Abergavenny Chronicle

CHARGE AGAINST MOTORIST. I At the Chester Assizes on Saturday Thomas Jolliffe, of Mount Alyn, Rossett, was acquitted on the charge of the manslaughter of Emily Roberts, a cook. The case for the prosecution was that the woman was knocked down and fatally injured on the night of April 3 at Chester by a motor- car owned and driven by Mr. Jolliffe, who, it was alleged, was under the influence of drink and was driving at an excessive speed. Sir Edward Clarke pointed out that the two witnesses, who were the only persons who actually saw the accident, said it was caused by misjudgment on the part of both the prisoner and deceased. After a few minutes' consultation the jury returend a verdict of not guilty. Sir Edward Clarke stated that Mr. Jolliffe had made finan- cial reparation to the relatives of deceased.

MADMAN IN A CHURCH. During celebration of Mass at the Roman Catho- lic Church at Bantry on Sunday a stonemason .named McCarthy rushed into the church as Father O'Driscoll was preaching, ran down the aisle gesticulating wildly and shouting blas- phemous language, got over the altar rails, and struck the priest violently in the face with his fist. Before he could deal a second blow he was secured by several members of the congregation and removed, shouting and resisting violently. On examination McCarthy was pronounced a dangerous lunatic, and ordered to be committed to the Cork Asylum.

I THE COST OF SPEED. At the Royal Institution, Professor W. E. Dalby, of London Technical College, in a lec- ture on "A Modern Railway Problem—Steam or Electricity," said at present the speed of a steam-engine was limited to the size of the boiler which could be put on the line, but in electric traction there was no limitation of speed. With electricity sufficient motors could be attached to a train capable of producing 1,200 horse-power, and to travel at a speed of upwards of 100 miles an hour, but, he added, the problem of electrical traction was like the problem in regard to the speed of the Maure- tania. The Mauretania could travel much faster than it did provided the Government would sub- aidise the owners for the increased cost. It was the same with electricity. Cost was the para- mount question in regard to the commercial aspect of its use.

I BODY EXHUMED. At Tudhoe Cemetery, Durham, the body of Margaret Aspey, 73, of Spennymoor, was ex- humed upon the representation of the district coroner. At an inquest which was opened later in the day, and adjourned to permit of a post- mortem examination being made, the coroner said deceased was a married woman, and on May 16 she was apparently seen by an unquali- fied medical man. Dr. Glover was also called in. Mrs. Aspey was unconscious when both gentlemen saw her, and remained unconscious until her death next day. Dr. Glover gave a certificate that death was due to cerebral hemorrhage, and on that she was buried. From information which he (the coroner) afterwards received, he considered there were sufficient grounds forvsupposing that death re- sulted from accident or violent means, and he felt it his duty, unpleasant though it was, to have tne body exhumed.

I CONSTABLES' DISGUISES. At Thames, William Larkin, described as a gas stoker, was convicted of keeping and using premises at Joseph-street, Poplar, for the pur- pose of betting. The evidence showed that before a raid was made on the premises under a warrant, which had to be executed by a constable breaking a window and entering through it, observation had been kept on the house for several days. One constable stood outside selling fish; another frequented a public-house in which men and women wrote their bets on slips of paper before sending them to the defendant's resi- dence. A third watching constable said he would be ashamed to appear in court in the clothes1 he had worn. The magistrate imposed a fine of £ 40. and five guineas costs.

"pns TRUE, 'TIS PITY." "Come, come, Muggins! Surely you know what s-e-e spells. Now, what do I do with piT eyes?" fCSquint, sir!"

A YOUNG HERO. t An exceedingly plucky rescue was effected at Leeds by a thirteen-year-old boy, Walter Binne. While playing on the bank of the canal a little boy named Leeming, aged six, fell into the water. He was drowning, when Binns ran up, pulled off his coat and waistcoat, and dived into the canal. He brought Leeming safely ashore, and, having learned his address, carried the uncon- scious child to his home. Binns learned to swim at an industrial school.

I MONEYLENDING HARPIES. I The report of the work of the South London auxiliaries of the London City Mission exposes the methods of the slum money-lender in South London. The slum moneylender is usually a woman, who lends small 6ums of a shilling and upwards to poor people at 2d. interest in the shilling per week. The district secretary says in his report: "A party of about twelve women infested public-houses and streets in my 'district, with the object of leading inexperienced married women into debt and public-house drinking. They were divided into lenders and pawners. The plan was for the pawners to hang about in market places and get into conversation with women out marketing. If the latter were a little behind in money matters, the pawners could always name a friend who, for a trifle, would lend a few shillings-the interest charged on the loan was at the rate of two shillings in the pound for one week; the borrowers find that they cannot repay the loan, so pay the lender the weekly interest of two shillings, as the loan is renewed each week. I feel sure I am correct in saying that at the present time in hundreds of factories such ravenous harpies are to be found, both male and female, who prey upon their fellow creatures, and often, through their cruel extortions, bring them into ruinous poverty."

