Flintshire Observer Mining Journal and General Advertiser for the Counties of Flint Denbigh

IMPRISONMENT OF CHILDREN. In the House of Commons, the other evening, Mr. M'Laren asked the Home Secretary whetner his attention had been called to the following case as re- ported in the Edinburgh Daily On Friday, April 2(5, at Perth Sheriffs Court, a boy ten years of age, who pleaded guilty to stealing Is. from a lock- fast drawer in the railway goods office at Aberfeldv, was sentenced to ten days' imprisonment and there- after to be detained in a reformatory for five years. When sentence was passed the boy burst into tears, clung to his mother, and refused to be separated from her. It was only after the lapse of some time and the use of force by the police officers that the boy was separated from his mother and lodged in prison," whether he could say what was the total cost to the public of the maintenance of a child for live years in a reformatory, and whether the Home Office still dis- couraged the practice of convicting and imprisoning as criminals children of tender years. Sir W. Harcourt, in reply, said: I have inquired into this case and have received a report on the question. The boy seems to have been a bad boy, in the habit of thieving. This is not his first offence. He is one of five children, and his mother admitted that it was a good thing for the child to be sent to a reformatory. Therefore, there is no fault to be found in that case. I take this opportunity of saying that I do not think there are a great many cases of children sent to a reformatory for a long period for which there is no justification. It has not been sufficiently consi- dered that it is a very serious thing to take away a child for five years from its parents, rnd when there has not been a sufficient inquiry made into the character of the home. Two cases have come before me recently, in one of which after the sentence had expired and the child had been taken away from its parents—and the home was not a bad one- -the child was sent away for years without the knowledge of its parents and he was sent on board a North Sea fishing smack. In the other case the child, who was a girl, was emigrated without the knowledge and against the wish of her parents. This seems to me to be a monstrous abuse. I need not say that I at once took steps to have the children restored to their parents. But I think that very much more care ought to be taken than is taken, and it ought not to be considered right in every case to send a child to a reformatory. My hon. and learned friend asked whether attention is still paid in the Home Office to juvenile offences. Yes, sir. No case of the kind fails to come under my personal notice, and inquiries arc made. It is very rare now that I can find a case in which, upon in- quiry, there was no sufficient justification for the sen- tence. The magistrates have acted with me most cor- dially with the view of diminishing the number of children in prison, and the number of children has diminished. In all England there were only four cases, and I think therefore that on the whole the matter may be considered to be in a satisfactory con- dition. A great deal has been done without legisla- tion. But there is one thing also which I ask leave to mention. That is the habit of inflicting heavy costs in these cases of small crimes. The right hon. gentle- man opposite in his Summary Jurisdiction Act made a most admirable rule that the costs were not to be inflicted except in special circumstances. But the magistrates,' clerks always press to have these costs inflicted. This is a very great evil, because the parents are often unable to pay and the children cannot be sent to school. Sir R. Cross Has the right hon. gentleman issued any circular to the justiciary clerks? Sir W. Ilarcourt: I shall be very happy to do that. I have written over and over again on this subject. It is an ittMiiense-grievance and contrary to the inten- tion of the statute. It often happens that when a fine of Is. is imposed the costs amount to 20s. or 30s., and the man goes to prison in consequence of the costs. I would make an appeal to those who ad- minister the Education Act. The way in which chil- dren for mere truancy, which ought not to be treated as a crime, are sent to a reformatory school and taken away from their home even when the home is not a bad one, seems to be an extremely bad one, and I hope the practice will not be repeated.

SANITATION IN NEW YORK. An interesting experiment is just now being made in New York with a view to the utilisation of the street sweepings and house refuse of that city. A large machine has been erected by a Stock company at thp East River wharf of the street cleaning depart- ment, which sifts and reduces to its elements all refuse of whatever description which is brought to it. The average amount of stuff which is brought to this wharf is estimated at forty loadj per diem, but it is claimed that the machine could deal with more than three times that amount in a working day of ten hours. By an ingenious arrangement all scraps of paper, rag, coal cinder, glass, iron, &c., become separated, these are afterwards sold, with the excep- tion of the coal and cinder which are used for firing the engine. The projectors estimate that every load of 1800 pounds of refuse ccntains about 400 pounds of coal and cinder which is more than sufficient for their own purposes. The residuum refuse is cremated and the ashes are to be discharged into the sea. So far, it is said, the experiment has proved an entire success, and the promoters announce their intention of having machines at every city wharf to utilize all the refuse of the street-cleaning department with profit to them- selves and the city. Should these anticipations prove well founded, a solution will be offered of a problem which has long perplexed New York. The system of the disposal of refuse which now prevails is most unsatisfactory, the whole of it being carried some little way out to sea in scows and then discharged. Year after year the pilots raise warning cries respect- ing the enormous injury which is being done to the harbour's mouth bv the accumulation of ashes and street dirt there, and a radical change of method has Jong been sought.

