The Rhos Herald

FARMERS IN COUNCIL. A Council meeting of the Central and ÅiIIo- ciated Chambers of Agriculture took place at the Surveyors' Institute on Tuesday, the Earl of Chichester presiding. Considerable discussion took place in conr nection with the report on the Milk and Dairies Bill, presented by the Products Committee. The committee, in their report, reminded the Council that they had been asking for a Milk Bill for many years. At last such a measure had been introduced, and most of its provisioims were welcomed. Important amendements, how- ever, were necessary. Referring to the Tuberculosis Order issued by the Board of Agriculture, the committee said that, inasmuch as the Council had consistently advocated that compensation for cattle slaughtered on account of tuberculosis, in the public interest, should be paid out of the national exchequer, the committee strongly con- demned the proposal in the Order to throw this burden on the local rates. With this excep- tion the support of the Order was recommended.

EPITOME OF NEWS. Lieutenjftit Pennington, of the 14th Sikhs, has committed suicide by shooting himself with a rifle at Quetta, India. Mies Mary Burton, of Aberdeen, has be- queathed LIOO to the Edinburgh Women's Suf- frage Society. I Colchester is to spend 210,000 in widening and deepening the River Colne and constructing a new quay 2,000 feet long. I The palette used by J. M. W. Turner when I painting at Chelsea is to be sold at Christie's. Dr. Theodor Barth, leader of the German Radicals, died at Baden-Baden. The new Bibby liner Leicestershire was launched by Messrs. Harland and Wolff, Ltd. Belfast. The Belgian steamer Prince Leopold de Bel- gique collided with four barges off Wapping, seriously damaging each. ( Five m-eii have been killed and two injured by an explosion of fire-damp in a min<e at Cabayin, Spain. Princess Henry of Battenberg at Chiswick opened a bazaar arranged in connection with Christ Church, Turnham-green. Mr. Arthur Lewis Webb, director-general of reservoirs in Egypt, has resigned his post and is leaving Egypt. A man was killed by falling in front, of a train at Glouoester-fload Station, on the District Railway. Oliver Cromwell, a comedian, was mulcted in costs at the North London Police-court for drunkenness. Mr. Edward Sharp, of Linden Hall, Carn- forth, an octogenaran magistrate, died after a long illness. Dr. A. Madeley Richardson has been ap- pointed head of the Music Department at the Battersea Polvtechnic. "1'" Twenty-five choirs rendered the music at a festival service held ia St. Paul's in connection with the London Gregorian Choral Association. Mr. Reginald Lane Poole, M.A., Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, has been elected keeper of the archives, an ancient office which has just been revived. Elizabeth Metcalf, of Church, near Accring- ton, has been granted a separation order after 50 years of married life, during which time she has had 26 children. At Reading, Alfred Wells, a single man, was remanded charged with robbing with violence Mrs. Emma Holland, aged 60, at Tilehurst. Open competitive examinations for women and girl clerkships in the General Post Office will be held in October next, and application forms will be ready for issue about -the middle of July. During a fire at Finsbury-park a girl of ten sobbed heart-brokenly for her kittens, which were in the burning house. They were brought out unhurt, and she hugged and kissed them joyously. During 1908 the total value of United