South Wales Echo

SnUTH WALES TIDE TABLE. Dec. CARDIFF* I SWANSEA, T NKWPORT4 Dec. ————————— ————————— ————————— Mor. Evil. Hgt. jMor.fEvn.iHgt. M0r.jEvn.1Hgt. 8 M 3 43i 4 7 29 1! 2 36J 3 12 27 4 3 56! 4 20 29 6 9 T 4 32' 4 5730 111 3 371 4 128 6 4 45 5 10;31 4 10 W 5 21: 5 44!32 9 4 26, 4 4330 0 5 34, 5 57'33 2 11 Ti 6 8; 6 31134 0 5 14! 5 3631 316 21! 6 44 34 5 12 Fj 6 53: 7 16'34 8 5 58, 6 19 31 10 7 6! 7 29 35 1 13 .? 7 40J 8 3?35 21 6 431 7 632 3! 7 53! 3 16!35 7 14  8 241 3 47164 11 7 28< 7 50 31 11 8 57? 9 0?35 4 14 M! 9 ?.0? 9 1334 2 8 16 8 41?30 8 9 23 9 4634 7 *Roat-h Basin. fPrince of Wales DK. tAlexandraDk

-uu, -'u_- TO ADVERTISERS. The South Wales Echo is GUARANTEED to have a Larger Circulation than that of ALL the other Evening Papers of South Wales and Monmouthshire added together. As regards Cardiff alone, it is almost un- necessary for us to add that the circulation of the South Wales Echo is IMMENSELY G REA TER than that of any other Evening Paper. ROGERS' l- AK ALES & PORTERS IN 4J, GALLON CASKS and UPWARDS. BREWERY, BRISTOL. To be obtained of the following Agents in Cardiff, who SELL NO OTHER BEERS IN CASKS COSULICH, S., Ale and Porter Stores, 114, Miskin-street. CROUCH, J. F., Ale and Porter Stores, 34, Eidon-streat. DANIELS, G., Grocer, Custom House-street. D VVJKS, T., Grocer, Cyfarthfa-street. FERRIER, J. L., Grocer, Cowbridge-road. FRANCIS, S., Grocer, 1, Donald-street. HOOPER, H C Grocer, Clive road. MORRIS, B., Grocer, Bridge-street PARSONS, U. C., Commission Agent, 20, Habershon-st. PARSONS, T., Grocer, 205, Wevern-road. RICHARDS, WM., Grocer, 6, Thomas-street. THOMAS, WINDSOR M., Grocer, Woodville-road. THORNE, G. F., Grocer, Clifton street. WALTERS and DAWKINS, Grocers, Cowbridge-road. WILLIAMS, J., Grocer, Mackintosh-place, AND AT THE CARDIFF STORES, 9, WORKING-STREET. No extra charge for Ales and Porters supplied in 4% gallon casks. 102

