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

IN tHE PUBLIC EYE. n¡¡/, NEW BISHOP-STJITEAGAN. In his University days Canon Kempthorne. who has been appointed Bishop-Suffragan oi Hull, was already keenly interested in Church work. He was ordained deacon in 1890 and priest in the following year. His first curacy was at, St. Aidan, Gateshead. In 1895 he was -nominated to the vicarage of St. Mary, Rochdale, in 1900 Bishop Westcott made him examining chaplain and appointed him to St. Thomas, Bishop Wearmouth. In 1901 he became rector of Gateshead, and since 1904 he has been rector of Liverpool and honorary canon and examining chaplain to the Bishop of Liverpool, since 1905. His work, it will be seen, has all been in populous northern districts, but he is not unknown in London as,, a preacher. —: O: -——— THE WHEAT KING. Mr. James A. Patten, whose reception in Manchester was not exactly cordial, jumped into fame last year when he made a big fortune by cornering wheat in America. It is said that this was his first successful deal in wheat, and he almost certainly made more than half a mil- lion out of it. Mr. Patten is the son of a farmer, nod was born in Illinois somewhere about fifty-eight years ago. He began his business life as a clerk, and it was not till 1891 that he began opera- tions on anything like a big scale. He then made about two hun- dred thousand pounds by speculation in maize. In 1902 and 1904 successful squeezes "—whatever that may j mean—in oats made him richer. Mr. Patten has always denied that he makes corners." He says 1 be merely beriefitsby his own sagacity in noting the circumstances that foreshadow arising market. EMPIRE'S YOUNGEST PREMIER. The honourable distinction of being the youngest Premier ini the British Empire be- lohgs to the Hon. Newton James Moore, Pre- mier of Wegteril Australia, who is now visit- ing the Mother Country for the first time. Mr. /Moore will not reach his 40th birthday till May 17 next. He was born in Western Australia, and as a young man and rising surveyor, helped to lay out: the famous mining township of Coolgardie. Subse- quently he became Mayor of his native town, which elected ,him to. Parliament six years ago. Eighteen, months after his return he was made, ailidstQD of Lpnds, with a seat in .the. Cabinet. And, on the retirement of Sir "Hector Bason in the following year, he be- came Premier of the State, a, positipn he has held, ever since. Mr. Moore is visiting Eng- land chiefly with the idea of making the agricultural resources of Westerni Australia known to the British people, and of studying British military methods. Hfc is a, lieutenant- colonel, in the Volunteer Forces. i :o: DIRECTOR-GENERAL, A.M.S. DIRECTOR-GENERAL, A.M.S. "The new Director-General of the Army Medical Service is; Surgeon-General William > Launcelot Gubbins, C.B. General Gubbins is the son of a former Prebendary and Chancellor <of Limerick, and,; was, born. just oyer sixty years, ago. He carried off high j honours at Trinity College, Dublin, and in 1873 entered the Army Medical Service In the Afghan War he served with the 5th Fusiliers, and subse- quently, on the staff of Lieutenant-G e n e r a I Man.de, was present, at, several engagements in the-Rhyb-er Pass. He was with the Egyptian Expedition of 1882, and the Bur- mah expedition of 1886. In the South African War he was present at the relief of Kimberley, and several important en- gagements. He was afterwards made Principal Medical Officer for the Pretoria krid Pietersburg Districts, and since his return to England he has held several high appointments. v -:o:—r~.— I A YOUNG OCTOGENARIAN. ¡ Though in his eighty-fifth year, Lord Halsbury, ex-Lord Chancellor, has lately been showing the country and his learned colleagues that there is 11 plenty of work left in him yet, by taking a share in the work of the Court of Appeal. Lord Hals- bury is one of the most wonderful old men of the day, and it is diffi- cult to believe that he is anything like his age. He is still more vigorous and more youthful than most of those who are his juniors by twenty I years. Lord Halsbury can trace his descent back to a famous West of England family, but he is essentially a self- made man. He had to I struggle hard during his first years at the Bar. 1 The best advertisement he ever had was when a crazy clergyman fired a pistol at him in the Old Bailey. o: A VISCOUNT'S ENGAGEMENT. The interesting announcement has been made of the engagement of Viscount Wolmer, the eldest son of the Earl of Selborne, High Commissioner for South Africa and Governor of the Transvaal, to the Hon. Grace Kidley, youngest daughter of the late Viscount Ridley. The Viscount is a popular politician, although he is only twenty-two years of age. The majority against him in the Newton Divi- sion of Lancashire at the recent General Election was not par- ticularly large in a poll of 14,000. His fiancee, who is noted for her beauty, is very popular in society. She has not yet at- tained her majority. The Viscount was educated at Winches- ter and Oxford, and is a lieutenant in the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion of the Hampshire Regi- ment. He is a very widely-travelled young man, and has had unique opportunities of- making a special study of South African affairs. He is intensely interested in all industrial problems and a keen agriculturist. During his campaign in n Newton he visited many centres of industry, and on one occasion went down a coalpit.