SUSPENSION OF A LONDON BANK. The Oriental Bank Corporation, the suspension of which was announced on Saturday, was established by royal charter in 1851, by which the Oriental Bank and the Bank of Ceylon were amalgamated, the capital being fixed at XJ,500,000, in fully paid-up shares of E25 each, with a liability to the extent of a further e25 per share to holders of shares for six months after disposing of the same. The unfavour- able character of the eastern trade of late years and the decline in the value of silver have been the chief causes of the bank's misfortunes, and the losses have been augmented by business of a rather speculative character undertaken by the bank to retrieve losses, including the bringing out of the last Chilian- loan, too much of the stock of which the corpora- tion at one time held, and excited considerable com- ment and uneasiness. The chief lock up of capital has, however, been in estates in Ceylon and Mau- ritius, where the losses have been very heavy. As late as 1877 the bank had a reserve of half a million, which has all gone in the endeavour to reduce liabilities and losses, it standing at the date of the last balance-sheet, the close of 188-3, at less than £ 14,000. For many years the dividend paid was 12 percent, per annum. In 1875 it fell to 11 per cent., 2 for 1870 and 1877 it was 10 per cent., 1878 5 per cent., and for the following four years 4 per cent. per annum, whilst for last year there was no dividend. At the last meeting a bill in Parliament promoted by the di- rectors was approved by the shareholders for placing the company under the Limited Liability Act and writing off X750,000 of the, paid-up capital, making it £ 750,000, in shares of S12 10s. each. The E750,000 written off would, it was supposed, cover losses not yet ascertained, and provide for the depreciation in the stock of silver held in the East; but the publicity given by the meeting to the prospectus of the directors had such an effect on the business and the value of the shares as to lead to the result already announced-- the closing of the bank's doors. On Saturday Mr. Justice Chitty appointed Mr. Thomas Abercrombie Welton, a member of the firm of Quilter, Ball, and Co., as provisional liquidator, subject to the usual security being given. It is understood that a large portion of the capital is held in Scotland, and the management was largely imbued with the Scotch element.

THE AGRICULTURAL OUTLOOK. Under the above heading the Daily Telegraph has an article, from which we extract the following The weather of late has been ungenial and stormy. The rains, however, have proved exceedingly bene- ficial to grass lands, but a warmer temperature is now urgently required to improve the situation. Not only would pastures contract a deeper and more luxuriant hue and become rapidly clothed with abundant herbage, but the wheat plant, the young spring corn, and all green crops would respond gratefully to a kindlier touch of Nature, if we could only have genuine May breezes instead of these cold blighting winds, a higher temperature, and settled sunny skies. As yet the favourable agricultural outlook for a fruitful year has not materially changed on the lighter and medium class soils; but the season has not proved quite what clay land occupiers could have desired. Even the dry weather in March, so highly prized by the bulk of arable farmers for tillage purposes, did not suit them the fact being that, owing to the want of frosts in winter, their lands turned up leathery," readily baking into hard clods, which refused to crumble beneath either harrow or roller until the late spring rains c une to soften them. This made sowings of Lent corn on such soils rather late, and their occu- piers are now busily employed in putting in the mangel wurzel crop. Nor does wheat on the stiffer soils ex- hibit at all a similar luxuriant and promising ap- pearance to its general aspect elsewhere. Arable farms in stiff clay districts depend so much on weather and seasons, and are so frequently damaged in their prospects should not these turn out exactly what they require that, considering the heavy expenses of tillage which they entail and the prevailing low prices of corn produce, no other conclusions can be arrived at than that still larger acreages of them should be laid down to grass. The Board of Trade Returns show to what a wide extent conversion of arable to pasture has been already effected, but should the market prices of wheat con- tinue at the low average of from 37s. to 38s. per quarter, which it has not exceeded for several months past., there will likely be wholesale conversions on a still broader scale by tenant farmers abandoning their holdings, and landlords, with such forsaken holdings thrown on their hands, finding it to be a pure matter of necessity to convert them to grass for cattle or sheep runs. Some of these neglected, cold, stiff clay lands have been allowed to lay themselves down, or, in other words, in defect of cultivation or proper seeds being sown, Nature has covered them with a garment of weeds and of native wild grasses of the district. Strange to say, Sir J. B. Lawes, about two years since, recommended the owners of such neglected lands to refrain from cleaning their fields when subject to this condition, on the ground that if the coarse wild herbage were fed by stock bountifully supplied with oilcake or other artificial foods, the rich manurial character of the droppings of sheep and cattle so fed would very soon cause perennial clovers, trefoil, and some other of the better grasses to spring up of their own accord, and thus the heavy expenses and labour of cleaning and seeding might be saved, and yet a tolerably good pasture might be secured in the course of a few years. Mr. Faunce de Laune, of Sharsted Court,, Kent, who has laid down over 800 acres of his own land to grass during the past eight or nine years, states, in opposition to this view, that, althougn the heavy cleansing expenses might perhaps be saved, the best seeds ought, never- theless, to be sown—not of the finer meadow grasses, but those which are stout in stalks and blades as well as very robust in constitution, while still more nutri- tive in property than those termed the finest meadow grasses. There are four peculiarly well adapted to meet not only the exigencies of the situation in ques- tion, but to be made a great deal more use of than they have been in the conversion of arable to grass—namely, cocksfoot, foxtail, meadow fescue, and catstail or timothy, and a fifth may, perhaps, be advantageously added in giant fescue. The greater part of the pastures on the estate just alluded to were laid down in scrupulously clean condition, all rootlets of weeds and wild grasses having previously been extirpated or killed. But an impoverished small farm having been taken off the hands of an outgoing tenant two years since, a test was applied on the prin- ciple already glanced at, seeds of the strong-growing, nutritive, high-class meadow grasses mentioned above having been sown without any expense of cleaning having been entailed. The result up to the present has proved a decided success. The young pas- tures, although not so good as those which were previously cleaned, are superior to the average of those usually meeting the eye in a general point of view; for it must be acknowledged that there is nothing British agricul- ture is so backward in as the proper management of grass lands, and especially the formation and estab- lishment of superior new pastures. The common evil almost generally experienced appears to be that after the conversion has been effected the grass plants fail so much after the third or fourth years, leaving the fields in a state of infertility for at least a decade subsequently, that a serious saqnfipe of productive- ness is commonly entailed. The peculiar value of Mr. Faunce de Laune's experience is to show that this may be entirely obviated by scrupulous care in adopting none but the right kind of seeds and better management in liberally manuring the young pastures. He is of opinion that the true reason of the giving out of pastures at so early a period must be considered referable to the large proportion of biennial instead of perennial plants seeded for in the first instance. He thinks it wrong to sow rye- grass of any kind, not even excepting those that lay claim to perennial character and many seed samples coming from abroad are subject to so much adultera- tion that farmers can scarcely deem themselves safe in perfect assurance as to what they sow unless samples of the seeds they have purchased, after being guaranteed, have been submitted to a competent analyst. The matter s highly important, and by common confession well worthy of far more attentive consideration than it has hitherto received.

