The Rhos Herald

EPITOME OF NEWS. The concert hall of the Kursaal at Spa was destroyed by fixe. During 1908 there were 502 cremations in the London crematories (Woking, Golder's Green, I a-id llford), 20 per cent. more than in the pre- vious year. Princess Louise Duehess of Argyll witnessed "An Englishman's Home" at Wyndham'ft Theatre. New Zealand's population at the close of last year was estimated at 1,020,uvU, the death-rate being only 9.57 per thousand. During the three years the Middlesex County Council trams have been running they have car- ried 114 million passengers. The Californiart House of Representatives has rejected by 48 votes to 28 the Drew Bill pro- hibiting all aliens from owning land in Cali- fornia. "To marry a man (in 1.7s. Sd. a week is sui- cide, not maniage," said Judge Smyly at Shore- fliteil County-eutirt. In consequence of the overcrowding of Ni-ool- wich workhouse, forty-two inmates are sleeping on the floor. A sitting of the Royal Commission on the Land Transfer Acts was held at the .Roval .Com- missions House. Over L600 in fines has been imposed during the past quarter at Kingston Police-court on motorists for exceeding the speed limit. London Court of Common Council has contri- buted twenty guineas to the fund for the relief of the widow of Police-constable Tyler. Captain Windham, the founder of the Aero- plane Club, is having an aeroplane built in France aft-er his own designs, and during the summer intends to try to fly across the Chan- nel. The City of London is to have a morgue, the Court of Common Council deciding to provide an apparatus for the preservation of unidenti- fied bodies similar to that in use at Brussels. Major A. V- Briscoe., Governor of Exeter Prison, has been appointed Governor Staffc-d Prison in succession to Mr. A. G. Western, who recently retired from the service. An outbreak of fire occurred in a fruiterer's shop outside London Bridge Station. In a f w minutes several fire engines were on the spot and the fire was quickly subdued. At the Westminster City Council it was de- ei(,, to convene a conference of reoresertafcr-vs of the Dorough councils to consider the whole question of eosterraongers' stalls in the streets. I It was stated at a meeting of the Lambeth Borough Council that 353 persons had applied I for the post of engineer tlio- The premises of Messrs. Sawyer, od ware- housemen, Cambridge-road, Kiiburn. IV. Vv I was almost totally destroyed by lire. On an average a million tons of sugar are used per month, says an American consular re- port, but the world's production is more than I sufficient. I "What is your husband doing?" a- witness was asked at a Lambeth inquest. He is work- ¡ ing for the unemployed," was the reply. After enlisting a "ew days ago in the King's I Own Regiment at Manchester, John McLaren was sent to Jersey where the battalion is sta- tioned. It was reported that he died from sea- sickness. The Optical Society has handed the Gover-. nors of the Northampton Institute, Clerkemvell, £ 915 10s. in aid of trade classes in optical sub- jects. The house of Mrs. Noxah Hiekey., an agricul- tural tenant at Ratlieanny, was fired into whiist the inmates were in bed. The Princess of Wales visited the exhibition of the Society of Women Artists, and purchased one of Miss Emily H. Paterson's Venetian sketches. J The foreign meat regulations which came into force on January 1 have resulted in a large in- crease in the amount of foreign meat inspected at the Port of London. Mrs. Kenward, wife of a grocer's assistant at Sandgate, who was charged at Eltham with the murder of her daughter and remanded, has died in Canterbury Prison. At Leeds, Harold Booth, 47, accountant, pleaded guilty to setting1 fire to his father's mill at Conisborough, and was -to ten montns' imprisonment. At Whitfield's on April 25 a men's meeting will be conducted by the Annan Shaw, American delegate to ths International Con- ference for VV omen's Suffrage. The grand jury at Muskogee (Oklahoma) has indicted seven persons charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States Government in connection with public lands transactions, in- cluding Mr. Haskell, Governor of the State. The death has occurred at Weymouth of Miss* Sarah Erskine, aged ninety-eight, last. survivor of the family of Colonel James Erskine, C.B., aide de camp to George III. She had lived in the same house for seventy-seven years. The Lambeth Borough Council accepted an offer by the Church of England Waifs and Strays Society of £ .2,600 for the 57 years' lease of the old town hall at Kennington. Crowding the public gallery at Westminster City Council's meeting, and insisting on making their demands in a body, the unemployed would not leave until the police appeared. Three arrests have been made in connection with the discovery near Leitermore, Galway. of the dead body, of a mail named James Bailey, who, it is ascertained, came by his death through violence. On breaking into a. house at Rost-fvor (Down) the police found a weak-minded daugh- ter of the occupant. Mrs. MeKean, sitting by the body of her mother, who had died eome days before from apoplexy. A clearer wording having been substituted for the original draft, there is every reason to be- lieve, that Newfoundland will accept the Fisheries Treaty drawn up at Washington. The Servian Metropolitan Dmitry is expected at Moscow shortly after making a stay at St. Petersburg. It is said that he is charged with a political mission. In connection with statistics which are now being collected the Prefect of Police has ordered a census to be taken of all the horses and. dogs in St. Petersburg. Mr. Wade, Prime Miuisritir of New Soiith Wales, states that. the- conference of Australian Prime Ministere will open at Hobart on March 5, and will discuss only financial questions. West Herts Divisional liberal Association's Executive has passed a resolution urging the Board of Agriculture to exercise the powers conferred upon it by the Allotment and Small Holdings Act. During the quarter ended with December there were 351 street accidents in the City of London. Motor vehicles were concerned in t 111, and horse vehicles in 240. There were six fatalities, two owing to motor vehicles.