I BRAVE RESCUE AT SEA. I An act of conspicuous bravery on the part of a naval officer was witnessed on board H.M.S. Britannia during the recent voyage from Cro- marty to Portsmouth. A shipwright named Tooner fell overboard, and as it was blowing hard and there was a nasty choppy sea he was unable to reach the lifebuoy which had been thrown to him. Fortunately the man was a splendid swimmer. After some time the ship came round, the man having then been some twenty minutes in the water. Commander E. A. Taylor was in the after turret when the man was seen some way ahead of the ship. He rushed down through the battery, and reaching the forecastle dived off at once and caught the man just as he was sinking from sheer exhaustion. An able seaman named Tucker also dived in. The three men were picked up by one of the ship's cutters.

MYSTERY OF MAJOR'S DEATH, I The death of Major Robert Andrew Falk- ner, a magistrate and a wealthy Leicester- shire landowner, remains a mystery. Major Falkner, who inherited a big for- tune from his father, a wealthy Manchester merchant, had lived at The Ashlands, at nston-on-the-Hill, and prior to his death Dr. Williams had discovered traces of arsenic. The doctor was consequently unable to give the usual certificate of death, and the viscera were sent up to the Home Office for analysis. When the inquest was opened the coroner stated that on account of certain suspicious circumstances it would be adjourned for an analysis to be made. The jury reassembled at Billesdon Village Hall on Monday afternoon. The coroner, Mr. Bouskell, stated that he did not propose calling further evidence that day as the report of Dr. Willcox, the Home Office analyist, had not yet been received. He pro- posed therefore to adjourn the inquiry, which would be a prolonged one, till a convenient day. It was ultimately agreed to again adjourn the inquest until July 5.