NOT TO BE HANKERED AFTER.-Tlle latest thing in the way of shows is said to be an exhibition of pocket- handkerchiefs. Of course the promoters will do all they can to make it wipe out" all its rivals.—Funny Folks. RF A MISTAKE COUHECTED.—An orator holding forth in favour of woman, dear, divine woman," con- cludes thus: Oh, my hearers, depend upon it nothing beats a good wife." I beg your pardon," replied one of his auditors; a bad husband does.j'

THE ROYAL ACADEMY BANQUET. The anniversary banquet of the Royal Academy was held in London on Saturday evening at Burling- ton House, when the president and council entertained a large and distinguished company. Before the entrance in the courtyard was drawn up a guard of honour, furnished, as usual, by the Artists' Corps of volunteers. The chair was taken by Sir F. Leighton, P.R A. The president, in proposing the first toast, said: Deep respect, gratitude, loyal devotion, these are the feelings with which we as Englishmen, and as mem- bers of the Royal Academy, are wont to drink here the toast which has precedence over all others, and it is primarily to the Sovereign and to the Royal head of this body that our thoughts are turned as we drink it. On this occasion it is otherwise it is not first to the Sovereign on her throne, but to the stricken mother in the shadow of her grief that our hearts go forth to-night. It would not be seemly to dwell upon the wounds from which she bleeds—these merciful times alone may touch with soothing hands. merciful times alone may touch with soothing hands. For well-nigh fifty years the sympathy of our Queen has gone out in an unfaltering stream towards the sorrowing amongst her subjects of high and low degree. May the memory of all the loving gratitude which that sympathy has evoked fall now, and rest a healing dew upon her bowed and aching spirit, and may the auspicious event which has for a time drawn her Majesty away from the scene of her mourning temper with bright thoughts and hopes thb sad re- membrance of the past. The Queen." The toast was drunk with the usual honours. The President, in giving the toast of the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the rest of the Royal Family," referred in sympathetic terms to the death of the Duke of Albany. "We shall renjember him," he said, as a courteous Prince in whom a mind happy in varied gifts harmoniously ordered and a taste singularly delicate had been ripened, young though he was, by culture and observation, and who, undeterred by a fragile frame and fickle health, had placed the outcome of that culture at the service of his country. His ambition was to make his own the paths of that most enlightened Prince, his father. He could have had no nobler aim." The toasts of The Army and Navy and Reserve Forces," were responded to by the Duke of Cam- bridge and Sir A. Cooper Key. The President, in proposing The Health of her Majesty's Ministers," said: In the presence of the eminent men to whom this title belongs, the Royal Academy proclaims its fealty year by year without shadow of political bias to the great ideas of authority and order. It will be a great regret to all that for the third successive year the voice of the great statesman and unmatched orator, in whose mouth response to this toast would naturally lie, will not be heard amon gst us to-night, and the more that his absence is due to the strict injunction of his medical adviser. If any voice can cause us to forget our loss, it is cer- tainly that which has already charmed us on a like occasion-that of the Right hon. the Earl Granville, whose name I am allowed to couple with our toast. Earl Granville, who was received with cheers, in the course of his response, said One of the surprises which I find in old age is this—and I suppose it will last as long as understanding remains—it is that ad- vancing years do not prevent us, every day if we choose, taking a lesson and learning something new; and one of the feelings which I have stronger than others as I grow older is that we laymen more and more feel the obligations under which we labour to art and artists. In saying this I do not merely refer to the pleasure which we derive from the works of the artist's pencil, or the sculptor's chisel, or the designs of the architect; there are other indirect obligations under which we labour, as I have found myself, and my opinion has been con- firmed by my contemporaries. I remember my friend Richard Doyle telling me a short time before his death how he was surprised to find that although he had been an artist all his life, yet every year he discovered new beauties in the most familiar objects. I have, however, little doubt that as we advance in age the pleasures of looking at beautiful scenery and the interest in observing nature increases and does not diminish. I, however, often ask myself when deriving pleasure from the contemplation -of the expression of a clever man or the form and colouring of a beautiful woman, or even the pleasures derived from looking at a little dirty beggar boy, whether the pleasure is really derived from the object itself, or is reflected from those associations connected with the imiges of those objects which have been produced by the great artists of the present and past ages. There are other lessons, too, which I have learnt in old age. I have been always awar- that this is an art-loving country, and it is a fine country, and I have always known that all of us, lawyers and clergymen, soldiers and sailors-I am almost tempted to say tinkers and tailors—have the privilege of expressing, in the most authoritative manner, their judgment of the things of art, and lay- ing down canons of taste. But it is only within a recent period that I have learnt that there are excep- tions to this rule, and