi- date. One of the duties of the county council is to avenge the past. It will take a generation before this is satisfactorily done. •7i* "Joe Hammersmith," under which nom, de plume a well-known nationalist writes to the North Wales Observer and Express, pub- lishes an "open letter to Sir Robert, in which he says Did you ever think, Sir Robert, of the vast difference between the education of a Welsh boy and that of an English boy ? Have patience with me while I describe the contrast. The English boy is taught in his own mother-tongue. The language of the hearth is the language of the schoolroom. He is carefully trained in the grammar of that language, lie reads the literature of his country, and is brought up to revere the names pf great authors. He hears of Shakespeare and Milton, Johnson and Addison, Burke and Locke, Byron and Wordsworth, and countless others whose fame has spread through- out the world. These groat men speak to him in his own language, and not through the medium of a language that is foreign to him. He is told of the origin and progress of the nation to which he belongs, and of the great and worthy deeds of its soldiers in war, and of its statesmen in parlia- ment. Crecy, Agincourt, Waterloo, and many •other names of glorious memory ring in his sus- ceptible ears Marlborough, Nelson, and Welling- ton Cromwell, Pitt, and Russell. How his young heart swells with pride to think that he is an Englishman His education makes him a patriot. The youth of England are trained in their schools to love and respect their native land. How different with the youth of Wales The young Cymro finds his own .language banished from the school. The teachers do not teach in in Welsh, nor do the pupil daro to speakit in the hearing of their teacners. Not a word is heard of Welsh literature. No mention is made of Welsh history. Of our poets and heroes the pupils hear nothing. The present and past of our country altogether ignored. England has usurped the supreme place. Our youths are taught English grammar, English history, English literature. Their own language is ex- cluded to make room for the English, their own literature to make room for tholiteraturc; of England, and their own history to make room for English history. Now, what would you suppose, Sir Robert, would be the probable effect of such a thing ? Is is not calculated to make us despise everything and everybody Welsh, and to bestow all our admiration on things English ? We have a good old proverb to the effect that hateful is the man who loves not the land that bred him, and we display this proverb in conspicuous positions at every eisteddvod. But our schools are doing their best to make us all hate the country in which we live, to forget its language, and to despise its literature. In fact, the schools and colleges of Wales are transforming Welshmen into Englishmen. It is almost a miracle that any of us know Welsh at all, and that we should care the least bit for Welsh literature. And yet you had nothing better to tell us, dear Sir Robert, than that we should learn English Ever since we have had schools we have been learning English with all eur might, and I really think wc have made very fair progress. Take a hundred Englishmen ana a hundred Welshmen, of the same station in life, enjoying similar educa- v tional advantages, and I would bet my bottom dollar the latter would beat the former in a written examination in English history and literature. Do not think that I am adverse to the teaching of English. On that question there cannot be two opinions. If we mean to get on we must jtnow Enrfish. The portals of commerce are jtnow Enrfish. The portals of commerce are ■j -^closed monoglot Welshman- The splendid literature^ srie^ce. and philosophy are beyond the grasp of him who is ignorant of the English language. This language is not only a valuable acquisition in itself, but is the "open sesame" to innumerable delightful "groves of joy and pleasure. The best literary pro- ductions of all ages and all counties are available to the reader of English. O no, Sir Robert, there is no likelihood that we shall relax in our efforts to become familiar with the grand language of England. But we have come to see that it is a piece of sheer folly to neglect our own. We have a language, a literature, and a history all to our- selves, and there is no reason why we should be ignorant of them. After no inconsiderable doubting and questioning we have resolved to introduce these subjects into our schools. We mean to teach our boys and girls Welsh grammar, Welsh history, and Welsh literature. Why should we not have a scientific knowledge of our dear old language? What incapacity will an acquain- tance with the works of Dafydd ab Gwilym, Goronwy Owen, and Ceiriog inflict on our young men and maidens ? And, come to think of it, a knowledge of Welsh will be no hindrance to a knowledge of English, but a material help. I am prepared to grant that the highest aim of our education is a thorough mastery of English but I maintain that a Welsh training will assist us to realise that aim. A bilingual education is in every way superior to a monoglot education. He