Monmouth Guardian and Bargoed and Caerphilly Observer

NEWS IN BRIEF. OW CANON OF GLOUCESTER. TIM Lord Chancellor has appointed tie Rifbfe Rev. G. H. Frodsham, recently Bishop of North Queensland, to the vacant canonry of Gloucester. FREE CHURCHES' CONFERENCE. The annual meetings of the National Council of Free Churches opened on Tues- day at Norwich. The Bishop of Norwich joined in the welcome given on Monday sight to the delegates. THE DEPORTED LABOUR LEADERS. During the third-reading debate on the South African Indemnity Bill on Monday, General Smuts, the Minister in charge, paid the deportations of the nine Labour leaders did not BoeeMftrily involve lifelong banishment. AMERICAN DISASTER. A great club building in St. Louie, Mis- souri, was destroyed by fire early on Mon- day. Many p-ersong who had been sleeping in the building were killed or injured. Many othu. are missing. CO-OPERATORS' FUNDS IN BANKS. The Registrar-General has raised an objec- tion to co-operative society funds being in- vested in joint stock banks. It has been decided by the co-operative Union to take the opinion of eminent counsel on the point. ULTIMATUM TO NORFOLK FARMERS. The Agricultural Labourers' Union has sent a demand to all the mployers. of farm labour in North-West Norfolk for an increase of labourers' pay from 14s. to 16s. a week and a Saturday half-holiday. TWO MILITARY AVIATORS KILLED. A Lieutenant and a non-commissioned officer of the Austrian Army were killed while flying at the Aspern Aerodrome on Monday. FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE. A Cork message .says that since Saturday three fresh outbreaks of foot-aud-mouth dis- ease have been reported from different quar- ters. The meet. recent is at Fermoy, which M ifee extreme east boundary of Cork. DEATH AT 110. The death is announced of Dani-el Mullane, a /arm labourer living n-ear Macroom, Cork, who is stated to have reached the age of 110 years. He was active up to a few months ago. SUICIDE FOLLOWS FAILURE. A verdict of suicide while insane was re- turned at the inquest on Mr. Francis William Nicholl, a solicitor, of Bromyard, Hereford- shire, who was found shot in a taxi-cab on Saturday. He was on his way home from Worcester Bankruptcy Court, where he had just filed his petition. DEATH OF THE REV. C. L. MARSON. The Rev. C. L. Marson, author of many charming books, has di-ed stidclenly at lIam- foridge, Somerset, of which lie was the VieR", Mr. Marson was a considerable scholar, and a groat authority on folksongs. BOMB AT A VICARAGE. The Malvern police are investigating the discovery of a bomb at Malvern Link vicar- age. One of the servants found it near the front door. The bomb consisted of a tin of gunpowder and shot of various sizes, with a pieM of lead-pipe and an unlight-ed fuse. A LADY SINGER ROBBED. Fraulein Dux, the singer, who has been appearing in London, has been robbed on her way to Berlin, via Flushing, of 24,000 marks, representing money received by her for her London appearances. FRAUDS ON INVESTORS. Charged with fraud by promising large re- turns to investors which they did not receive, Jamee Partington, forty-nine, who had traded in the City under the name of the Empire Share Exchange Company and the Empire Investment Corporation, was at the Old Bailey sentenced to fifteen months' im- prisonment. 42,500 ROAD ACCIDENTS. Two thousand and ninety-nine persons were killed last year in street accidents caused by vehicles throughout the kingdom, according to an official return. Non-fatal accidents numbered 42,544. BOXING CHAMPIONSHIP. la a boxing contest for the light heavy- weight championship of the United Kingdom and the Lonsdale Belt, R. Smith defeated Oennis Haugh on points in twenty rounds at the National Sporting Club, London, on Monday night. COMPENSATION FOR OFFICER'S WIDOW. .