Barry Herald

r EPITOME OF NEWS. 1 THE Earl and Countess OF Lathom have arrived at Cannes for a few weeks, and will pass the summer at Lathom, near Ormskirk. MR. GEOFFREY DRAGB, M.P., has been elected Chairman of the Committee of the South Africa Association. TnJil annual banquet of the Ulster Association in London has been arranged to take place on Wednes- day, April 12, under the presidency of General Sir George White. MR. ASQUITH has fixed Friday April 28, as the date of his visit to Guildford, when he will address a joint demonstration of the Liberals of the Guildford. Chertsey, and Epsom divisions of the county of Surrey. TilE design submitted by the Goldsmiths' Company of the City of London for the Sword of Honour to be presented to Colonel MacDonald, C.B., D.S.O., A.D.C., by the United Scottish Societies in London, has been accepted by the committee. ACCORDING to a Vienna correspondent, the Czar recently expressed to the British Ambassador his hope that England and Russia will arrive at an un- derstanding on all Chinese questions. COLONEL A. H. NOCRSE, Royal West Surrey Regi- ment, has been directed to take over the command of the Second Regimental District on May 11. THE Earl and Countess of Clanwilliam are still abroad, and are obliged to remain for the present, as their daughter, Lady Katherine Meade, is suffering from an attack of chicken-pox. THE Hon. Richard Strutt has been elected a member of the Council of the Corporation of the Church House to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. George A. Spottiswoode. THE Rev. Charles Edward Oliver, formerly curate of Hadleigh, Suffolk, having applied for admission into the ministry of the Unitarian Churches, has been accepted by the Advisory Committee. ARRANGEMENTS are being made at Cambridge for the celebration of the jubilee of Sir George Gabriel Stokes, F.R.S., Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in the University of Cambridge. TIm Prince of Wales has consented to lay the foundation-stone of the new Post Office Savings Bank building at West Kensington. The ceremony will probably take place in June. PRINCIPAL FAIRBAIRN will shortly leave Oxford for Scotland, where, among other engagements, he has to give a few more sittings to Sir George Reid for his portrait commenced last summer. THE Queen Regent of Spain has signed the decree living M. Cambon, French Ambassador to the Tnited States, full power to exchange the ratifica- tions of the Treaty of Peace with the United States government. LoRD RUSSELL OF KILLOWEN will preside at the annual meeting of the Metropolitan Discharged prisoners' Aid Society which will take place in the Old Hall, Lincoln's Inn, en Friday, April 14 next. THE Grand President of the League of Mercy, H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, has been pleased to Appoint Lord Wolverton, Dr. W. J. Collins, and Mr J. Harrison, honorary secretaries of the League. CAPTAIN FRITH, at present governor of Durham Prison, has been appointed governor of Liverpool Prison, and Captain Burgoyne, governor of New- castle Prison, has been appointed to succeed him at Durham. THERE is a probability that the Queen will hold in person one of the May Drawing Rooms, which take place, one on May 10 and another on May 16. A third Drawing Room will possibly be held.during the week between Epsom and Ascot. THE marriage arranged between Mr. William Peel, eldest son of Lord Peel, and Miss Ella Williamson, eldest daughter of Lord Ashton. will take place on April 11, at All Saints' Church, Knightsbridge. MR. S. R. CROCKETT has undergone a somewhat severe operation for an ailment which has troubled him for nearly three years. He has now returned home, and is rapidly recovering his strength. At present he is not doing any work. MADAMS SYNGERS, the widow of the lately deceased banker, has offered to the Greek Government the sum of £300,000 for the purpose of constructing an aqueduct to Attica. The town is at present threatened with a water famine. TaB Guardian regrets to learn that the Dean of Lichfield has been laid up at Naples with malarial fever, followed by an acute attack of pharyngitis of a very malignant kind. He is now recovering, but hopes he may be spared correspondence. LoRD RBVELSTOKB'S beautiful estate, Membland, in South Devon, has been sold, and part of it is to be built on, but in an artistic manner. The late Lord R^velstoke spent a vast sum in adding to the ameni- ties of the property, but it has been standing empty for the last few years. SIR THOMAS LIPTON has changed the name of his recently purchased steam yacht to the Erin, and it has been decided that she shall tow across the Atlantic the Shamrock, which is now building to challenge for the America Cup. COMMANDEB FAUSSEG, of the United States gun- boat Bennington, in his report on the taking pos- session of Wake Island on January 17 last, ways that thare were no signs of human occupation on the island. A brass tablet stating that the United States had taken possession was affixed to the base of the staff on which the United States flag was hoisted. MR. CHOATE, the United States Ambassador, will enter at once into occupancy of No. 1, Carlton House- terrace, which he will make his London residence during his diplomatic service in this country. This ie the house that was bought by Mr. Leiter for Lord Qhrzon of Kedleston, and is most beautifully decorated throughout. MR. CHAMBERLAIN has received a communication from a gentleman, who at present wishes to remain anonymous, offering a donation of twenty-five thousand pounds to the Birmingham University fond on condition that two hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds is previously subscribed. One hundred and thirty-five thousand pounds has already been subscribed. THE Ontario Legislative Assembly has adopted a Resolution in favour of sending a memorial to the Imperial Government requesting them to amend the British North America Act, and to secure the reform of the Canadian Senate, so that in case of disagree- ment between the Dominion Senate and House of Commons, the Governor General may call a joint ballot of both Houses. The Resolution was adopted on strict Party lines. 