South Wales Echo

SOUTH WALES TIDE TABLE. I CARDIFF* SWANSEA.t NKWPOK'J J ;nov. — Mor.,Evn.|HRt.jMor.jEvn. Hgt.|Mor.|«»n jHgt. 5 Mil 29, — 24 910 Mil 15 23 611 42 — 25 2 6 T 0 41 0 45 24 211 51! — j23 8 0 1 0 58 24 7 7 W 1 26 2 724 5, 0 30 1 1023 10 1 39 2 2024 10 8 '1 2 46 3 19 25 8! 1 48 2 2124 11 2 59 3 32 26 1 9 F 3 47 4 11 27 9 2 50 3 15 26 5 4 0 4 24 28 2 10 S 4 34 4 56 29 10 3 38 4 0 27 10 4 47 5 9 30 3 11 S 5 16 5 37,32 0 4 20 4 4129 3 5 29 5 5032 5 12 M 5 56 6 17 33 8 5 1 5 22 30 9 6 9 6 3034 1 *Ro,Ltli It-.tsiii tPii:ic<*of Wales Dk tAlexandra l)k.

TO ADVEKTISEKS. The South Wales Echn is GUARANTEED te have a Larger Circulation than that rf ALL tlif) 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 GREATER than that of any other Evening Paper. ItOGER,S' AR ALES AND PORTERS IN Wt GALLON CASKS and UPWARDS :FROM 10D PER GALLON, 24e BREWERY, BRISTOL. CARDIFF STORES, 9, WORKING-STREET.

The Man About I own. It may be taken for granted that the Library Association of the United Kingdom will visit Cardiff in September next and hold its Annual Session in our midst. The Free Library Committee has extended an invita- tion to the Association and now ask the co- operation of the Town Council and the College Authorities to make the visit a success. The Corporation will discuss the subject to-morrow, or, at. any rate, the members are asked on the agenda of the meeting to pass a resolution on the subject. Before the date of the assembly the magnificent building in the Hayes and the alterations to the old portion will be com- plete, so that the visit of the Librarians of the country will serve to mark the year of the opening of a Free Library and Reading Room worthy of the town. I am convinced that the Reading and Reference Rooms in the new Free Library building will be a complete surprise to the great majority of the residents when the building is opened some time about March next. Happy thought it will then be used for its proper and legitimate purposes. The news- room will contain no quiet corners, no semi- secret alcoves for the sleepers, the loafers, and the begging-letter writers. There will be no room, no place for them, so that when a reader visits the institution to see a magazine or weekly periodical he may go with the certainty of getting it, and within a quarter of an hour if it is in use when lie gets there. He will no longer find an old fogey soundly asleep with his head on a monthly and his elbows engaging two or three weeklies. No! the sleeper, the loafer, the unclean will be banished the new building and bidden never mis- use a public institution again. It will be worth something to attain this. In the present news-room, overcrowded and strangely constructed, the loafer, the sleeper, and the begging-letter writers are supreme-in the new building Mr Balhnger will be able to have his way, and the news- room attendant will have his say in regulating the loungers and the unfit. Mr Ballinger and Minerva are presently to pro- duce order from chaos The Library Association of the United Kingdom was founded at a conference of Librarians held in London in October, 1887, the then Librarian of the British Museum, John Winter Jones, being the president of the conference. The main object of the Association was stated to be to unite all persons engaged or interested in library work for the purpose of pro- moting the best possible administration of existing libraries and the formation of new ones where desirable. Stress was laid on the importance of the encouragement of bibliographical research. Since the Associ- ation came into existence, and largely owing to its influence, the whole administration of public libraries has undergone a complete change. Every detail of library work has been discussed by the members at various times, with the result that the working and management of libraries have been improved and great economy in administration effected. Every detail of work, from the making of paste to the cataloguing of the British Museum, has been dealt with. The Association has visited almost every large centre in the British Isles and Paris. It has been all over the country in its peregrinations, but never to Wales. It has never been in the West of England except at Plymouth. The hard-headed, far-seeing man of business will be looking by this time for an answer to the query, What advantage to Cardiff is such a visit as this likely to be T Well, directly and indirectly very great. It will develop in the Borough a feeling in favour of the Free Library, and when the citizens take a proper and an intelligent interest in its educa- tional institution, that will be no mean acquisition. It will be a very good event with which to celebrate the opening of the new building. Then again the Library Association rarely visits a town without leaving behind it a valuable legacy of local literary and bibliographical and antiquarian history, in the form of papers read at its sittings. The visit of the Association will give a necessary and welcome fillip to the Free Library movement. Nothing has given me more pleasure during the past few years than to observe the growing in. terest taken in the Free Library and the Branch Reading Rooms. It was thought;, < ) and with some reason, that the formation of branches would rob the Central Institution of interest and support. Instead of that the Branches have infused a new spirit of progress into the whole work. The provi- sion of the Branches has made it a ward question, and Councillors show more sympathy with the work. Thus there has been brought about a complete change in the attitude of the Corporation towards the Free Library movement. There