& The Kegent of Fersia and the Government are each giving Madame Ohlson, widow of the Swedish gendarmerie officer who was killed in a. fight with tribesmen, a gift of £ 1,000. COVENTRY POST-OFFICE ROBBERY. At Warwick Assizes, James Edwin Spiers, twenty-one, a clerk, was sentenced to sixteen .months' hard labour for stealing kl,949 from ACoi,entry Post Office. His old uncle, whom Bpiers said he had bullied into concealing the money in his house, was bound pver. HOME SECRETARY'S WINDOWS SMASHED. As a protest against the rearrest on Sunday of Mies Sylvia. Pankhurst several members of the East London Federation for Women Suf- frage smashed two large windows at the Home Office, one at the Colonial Office, and two small windows at Mr. McKenna's house In Smith-square. OBJECT-LESSON TO FARMERS. Horeoe belonging to the cavalry and hone artillery are to be shown at local horse shows ae a guide to farmers in breeding horses for the Army. BIB 8. SAMUEL'S FINE. Mr. Asquith, in the House of Commons on Monday, informed Mr. F. Hall (Dulwich) that he hoped the bill to indemnify Sir Stuart Samuel, M.P., would be reintroduced very soon. DAY OF THE WILD ROSE. Queen Alexandra has chosen Wednesday, June 24th, for the celebration of Alexandra Day this year, when artificial wild roses will he sold in the streets for the benefit of hospi- tals and other charities. ANCIENT BELFRY DESTROYED. A telegram from Lille announce the de- struction by fire of the belfry of Aire-sur- Lalys, which was constructed in 1715. FAMOUS INN THREATENED. The Old Ship, on the Mall at Hammer- smith, one of the best-known landmarks on the University Boat Race course, is threat- ened with extinction, the licensing magietrtifcflg having scheduled the house for

BOGUS MILLIONAIRE'S CAREER. HEARTLESS FRAUD BY AMERICAN. FORGED TICKET FOR ROYAL ENCLOSURE. Found guilty of what the Common Serjeant described as "a singularly heartless fraud carried out by a careful scheme of false- hood," John Archibald Campbell Mason, a middle- American, was, at the Old Bailey on Friday, sentenced to three year. penal servitude, and recommended for deportation. The charge was one of false pretences. He had, as counsel's statement showed, made love at Brighton to a Miss Ethel Susan Loeena, who consented to marry him; but he said that before the engagement was an- nounced it would be nece.-<;nry for him to go over to America to see an an-it of his there. He knew from his conversations with Miss Luccna that she was a woman of sotne means. She consented to advance him £ 500 for in- vestment. On January 12th they went up from Brighton to Mies Luce^'s brokers, and at the defendant's suggestion a cheque was drawn on the firm's account for £;)00. This was handed to the accused, who left with Miss Lucena. They went in the direction of the American Express Company's offices in Haymarket, where Mason—who went in alone—asked the clerk to clear the cheque for £ 500 for him and get the money for him by next day. After- wards the two went back to Brighton. .Miss Lucena thought that possibly there was some risk of danger attaching to the journey to America, and she arkad Mason for something to show, in order that she might have some claim upon his estate for the £ 500 if anything happened .to him while he was away. Eventually he signed a promissory note. lIe led the lady to believe he had gone to America—there was a leirer from him, osten- sibly posted at Baltimore on February 2nd— but, as a matter of fact, he was arrested in London on February 4th. Police evidence was to the effect that Mason had in Dublin posed as an Ainfrican million- aire. Last July he was warned off the turf by the stewards of the JoeL Club. The cir- cumstances connected with his admission to the Union Club and the Royal Automobile Club were understood to be unsatisfactory. He represented he was a member of the Knickerbocker Club, New York, which the police understood was false. He had obtai: cd admission to the Royal enclosure at Ascot on an American Embassy ticket.