A meeting was held at the Mansion House to consider the claims of the City of London Yeomanry (Ro'ugh Riders) for the establishment of permanent headquarters within the City, and a committee formed to carry out the project. Superintendent Kitch', at the Kentish Town ) Police Station, presented the Royal Humane Society's certificate to P.C. G. Robinson, 514 for saving the life of a boy in danger of drowning in the Regent's Canal on a bitterly cold day.

HORSES FOR NOTHING. WAR OFFICE SCHEME. During debates on the Army Votes ini the House of Commons prominence was given to j the subject of the shortage of horses for the Army, and to_ schemes adopted by the War Office-partly in association with the Depart- ment of Agriculture—with the object of im- proving the supply. The boarding-out of horses forms part of these schemes. Last year 200 horses were boarded out, and it is intended to, buy a larger number this year, and deal with them in a similar manner. A War Office circular explains the condi- tions under which young and suitable horses are boarded out. The conditions of allot- ment provide that the horse shall remain the property of the Crown, but the allottee shall j properly feed and care for it, and keep it suitably shod at his own expense, being allowed to use it for any legitimate purpose, ridimg or draught, except that it must not be used for carding heavy loads, for ploughing, or for any other work which the command- ing officer may deem likely to interfere with its military efficiency; and it must not be let out on hire. If required, the allottee shall place the horse at the disposal of the military-autho- rities for a period of not more than a month each year for military training, subject however, to mot less than fourteen days' notice being given. The horse shall be given up to the military authorities at any time if I claimed for mobilisation purposes, or if in the opinion of the officer commanding it is not keeping in good conditioni, or is no longer suitable for military requirements.

TAKING EXPLOSIVES HOME. Curious evidence regarding the handling of explosives was given at a public inquiry, held in Glasgow, into- the recent explosion in Glen- boig, Lanarkshire, by which four persons were killed and others injured. The witnesses were mostly Poles, whose evidence had to be interpreted. Mrs. Peters rela-ted how she had been in the house of a neighbour, Mrs. Wolff, when she saw a lodger, named Potteris enter. He took a cardboard box from his pocket. When a fellow-miner told him they were not allowed to take that home with them Potteris put the box away, and witness left the house, hearing sfn explo- sion soon afterwards. An explosive magazine keeper, Robert Roger- son, said he had given Potteris a box contain- ing 51b. ,-pf geglinite to take home on the even- ing in question, seeing Potteris was. going on the night shift. He knew, now, that it was against the rules to take explosives home. The jury returned a, formal verdict.

) SLANDER ACTION SETTLED. A slander action brought by Sir William Dunn, Unionist M.P. for West Southwark, against Air. James A. Causton, chairman of the Dulwich Conservative Association, was amic- ably settled in the Law Courts by Mt. Caus- ton's apology and payment of costs. A person in whom Mr. Causton had confi- dence made to him during the election a state- ment imputing insobriety to Sir William Dunn. Mr. Ca,uston repeated the statement to Sir William Treloar, the chairman of Sir William Dunn's committee, as a matter that had been stated to him. Inquiry proved the charge to be baseless, and Mr. Causton expressed regret that he should have repeated the story, even to Sir William Dunn's chairman.

,e RATS CAUSE FIRE. Messrs. H. and P. Short's stores at. Market- place, Enfield Wash, wel-e destroyed by a fire attributed to the gnawing of matches, by rats. Mrs. Horace Short had to be dragged out of the burning building in her nightdress, and her husband and Mr. Percy Short escaped with difficulty. A slight fire occurred in the same building two days earlier, and this also was attributed Lf) the same cause.