who knows two languages has many intellectual r advantages over him who knows only one. We need not know less English because we know more Welsh. Experience, I venture to prophecy, will prove the exact contrary. The change will be fruitful in another direction. It will make us better Welshmen, and so better men. It will teach us to have more respect for our country, and more respect for ourselves. Once we are convinced that we have a language, a history, and a literature worth studying, our attitude towards our country will be revolutionised. We will no longer be ashamed of it, or servile -dmita-tora of Englishmen. Our smart young men will no longer consider it the proper thing to profess ignorance of Welsh. Our girls will then be able to talk about Goronwy Owen, and to read the odes of Dafydd ab Gwilym. We shall all fall in love with Morfudd and Myfanwy, and shiver with the terrors conjured up by the Black Bard of Mona. The battles of Llewelyn and Glyndwr shall be fought over again in every school, and the laws of Hywel Dda re-enacted. I am talking of the future, but not of a very distant future. These things will come to pass sooner than we think. We want to raise our attitude towards the English from flunkeyism to a genuine brotherly respect. We have been imitators long enough. Flunkeyism and servility are unhealthy. You referred, Sir Robert, to Scott and Burns, and you said they had a deep veneration for England. But theirs was a healthy, manly, vigorous admiration, because it existed side by side with a profound admiration and love for Scotland. That is what we want to cultivate in Waies. A know- ")s ledge of our own language and literature and history will enable us to understand ever so much better the language, literature, and history of England and self-respect and self-confidence will help us to look upon the English character •with a just and real appreciation. Our lot has been linked with the English by fate. Let our rela- tions with them be made as natural and well balanced as they can be. The question is, not whether they are better than we, or what is the measure of their superiority, but rather, how can we be made better than we are ? Surely not by being mere imitators, however splendid the model.

MR GLADSTONE AND THE BIBLE. Although Mr Gladstone has -coneltided in the November number of Good Words his series of articles on "The Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture," it is not likely that his sword will be allowed to remain unsheathed for what he has now written is in great part a challenge to Professor Huxley, who is not the man to decline controversy. There is every reason to anticipate replies and rejoinders which will necessarily inspire the liveliest interest. Apart from the importance of the subject of contention, who can fail to look on with wonder and admiration at the boundless energy with which a man of Mr Glad- stone's age, while incessantly busied with the greatest politi cal problem of the time can throw himself into other fields of controversy. Mr Gladstone has occasion, in his latest article, to criticise the very confident dispositiordn cer- tain circles to assert that as regards belief in supernaturalism, the intellectual battle has been fought and won, and that victory is on the side of negation." He sees in Professor Huxley the Achilles of the opposing army" who claims this victory, and vigorously contests the Professor's proposition that science has possessed itself of weapons of precision as against the old-fashioned artillery of the Churches." With the assistance of an expert in hydraulics Mr Gladstone has eyen criticised those calculations respecting the subsidence of waters upon which Mr Huxley has impugned the narrative of the Deluge. On that subject Mr Huxley cannot fail to take up the challenge. An equally curious point of dispute between these two eminent men turns upon the Gospel narrative of the easting out of devils. Mr Iluxley dwelt upon the injury to the swine owners, and cast doubt upon the narra- tive because "wanton destruction of other people's property would have been a misdemeanour of evil example." Mr Gladstone thinks, however, there is reason to suppose that the Gada- rene pig-owners were Jews, and were unlawfully possessed of swine, so that by the miracle law was not broken but rather vindicated, as it would be in this country if casks of smuggled spirits were caught and broken open after landing. If this were only a possibility, instead of a "cogent likelihood," it ought, Mr Gladstone argues, to have been considered by one who claims to use the weapons of precision.

HURRIED DINING. Slew eaters are long livers, we are told, but fashion has now orda.ined in France that the ser- vice of the table shall be so very rapid that those who eat slowly cannot adequately dine. Country house guests are bitterly complaining, just now, ri the rapidity with which one course follows another. Half the pleasure of appreciation, they say, lies in the leisurely tasting of flavours. The palate of the gourmet is defrauded by this fashionable haste, which trie." eVtn the possessors of teeth that have done but 20 years' duty.