48 Liberals voting for it, and 37 Conservatives against it. Sllt PHILIP OAKLEY Fran has arrived in London to take over the Agent-Generalship of Tasmania, which has been more or less in commission since the departure of Sir Edward Braddon four years ago. Sir Philip, who was born in London in 1835, emigrated to Tasmania in 1859, and became a prominent business man in the capital, Hobart. He has been a con- spicuous Parliamentary personage, and was Premier of three Governments- YOUNG ladies as dentists is the latest development of Australian feminine enterprise. Miss Berry, a daughter of Sir Graham Berry, formerly Liberal Premier of Victoria, and Miss Godfrey, a daughter of a Member of the Victorian Upper House, have both passed with credit th& examination prescribed by the Dental Board of that colony, have been duly registered, and have entered into partnership in the medical quarter of Melbourne. GREAT indignation has been aroused throughout Canada by the prospect of the sale of the historical Plains of Abraham for building lota. The property belongs to the Quebec Nuns. and the nominal lease to the Government has expired. Many Societies are anxious to preserve the battlefield made famous by Wolfe's victory over Montcalm, but surveyors are now staking the property prior to opening streets and subdivisions. THE death of Mr. Harrison, an engineer employed øa the Uganda Railway, who was killed by a lioness, seems to have been peculiarly tragic. He killed the beast, but she mauled hltD badly before dying. The wounds are said to have been comparatively slight in themselves, but mortification set in immediatelyand though one of his arms was removed at the shoulder, his constitution had been so undermined by the brutal treatment he received during some months of im- prisonment in Venezuela, that it was impossible to Mve his life. Mr. Harrison had been trained at Cooper's Hill, and was much esteemed in the Protec- torate. ZTTRBRIGGEJ*. the famous Swiss guide, is IN London et present. We hear that he is writing a book on hit travels in any lands. He is best known as a climber, first in the Alpe. and later in the Kara- korama with Sir Martin Conway, and in New Zea- land and the Andes with Mr. Fitzgerald. He has aI80 visited Massowah and Norway on sporting tours. Besides Italian and German, his native languages, Zurbriggen speaks French, English, Spanish, and Kashmiri. His home is at Macu- gnaga, just under the great southern precipices of Monte Rosa. He is 43 years of age, but looks much, younger. Zurbriggen feels certam that Mount Everest will one day be climbed. He would like to have a try at it. MR. STEWART LOCKILART, who has been appointei to represent this country on the Commission for the delimitation of the Kowloon boundary, has bee. Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong since 1894. AU his service has been in Hong Kong, to which colony he went out from Scotland as a cadet over 20 years In 1883 he was appointed Superintendent of the Opium Revenue Department, and he became Registrar-General in 1887, an office which he still Imfrta in conjunction with his superior appointment •f Colonial Secretary. He is an able and popular -official, and no better selection could have been made fer the British ntation on the Kowloon Anises* „ I A TELEGRAM from Batavia announces thr.t a revolt 1 has broken out at Soem:1Ja.ta on the coast of CI-lebes, in the Dutch East Indies, and that the Dutch ad- min strntor has been murdered. To commemorate his Mayoralty, the Duko of Devonshire has presented to Eastbourne land wortp many thousands of pounds as a site for a technical school and free library. The building will cost about £20,1 ¡C}(J. Tm1 Rev. Alexander Connell, of the Presbyterian Church. Regent-square, London, has been recom- mended by the committee of the Fifth-avenue Church in New York as successor to the late Rev. John Hall. THE Watch Committee of the Leeds Corporation have presented a report making important recom- mendations for the purpose of preventing drunken- ness. which is on the increase. THE Finnish deputation of 400 persons who arrived at St. Petersburg in order to present to the Czar a petition against the measures lately intro- duced in Finland had to return immediately to their country. THREE fishermen were conveying a quantity of goods from Arisaig to Morar, Inverness-shire, when their sailing skiff either struck a rock or was over- turned by a squall, and all the men were drowned. COUNT MONTEBELLO, the French Ambassador to Russia, has had a private audience of the Czar to deliver to his Majesty the official notification of the election of the President of the French Republic. MR. ASQUITH will address a demonstration which is to be held at Guildford at the end of April, under the auspices of the Home Counties Liberal Federa- tion and the Guildford Division Liberal Association. THE longest railway tunnel in England now is the Severn Tunnel on the Great Western, which is four miles and 624 yards. Totley (Midland), Standedge (L. and N.W.), and Woodhead (Great Central) are all over three miles in length. THE Queen's oldest honorary physician by many years is Sir Alexander Armstrong, who was appointed to the post 40 years ago. He was engaged for several years in searching forSir John Franklin in the Arctic regions. DR. SCIIULMANN, the eminent German archaeologist, has discovered another prehistoric city in Mexico. He will shortly endeavour to secure from the German University and research authorities funds with which to carry on further explorations. THE Argentine Government have telegraphed to their Military Commissioner in Germany to arrange with Herr Krup to supply 500 kilometres of a Decau- ville railway instead of the guns and armaments pre- viously ordered. THE Allgemeine Zeitung contradicts the rumour that Princess Louise of Saxe-Coburg, who is at pre- sent in a private asylum at Purkesdore, near Vienna, was there delivered of a son. The story, the paper says, is absolutely untrue. IT is stated that the claims of former Egyptian officials wbo were made captives by the dervishes will be reopened, despite the law of 1892, which bars such cases. Lord Cromer and the War Office are now considering the matter. A SPRING-MOTOR CARRIAGE was invented by Vau- canson more than 150 years ago. In a recently-dis- covered decument, it is recorded that, in 1740, Louis XV. inspected the carriage, with which, however, only a short journey was possible. Although Royal patronage was promised, the Academy of Sciences would not tolerate the conveyance, which, therefore, was abandoned. THB coal and coke used in blast furnaces per ton of pig iron in 1870 was 23cwt.; it is now less than 20cwt., and In some cases only 17cwt. Similarly in an old small-sized water-gas generator, from 30 to 38 par cent. only of the heat value was utilised out of 85 per cent. carbon in the coke. Now the calorific value obtained from 1 ton of coke is more than 82 per cent. M. FERDINAND BLCMENTHAL recently described to the Academic des Sciences a process of making sugar from albumen, which will throw light on the obscure disease known as diabetes. He believes that 12 grammes of the sugar (a species of glucose) can be ] obtained from 100"grammes of albumen. IT is proposed by a number of friends and ad- I mirers of the late Mr. James Anderson, the pitman's poet, whose death occurred last week, to honour his memory by erecting a stone at the head of his grave in Cowpen Cemetery. To prevent the bursting of water-pipes, due to freezing, a contrivance has been introduced in Cologne. Inside the water-pipe is run a pipe of thin tin or lead filled with elastic rubber, so