I am sorry in this place to say that I have learnt the lesson that the President of this Academy, and the great majority of the Royal Academy, are the only people in England who are not capable of giving opinions on matters of taste or expressing the slightest judgment on matters con- nected with the fine arts. Now I know t\mt, although I have learnt these lessons, I am afraid* that I have not taken them completely to heart, and I own that if I was a little puzzled about a question of paint- ing, or sculpture, or architecture, or decoration- I say it in all deference-I think from' a trace of old habit—I should be more inclined to take advice from you, Mr. President, than from the judgment of the political associates with whom>I am now sitting. I am not altogether discouragjjji by your known ignorance of sculpture from asking you whether I am entirely wrong in thinking, front the general character of the exhibition, that there are some remarkable examples in the gallery of sculpture and the progress of English art. Not discouraged by your complete want of knowledge of pictures or the art of exhibiting them, I venture to boast on the part of the Government that my right hon. friend has lately signed a contract for the beginning of an addition to the National Gallery, which at last will enable us to provide not only a fair entrance and a good staircase, but will enable the trustees and directors of that re- markable gallery to exhibit all those treasures of art which at this moment are so carefully concealed in the cellars and caves of that establishment. I re- member one or two years ago, in one of your remark-- vl able speeches, you gave advice to the contributors to the treasures of these walls, and you advised a certain mercy as to the amount of space, and you pointed out that, although the site gave dignity, yet that certain bodies in painting were even better represented in small dimensions than in large. I do not venture to give any opinion on this as applied to pictures; but it is certainly an admirable principle applied to after- dinner speeches. I therefore conclude by expressing my sincere and warm thanks on the part of the Government for the honour which you have donl"- ¡ them. The President next gave the toast of Science and i Literature," coupled with Sir J. Lister and the Vener- able Archdeacon Farrar, who responded. The Archbishop of Canterbury responded for the guests, and proposed The health of the President of the Royal Academy." The President, after referring in pathetic language to the death of Francis Holl, A.R.A., the engraver, described the enlarged space which in future years would be at the disposal of the academy. He went on: These are goodly additions, and will enable us to hang many a work of more than average merit which would else have been returned from the sheer impossibility of placing it. I do not persuade myself, which would else have been returned from the sheer impossibility of placing it. I do not persuade myself, indeed, nor would I lead others to believe, that all wounds will be healed in the new order of things; sorrow and heartburnings are inseparably bound up with the ordeal of public exhibition. Those-and they must ever be many-in whose eyes not to be chosen is to be treated with injustice, will still burn in the belief of a wrong sustained, and to me, to whose ears so many plaintive or angry murmurs reach, that April month will still be the saddest season of the year. But this at least I believe, that the cases will henceforth be very rare, if there be any, in which a work deemed by the Council reajly worthy of the standard of our exhibition will remain without a place upon its walls. And here a word of caution may be useful. I cannot forecast what the Council of the coming year may decree-I cannot commit it to any course; but this commends itself to reason For the greater extent of labour in hanging a corresponding extension of time should be needed—and, indeed, not a few of us think that for the selection itself among the yearly increasing number of works submitted to us present arrangements are inadequate. I would, therefore, hint to my brother artists here and abroad, with the confidential privacy which appertains to these banquets, that they may not impossibly be asked next spring to knock at our doors some days earlier than heretofore. But extension of our buildings does not affect our galleries alone. It will also largely benefit our schools, of which, in the greater rumour and publicity which attend our exhibitions, it is too readily forgotten or ignored outside these walls that they are our chief care and involve our gravest responsibility. I think that if we embrace the whole field of artistic activity, both beyond and within our precincts-to which our sympathies are not narrowly bowed down-we may look very hopefully on the young English school. Traces, indeed, it shows too often, on the one hand, of that feverish haste and that thirst to dazzle by dexterity, which is not the taint of art alone, with loss, I think, of dignity both of matter and of manner; traces, on the other hand, of a tendency to associate imagination with extrava- gance, and to think nobility inseparable from archaic forms--a lack of balance, or, shall I say, a lack of older heads on young shoulders. Perhaps we must see in these various extremes the doubts and hesita- tions of an epoch as yet uncertain of itself and gifts and vitality being visible on all hands we may look, no doubt, with a trusting expectation to the day when these extremes shall not indeed merge, but draw nearer together, not to the effacement of individuality, which would be the death of art, but to their common gain and mutual strengthening in an atmosphere of order, sympathy, and more chastened taste.