CREATED A SENSATION IN BOSTON.—A rather pretty woman, mounted on a powerful bay horse, created a sensation in the Back Bay district of Boston the other morning. It was hot her fault- less equipment or well-fitting habit that drew the attention of the Beacon-street residents. She rode astride, clothespin fashion, just like man. Her seat was good, and she managed the big bay with I the skill of an accomplished horsewoman. Those who saw her say that the lady appeared to far better advantage than those of her sisters who precariously cling to the side saddle and assume a pleasure they do not feel. It is tho fifst time the Miller style of horsemanship has-feeen seen in Boston. THE STORKS IN COUNCIL.—Near Oggersheim, a small village on the banks of the Rhine, there is a large meadow where every autumn the storks are in the habit of meeting previous to their annual migration. On one of these occasions above 50 storks were observed formed in a ring, in the centre of which was one whose appearance showed the greatest alarm. One of the party seemed to address the assem- bly by clapping its wings for about five minutes. It was followed by a second, a third and a fourth, who each clapped its wings in the same manner as the first. At last all the storks forming the ring commenced clapping their wings and, when they had done this, they with cne accord fell upon the poor culprit in the middle and despatched him in a few seconds, after which they rose up in a body, and nne, according to custom, taking the lead, they winged their way towards the south. Whatcsffonoetho poor stork Iiad committed that: had brougtrtr"cpi;fl .IJhn'li'J'Sl\dafatc is of- course UnL-nowa. r'

Small Coal. OVER TWO MILLIONS STER- LING WASTED ANNUALLY. Industry Checked Wealth Squandered. The colliers are pushing to an issue the question whether they should not be paid for small coal and so important do the colliery proprietors consider this question that they have given notice to terminate the sliding-scale agreement rather than consent to what the men demand. But there is a small coal question which exceeds in importance the one now being contested. that is, the question of the small coal that is wasted. This may seem a small question at first sight, but when looked into it will be found to be one of great, even of national, importance for not only is there a sum of 2% millions sterling lost annually in the form of small coal wasted, but the South Wales district suffers by reason of the insufficient development of its material in- terests, both trade and local industry being checked by this waste. This may seem a startling assertion to make, but the facts are rather under-estimated than over-estimated. A great outcry is made if a land- owner, for his own pleasure, and merely for pur- poses of sport, refrains from cultivating land which might be utilised for the production of food; but the best agricultural land cannot com- pare in value with the minerals which to-day are wasted wholesale in South Wales, and the waste has gone on through all the years during which the collieries have been in operation. It would not be fair to blame the founders of the coal industry here. The small coal which they throw away had not then the marketable value which it has of late attained to. In the progress of indus- trial invention, means have been discovered for the utilization of the small in the manufacture of, coke and patent fuel; and contrary to the for- merly received views it has been found that small coal has really a higher value for coke manufacture than has the large coal which formerly was solely employed for that purpose. Then, too, there is the establishment abroad of patent fuel works, especially in France and Italy, in which the fuel is made all sizes, from the great blocks suitable for use on steamships, down to small nuggets fit for household consump- tion. In this country, too, patent fuel works are being set up for the same class of manu- facture. There is also a great market for the small in France, where the railway administration is beginning to introduce it for locomotive consumption in imitation of Belgium, where slack has for a long time past been so used. The result of these changes is that, compared with its former position, "small" has now a market value three times as great as it formerly possessed, and this independently of advance in prices of the large steam coal. Therefore, the question of the utilization of the full quantity hewn is something quite beyond any dispute as to payment, such as may arise between masters and men, and it is one in which the whole community has a deep interest. Doubtless, the men and their employers have a strong pecuniary interest in the matter, and so, too, has the royalty- owner but a district like this, which offers unrivalled facilities to industrial operations, and of which one of the chief attractions for the establishment of industrial enterprise is that large and cheap supplies of fuel are obtainable, cannot be expected to stand idly by whilst reckless waste is going-On. As between coalowner and collier, it may be accepted as inevitable that whatever profit the former