is only one thing I fear about the coming visit of the Association, and that is that Mr Ballinger will be worked to death. The arrangement of the new building and the re-arrangement of the old portion will cause unknown quantities of work and thoughtful planning. Then comes the Association immediately on top of this But somehow the busiest men have always the most time for extras." I am reminded that the balloting for the priority of booking seats for the series of concerts given by the Cardiff Musical Society will take place at the Park-hall on Saturday afternoon, and that all applica- tions received up to that day will participate in the ballot. The Society have laid themselves out to improve on all previous efforts, and already a good deal of interest centres upon the perform- ance of Elijah at the first concert to be given on December 5th. The chorus, which is stronger than last year, has made excellent progress with the work, and the orchestra has already been engaged. The orchestra has been strengthened somewhat in the strings, and everything leads to the anticipation of a fine performance of the work, with Norman Salmond, the great baritone, as the Prophet. An important change has been made in the programme of the second concert of the series. A new work has been submitted to and accepted by the committee written by Dr. Reid, organist of Chichester. It is a short work for soprano solo and chorus, lasting about twenty minutes, and is entitled, "The Song of Hannah." The work is dedicated to the Cardiff Musical Society, and will be conducted by the composer. It will take the place at the second concert of Dr. Hubert Parry's Blest Pair of Sirens," which will be placed in the programme for the third concert of the series. The addition of a new work to the already attractive programmes of the Cardiff Musical Society increases the interest in the ballet for priority of seatR. The Conversazione and Dance is arranged to be held in the Park Hall on Friday week. + One of my Poets' Company sends me some verses on The Cry of the Sweated Poor." I know not whether he intends to dedicate them to the pauper who went nameless to his final resting place from the Merthyr Workhouse, but it. is a doleful ditty. He strikes his lyre in a minor key, and ends with a sad wail, after apostrophising the glorious day of free- dom." 0, glorious day of freedom, When shall we greet thy rrorn, When shall thy dazzling splendour Beam o'er ourjivea forlorn o sun. 10nk rhwn upon our woe, En^gi.t'ii Miisj^dark age, Exp.-5- tho wrong of tyruuis foul, Who Skvent tii'- w(J¡-J{(r6' wae. Shine to the darkest depth of woe To light its secrets ban., R-veiil to justice and to right How earth's poor children fare. Trod down by wealth and haughty prid?, Our lives are lIot OlJr own. In fi'gpring tuil of head and limb We wecxy sigh and A"rUlu) To iid hath aye no scant relief, No rest from years of pain, Within the dreary workhouse walls We seek for rest in vain. Within the quiet, mouldy grave Is found our only rest, Soon shall we lie within its fosse, Piy deep oblivion hiest There toils and troubles all are o'er, Pain, sickness gone for eye There we no more shall to see, Life's dreary, grinding day. The Miners' Permanent Society have summoned a meeting for Sa'urday of repre- sentatives of the various funds collected for sentatives of the various funds collected fur the Albion sufferers. They are still deter- mined to sweep as much of the public sub- scriptions into the Society coffers as possible and risk the legal difficulties. For, after all, possession is nine points of the law. What should be guarded against is that this be not made another successful attempt to bag or grab the funds which have been con- tributed by the public primarily to assist the widows and orphans. The Society can tell a plausible tale, and no doubt will try to get hold of a good portion of the money as a return for acting as distributor. For instance, the Society distributed the Llanerch Fund and received for their trouble one-half of the proceeds. They will, no doubt, try to get hold of the independent Albion Funds in the same way, but this should be pre- vented. The cost of distribution is heavy, but this is too great a price to pay. I repeat again, let the Widow and the Orphan have first consideration and the fullest means of justice. It is their right! The large audience which assembled at the Park-hall last night on the occasion of the Cardiff Orchestral Society's first concert'of the season was a magnificent compliment to every member and performer of the society It was a wretched night climatically, yet every part of the Park-hall was filled with an appreciative audience. The programme was one of the best and most varied ever put before a Cardiff audience, and every portion of it was successful. There was not one serious hitch during the whole evening, though most of the items in the programme were exacting to the performers. The orchestra acquitted itself more than creditably, playing with precision and with confidence. Trifling faults there were with one portion of the orchestra, but perfection is only found among professionals. This was very small. however, and only served to accentuate one's admiration for the general performance. Mr Grover, and Miss Ella Russell charmed the audience with their singing. Mi George Riseley received rounds of applause for his performance on the organ, though when accompanied by the orchestra I was struck by the inadequacy of the building for such a work as Prout's fine organ concerto. The Park Hall is too small for such a perform- ance. What a tribute is this to the town's growth, musically.