EPITOME OF NEWS. Lieutenant Pennington, of the 14th Sikhs, has committed suicide by shooting himself with a rifle at Quetta, India. Miss Mary Burton, of Aberdeen, has be- queathed £100 to the, Edinburgh Women's Suf- frage Society. Colchester is to spend £10,000 in widening and deepening the River Colne a.nd constructing a. new quay 2,000 feet long. The palette used by J. M. W. Turner when painting at Chelsea is to be sold at Christie's. Dr. Theodor Barth, leader of the German Radicals, died at Bades-Baden. The new Bibby liner Leicestershire was launched by Messrs. Harland and Wolff. Ltd. Belfast. The Belgian steamer Prince Leopold de Bel- gique collided with four bargE8 off Wapping, seriously damaging each. Five men have been killed and two injured by an explosion of fire-damp in a mine at Cabayin, Spain. Princess Henry of Battenberg at Chiswick opened a bazaar arranged in connection with Christ Church, Turnham-green. Mr. Arthur Lewis Webb, director-general of reservoirs in Egypt, has resigned his post and is leaving Egypt. A man was killed by falling in front of a train at Gloucester-road Station, on the District Railway. Oliver Cromwell, a comedian, was mulcted iu costs at the North London Police-court for drunkenness. Mr. Edward Sharp, of Linden Hall, Carn. forth, an octogenar&n magistrate, died after at long illness. Dr. A. Madeley Richardson has been apo- pointed head of the Music Department at tha Battersea Polytechnic. Tramcar traffic at Lower Clapton-road was considerably disorganised by a horsed car fallr ing into a trench. A cartridge exploded as Private Singleton, of Scarborough, was cleaning his rifle, and he waa wounded in the neck. Admiral Lord Charles Beresford was among the passengers who left by the Wilson Line steamer Salmo for Norway. The Brighton Town Council referred to a sub-: committee the question of screening the two public bathing stations. Visitors to the hotels had complained. At Christie's, £399 was realised by a set of three panels of old Flemish tapestry, and £304 10s. by a painting of an old Dutch interior by De Hooghe. Twenty-five choirs rendered the music at a festival service held in St. Paul's in connection with the London Gregorian Choral Association- Mr. Reginald Lane Poole, M.A., Fellow ofi Magdalen College, Oxford, has been elected keeper of the archives, an ancient office which has just been revived. Elizcbeth Metcalf, of Church, near Accring- tcn. has been granted a separation order after 50 years of married life, during which time she has had 26 children. At Reading, Alfred Wells, a single man, was remanded charged with robbing with violence Mrs. Emma Holland, aged 60, at Tilehurst. Open competitive examinations for women and girl clerkships in the General Post Office will be held in October next, and application forms will be ready for issue about the middle of July. During & fire at Finsbury-park a girl of ten sobbed heart-brokenly for her kittens, which were in the burning house. They were brought out unhurt, and she hugged and kissed them joyously. During 908 the total value of United States rrops was £1.555,600,000, an increase of £58,000,000 on the value in 1907. "Manslaughter without malice" was the ver- dict of a Liverpool coroner's jury against Wil- liam Houghton, arrested in connection with his father's death. Sums of from five to fifty guineas have been 0 received by the Royal Botanic Society Council in response to an appeal to Fellows to protect the society from bankruptcy. The Duke of Bedford has refused the Crown'a offer to buy part of the Thorney estate, as the valuations on behalf of the Crown and of the Duke differed widely. Billericay guardians have voted £5 to their! medical officer to cover, for the current year, the increased cost of drugs as a result of the higher duty on spirits. An Aldershot message states that, owing to the scarcity of officers in the Royal Marines, no lieutenant will be recommended for transfer to the Indian Army this year. The Melba prize and R.A.M. have been awarded to Alice Baxter (soprano), a native of Nottingham, and Janie Blake (contralto), a native of London. Colliding with Lord St. David's motor-car, near Tenby, a donkey-cart was badly damaged, and its occupants thrown but not seriously hurt. For embezzling in 1903—six years belonging to the Edmonton branch of the Ope- rative Bricklayers' Society, of which he was treasurer, Charles Perrvman was sentenced at Tottenham to six months' hard labour. A miniature rifle range on the roof of the Fenchurch-street premises of Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping was opened by Mr. G. Dalton-Hardy, deputy-chairman and treasurer. Thieves entered the house of the Hon. C. Craven in St. George's-square, Pimlico, and stole £300 worth of silver plate and cups. Mr. Craven is in East Africa. Over a thousand signatures of drivers of taxi- cabs have been added to the petition organised: by the Commercial Motor Users' Association, against the proposed tax on petrol. At a meeting of the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association it was reported that the flowering trees provided for the Walthamstow, district streets were in full bloom, and were giving great satisfaction. Mr. D. W. Crowther, a Huddersfield commer- cial traveller, who had been missing from home since May 24, was found lying dead upon some straw in his father's warehouse in Northumber- land-street. Signor Carlo Sforza, Councillor of the Italian Embassy at Constantinople, has been trans-i ferred in a similar capacity to London, in sue* cession to the Count de Bosdari. Mr. Lloyd George, in continuation of his South Wales visit, journeyed over various parts of the railway system in the neighbourhood of Merthyr, whence, after a short stay, he left for Treherbert. Ex-Police-sergeant Hannaford, who, on his retirement from the force four years ago was the heaviest police officer in, the United King- dom, was buried at Newton Abbot. He weighed. 20 stone. At the eighteenth annual conference of tha Postmen's Federation at Birmingham it waa decided to express sympathy with the French strikers, and to organise a national fund foe their benefit. Two watchmen who have patrolled the town of Bilston nightly for many years in old- fashioned coats and hats, crying the hour and the weather, are to be no longer employed ioj that capacity. Princess of Victoria of Sehleswig-Holstein. who opened a bazaar at Herne-hill in aid of St. Faith's Church Building Fund, was the first Royal visitor to Herne-hill since the reign of Charles I. The King has approved the appointment of Major-General Harry Barron as Governor of the State of Tasmania, in succession to Sir Gerald Strickland, who becomes Governor of Western Australia. It has been notified from the War Office that; in future no charge will be made on public funds for officers' private season tickets fOJ: occasional journeys on military duty. "This is all through dad; I am your broken- hearted mother," ran a Jetter to her children left by Jane Elizabeth Wooster, of Seven Kings, who committed suicide by drinking nitric acid. Persian Nationalists have telegraphed to the Turkish Parliament complaining of the conduct of the Russian forces, and begging for "the assistance of the fraternal people." Raiders have attacked Talkhankot, a village in the Zhob Valley, India, and looted three hundred cattle. A detachment of the Waziristan Militia followed the robbers, of whom they; killed six and wounded three, and recovered some arms and cattle without loss. According to the "London Teacher," a London County Council schoolmaster has in- formed the Education Committee that he has no desire to proceed beyond his present salary, of .£135, as he considers that he is being paid what he is worth. 1