FIGHTING IN THE SOUDAN, BRITISH OFFICER KILLED, A British officer has been killed during fighting in the Soudan. The news is tele- graphed from Khartoum by a "Near East" correspondent, who states that on March 3rd a party of the Arab Battalion of the Egyp- tian Army, under Brevet Major J. L. J. Conry, D.S.O., of the Connaught Rangers, came up with a party of about thirty outlaws near Wadi Hadi, on the Atbara River, about sixty miles south-east of Gedaref, Fight was shown by the outlaws, but their leader was killed and all his followers were either captured or killed. The success of the troops was unfortunately marred by the death of Major Conry, while three of his men were also killed, and Sub-Mamour Kamel Effendi and three men were wounded. Major Conry fought through the South African War, took part in the relief of Lady- smith, and was present at the actions at Colenso, Spion Kop, &c. He was twice wounded during the war, and was mentioned three times in despatches.

WARRANT FOR LORD A. DOUGLAS. PARIS INSTEAD OF OLD BAlLEY. Lord Alfred Douglas failed to appear at the Old Bailey on Friday, M ordered by the Recorder on Wednesday, and a warrant was granted for his arrest. Lord Alfred was convicted at the Old Bailey in April last of libelling his father- in-law, r-it)nel F. H. Custance, C.B and was bouma over in his own recognisances of £ 500 to keep the peace and appear for judg- ment if called on. Mr. Muir applied on Wednesday that Lord Alfred Douglas should be called on to appear in pursuance of these recognisances. When Lord Alfred was called on to surrender these was no answer to the name. The Recorder: He has written a letter to the Court, in which he states he has gone to Paris and does not intend to appear. Service of the order on Lord Alfred Doug- law was then proved. The Recorder ordered the recognisances to be estreated and a warrant to be issued. Colonel Cuetanee and Admiral Sir Regi- nald Custance were in court during the pjp- ceedings.

collip, Lcmdm. "She suffered terribly from Bronchitis and Whooping Cough But where ordinary treatment had failed Veno's cured completely, and now she is as icell as a child could be."—Mrs. Collip, 8, Vandy. street, Worship-street, London, E.C. Veno's Lightning Cough Cure contains cura- tive principles of unfailing power which are not found in ordinary cough preparations. That is why Veno's cures when, other means fail. Its healing effect is immediate and cer- tain, the lungs and bronchi-al tubes quickly gain strength to throw off the attack, and cure follows naturally—'even in cases of long sta nd ir e. Awarded Grand Prix and Gold Medal, International Health Exhibition, Paris, 1910.  J For Coughs and Colds, ?4B??n BronchiUs, Asthma, i)2 .Ld a 'n?uenxa. Catarrh, le and all Chest and Luntf Per Bottle. Troubles in old or young. Larger Sizes The surest and speediest rcvie-du 1/H & 2/9 known. VENO'S 'NG ? MU@H C?E

MEXICAN OUTRAGES. WASHINGTON FLOUTED. TWO ENGLISHMEN IN DANGER. The British Ambassador has appealed to the good offices of the State Department on behalf of two more Englishmen whose pro- perty the Constitutionalists are wrecking and whose lives are threatened, says the Wash- ington correspondent of the Times. The first Englishman is Mr. W. D. Siiymfli, a wealthy rancher in Chihuahua. General Villa has confiscated his ranch and has given him six days' notice to quit. Mr. Snyman's alleged offence is that he has helped the enemy. His son, telegraphing from El Paso, says that his father has never interfered with the internal troubles of Mexico, and that a number of prominent Englishmen and Americans at El Paso are ready to give evidence of his char- acter and standing. Sir Cecil Spring Rice, after communicating with Mr. Perceval at El Paso and the British Vice-Consul at Chihua- hua, has asked Mr. Bryan to instruct the American Consular Officers to co-operate with their British colleagues. Mr. Bryan has done so. The second Englishman in difficulties is Mr. David Roy, a rich farmer in Sonora. Writing from Los Angeles, Mr. Roy has in- formed the British Embassy that his property has been confiscated, and" that he has been exiled owing to the jealousy of business rivals, who have enlisted the assistance of the Constitutionalists against him. The Constitu- tionalist case, according to a report from the American Consul at Hermosillo, is that Mr. Roy helped the Federals, and that