I Echoes of the Week. BY GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA. The long-expected death of the Czar Alexander I III. has been the cause of more excited interest throughout Europe than I can remember to have bpen shown since the decease, early in the winter of 1855, of the Czar Nicolas I., shortly after the Battle of Inkerman. The Emperor, with a touch of grim humour, had remarked that possibly the most formidable commander whom the allied armies would have to encounter in the Crimea would be Le General Fevrier." Shortly after the news of the demise of Nicolas arrived in London, John Tenniel drew in Punch a splendid cartoon with the motto, "General Fevrier turned Traitor." A skeleton in martial panoply was laying his icy band on the "Autocrat of All the Ruasias." Ib has been my lot to set eyes on no less than four Russian Czars. The Emperor Nicolas I I beheld once, at Ascot Races, when I was a small boy. The only impression I preserve of him is I that of a giant in a tightly-buttoned body-coat. His son, Alexander II., I saw in St. Petersburg in 1856, just before bis coronation at Moscow. Again did I witness his landing at Dover just after the marriage of his daughter to the Duke of Edinburgh and from a gallery in the St. George's HalJ, Windsor Castle, I saw the great banquet at which the Czar was entertained by the Queen. I was not to see him again until be was lyiug dead in his coffin in the cathedral of the fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul in 1881. The Czar, who is just dead, I saw crowned in the Kremlin at Moscow on the 27th May, 1883, and at that magnificent pageant the Czarevitch, now Nicolas 11., was, of course, present. Nihilist conspiracies were rife at the time, but it was whispered about in society that no attempt would be made on the life of the new Czar until the Czarevitch came of age, but befoie the year was out the Nihilists had managed to assassinate the chief of the secret police at St. Petersburg, and scores of conspirators had been arrested and sent to Siberia. Altogether, I scarcely fancy that the accession to the throne of his Imperial Majesty Nic,)I.,ts II. will be a source of much mental tranquility to that amiable young prince. The London G-rxlla has recently published the orders for the Court going into mourning for the late Czar. I notice that "dresses," "gloves," shoes," swords," buckles, and so forth, are all printed in large letters and in capitals. Why ? But mourning has always b"en more or less of a mystery. At the Court of Russia itself the mourning toilette at the demise of the Sovereign contains one remarkably cunous item. As a symbol of humility and temporary disdain of the pomps and vanities of this wicked world the princesses of the Imperial family wear for a given period black flannel instead of black crepe. This simplicity in the livery of woe will not, how- ever, prevent the funeral of Alexander III. being a pageant of superlative and Lat baric magnIfi. cence. Exnerto crede. A story comes from Pennsylvania rf a woman living in a village near Franklin, in the southern part of the State, who was kidnapped by two marauders, who gagged her with a handkerchief and carried her into a thickly-wooded forest, -troa whero they barbarously ill used her, and forced her into the hollow of a tree, wedging her in with pieces of wood, which they hammered close together with a heavy sapling, and then made their escape. Two days and nights passed in this horrible durance, but at length her cries brought some people to hor aid. Axes and saws had to be used before she could be set free. The crime, as a matter of fact, seems to be wholly unique, but in fiction you may read something marvellously like it in Spenser's Faerie Queene." Turn to the story of Fradubio and his unhappy lady-lo\e, and hear what he ldh the Red-cross Knight of his ill-usage by the false Duessa :— The divclisli hag, by chauuges of my clieare, I'eveeivYl my thought ami drowr.d in sJecpic niglit With wicked herbes and oyntmants did besmeare My bolly. all through c.harmes and rnagicke might, That ttll my senses were bereaved quight: Then brosight she me into this desert waste, A:ul by my