OTHER MEN'S MINDS. i It is far better to have a fence on the top of the precipice than to have an ambulance at the bottom.-BisHop TAYLOR SMITH. A QUESTION OF NATIONALITY. A distinguished Welsh statesman said some little time ago that if you touch a Welsh- man's heart he begins to sing hymns, but an Englishman when his heart is touched imme- diately put his hand in his pocket.-VICAR OP HOLYHEAD. WANT OF ETHICAL TRAINING. I "am much struck by the thoughtlessness, self-tonsciousness, and general ill-behaviour of thg mass of the people one encounters. It is, however, only shown in small things, and is not in the least vicious. The waggoner who saunters along the middle of the road, not leaving sufficient room for anyone else to pass; the dropping about of orange peel, and other thoughtless actions like these, are all signs of the want of ethical training.-SIB. OLIVER LODGE. PEACE UNDER THE LAW. There can be no lasting peace without some international juridicial organisation and no true peace without the reign of law.—MB. LltON BOURGEOIS. MANKIND'S GREAT NEED. The universality of some form of religions belief among savage races is a sure index that it represents a psychological need of mankind, and, as the constitution of man is not likely to be changed in such a funda- mental particular by any advance in his mental evolution, the spiritual need for a personal relationship with the Divine will surely remain.-PRoFEssoR F. E. WEISS. THE THINGS THAT MATTER. No game really tests a man like golf. It tests all his qualities—his skill, his temper, and, above all, it tested his language. We owe a debt of gratitude to distinguished statesmen, and especially to Mr. Balfour, for popularising golf. By popularising golf Mr. Balfour is as deserving of gratitude as he is for his greatest political achievements. Golf prolongs life; it throws away ill-health and all its associates.-Up. LLOYD GEORGE. MEDDLESOME! I Parliament seems always trying to inter- fcrp, in things which it ought to leave alone. —MB. A. B. MARKHAM, M.P. NOT COMPULSION, BUT- Compulsion, to my mind, would be an odious necessity, but I hope to see the day when every young man who does not volun- tarily submit himself" for the defence of his country will be pointed to with contumely in the street.- VISCOUNT ESHER. I GO FORWARD! I Go forward in God's name and do the right, remembering that an England morally strong has ever been the surest guarantee of European peace, the surest check against great evils which, permitted to flourish, automatically lead to war.—MB. E. D. I MOREL. WILLING TO FIGHT FOR lEACE. J England and France are allies, and I think it unspeakable that there can ever be war again between them. I consider it diabolical, too, to think that English-speaking men are ever again to stand opposed to each other. I hope they will never have to stand shoulder to shoulder even, because I hope we have seen the last great war. I am so great a man for peace that, if arbitration is refused and I am driven to it, I am willing to fight for it. -MR. CARNEGIE. THE LEISURED CLASS. I Even as there .are such things as pride of race and pride of wealth, so there is among some men a pride in pauperism They boast that they are able to live without work, and at the expense of other people. SIB CLIFFORD CORY. I KEEPING UP WITH SCIENCE. I The adulterator has grown with the ad- vauce of chemistry, and has learned with an ingenuity that almost puts to shame the efforts of those who are working for legiti- mate purposes.—LORD JUSTICE FLETCHEB MOULTON. I THE HAPPY FAMILY. I The relations between owners, tenant farmers, and agricultural labourers in the past have been friendly, and it will be better for the country if those relations are fostered, rather than that a desire should be shown to set class against class.—THE DUKE, OF DEVON- SHIRE. ALL AT ONCE I If we had compulsory military training here on the lines of Germany it would at once relieve unemployment, sweep up the hooli- gans and idlers, and turn them into useful citizens, and we should have a disciplined Army that would be a defence against inva- rliOU.-MP.. R. P. HOUSTON, M.P. WHAT EVERY WOMAN KNOWS. I I was glad to notice that in the service at the Mold Presbyterian Chapel the word "obey" was not used. Although the bride promised many things she did not promise to obey her future husband. I think that it is about time we got rid of this barbaric piece of medievalism. Everybody knows that the promise to obey is one that is not as a rule strictly observed in married life.-MR. H. R. MANSFIELD, M.P. A VISION. I Look forward with confidence to a Unified South Africa, which shall not only make that country a more prosperous place for white men to dwell in, but a place where the native may maintain all his rights and pro- gress to higher hings.-COLONEL SEELY, I M.P. A SHARE FOR EVERYBODY-. If one thing is certain it is that property, security, leisure, comfort, the possessions of the few, are to be gradually opened as far as possible to the enjoyment and advantage of the many, and the toil and labour needful for the maintenance of the State-efforts by which the material wants lying at the gates of organised culture are to be supported- must be shared in varying degrees by all.- REV. J. ESTLIN CARPENTER. THESE THREE. A good kitchen is the best pharmacy, a good table is the best doctor, and cleanliness is the best cook.-MR. JOHN BURNS. RELIGION IN THE SCHOOLS. The secular solution will not do. The vast majority of the people of England are strongly opposed to it, and will not have it. They are determined to have religion taught in their day schools, though they are willing to make equitable provision for children whose parents desire them to have only secular teaching. THE ARCHDEACON OP BERKS.