OUR LONDON LETTER. 'I [From Our Special Correspondmt] I The Cabinet has been q.lSCUSSÍ¿1( the I King's Speech for the opening of* Parliament, but, of course, no official co;:u;.unication his been made as to the measui1."1 whieli it is proposed to put before tee Legwu i<° during the Session, and all «tai < v which have been made by vtie.ous jourulls are in the nature of me. = or is intelligent anticipation. There will cert a.- Jy be nwny important questions of finance, among thcIIl an increase of the Naval Est, vtes, <ho t, s it may not be so large a sum a. e £ö,üDOJ\uO which has been mentioned. big v is, however, regarded as a sure ing, in spIte of the pretty well-known fact th" there Ü;, or has been, a division in the Vbmei wif h regard to this question. Sr. btion riot as to the Budget, on wl Mr. Llt., George will challenge eompa. with prü. vious Chancellors of the E jaer. In- creased licensing taxation ] jo ths things which are takfu foi i» (» f t» whether included in the Bud"- Iwt, W'n can be no doubt whatev-er that < 1 will be heard about the tnxatio > will see no Licensing • > or < a tion Bill, but if Welsk Dises-ta;. ,,7\(>nt m» s a place in the King's Speech, t < < < l <» in Parliament will be lively C: gh wuhouc them. It will probably be. some tn, the opening of Parliament before tb. i ,_iiie w.ll be again admitted to the Ga'.k. -en of the House of Commons, and, to spesiV the truth, there are a good many memb /& do mind how long they. are exc. i, as the events of last Session made clutry of being held responsible for i„u«. 1 ioui of < either ladies or gentiemen. ? it I would never do in the.-? ci ay s to I have the people permanently .luded from the people's House, and no c:, the regula- tions which are proposed with gard to the admission of strangers will be passed into law as soon as is conveniently ."xsible. It will he found that "stra-ugers" v-dl be ex- pected to give an undertaking net to inter- rupt the proceedings. No doubt the Suffra- gettes are already considering themes for "rushing the House" and the regulations too. If we all took as wide a visw of our responsioilities as Mrs. Carrie Nation docs, and acted up to it, lots of i would be altered. She told the Tower B Magis- trate that she feels "responsible £" all the wrong I see that I do not try tc prevent." L, i-iforttii-iately, however, the law the land, does not encourage seeh draetit: especially when, as Mra. Nation they go i the length of smashing up the isements I of things which they hold in h-j'iv The lady's defence fell upon deaf and the I magistrate declined to' hear road -lie Hdc- eisions of the Supreme Court." said Mrs. Nation, "they are not the je\skms of I the united States; they are the <k-orees of Heaven." There is doubtless a wil1(,diff,ör- ence between the two, but still t.-è magis- I trute declined to hear them, and J ;jed ay-a considerably smaller amount, it seems, than she expected to have to ,cay. it is to be hoped that getting off lighiiy will encourage her to do it ag ain., London, is a little disappointed with Mrs. NTation. She is not. fulfilling expectations. "Carrie has," says "The Isis," the light-headed organ of Oxford undergraduate opinion, s"isshed ? window and been thrown out of Oxford, like one of the best; and we all v/ite her I down a, sportsman." But, for an iconoclast of her reputation these are mild exploits. Herself made the humiliating coi.fission to ¡ the magistrate that "this hand 1';S never, drawn a-drop of blood." I begin to "ear that, after all, she will not do anything really sensational. The Central London Railway is still the "Twopenny Tube," though it is not "two, pence to anywhere," as it was at first. are no penny fares on this railway as on the other tube lines, and if you wi;ii to travel from the Bank to the Post Office you pny twopence for the journey. At the half-yearly meeting of the company the other day the chairman hinted at the possibility of their having to adopt penny fares, as, though the earnings per mile of the company are the highest in the country, they are yet feelinff the competition of the 'buses which run along: the same route. The expenses of the company, it was pointed out, come to about 50 per cent of the receipts, so that if they had penny fares the profit would be gone. It seems probable, however, that the adoption of the "nimble penny would attract an increased number of passengers. Far and away the most popular play in London just now is "The Englishman's Home," the invasion drama which has made such a. sensation at Wyndham's Theatre. Good art or not—and opinions are divided upon the point—this play has received an ad- vertisement the like of which was never en- joyed by any dramatic production before. The papers give columns of space up to dis- cussion upon it, whether the ending is as it should be or whether it would have been. better to have presented it in accordance with the author's intentions. The result of all publicity is that people are rushing over one another to get scats at the theatre where it is being played. A great many enthusiasts spent most of Saturday morning at the pit and gallery entrances waiting for the doors to open for the matinee performance, and they had not been admitted very long before the advance guard of the evening theatre- goers began to assemble. All of which must be exceedingly gratifying to the author, whether be is regarded as patriot or play- writer. Something, at any rate, has giTen an impe- tus to recruiting in London for the Terato- jri&I Army- The Capital has been lagging be- I hiiul the country a little in this in a tier, and not for the first time the provinces have shown the way. It may be "the English- man's Home," it may e the appeal for re- cruits made by one of the daily .ii's, or it may be a dislike on the part of London to ¡ be left behind whatever the cause, an impe- tus has certainly been given to recruiting in the laiJt few days. To bring the London bat- talions up to strength 11,000 men are wanted. Perhaps some of the regiments may follow the example of the London Scottish, who had a route march through a portion of South London on Saturday for the purpose of beat- ing up recruits. This crack corps wants 150 men, but only a very small proportion of those who looked on and ad-mired the smart I and dashing appe.arance of the regiment I would be eligible to join, for all recruits muet prove at least a Scottish ancestry. Also, to judge from Saturday, they must be able to I' whistle "Annie Laurie" on the march when the pipes and the bugles are silent. A. E. M. ) I