BURGLAR IN A BEDROOM. A strange story was told when Richard and Thomas Ridjge were charged with burglary and with stealing jewellery, the property of the licensee of the Kimberley Arms public-house, Longton. Miss Gertrude Plant, daughter of the licensee, said that on the night of the burglary she was awakened by someone walking in her bedroom. The gas was alight, and she saw a man in brown cap and dark overcoat searching the drawers. She did not raise an alarm at first, because she was afraid. The man took a watch, and then went into the servant's room. Mrs. Plant, the mother of the girl, said that upon being alarmed by her daughter at half-past three in the morning, she ran for assistance. Seeing the prisoner Thomas Ridge, who lived close by, she invited him in, and the other prisoner also came along. They lighted a fire for her, but before the arrival of the police they went away. The occurrence so unnerved witness's daughter that for several nights afterwards Thomas Ridge remained in the house, but whenever, he met her daughter or the ser- vant they were afraid and said that, when wearing his brown cap and dark overcoat, he looked exactly like the man who entered their bedroom. Prisoners were arrested later, and it was stated that in their bedroom was found a chisel which exactly fitted marks on a cash- box broken open at the Kimberley Arms. Prisoners were committed for trial.

«. THEATRE BURNT DOWN. The Crewe Opera House, one of the finest theatre buildings in the provinces, has been totally destroyed by fire. Just after midnight the manager, Mr. Ambrose Fisher, when; about to leave with his wife, perceived a smell of burning, and found that one of the dressing-rooms under- neath the stage was on fire. He made a rush for the theatre fire appliances, but was overcome by smoke. Recovering, he made a plucky effort to reach the hydrant, but the flames by this time were beginning to rage furiously, and Mr. Fisher was rendered un- conscious, and had not assistance arrived immediately he must have perished. The property on the stage was of a very combustible character, and the wings and scenery were in a remarkably short space of time completely destroyed. The asbestos safety curtain collapsed, and the flames then shot through the roof and into the audi- torium. The circle fell bodily imto the pit, and the galleries came down, and the whole of the interior was speedily gutted. All the fire brigades could do was to save the adjoining property, and the fire practic- ally burnt itself out. Nothing in the build- ing was saved.

While hunting with the Kildare Hoim-rls the Earl of Mayo has had a fall from his horse and sustained concussion of the brain. The death has occurred at Roehampton of Mr. Hugh Colin Smith, a director of the Bank of England since 1876. The Princess of Wales attended at Queen's Hall a concert promoted by the Oxford House Musical and Dramatic Association, of which t Princess Christian is president.

WOMEN'S TERRIBLE QUARREL. A house at 36, Salisbury road, Wood green, London, If., was on Monday the scene of a terrible domestic tragedy. The upper part of the house is-occupied by a navvy named Watson and his wife and mother. Mrs. Watson, junior, was heard by the neigh- bours quarrelling with her mother-in-law, and shortly after, the woman who occupies the lower half of the house heard thuds on the floor and screams. On goin'g upstairs she found the mother-in-law, a woman of 74, lying on the kitchen floor with three serious wounds in her head, apparently inflicted ? with a- wood-chopper which was lying near. Mrs. atsou, the youhger, was" found in a' cupboard with her a throat- cut and a table-knife in her liand.. It is supposed that she had first attacked the older woman and then attempted to commit suicide. Both women were still breathing, and were conveyed to the hospital.. The Watsons have lived in the three-roomed flat for about twenty years, and were to all accounts quite happy until recently, when quar- rels have been frequent. The younger woman was a member of the Salvation Army, and only a few weeks ago she gave up her connection with it. She had been in poor health for some time and was attending the hospital as an out- patient.

THE KING'S PORTRAIT. Judgment was given on Monday in the case as to the right of reproduction of a portrait of the King painted by M-r Tennyson Cole and ex- hibited in the Academy of 1908. The action was brought by the artist against Henry Graves and Co., Limited, art publishers, for damages for breach of contract. Mr. Cole was commissioned by the late Sir Alfred Jones,, on behalf of the Liverpool Chamber of Com- merce, to paint a portrait of the King for pre- sentation to -his Majesty. The artist sold the right of reproduction to Messrs. Graves on condition that they gave him a satisfactory mezzotint engraving of the picture within one year. This, he said, they had not done, and consequently he claimed damages. The plaintiff had received X200 of the C250 which he was to receive under the contract, and judgment was now given for him for the re- maining £50,. and for £ 200 damages in addi- tion, with costs.