I IMPERIAL DEFENCE. I I I AUSTRALIA'S OFFER. Mr. Deakin, the Federal Prime Minister, has telegraphed to the Imperial Government offer- ing a Dreadnought or a corresponding addition to the Imperial Navy such as may meet with the approval of the home Government. Mr. Deakin has just become Premier of the Commonwealth of Australia for the third time, having succeeded Mr. Fisher, the Labour leader, and one of the very first acts of the new Ministry has been to follow the lead given by New Zealand in offering a Dreadnought for the Navy. The decision of the late Administration to refrain from making this offer gave rise to a good deal of comment. The Premiers of the States of New South Wales and Victoria offered to provide a Dreadnought between them should the Federal Government not do so, and local committees were formed for the purpose of raising subscriptions to defray the cost. The Montreal correspondent of the "New York Times states that Canada has decided to have a Navy, and that a nucleus is to be formed by the construction of eight cruisers and ten torpedo-boats, at a cost of £ 5,000,000. The primary idea is coast defence, and the secondary the creation of a Navy capable of assisting the Mother Country in time of need.

I DUTCH ROYAL CHRISTENING. The baptism of the infant Princess Juliana took place on Saturday afternoon at the Wil- lemskerk, The Hague. In accordance with Queen Wilhelmina'e wish the decorations were very simple. At the moment when the august couple entered the church the Royal Excelsior Choral Society sang a canticle, after which the religious ser- vice began. The infant Princess's cortege to the church left the Palace a quWter of an hour after the departure of the Queen and Prince Henry, Prin- cess Juliana being in a carriage drawn by six horses, with a guard of Jionour of a squadron of cavalry. When the Court Chaplain had concluded his address and the christening service had been read, the Grand Mistress, making a deep obeisance, placed the infant Princess in the hands of her mother, who held her during the brief ceremony at the silver Gothic font. After the benediction had been pronounced the Grand Mistress received the royal child from her Majesty. The young Princess was conveyed to the Palace with the same ceremony as before, and the Queen and the Prince were escorted to their carriage and returned to the Palace.

CANAL COLLAPSE. One of the embankment walls of the Maritime canal, Brussels, collapsed, and the water poured in a great flood into the adjacent little River Senne, which rapidly overflowed its banks and Inundated the villages for some distance around. Three hundred craft of various sorts were on the canal at the time, and they were in consider- able peril by the sudden falling of the: waters. The accident was promptly reported to the authorities, and a detachment of troops from the Brussels garrison was sent off with instruc- tions to construct a barrage to stop the overflow of the water. The attempt was made, but with- out great success. I The accident was noticed about eleven o'clock in the morning by some boatmen on the canal, who observed that the level of the water was sinking. An explanation of the unusual occur- rence was soon forthcoming. At a point be- tween Brussels and Vilvorde the canal passes over the River Senne, with which it is con- nected by a feeder conduit built on the syphon principle, and it appears that the sides of this conduit collapsed without warning, allowing the water to rush unchecked from the canal intc the river. Steps were immediately taken to isolate the section of the canal where the break occurred, but not before the level of the whole canal had fallen about five feet.

TRAGEDY WITH HAPPY END. I Mary Ann Evans, 38, a laundress, was brought op at West Ham to receive sentence for attempt- ing suicide on May 28, but the case terminated romantically. The defendant jumped off the pier-head at Victoria Dock into 23ft. of water. She was gallantly saved under difficult circumstances by Ernest Langford, the pier-head man. He had afterwards to walk a mile and a half to change his wet clothing. 94 The Bench, in consideration of Langford's "pluck, skill, and courage," gave him 91, which they thought an inadequate award for his con- duct. A constable said that the prisoner had been living with a man named Morley, who, having obtained work, was willing to marry her. Morley said that his job was a permanent one, and the wedding would take place in three weeks' time. The Bench discharged the prisoner end wished the couple happiness.

BABIES NOT WANTED. I Writing in the Orsett Deanery magazine for June, the Rev. W. C. Bishop, rector of Orsett, condemns the taking of babies to church. Re- ferring particularly to a ,recent confirmation service, he says:—. "Why will people risk spoiling all the solemnity of this service by bringing babies? Surely the candidates for the rite of confirmation are the people to be considered on such occation. But, no! Some people wish to see the sight,' and they will bring a baby or small children who cry or talk, and the solemn effect of the service is largely spoiled. And it is rarely church people who are so selfish and ill-maniaered. It is usually the chapel people who show this rude- ness. Why do they want to come at all? Chapel people don't believe in confirmation, and have often enough to say against it."