THE NAVAL BRIGADE AT TAMAI. The London Gazette of May 2 contained an extract from a despatch received from Rear-Admiral Sir N. W. Hewett, enclosing a report from Major-General Sir Gerald Graham on the services rendered by the Naval Brigade during the operations connected with the action of Tamai on the 13th of March. General Graham says: The Naval Brigade displayed the utmost gallantry, and I deeply regret their heavy loss during the tem- porary check to the advance of the 2nd Brigade. It is a significant proof of the coolness and gallantry of the officers and men of the Naval Brigade, that during all the heat and excitement of the enemy's desperate charge, when three officers and seven men were killed beside their guns, not one of these guns was allowed to fall into the enemy's hands before it had been secured by the safety key from being turned against us. The machine guns did excellent service both before and after this temporary reverse. As in the previous operations, I cannot too highly praise the endurance and discipline shown by the men when toiling with their guns under a burning sun over heavy ground, or when under fire, in bivouac, or in action." The gallant general then tenders his thanks to Sir W. Hewett: "For your unvarying courtesy and readiness to meet all our requirements, and to express my opinion that the success of the expedition has been very materially furthered by your personal influence. I have also to express my thanks for the untiring zeal and devotion with which the naval officers and men have worked day and night when required at embark- ing and disembarking troops and stores. I may also be allowed to express my admiration at the skill and ability displayed by those in authority in organis- ing the transport arrangements, and in the difficult tasks of embarking and disembarking numbers of riding horses and transport animals, besides troops and stores. In all this trying work the naval and military officers employed have, I am happy to say, worked together in perfect harmony, having one object in common, the furtherance of the expedition." The despatch is concluded by the mention of many officers attached to the brigade who had especially dis- tinguished themselves in action or while in charge of various departments.

OUR CARRIAGES. The Field says: The landau, britzska (a German importation), the tilbury, dennet, and mail phaeton remain with us now in a more or less altered form but the curricle and the cabriolet (the latter brought into England after the Peninsular War) are seldom or never seen. The gig has gone through several stages. At one time it was a type of respectability, and then it was connected with all that was fast and dangerous. A once well-known doctor, on being offered a lift in a gig, replied, No, thank you; I have at this moment ten gig patients under n,y care." Of late years the buggy has been a good deal used; numbers of them are seen driven into town every day by the inhabitants of suburban villany." The buggy is not a particularly pretty vehicle, but it has tne merit of being fairly light; it is a modification of the original tilbury, without the cross-spring behind, and is more like the stanhope without the locker excrescence, The re- cently instituted Sportsman's Exhibitions have afforded an opportunity for seeing what progress carriage builders have made; but no very striking noyelty has been presented to the public. More or less convenient two-wheeled vehicles, modifications of the dog-cart, have been planned to suit ponies, and there have been several ingenious systems of brakes for dogcarts. Victorias and broughams of neat exterior have been turned out, and something of the same spirit that suggested the drawing out of the brougham to form the clarence has sug- gested the propriety of constructing a clumsy sort of victoria to carry four. Nothing can well look worse than one horse dragging five or six people, and on this account clarences, single horse landaus and victorias to carry four should be tabooed while, on the other hand, people often fall into the error of attaching a pair of big heavy horses to a single brougham or victoria proper, when one decent stepper would be all the more sightly. A good deal yet remains to be done before the fitting of our carriages can be pronounced perfect. It is a curious circumstance that so many of the cushions for open and closed vehicles are yet made with buttons sewn on, so as to make not only an indentation at the button, but also a crease between the buttons. A better plan for holding the dust could not well be devised yet the fashion obtains too largely, except in the case of the driving seats of victorias, which are generally made on the French principle—that is to say, in semi-circular form, and with the cloth stretched tight without buttons or creases. Again, as indiarubber mats are used, it would only be a simple matter to introduce steps to carriages covered with the same material, as being calculated to afford a firmer foothold.

DEATH OF THE EMPRESS MARIA ANNA OF AUSTRIA. The Empress Maria Anna died on Sunday after- noon in Prague, aged 81. She was the daughter of Victor Immanuel, first King of Sardinia, and was born on the 19th of September, 1803. She was consequently in her 81st year. In the year 1831 she married Ferdinand, eldest son of the Emperor Francis I. of Austria, who in 1835 became Emperor on the death of his father. When the Emperor was crowned in Prague in 183G as King of Bohemia, the Empress was crowned Queen. In 1848, when both Austria and Hungary were in a ferment, and Vienna rose in rebellion a second time, notwithstanding the dis- missal of Metternich and the concessions made by the Emperor, Ferdinand retired to Innsbruck, and finally to Olmiitz, where ho signed his abdication in favour of his nephew, the present Emperor, and then retired to Prague, where he died in 1875. Ever since the abdication the Empress lived a retired life in Prague, devoting her ample means to the poor and the church. When the Emperor Ferdinand died the family fortune, nearly forty millions sterling, passed to the present Emperor. Three days before her death the Empress underwent a most painful opera- tion, which she seemed to have successfully sustained notwithstanding her extreme old sge. Inflammation of the lungs, however, set in. The Court and the army and navy will gc into mourning for three months.