States crops was £ 1.555,600,000, an increase of E58,000,000 on the value in 1907. "Manslaughter without malice ver- dict of a Liverpool coroner's jury against Wil- liam Houghton, arrested in connection with his father's death. Sums of from be to fifty guineas have been received by the Royal Botanic Society Council in response to an appeal to Fellows to protect the society from bankrupted The Duke of Bo&ord- has refused the Crown's offer to bay part of the Thomey estate, as the valuations on behalf of the Crown and of the Duke differed widely. Billericay guardians have voted £5 to their medical officer to cover, for the current year, the increased coat of drugs as a result of the higher duty on spirits. An Aldershot message states that, owing to the scarcity of ofticers in the Royal Marines, no lieutenant will be recommended for transfer to the Indian Army this year. The Melba prize and R.A.M. have been awarded to Alice Baxter (soprano), a native of Nottingham, and Janie Blake (contralto), a native of London. Colliding with Lord St. David's motor-car, near Tenby, a donkey-cart was badly damaged, and its occupants thrown out, but not seriously hurt. r For embezzling in 1903-six years ago£91 belonging to the Edmonton branch of the Ope- rative Bricklayers' Society, of which he was treasurer, Charles Perry man was sentenced at Tottenham to six months' hard labour. A miniature rifle range on the roof of the' Fenchurch-street premises of Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping was opened by Mr. G. Dalton-Hardy, deputy-chairman and treasurer. • < Thieves entered the house of the Hon. C. Craven in St. George's-square, Pimlieo, and stole 9300 worth of silver plate, and eups., Mr. Craven is in East Africa. Over a thousand signatures of drivers of taxi- cabs have been added to the petition organised by the Commercial Motor Users' Association I against the proposed tax on petrol. I At a meeting of the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association it waa reported that the flowering trees provided for the Walthamstow district streets were in full bloom, and were giving great satisfaction. Mr. D. W. Crowther, a Hnddersfield commer- cial traveller, who had been missing from home since May 24, was found lying dead upon some straw in his father's warehouse in Northumber- land-street. Signor Carlo Sforza, CounciHor of the Italian Embassy at Constantinople, has been trans- ferred in. a similar capacity to London, in suc- cession to the Count oe Bosdari. Mr. Lloyd George, in continuation of his South Wales visit, journeyed over various parts of the-railway system in the neighbourhood of Merthyr, whence, after a short stay, he left for Treherbert. Ex-Police-sergeant Hannaford, who, on his retirement from the force four years ago was the heaviest police officer in the United King- dom, was buried at Newton Abbot. He weighed 20 stone. At the eighteenth annual confe-of the Postmen's Federation at Birmingham it was decided to express sympathy with the French strikers, and to organise sv natipnal fund for their benefit. Two watchmen wjio have patrolled the town Two watchmen who have patrolled the town of Bilston nightly for many years in old- fashioned coats and hats, crying the hour and the weather, are to be no longer employed in that capficity Princess of Victoria of Schleswxg-Holstein, who opened a bwfalft- at Herne-hill in aid of St. Faith's Church$tf&&iag Fund, was the first Royal visitor to Hti* £ &ill aan.ee tb* r«ign oi Charles L