I FATAL BOATING MISHAP. A boating accident, which unfortunately was attended by fatal consequences, occurred on Sunday night near Thames Ditton. Three gentlemen and a lady had taken a skiff with the intention of rowing from Hampton Court to Richmond. Near Thames Ditton one of the party fell into the river. Efforts were made to save him, but when the body was brought to land life appeared to be extinct, and artificial respiration was tried without avail. The deceased was taken to the mortuary at Hampton Wick.

Viscount Tredegar has expressed his intention of subscribing £ 5,000 to the funds of the South Wales and Monmouthshire University College at Cardiff. In the Cambridge University mathematical I tropos seventy-four men and ten women have passed the qualifying examination for mathe- matical honours.

I THE SUITOR'S sun'. "I must say, Charlie, old man, I've seen you in togs I liked better." "Oh, that's all very well, but you mustn't blame me. Blame Mabel. I proposed to her in ordinary navy blue, and she said she couldn't possibly smile on my suit. Now I'm going to try again, and if this one doesn't make her smile, nothing will!"

HOLBEIN'S DUCHESS SAVED. All art lovers, and the public generally, will be greatly relieved to learn that, mainly as the result of a munificent donation of E40 000 by a lady who desires her name to be unknown for the present, Holbein's masterpiece, The Duchess of Milan," has been saved for this country. It will be remembered that the Duke of Nor- folk sold the work, which had been in the pos- session of the family -for many generations, to Messrs. Colnaghi for, approximately, £ 62,000. The firm offered it to the National Art-Collec- tions Fund for E72,000, but the option expired. An extended option was then given by Messrs. Colnaghi, with the happy result stated above. Mr. Henry C. Frick, the Pittsburg steel mag- nate and former partner of Mr. Carnegie, waa prepared to buy the picture.

MYSTERY OF CASHIER'S DEATH. I The body of Mr. George Francis Woollatt, bank cashier in the employ of the London and County Bank at Tonbridge, was found in a nude condition in the Medway at East Peckham. His bicycle was on one side of the river and his clothes on the other. He had been appointed to relieve temporarily the manager of the Crowborough branch, and had made arrangements to travel by train, but left his lodgings on his bicycle and failed to return. At the inquest a verdict of "Found drowned was returned.

To accommodate 400 persons a Congregational Church of late Gothic design is being built al Queen's-road, Walton-on-Thames, by an anony- mous donor at a cost of £ 3,000, and an appeal is being made for C500 for an organ and othei requirements. At the meeting of the Lambeth Guardians all old soldier in the infirmary asked that he mighl have a small allowance from his pension of lid, a day. so that he could buy some tobacco. The Guardians refused to make the old man any allowance. Sergeant-Major Burrows, who was in camp at Clifton, Notts, with the South Notts Hussars, suddenly developed violent tendencies. A dozen men were required to restrain him, and he now li-9 in a serious condition.

j SOCIAL CONDITIONS. I t I FIFTY YEARS OF PROGRESS. I A Blue-book of remarkable interest was issued from the Local Government Board on Friday. It illustrates in a convenient form such ques- tions as the growth of population, mortality, and public health administration, the changes in the occupations of the people, the reourring periods of industrial prosperity and depression, pauperism, and the action of the Poor-law, local taxation and local debt, and the development of .education and thrift. An interesting section is that dealing with in- dustrial conditions. It is noted that the period of working life has been considerably shortened during the last half-century. The proportions of both children and persons over (f5 years of age at work have persistently declined. Since 1851 the members employed in the building, mining, and engineering trades have steadily increased those engaged in the textile industry have slightly decreased, while those employed in agriculture have been reduced by a third. Taking labourers as distinct from farmers and graziers,- the decline between 1851 and 1801 was as much as 64 per cent. I WAGES AND COST OF LIVING. Striking figures are given illustrative of the increase which has occurred in the material prosperity of the working classes during the last half-oentury. Generally speaking, while wages have risen, prices of necessaries have declined. There is an apparent increase of over 80 per cent. in the average rate of wages between 1850 and 1907, but it is pointed out that the comparison of single years cannot properly oe pressed to support this inference. Comparison can only be drawn between averages calculated over a course of years, and on this basis it is found that the average rate of wages 1900-07 was to-the average rate in 1860-1867 as 140 to 100; in other words, wages have risen in the forty years by, approximately, 40 per cent. In the case of general prices, comparison of (single years is even less reliable than in the case of wages, owing to the fluctuation of the price of particular articles, such as coal, which may unduly affect the general price in any given year. However, that prices show over the period as a whole an appreciable decrease, notwithstanding some incre in their level since 1895. Taking the average in the two periods 1850-60 and 1897- 1907, it would appear that the general level of prices was approximately 24 per cent. lower in the latter than in the earlier period. While the bare rate of money wages has Increased, the real increase is materially greater when the purchasing power of money, as measured by I the average price, is taken into account. Rents have probably, on an average, risen since 1850, but there are no reliable data for ascertaining the extent of the increase. I POOR RELIEF AND LOCAL DEBT. Between 1894 and 1906 the cost of poor relief increased by 51 per cent., while rateable value and population increased only by 28 and 15 per cent. respectively. The average cost of poor relief in the decade 1850-59 was 5s. lid. per head of the population, and Is. 6fd. per £ of rateable value. In the period 1900-07 it was 7s. 9d. per head, and Is. 4d. per C. .The development of local government in Eng- land and Wales, as exemplified in the grpwth of local rates and local debt, is reviewed at length. The phenomenal nature of this develop- ment is well illustrated by the statement that, while in 1868 the total rates raised amounted to £ 16,503,000, the aggregate amount in 1905-6 was £ 58,256,000, an increase in less than forty years of no less than 941,753,000, or 253 per cent. In this period the rise per pound of valua- tion was from 3s. 3 £ d. to 6s. lid., and the in- crease per head of the population from 15s. 3d. to £ 1 14s. Id.

