The Rhos Herald

EPITOME OF NEWS. Michael Berry, a rural postman, was found dead in the snow about a mile from Newry. Damage amounting to A:2,000 has been done by fire at the Colne Liberal Club. The da.mage is covered by insurance. Kenneth McLeod, the famous Cambridge University and Scottish International Rugby footballer and sprinter, has been appointed to H.M.S. Cornwall. It is officially denied that the Labour Party will withdraw any of its candidates in conse- quence of the Lords' judgment in the Osborne case. Dr. T. J. Macnamara has been formally re- adopted as Liberal candidate for North Cam- berwell at the approaching election. The roof of the Hillsborough, Sheffield, skating rink has collapsed, owing, it is supposed, to the weight of the snow. His Highness the Aga Khan has proceeded to Bombay on board the ss. India. Mr. John Henry Toodwear, sixty-six, a Hud- dersfield tradesman, of Bay Hill, Birkby, feN dead while ehovelljng snow from his pathway. A barge laden with eggs foundered in the Thames at Rotherhithe after being run down by a tug. Baroness Von Eckhardstein ha& sent & gift of twenty pheasants to the British Home and Hospital for Incurables, Streatham. Mr. Preston Thomas, C.B., formerly & Local Government Board inspector, has died at Exeter. Inspector Wilkinson, of Barnet, htoke hie leg by a fall from his bicycle while chaeing some burglars on an ice-bound road. The death is announced from Southend of the Rev. T. J. Hazzard, for thirty years a minister of the Baptist denomination. The silver Waterloo medal presented to the Duke of Wellington's mother realised C.5 at I Glendining's. James Douglas More Gray wae sent for trinl at the Marl borough-street Poliee-oourt, charged with stealing a cheque and with forgiiig and uttering a cheque. The r.31ativeeof Miss Mundy, the English hospital nurse, who was killed by a motor-ear near Nice, have been awarded £ 560 damages 94, against Signor Castelli, the driver of the car. The Haywards Heath police have discovered that the man who was found dead with his throat cut in Cuckfreld Park was James Cramp, belonging to Coventry. James Wren, a G.E. Hallway engine cleaner, was crossing the line at Bishops Stortford, Z, when he was caught by a goods train and cut to pieces. Eleven bombs have been found in a house in Enlva street, Barcelona. It is believed that it was from this houee the bombs for the recent outrages were procured. The Rev. A. J. Sw-ainson vicar of Forest Row, Sussex, has been appointed by the Bishop of Chichester to the prebendal stall vacant by the death of Prebendary Frampton. The Stoke Ncwington Public Library com- mittee have given the head librarian powers to withhold any book, from any applicant, which he thinks should not, in the circumstances, be issued. The Grand Duke of Hesse is the author of a new Christmas play, recently produced at the Court Theatre, Darmstadt, Germany. A farmer named Seard has found the body of a man, which had partly been eaten away by rats, lying in a brook in a wood near Newport, Mon. When a man was fined at Derby for crowding fourteen fowls into a hamper measuring 18in. by 23in., he pleaded that fowls liked to be huddled together in the winter. The Queen has presented Sir William Treloar with arlarge case containing a box of chocolates for each of the inmates of the Lord Mayor Treloar Cripples' Home and College at Alton. a 8 Burglars who visited the Eustace Miles Restaurant in Chandos-street broke a safe open and stole £50 in cash and three cookery medals valued at 910. The Bristol Magistrates refused the applica- tion uy a Suffragette for the return of the. whip used in the assault on Mr. Churchill, and ordered its destruction. Arrangements have been concluded with the Donaldson Line for the equipment of the f.s. Athenia, Cassandra, and Saturnia witit the Marconi system of wireless telegraphy. The Prince of Walea has forwarded a cheque for E25 to General Booth as a special donation to provide food for the poor and suffering during Christmas. The Khedive, who is on his pilgrimage, has telegraphed to the Sultan from Mecca. express- ing his acknowledgments for the arrangements made for his reception. Three bodies have been recovered from rington Pit, Kilmarnock, which was recently flooded, with the lose of ten lives. The remain- ing seven bodies are believed to be in the lower workings. Emperor Menelik of Abyssinia is still alive, and his condition, though precarious, is etationary. By administering chloroform to fieh, Dr. Francis Ward has successfully photographed them in a tank, he stated at the Royal Photo- graphic Society. For ill-treating a dog by dragging it by a lead, Wilfred Moss, of Piccadilly, was at Brighton fined 20s. and costa, or fourteen days. Middlesex County Council has decided to oppose the application of WilJesden for a charter of inmrnnrnfinn tliA innni"on -r- January 4.^ Some of the, chickens exhibited at Tiverton Dead Poultry Show turned the scale at 14Ib. and ducks were mistaken for geese owing to their size. Lilian Norbury, of Clement's-lns', London, was sentenced to fourteen days' hard labour a.t Birkenhead for window smashing at the Liberal Association offices in connection with the Pre- mier's visit to Birkenhead. The naval funeral of Captain Ogiivy, &.N. gunnery expert, who fought with the gams At the Battle of Colenso, wae attended by 1,000 naval men and Marines, including 200 officers. A defendant at the Shoreditch County-cotari told his Honour Judge Smvly, K.C., that it was quite true a dog had bitten the plaintiff, but he "did Hot admire his taste." John Bevington, of Manchester, has been committed for trial on a charge of stealing £1,100 in gold from the Corn Exchange branch of the Lancashire and Yorkshire But, where he had been employed as a clerk. Southend Croporation has decided to invite the National Fire Brigade Union to hoM its 1910 congress in the borough from July 2 ta July 9, and has offered to subscribe wards the expeBMB.