INNOCENT MAN IN CUSTODY. "What a shocking thing! A perfectly inno- cent man given-into custody!" exclaimed Mr. Taylor at Marylebone Police-court on Monday, as he ordered the discharge of Henry Abra- hams, aged 37, a tailor, of Selby-street, White- chapel. "This experience will make you more careful, however, of the company you keep in future," he added to the man. Abrahams was charged witli stealing a purse from Mrs. Christina Whyman, of- Star-street, Paddington, in the Edgware-road. Inspector-Pring said after the prosecutrix f had given the prisoner into custody she was pri oner arrested on a charge of being drunk and in- capable, and in her pocket was found the very purse which she had charged the, prisoner with stealing. „ Mrs. Whyman expressed deep regret, and asked to be allowed to withdraw the charge. She was fined 2s. 6d.

'I" ■—:—,«*» FORTUNE OF SEVEN MILLIONS. :1 A farm labourer named Geo. Mobbs, working at Holcot, near Northampton, claims to be the direct represeirtative. of Mobbs, of Kettering, who in 1717 eloped with a London heiress whose fortune is, now said to represent P.7,0,00,000 at the Bank of England. The money is in Chan- cery, and it is intended to renew the efforts made twenty years ago to secure it for the Holcot claimant, who declares himself to be the representative of the family. Mobb states that not onlv has he a complete pedigree properly authenticated, showing that he is the direct heir to the- fortune, but that he is in a position to prove the runaway marriage of 193 years ago upon which the claim de- pends. The claimant also states that he knows where the eloping pair were married, a fact which eluded other aspirants to the fortune, and that he possesses a copy of the marriage entry in the church register.

I BLANK FOR FIVE DAYS. After five days, John Moy, an insurance agent, of The Knowle, Rowley, Staffs., suddenh reappeared at his home on Monday morning, and told an extraordinary story of a lost memory. Moy left home on Wednesday to make his usual calls, but as -he failed to return in the evening the police were informed, and dragging operations were begun in" the cajials and pools in the district. He states that he cannot remember leaving his house-, and that his memory came back to him at nine o'clock on Sunday night at West Bromwich. He further states that he had no business at West Bromwich, and cannot under- stand how he got there. His appearance- on his return suggested that he had been tramping about the country.

ENGLISHMAN'S PUEL IN GERMANY An Englishman, named Payne, an ex-student at the Mining College at Freiburg, Saxony, has been sentenced in his absence by the provincial court to four months' confinement in a fortress and to a fine of 942 10s. on charges of duelling, violently resisting arrest, and insulting the police. The affair arose out of a quarrel in a cafe between Mj. Payne and another English student and Lieutenant Von Schwake. The lieu- tenant drew hIs sword, and was struck by Mr. Payne, who was arrested. Lieutenant von Schwake sent him a challenge, and a pistol duel ensued, without injury to either party. Lieutenant Schwake was subsequently com- pelled to leave the army.

THE ACROBAT. I see your girl Lucy was married the other day. You seem to be getting all your daughters off your hands." "Yes. I get my daughters off my hands, but I have to put their husbands on theii feet."

BANK CLERK'S DOWNFALL. Cecil Butt, a bank clerk at the Birmingham branch of the Bank of England, was convicted at the Birmingham Assizes on Monday of various. robberies. It was explained that prisoner had become financially embarrassed through various ex- penses on property which he shared with his eister, and, getting into the hands of money- lenders, he helped himself to £ 380. It was alleged that the method he employed was to empty bags of silver stored in £5 lefts, and substitute copper. When the auditor made a surprise visit Butt confessed to the defalca- tions. Mr. "Justice Darling, remarking that the man's career was absolutely ruined, imposed a sentence of nine months' imprisonment.