that when the water expands on becoming converted into ice, this inner arrangement is compressed, and no harm is done to the pipe itself. MR. L. E. LEVY has brought before the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, his new process of etching photo-chemical engravings. He uses a fine spray of etching liquid directed on the plate from a nozzle by means of an air compressor. The acidulated liquid eats the plate, and is afterwards washed away. AT a State dinner given at Yrldiz Kiosk in hononr of Baron Marschall von Bieberstein, the German Ambassador, the guests present included Colonel von Kranski, who was sent to Constantinople to present to the Sultan a gun of the latest pattern as a gift from the Emperor William. Mn. W. MILLAIS (writes a correspondent), the brother of the late Sir John Everett Millais, whose death has just been announced at Farnham. began I, life as a chemist. He had real artistic gifts, and was a delightful water-colour painter. One rarely missed him at the pleasant views at his brother's in the seventies and eighties. PHOTOGRAPHIC investigations of the electric arc, carried out with the help of rapidly moving photo- graphic plates and of a steady enclosed alternate current arc lamp, show that the arc starts from alter- nate sides successively, and that the light dies out first near the carbons and later near the middle of the arc space. The shapes of the patches of light shown on the plates do not seem to depend upon a true sine function current curve. THE Earl of Ranfurly, the Governor of New Zea- land, speaking at Helensville, New Zealand, said that it had been his good fortune so far to be associated with that country in time of prosperity, and his observations led him to the conclusion that this prosperity would continue. A NOVEL fire-escape equipment has been tried with good results in New York. It is a gun with steel projectile to the latter is attached 500ft. of steel cable tin. in diameter, knotted at every 12in. length. The gun is pointed at a window of a burning building in which people are in danger, and the projectile dis- charged. The cable can then be used to pull up savin" apparatus. VARIOUS relics of Chopin have been gathered together and placed in the Czartoryski Museum at Cracow. The grandfather of the present Prince Czartoryski was one of the warmest admirers of the composer, while his wife has always been considered one of the best pupils of the master. A GLOBE for deep-sea diving, invented by M. Patee del Pazzo, is a cast-iron sphere covered with a 3-in. thickness of oiMoth. It is constructed to work at a depth of about 1600ft., and to provide the necessary light a powerful electric arc is used. Three screws, actuated by electricity, move the sphere along, which is guided by a rudder. SIR FREDERICK SAUNDERS, the able Treasurer of Ceylon, is about to come home on leave preparatory to retiring from the Colonial service. Sir Frederick has served for 42 years in Ceylon, having joined the Survey Department there in 1857. After holding various positions all over the island he became Inspector-General of Prisons in 1874. Four years later he was promoted to the post of Government Agent of the Eastern Province, and he shortly after- wards became Agent of the Western Province, with a seat in the Legislative Council of Colombo. Sir Frederick has been Treasurer since 1890, and has served the colony well in that capacity, his long experience and great ability having been of consider- able help. THE selection of Dr. Emil Reich to read a paper before the Historical Section of the Congress of German Philologists which is to meet at Bremen early in the ensuing autumn, is a significant illustra- tion of the rising reaction against that too daring use of the higher criticism which would relegate to Limbo, or to absolute nonentity the heroes and the leaders of men in times of old. Such criticism 1 finds expression in the distribution of a single strong and salient personality over a group of comparatively obscure and possibly unknown individuals—in the j reduction, say, of Homer to an aggregate of nameless rnapsodists; of Lycurgus, to an impersonal aeries of succession of legislators; and of Romulus to an anonymous horde of enterprising outla THE director of the Commercial Mi seum, Phila- del phi a, has just called the attention of the Science and Art Department to a Universal Commercial Con- gress and Exposition which will be held during the autumn of the present year in Philadelphia. A series of buildings is bemg erected for the purposes of the Exposition, in which will be dislayedsurJi American manufactures as are most representative and best adapted to foreign requirements but it is intended also to accept as exhibits similar articles from European manufacturers, in order to afford an opportunity for a thorough and comparative study of the world's industries. I THE Railway World states that the Murphy Bur- face rail electric tramway system has been praeti- cally tested on Manhattan Beach, Long Island, with complete success. In this system no overhead wIea or open conduit are required, as the cars are supplied with current taken from a sectional rail laid flush with the surface of the roadway. The only portion of this rail which can be made electrically alive IS the section immediately under the car, and, conse- quently, all danger is avoided. The Murphy system is far less costly than the conduit construction, and it is claimed that it can be built for th# orice of th* I overhead trolley wire system. I' „ I DURING the cold spell of last month in New York. when the temperature fell below zerc, and a wind blew at the rate of 36 miles an hour, a. nre broke out, and the cold was so great, despite the burning heat, that the water pumped on the building by Mie firemen was frozen in great masses of icicles cover- ing the entire front, and making it resemble a frozen waterfall. IT is now expected that the first volume of the scientific results of Nansen's voyage towards the Pole will be out next autumn, if not summer. It will be in quarto, and contain memoirs by the specialist employed. There will be nut 20 memoirs in all. forming three to five volumes, and they will be published by the Nansen Fund for the Advance- ment of Science. SKVENTY-EIGIIT of the students who took part in the recent riots in St. Petersburg were at first expelled. An application was made by the University authori- ties for mitigation of the punishment, with the 16- suit that all the young men have now been permitted to reav.me their studies. Only slight collegiate penalties have been inflicted upon the offenders. THE breakage of steel rails, suggests Mr. W. G. Kirkaldy, is sometimes due to the nature of the steel being affected by the action of the loads pass- ing over the rails. The deterioration may com- mence at the top surface, and not from the bottom, as is usually believed, and appears to be of the