OtTIt LONDON LETTEB. -c: [From Our Special Corre,,pon dent.] An interesting but unprofitable occupation just now is the ,making of forecasts of the result of the General Election. It is always so, and the charm of the game is that all parties foretell their own success. Enough forccastd have been published to plea.se everybody. The Liberals prophesy a sub- stantial majority for themselves, and the Conservatives do ditto, while the Labour members are confident that the end of the election will see them with an increased re- presentation. You may take part in a dozen or so of guessing competitions as to the final state of the parties, and if you are lucky enough to win you may make quite a nice little thing of it. If you are lucky enough; for this forecasting business is the merest gii-Cfising. The same game was going on four years ago, and the result eon founded most of the prophets. It can'hardly do the same this time, for there are so many and so various prophecies. Anybody who has had any experience of Parliamentary elections will know how little value is to be placed upon party forecasts, unless, of course, a constituency has been faithful to one political party during a long course of years. But where the issue is at all in doubt, it will generally be found that the acntA of both parties are full of a cheer- ful confidence that there will be a majority on "the right side." At the last General Election, in a county division which I have in mind, which had been constant to one party for a score of years, the ageiit of that party was jubilant on the very night of the poll, in full assurance of victory. But the result showed an enormous turnover, and a big majority on the other side. There will b he many surprises like that during the next three weeks. The appointment of Mr. Herbert Glad- stone as the first Governor-General of United South Africa will necessitate a rearrange- ,c- ment of Ministerial offices, always providing, of couree, that the Liberals come back from their trip to the country with a majority. It is announced, unofficially, but with some show of authority, that Mr. John Burns will succeed Mr. Gladstone at the Home Office. It will be a great lift for the one-time Trafalgar Square orator and dockers' champion. Mr. Burns has the gift, in common with Mr. Winston Churchill and Mr. Lloyd George, of getting his full share of the limelight, and his doughty iieeds at the appalling fire in Clapham a few days ago have done his elec- tion prospects no harm. If Mr. Asquith comes back to power, John will have one of the great posts in the Government with a salary of X5,000 a year. He would have the latter, though, if he stayed on as President of the Local Government Board, as that office is now to be raised to the dignity and emolu- ments of a secretaryship of State. Mr. Winston Churchill, it is said, will go to the LocAl Government Board, and will be fol- lowed as President of the Board of Trade by Mr. Lewis Harcourt. As most people know by this time, the YXTV ■ i ■ I White City is to be the scene of a Japanese- I British Exhibition next year, and the ar- rangements are already well in hand. There is every indication that the undertaking will be a complete success, and that it will rival in interest the wonderful Franco-British Ex- hibition of 1908. The Government of Japan is keenly alive to the excellent opportunity which will be afforded by the Exhibition ad- vertising the products of the Empire of the Mikado, and an enormous sum has been voted for the Japanese section. It has been suggested that in view of the national cha- racter of the Exhibition, our own Govern- ment should follow Japan's example. Japan's pushfulncss is proverbial, and it is said that a great effort will be necessary if the British exhibits are to compare in point of excellence with those of our Par Eastern Ally. Until quite recently Mrs. Henry J. Wood had been appearing on the platform, charm- ing all hearers with her beautiful singing, and the news of her death came as a painful shock. Widespread sympathy is felt for Mr. Wood, the conductor of the Queen's Hall Orchestra, in his grievous loss. It was in 1897 that Mrs. Wood made her first public appearance as a vocalist in this country, and tsince then she had steadily gained in the favour of the public, and had become one of the most popular singers of the day. Mrs. Wood was a Russian by birth, having been the only daughter of the late Princess Sofie Ouroussov of Emilovka, Podolia. She married Mr. Wood, with whom she had previously studied as a vocalist for some years, in 1898. Like so many Russians, Mrs. Wood was an excellent linguist, singing equally well in English, French, German, Italian, and Russian, while her musical culture was wide and deep. From an examination of the report of the Medical Officer to the London County Coun- cil it would appear that the County of Lon- don has some very considerable claims to be considered a health resort. London is, in fact, one of the healthiest cities in the world. The death-rate for 1908 of 13.8 per thousand is the lowest ever recorded for the metro- polis, and it is onlv beaten by Bristol and Leicester among the great towns of the kingdom. It is a lower rate than that of any of the capital cities of Europe, with the ex- ception of Amsterdam. In infantile mortality, too, the rate is lower than that of the other great towns, but there are notable differences between the rates in districts well and badly circumstanced socially, a fact which sum- ciently indicates the resultB which might be obtained if the infants of the less favoured districts had extended to them the same care as that bestowed upon infants of the better favoured districts. In Shoreditch, for in- stanoe, the proportion of deaths was as high sus 199 per thousand, and in Bermondeey it mm IHi, wluki in Hampgt--wda OIL Al- gwa i; | hand, the rate was as low as 69, and in Lewisham it was 86. "Peter Pan" is the boy who never grew up, and the play is one which never grows old. It is now in its sixth year, but it is still as fresh, aB charming, and as delightful as when it was first put upon the stage. It does not matter if you have been so many times to see it that you know Mr. Barrie's fantasy by heart, you can still go again, and enjoy it thoroughly. There are, I have heard, some people who do not like "Peter Pan," but thev must be those who have 11."ft their childhood so far behind them n + they have forgotten they ever passed through that happy period of existence. Most of iki, fortunately, are only children of an older growth, and it is I to the child-spirit that we keep in us that "Peter Pan" makes bis engaguur appeal. His reception th s year at the Duke of York's Theatre was joyously enthusiastic. A. E. M.