I PRISON BY DEPUTY. I Islington Borough Council had before it the strange case of a ratepayer who, it is said, in- duced another person, for a monetary consider- ation, to go and serve a term of 14 days' im- prisonment for him for non-payment of rates. The committee which had the matter in hand took a serious view of the case, and had resolved to put it in the hands of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Alderman Mills said he never remembered a case like it. He did remember one occasion when they had to tell a man that he would have to go away for seven days. The man inquired, "Shall I go now?" He" was told that he must wait until he was sent for, as the apartments were not ready. The proposal for a prosecution was agreed to.

I BANKER'S TRAGIC DEATH. I Mr. Montague William Wootten Wootten, -a banker at Oxford and a county councillor and justice of the peace for Oxfordshire, was found shot in his grounds at White Lodge, Heading- ton, near Oxford. A woman gathering firewood in the grounds heard a double report, and, led by curiosity to the scene, saw a man lying among the bushes at the north end of the grounds. The body was identified by the gardener. There were two bullet holes in the forehead. A revolver was found by Mr. Wootten's side, and there were cartridges in the pocket. Nothing was discovered throwing any light on the tragedy.

Mr. and Mrs. Cole, of 44, St. Nicholas Church street, Warwick, have just celebrated their dia- mond wedding, and Mr. and Mrs. Makin, of W,anstead, Essex, their golden wedding. By colliding at Harrow-road, Willesden, with a motor-car driven by Lewis Drake, of Willes- den, Walter German, a motor-cyclist, of Bron- desbury, was injured, and taken to the hospital in a serious condition. At Kingston-hill an electric tramway-car com- menced to run backwards down an incline, and before it was stopped by the emergency brake Mrs. Alice Bounsall, her son, and Harry Stanner jumped out, sustaining slight injuries. Mr. Felix Brown, of Chicago, has invented an appliance by means of which a man may cut his own hair. There is a plague of moles in districts of South Lincolnshire. In Morton nearly 6,000 moles have been captured during the past season. Mrs. Dinah Sprague, of Chicago, celebrated her hundredth birthday by eating four meals, each of which included meat and doughnuts.