wretched lovers side me pight Where now enclosed in woo(len wals full faste, Banislit from fiviug wights, our wearie daies we w»ste. Spenser has obviously introduced a magic c-Iement into his story. The great poet is prophet as well as king, and the author of the Faerie Queene in his myth of Fradubio had evidently in his prophet soul a forecast of the Pennsyivauian outrage. I once dined with a gentleman who was a great- grandson of Charles Dtbdin, and it was only in 1815 that the great song-writer died. There are probably alive great-grandchildren of Doughs Jerrold, who died so late as 1857 but it is curi- ou* to mark that Mr John Walter, one of the chief proprietors of the Times, had a grandfather who flourished only a little more than a hundred years ago. It was in 1788 that the first, number of the great organ of Printing House-Square was published by John Wnlter the first; to be sure, the lare Lord of Beirwood--Nvhy was not he made a peer ?—was born so long ago as 1818. Iu one of the obituary notices of Mr Walter I find the term Fourth Estate attributed to Edmund Burke, but in Mr Eliezer Edwarde's Words, Fact*, and Phrasey." I read There is reason for believing that Carlyle originated this phrase. In Hero Worship Lecture V., lie writes Burke said there were three estates in Parliament but in the Reporters' Gallery, yon der, th.,rl:' sat a fourth estate more important far than they all.' Is the gambling den at Monte Carlo really doomed ? Tie report read at the last meeting of the Casino Company should be gratifying to the non-gambling public, for it was of a nature scarcely reassuring to the shareholder. The receipts from the table during the last few months have considerably fallen off, and retrenchments are to be made in the expenditure of the company, especially in what is called the Press subven- tion," a polite euphemism for the scandalous bribing of a certain number of foreign news- papers, of which the conductors are not ashamed of accepting some of the dirtiest money in the world as a reward for puffing the Inferno on the Riviera. The subvention formerly amounted to a million francs, but it has been largely cut down. The literary event of the week is the publica- tion of Mr Gladstone's translation of Horace. The newspaper reviewers have been airing their erudition by enumerating all the Horatian tran- slators whom they oan call to mind from Francis to Sir Theodore Martin. Oddly enough, they have omitted Thackeray, who once wrote a delicious paraphrase of the "Persicos Odi," in which he glorified a. well-cooked leg of mutton. His sympathy with the Venusian bard-all the reviewers are careful to bestow that epitaph on H. C. Flaccus—was also shown in the first number of the Cornhill Magazine, in which there was a dainty little translation of theode"Quis multa gracilis," by Tom Hood, the son of him who sang the "Song of the Shirt;" so "Golden Hair was the title of poor Tom's translation. Incidentally one of the critics of Mr Gladstone's latest performance has stumbled on a very curious verity. He says that from one point of view the style of Horace recalls that of Tacitus, and from another that of Tennyson, adding that probably to English ears any attempted version of Tenny- son in a foreign tongue will appear peculiarly faulty. It so happens that I possess an Italian translation of Tennyson's poems, and to the line in Lady Clara Vere de Vere," the grand old gardener and his wife," he appended a foot-note by the translator to the effect that the ancient husbandman in question was gardener to the De Vere family. The Boadicea's tomb puzzle reminds me of a etory once told me by my dear mother touching the excavation of an ancient tumulus or barrow under the auspicies of Dean Buckland and several members of the British Association. After much digging and delving a huge bone was unearthed, which some of the sages present opined was the jawbone of a prehistoric giant. Ah exclaimed a pious member of the associa- tion, "we are fearfully and wonderfully made." Why, bless us and save us," observed an old farmer, who was looking on, the jawbone be- longs to my old cow Brindle. I buried her in that muck-heap ten years ago."