SEAMEN'S TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE. The steamer Prestonian, of the Bacon Line, Liverpool, arrived at Milford Haven with the schooner Dantzie, of Watehet, Somerset in tow. The schooner was on a voyage from Swansea to Treport, France, and met the full force of the gale in Carmarthen Bay. The sails were torn to ribbons, and the deck swept clean. The vessel sprang a leak, and the crew had to man the pumps. When night came the cook, Wm. McGowan, of Paisley, lit flares, actually burning his own clothing one garment at a time. He himself was badly injured, while another man, Wm. Hammond, of Jersey, fell dead soon afterwards from exposure. The others—Charles Askeock (skipper and owner), Wm. Parsons (mate), and the cook- suffered terrible privations. They were landed at Milford, and the schooner was beached.

PIT-CAGE ACCIDENT. Three miners sustained terrible injuries at St. Helen's, necessitating their removal to hospital, and five others were less seriously hurt, as the result of the pit-cage being lowered too rapidly, at Groves Colliery, belonging to the St. Helen's Colliery Company. A number of men had been brought to the surface and the colliers working the afternon turn were being lowered. Eight of these were descending the mine when, the speed apparently not having been checked in time, the cage bumped heavily on the landing-place. Fortunately it was held by the catches, winch prevented immersion in the dib hole. The men are progressing favour- ably. '»

WHITECHAPEL POVERTY. In his annual report the rector of White- chapel mentions the case of a home where the dinner consisted of an onion pudding. "I had a little bit of flour and an onion," said the mother, "so I made a bit of paste and put the onion inside and boiled it." A doctor in another case gave a man a bottle of medicine, "to be taken three times a day after meals." "What's the good of that," said the wife, "when he hasn't had a meal • for two days? The rector finds the problem of poverty in Whitechapel a tremendous difficulty.