A SINGULAR NOSE.—A little more than a hundred years ago, the inn of an English village was noted for possessing "a character" in the person of u Old Boots." His work was to clean boots, but it was not that which gave him his reputation. It was his singular face. His nose, extending an inch and a quarter beyond his lips, curved downwards until it almost met his chin, which ran out straight. When guests gave him a piece of money, he received it on bis chin, and held it fast there with his nose till he put it in his money-box. He could rub the tip of his nose with his chin, and used to say that if he let his beard grow it would bury his nose.

THE MAHDI AND HIS MEN. Under the above heading the Daily News has an article from its special correspondent at Dongola, from which we take the following Mohammed Ahmed is the black man's prophet, and the black man is resolved that the white face shall not come into Africa as a master—not, at least, if the black man can help it. This race antagonism is strengthened and deepened by religious sentiment. Those of the black race who have any religion at all are Moslems, and they view with natural apprehension the interference of Christian States in the govern- ment of Egypt. It is the feeling that the Khedive is under the control of the infidels that has de- prived his government of all moral influence in the Soudan, and which is gradually destroying its authority over Egypt proper. The Mahdi under- stands this, and will make no compromise nor enter into any relations either with the Khedive or any other Government tainted with infidelity. Gordon Pasha's idea of bribing him with an acknowledgment of his position as Prince of Kordofan was a clever move, and had Mohammed Ahmed made the mis- take of accepting it his influence would have imme- diately begun to decline. Mohammed Ahmed is, however, a shrewder person than those who stupidly talk of him as a savage imagine. When he read Gordon Pasha's letter it is commonly reported that he burned it publicly, and sent back word that his mission came from God and that he did not need titles. If Gordon Pasha felt himself very strong and would wait a little, he, Mohammed Ahmed, would come to Khartoum." Whether or not he has yet fulfilled his threat is unknown to us here, though rumour states that Khartoum is attacked and Gordon Pasha's line of retreat cut south of Shendv. Little is known of the men who act as subsidiary leaders in the Mahdi movement, except in the case of Osman Digna, who shares with the Mahdi himself public notoriety. At one time it was generally believed that the Mahdi was merely the tool of powerful leaders like Elias Pasha, the great slave merchant at Kordo- fan, but later events have rather shattered this assumption. In the case of Elias Pasha it has no foundation, for that worthy man is growing blind and decrepid, and lives quietly in his house in Obeid, taking no part in public affairs. Two other men whose influence at one time over- shadowed that of the Mahdi have now 108. nearly all importance, except in so far as they enjoy the confi- dence and favour of Mohammed Ahmed, who is now completely master of the situation, thanks to his ex- traordinary victories over the armies of Egypt. The business of civil government is not allowed to inter- fere with the religious part of the Mahdi's mission. On Friday lie goes to the mosque in state, and frequently preaches to his followers, exhorting them to further efforts, that the cause of Allah should triumph by their valour and devotion, and promising them gardens in Paradise through which rivers flow. The policy and methods of Mohammed Ahmed are a counter-part of the policy and methods followed by Mohammed himself, and up to the present there is an extraordinary coinci- dence in the lives and fortunes of the two men. The signs" which were granted to Mohammed were, however, small mercies compared to the signs of approval in the shape of substantial victories achieved by Mohammed Ahmed, and this fact, which must be patent to all Mohammedans, is an element not to be lost sight of in estima- ting the possible future of the Mahdi movement. Though the new prophet imitates in a manner almost servile the methods of the founder of the Mohammedan religion, he does not seem to possess one spark of that extraordinary-man's literary ability. But in the political and military part of his career he has certainly achieved greater triumphs than fell to y 1-1 the lot of the first Moslem. Like his great prede- cessor, the Mahdi has the power of attracting men to his cause, and of keeping them steadfast—a far more difficult task. He does not cast off men who have served him. Among his most trusted friends and companions are the first disciples who gathered round him in the beginning of his extraordinary career, and the select body of fanatics who constantly attend him are officered chiefly by two thousand Dongalowi, mostly relatives and family connections of his own. This circumstance no doubt tends to solidify the military organisation on which the Mahdi must continue to rely, and makes him more independent than otherwise he might be of the somewhat fickle; allegiance of the Bedouin Shieks. Four caliphs form the supreme cabinet, or Council of State, as in the case of Mohammed. In order to make the resem- blance the more striking, each of the new caliphs has taken the name of one of the original four, and modestly dropped his own. The most impor- tant of these men is Abdalahi, who was one of Zebehr Pasha's old lieutenants. This officer is vizier and general-in-chief. In fact, he is credited with doing all the important work, whether civil or military. This, however, is probably an exaggeration, but he is Mohammed Ahmed's right-hand man, and, next to the prophet himself, the most important man in the movement. In addition to the four caliphs, the principal Bedouin Sheiks are admitted to the council, and when matters of great importance are afoot the Sheiks of the more powerful tribes are sutnmoncd to Obeid to take part in the deliberations. ============