nature of a mechanical hardening of the surface. This, in some instances, developed into a kind of disintegration, minute transverse cracks being formed. Experiments are now being made to ascer- tain the best means of diminishing this action. Miss JANE AUSTEN is receiving much notice from readers, illustrators, publishers, and editors at the present time. Mrs. Gaskell's books will probably live while Jane Austen's do. No doubt we shall see within the next dozen years or so not a few new editions of Cranford," which contains, among other gems, that exquisite romance, "A Moorland Cottage." AMONG the candidates for the Chair of Physiology in Edinburgh, rendered vacant by the death of Pro- fessor Rutherford, are the following: Dr. E. W. Wace Carlier, Professor Schafer, and Dr. Noel Paton. For some years Dr. Carlier acted as Senior Assistant to the late Professor Rutherford, and he is at present giving the lectures in physiology at the University. LIVERPOOL, with its new School of Tropical Diseases for the training or doctors, missionaries. and others going to live in hot countries or on board ships, has moved in a right direction. Four courses of study, each of two months, will be given yearly. Black women will also be trained as nurses. KITES (according to the Regiment) will probably be used in future warfare for carrying such explosives as dynamite. For this purpose a series of seven kites, built on light bamboo frames, will be employed, and the explosives could be carried to an enormous distance, and then automatically dropped by pulling a string. THE scene at Muscat on the occasion of the r ecen threat of bombardment, seems, from the Times of India, to have been very exciting. The Sultan held out to the last minute, and even sent his brother to H.M.S. Eclipse, hoping he would be received instead. But the Admiral would have the Sultan, and the Sultan alone, on board. The Muscatis, who crowded houses, hills, and beach, were in a highly nervous condition, for the three British ships had taken up their positions for the bombardment. They seem to have been horrified at the size of the ships. A PROPELLER for a disabled ship was almost com- pleted whilst at sea by the chief engineer of the steamer Strathnevis, which, after helplessly drifting for a month in the Pacific, was taken in tow by another vessel. The propeller was constructed by heating iron sheets, cutting them out, and hammer- ing them to shape. It had a length from tip to tip of 7ft. 6in.; at the tip it WaR thick, and 3in. at the boss. Straps were bolted from tip to tip to keep the blades rigid, and holes were bored through the boss. It was the intention to shift the cargo sum- I ciently to tip the ship, and then to bolt this contriv- ance to the shaft; the speed might have been from three to five knots. IN the United States 550 patents for automatic railway couplings devices have been granted. The "three-link" coupling now used in America is neither so dangerous nor slow to operate as some imagine. With the aid of a staff provided at the end with a hook, it is surprising how quickly the opera- tions of connecting and disconnecting can be done, without the coupler going betwee n the vehicles. The record time for coupling and uncoupling a train of 20 waggons by the use of this staff is, we believe, 78 seconds. THE utility of the work accomplished by the South Staffordshire Mines Drainage Commissioners was convincingly shown at their last monthly meeting, when it transpired that their pumping engines have kept the Tipton district mines in workable condi- tion since the opening of the year, in spite of an increase of a million gallons per day of 24 hours in the amount which, owing h the heavy rainfall, has had to be raised. For the four weeks ending Feb- ruary 22 the Commissioners' seven steam pumping engines in the Tipton district have raised every 24 hours 8,846,212 gallons, or the enormous quantity of 39,491 tons. THE big Wapiti stag at the Zoo in London has lost his antlers, and is now an uncrowned King. Those I visitors to the Gardens who have no knowledge of the wonderful process by which deciduous horns develop, die, and are shed every year will find it interesting to watch the new growth during the next three months. The new antlers grow rapidly within covering of velvety skin, and during this time the blood-vessels have free access to that part. But when the development is completed the bony rings at the base of the horns thicken, and by compressing the blood-vessels, close the circulation. Then the velvet sovering loses its vitality and peels off, leaving the stag in the full glorv of his new and enlarged crown. If PEOPLE in the Cariboo gold district, British Columbia, have flown terror-stricken to high ground. Snow disappeared from an unexplored mountain as if by magic, and it was momentarily expected that it would belch out smoke and flames. A NEW process of combustion, or what is claimed to be such, has been devised by M. P. J. Schlicht. A short tube is placed concentrically within the vertical outlet of the flue, leaving an annular space between the two. The doors which ordinarily admit air to the furnace or stove are closed, and the heated pro- ducts of combustion then pass up the centre of the flue, and a downward current of air becomes heated by contact with the wall of the inner tube, so that when it reaches the furnace it has attained a tem- perature sufficiently high to be of material assistance to the combustion. By this device small coal may be used. as the combustion is from above downwards. Applied to boiler furnaces, this method is said to have produced a marked economy of fuel. THE Danish Dairy Company, who are stated to shops in 22 towns in the Kingdom, were fined £60 lis. 6d. at W igan for three offences under Food and Drug and Margarine Acts. THE yacht Timsale, a present from the Sultan to Prince Nicholas, has arrived at Antivari, where the Prince's family are at present staying. Ahmed Fevzi Pasha will present the gift. THE committee of the Working Men's Lord's Day Rest Association have sent to the Postmaster-General a protest against the express delivery of letters on the Lord's Day in London. ItA WRITER in the Speaker contributeo an article on the question, How do wild birds die ? Where do the birds thait die a natural death die ? The writer thinks that natural deaths are rare, and that battle. murder, and sudden death accounts for most of the feathered tribes. Instances of sudden sickness among birds are, however, not rare. A young lady, whilst sitting in her father's garden in the northern suburbs one summer's day, was astonished to see an old male sparrow fall at her feet in a fit. She picked the bird up in an unconscious condition and carried him indoors, where he swiftly revived." A rather tough worm in his little inside" perhaps. The writer also tells a harrowing tale of a thrush which had just finished a fine piece of