I OUR LONDON LETTER. m j [From Our Special Correspondent.J I There have been many notable Imperial j gatherings in London in recent years, but '• none of greater importance or more far- reaching possibilities than that of represen- tativea of the Press of the Empire, which was inaugurated by a banquet at the White City on Saturday night. The Press has come j to its own in these days, and iLs power and influence are realised by everybody. The editors and newspaper men now meeting in London have come from the four corners of the earth, from the outposts to the centre of the Empire, and they represent a forei-, of public opinion such as could not be embodied in any other gathering of Imvrial dele- gates. Said Lord Eosebery in his great speech on Saturday: "The power of a great newspaper with a double function of arintlr,g and embodying the public opinion of the pro- vince over which it exercises its is immeasurably greater than that of the statesman." It is a fine thing for the Empire that these "able editors" from Canada, Australasia, and India should come and confer with their brethren of the pen at home on matters of Imperial importance, to meet public mea of all political parties, to make friendships, and get to understand one another's poiiats ci view. The social side of the conference is not by any means the least important, an4 the journalists of the old country will see to it that the visitors are enabled to spend am enjoyable time. But there. is serious busi- ness to be done as well, and the main object of the delegates to the conference is to confer. One of the topics, which would seem comprehensive enough to cover the wl101e is I "The Press and the Empire." Cables and cable charges, and the organisation of news services are matters of special importance. Many misunderstandings, more or less serious, have had their origin in the trans- mission to the Dominions of condensed re- ports of important news and speeches, wilích I would never have arisen if full accounts .could have been cabled. It is quite certain I .that the conference will do all that lies in its power to secure a reduction in the charges dn order that the news service may be ren- dered as full and authentic as circumstances may require. The defence of the Empire, and the service which the Press caa render in that connection, will also provide plenty •of matter for discussion. I Members of the House of Coatmomt appear to have found the Whitsuntide recess too I brief. At any rate, the majority have shown I no particular eagerness to get back to duty. I The arduous business of the Session begins this week, however, and the Finance Bill, which has been printed and published, Is likely te swallow up a good many other measures. It is certainly a formidable busi- ness, and the prophets are pessimistic about the amount of Parliamentary time which will have to be expended before it is finally disposed of. The Government hope to pass the Bill through the Commons with all pos- sible speed, but, even then it cannot reach the Lords before August, while the opinion is pretty confidently expressed that it will be ,a good deal later before their lordships get a chance at it. It may be that the Commons will still be talking about the Budget in 'October. If that should be the case several other measures of importance will have to walk the plank. It is to be hoped that the nation is grateful to the anonymous benefactor-a. lady—who has come forward at the last moment to pre- vent the famous Holbein picture from taking a trip abroad. Probably, however, the nation is not very much excited about it. The public declined to subscribe very largely on its own account, at any rate, for appar- ently the general contributions up to date have only amounted to something like 9 .215,000. Enthusiasm in these matters is, after all, confined to a few people, and the majority, in spite of the fuss made by some newspapers, would be almost unmoved if a eyndicate of American millionaires were to buy up all the privately-owned art treasures in the country. The coldness with which the appeal for funds for the purchase of the Nor- folk Holbein Was received will, at all events, not encourage the making of similar appeals in future. Though the London Elections Bill has passed its second reading, its chance of pass- ing into law must 'be considered very remote. It was brought in by Mr. Harcourt, the First j Commisfiiioner -for Works, whose Plural Vot- ing Bill was thrown out by the House of Lords. If, seems more than likely that the new bill for London will share the same fate. Its rejection was moved in the Commons on the ground that it is not accompanied by pro- visions for .a redistribution of seats, gives no remedy for existing anomalies in representa- tion, .besides having, its opponents say, quite a number of defects of its dwm. The object of the measure is to make London one parlia- mentary borough of which the existing boroughs, or divisions would be single-mem- ber divisions, with the exception of the City, which would return two members as at pre- sent. The effect of such ai bill becoming law, would be that a roter would not lose his vote by removing to another part of London, and plural voting would be made impossible. ••v Some time ago it was etated.that the Wes- leyan Church House Kov^'rn 'feOurse of con- struction on the site of ^he old Westminster Aquarium would be called wheh completed Victoria House. There ^cuttf' have been a certain appropriateness about the name, though some regret was expreesed that. a name connecting it more obviously with the great church to which-At^ bTf^iiJg belongs was not selected. Victoria bouse is not to be the name, after all, but the new head- %awtors of Methodism will be called simply •Central Buildings, Westminster, It is more th,sa gig jew* since the tit* fM puclaM^ but the building operations have only re cently become visible to the passer by. The new Church House will be a worthy addition to the splendid buildings in the vicinity. Since the design was first published an alteration has been made in the central dome, which will be raised twelve feet higher than was at first intended. In the oiiginal design this dome rather a squat appear- ance, due, som< suggested, to the bishops having sat upon it. The cost of the building, including the nrnount already spent on the foundations ihe basement, will be £ 161,000. There can be no doubt that the Red Man spectacle is one of the best things ever seen at Earl's Court. Here are all the joys of our youth.—brane- bronchos, mustangs and mocassins, md war paint, and scalps, to say jio'king ot wigwams, squavs, acd papooses. 7W JJole of the whole spectacle is i-eaiisn. suvi it is an exceedingly picturesque and faavinaSlag picture of life on the plains of She f-v WH,L The Black Hawk massacre is cr'.o of the most thrilling bits' of realis'ie draria ever seen in ''his country. It is all wrv interesting, and the guests at the Pres. gardrn party, who spent a pleasant time at i he invitation. of Mr Henry J. Thompson, found it so. But the Red Man's Cam" is only one of the numerous attractions at Earl's Court. "The Deluge" and 'The Destruction of San Francisco" are very remarkable «;>oc' acular productions. And there are many other things worth seeing, besides a very interesting Exhibition aintl delightful grounds. A. E M.