I The Man About Town. Cathays, so I always understood, was the abode of love. In that remote region Passion walked heedless of the restric- tions of man. Constancy was a virtue of the colder order, to be respected but not to be courted whilst the bold unconventional ecstasy of irregular affection, unclogged by marriage ties, and scornful of the narrow bondage of the wedding-ring, was supreme. But the passion has invaded Roath. It found Cat-hays too cold and damp, perhaps, in these winter days, and lied to a warmer district. A harrowing story comes from the aristocratic quarter of Cardiff in which beer and blarney are sadly involved a youthful wife and an amorous labourer Sying from the wretched restraints of orthodox life and seeking elsewhere a region where no questions are asked and cer- tificates are not in demand. Roath is at length hallowed with a touch of romance, and no longer can it be said that its residents are heartless ratepayers, bent upon keeping down the rates and increasing the number of Bray's lights. But I fear, if all were known, there are many instances more re- markable which would come to light if there were not a respectable desire to sup- press information and mortify curiosity. Whether Cardiff be a moral town or not I it would be injudicious of me to discuss. Policemen "re generally eloquent on the subject, though their statistics tend to bewilder a believer in the social progress of the nineteenth century. But a population which is so little settled in character could scarcely be expected to be settled in their interpretation of the moral code. We have been hearing a great deal of "Darkest England," and with that self-complacency which is natural to every respectable borough, there is a general ten- dency to locate most shortcomings in Lon- don. But the local historian, who, as I once hinted, has yet to rise amongst us, will Hnd some alarming facts in his exami- nation of the conditions of life in Car- diff. It is a metropolitan shortcoming which the patriot may welcome but it is not so satisfactory to the evangelist to learn that there is a moral darkness in the town which is quite excep- tional. It would be no exaggeration—a fact, indeed, based on official figures-to state that the town is only equalled propor- tionately by Liverpool in its unhappy laxity in the direction of virtue. It is one of the penalties of a great and growing borough There is much of the nature of the cat ( and the mouse in the conference being held on the question of small coal. Those must indeed be sanguine who hope for any settlement, in the present at least, which does not mean a defeat. What could be more ridiculous than that the mas- ters should meet the men for the ostensible purpose of arriving at some compromise, when, if the report be accurate, they inform the delegates who meet them that they must absolutely decline to entertain in any way whatever the proposal to grant separate payment for small coal V It is indeed instructive to find a joint Com- mittee deliberating on a moot point, when the mind of one of the parties is "absolutely" made up It is obviously to the interests of the masters to court delay. It is more than probable that there will be a sudden decline in the price of coal, and they will then be strengthened to deal with the question in a more arbitrary manner. The prospects of a decision at law on their side are the slightest. On the bare grounds of justice, even, there can be no two opinions that the workman should be paid for any coal he brings up which is sold. The only way out of the difficulty, I venture to suggest again, is an entire revision of the Sliding Scale. If the masters arranged the payment for large coal so as to include that for small, then it will be easy to disentangle the two payments and base wages on a system that would be simple, obvious, andinccntestible. Any other method, it appears to me, will only involve incessant wrangling, and, what is more likely, perpetual injustice. Newport is commencing to be regenerated! It is not in the highest, but in the lowest class that the upheaval is being felt. That is very proper and scientific. The paupers have already shown scorn for the idle luxuries of life. They turn with contempt from tobacco and, ask for tea instead. It is that- the- Union should become a second Diogenes' tub with cynical philosophers reclining within, trampling on the luxurious vani- ties of this earth, and clinging only to the mildly useful '1': But this-is not all There are dim awaken- ings in certain unholy places certain rous- ings of the conscience, and a desire for light. Who does not know the salubrious sanctity of Club Row ? Who is not aware of the delicate aroma which ascends in one eestacy of voluptuous sweetness to the Heavens from its opert doors ? Who has not witnessed the turbid streams rolling down its gutters, or marked the quaint and curious tracery on its walls ? It has long been an abode of darkness. The lamp has been as little welcome as the policeman. But there is an excitation of feeling There is a demand for light Club Row would bare her innocence to the glare of the lamp, and would prove to the gas- lightcr that she hides nought but inno- cent thoughts within her. When paupers refuse tobacco, and Club Row complains that there is no light, is not a grand revolu- tion signified which will permeate upwards through every circle of society ? Who knows whether in the dim future Quiet Woman's Row itself may not become quite orderly 1 So the great melodrama that we were ail expecting has come to a close all at once. The Dockers' dispute, which has become almost an inalienable part of Cardiff life, is at an end, and there is a grand chorus of joy from masters and men. But one may well ask, if the quarrel could thus easily be arranged, why should it have been allowed to drag its weivy length along until to-day ? Is it the natural capacity cf employers to make mountains out of molehills, or is it their constitutional love for obstinate delay] There seems to be an impression that the settlement should give great gratification. I should be inclined to think, on the contrary, that there is rather cause for popular anger that what appears to be so eminently simple a business should have been pro- tracted so long, and that the public mind should so groundlessly have been alarmed with fears of a commercial break-down. The net result of such a policy is to give the masters the appearance of a set of boys who are ready enough to engage in rant and bluster to begin with, but are all meekness when the schoolmaster makes his appear- ance. V There has been adistinct fluttering of hope amongst the minds of the Tramway Directors at Cardiff since the Council meeting on IOll- day. They are overjoyed at the prospect of the system being bought, and display their eagerness over the matter in a way that is unmistakable. I fear, however, that their roseate hopes will scarcely blossom into realities Nobody will grudge to merit its reward and, least of all, in case of a policeman, whose life is none of the happiest, and whose pay is not tho most magnificent. But the cynical may p' sibly remark, cn reading the proceedings tI, at, the force cannct be a highly successful one when a special reward has to be given for a capture of ordinary character. A detective and constable met a "notorious burglar" who had a bulky appearance they stopped him, and found he was wearing five shirts. Do Cardiff officers, then, really require half-a-sovereign as a mark of gratification that they should sus- pect there was something wrong when they saw a notorious burglar," whom they knew well, with an unusually bulky appearance T Alas for the intelligence of the force But it will at least, strike the average mind as a gross waste, and a scandal that should be remedied, that the law compels the Head Constable to kill all dogs taken up by the police not claimed. It appears there were 420 seized during the <. close period. Of these 1.36 were claimed, 30 were sold, and 254 destroyed. As Mr Shackell pointed out, a sale by auction would realise a quite respectable sum for the unfortunate "submerged tenth"; but it is contrary to Act of Parliament to adopt that palpably proper way. As the Customs officials burn all tobacco, and literally tax the nation to the extent of thousands of pounds a year for the sake of a bonfire, so docs the Local Government Board delight to cause unnecessary pain to these poor animals rather than adopt a course alike evi- dent to common sense and kindheaxtedness. _d.