The Empire Theatre Licence. I DECISION OF THE COURT. In the Qaeen's Bench Division to-day judgmeitf was given by Mr Justice Charles and Mr Justic( Wright in the case of the Empire Theatre London, against the London County Councils Last week the Empire manager obtamed a rulf nisi for a mandamus calling upon the county council to hear and determine the application foi a licence for the theatre according to law. on the allegation that persons who had adju dicated upon their former application were both accusers and judges, and yesterday the county council appeared to show cause why the rule should not be made absolute. Sir H. James, Q.C., Mr Poland, Q.C., and Mr C. F. Gill were for the Empire Mr Finlay, Q.C., and Mr Avory for the county council and Mr Anton Bertram watched the case for Mrs Ormiston Chanb, Mrs Bunting, Mrs Amos, and Mrs Bailbache. The Judgment. Mr Justice Charles, who gave the leading judgment, recited the facts of the case, which are now pretty well known. He said that there coule be no doubt that the London County Council it hearing the matter of Mr George Edwardes's ap plication for a licence were discharging a judicial" duty. It was not properly an appeal from th< licensing committee, but an original hearing, and therefore they were bound when so acting by the. same principles as would bind justices or others in a judicial position in determining the question which came before them. One of these pi-inoiplel wa-; that the person must not be both accuser and judge, otherwise his presence on the tribunal, however large the body, was fatal to the validity of its decision. If Mr Edwardes's affidavit had not been answered that it was only based on information and belief, it would have brought the present case within that rule. Mr Edwardes alleged matters to show that Mt MacDougall, Mr Lidgett, and Mr Parkinson were accusers that the six persons who served notices of opposition were merely their nominees and that at two meetings they so conducted them- selves as to make it plain that they were the in. stigators of the opposition. It turned out that that information was almost wholly untrust- worthy and unreliable. They were not at the Memorial Hall meetiug, and therefore the allegation that Mr MacDougall and Mr Lidgett, as well as Mr Parkinson, were accusers, wholly and absolutely failed. He felt bound to say that the ir.foimailt of Mr Edwardes, whoever he was, showed singular recklessness in launching these assertions at Messrs MacDougall, Lidgett, and Parkinson. He hadnodoubtMrEdwardes believed the information, and he would only say that Mr Edwardes's ready acceptance of the information was a fresh illustration of the case with which people believed to be true that which they desired to be true. The case therefore as pre«ntad com- pletely failed, and there was no pretence of say- ing that either of these three gentlemen were accusers as well as judges. It was alleged, how. ever, that there was sufficient left to vitiate tbt proceedings, and that Mr Parkinson had so acted and inixtsd himself up with the question as to disqualify himself from sitting as a member of the tribunal. Now it was a settled principle that nobody was qualified to act on a judicial tribunal in reference to a matter in which he hsd a pecuniary interest, howevar small or secondly, m which he had a real bias. It being clear that Mr Parkinson was not an accuser, there must be proved against him either pecuniary interest or real bias in order to vitiate the de- cision. More preconceived opinion, even though publicly expressed, did not constitute bias. What, then, constituted disqualifying preconceived opinion ? On this his lordship quoted Lord Justice Blackburn's opinion that, "wherever there is a real likelihood thac the judge would for kindred or any other cause have a bias in favour of one of the parties, it would be very wrong to act." Did ¡¡e affidavits in the present case bring Mr Parkin- son within that rule ? In was plum that lie did not do what Mr Edwardes was informed and believed that he did. Ho did not settle nor have anything to do with the notices of opposition, but he was present at the meeting in Mrs Bunting's house. It would have been far better if he had remained away. It was wrong for him to go there, and was likely to cast a doubt upon his fairness in the administration of his duty when the matter would comp. before him as a judge. As a member of the county council unfortunately he went, and upon the invitation of one of the opposers. The letter was not produced, but the question of his bias or want of bias could not depend on the way ill which the letter was expressed, and his lord- ship drew no inference favourable or unfavourable from the fact that the letter was not produced to the court; he simply knew that one of the opposers asked Mr Parkinson to attend, and that he declined to take part in the discussion or say what he personally thought of the statements he heard at that meeting. It was clear be