GERMAN FARMERS' VISIT. Record entries* splendid exhibits, royal sue- cesses, and a large attendance were the features of the Royal Counties Agricultural Show, opened in Prospect Park, near Reading, on Tuesday, by the mayor of the town, and attended by the members of the corporation in their robes. During the day a party of agriculturists from the Duchy of Oldenburg, who are visiting Eng- land under the auspices of the Imperial German Government, visited the show, and were enter- tained at luncheon, at which the Duke of Wei- j lington presided. ) The party were the guests of the president of the society, the Right Hon. Cr. W. Palmer, and j the guests included Earl Carrington, Minister of Agriculture.. The King won Several prizes'jftjr cattle in the show, including the .^h,am.pionship prize given by Lord Calthorpe for the best male in the ehorthorn class, the first prize for Devons, and the second prize in the Herefords.

IMPURE MILK DANGERS. I The first sitting of the Tuberculosis Confer- ence took place on Tuesday at the Whitechapel Art Gallery. Sir Clifford Allbvtt, the chair- man, referring to open-ait treatment for con- sumption, said that virtually as good results could be obtained in our own climate as in the picked climates in which the first experiments were made. Knowledge was advancing gradu- ally. It seemed to him that in a combined attack by means of minute and mixed doses of vaccines and toxines, a method might be made to specifically and scientifically treat the I disease. Referring to „the dangers from impure milk, i nd the necessity of improved methods of handling it, are chairman said they must not oo suddenly begin to be severe in insisting upon the establishment of ideal conditions in the dairy. They must not stop business, but endea- vour to arrive at the ideal they desired by a gradual process.

A DURHAM MYSTERY. An open verdict was returned at Spenny- moor, Durham, on Tuesday, on Margaret Aspey, whose body was exhumed at the instance of the coroner. The post-mortem showed that the skull was fractured. Evidence was given that two days before her death the woman and her husband were heard quarrelling. On neighbours |oing into the house Mrs. Aspey was found upstairs with injuries to her face. The husband said she had fallen on I the stairs while he slept. She died without regaining consciousness, and j a doctor thinking she had had a stroke and fallen downstairs certified that death was due to cerebral hemorrhage. The jury found that death was due to a frae., tured skull, how caused there was not sufficient evidence to show.

LORD DURHAM AS A RUNNER. HOld, and untrained as I am, I could have run alongside," said Lord Durham, in giving evidence on Tuesday on behalf of his chauffeur, John Mallett, against whom a charge of driving a car at the rate of 22 miles an hour in New- market was dismissed in that town. Lord Dun. hamisinhisStty-fourthyear. Colonel Charles Lambton, Lord Durham's brother, said that he was about to tell the chauffeur to accelerate the speed, fearing, that the slow progress rendered them object of derision, when the police stopped the car. According to the police evidence the car covered a measured furlong in 2tiee.-a rate of 22} miles an hour—but the chairman said that the oSeial stop-watch whieh the justices had wh Ulf 80084 isornMt,