Mrs Pearoey's Case. Mr E. Booth, secretary of the association to promote Courts of Appeal and uniformity of sentences, has written to the Home Secretary to call attention to the case of the convict Wheeler (Mrs Pearcey), and point out that if there was a Court of Appeal no doubt a new trial would be asked on the ground that the convict wa" afflicted with homicidal mania. Has Not Abandoned Hope. A definite course of action has now been de- cided upon by those who are interesting them- selves on behalf of Mrs Pearcy. Two petitions praying the Home Secretary to reconsider the case are to bs prepared. One of them will be a plea, supported by evidence, that Mrs Pearcey is of unsound mind, and so not responsi- ble for her actions. The other petition will take its ground for the nigst part on the fact that the case was essentially one of circumstantial evi- dence. Although Mrs Pearcey is feeling her position very keenly, she has not given up hope of being saved from the scaffold. A New P!ea for Ciemency. It is thought that public opinion is coo strong to admit of public petitions being resorted to, and therefore a distinct line in another direction will be adoptecf Evidence collected so far to this end is of a remarkable nature, showing, as it does, that on one occasion the prisoner attempted to commit suicide by hanging in Maroon- street, Stepney, when she was cut down by her mother in the presence of witnesses. There is also evidence—documentary, medical, and other- wise—forthcoming to show that accused is subject to chronic epilepsy, which on two occasions has resulted in falls and produced lock-jaw, and caused wounds, the scars or which still remain on her body. It is on this and other evidence that the prisoner's solicitor intends to approach the Home Office. Experts in epilepsy have, it is under- stood, declared that chronic violent fits of this kind would render it possible for an epileptic per- son to commit a crime such as that attributed to the condemned woman, and to remember nothing of it when the fit had passed off. At Madame Tussaud's. A portrait model of the convicted woman has just been added to Madame Tussaud aud Sons' Exhibition. The figure is placed in a room con- taining the identical furniture removed from No. 2, Priory-street. The perambulator is placed near the figure.