OTHER MEN'S MINDS. i No man is more independent than he who can pay his bills"MR. B. BARON. PEACEFUL BATTLES. Victories or defeats in fields of commerce may often prove as vital to the existence of a nation as those lost or won when hostile forces are engaged with each other.—LORD MUSKEEEY. THE HOMELESS SAILOR. Before a sailor is forty he has sailed in every sea of the world, but he has no home comforts, no representation in Parliament, no vote.-SIR ERNEST SHACKLETON. UNHAPPINESS EXPLAINED. One of the reasons why the present age is said to be so exceptionally dismal is that so many men and women give themselves up to selfishness. Selfishness is the secret of un- lia ppiness. ÅltCHDEACON SINCI.AIB. HIS OWN SALVATION. The European civilisation that is now in- troduced into Africa is obviously only a makeshift. The African, if he wants to take his place side by side with other races, must work out his higher culture for him- self.-MR. E. TORDAY. FOUND GUILTY. I have kept during the past twelve months a careful record of all the criminal cases brought before me, and forty-four out of every hundred of these crimes would never have been committed except for drink.-a,ia. JUSTICE COLERIDGE. SOCIOLOGY AND THE PUBLIC. The science of sociology will never com- mand the respect and study of the trained public if sociologists devote their attention to things that can only be usefully discussed in newspaper aricles or private members' Bills in Parliament. — MR. FREDERICK HARRISON. OUT OF THE MIRE. It is false to suppose that it is possible for anyone to get on in life if he waiits to. Legis- lative effort is necessary to give the "sub- merged tenth" some firm ground.—MR. B. SEEBOHM ROWNTREE. TEMPTATIONS OF THE CLERGY. Eloquence is the first temptation which the devil puts in the way of the young clergy. Dignity, too, is another failing of the parson, and it behoves laymen, metaphoric- ally, to knock him off that stump whenever he climbs on to it. Looking holy is practised far too much, and what is wanted is more (naturalism.—Rpv. DR. ROSSLYN BRUCE. HARD ON OLD MAIDS. This country suffers from a plague of old maids. Everywhere one meets girls who can I only be described as charming and desirable in every way, and yet they do net get married. Why is it? he asked. One does not find it on the Continent: old maids are almost unknown there, and in my r-ative town in Hungary, where there is a popula- tiolll of ten thousand, I don't think I ever heard of an old maid. When a woman does not marry she becomes unhappy and crabbed, as many of us know to our cost. Every woman ought to be taught that mar- riage is her rightful goal, and then we should not have so many old maids to sow dissension and misunderstanding in family life.—DR. C. W. SAIEEBY. J I. "GO FOR THE MAN!" You say you can't fill your churches, but you can fill them when you fetch the men. You knew where every man lived when the it-election was on, and you fetched him up. When you want to save men's souls as much as you wanit their votes you'll be able to fetch them to your chapels. Stop this cant! Stop libelling the man in the street! Go for the man, and you will win him.-Girsy SMITH.. THE COUNTRY'S WEALTH. The test of the prosperity of a country is not the amount of exports or imports, no the power of its Army or Navy, not the dif- fusion or amount of its wealth, not the effi- ciency of its education, but the kind of men and women it turns out.—PROFESSOR W. R. INGE. ENGLAND AND FREEDOM. England has never been indifferent to. the progress of the cause of liberty, in whatever part of the earth it may be advancing. It is one of the glories of our nation that, some- times through our arms, more oftem through our influence, we have been able to do some- thing for the spread of freedom among the backward peoples of the world. — Ma. HERBERT SAMUEL, M.P. TOO MANY LESSONS. The public schools, especially the great day schools, inflict on their pupils an im- moderate amount of preparation for the next day's work, practically cutting them off in this way from the. society of their elders, and, except in holiday times, from the life of the home. It is ani evil svstem, which eliminates a valuable element from the boy's life and tends little or not at all to the edu- cation of his understandin-MR. J. C. ROGERS. A SPLENDID RETURN. The people of this country have received from Australia a glorious dividend from their national investment in that distant land, not merely in hard cash, although that has been generally satisfactory and always safe, but in the grander and greater sense of a young and quick and progressive civilisa- tion which preserves the best traditions of the Motherland and constitutes a marvellous record of achievement by the handful of British men and women who have gone forth to Australia. during the past fifty or sixty or seventy years.-SIR GEORGE REID. '¡l ———— VALUE OF MANUAL TRAINING. A serious defect in English education which stifles the growth of Imperialistic ideas is the almost total absence of manual training ia our best-known schools. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the sense of connection between mind and hand, which forms so integral a part in the system of a liberal education in America, is an undis- covered sense in English schools. Even if such manual training prepares for no par- ticular Industry it gives the pupil a com- mand of his hands as well as of his mind, and is essential to a full and harmonious training of the faculties.—DR. H. B. GRAY. ARE THE CLASSICS USELESS? As a parent, about to send two boys to a public school, I have grave doubts whether the classical training and education they will receive will eventually fit them for the diffi- culties of life which must necessarily con- front any citizen of this country in the future. We have so many sociaf problems .t home and Imperial problems abroad to solve, and all the time we are training boys' minds in Latin and Greek without reference to those other problems they will have to- face.—DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH.