his pro- perty has only been "taken temporarily," al- though Mr. Roy will not be permitted to return until the trouble is over. AN INDUCEMENT TO CRIME. Cases such as these are felt, adds the corre- spondent, to accentuate the alarming dangers of the situation which the Benton affair pro- duced. Although Mr. Bryan still talks vaguely about investigation, everybody now realises that, as already pointed out, Washington has simply been flouted by the Constitutionalists, and flouted with impunity so far aA can be seen at present. To a Mexican bandit the present is all that matters, and it is feared that the discovery that such a dastardly crime as the murder of Mr. Benton has been allowed to go virtually uninveetigated and quite unpunished will encourage the Constitu- tionalists to embark on an orgy of confisca- tion and terrorisation for the replenishment of their pockets and the satisfaction of their brutal instincts. It is feared, in fact, that the acceptance by Washington of General Car ranza'6 impudent ukase that, so far as he is concerned, the United States will not le allowed to act on behalf of the European Powers will reduce the position of foreigners in Northern Mexico to that of the average Mexican—whose position and advantages are vividly illustrated by the fate of the great Terrazas family, whose head is reported to be feverishly pledging every penny to save his sou from torture and death at the hands of General Villa. It is not expected that the appeals of Messrs. Snyman and Roy will be more suc- cessful than the appeal of Mr. Benton's widow, and of the many Spaniards who have been ruined or whose relatives have been killed by General Villa. A DEVASTATED COUNTRYSIDE. STORY OF MR. BENTON'S DEATH. An interesting article on the situation in Mexico is published by the Daily Telegraph from Mr. Luigi Barzini, who, telegraphing from Mexico City, says he has made a jour- ney towards the northern frontier, pushing as far as the revolution would permit him to penetrate. The feelings of the populations in the north," writer- Mr. Barzini, "which some six months ago were generally hostile to Presi- dent Huerta, have changed, owing to, the ferocious excesses of the Revolutionaries. Wherever it went the revolution burnt, sacked, destroyed. Not only are the news- paper descriptions of the horrors of the re- volt not exaggerated, but it is difficult to go to the places concerned and not,perceive that not even a tenth part of the truth is known. A SPECTACLE OF DESOLATION. From ban Luis onwards the country affords a funereal spectacle of 'desolation, a continuous vision of ruin and death.' All the bridges, small a-s well as large, lijive been dynamited, all the wrecked Stations are nothing but heaps of debris, warehouses and stores have been burnt, destroying vast quan- tities of merchandise, and scattered along the railway, on both sides of the track, amid graves and human remains, lie the charred fragments of military trains which have been blown up by dynamite. Between San Luis and Saltillo alone I counted the fragments of fourteen disasters. The route is one immense catastrophe. Villa, indeed, has de- clared himself the master of all the best pro- perties in Chihuahua. A number of people have been assassinated, so that he might succeed to their nronertv without anv fuss. HOW MR. BENTON WAS KILLED. "This is what happened to Mr. Benton, the English owner of a model ranch in Chihua- hua, with regard to whose death I have trust- worthy and interesting details. Villa refused to give up the body because it would have shown that the death was not caused by shooting carried out, as Villa declares, as the sentence of a court-martial. The body would have proved that Benton was killed by two revolver shots in the back. He was unarmed he did not insult Villa; he merely asked, quite politely, what Villa intended to do to compensate him for his stolen cattle. 'I have not stolen anything from you,' Villa replied. "'Not you,' said Benton, 'but your men.' I can do nothing for you,' Villa ex- claimed, adding vulgar insults. Get out Perfectly calm, Benton proceeded: I am an English citizen. If you will not do me justice I shall appeal to the authorities of my country.' He then turned tit leave. As he was cross- ing the threshold Villa aimed his revolver, and fired. One of his aides-de-camp followed the example. Benton fell on his face—dead.