WAITER'S LEGACY STOLEN. The metropolitan police are investigating a remarkable case of theft. Mr. J. S. Bray, a waiter, residing in Wands- worth-road, having come into a legacy, went with his wife to a Chancery-lane bank to cash a cheque for £85, part of the legacy. He re- ceived five 410 notes, four 15 notes, and the balance of the draft in gold. On leaving the bank Mr. Bray stood at the door, counted the notes, and then placed them with the little packet of gold in an inside pocket of his coat. At the bottom of Chancery-lane Mrs. Bray mounted the steps of a motor-'bus, but her hus- band was hustled by two men as he was climb- ing the steps. When he had taken his seat Mr. Bray noticed that both hie overcoat and jacket had been unbuttoned, and, feeling in his pocket, found that the notes had been ab- stracted, although the paper bag containing the gold had been left. By this time the hustlers, who doubtless were the thieves, had disappeared.

SLATE CLUB SENSATION. An unpleasant surprise awaited the members of the Cann Hall Mutual Investment and Loan Society, a slate club with its headquarters at the Golden Horse public-house, Forest Gate, when they met to receive the money due to them. The secretary did not appear with the money, but the landlord received a letter from him in which he stated that he was short of £94 odd and could not mec the members. He also said that he had got into the hands of moneylenders, and had got behind with the money, cut until now had been able to make up the deficiency. He had been promised a loan of £90. but at the last moment was dis- appointed. He said, "I am leaving my wife and child penniless, and have lost my situation after fourteen years." The missing man has been the secretary of the club for many years, and had always paid out the money regularly.

POST OFFICE WASHED AWAY. Districts in Devonshire are flooded m a result of torrential rain. The sub-post office at Tipton St. John, about four miles from Sidmouth, Devon, completely collapsed between four and five in the morning. For several iumrs pre- viously heavy- rain and tempestuous wind had prevailed, and the mill leet, which runti by the post-office, had overflowed and joined the River Otter. The creaking of timber awoke. the station master, who lives near. and he h«rrie< £ to the post office. The occupants, )lr# Wood, his wife, mother, and three children, had already risen in alarm. They hastened froiria the building not a minute too soon, for it collapsed just as they left it, the greater pairt of the furniture and stock being swept away tmme dintely by the current.

In response to the appeal of a poor womatt. the Kingston magistrates sent a policeman to warn her landlord that unless he returned a mangle which he had seized for arrears of rent proceedings would be taken against him. The death has occurred at Guernsey of Stephen Farnkam, aged ninety-am*, « Crimean ,.raa.

111' miM- A VICAR'S SUICIDE. At the inquest at Southend relative to the death of the Rev. Henry CKarles Lang, Yicat of All Saints' Church, who was found dead in bed from the effects of prussic acid poisoning, a remarkable letter, which was found in his room addressed to his wife, was read. "The only way!" he had written. "Do not inquire any more. You will think me'' mad, but I am not. I cannot make ,that excuse. Do not think it is the religion which I have taught outwardly, but for some time have not really believed. I am an agnostic—that is, do not believe in the possibility of a Deity exist- ing, except as a great creative principle or first eause.. In spite of you and other things, life is unsupportable. You have been the only light in my life, but how unworthy I am of you. Forgive!" Mrs. Lang said her husband had been strange in his manner, but had nothing on his mind so far as she knew, and nothing to worry him. Mr. Hav, a chemist's assistant, said Dr. Lang boug*ht |oz. of prussic acid with which tO destroy a dog. A verdict of "Suicide was returned, but as to the state of his mind at the time the jury stated there was not sufficient evidence to fcliOW.