FATAL WELSH "AVALANCHE." j A large old colliery tip on the mountain side at Pentre, Rhondda Valley, slipped, and descending like an avalanchev wrecked several houses below, and a little boy in one house was killed. The tip, which represented several years' accumulation of mining rubbish, is supposed to have been sapped through the recent frost and thaw. Thousands of tons of rubbish slii down the mountain side, completely burying four houses and cutting another house in two. Had it not been for the warning given by a colliery rider named Jones, who was working near by, several deaths must have occurred. The little victim, James Williams, was smothered in his bed, and the iron frame- work of the bed was completely buckled. His j mother rushed upstairs when warned, and t he;i found that the doors were blocked by rubbish. She and another son escaped through a bedroom window, badly cut about the. face and hands by broken glass. As a result of a heavy rainfall a. landslide occurred at Kilroot, county Antrim. Tons of cardi fell on to the railway.

US EM PLOY ED INS U E AN C E. Mr. J. Ramsay Macdonald, the secretary I of the Labour party, speaking at a meeting at Rochdale, said the Government had had missionaries in Germany, and they had come back with this revelation that Germany in- sured its unemployed in various ways. He; was told that the Government is now ( id ring how it can create a scheme of with unemployment.—a scheme baaed noon the principle that every skilled work- M.ii.a snail have -id, a week credited to him in i.v'Oiie insurance company. The workman had to pay cue penny per week cf that fourpence, (: the employer another penny, and the State the remaining twopence. The purpose of that is that every workman who is out of woi\„ may go to this fund and draw a certain amount every week in the form of insurance.