PARLIAMENTARY PARSl BATTLE OF THE BUDGET. I With the debate on the second reading of the Finance Bill the real hard work of the Session begins. It cannot be said, however, that members of the House of Commona have shown any particular enthusiasm for hard labour as yet. For the first few daya when Parliament re-assembled after the Whitsuntide holidays scant Audiences were the rule. This week, however, will see a change, and it is already apparent that the fight on the Budget will be long and bitter. It will occupy the time of the Commons cer- tainly till the middle of August, and very probably even a month or two longer. What will happen to it when it reaches the Lords is a problem which remains for the present on the knees of the gods. Meanwhile, there is very little for the Upper House to ,do just now, and their lordships tre enjoying an ex- tended holiday. PRESS OF THE EMPIRE. i It was a pleasant little gathering that assembled in the Harcourt Room, when the delegates attending the Imperial Press Con- ference were entertained to luncheon by Par- liamentarians associated with either litera- ture of journalism, or both. There are nove- lists, essayists, and historians in quite res- pectable numbers in the House of Commons and the House of Lords, while there are, of course, several journalists. Sir Gilbert Parker was chairman of the committee which made the arrangements, and it was a happy circumstance that the Speaker was able to take the chair, and to make one of his genial speeches, while Mr. BirreII proposed the toast of the occasion, "Our Guests." THE TRUTH-TELLERS. ) Mr. Birrell said the Press played a great part in their lives. Nobody would deny that it often threatened their lives, and he was glad to say that it occasionally prolonged them. The only other observation he would make about the Press was this—he. would urge them to be more critical and less parti- san. What amazed him in reading the news- papers was that any of them should be parti- san. Why, for example, when the leader of a party happened to be stout and stuttering should they describe him as slim and do quent? If a speaker they did not agree with was undoubtedly fluent and well propor- tioned, why should they describe him ns Quilp and a stammerer? The Press should be critical, feeling one conviction only—that they were telling the truth. Now, what was easier thr to tell the truth about other people? It presented no difficulty. Almost anyone could do it, and yet how rarely it was done. "THIS DAY THRJUE MONTHS." I Mr. Austen Chamberlain it was who moved the-rejection of the Bill, proposing that it be "read a secorøf time upon this day three months." He said it had never been usual for an Opposition to offer an alternative Budget, fat they had in view an alternative which was as well known to the House of Commons as it was to the country, and the Opposition had every reason to be satisfied with the progress which their scheme made in the further consideration given to it by the country. He declared that the Budget was against the canons of sound finance, the first of which was that the Government should tax for revenue only. That had gone by the board. The defence which Ministers made of the Budget was not that the taxes would produce revenue, but that they would get round the action of the House of Lords on the Licensing Bill or would cheapen land, or would force land into the market, or would develop towns and facilitate the pro- gress of the country. LAND AND THE GOVERNMENT. I Another canon of sound finance, said Mr. Chamberlain, was that the burden of taxa- tion should be fairly spread. By this Budget, however, teetotallers and non-smokers who happen not to be income-tax-payers -would be exempt from contribution. The ex-Chan- cellor of the Exchequer reserved his strongest denuciation for the proposals with regard to undeveloped land and minerals—"the most wonderful and least comprehensible of the many incomprehensible proposals." He said they were based on the same kind of con- fusion of thought which underlay the whole treatment of land by the Government. It would be found, he prophesied, that agricul- tural land would not be saved from the new burden, and that the small cultivating owner would be hit as well as the large agricul- turist. BACKS AND BURDENS. I The Scottish Advocate-General, Mr. Alex- ander Ure, has long been in favour of the taxation of the land, and he defended the Budget proposals with great vigour. "This is a great Budget," he said. "It lays the heavy burdens on the broad backs, and eases the burdens of those less able to bear them." Dealing more particularly with the tax on the capital value of undeveloped land, Mr. Ure said the Government proposed that the owner should pay a contribution towards the needs of the community in exact proportion to the increased value of the property due to the presence of the community. As to the objections urged to the valuation, Mr. Ure referred to the statement made by Mr. Prety- man that it would be impossible for him to make a returfo. of the value of his undeveloped land. "If a railway company or a great cor- poration armed with compulsory powers came into the market to buy that land, I would warrant that the hon. gentle- man would name a price like a lamb and stick to it like a leech." Members laughed, and when Mr. Ure went on, with refreshing candour, "I would do the same myself," they laughed again. NATIONAL PROPERTY. I This Budget, said Mr. Ure, is the answer of the Government to those who say that the taxable resources of the country are ex- hausted. It proposed to find the money by taxing privileges and luxuries, by asking those who were well able to do so to bear the burden, and by inviting a modest contribu- tion from those who were at present partici- pating in what was truly national property. It was said by the bankers and others that the Budget would impose an excessively heavy burden on the shoulders of the wealthy, and that this would result in the curtailment of expenditure, and in the long run in diminished employment and reduced wages. That would be a lamentable result. But he was quite certain the land, for in- stance, would not take itself away; on the contrary, the proposals would lead to in- crease rather than to diminish the effective employment of land. He was also sceptical as to the contention that rich men would leave the country, taking their wealth with them. There was no country in the world where the rich and well-to-do had such a. good time as in Great Britain-where their pro- perty was so safe, or where they got a better return for their money.

The Rev. Henry Richard Ashdown, who has just died at Scunthorpe Vicarage, Lincolnshire, was the son of Mr. H. Ashdown, who for the past forty years has been gardener to Viscount Knutsford. Mr. Ashdown began his career as a pupil teacher at a Godalming school. Educated at Edinburgh University and Paris, John Imperiale, who earned 25s. a week as secre- tary and clerk to the Dreadnought Solid Tire Company, Limited, of West Smithfield, was at Guildhall bound over for stealing petty cash from the firm.