vocalisation falling suddenly moribund to the ground. A LIFEBOAT with a drop keel, devised by Albert A LIFEBOAT with a drop keel, devised by Albert Henry, has been tried at La Rochelle. In appearance ) it differs little from an ordinary lifeboat. Two shells are separated by an unusually large air chamber, which extends all round from bow to stern. The inner floor is always to be kept above the water level. The centre-board, of sheet iron and loaded with lead, moves vertically in a longitudinal slot, which divides the keel and the air chamber. The slot is purposely left open above, so that water may run off quickly. The drop keel both steadies the boat and pulls it back when a powerful wave seems likely to overturn it. When the boat is being landed, the keel is raised into the slot by means of ropes attached to the masts. French naval officers experimented with such a boat of 32ft. in length, built by Decout-Lacour. When, with great trouble, it was overturned, the boat at once righted itself, and the water quickly ran out. When sud- denly deluged by water falling from a tank placed 10ft. above the craft, the boat was submerged, but was free from water within a few seconds. I A CONTEMPORARY, the School World, has been in- quiring where our bishops and suffragans were edu- cated. It finds that Eton is the great training ground for bishops. Seven hail from that school viz., Bath and Wells, Chichester. Colchester, Guild- ford, Lichfield, Liverpool, and Marlborough. Win- Chester has produced five — Newcastle, Salisbury, Southwark, Southwell, and Truro. Rugby boasts of Chester, Derby, and Shrewsbury, as well as Dean Charterhouse and Cheltenham claim a ™?hon each. The B.ahop of Peterborough and Winchester are old Harrovians and Richmond and Stepney ars old Marlburians. Shrews bur** is wire- J presented on the bench. i'. 1

WOUNDED DERVISHES AT OMDURMAN. The following correspondence relating to the occu- pation of Omdurman has been published. Mr. Lees Knowles, M.P., has written from the House of Commons: "Now that the Parliamentary Paper has leen issued, containing despatches respecting the conduct, of the British and Egyptian troops after the battle of Omdurman, the following letter will be of special interest. I think that it should be pub- lished now, although I should have preferred to have first read it in the House of Commons, bad an opportunity occurred. It will be remembered that there were only two foreign Military Attaches on the staff of the Sirdar—viz., Captaih Adolf von Tiedemann, of the Royal Prussian Great General Staff, whose letter, refuting the calumnies against the Anglo-Egyptian Army, appeared in the Times of January 16, and Major Luigi Calderari, of the 40th Infantry Regiment, stationed at Caserta; Italy. Last December, introduced in Milan by my relative, Mr. Fred. Armstrong, H.B.M. Consul for Lombardy I met Major Calderari within a few days of his return from Egypt, and now I have received from him a communication which I send you, supporting the above-mentioned despatches, and the statements of his German colleague, and declaring his views as the Italian Military Attache to the Sirdar." The following is the letter from the Italiaa A Uachis "Caserta, Feb. 28, 1899. Dear Mr. Lees Knowles,—I am very glad to have an opportunity to put in writing what I stated to you verbally in Milan as to the manner in which the dervish prisoners at the battle of Omdurman wers treated, and to deny in the most absolute way that any cruelty was practised towards the prisoners. I r"d9 on the field of battle in various directions, and sverywhere I saw hundreds of wounded lying alive, notwithstanding that the Anglo-Egyptian troops had already traversed the ground. I happened to be for a while at the head of the troops in their advance, after the attack on the zareba had been repulsed, and then again I was able to convince myself that the wounded were not in any way molested. an occasional wounded man was killed, it was only in legitimate defence, because, as is well known, it is a custom with these peoples to pretend to be dead and then to fire on the enemy as he passes, or worse still to ask for water and help, and then treacherously to kill those who are succouring them. I do not write these things in order to defend Lord Kitchener. He is so far above such accusations that merely to waste words in denying them would be an insult to him. I can only repeat that I am very happy that an opportunity presents itself for me to give a denial to statements which are untrue. It was. moreover, my duty to do so, especially as some of the Italian news- papers have copied and republished such statements. —Believe me, &c., (Signed) LUIGI CALDERARI."

c' THE FAMINE IN RUSSIA. TERRIBLE DISTRESS. The Peterburgskia Viedomosti gives a harrowing picture of the distress prevailing in the famine- stricken districts and especially in the province of Samara, where, in addition to starvation, the villagers and peasants have now to cope with out- breaks of scurvy, typhus, and other diseases. The doles and advances made by the Zemstvos to the peasantry scarcely sufficed for the first half of February, and the people are now reduced to feeding upon a kind of gruel of boiled flour and water or on bread composed of a small proportion of j wheat, mixed with chopped straw and bran. The doctors are sending in alarming reports as to the effects of this diet upon frames already weak- ened by hunger and disease. The typhus epi- j demic is said to be rapidly spreading, and the ravages of an acute form of scurvy are described in distressing detail. Moreover it is next to impos- sible to cope efficiently with the disease owing to the miserable conditions of life of most of the peasants, perishing as they are from want in chilly, damp, and filthy cabins, devoid of the meanest necessities of existence. The distress has compelled many to sell every- thing portable they possessed, and scores of houses are absolutely bare of furniture, everything having been pledged or sold to purchase food. It some districts the poor people are unable even to obtain firewood, and are fireless as well as foodless. Not a few have been obliged to part with their agricul- tural implements, and will not be able to cultivate their land this spring. The Red Cross Society has been making earnest efforts to relieve the dis- tress, but its resources, even when combined with those of the local authorities, are inadequate to cope with so vast an evil. On February 1 71,000 were in receipt of constant relief in the province of Samara alone, and this number has since been in- creased. The society has opened 306 free soup kitchens for 22,090 children, and 120 foe 14,064 adults' and children, besides arranging to distribute 351b. of grain or flour per head per month to 12,156 individuals, and 301b. to 22,599 more. A temporary shelter has also been opened at Samara for 46J women and children.