IS TIlE" SECOND CLASS" DOOMED? jlr. H. W. Drummond, presiding at ttie I half-yearly meeting of the London and South Western Railway Company, said that owing to the decrease in second-class traffic ihfl question of class accommodation would hav* I to be seriously considered, with the pos-si- biiitv of having to reduce the classes to two, a d possibly in some cases to one, especially on long-distance journeys. Turning to the prospect of Southampton Docks Mr. Drummend pointed out that the White Star Company were building ships of 4),000 tons, and a length of 840ft., against 76'.?ft. of the Manchuria. They had had negotiations with the White Star Company ¡I regarding these vessels, and the ireaulfc was that the vessels would be used for the South- ampton-New York service.

GIFT TO A RAILWAY. The Earl of Lauderdale, presiding at the (, half-yearly meeting 'of the Great Northern and City Tube. referred to tHe loss of over 2,000,006 passengers, mainly caused by tram competition, and the fact that the company had failed to meet its fixed charges. The shareholders would be pleased to learn that the situation had been saved, and a balance of the accounts achieved by the receipt of I £ 5,596. This money, added his lordship, had been paid to the company as a gift by a group of gentlemen interested in their little line, who were determined that it should not be wrecked through the unfair competition to which it was at present subject, without at II least having a fair chance of life.

CUP-TIE CRUSH. I During the progress of the Iwvdish Cup I match at Portsmouth on Saturday several casualties occurred, and three persons had to be removed to hospital—one, a P., tu 11th man, with a broken leg, and two 5 to Southampton. The crush t: Llt> (10 t. mjj 1 ous that before the match commelweù The en- trance gates had to be closed, and two of the causal ties occurred through persons disap- pointed of admission climbing an adjacent building, which collapsed -beneath the weight of the spectators. '.J The gate was officially reported us 28,000, a record for the ground, and ths receipts were <

MR. CHAMBERLAIN. Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, M.P., accom- panied by Mrs. Chamberlain, left Victoria Station at eleven o'clock on Sunday m<?~ ing. en route to Cannes. He still walks with difficulty, and had to he assisted from the train to it-he steamer Victoria, by members of his party- The veteran statesman was travelling as Mr. James, and, wii;, Ids pa' -v, occupied a deck cabin on the v<>< ;e. Air. Ckimberlain had a deligH!'ul across Channel, the weather beins l.skc a summer day, and lie much enjoyed the trip. It is believed that he will make a prolonged stay in the South of France.

It was reported to the Wimbledon Town Coun- cil that H.M. Commissioners of Works had pre- sented several Russian and Chinese geest from 1 the Penn Ponds, Richmond Park, and some mal- lards from Hyde Park, to be placed in the Wandle Recreation Ground.

NINE MEN KILLED. LODGING-HOUSE IN FLAMEEt Nine men were killed and one injured at it fire at a lodging-house in Grosvenor-street, Manchester, on Monday morning. Overnight 230 men slept in the house, a s revel building, and many were still in their when the tire was discovered, at after eight o'clock. One of the men employed in the laundry dj^u t it-d flames in what known as the sej u q room, in tha rear of the house on the gr-o i ul r 1 r. The alarm failed tor arouse all the ledgers. The firemen arrived promptly, hut th" had percolated ti the 1 .dii Ss ai?d up the* stairs, and had sn -.o *> il the men so that in lTJany oases the li" had to drag t them out of Hie c The cubicle v. "? builp I on the square s t and the pun 11 ekeit t men rushed hi; Ik a It! dhcr in Upir cmpts ) to find a way oirt. 7here were tlir* e ( ises, and those who could rind them rus 1 1 mell into the street with whatever cloth 1 they could seize. Two men, however, jut 1 from a window on the third floor, one being Killed. As man after man was dragged out of the building it was evident that the dead had been suffocated, their leu-us, as a rule, being very slight. On the third floor a fireman found thre# j bodies huddled in a corner, one, being "hat of j Charles Bird, the caretaker. Apparently Bird had been trying to rorne the lods'ers when he was himself overcome. The victims were hurried" off to the infirmary in ambulances, but seven, I were dead on arrival. Two more d'ed she rtly after admission, while one man was detained jn. a critical condition. ( The victims were ehieflv of the hawker dáss,