THE LATE VISCOUNT TORRINGTON. Viscount Torrington died suddenly at this Hotel des Anglais, Monte Carlo, on Sunday morning last. Lord Torrington was 71 years of age, but until a few months ago every one would have credited him with a long old age. He was, from his early days, directly and intimately connected with the Court, and it fell to hisi lot to escort the Prince Consort to England. Frbm that day it was always understood that-, what- ever party might be in power, Lord Torrington should always be attached to the Court. The late Lord Torrington was a man of much influence in society, inas- much as his ready wit and power of repartee rendered him a strength to his friends and a power against his foes. Lord Torrington had, through a long life, to contend with adverse circumstances. He had to lament the want of an heir and the loss of a daughter. But lie ever could rejoice in the more than constantly gracious favour of his Sovereign, which from earliest days wras vouchsafed to him with a warmth and hearti- ness that the old courtier must have acknowledged in his last hours at Monte Carlo. The late peer, George Byng, Viscount Torrington, of Torrington, Devon, and Baron Byng, of Southill, county Bedford, in the peerage of Great Britain, and a baronet (creation 1715), was the eldest son of George, sixth Viscount Torrington; was born Sep- tember 9,1811, and succeeded to the viscounty on the death of his father June 18, 1831. He was created a D.C.L. at Oxford in 1839, and was for some time Lord in Waiting to her Majesty, but resigned in September, 1841. He was appointed Governor of Ceylon, in succession to the late Sir James Emerson Tennant, in April, 1847, which appointment he held till October, 1850. In January, 1853, he was ap- pointed Lord in Waiting to the Prince Consort, on whose death he was again appointed Lord-in-Waiting to the Queen, which he held up to the time of his death. He was appointed deputy lieutenant of Kent in 1851; was lieutenant-colonel of the West Kent Militia from 1824 to 1862, and was honorary colonel of the 3rd and 4th Battalions of the Royal West Kent Regiment. In default of male issue, he is sue- ceeded in the peerage by his nephew, Captain George Stanley Byng, late of the Rifle Brigade, eldest son of the late Major the Hon. Robert Barlow Palmer Byng, killed in December, 1857.

KILLED BY A LION. A terrible accident took place the other day at Auxonne, by which one of the men connected with a menagerie, which is now being exhibited there, lost his life in a cruel manner. It appears that the un- fortunate man was showing the wild beasts to some friends, and in passing before a cage containing a lion and two lionesses he had the imprudence to put one cf his arms between the bars for the purpose of stroking the lion's mane. With a terrific bound tho lionesses immediately sprang at the man's arm, in which they buried their claws, while the lion, by a single snap of his teeth, severed the arm clean from the shoulder. The unfortunate victim was taken away by another attendant, who was obliged to beat, the beasts back into their cage with a three-pronged fork. The man died in hospital on Sunday morning in the mos' terrible pain.

May they always live in peace and harmony was the way in which an American editor wound up a notice of the marriage of a couple of friends; and it came out in his paper the next morning—" May they always live on peas and lioniiny."