ENGLISH MUSIC IN RUSSIA. I Russian audiences cannot be accused of par- tiality where English composers are concerned. All the more satisfactory is it to learn that both press and public were unanimous in extending a very cordial welcome to Mr F. H. Cowen's Scandinavian" Symphony, which was produced a few nights ago at the St. Petersburg Symphony Concerts under the direction of M. Auer.

LORD ROSEBERY. Lord Rosebery is contemplating a long journey in foreign parts. He will set out shortly after Christmas, sailing in the first instance for the West Indies. He goes alone.

OltAND tiAZAAR ALIEliT-HALL, NEWPORT, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, December 9th, 10th, and 11th, in aid of the funds of the Newport and County Infirmary, to be opened by tbe Bight Hon Lord Tredegar, at 2.30 p.m., on Tuesday next. 837,. PRINTING.—FOR First-cbMS Printing of every, description at Moderate Charges try W. Chappie,J NevWe-street, Cardiff. 241 MAZAWATTEE TEAS are- a Household Word j W?es; they rel1 the?deUcious.Tem of 30 yea.t3O

The Late Baron Huddleston. REMAINS CREMATED. The remains of the late Baron Huddleston were this morning removed from Ennismore Gardens to Woking, where they will this after- noon be cremated. The pine shell enclosing them bore the inscription, BARON HUDDLESTOX. Hon. John Walter Huddleston, died on the 5th December, 1890, aged 75 years. Lady Diana Huddleston travelled to Woking*, carrying a wreath sent by the members of the Oxford circuit. The funeral party also included the Duke and Duchess of St. Albans, Lord Falkland, Lord Justices Lopes, Sir Henry James, and many others.

IMPORTANT TO NEWPORT FARMERS. At Newport county-court this morning, his Honour Judge Owen gave his decision in the case of Mr T. J. Jones v. The Sewerage Commissioners for the Newport District. The action was heard at the last court. The plaintiff pur- chased from the defendants a piece of land at Goldcliffe, one of the parishes on the Caldicott Level, which abuts 011 the sea fa-ce, and then demurred to the Commissioners' con- duct in entering- upon the land and cutting turf and earth in order to effect repairs deemed necessary to the sea wall. The tres- pass was admitted by the Commissioners, who justified their doings 011 tho score of expediency and the necessity of keeping out the sea, the common enemy and also because of ancient custom, grant, and prescription. His Honour was against the plaintiff on all points except one. This point was that the deed of con- veyance drawn up by the Commissioners to plaintiff on the sale of the land to him gave every- thing to plaintiff, and that no reservation was made in it to cut the turf for the repair of the sea wall or for any other purpose. Whether the Commissioners had power to claim the exercise cf their asserted right on other land would have to be determined hereafter.—Judgment was then given for plain- tiff for the full amount ( £ 51 claimed bv him. with  costs on the higher M!- Custard, the clerk to the Commissioners, asked for have to appeal against the decision, and the application was granted.

i FASHIONABLE KLEPTOMANIA. T119 plea of kleptomania is generally a charitable suggestion of counsel or the prisoner's friends. It is at all events not customary to find it put forth by the accused with the perseverance and volubility exhibited by Ada Harrison at the Liverpool County Sessions. This young woman, described as fashionably dressed, and of prepossessing- appearance." being asked what she had to say to various charges of purloining pla,te at gentlemen's houses into which she had gained admission by cunning excuses, replied, "All I can say is. that I have no need' to do this. I have a home and good friends but I cannot help myself. It is like a mania I have got, that I cannot drive away from me. Miss Harrison also volun- teered the statement that, since her arrest, she had been in the hospital, unconscious for a week;" and she wound no her voluble address by promising that if she was liberated she would "return to her home, and, with God's help, fight against this weakness." Unfortunately for the chances of her appeal, it transpired that Miss Harrison had another weakness besides kleptomania. This was a propensity to obtain goods by falso pretences, for which offence she had suffered a month's imprisonment, not to speak of a subsequent conviction and sentence of nine months' upon fie different charges of larceny. Ada Harrison has now gone to prison for nine months more.