THE TAKING OF ILQILO. A correspondent writes to the Timu. from Iloilo, February 14: "I do not know whether you have received any account of the operations at Iloilo. If not, perhaps the observations of an eye-witness may be of some use. As to the state of affairs previous to the bombardment, the Americans arrived here two after the Spaniards evacuated the place over six weeks ago; they expected to land without opposi- tion, but the insurgents informed them that they would oppose a landing, and as the American general, Miller by name, had orders to land peacefully, he had to await further orders. On February 10 they received orders to effect a landing, and an ultimatum was sent on shore to the insurgents to deliver the place up by six p.m. on February 11, and all mili- tary preparations were to stop. This ultimatum was delivered to the insurgents by four p.m. on the 10th. A mass meeting was held on shore, which all the English inhabitants were invited to attend. An in- surgent made a speech to the effect that the foreigners had been well treated during the insur- gent rule, and would they not intercede on their behalf? A reply was made to the effect that it was no good to oppose the landing, praising up the Americans, See., but he was drowned bv the cries of "Resist" and "Petroleum," &c. During the night of the 10th petroleuiy was distributed all over the place, and they started to intrench themselves on shore. A notice was sent round to her Majesty's ship Pigmy and all the Consuls ashore, to say that they were all to be in a place of safety by five a.m. on Sunday, 12th. At 9 a.m. this morning, the 11th, the Petrel, United States gunboat, observing the insurgents digging1 trenches fired two 3-pounder shells at them. As though this was a given signal, every man on shore started looting, then threw petroleum on the place, and set fire. A few shots from rifles, were fired at the Petrel, which immediately began a bom- bardment of the beach and fort, if the stone structure could be given that name. The Boston, not going to be left out in the cold, soon joined in, and the engagement became general. No shots were fired in return, but flames and dense volumes of smoke shot up from all quarters. The wood, befng l dry, soon blazed, and the rushes, which the native I huts are built of, soon blazed. The bombardment lasted until eleven o clock, by which time everything which was likely to hold men had been fired at. The shooting was not very good, and a very small amount of damage was done, and, beyond women and children, very few killed. At about 11.45 the bluejackets landed and hoisted the American flag over the so-ealled fort amid much enthusiasm. They then covered the landing of the troops, which went on slowly till two o'clock. At 1.15 the American flag was floating over what had been a town but was now a heap of ruins. Well, as to how the European. on shore bad fared, most of them had gone on their ordinary day's work, and were making things com- fortable for Sunday as they thought, but really nothing was done. The Conaulate was burnt at once, before the inhabitants, members of Smith, Bell, and Co., had time to get back from the warehouses, and all of them were left with nothing but the clothes on their backs. No English were able to get off to us, as they were unable to ap- proach the shore. I landed this afternoon at 1.30 with a fire brigade party, and helped to save a fair amount of property and stores. The Americans are in full possession of the place, all the insurgents having fled to Jaro, their real stronghold, about four miles inland. They have about 10,000 troops, of whom about 3000 are armed with serviceable rifles. The American forces consist of about 4000 troops, under General Miller, a cruiser, U.S.S. Boston, Captain WIlde, and U.S. gunboat, Petrel, Captain Cornwall. The Bntish ships present are her Majesty's lhipa Pigmy and Plover."

TO SUCCEED KRUGER. Mr. Samuel Marks, who is being spoken of at Pretoria (says the Chronicle) as one of the next ean- didates for the Presidency of the Boer Republic; is almost as well known iL the community as in the Transvaal, where he resides. His firm, which has an important branch in London, has not only been concerned in the development of the dia- mond, coal, and silver industries of the Republic, but has also established industrial works there as well. MTB. Marks is an English lady, and was bern at Sheffield. ]

GARDENING GOSSIP. (From" Gardening Illustrated.") BALSAMS. The introduction of the gorgeous Begonia, za easily raised by seed or cutting, or division of tube?*, has do tie much to force out of cultivation maiiy once-f»roured flowers, of which the Balsam is and formerly a very popular one. All the StJk (observes "A. D."), seedsmen and growers have not stood still, but have been constantly engaged in tlx1 production of the very finest strains, and althouyii Balsams gave us grand double flowers 30 years ag." as those familiar with the once-famous Dulwich strains can testify, yet there has been progressive develop- ments in the production of greater variety, for nosv colours and markings are numerous and ve/y beautiful. Anyone getting a collection of but a dozen, diversely marked or coloured, of the fine Camellia-flowered strain in a mixture, or in separate parkets, will have ample variety, and enough to satisfy all requirements. Of selfs, pure white, crowm. pink, salmon, carmine, rose, scarlet, mauve, purple, and violet, also several of those spotted or flaked, give great beauty. But whether flowers be finely, double or moderately so, very much depends on the forms and culture of the plants producing them. As a rule, the handsomest specimens are found in plants grown in the open ground. No one now thinks of using Balsams as bedding plants, but they were so used half a century since. If j anyone will tafce the trouble to raise plants from seeds in the spring, growing them on coolly getting them from the seed-pan singly into small pots in which they shall become rather root-bound, then planting them out 18in. apart into a bed that has been carpeted with any close-growing green planus, they will find later ample reward in a charming show of plants blooming for a long season. I have put out thousands of plants from the seed-beds after being well hardened, by using an ordinary dibber only, causing them to look poor and withered for a time but when they made growth they became fine pyra- mids. blooming profusely, and seeding well. If the plants be put out from pots too freely rooting and vigorous, that form of growth seems to pursue them all the season, and they make far too many shoots and leaves, and do not bloom verj well. It is for that reason advisable to gel plants singly into small pots and have them rather cramped before planting out, as then growth is less coarse, and bloom production is all the greater. But generally Balsams are grown as pot-plants. Assum- ing that seed is purchased in separate colours, it is best to sow each packet separately in pots. No doubt those called 48's or 5-inch pots will be fully largo. These should be clean, and have some broken rubble put into the bottom of each as drainage. On this lie placed some pieces of the coarser soil, and then fill the pots with the compost, mixing a little white sand with the surface. When gently pressed down and levelled, make, with the point of a finger, small holns in the soil equally near the surface, and about the third of an inch deep. Drop a seed of the variety sown singly into each hole, if there be enough, and cover up. The object of this course is to ensure that each seed has ample room. If there be few seeds in a packet, then count them first, and makes holes to receive them to cor- respond. When covered up, the soil gently pressed down, and watered, stand the pots, if there be such available, in gentle warmth, and near the glass. Ger- mination will follow in about eight days. It is then found to be advantageous to have the seedlings equally placed over the pots, as they can remain and become strong, not being crowded until what is called rough or second leaves have been formed. It