may make from the small coal cut, the latter will secure-owing to the operations of his trade organisation-a. fair share. The great point to be insisted upon is that at the very time this enormous waste of a most valuable commodity prevails, there is a great demand from the coke ovens and patent fuel works, not only at home but also abroad, for the very material which in South Wales collieries is being thrown away as rubbish. Coal thus thrown away can never be recovered, for a few weeks after having been cut it is valueless. Years ago much of the small that was raised to bank used to be cast aside, and great tips of such coal are to be discovered here and there in the valleys but of late years the value of the slack has been recognised, and it is now utilised both for coke-making and patent fuel manufacture, as well as for consumption in local iron works and manufactories generally. The total quantity of coal raised annually in this district may be taken as 24,000,000 tons. Of this no less an amount than 40 per cent. comes under the denomination of "small." That part which is seen to be small in the workings is never raised to bank and of that which is raised a quantity equal to 14 per cent. of the original amount hewn passes through the first screen, and 4 to 5 per cent. additional through the screen at the docks. There is, consequently, somewhere about 10 millions of tons of small made every year, but only half of this is sold, the other half remaining underground. It is of great im- portance to South Wales that the whole of this coal hewn should be utilised and as the workmen are now paid only for the large which they send to bank, it is essentially requisite that some change in the mode of payment should come about in order that the community should profit by the whole of the mineral wealth ex- tracted. Small coal is now worth 9s 6d to 10s per ton f.o.b. Cardiff. The additional cost of working and bringing to bank the small, which now is left underground, would be only about 2" 6d per ton, so that there would be a wide margin of profit to all concerned in the work, if the small which is now hewn were put into the market. Larger supplies of small coal are urgently needed locally,as well as for export. So pressing is tha demand, and so inadequate the supply, that—to quote oneinstance which is fairly typical of many— one local concern can, at times, get only a third of its required quantity, the result being that two- thirds of the plant and machinery lie idle. It will be seen, therefore, that the small coal question is not one solely between masters and men, but that it deeply concerns employers and employed in other industries, and has a material interest for the community at large. In a period of low prices, there might be excuse for wasting so large a proportion of small; but that excuse does not avail at the present time. Even though, as would probably be the case, more abundant supplies of small should result in reducing the price to a less remunerative level, that would furnish no reason for wasting a large percentage underground. To throw away such a large percentage in order, by creating scarcity, to get higher prices for the remainder is equiva- lent to corn dealers burning half their wheat stores in order to make heavier profit on the bread stuff that remained. Patent fuel and coke works, if furnished with better supplies of small coal, would afford much additional employment. They would, too, go far towards meeting manufac- turers' requirements, for the patent fuel industry is being developed greatly. The practice in South Wales differs widely from what prevails in the North of England. There not a particle of coal, large or small, is wasted; yet here, with mineral of far higher value, so many millions of tons have been cast aside as worthless Thin seams of coal remain unworked at present because—even where the coal-owner could profit- it would not pay the colliers to cut them under the present system of wages solely for "large" and the "small" to be thrown away or left out of account. Yet the coal is in many instances of excellent quality, and its getting would be a dis- tinct advantage to the community. The use of small coal becomes more extensive every year, in patent fuel manufacture, coke- making, and consumption in its natural state. Yet those who want the small cannot be supplied, and a good business which might be opened up with France and Belgium, furnishing additional employment for ships and seamen, is left un- developed. There is urgent need for reform, and that speedily. Local industries—especially the iron and tinplate works-would benefit by larger and cheaper supplies of coke and other fuel, and the condition of the district would be improved by the stimulus to manufacturing which would be afforded by the greater abun- dance of cheap fuel.

Aleck (from the city): Uncle Silas, your clock is half-an-hour slow. Uncle Silas: Never mind, Aleck. The minute-hand'll drop half an hour after it passcs twelve. It's lorxse. Judge In what respect did your husband treat you in a brutal manner 1—Plainc&F t We were quarrelling, and fce tfcwted Could I: too Mst irord.