GARDENING FOR THE WEEK. CONSERVATORY AND GREENHOUSE, Azaleas that are out of shape and leggy may now be cut back to advantage. At the same time they must be turned out of their pots and the balls re- duced and repotted firmly in smaller sized pots, and' at once put into a kindly moist heat until they break freely. Instead of giving water at the root frequently syringe the stems until they are growing freely, then give the roots plenty. Camellias that have finished growing for the season to have less water and more air. They must not go absolutely dry, because that would seriously injure them, but to have only as much moisture as will keep them from flagging. It is too soon to put them out r,9 yet; so give them airy positions in the house. Epeicris that have flowered must now be repotted, the soil to be sandy fibry peat. The strong-growing 11 kinds must have a large shift. Use plenty of drainage carefully packed, and place the plants in a turf pit for the summer and shade during midday. As the new growth progresses pinch it back to promote a bushy habit. Now is a good time to propagate from points of new shoots an inch and a half long. Dibble them into pans of silver sand, and cover with bell glasses. Pelargoniums showing their flower buds will receive considerable assistance from frequent doses of weak liquid manure. Keep the plants as near the glass as possible, give air freely, and use the syringe not only over the leaves but on the stems and branches under- neath, which is a grand preventive of fly. FORCING AND ORCIIARR HOUSES. Fruits Ripening under glass must have a compara- tively dry air and plenty of ventilation, or they will lack colour and flavour. If a fair crop of fine fruit is preferable to a large crop of an inferior kind, let those that take the lead swell off and ripen, and remove the greater part of the remainder. This practice is of great importance in the case of straw- berries, as succession berries coming on while more forward fruits are ripening retard the progress of the latter, and prevent their attaining to their full size and flavour. Orchard House Trees are now swelling their fruit, and need the help of liquid manure. Use it rather weak at first, for fear of causing stone fruit to fall. After two or three doses, alternating with plain waterings, increase its strength. Stone fruits not yet beginning to swell should be kept without it for the present. Use the syringe freely, and with force, to wash off withered blossoms. Give air night and day. Wherever you see a curled leaf, search for the cause of it, and you will find a grub or fly, with either of which deal promptly. FLOWER GARDEN AND PLEASURE GROUNDS. Bedding out of the hardier subjects may soon be commenced. Choose dull dry weather if possible, while the ground is moderately moist. Have the plants pretty dry by withholding the water the day they are to be turned out. By watching the barometer, and getting the planting done just before rain much labour in after watering will be saved. Herbaceous Plants throwing up their flower spikes will in many cases require to be neatly staked to protect' them from high winds and heavy rains. This is the more needful where herbaceous plants are mixed with shrubs in borders, as in such cases they always push their heads of flowers out in an oblique manner, and this prepttres them to fall over when heavy rains occur. liamcnculuses and Anemones want plenty of water while their flower-buds are swelling. Give the beds a good soaking in the evening, using a water-pot to which a coarse rose is affixed, and do not be afraid as to quantity. KITCHEN GARDEN. Cucumbers in trenches planted out a week or so hence and protected with hand glasses will produce better crops than if kept in pots till they spindle away their strength. Make the trench two feet and a-half wide, and one foot deep. Fill it a foot above the surface with hot dung and leaves that have been twice turned, or a mixture of leaves, straw, and grass mowings. Three days afterwards put on six inches of soil, and leave it a couple of days then put on three or four inches more soil, and plant. They will then have a steady bottom heat, and if sheltered for a time will do well. Kidney Beans, both dwarf and runners, to be sown for main crops. Parsley should be sown on rich light soil, and thinned as soon as large enough to handle. This method will ensure finer produce than leaving the t)lants close together, and those with richly-curled leaves can be selected as soon as they are a little ad- vanced beyond the seed leaf. Potatoes are now pushing with vigour. Hoeing between is of immense benefit, and a little earth may be drawn to the siems. Spinach, is usually sown tiiick, and a good way to thin it is to wait till the leaves are an inch long, and then draw the plants in little bunches and send to the kitchen. Surface-dressing between growing crops with wood ashes, soot, guano, or any good artificial manure is far better than the use of liquid manure in all open ground cultivation. Indeed, in most good gardens pot plants demand all the liquid manure that can be obtained; but where there are capacious sewage tanks, and a good supply, it may be used freely to roses, strawberries, cauliflowers, rhubarb, gooseberry trees, hollyhocks, and other gross-feeding plants. It should always be understood that weak liquid manure in large quantities is to be preferred to a strong liquid in small quantities. Turnips should be sown in small breadths for summer supply. Use manure abundantly, and after sowing sprinkle over the bed a little lime or soot. This usually prevents the eating off of the young plant by the fly, as it is only while in the seed-leaf that turnips are in danger. THE HOUSE. Window boxes, baskets for suspending in balconies, and trays for fitting in rustic and other vases must within the next fortnight or three weeks be prepared for the summer. The plants selected for filling them should be well able to withstand the effects of occa- sional periods of drought, for with the greatest care it is not always possible to prevent the soil becoming very dry, and remaining so for a short time. The pelargoniums are unquestionably the most useful subjects for boxes and baskets placed in sunny posi- tions--the zonals for the main furniture, and the ivy- leaved varieties for trailing over the sides. Very charming baskets may be formed with ivy-leaved pelargoniums, provided due care is taken to have an equal proportion of light and dark flowered varieties. Zonals for window boxes should be moderately vigorous in growth and decidedly neat in habit. A moderately rich compost is necessary, and there is nothing better than a mixture formed with loam three parts and well-rotted manure one part. If there is any difficulty in obtaining manure, add a small pro- portion of Clay's Fertilizer in preparing the compost, and apply a light top-dressing of it about once a month throurrhontthe summer season. Gardener's Magazine.

THE PORT OF MONTREAL.' From a report just issued by the Harbour Com- missioners of Montreal, it appears that since 1850 the depth of the Channel between Quebec and Montreal has been increased so as to admit, of vessels now drawing 25ift. passing up the river to the latter city. Before that year only vessels drawing lift, could make the passage. This important work has been done at the expense of the Harbour Com- missioners, and in the 1883 session of the Canadian Parliament a loan of 900,000 dols. was granted by the Government for deepening the channel to 27-Ift. The 2 total of the ocean and inland tonnage entering and leaving the port of Montreal in 1883 was 1,428,984, as compared with 1,403,426 in the previous year, an in- crease of 25,258 tons. The percentage of the ocean steam tonnage in 1880 was 75, and sailing vessels 24; while in 1883 they were respectively 91 per cent, and 9 per cent. It thus appears that year by year Montreal is becoming more and more a steamship port. It is a fact not generally known that Montreal, during her season of navigation, that is to say for the six months of open water, has as much ocean and inland tonnage as the city of Glasgow. During the last six years the dates of the opening of the St. Lawrence navigation have been as follows: 1878, March 30 1879, April 24: 1880, April 17 1881, April 21; 1882, April 11 1883, April 27. In the same year the navigation closed on the following dates respectively: December 23, December 19, December 3, January 2, December 9, December 16.

A PAIlt OF SORRY FELLOWS.—Two old bachelors meeting after a long separation, and each finding that the other continued in a state of single blessed- ness," one exclaimed, Well, I am sorry for your forlorn condition And I," replied his friend, am equally sorry for yours."—" Then," rejoined the first, we'are a couple of sorry fellows