THE LAST BOTTLE. i'hc jury returned a verdict of "Suicide whilst temporarily insane" at the inquest on James Cramp, of Cambridge-street, Coventry, who was found dead in Cuckfield Park, Sussex. Deceased cut hie throat after drinking a bottle of champagne which he had obtained from a local hotel. William Heurv Cramp, a foreman at the Dunlop Tyre Works, Coventry, said that de- ceased was his brother. He had plenty of money. He did a little betting. On Decem- ber 9 he left Coventry to go to Brighton for hisr health. Superintendent Brooman said deceased stayed at the White Lion Hotel, Brighton, from December 13 to December 20 under the name of Scott. He had pawned two diamond rings in Brighton, and when his bag was found in Cuck- field Park he had in his poeketfi £1 14s. 8|d. The coroner said he had made away with a lot of money in a short time. The jury expressed the opinion that an attack of influenza about two years ago might have affected his mind. I)

BELFAST OFFICE TRAGEDY. When Henry Geeran Workman, emltoywl in a tile merchant's yard at Earl-street. Be^ast* entered the premises in the morning he s&w a light in the office window. Going into the office he found his employer, Mr. John Leeh»rn, aged 37, lying behind the door apparently dftad, while on a chair, near a gas stove, was a woman unconscious. Assistance was at once procured, and the couple were conveyed to one of the hospitals, but it was found that the man was dead. The woman, whose name is Annie Adair, aged 32, soon recovered consciousness. It is stirmis ;d that the couple were overcome by the fumes of the gas, the office being a very small room, and the fact that the man's oody was found behind the door suggests that he was in the act of opening the door to cool the office when he collapsed. In the course of a statement the woman said that some time after she entered the office Mr. Leeburn "took a weak turn," and a few mimitetf later she became unconscious. Mr. Leeburn was well-known in business circles.

FOUR LOST IN COLLISION. On the arrival at Hull of the steam fish- carrier Brutus, the captain reported that when about fifty miles off Lowestoft his vessel col- lided with the Lowestoft smaek Nancy. The latter was sunk, and four of her crew were drowned. One man, Alfred Beckett, of Lowea- toft, was saved, and brought to Hull. All the men drowned belonged to Lowestoft. Beckett's escape was a remarkable one. He j was in the sea an hour before being picked up. The names of the other men are David Ellis, skipper, married; Alfred Cudmore, second hand, married; J. Colley, and Frank Hey- wood. Beckett stated that he was below when the collision occurred. He heard a scuffle on deck, and at once made for it, but met the niate coming towards him. "Get )rour life jackeff*at onpe," he said, "we are lost!" Water was rushing into the cabin at a furious pace. Beckett had no time to look for clothes. He grasped a life jacket and put it round him. In a few seconds the water was over the bulwarks, and he was struggling in the sea.

LADY'S REMARKABLE ESCAPE. Eastwell Park, near Ashford, owned by Lord Gerard, and tenanted by Mr. H. J. King, of the South African mining market, has been the Bcene of an alarming fire. A beam built into a chimney, after smoulder- ing unnoticed for some time, suddenly uurst into flames, and set fire to the upper bedrooms of the mansion. The occupants had narrow escapes. Miss Muriel King, Mr. King's daughter, was rescued just as portions of the burning ceiling fell on to her bed. The fire was confined to the upper bedrooms, but damage amounting to nearly £1,000 was done before the flames were extinguished. Eastwell Park is famous for its view, which Defoe declared was the finest he had ever seen, and, although the building is modern, it has many interesting historical associations.

Immigrants into Canada from April to Novem- ber inclusive numbered 150,256, as compared with 116.596 during the corresponding period of last year. Immigration from the United States increased by 68 per cent. For snowballing in the public road Leslie Roberts, an undergraduate of Birmingham Uni- versity, and three students named Bernard Button, Alfred Button, and Thomas Anson, were fined 5s. each. The New South Wales Government statis-' tician estimates the wheat yield at 25,500,000 bushels, exceeding last year's production by 10,000,000 bushels,, and leaving between 13 and 14 million bushels available for export. The Lowestoft barqnentine Albatross has been wrecked on, the Haisborough Sands. The crew were rescued by the Cromer lifeboat, with the exception of one man. Mr, William Sopeon Peppercorn, secretary to the Great Eastern Railway Company, will retire at the end of the present year after thirty years' service, and will be succeeded by Mr. PowilJ Lomas, who was an official of the Norfolk Rail- way before it was Absorbed by the Greafl lMlQ i