is very important, however, that the plants be kept near the glass, if house or frame, as they do not then become drawn or weak. The first shift singly should be into 3in. pots, using clean ones, properly drained, and fine soil. composed of one-half turfy loam, the other half being old hot-bed manure, leaf-soil, and sand, all well mixed. Keep the steams fairly buried into the soil in potting, as from these roots will be freely admitted, and the plants are kept dwarf. The next shift may be direct into flowering pots, which shouid be for the stoutest plants, 8in. across, and for lesser ones 7in. over. In repotting finally, keep the young plants again well down in the soil. also pinch off any flower buds that may have formed early. Keep the plants now in a frame, where, after they have become well rooted, they can have plenty of air; or if necessarily in a greenhouse, then as near the light as possible. Occasional free waterings will be needed, but none of the plants should have manure water until well rooted, as if the compost be as before mentioned and well pressed down in the potting roots will find ample food until they have quite filled the pots. From that time they will benefit by being given twice a week weak liquid- manure, composed of one bushel of horse droppings in a bag, and half a bushel of soot in a second bag, placed in a tub containing 20 gallons of water. Such or similar waterings should be given so long as the plants are in bloom. Balsam plants treated in this manner should make good bushes, 30in. in height and proportionately broad, blooming profusely, the branches being literally crowded with massive double flowers. CHRYSANTHEMUMS FROM SEED. This ill a most interesting way of getting up a stock of Chrysanthemums, and though there may be no big exhibition blooms among them there will cer- tainly be much to interest, and those who are short of stock may raise seedlings that will give fairly good flowers for decorative purposes. If the seeds are sown now in a hot-bed or a warm house and the seedlings potted off as soon as large enough to handle, they will carry one or more fairly representative blooms. A good plan is to grow them in 5in. or 6in. pots, and take one flower. Such plants from the beauty and luxuriance of the foliage right down to the pots are valuable for many purposes, and imateurs would be much interested in this kind of culture, as there is less intricacy in it than when one has to bother about labels, &c. RKFOTTING FERNS. In repotting Ferns see that the pots are clean, and provide good drainage, placing one large crock over the hole, and adding about another inch of smaller pieces. On the top of this should be spread a layer of coarse Moss, which will prevent the drainage from becoming choked. Fibrous loam and peat and equal quantities, with which a fair allowance of silver-sand has been mixed, make an excellent compost. This should be just moist, neither wet nor dry. The old balls of soil may be reduced a little with a pointed stick before repotting. Overpotting is a fatal mistake, as the great mass of soil becomes sour before utilised by the roots, and the health of the plant suffers in consequence. It is far better to underpot than to overpot, for in the latter case it is easy to keep the plants in health by frequent copious waterings and applications of liquid fertilisers. The commencement of April is a good time to repot Ferns from a cold-house, but if they are grown in heat a month earlier is better. After you have con- cluded the repotting you will only have to take care that the soil is kept in a fairly moist condition, and is neither allowed to become sodden nor dry. MAKING A SMALL ROCK GARDEN. The ghastly heaps of clinkers so often dignified by the name of "the rockery," by which, unfortunately, go many small gardens are disfigured, cannot be too strongly condemned. A rockery should have a natural appearance, the atones used being arranged so as to suggest rock formation, in the chinks and fissures of which rock plants will soon establish themselves and flourish with as much freedom as in their native habitats. In forming a rockery it must be borne in mind that the object in view is to grow beautiful plants, but in many cases the construc- tor's aim has apparently been to subordinate vegetation to the masses of stonework by which it is encompassed and degraded. In a tastefully-designed rock garden flower and foliage should fill the eye, with here and there a bold surface of stone appearing between the hanging growths of some trailing plants. As the site you have selected has the benefit of the morning sun, you should be able to grow a good selection of rock plants. The soil should be Korous, so that it will neither cake in the ottest weather, nor become waterlogged during the heavy winter rains. The following list contains some of the most decorative subjects: Arabis, Aubrietia in variety, Alyssum saxatile, Anemone apennina, and A. blanda, Arenaria balea- rica and A. montana, Sea Pink (Armeria), Aster alpinus, Creeping Campanulas, Cerastium tomento- sum, Dianthus of sorts, Dryas octopetala, Adonis vernalis, Erigeron m'ueronatus, Geum montanum, Gypsophila repens, Achilleas, Androsaces, Sun Roses (Helianthemum), Iberis, Linaria, Welsh Poppy (Meconopsis cambrica), Phlox subulata m. variety, alpine Primulas, Ramondia pyrenaica, which loves to grow in a perpindicular fissure on the shady side of a rock, Polygonum vaccinifolium, oaxifrages in variety, Silene alpestris, and Creeping Veronicas. The foregoing are, however, but a tithe of the beau- tiful things that may be grown in the rock garden.

BLIMBCS Yes, I always make it a rule to be pre- pared for the worst." Hamby: we]I"e in your place I'd do the same thing. There s no telling when that stupid office boy of yours may go to sleep and tet some collector crowd his way in. JACK was very indignant. What do you mean ?" he said to his fiancé, "by throwing kisses at my chum and when I'm with him, too? Why, Jack, I never dul. I threw them to you. Blamed funny if a girl can't even throw kisses straight." THE MOTHER Somehow I feel that I can trust my daughter to you." The Accepted One: "Yotl can indeed, madam. Everybody trusts me." J ¡;' h <>

ART AND LITERATURE. THE publication of a National Survey of England, showing the condition of the country at the com- mencement of the Twentieth Century, is about to be started (the Morning Post announces) under excep- tionally favourable auspices. With the approval of her Majesty, the undertaking is entitled "The Vic- toria History of the Counties of England," and the direction of the work is supported by a strong Advisory Committee, which includes, among others, the Duke of Devonshire, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge; the Marquis of Lome, the Bishop of London, the Bishop of Oxford, Lord Acton, Sir Frederick Pollock. Bart., Sir Edward Maunde Thompson, Sir Joseph Hooker, Sir Archibald Geikie, Sir H. Maxwell Lyte, and Pro- feseor F. York Powell. The history of each County will be complete in itself, but a uniform plan is being adopted which, it is hoped, will make County history more interesting and useful than it has been in most cases hitherto. Maps and pictures will form a special feature of the work, and perhaps for many persona not the least interesting among the illustrations will be the family coats of arms blazoned in their true heraldic colours. The History of Hampshire (in four vols., large imperial 8vo) is partly ready, and work is being done on most of the other Counties simultaneously. Mr. H. Arthur Doubleday, F.R.G.S., and Mr. Laurence Gomme, F.S.A., are the joint general editors. As far as can be judged at present the likelihood of any interesting developments in the spring art ex- hibition (observes the Globe) is rather remote. From a variety of causes there has been a very serious check to the best type of ambitious effort, and many artists from whom fine work is annually expected will either be unrepresented, or will show comparatively small and unimportant canvases. The Royal Academy promises to be commonplace and unin- spired and the New