IF ONLY —— FRENCH CONVICT'S REGRET. Pere la Capinette murdered a man in a jealous passion a quarter of a century ago, and was sent to New Caledonia, the Daily Express says A commission was recently sent out to inspect the C'onvict. prison and in- quire into the Government lands that are allotted to convicts who are released for good conduct. They found Pere la Capinette, white-haired, benevolent, and venerable with his seventy years, surrounded by his sons, whom he had brought from France. He showed the commissioners over the coffee plantation on which he had settled after his release. "I am making £ 1,000 a year now," he explained, and then he added, with a sigh, "If only I had committed my murder twenty years earlier I should have been a mil- lionaire by now."

NEWS IN A NUTSHELL. The Kirug has sent a donation of £ 200 to the St. Paul's Cathedral Preservation Fund. There was a return of wintry weather over the whole kingdom on Tuesday. The day was polder than any day so late in the season for three years. Fleet exercises will take place in ths Bng- ish Channel on March 24th and 25th, and on .heir completion the First Battle Squadron ships will proceed to the home ports for the Easter leave. The death is announced of the Rev. Alfred Gatty, for more than twenty-five years Rector )f Hooton Roberts, Yorkshire. He had a inique collection of prehistoric flint implements. A Mansion House committee has now been ippointed, with the Lord Mayor of London as c hairman, for the purpose of considering the establishment of a national fund for the relief -)f distress arising from fatal mining accidents. The Government are about to appoint a Select Committee of the House of Commons to tnquire into the whole question of short weight. Queen Mary, attended by Lady Mary Trefusis, paid a surprise visit on Tuesday afternoon to the London Day Training Col- lege in Southampton-row, and was showai over the building. In the House of Lords the Town Charities (Extension) Bill has been read a second time. In the Commons, on the motion to go into Committee on the Army Estimates, the War Secretary has stated that we could mobilise within a very short time an Expeditionary Force of 162,000 men. A motion has been submitted in the Com- mons by Sir J. Randies censuring the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer for his personal attacks on landlords, and Mr. Lloyd George has made a caustic reply. The Venerable W. Donne, Archdeacon of Huddersfield, has died at sea. An attack has been made at the National Gallery by a suffragette, armed with a chopper, on the famous picture known as the Rokeby Venns. which was bought for the nation for £ 45,000. Mrs. Pankhurst is again in Holloway Gaol, the police outwitting the militants by various ruses on the journey from Glasgow. Captain Downer, an Army flier, practising at Upavon, has been killed by a fall from a height of 2,000ft, An extensive scheme to establish dining- rooms for werkgirls in London has been in- augiirated. Two brothers, Joseph and James Stevens, have served the Marshland Commissioners in West Norfolk for over a century between them, and their ages exceed a centurj and a- half. Their father was drainage engineer in Downham district for over forty years. There is one policeman to every 758 of the population of Southampton. The police establishment cost last year zP-19,093, out of which EII,201 comes from the rates. A suspicious case of illness, which is be- lieved to be bubonic plague, has been die- covered at Havana. The destruction by fire is announced of the belfry of Aire-sur-Lalys, which was con- structed is 1715. At a fire in factory premises in Bauteen, Saxony, fiye persons have been burnt to death and a sixth is missing. At a fire in a wooden house in Vilna an old woman, her two daughters, three schoolgirls, and a young man were burnt to death. Framlingham Agricultural Co-operative Society, in Suffolk, in the past year, its eleventh, handled nearly 5,000,000 eggs and put about 280 tons weight on rail. Having pricked his arm with a rose thorn, a Norwich gardener named William Hervey Smith, aged fifty-three, has died of erysipelas. Counterfeit coin is in circulation in Stock- ton and Hartlepool in large quantities, par- ticularly two-shilling and one-shilling pieces. Midland eteelmasters report that German manufacturers have extended their competi- tion to finished material, which it being sold at dumping prices. Sir Charles Seely has given £100 towards the cost of the recasting and rehanging of