THE CUMTNG SESSION.. Tliat the. Parliamentary Session opening next week i" reg ic < by the Ministry as of much more than c ( \y importance is j ndi cated by the issue of Mimmc-nHcs to th- ir sup- porters- in the two Houses bv the Premier and the Earl of Crewe. The Piim » 1- • <> 'di<-?red the follow- ing letter 011 at¡1rd;y to Liberal meihbers 1D the House (if C — "I have the honour to inform you that Par- liament.- will meet upon Tueadnv, the 16th inst., when rr,nkr3 t at once raise of grave ui<~»jt I beg to ex- press the hope ft! m may find it con- venient, to ;:1 vKv, Td;:ee inj, the Louse of Commons 11 -y of the Session. On Srtnid ih'; of Crewe, Leader of the He: ;■ t; d this cummon» v to the o 44 Govermnent in that- Ass em hi v :— "As the meeting ox lernament is fixed for February id; when *$*; Address will be moved in answer to His Maifcy's Speech from tho Throne, I v-euture tc hope thr-t your dsLip will be able to be i:e oar p'nee in the House of LGrcl; ovi that- da v." The Address in i, to the Bpc-eei. from the Tin-one at toe o, e eg < j H ut will be moved in tbe I'oo: cf Lords by the h-arl of LiHr:) d, and fie; bv Lrexi It ,• uliilL In'the H-. of Com '-ee-: ths Address v. ill be moved ev air. F N V es, ar:d see* oded by Mr. Wed Ik no..

HOOF:ELLEn: AND DOWNS. Richard Ed ward Si e; 1 bookseller, of Staple- ton-road, looting, rU io-ce: was 'sentenced at the Old Bai.ty on .,>••• i.ui-.h.y f'i, "I came I L dyn tri years ago, and star tad n a 1..1 way as a bookseller, printer, 1 r. fed stationer," he said. "The b 1 prospered, and in 1898 I had savEd £4{J.ODO. "Then the busm s- >s tnnled into a limited liability eompani c 1 abort thirty booksellers' Sliops thI the country. "I got into h i 1 ill jes, and the company, was put j i < 11 ttmi "Onee ir ore 1 si < j n BIllan way. I pub- lished 250,000 copies of » Ifinry Wood's novels in one year, and altogether I have sold 545,000 hooks 'since IMS. I am brine iiig- an action against the estate of a late member of Parliament claiming £ 90,000." It was proved that- he had obtained second- hand books by false pretences, and lie was sentenced to fifteen months' hard labour.

THEATRE QUEUES. ■' Mr. Mostyn T. Piggott, speaking at th# O.P. Club on Sunday night, referred to the# theatre queue. It. was the privilege of the- Englishman, he said, to make himself an un- mitigated nuisance. When he passed the line of hungry and haggard humanity outside the theatres he was often tempted to ask them, what on earth they were there for. He had observed that the longest queues* were always outside those theatres which pre- seutecl the very worst specimens of British drama, and the most long-extending- and" long-enduring queue was to be observed on th.e dismal day preceding a first night. The only thing which could cheer up people while waiting in the queue was the know- ledge that they were keeping other peopld, out of seats. He knew no way in which the O.P. Club could better exorcise its great influence tkas in stamping out this absurd custom.

DIPLOMATIST MURDERED,, The Chancery of the German Legation at Santiago de Ciiile has been destroyed by fire. All the archives are stated to have been burnt. Appearances suggest that the was broken into. The body of the Chancellor of the Legation was found" among the debris. A suspicion that there had' beenfonl play waS: corroborated by medical evidence, which showed that the skull of the victim had beeit almost split in two. Rumours were sure ad that the Secretary of the Legation, Baron Welezeck, had perished, and obituary articles were prepared by tho leading papers. The report was, however, afterwards denied. The suspicions of murder were based on thø- fact that Baron von und zu Bodman, the German Minister, Baron Welczeck, and ? member of the staff of the Legation had been in receipt of anonymous threatening letters.

A fire &ke out at the Cinder Hill Piti, tiagham. Tie damage iras confixed maisly £$ the woodwork, but work in. the mita kadnto suspended for the day. W Ih The King has approved of the ffelfecti&i tiff Admiral Sir William Henry May to be Cooti! mander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet, ia sneatmt sioa to tloe-4dain|jl Sir Wtwejm