SMALLER FARMS. An important fact shown in the Board of Agriculture statistics .is the tendency to sub- divide farms and the increase of small holdings. Holdings of from one to five acres last year increased by 364 to 108,458, and from five to fifty acres by 277 to 232,096. But farms of 50-300 acres decreased by ninety-one to 150,911, and still -larger farms decreased by eight to 17,706. The increase of small farms was seen in all districts of England except the East Midlands. About 15 per cent. (or rather less than one- sixth) of Great Britain is not used either for farming or grazing or woodland. The are& Under wheat was 200,000 acres (or one-eighth) more than in 1908.

♦ FISHING IN A LETTER BOX. At the Central Criminal Court on Saturday, Harry Bailey, twenty-four, a cook, was found guilty of attempting to steal letters from a pillar-box at Half Moon-lane, Tulse-hill. The prisoner, who was caught fishing for letters with string and bird lime, alleged that he was put up to the trick by a detective, and that the officer supplied him with the materials. He also declared that the detective arranged with him to rob a church, hoping to get pro- motion by arresting him. These accusations were denied, and the jury, in finding the pri- soner guilty, said they thought he was weak- minded. Sentenced to nine months' hard labour.

I CAPTAINSCOTTS PLANS. Captain Scott, accompanied by Mrs. Scott and Lieutenant Skelton, who was chief engineer of the Discovery, arrived at Hull on Monday from Christiania. i Captain Scott said he had been to Norway to test a motor sledge, made in England. The Bledge had proved in every way successful, pull- ing a load of 19cwt. on snow, and about ten times as much on ice. In Christiania he had been the guest of Sir Arthur and Lady Herbert at the British Legation. j On the boat that brought him home Captain Scott found three men who were with him in his Antarctic expedition in 1902. He meant to do his best to reach the South Pole in the Terra Nova, and to start in June.

-0 DEATH AT THE REINS. Two strange driving tragedies occurred on Sunday evening. Mr. Houseman, a local preacher, of Mount Charles, Plymouth, had the gruesome experience of being driven in a wag- gonette by a dead man. He was proceeding from Grampound after service, the driver being [ Mr. Philip Paecoe, a car proprietor, of Charles- 1 town. | When the conveyance got to Faircross the driver was seen by Mr. Bragg, another local preacher, to be leaning forward, as if tying his I. bootlaces. Before the conveyance reached Mr. Bragg it collided with a trap going in the oppo- site direction. When Mr. Houseman found that lie had been driven a considerable distance by dead man j he fainted. A doctor restored him to conscious- j ness, and the journey was resumed with the | corpse in the body of the waggonette. "9() The Rev. Arthur Havelock Staffurth, vicar ;,of Anwiok, Sleaford, died suddenly, while on his way to preach at a neighbouring village church. He was being driven by his coachman, when he leaned forward, obviously very ill. The coachman wrapped him in a blanket and, turn- ing, drove rapidly towards home, but his master i was dead before the vehicle reached the house.

RESCUED FROM DROWNING. There was an'exciting scene off'the front at Eastbourne on Monday. A man named George Boulter, stated to be a solicitor's clerk living at 24, Ashford-avenue, Priory-road, Hornsev, who was visiting East- bourne for the day, hired a small boat and went for a row. When some distance from the shore he either fell or jumped overboard. A boatman named Sayers rowed to his assist- ance, and, managing to seize the drowning roan's collar, held his head above water until another boat could reach the spot. Boulter was then brought ashore and taken uncon- scious to the hospital, where he lies in a critical condition, it being feared that pneumonia will supervene.

I I CHEERFUL GIVERS. Roving Robin: "'Ullo, Jake! You're'look- in' prosperous." Jaunting Jake: "Yes, my boy. I'm doing well. I've been telling the people I call on that. I'm making a farewell tour of my con- stituency, and they all seem so delighted that they stump up 'andsome."

Mr. M. Croucher, secretary of the Lady Mayoress' Fund, denies the report that it is intended to give a cinematograph entertain- ment at the Mansion House during Holy Week. A challenge for the Davis lawn tennis cup has been received at Sydney from England two days late, but it is believed that Australia will accept it if the United States, whose challenge was received at the appointed time, agrees. The London County Council has decided to offer maintenance grants, which will be known as supplementary junior scholarships, to a limited number of children who obtain free places in secondary schools. They will be pay- able for three yeary