THE BEET AND SUGAR INDUSTRY. Lowering the Excise Duty. TRECTER'S TELEGRAM. 1 PARIS, Wednesday,—In order to meet the representations made by those engaged in the beet and sugar industry, the Minister of Agri- culture has submitted a scheme to the Budget Committee for lowering the excise duty on the visible stock, or the quantity of beetroot available for the sugar industry, as fixed by the inventory of the excise officers. At present this is liable to duty of 7'75 per cent., but owing to complaints of the beet growers the Minister proposes that it shall be reduced to 7'25 and 7 per cent., according to the degree of saccharine contained. A certain number of beat sugar manufacturers at present abi-ain a yield above the excise estimate which was 10'50 per cent., which is the figure fixed in the present legal excise inventory for 1891. These manu- facturers enjoy the sugar bounty paid on the excess over the estimated yield, and the Minister proposes to grant a reduction of 20 per cent. on the actual amount manufactured to those manu- facturers who will forego this bounty.

I SHIPPING CASUALTIES. 8HiPP!NG CASUALTIES. The steamer Duchess of Cornwall, which I stranded yesterday near Dunraven Bay, floateci with assistance and proceeded for Cardiif.-The French steamer Jehanne, Grimsby for Dieppe, and Ouse HcpperNo. 2 collided near Grimsby this morning. The Jehanne sunk, but the crew were s,,iv ed. -A telegram frc-m Ibrail to-day states that the weather is fine and frosty, 10 degrees centigrade. During the night the British steamer Vindohma, from Alexandria for Hull, was towed into Ferrol with the crank pin broken by the British steamer Galatz. The Carthagena, for Cardiff. and the bi-igantine Sultan, of Belfast, stranded on the rocks at Whitehead Harbour, and is likely to be a total wreck. The crew were saved. The Star Veendam grounded yesterday near Maasluis, but floated with assistance. The British steamer Lero has arrived at Philadelphia, damaged about the decks She reports havinrr passed in the Atlantic n vessel on fire, apparently a large steamer. name unknown. —The steamer Ashlands, which stranded on the 8th inst. in the Danube, has floated after partIal discharge.

CRIME OR PASTliME. p The Treasury are not to be complimented on their decision not to place Slavin and McAuliffe again on their trial. The two men immediately concerned are doubtless glad enough to be rid of the affair, but the result of the recent proceedings has been to leave the ques- tion in the same uncertainty as before. By the common law of England prize-fighting and boxing matches are alike unlawfm. But whereas public opinion rightly considers the former as brutality which should be promptlyN repressed by summary punishment, it has some- thing more than a sneaking admiration for boxing as a hne art. It is quite as much the interest of the athletic world as it is of "the fancy" that the prevalent confusion should be authoritatively determined. —Graphic.

SALE OF GEORGE WASHING- TON'S EFFECTS; [REUTER'S I PHILADELPHIA, Wednesday. -Asal,, of articles, having belonged to George Washington, the first President of the United States, ^including his private account books, letters, and various per- sonal effects, is being held here by order of his surviving relatives. Up to tho) present, 150 articles have been disposed of, realising a sum of 8,841 dollars.

XMAS PRESENTS.—For good Silver Watch and Chain, in case complete, £2 2s, 5, High- street, Cardiff. 831 ADVERTISERS should send all their orders for Printing and iiookbindins to W. Chappie, INeville- stroet, Cardiff, the acknowledged Cheap Printer. 241 To MOTHERS. Croup, Whooping Cough. The only certain cure-Mortime's Mixture. Sold everywhere. 865ett