Samuel's Sentiments. — SAMUEL ON DOMESTIC MUSIC. Perhaps the most pernicious and demoralising of the recreations of this, our L-bnd of England is that terrible bugbear known a- domestic music. I verily believe it is responsible or more sin and iniquity than rny other form of English amuse- ment. Lying, hypocrisy, a^d doubly-concen- trated deception are one and all accentuated by the influence of domestic music. It has caused husbands to deceive their wives and families, and in his Krcutzcv Sona-ia Tolstoi tells with terrible force how a wife used iF as a blind for the purpose of humbugging her and. But without at- tempting to treat the sunject with the severity of the Rusum nOVfjisú, who considers that music may rise to the height of indecency," I propose to show some of the results accruing from indul- goace, in domestic music. I have fre- quently wondered whether Mr Gilbert had been the victim of domestic musio .siiortly before Ilp wrote the Mikada ? Surely so; else he would never have penetrated the keen and cutting satire of making his heroine fall in love with an ama- teur first trombone who, on his own confession, was "no musician." In no place is the demoralising ten- dency of domestic music more en evidence than in the drawing-rooms of the middle-class communities. During the miseries of that essentially English Institution, an evening at home, music is always more or less to be found in the programme. And what is the result ? Lying Sugar-coated lying perhaps, but none the less lyinG" Let us diagnose the case and unearth the reasons for cause and effect. We will commence with the young gentleman who is labouring under the delusion that he is the possessor of a tenor voice. He is asked out so that he might experi- ment upon old-time songs, and new-fangled waltz-refrained ballads of love and sentiment. He is fully aware of the prevalent fallacy as to his vocal powers, and gives himself airs only equalled in their absurdity by some of the so- called music he is fond of warbling. As soon as things get into something like order in the drawing-room he is asked to sing something. He had been sitting in a corner of the room for some time, waiting for the moment when he shall be asksd to perform, and is bursting with an ambition to show what he can do. He has brought a roll of music with him, and has care- fully left it on the hall table. This gives him the opportunity of leaving the room to fetch the songs, and thus draw people's special attention to the fact that he is going to sing. Yet when the hostess requests him to favour them with one of your charming ballads, Mr Thomson," he feins a well-studied hesitation, and remarks that "he would much rather not." Of course, he is pressed to oblige, and after some humming and hawing he consents. This is the first phase of the hypocrisy resulting from W. Thompson's vocal posses- sion. The se- cond follows— and it is the worst of the two—when he has tried to sing a song and has so dis- torted it that the composer would fail to recognise it. The hostess tells him that his singing is really charm- ing," the young ladies call it "lovely," and his rival the MUSICAL SLAVEY. baritone, who hates tenors in general, and Thompson in particular, perjures himself by giving It as his opinion that he has "a very finfi voice." And all the outcome of domestic music. very shocking it is to feel that what should be a harm- less form of amusement should produce suck lamentable results. Many a peaceful and respectable householder has, ere this, had cause to regret the existence of domestic music. For instance, a nice, quiet old gentleman of studious habits may find his next-door neighbour has a passion for the cornet. This being so, the old gentleman is likely to be driven frantic by the efforts of his neighbour to perfect himself as a, cornet soloist. He practices all the evening and rises early in the morning to resume his duties. It can therefore be no matter for surprise if tht studious one indulges in strong, not to say J)ro. fane, language. And should he be tempted te transgress the roles of sobriety occasionally it can scarcely be wondered at. An amateur who it trying to play the cornet is calculated to drive any rational member of society to the verge of distrac- hod. There is but one way to settle sneh a man, and that is to employ a man who knows nothing at aU. about music to take the house next door and per. petually practice on the trombone. Yet the man and his torments are simply the result of domestic music. He is anxiouJ to appear before his friends as an instru, mentalist. Poor mortal, poor friends. The I YE LODGER'S HORROR. old jaay, wno tOlct her son to "put his fiddle- away until he had? learned to play it," had. in spite of her Hiber< jiian blunder, lllUClr method in her mad" ness. She knew per. fectly well that tin preparation for the pro" duction of domestie music is as likely as not to lead to fatal result: -moral or physical. I am told, upon the authority of a teacher of the instrument, that the flute is becoming » popular and fashion* able instrument with the fair sex, and era long the lady flautist will be included on all oeca-sions when domestic music is to the fore. 1 regret to hear it, for next to the man who plays upon the cornet I should place in the category of musical nuisances the lady who plays upon the tlute. Y et there is much sin and wickedness in the world and domestic music, and es- pecially female flautists may be a form of penance designed by a long-suffering Providence. If the pain inflicted be equivalent to the sins committed by per- formers and listeners, the remedy will, indeed, be a drastic one. The lady pianist is on the same level with the tenor, the only difference being that her sex entitles her to be the re- cipient of more perversions of the truth in the form of com- pliments than the male pre- tender. Seriously, domestic mn«c is ( undermining the moral t'ntture of the young people who indulge in it. They say things about each other that they do not TB OCARINA. mean ana know to be untrue, and their ouli excuse is that the truth is not pleasant at times, and that they must be civil to the people the) meet at their own and other people's houses. And aU this is the outcome of domestic music. SAMUEL: HIS SENTHUMTa.

A PARENTS GROWL "How's your family ? Pretty well, thank you." Any of your daughters married j-et! "No and I can't understand why they dent go off. They use powder enough, goodness knows!" MI8! 1.1.

Kittie (at the wheel): Look out, she's going tc jib. Aunt Maria (who has been lookir-g very pale): I really think that Kittie needn't have ■ callcd w my tuKtmi iii horrid se* MslaBg.