the bells of Cariebrooke (Isle of Wight) Church, for which L400 more is required. John Moore, whose evidence in the North London train murder case caused a sensation. was found unconscious at his residence in Tolmer's-square, Hampstead-road, on Tues- day morning, and is now in the London Temperance Hospital, suffering from gas poisoning. Lord Wimborn. has sent word to the tenants of more than 2,000 acres of his Glamorgan estates that he intends to have the whole of the property put up to auction in the spring. The tenants will have every oppor- tunity for acquiring the freehold of their holdings. Mrs. Winifred Brokenshire, in an unde- fended divorce suit, has been granted a decree nisi on the usual grounds. A claim against the landlady (If a boarding- house by a lodger for jewellery stolen from a bedroom has been dismissed 'by Mr. Justice Coleridge. A coroner's jury at Woolwich returned a verdict that Frederick William George May, an Armv Reservist, murdered Violet May Dash and committed suicide afterwards, while temporarily insane. Owing to the existence of foot-and-mouth disease in the district, the United Hunt Fox- hounds of Midleton, County Cork, have can- celled their engagements for the season. Doncaster Corporation's proposed exten- sion of the borough boundaries, to include six surrounding villages, is to be the subject of a Local Government Board inquiry shortly. Between 400 and 500 woodpigeons were killed in the last organis-ed shoot in North Suffolk. High Wycombe Boy Scouts have built a manual fire engine, which will be used as an auxiliary to the town appliances. The cast- ings and machined work only have been made by an engineering firm. Casried by the tide, the torpedo-boat 110 collided with the Ryde passenger steamer Princess Margaret, as both were leaving Portsmouth Harbour. The 110's bows were damaged, but the steamer was unhurt. For the extension of the Liverpool landing- stage and for the provision of deep water ac- commodation for coasters, at an estimated expenditure of R750,000, a Parliamentary Bill is to be promoted by the Mersey Dock Board. While preparations were being made at a cottage at Bourne, Lincolnshire, for the funeral of Mrs. Rdmil, who died from pneu- monia following influenza, her husband died from the same complaint. The couple were bpth nearly seventy years old. Mr. D. G. Johnson, of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, has been awarded the Chan- cellor's English Verse Medal, and the Porson Prize for Greek Verse has been won by Mr. F. L. Lucas, of Trinity College. Lord Beauchamp, First Commissioner of Works, stated in the House of Lords on Tues- day that parts of the roof of Westminster Hall were seriously decayed, and that the work of restoration was being proceeded with. The sixth bankruptcy of Mr. Arthur S. Sebright, company promoter, was mentioned on Tuesday before Mr. Registrar Linklater. The liabilities disclosed were £ 62,609 and the assets nil. M. Alfred Edwards, the founder of the Paris Matin, whose father was am English- man, died on Tuesday. He was fifty-seven sous old.

SOCIETY HOAX. A "CROWN PRINCE" & HIS SECRETARY. PEER IMPOSED UPON. An amusing story of a hoax in which two men successfully passed themselves off as the Crown Prince of Wurttemberg" and "Lord Stanton Hope" is told loy the Standard. It appears that the worthy pair made the Acquaintance of a number of well-known people at Hendon Aerodrome 0..1 Sunday week, and many papers published the following paragraph in their Monday's issue: --The Crown Prince of Wurfctemberg was ameng the spectators at Hendcwi on Sunday, with one of hie suite in attendance. Tired of standing on the cold earth watching others in the air, the Prince buttonholed Mr. Gra-hame-White, who gave him a seat in his Maurice Farm an. Several circuits of the Aerodrome preceded a climb and a swoop, and once more on earth the Prince confessed it was his first flight and he would like more of it." There is no Crown Prince of Wurttemberg. A Peer who was introduced to the hoaxer liae told a Standard representative the following EXTRAORDINARY STORY: "On Sunday I went with Lady to the flying at Hendon. There were a great many distinguished visitors present in the enc10. 