Jottings for Ladies. I Jottings !or Ladies. It will he the fashion to send photos as Christ- mas and New Year's cards this season—the photo of yourself, mind, not that of some unknown person. --0-- A gentleman aged 62 has eloped with a lady 10 years younger. They had to make a runaway match of it, as the m:1rria,ge was contrary to their children's wishes. The Sultan of Turkey has just instituted a premium on twins. It consists of a monthly ten- sion of thirty piastrts gold (seven shillings), which is paid to boy twins until they attain th* age of twenty-one, while the girls receive ths same amount until their marriage. -0 Rumour in Florence related a delicious tak anent the purchase by the Queen of England ol two Florentine dogs. Her Majesty wished their to be called by names which would connect them with her stay at the Villa Palmieri. Aweel, your said the keeper of the doga, "why not call them Paul and Mary"Paul and r:1ry," said the Queen; "what have thoss names to do with Florence or the Yilla ?" "Vi eel, your Majesty, is not the Villa called Patu Mary ?' The latest idea of the New York ?)eAe,?5 t? The latest ic1elt of the N GW Y():k helle is t wear a boa made of real chrysanthemums. Tho long stalks are bound together after the fashior known to children in making daisy-chains. Th, flowers last fresh the whole afternoon or evening, The boa is about eight feet long, and the coioui of the chrysanthemums is assorted to the cos. tume. The price is high, but that is of no conse- quence to the ladies of New York. _J Mrs Henry M. Stanley told a lady in Nen York that she has seen nowltere else such a number of young women with white hair. Sha admires very much the pink cheeks and bright eyes surmounted by silvery tresses, and is in- clined to attribute the latter to the high temperature maintained in the street cars. ).1r1 Stanley has surprised many Americans by find ing fault with the autumnal landscape. She thinks the lack of evergreens makes everything look cold and desolate when the leaves have fallen from the trees. I wonder, says Woman, whether "Baby" Beckwith, who was married to Mr Francis Dud" ley Leigh on Saturday last, will be made any happier in her married life by the possession of the diamond watch presented her by Mr Astor and the sappire and diamond bracelet by Lord Jersey 5, and wnether her devotions will necessitate the us* of the three prayer-books presented respectively by the Duchess of Manchester, Lady Randolph Churchill, and the Bishop of New York. Perhaps a young friend of Woman who wrote to Ethel' last week to ask for hints as to a wedding trousseau to cost -025 will be just as happy as the American heiress. The ladies can hardly be expected to take very kindly to the philosophy of Schopenhauer, which Mr Bailey Saunders by his translated samples is doing his best to make known to the English public. In one of the latest of these specimens, included in a volume just published by Messrs Kegan Paul and Co., under the title of "Studies, in Pessimism," this famous apostle of Despair declares that it is "only the man whose intellect is clouded who could give the name of 'the fair sex' to that undersized, narrow-shouldered, broad-hipped, and short- legged rtC" Instead," he continues, "c f calling them beautiful, there would be more warrant for describing women as the umasthstio sex." What Schopenhauer says of the hearb and intellect of the sex in general, a still un- extinguished spark of old-fashioned gallantry forbids us tj quote. The great feature about ball-gowns at present are the single flounces, or the series of tiny frills at the foot of the skirt; the single flounce is usually caught up into festoons at regular inter- vals,, and fastened with rosette bows of velvet, a, jewelled butterfly, a tiny bouquet of flowers, or a small cluster of ostrich plumücõ. This flonnce, be- sides looking very charming on new dresses, is a capital renovator for old gowns, and it can be made of almost any light, silky material from crepe de Chine to gauze, which, however, is not to be recommended for draping as there is always something wiry about the folds; n the whole, good chiffon is the best, but lace, if well managed, can be made to have a very pretty soft effect. The tiny frills look nicest when they are each lined separately with coloured silk to go with the rest of the gown it renders them much firmer, and makes the skirt hang- well. Inquiry at a few of the principal tobacco stores has revealed the fact that smoking is very fashion* able among women, especially among those of the upper ten. We are used to being asked for ladies' cigarettes here," said a salesman at some big stores. "We serve ladies with cigarettes in as matter-of-fact a way as we do gentlemen. Not snly do ladies smoke cigarettes," he went on, "some of them smoke cigars. One lady comes ir frequently for a box of cigars. She smokes almost the costliest brand we keep." Some of the most ex- pensi ve brands of ladies' cigarettes, he said, were artificially scentGd. The manager at Philip Morris's, 22, New Bond-street, said that the ladies whom they supplied were chiefly ladies of rank and fashion—duchesses, countesses, and so forth. Theypatronis3 a good Turkish brand, costing six or eight shillings a hundred. I asked what the opinions of gentlemen were on the subject. "Well," said my informant, "those of the old school naturally don't approve of ladies smoking, but the young men take it as a matter of course. I have never heard a man speak in a derogatory manner about a lady because she en- joyed a cigarette. Mrs Grundy, of course, objects, but I don't think anybody pays much heed to the old lady." -0- Fashion loves to run from one extreme to an- other. Depend upon it high-crowned hats will be coming in shortly. I saw, says the Pall Mall, a French hat the other day with a high tapering crown. Some large hats shown to meat Seamen's in Sloane-street had dome-shaped crowns. They were scarcely pretty. Cocks' plumes are much worn on felt hats this season. They are less dressy but more serviceable than ostrich plumes. Fur looks well on hats this bitter weather. A. charming hat of brown velvet was adorned with squirrel tails and a bow of gold braid. Felt plateaus are twisted into the oddest shapes imaginable, and furnished with a pair of strings. They are a cross between a hat and a bonnet. A smart travelling hat is shaped like a Scotch cap. It is of old rose velvet trimmed with a jet bandeau. An owl's head in jet is the newest ornament for the front of a bonnet. Some of the large velvet hats have Tam-o' -Shanter crowns. They look more suitable for children than women. Bonnets are either capacious or very small this winter. Velvet and cloth is a solid but very ba. coming mixture in a bonnet.

Trtt POLICEMAN AND THE DOG. What a Glance Did. Mr Haunay is not a magistrate whom it is easy to impose upon, and it is not surprising that he dis- believed a story which he was told yestcrds-y IYI a Frenchman. '1'h" Frenchman had been summoned by an exceptionally tall policeman for allowing his little d»»g to be at large unmuzzled. He had only, he said, taken the muzzle off the animal, which, like the baby in the story, was "a very little one," when the c onstable came up and took his name and address. Such, he added, was the effect •; f the policeman's ferocious aspect upon the quadruped that it wnt home, and unexpectedly wave birth to six puppies. Whether the story was true or untrue, it was, at all events, irrelevant, and the Marlborough-street magistrate did not scruple to impose a fine upon the defendant.

SEVERN SUBMARINE MINING DEFENCES. The General commanding the western district has ordered the work to be done on the 18th, 19th, and 20th inst., instead of the 16th, 17th, and 18th as previously arranged. The work will be carried on under actual service circum- stances, as it would Le in a time of war. The volunteers will parade at six o'clock each mornine, draw thi ir mine cases from the stores, connect them up in groups, and they will then be taken on trollevs to Johnson's wharf, on the side of the Ely river, when they will be slung on the steamers and taken out to the line of do- fence and laid out in their proper positions. The steamer impress will be used as a tender fr the j General and the staff of officers who will attend from the War Office.

THE EMPEROR AND LITERARY TRAINING. The young Emperor of Germany does not think highly of a literary training. He complained, in & speech last week, that excessive study was injur- ing the physical development of the Prussians. In a, highly characteristic passage, he declared that what he wanted was soldiers," and as in Prussia men are drilled to a pattern, just as trousers are made, it is probable that he will get them. There can, however, be no doubt that the military spirit discourages literature. The Germans are patienb investigators and well-skilled in research they are also the best disciplined nation in the world, and the result is that they have no poets, and ery f w imaginative prose writers.