Gallery, though it will be sup- ported as usual by many of the stronger men of the un-academic school, will lack something of its dis- tinctive character in consequence of the death of Sir Edward Burne Jones. Signs of the times may be read in the present show of the Royal Institute, and there seems every reason to fear a general epidemic of dulness by which this exhibition is afflicted. Here and there, how- ever, may be found in the studios pictures that claim something more than ordinary attention. Such a canvas as Mr. T. Austen-Brown's In a Calf Shed," which is destined for the New Gallery, comes as a great relief among the many things of no importance round about. It is an admirable record of a pastoral subject, a lad in a shed feeding a couple of calves, and is painted with remarkable power and notable appreciation of effects of tone and colour. The artist has well established his reputation as a sound and sincere observer, with a true sense of style, but he has rarely produced so fine a work as this. Mr. J. L. Picker- ing, too, makes an advance this year, and shows the best development of his robust and intelligent art. He has been painting in Devonshire, and has three landscapes which render excellently the character of that picturesque part of England. The Shadow of the Storm," a rocky valley overhung by a canopy of dark clouds, goes to the New Gallery; and he has for other exhibitions a similar subject, "Under Roborough Down," and an upright canvas, a hillside with a little stream trickling among grey rocks and patches of green turf. All three are autumn effects, with rich warm colour in the foliage of the half-stripped trees and mysterious qualities of atmosphere. MR. JUSTIN MCCARTHY'S book of reminiscences is so far advanced that the publishers hope to have it out by the end of April, or very early in May. The American parts of the reminiscences are especially interesting. The portrait, which is to appear as frontispiece to the book, is a capital likeness of the author. MR. BERTRAM MACKENNAL has been so much engaged during the past year with his colossal statue of the Queen and with other works of the same type that he will have little to send to any of the galleries. A portrait bust of Mdme. Melba is practically all that he has available for exhibition; but this is for- tunately a very typical example of his skilful tech- nique and sound sense of design, and will be thoroughly acceptable as an illustration of his capacity. IT is stated that "The Life of William Ewart Gladstone" will be published early in April by Messrs. Cassell and Company. Unsophisticated readers might imagine from this announcement that Mr. John Morley had found his task less tremendous than was anticipated, or that he had, as at one time was suggested, written a great part of the biography during the lifetime of its subject. Edited by Sir Wemyss Reid, however, this particular memoir con- tains contributions by Canon MacColl, Mr. H. W. Lucy, Mr. A. J. Butler, Mr. G. W. E. Russell, and others, with a chapter on Mr. Gladstone's home life contributed by a relative of Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone." Sm ALFRED LYAJ.L'8 Asiatic Studies, religious and social," will shortly be issued in two volumes. The Studies first appeared many years ago, and has for some time been out of print. Originally the essays filled only one volume. Now there are to be two volumes, the second of which contains psmers that have not hitherto appeared in book form. They deal with progress in India, the theological situation in India, Brahmanism, permanent dominion in Asia, and questions of belief. One of the most suc- cessful of the essays in the first volume was The origin of divine myths in India," a subject which led to an interesting controversy between the author and Professor Max Miiller. MR. C. E. HALLE has four pictures for the New Gallery. Of these the most important is "The Wishing Well." a girl in dark blue and yellow draperies dreaming beside a well in a forest and a knight in armour riding by in the background is a network of interlacing branches, through which are seen glimpses of a moonlit sky. Fleeting Beauty," another large canvas, shows a dark-haired girl and a young child looking at a soap-bubble, behind them is a trellis covered with roses. The draperies are white and a pale grey with touches of yellow embroidery, j A smaller picture of a child sitting with a basket of violets on her. knee; and a portrait of a lady, com- plete Mr. Hallo's output for the year. MR. F. M. SKIPWORTII has no large composition this spring, but has spread his energies instead over several characteristic canvases. Of these the chief are a full-length portrait of a fair-haired child in a white dress seated under an overhanging tree; a three-quarter length of a girl in a Watteau costume Bitting beside a. stream; and two half-lengths of pretty girls, picturesquely costumed, one of which will be seen at the New Gallery. The artist has in these pictures made some departures from his usual style, and has aimed at deeper tone effects and j stronger colour than he generally affects; and his work is for this reason more than ordinarily interesting. AMONG the business men of London City who have attained to a high position in literature and science, the late Sir Joseph Prestwich was one of the most distinguished. Born at Clapham in 1812, he was 60 years old before he retired from his City preoccu- pations to devote his time to the science—geology—in which he had made his first reputation a quarter of a century earlier. A memoir of the great geologist, under the title of Life and Letters," has been written by his wife. Sir Joseph Prestwich served, 32 years ago, on the Royal Commission on Water Supply, a question which harasses Londoners now as much as it did then. Another of Sir Joseph's special performances was his report on the geology of the proposed tunnel between England and France. Many years before the appointment of the Commis- sion Sir Joseph Prestwich published his work on the water-bearing strata of the country round London. LOVERS of Dumas, whose interest in French history has been sharpened by his vivacious pic- tures of the 16th and 17th centuries, will no doubt be attracted by a book on The Lives and Times of the Valois Queens," which Mrs. Bearne has written, and which will appear in a few days. The period dealt with, apart altogether from the imaginations of the novelist, is one of the most picturesque in the records of Europe. The promised volume is illus- trated by the author's husband. MR. ARTHUR STREETON, the young Australian artist whose landscapes deservedly attracted a great amount of attention when they were shown at the Grafton Gallery, has, since he settled in England, made some marked changes in his style. He has completed a large canvas, and three or four smaller ones, from material which he found in the neigh- bourhood of Arundel. The strong decorative sense which distinguished his Australian work is as plainly apparent in his treatment of English subjects, but he shows besides a grasp of atmospheric subtleties which is a little surprising. He promises to take a very definite rank among our younger painters of the open air. MR. W. S. BURTON, who was in by-gone years a prominent supporter of the Pre-Raphaelite move- ment, has, after many years of retirement in the country, during which be has to some extent dropped out of public notice, made a vigorous effort to regain his old position in the art world. Lately he has com- pleted a picture of some importance illustrating the legend of The Blessed Damozel," which is likely to be seen in London this spring. TUE Easter Number of the Quiver (being the April issue) ccntains, amongst other interesting features, II Borne Famous Easter Hymns," illustrated with facsimiles and portraits; an illustrated article on the Centenary of the Church Missionary Society, by the Rev. A. R. Buckland, M.A.; Easter Egg Rolling in Washington," by Elizabeth L. Banks; and an Easter- tide Address by the Very Rev. W. Lefroy, D.D., Dean of Norwich, entitled Brought Again from th Depths." ( ..( :}: