County Observer and Monmouthshire Central Advertiser Abergavenny and Raglan Herald Usk and Pontypool Messenger and Chepstow Argus

THE" TOMB OF ROMULUS." I If the attempt to be an up-to-date archaeologist did not sound like an attempt to achieve the impos- sible, the controversy which arises over each new discovery in the Forum (says the Rome correspon- dent of the Morning Post) would be an amusing study. When the famous Lapis Niger was dis- covered it was at once dubbed the "Tomb of Romulus," on the strength of some of the old commentators. This idea began to be accredited, when an Italian Archaeologist came forward with the theory that the black stone marked the spot when Curtius and his charger leapt fully armed into the yawning gulf. This theory has been seriously supported in a learned pamphlet; but hardly has the pamphlet been printed when the discovery of the conical stones, the ashes and the bones of the sacri- ficial animals, have given rise to another theory- that the black stone covers the spot known as the Regifugium, or the spot where the Priest-King sacrificed to the gods. Yet a fourth theory,' sup- ported by the results of further diggings, now dis- places the Regifugium idea. According to this latest speculation, the black stone covers the spot where great expiatory sacrifices were held as a recon- secration of the Forum either after the expulsion of the Kings or after the desecration of the Forum by the Gauls.

DECREASE OF RABIES. 1 Only 17 cases of rabies in 1898 were detected in the whole of Great Britain as against 151 in 1897, 438 in 1896, and 672 in 1895. Fourteen of the 17 cases occurred during the first half of the year, and two of the remainder prior to October. The single case subject to October occurred in a dog which had been completely isolated by order of the Board of Agriculture, on suspicion of having been in contact with a rabid dog. The figures manifestly support the hope that the disease, and its even more terrible concomitant, hydrophobia, will before long be com- pletely extinguished in this country.

FAMORA. I The Court Circular says: It is some considerable time since anything new in the way of perfumery has been produced, and it has been left to Messrs. John Gosnell and Co., Ltd., proprietors of the ever-popular 4 Cherry Blossom,' to reveal at the Chemists' Exhibi- tion something not only new but exceptionally nice. To describe Famora' is not easy, for it does not re- semble any other perfume, and that feature should ensure its ready acceptance. The best comparison we can make is to compare it to a jjerfect salad, in which no one flavour predominates. Famora' we consider a judicious blend of the most delicate per- fumes, resulting in something that can only be d scribed as exquisite in the extreme. Although it may be heresy to say it, we consider Famora Perfume, Toilet Powder, and Soap superior to 'Cherry Blossom.' The connoisseurs at the Chemists' Exhi- bition were loud in its praises, and in our opinion Famora' will be the scent of the season and for many seasons to come."

THE CANCER SERUM. I The report that two Brussels dectors had suc- ceeded in curing cancer by means of sermtherapy has resulted in an inundation of letters from sufferers from this disease. The doctors will not reply to'tbeso inquiries until they have finished their experiments and have obtained a sufficient number of cures to justify publication of their method. They will then address a report to the Academy of Medicine alone. According the MaiPs Brussels correspondent, it is stated that up to)he present no patient has consented to submit to the treatment till a complete cure has been established, on account of the painful character of the injections.

IT may have been noticed by many people that the dummy clock signs hanging outside jewellers' shops are almost always set at eighteen minutes past eight. Some people say that it is in commemoration of the time the memorable Charge of Balaclava took place others declare it is the exact time of day that her Majesty Queen Victoria was born. These theories would look reasonable perhaps, if true, but on ascer- taining the time of the abcve events, it will be found that neither the memorable charge nor the moment her Majesty was ushered into this world occurred at eighteen minutes past eight. On looking more closely into the case it will be to And that it is the only arrangement upon the dial which will admit of the jeweller's name and address being painted in large letters on it without intersecting the hands, which is submitted as the most plausible reason. Or all the Powders made by art There's none like that of KEATING, From Bugs or Fleas t'will free each part Of Blankets, Rugs, er Sheeting. And when in bed I lay my head His praise I'll be repeating, There is no man in all the world Who's down on Fleas like KEATING. SIR JULIAN SALOMONS has received the following telegram from Mr. George Reid, Premier of New South Wales, in reply to the message conveying the felicitations of the Colonial Party respecting the recent voting on the Federation Question: Sydney, June 28, 1899. Premier desires to thank the members of the House of Commons interested in the Colonies for cordial congratulations on the re- sult of the Federal Referendum."

AFFAIRS IN FRANCE. I RETURN OF CAPTAIN DREYFUS. I After more than four terrible years of exile Captain Dreyfus is once more on French soil. He was landed from the Sfax in the early hours of Saturday morning, being brought ashore in a beating rain at Port Haliguen. The scores of journalists who for the last fortnight had been doing night duty at Rennes and transmitting telegrams more credit- able to their ingenuity than to their professional pro- bity had been (says the Times correspondent) entirely thrown off the scent by the officials entrusted tilth the arrangements f-)r this historic scene. Yet Paris was flooded with "copy from writers pro- testing that they alone were present when Captain Dreyfus landed. Much of this false information must already have travelled round the world. The exact record of what really occurred is of itself sufficiently dramatic to make rhetoric unnecessary in its pre- sentation. Moreover, in all this mass of reporting there is but a single article stating things as they y are. The Matin alone of all the morning papers on Saturday had authentic information as to the place of Captain Dreyfus's arrival, and the Temps was the sole journal in a position to give details of that arrival. M. Henry Ceard, the author, spends his summers on the peninsula of Quiberon at the little port of Port Haliguen, and it is to his initiative in tele- graphing that the Temps owes its distinction in being on this occasion so well informed. He says Dreyfus landed during the night under my windows at Port Haliguen, Quiberon. His arrival did not surprise us, for at six o'clock last evening some fishermen who had come in from the open sea brought news that they had encountered the Sfax. Immediately the entire population, about 150 persons, went down to the quay. An hour- two hours—went by. The Sfax did not arrive. At nine o'clock a closed barouche drawn by two white horses stopped in front of the harbour. M. Viguie, the head of the detective department, alighted. At the same time there appeared from the village a company of the 116th Regiment of the line, which had come from the fort of Penthievre, and numerous gendarmes, who cleared the quay. The weather was terrible. The wind was blowing a gale, and a heavy rain was falling, while the night became darker and darker, and behind the Line of the soldiers the popu- lace became tired of waiting. Eleven o'clock struck, then midnight. We still heard nothing but the whistle of the wind, and beheld no gleam on the sea. The most intrepid inhabitants left the spot. Finally in front of the sea there was no one but the troops, waiting silently in the rain for the end of their task. "At 1.45 a small boat appears. The men bring the boat to land. Dreyfus is in their midst. By the light of a beacon I see him, clad in a waterproof and wearing a soft felt hat. He leaves the boat and between two gendarmes climbs slowly and with a tired air the steps leading up to the quay to the barouche brought by M. Viguié. He gets in, and the troops sur- round the carriage, which moves off, the horses walk- ing, towards the Quiberon Station, a short distance from Port Haliguen. A special train will take Captain Dreyfus to Rennes." Such was the return of Captain Dreyfus to France. As will shortly be seen, he probably knew not even where he was nor whither he was bound. He may have expected to arrive in France acclaimed by his countrymen. He only knew that he was to be tried once more by Court-martial. He had left these shores in a whirlwind ef execration. He returns in a tempest of wind and rain, ignorant of all that has taken place during the last two years. But let us not anticipate. I interrupt the narrative, however, for the moment to give the official account of the events of this historic night, for it confirms what I had already said to the effect that the Sfax was to be met out at sea by a vessel with sealed orders. "M. Viguie, head of the detective department, left Rennes on Friday, not for Paris, nor for Brest, but for the peninsula of Quiberon, where he arrived in the evening. Last night (Friday) at nine o'clock a Government vessel stationed at Lorient, the Caudan, was in Quiberon roads and received orders to make for the west in order to meet the Sfax, which had been signalled by the semaphores. The weather was abominable, and gave ground for fears that the transfer of the prisoner would be impossible. From 9.30 p.m. to 1.30 a.m., the lights of the Caudan and those of the Sfax were seen in the offing, but the two vessels seemed unable to reach each other. On the harbour breakwater, where were MM. Vigui6 and Ilennion, a Paris police commissary, gendarmes, and inspectors of police, the weather was likewise very bad, and it was considered dangerous to send out a boat. At 1.30 a.m. a boat manned by 10 men, urder a naval officer, left the Government ship and re;: he the Sfax off Port Haliguen, Shortly afterwarus this boat returned to the coast, where a company of the 116th Infantry was in waiting under the orders of Captain Sauge. Dreyfus was finally landed and handed over to a Lorieat captain of engineers, a quartermaster, and an officer of gendarmie. The prisoner was then handed over to M. Vigui6, and took his place in a two-horse cirriage brought over from Auray by the detectives. There were three detectives in the carriage." The Figaro correspondent has interviewed M. Viguie, and learned from him that Captain Sauge, the same officer who accompanied Captain Dreyfus to Saint Martin de R6 four years ago, found the prisoner little altered. He seemed uncertain of his footing, as happens after a long voyage, but this was all. He did not speak, but saluted the officials as he passed. A sanitary official protested, wishing to detain him under the quarantine regulations, but M. Vigui6 made short work of this busybody. As the captain passed before M. Viguie he said, Pardon, monsieur," in a quiet, firm voice, and saluted. The special train bringing Captain Dreyfus stopped at 5.30 at a level crossing about two miles from Rennes, where the Prefect was in readiness with four carriages. Captain Dreyfus was put into one with two gendarmes and an officer. The Prefect, M. Viguie,and M. Hennion entered a second,and the police inspectors filled the others. The gendarmes on horseback were placed as escort round the second carriage rather than the first in order to mislead the public. In this order and in these conditions Captain Dreyfus was driven into Rennes, where lie arrived at five minutes past six without the slightest demon- stration of any sort, favourable or hostile. Here let us follow the account given by the Temps reporter The whole thing passed with astonishing rapidity. Nevertheless, the descent of Captain Dreyfus from the carriage was not so quick that we were unable to catch a glimpse of him at the moment when he entered the doorway of the military prison. Captain Dreyfus is not by any means in the lamentable condition which some have recently depicted. I do not pre- tend to say that he did not give me the impression of a man whose health has been affected, psrhaps seriously; but his general appearance and his phy- siognomy seemed to me to denote a man who, though he has suffered, has succeeded in forcing upon himself an incredible power of resis- tance. Anaemic, thin, and bent-that he certainly is; but, though his complexion is tanned, and though he may seem blcodless under his bronzed skin, he gave when he drew him- self up and planted his foot firmly on the pave- ment the impression of a man whose energy, character, and force of will had overcome his physical weaknesses. His step remains firm and his eyes are still keen, but a short, fair beard in- clined to reddish changes the appearance on the face which I saw on the terrible day of his degrade- tion. His hair is greyer, but he does not seem to have much aged. Captain Dreyfus wore a blue suit and a grey overcoat, and the brim of his suft felt hat was turned down so as to hide his face." Some particulars may here be given of his voyage. The Sfax left Cayenne on June 10, and stopped on the 18th at Cape St. Vincent in order to coal. There Captain Coffinieres de Nordeck received telegraphic instructions to land the prisoner at Port Haliguen and to reach it at nine p.m. on the 30th. This was accordingly done, but the Caudan was two hours in discovering the lights of the Sfax. Captain Dreyfus occupied an officer's cabin. Nobody was allowed to speak to him; he himself scarcely uttered a word, and he had to write for anything he wanted. In the daytime he was allowed to walk on the bridge, two sailors watching him. At night a sentry was posted at the door of his cabin. He had a fair appetite, and expressed great delight on learning that he was about to land. The Sfax has gone on to Brest, where Captain Coffinieres de Nordeck has furnished some further details. Dreyfus, he says, stoops a little, has become balder, and has aged a little, but is in good spirits. On his departure from Cayenne lie seemed broken down, but this was from having been very seasick in the boat which took him from the He de Diablfl. ThA nnt.A-bnnlr of an officer describes him as scorntul and sarcastic. At nine a.m. on June 9 he went on board the Sfax with a firm step, gave the military salute, was conducted to the cabin, undressed, and went to bed. On awaking, he wrote a letter in a firm hand and signed Captain Dreyfus," asking what the regulations were for the voyage. "There is extraordinary energy," says the captain, in this man, and during 20 days he gave no sign of weakness." His promenades were from nine o'clock to ten, eleven to noon, and five to six, but the captain humanely lengthened these a little, and during the two days' stay at St. Vincent allowed him to sit under an awning on the second bridge. He could go to bed when he chose, but the nine o'clock promenade was compulsory and was preceded by the doctor's visit. The cabin contained a bed, toilet-table, and cupboard, and he made his own bed. He was allowed to smoke. Lieutenant Champagnac gave fcim the first information that he would be tried over again. He did not move a muscle, and was very reserved. He said, however: "I have no grudge against anybody," and he added that he should be glad to re-enter the army, which he had never ceased to love. H< did not utter a word respecting his trial. His self-control astonished all the officers. He spent his time in reading. Lieutenant Cham- ( pagnac lent him books. In a letter written when returning a book on the colonies he expressed an opinion respecting the Mekong, and a few hours before landing he returned a book unread, saying that it was dry. He did not know where he was to land. Dreyfus did not speak, but wept while in the train. On Dreyfus's arrival at Rennes the prefect sent word to Mme. Dreyfus that she could see him that morning. Accordingly, at half-past eight, her father, mother, and brother walked with her to the prison. She alone was admitted to his cell on the first storey, and she remained till 10.15. A captain of gendarmerie was present, but discreetly kept at a distance. She is said to have found him less altered than she ex- pected, but she seemed much dejected on leaving the prison. She paid a second y'sit in the afternoon, but future visits are limited to three a week. M. Zola's new trial, which had been fixed for the 14th, will be postponed for three months, his counsel, M. Labori, having to defend Dreyfus. M. Coppee, M. Barres, M. Forain, M. Lemaitre, and other friends of M. Dereulede's offered him a banquet at St. Cloud, in which he delivered a charac- teristic speech attacking Parliamentarism. Even supposing," he said, that the traitor Dreyfus is not a traitor, what other regime than ours would have allowed the hideous leprosy to poison the blood of an entire people ? In what other country under what other Government, would the solution have been so long delayed ? If none of us has tried to obstruct ex-Captain Dreyfus's return to be tried by his military judges it is because we have no doubt of the loyalty, the independence, an& the honour of the officers of our army. We are ready to regard their verdict as definitive, but it is necessary that all the consequences of this ferdict should be drawn. If Dreyfus is admitted to be innocent, no chastisement is terrible enough, no pillory infamous enough for all the Ministers, civil and military, who have accused Dreyfus or allowed him to be accused of a crime which he did not commit. All reprisals would be excusable, or tortures legitimate, and as for the martyr, their victim, there are no honours great enough, no rehabilitation complete enough for him. A verdict of not guilty should be not only an acquittal but an exaltation; it will be an apotheosis. Only, no secrets, no reticences. No more interven- tions of the foreigner; none of those shameful menaces of declarations of war." A PKINCEIjY INVITATION. Captain Dreyfus was on Monday visited in the prison at Rennes by his lawyers, Maitres Demange pd Labori. The former described the prisoner as looking better than he expected, and said there were but few signs of the sufferings he has undergone. The two advocates informed the prisoner of the main points of his case of which he has been kept in ignorance. Captain Dreyfus is stated to have ex- pressed himself confident of his acquittal by the court-martial. The decision of the Court of Cassa- tion granting a revision of his trial was formally notified to him by the Government Commissary on Monday. The Prince of Monaco has written to Madame Dreyfus inviting her husband to stay at his summer palace at the close of his trial. PROBABLE DATE OF TUB TRIAL. The middle of August is now spoken of as the pro- bable" date for the trial of Captain Dreyfus. The Chambers were on Tuesday prorogued for the sum- mer recess. Me. Labori had long conferences with Captain Dreyfus on Tuesday, and the last named has been placed in possession of the verbatim report of the proceedings before the Court of Cassation and of the volumes of evidence connected with the Zola and Esterhazy cases. It is stated that the prisoner's memory is becoming clearer regarding the events of four years ago, and that he is gradually comprehending the meaning of a variety of new facts which had hitherto been quite unknown to him. During one of the interviews with his wife he declared that while suffering from fever at Devil's Island in 1896 he was kept for two months in chains, and that letters forwarded by him to his counsel were never delivered, while those sent by his family to him were withheld for months.

THE PASSION PLAY. All the actors for the chief parts of the Oberam- mergau play have not yet been chosen, but the lingers have been selected, and are practising dili- gently, in conjunction with the musicians. Accord- ing to the Standard's Berlin correspondent, the part of Christ will be performed, as before, by Anton Lang. Workmen are actively employed on the new buildings which the Committee have decided to erect. The auditorium is being covered with an iron roof of not less than 45 metres span, at a cost of fully 150,000 marks.

TROOPS FOR THE TRANSVAAL. I Of course, it is sincerely to be hoped that the pre- sent tension between this country and the Transvaal will not result in war; but should that unfortunate state of things be brought about, two things will at once (says the Morning Post) become evident, viz., the absolute inaccuracy of the reports as to the despatch of infantry regiments from England to South Africa as reinforcements and the state of the home battalions, which is both the cause and the proof of the impossibility of despatching reinforce- ments from home in the shape of whole battalions. There is not an infantry regiment of the Line at home at the present time con- taining 250 soldiers fit to take the field in a campaign, and there is consequently not one infantry regiment at home which could be sent abroad relying on its present composition. If it should be decided to send one or two regiments to the Cape it can only be done by depleting several other regiments of the only men in them fit to set an example to the young recruits who are continually joining the ranks. After all that has been done by the Government during the last two or three years, our home army is still in a most miserable condition so far as fitness for fighting is concerned. If reinforcements have to be sent out the opportunity will arise, should the authorities prefer that method of testing for the first time the new arrangement by which 5000 of the least rusty of the Army Reserve may be called on to rejoin the Colours, but it is more than probable that the necessary troops will be collected from Indian and Mediterranean stations, which, moreover, would be far the wisest plan, for in that case each regiment would be a homogeneous whole instead of a con- glomeration of detachments hastily thrown together and absolutely unknown to one another. It is to be hoped that Majuba will not be forgotten, and that it has been held by many that one cause of the disaster was that the hill was occupied by detach- ments from several regiments instead of by the full strength of one only.

M. HOLT SCHOOLING, of Brussels, says Chambers's Journal, has been calculating the age to which a human being may reasonably expect to live. His calculation, however, is only applicable to cases in which the ages r inge between 12 and 86. The method is really an old one, and was originally discovered by the Mathematician Demoivre, who in 1865 emigrated from France to England, and became a member of the Royal Society. The rule is this; Subtract your present age from 86, divide the remainder by two, and the result will give the number of years which you may expect to live. The rule represents the nearest solution of an insoluble problem at which we can arrive.

QUEEN'S FIRST RAILWAY JOURNEY. Queen Victoria (says the Penny Magazine) took her firt trip by railway on June 13, 1842, and not before Prince Albert had already made several trial trips, on one occasion expostulating with the engine driver "Not quite so fast another time, if you please," fast" being considerably under 20 miles an hour. The eventful day on which the Queen took her first railway journey, the engine was driven by Dan Gooch, afterwards known as Sir Daniel Gooch, add, in an interesting diary published after his death, the famous engineer wrote: In nearly all cases I took charge of the engine myself when the Queen travelled, and I have been so fortunate as never to have a single delay with her, and she has travelled undet my care a good many miles."

I SENTENCE you to attend Sunday-school and church for the next eipht Sundays, or go to prison for 21 days." The speaker was the Mayor of Bowl- ing Green, Ohio, and the prison3r was a lad of 13, who has been in gaol several times already. The boy accepted the milder "punishment," with the under- standing that if he missed an attendance he would undergo three full weeks' imprisonment. r- t,

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I THE POTATO CROP. In some parts of the country the potatoes look- exceedingly good. In spite of the dry weather the plants have kept in good health, and have grown sturdily, giving good signs of a fine grade crop later on. There can be no doubt (says the Fruit Grower) that we shall, provided nothing unusual happens, have a really good yield of tubers in the coming season, and we see little fear of any- thing arising now to induce disease. Though the dry weather does not suit all plants, it is good for the potato, and as a result we look forward to a very clean, healthy, and satisfactory yield. In Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, the potato fields are in fine con- dition, and growers express themselves highly satisfied with the condition of the plants at present.

INTERVENTION IN DIVORCE SUITS. It is a matter of common knowledge that the Queen'* Proctor can and often does intervene in a divorce suit to prevent a decree nisi being made absolute; but most people are probably not aware that, under Sec- tion 7 of the Divorce Act, 1860, any stranger to the suit has a right of intervention us a member of the public. He runs the risk, however, as the Law Journal points out, of having to pay the costs of his inter- vention, over which the Matrimonial Causes Act, 1878,. gives the Court entire discretion; and in a recent. casejin which a friend of the respondent failed entirely to justify his intervention, the Court gave the- petitioner his costs as between solicitor and client.

M. HANOTATJX, a former French Minister for Foreign Affairs, has been giving some significant' advice to a correspondent on the subject of emigra- tion. He does not speak highly of the French Colonies. They are undesirable from a climatic point of view, they are too young, and a colonist can- not hope to get on without capital. Looking over the colonies of other countries, M. Hanotaux advises his correspondent to go to Canada, of which he speaks in very high terms. The Canadians are supposed to be very touchy with respect to references to their climate, bat the declarations on this subject of the ex-Minister should make M. Hanotaux very populai in the Dominion. ::¡"

FRY'S "PURE CONCENTRATED" COCOA MAINTAIN8 ITS PRE'EMINENOE MVLIGHT AND NOURISHING DRINK, bright brwl^.FR^-rUM-CoScENTRATET).

THE situation In tne xransvaai 18 reported to De quiet. Another Green Book has been issued at Pretoria, giving all the latest communications between Mr. Chamberlain and President Kruger. A fund for the relief of destitution at Johannesburg has been started. Mr. Cecil Rhodes sailed for the Cape on Saturday. Two fresh cases of the plague and one death are' reported from Alexandria. THE North German Lloyd Company has decided to build a twin-screw steamship faster than the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, which now holds the record between Southampton and New York. IT is reported that King Menelik of Abyssinia is making preparations to visit the Paris Exhibition next year. A RECiPRoerrr Treaty between the United Statea and Jamaica has now been concluded, and has been forwarded to Kingston for the upproyal of the Colonial authorities A "1''7.¿ :r r

OUR LONDON CORESPONDENT, I The Honourable Artillery Company—<vliich, as the direct descendant of the old tr-ain-- "bands," claims to be the oldest vohnforce in the country—has had the disfeignishen honour of being reviewed by the Qaeen hemslf at Windsor. The high favour in which this body is held in the most exalted circles is suffi- ciently attested by the fact that the Prince of Wales is its Captain-General, and it was in that capacity that he rode at its feead before the venerable Sovereign. A chronicle of three hundred years is a very long one for a volun- teer force, and it is rendered the more signifi- cant by the fact that its still-flourishing child, the Honourable Artillery Company of Boston, Massachusetts, has a history of more than two centwriea. The City of London is proud, indeed, of this fine body of men, who, whether in the artillery or the infantry are the very pick of its younger and more active citizens; and no modern poet is likely to follow the example of the creator of John Gilpin, and to indulge in a sneer at a train band captain." The monarch might well be proud as she saw such a force defile before her; and the renewed prosperity which, after some temporary difficulties, has been the lot of the Honourable Artillery Company, cannot but be strengthened and maintained by this personal compliment from the Queen. At the beginning of July holiday hints begin most appropriately to appear in the newspapers, and these are accompanied by more than usually frequent references to the weather. As far as London was concerned, June went out in the midst of heavy rain, and it was amid thunderstorms and whirling showers that July came in. It is always, however, to be remembered that July is likely to be a broken month "in point of weather, for its average rainfall in the metro- Eolis is two-and-a-half inches, or more than alf-an-inch beyond that of June—a fact most probably accounted for by the'greater frequency of thunderstorms. As for the holiday hints," there is no mistaking their tendency to suggest that English folk should go further afield. Cycling in Sweden, for instance, is becoming almost as fashionable in certain circles as mountain-climbing in the Alps, while this latter pursuit nowadays draws many to the Carpa- thians and even the Caucasus. It is easy to censure this increasing tendency to go abroad for a holiday, if only the purely patriotic view is adopted; but there is much to be said on the other side, and not least from the point of view of relative cheapness, in which respect a Con- tinental tour has marked phases of advan- tage. This is'a matter which is incidentally touched by a suggestion that is just nowjeceiving attention to the effect that there is a wide field open for cheaper inns for cyclists. It is well known, of course, that already the Cyclists' Touring Club obtains for its members a reduction In the charges of the best country hostelries, but the idea is that this might be carried further if, in towns and villages which have a stream of cycle tourists passing through them, plain and simple inns could provide the plain and simple eating and sleeping accommodation required. One of the best things about cycling is that it enables all classes to get about the country freely and easily but the cost of staying out the night has either shortened or spoiled many an excursion on the wheel. Whether the idea now put forward is capable of being brought into practical application has yet to be tested, but no harm can be done by ventilating it, for it is only by public discussion that any change in the present system is ever likely to be effected. The permanence of "the confidence trick as a method of petty swindling, despite its inherent absurdity and frequent exposure, is proof in itself of how ready the world is to be robbed; and a notice issued two or three days ago from New Scotland Yard gives further Eroof of the truth. It appears that not far ■om three years ago the Commissioner of Metropolitan Police wrote to the London papers, warning the public against the action of certain classes of criminals. In that docu- ment prominence was given to the case of men who commit larcenies in houses, to which they gain access on the pretence of examining tele- graph or other electric wires, water cisterns, ventilating pipes, and the like. But although the warning has been more than once repeated it has had this week to be echoed, because experience proves to the police authorities that any plausible story suffices to excuse for the thieves the fullest opportunity to ransack a house; but they now suggest that any house- holder who would admit the rascal of this par- ticular type, and then quietly but immediately send for the police, would render a good service to the community. Innocent folk who know naught of the wiles of London may consider the sug- gestion of the Commissioner of Police to be uncalled for, but those of us who have to dwell within the limits known to our forefathers as the hills of mortality," will have a different opinion. The ways of the house- thief are many, and at this season of the year the very simplest of all appear to be the most effective. Many householders, and especially the younger and least experienced of them, leave their dwellings for a week or a fortnight's holiday, merely locked up and without a care- taker of any kind. There are always a number thieves on the look out for this kind of house, and their usual plan is to send a female con- federate in advance to knock at the dooi or ring the bell. If, by any chance, they have miscal- culated and there is someone on the premises this woman has needles or tapes to sell; but if she finds, according to their expectations, no one at home, the male thieves take advantage of the earliest darkness to raid the house. The trick is as old as the hills, but it is always succeeding in town. No one who has recently been travelling through Kent could mistake the growing place of a very large proportion of the strawberries that within the past fortnight have been coming in large quantities into the London market. Those which have most recently been pouring in have been of English growth, Kent, as has been indicated, taking the lead in the supply. Not only is the soil of that county admirably adapted to the growth of our most delicious fruit, but the cultivation is continually expand- ing there, especially under glass, which gives an advantage of about a month, as compared with the open field. Experts note, however, that an immense cultivation has also, during the past few years, been developing at Sambury-green, near Southampton, while Essex likewise has been adopting the culture of this particular fruit. It is averred that few crops are steadier or more to be depended upon, apart from liability to drought, than the strawberry; and, although this liability is a very serious one, it is to be noted that a com- pany in Essex which had taken the precaution —and gone to the expense—of irrigating its land, is said to have picked last year the vast quantity of eight tons of fruit a day, a result which may be hoped to have been handsomely profitable. Henley Royal Regatta has marked the close of this week for the boat-loving as well as the fashionable Londoner, and the popularity of this time-honoured fixture evidently remains undiminished. There is no regatta exactly like Henley, and assuredly none in which the admirers of the upper reaches of the Thames takes more joy. There is more than ever in these times of the lover of that portion of "the river," and this is a fact, which in itself has its drawbacks. Time was when it was possible to enjoy boating on Ttos-Tiios without being unduly orowded; but a proof that that time is gone has been afforded by the fact that the Thames Conserva- tors have felt under the necessity of recently erecting a stout iron fencing around Moulsey Locfc, because of the hindrance to the lock- keepers caused by the waiting crowds on the banks. A protest has been made against this I action as an interference with the picturesque, but business is business, and Moulsey Lock is now enclosed. B. I

NEWS NOTES. IN cricket there is nothing certain save the uncertainty of cricket. Never was this more exemplified than in the third of this season'* series of Anglo-Australian test matches, which came to an abortive conclusion on Friday night (for not a ball was bowled on Saturday), Oil the pleasant Headingley ground at Leeda. Two of the finest batsmen in the whole world— Sid Gregory and Montague Noble of the Antipodean team were dismissed without scoring in either innings and England's most reputable batsmen did but moderately during their single spell at the creases. The bowlers almost always held the upper hand on the rain- affected pitch; and it is by no means certain that the representatives of the Old Country would have triumphed had they batted on Saturday afternoon, though the advantage on paper was certainly theirs. But the wicket was absolutely ruined, and an indecisive" draw" was the result. Young and Hearne made the most of their oppor- tunities in the bowling department, and so did Trumble for the matter of that; but apart from the fine forcing innings of Worrall at the com- mencement for the Cornstalks and the splendid all-round play of Lilley, the Middlesex bowler's feat of performing the hat-trick formed the most notable incident of the encounter. It is the first time the feat has been accomplished in an international match in England, though Billy" Bates and the demon Spoffortn have both done it in Aus- tralia. England must now win both the Man- chester and Oval matches—which is more than we can confidently expect them to do-to get the better of our visitors. It is satisfactory to note that they held their own at Leeds, after the severe thrashing they received awhile back at Lord's and the unfavourable draw at Trent Bridge. MUCH sympathy is expressed with" Johnny" Briggs, the popular member of the Lancastrian team who fell ill after one day's bowling and fielding for England, and became so gravely indisposed as to occasion general alarm. His painful epileptic seizure followed a blow over the heart region received in the Yorkshire and Lancashire match early last week. Briggs is of the most highly-strung nervous tempera- 'ment imaginable, and plays with his whole soul. He was particularly anxious to dis- tinguish himself in this test match, as he has done in so manyi that have foregone; and, having been chosen, he strained every muscle and faculty to the utmost to quit himself like the grand little cricketer he is. "Johnny "is not so young as he was once, and he broke down under the ordeal. He was worried ment- ally over home affairs, apart from the stress of the srame, for his wife is frail and ill, and his children down with fever. Happily Briggs is- as we write-reported to be on the high road to recovery, but he will require to guard care- fully for the future against tension of every kind. CAPTAIN DREYFUS has been placed in a military prison at Rennes, there to await the new trial which France will give him. Thus we have arrived at the first stage of what may be a revision and a rehabilitation: but do what she will to the 'long-incarcerated exile of the Devil's Isle, France can never now wipe out the ignominy which has been in- flicted upon the unfortunate artilleryman and make amends for his wrongs. There is something farcical about the re-trial, for all save blind believers in the General Staff of the French Army have long ago made up their minds concerning the case. Nowhere save in France could such a travesty of justice as the Dreyfus case presents have occurred. DISCONTENT reigns amongst the Uitlanders of the Transvaal still, and nothing decisive has been done on their behalf. Perhaps before many days have gone the Raad may have made a move savouring of willingness to give heed to the clamour for reasonable reform— perhaps not. We must await the course of events. MR. CECIL RHODES has returned to South Africa, hopeful as to the future of the great interests he fathers there. He is a man of as much resource and energy as he is of bold adventure, and his bright lexicon knows no such word as fail." He may yet live to solve the problems which have puzzled all who would develope the Dark Continent." SOCIALISM is uglily aggressive in Belgium and elsewhere on the Continent at this present. The riots in Brussels recently were sufficiently disconcerting, and now comes news of grave disturbances in Barcelona and Valentia as well as other parts of Spain. The political situation in Italy is also far from tranquil, and Parlia- ment has had to be prorogued owing to the violence with which the new publip safely laws have been resisted. We may be on the eve of a great Socialistic outbreak. The portents are dark.

LAUNCING AT THE LIZARD. I r lizard visitors can always (says the Morning I HtraM) find plenty to do in the daytime during the summer. With boating, bathing, fishing, visiting the many points of interest, and watching the vast Channel traffic their time is fully occupied. In the evening after dinner few care to remain in their apartments. For an evening's pastime of a highly novel and enjoyable kind, nothing can surpass a right's launcing." The launce is a kind of sand eel of most delicate flavour, with a skin bright as bur- nished silver, averaging in length from 6in. to 12in., which is to be found embedded a few inches in the sands of the various sea beaches, and the modus operandi of its capture is by scratching in the sand with a launce-hook," a small steel implement with a wooden handle, made locally at a cost of a few pence, until an obstruction is felt, then on drawing up the hook the fish is drawn to the surface, captured, and placed in a basket carried for the purpose. The proper time for this sport is at dead low water, when the moon is at the full. The sea then recedes much lower than at any other time, leaving a large expanse of white, glistening sand. The scene in these sandy coves is then fairy- like, the bright moon above casting its clear white light on the rippling sea, the sands illuminated as with a powerful electric light, the little poolsshin- ing like mirrors let here and there into the rocks and crannies, every detail of the high, frowning cliffs around clearly depicted in the silvery light—all help tc to make up a scene of exquisite grandeur and beauty. Presently, perhaps, one of the big ocean liners will pass and signal with pyrotechnic light to the signal- station. Often launcing is made the excuse for mid- night picnics, and very enjoyable they are.

Is the new issue of the London Directory no less than nine pages are devoted to recording the names and the titles of the Smiths. IT is understood that Sir Arthur Collins, Chief Justice of the High Court of Madras, will shortly resign that appointment. ECiimëR heels are to be attached to the shoes worn by French soldiers. It is claimed that they decrease ht fatigue of marching. death is announced at Simla of Sir Ram the Commander-in-Chief of the native forces of Kashmir. j

SUMMER AND ITS PERILS. I The heat of summer, and its mild, relaxing weather, are often more dangerous to children and adults than is commonly supposed. Profuse perspiration and the use of cold or effervescing drinks impoverish the blood, and the patient is, as it were, starved. If any natural weakness exists, the system will break dow. at that point; or a general relaxation and langujp may set in almost unnoticed. Mrs. Christopher, of Sleaford House, Hitchin-hill, Hitchin, told the following story to a reporter who called upon her the other day. The subject of the conversation was her daughter, Mabel Christopher, Mabel Christopher. (Front a photograph.) aged nine ye a r a. Up to last sum- mer this little girl had at- tended school regularly, but about July last year she lost power in her limbs, and one day they gave way so that she fell dowLt in the street. She was put to bed, and there she remained for many weeks, for the use of her legs was soon ent ireh lost. She became gradually thin and pale, and was paralysed all over. Her mother, however, had read in the papers of the good which had been effected in cases of paralysis by the use of Dr. Williams' pink pills for pale people, and she determined to try them. Mabel was still getting worse. when the use of the pills was begun last August. Before she had taken the first box-a box lasted a good while-as she only had half a pill at a time-she had got over the worst, and gradually but surely began to mend. Three or four boxes of pills in all were taken, and it was in Novem- ber when the little patient first got out of doors after her long illness. It was generally thought," said Mrs. Christopher, that she would never get well. She could not bear to keep her legs straight, and I thought at first it was rheumatism. Her blood also was entirely out of order. She has not taken any medicine besides these pills, and now she is as well as ever she was, and is going to school as usual; she does not look like the same girl." This is an instance where an actual illness was caused by summer heat; in other cases, as we have said, there may be only a general debility and signs of runni ng down. A cure, or a safeguard which is better, will be found in Dr. Williams' pink pills for pale people—the pills with Dr. Williams' name on the wrapper, not a substitute—and the same remedy may be confidently recommended for anosmia, weak- ness, St. Vitus' dance, rheumatism, paralysis, and consumption. If substitutes are offered, the genuine pills may always be obtained of Dr. Williams' Medicine Company, Holborn-viaduct, London—price two shillings and ninepence, postage free.

I A BIU BLAST. In the 23rd annual report of her Majesty's In- spectors of Explosives, just issued, special mention is made of a big blast that was carried out on the 7th December at the quarries of the Welsh Granite Com- pany (Limited) at Trevor. The quarry is situated 600 feet above the sea level, and the bank to be operated upon was 100 feet high. The plan of opera- tion consisted in driving one heading 53 feet long, about 15 feet above the level of the bank; another heading, 23 feet long, to the left from this, and with a chamber at the end, and a third, 29 feet long to the right, but nearer the mouth of the first heading also with a chamber at the end. The chambers were charged with 63 tons of gunpowder, two high tension fuses being placed in each chamber, together with duplicate fases in case of missfire, and connected with a cable for firing, which was done by means of a small Siemen's dynamo of 400 volts. Eighty thousand tons of rock were displaced, and another 20,000 tons loosened by the explosion. The report adds that it is proposed to carry out a larger blast at ,-he same quarries this summer.