's tire. The Crown Prince of Wurttemberg' was said to be among them. It, was stated that he had expressed a wish to fly. To this gentleman, who spoke with a strong German accent, I and Lady were introduced by Lord Hope.' We were told the latter was 'hiog Royal private secretary. Thinking she was indeed in the presence of Royalty. Lady on being introduced, curtseyed, and addressed the Crown Prince as Sir.' After the flying was over 'Lord Hope' said he would like to call on Uti. There were others present who evidently enjoyed basking IN THB SUNSHINE OF ROYALTY, and 'Lord Hope talked freely with them all, and. it appears, asked them if they would care to allow the Crown Prince and himself to call. He (' Lord Hope') seemed to be en- joying himself immensely. He was at times very amusing, and our party took to him at once. He pressed us to join him at luncheon on Monday, but we said we could not go; afterwards it was agreed that we should dine with him at a West-End restaurant. 1 am told that lie also lunched at the same place with a gentlewoman and her son and daughter whom he met at Hendon. They. I understand, believed that he was really Lord Hope.' Meantime, the Crown Prince dropped out of the adventure. We saw nothing of l;:m, but our friend 'Lord Hope' excused hin:self from staying late by saying he had to go to the German Embassy. I have since made in- quiries at the Embassy, and I find not only that there is NO BUCH PERSON as a 'Crown Prince of Wurttemberg, but that no person of the name of Lord Hope has had any dealings during the week with the official staff there. What their intentions were, however, is really a mystery, but no one seems to ha-ve been a penny the worse for the practical joke." Mr. Grahame White, when interviewed, said he was absolutely at a loss to account for the mistake made about the "Crown Prince." "All sorts of people come up here, and it WM the gentleman calling himself Lord Stanton Hope, private secretary to his Royal High- ness, that introduced the Crown Prince to me. He had a free flight, and I have heard nothing of him since."

DEAD BY HIS HORSE. CHIEF ENGINEER FOUND AFTER HUNTING. Mr. J. W. Jacomb-Hood, chief engineer of the London and South-Western Railway, who had been hunting with the Dulverton (Somer- set) Hounds on Friday, was found dead during the afternoon on Hawkridge Common, about four miles from Dulverton, with his horse grazing quietly near by. Mr. Jacomb-Hood arrived from London on Thursday for a few days' hunting and appeared in his usual good health. The hounds were immediately called off by the master when he heard of the tragedy.

FRENCH MAIL-BAG THIEF. POSTAL CLERK S SMART RUSE. CLEVER CAPTURE ON EXPRESS, A very clever capture of a mail-bag thief has been made by a postal clerk, says the Paris correspondent of the Daily New. When the express from Cette. in the Pyrenees Orient-ale, to Paris, stopped at Lyons at 2.52 a.m. on Wednesday, a postal clerk named Georges Lescuyr, who had been employed on the P.L.M. line, and had re- cently been. changed to the Eastern Railway, boarded the mail-van and shook hand6 with his old comrades, and as he was going to Paris proposed tha.t he should make the journey in the van. The chief sorting clerk, named Labadie. who has long suspected Lescuyr of being a thief, pointed out that it was contrary to the regulations, but made no further objection. After a time Labadie, who had been keeping his eye on the other, lay down on .some empty bags, and pretended to be asleep. Lescuyr, thinking that he was unobserved, carefully sorted the registered packets, and stowed about his person those that took his fancy When the sorting was over the clerks pretended to have a game of card08.. It was then about five o'clock in the morning. They called upon Lescuyr to take a hand. but he declined. They insisted, and he finally rose from his seat. Then a packet was seen hidden under his overcoat. Labadie. pretend- ing to be poking fun at Lescuyr, called out: "You must have some good things in there. Show us what, you are taking back to Paris." Lescuyr sprang back, but the others followed him, and Labadie plunged his hand in the man's pocket and drew out a bag containing postal matter. A strict watch was kept on the thief until Paris was reached, when he was handed over to the station police commissary. He at once confessed. The stolen bag was full of securi- ties and notes, and about the accused's per- son not-e.s of the value of E24 were found secreted. Lescuyr bore aii excellent charac- ter, but Labadie, under whose orders he had been, suspected him of an £ 80 robbery in a ma-il-van last November Labadie having no evidence kt his own counsel and bided his time. That was why he allowed the sus- pected man to travel to Paris in the van con- trary to the regulations.