PRESS OF THE EMPIP.:O BANQUET OF WELCOME. LORD ROSEBERY'S SPEECH. An enthusiastic welcome was given øII Saturday by the Press of Great Britain Wj the editors and representatives of the of the "British Dominions beyond the seas. The guests were entertained at a banquet at the "white City, at which nearly all the lead" ing journalists of the British Isles were pr^f sent. The guests were received by Burnhain, proprietor of the "Daily TeW* graph," who presided at the banquet, having on ins right Sir Hugh Graham, of the Moo" treal "Star," and on his left Lord RosebetY, the orator of the evening, to whom was ew trusted the toast of "Our Guests." Lord Rosebery said there had been confe er;before, many of great importance, which the Prime Ministers and Ministers the .Empire had met together to consult 0" the great matters of policy concerning th" Emptre. It was no disparagement to thoOO gatherings to say that this was mope impori tant still. He had the greatest respect for Priire Ministers and Ministers, but whatever their stars might be when in tlu? ascendant* they were essentially transient bodies, the power of a great newspaper with a donbW function of guiding and embodying t public opinion of the province over which 1. exercised its influence was immeasurably greater than that of the statesman. He h' to say to our guests from beyond the sea,9-- welcome home. That was the motto of tbilo occasion. Some of them had never seen tbcilf home, and he hoped they would see solt& thing of it during the fortnight of their stiif —its ancient and settled civilisation, it' abbeys and cathedrals, its universities, it* Houses of Parliament, and its teeming itiatio, facturing and commercial communities Then, last of all, surrounding all and guard' ing all, they would see a prodigious ArniadSr a prodigious but always in; deqnato Armada" "And all these, gentlemen," said the speaker, "are yours as much as ours, vollt possession, your pride, and your home." A DREAM-TRIP. Lord Rosebery then told the story of dream which he had dreamed—a favourite practice, as he remarked, of retired pooH" ticians. He dreamed that some of our obso' lete warships were used for purposes of peace, and that Parliament, having voted supplies frfr two yeiu-s, packed up and wene; for a trip in those ships in order to see some' thing of the Empire. He would take them Canada, where they would see many new things; to New Zealand, where they would see most of the policies which they wei^ endeavouring to construct for this countrr, carried out under the advantages of a virgin soil and a total absence of tradition and com' plexity. Then, on to Australia, where thØ expedition might indulge in the permanent sport of hunting for the Federal capital, Then they should return through Soutlt Africa, where they would see the greatest success of the Imperial Government of Great- Britain, the greatest and most recent sue cess, where a bold and magnanimous police had healed the scams of war, where the blood gallantly shed on both sides, whici* might nave been a stream of unending di* sion, had "exti&eied tne cement which bal united a new Empire. The excursionist* might proceed northwards through Africa- avoiding Uganda, so as not to disturb privacy of the late President of the Unit«o States. They might take their way home by Egypt, where they would see what Britialt Government wisely directed can do to reseuo order from chaos. IMPERIAL DEFENCE.—THE VITAL TOPIC. The most vital topic to be discussed at thØ conference was that of Imperial defence. TbO condition of things in Europe was remark' able, so peaceful and in some respects menacing. There was an absolute absence of any of the questions which ordinarily lead tO war, yet there never was in the history of the world so threatening and BO overpowering • preparation for war. There were features o" this general preparation for war which must cause special anxiety to the friends of Great, Britain and of the British Empire. He askeif them while they were in this country to coØ1' pare carefully the armaments of Europ £ with our preparations to meet them, give their impression to the Empire in turn. He felt confident in the reservation the power of this country to meet any reasonable conjunction of affairs, but he dJI wonder where this expenditure on warlike preparations was ever going to stop-if 1 was merely going to bring Europe back into, a state of barbarism, or whether it wouli cause a catastrophe in which the working men of the worlo would say: "We will ha*^ no more of this madness and this foolerl., which is grinding us to powder." We could and would build Dreadnoughts as long as we had a shilling to spend on tt-10 or a man to put into them. But he was dO sure that even that would be enough, and W thought it might be their duty to take bac to the Dominions across the seas the irnessago that some personal duty and responsibility for national defence rested upon every JJlaJf and citizen of the Empire. Sir Hugh Graham responded to the toast' CKSAPBB CABLES. At the Foreign Office on Moaday the fi* business meeting of the Conference was the subject for discussion being "Cable Neff" and Press Inter-Conamunication." The dele- gates were cordially welcomed by Lor** Crewe, the Colonial Secretary. A r-asollt. tion was carried to the effect that it ia paramount importance that telegraphic fit,(! lities between the various parts of t- Empire should be cheapened and so as to ensure fuller than exists at present, A committee was pointed to report to the Conference, at reassembling on June 25, as to the b-0100 means to attain this object. It was also cided that the British and Colonial memb«*J of the Conference be a Standing Commit^^ to continue the study of the question of I** perial news services, and to take ineantif4lo to secure a reduction in the rates of trs-B*' mission preparatory thereto. The delegates afterwards proceeded to House of Commons, where they were eot* tained to luncheon by members of bow* Houses associated with journalism and Ut^rfS ture. A garden party was given in hono*^ of the Pressmen by the Prince and Pri^ffJ of Walew at Marlborough House, the and Queen being present.

The King has approved the appointment Jj Ma jot-General Harry Barron as Governor j|| the State of Tasmania, in succession to y Gerald Strickland, who becomes Govern"1, ■» West*?* Australia. IM