MORE DIVORCE CASES. JUDICIAL STATISTICS. Edited by Sir John Maedonell, King's Re- membrancer and Senior Master of the Supreme Court, the Civil Judicial Statistics for Fhigland and Wales for the year 1912 have been issued in a Parliamentary Paper. In 1912 there was a decline in the total business of the Court, ranging from the House of Lords to the County and other Civil Courts. Compared with 1911 the figures for 1912 were as follows: Proceedings. In 1912. Decrease. Commenced 1,308,455 53.236 Heard. 426,865 20,106 Thc>e figures are the smallest recorded since i gof). The decrease in proceedings begun was in all courts, with the exception of the Divorce Court. In that court there was an increase in the petitions for dissolution of marriage from 859 in 1211 to 920 in 1912, the latter figure being the highest yet recorded. A decidedly satisfactory feature of county court administration, in which there was a pronounced decrease of business, was the de- cided decrease in the number of debtors im- prisoned. namely, from 7,692 in 1911 to 5,840 111 1912. One reason given for the decrease of plaints in this connection is the fact that shops and stores which deal only for cash are superseding the shops which used to give credit freely.

LADIEJS B L N C H A R D'S PILLN Are unrivalled for all Irregularities, &c., they speedily afford relief and nsver faU to areviatl all suffering. They supersede Pennyroyal, Pe Cochia, Bitter Apple, Ac. "BLAHCHARDti Cochti? a, BMt of all PUle tw Women." Sold in boxes,, I III. by BOOTS' Branches, and all Chemists, or post free, same price, from LESLIE MARTYN, Ltt., Chemists, <4 DALITON LAllI, LONDON. Free Sample an valuable Booklet Mgt #T.. ld IDØ.i 4 ISRAEL FINE The well-known Furnisher, Has no hard and fast Rules to govern Purchasers on the Easy Payment System. Fair Dealing, Honourable Transactions, and Recommendations, is the Motto which has built up a Business during the last Half-Century It will Pay You to visit either of my Branches beiore placing your Furnishing Orders. WORKSHOPS: BACK OF HIGH STREET, Where the Goods can be seen in the course of Manufacture. REPAIRS OF ALL KINDS DONE BY PRACTICAL WORKMEN. PIANOS, CYCLES, and all MOTOR ACCESSORIES. MF* BIG DISCOUNTS FOR CASH. Lawn Terrace, Rhymney, and Commercial Street, New Tredegar. THE DESIRABLE POLICY FOR MOTORISTS ISSUED BY The London and Lancashire Life and General Assurance Association, Ltd. SPECIAL FEATURES AND PRIVILEGES. Members of the Insured's Family or bis friends are indemnified whilst driving the Car with the consent of the Assured, against any claim made by a third party. The Policy insures the Owner whilst he is driving any other Car (irrespective of Horse Power) when his own Car is out of use. Damage to the Car as defined is covered:— (a) Whilst being driven by anybody licensed or unlicensed with or without the Insured's consent. (b) Whilst being cleaned or repaired. (c) Whilst being used for Electioneering purposes, e TRANSFER.—The Policy may be transferred to a purchaser of insured arc without extra charge, or to new car by adjustment of premium (if any) subject to particulars being furnished in writing. iií REPAIRS.-Necessary temporary repairs can be commenced without consent. Permanent repairs may be executed Immediately without consent, provided a detailed estimate is first obtained and forwarded to the Association and the total cost does not exceed £10. The Insured can have any repairs undertaken by the makers of the Car, provided they are willing to undertake the work on the same terms as the Association's Repairers No Cancellation Clause is inserted in the Policy, but Owners desiring]to cancel their Policy, having sold or laid up their Car, may do so and claim a return of premium upon the following terms:- Policy in force 30 days or 1ms—three-quarters of the premium. ¡ n 90" It -half so ■ m 180 „ „ -one-quarter t; PIIOIPElTUIU ON APPLICATION.^ k < r .^i „ Looai Agtati —J 0. JAOOBS, Victoria Bvilburqis fianmix