had nothing to do with the meeting in the Memorial Hall on the 19th October. Much took place at that meeting the explanation of which by Mric Bailhache in beriffiditvib was very unsatisfactory. But undoubtedly Mr Parkinson, at the instance of one of the opposers, attended the meeting at Mrs Bunting's on the 2ht. He took no part ic settling the notices, but he did sit ia the room while the persons who wert going to appear before the licensing committee discussed the evidence they were going to give. The only act he did which could be alleged v. have mixed him ap in the opposition so as to dis- qualify him appeared to have been an expIanatioB by him of the course of procedure if these matters by the Londcn County Council His lordship had reflected on the whole of Mi Parkinson's conduct, and although he regarded it as unfortunate and imprudent, he was oi opinion that a case was not made out against hiir. of such bias as disqualified him from sitting on the tribunal at the meeting of the county council on 29th October. The rule would accordingly be discharged, with costs. Mr Justice Wright concurred. The only evi- dence againstMi,IPkrkiiison was h c own admission of what he did at the meeting in Mrs Bunting's house. Taken as a whole, his own admission came to no more than this, that at the request of a person, who was' an Opponent, hp attended a meet- ing of the opponents and listened to a statement of the evidence possessed by them. That was not enough. The order for the rule nisi was accordingly discharged, with costs against the Empire. MRS CHANT INTERVIEWED. The result," remarked Mrs Ormiston Chant to a Press Association reporter after jtldgicent was delivered, is a signal and unexampled victory for us. Our opponents have all along taunted us with the prospect of the Law Courts. You can cajole the county council,' they said, but wait until your conduct is exposed In open court.' Now, our tactics have been exposed, with the only result that the Empire Mnsic, hall has to pay our costs in addition to its own. I am particularly anxious," added Mrs Ohj\J)t, to have conveyed to the public the fact tbat this crusade has been undertaken on our own initiative, without assistance from county coun" cillors or anybody else. I had resolved upon It before the county council came into existence."

TO-DAY'S WEATHER, 4.39 P.M. TO-DAY'S FORECAST FOR ENGLAND, S.W., AND SOUTH WALKS. Westerly and soutb.west,erly winds, strong in places squally showery. GENERAL.—The general appear- ance is still very unsettled WARNINGS.—The south cone is up in 0. 6, 7,9,10 and part of 1.

"ADVICE TO 7Are you broken in your re^t by a sick child suffering with the pain of cutting teeth ? Go at once to a chemist and get a bottle of MRS WINSLOWS SOOTHING SYRUP. It will relieve the poor little snSerer immediately. It is plea sant to take; it produces natural, quiet sleep, by relieving the child from pain, and the little cheru. awakes, as bright as a button. Of All Chemists Is 1 %<L per bottle. 43e

I Wreck of the Wairarapa. MORE THAN 100 LIVES LOST. Magisterial Inquiry. j SENSATIONAL EVIDENCE. FULL SPEED AHEAIÐ IN THE FOG. I REGULATIONS UNOBSERVED. [SPECIAL TELBGRAM FROM OCR COKBESPONDRNT.l AUGKLAND, Wedtie.tday,-The magisterial in- quiry which was ordered concerning the loss of the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand's steamer Wairarapa, which on Sunday, the 28th nIt., wenb astioie on the rocks of Great Barrier Island, and became a total wreck, over one hundred of the passengers and crew being drowned, was begun here yesterday, and was continued to-day. Twenty- six witnesses have been summoned, and the investigation seems likely to be a protracted one. The evidence of the surviving officers of the ship clearly shows that throughout the fatal Sunday they wete anxious regarding the vessel's safety. Mr Moyes, chief officer, stated that a fog pre- vailed all day, but the vessel's speed, nevertheless, remained unaltered. When he was relieved at eight o'clock in the evening he did not turn it), being very anxious, but remained about the decks, got out charts, and pricked off the course. Lsiter on, however, he lay down almost fully clothed, having taken off only his coat and boots. The captain was on the bridge nearly ail the day, and, in dis- cussing the situation with witness, expressed his intention to slow down off the Hen and Chickens Island and wait for daylight. The precautions specified in the regulations for their guidance in navigating the ship during thick weather were not observed. The foghorn WHS not sounded, nor was any use made of the lead. The engines, after the vessel struck what the captain believed to be the Hen and Chickens Island, were kept going full speed ahead in order bo prevent her slipping off the rocks. The ship in the course of a very few minutes heeled over to an angle of 45 degrees, and many of those on deck were I Precipitated into the Water. I Many survivors* swarmed into the fore rigging, which the heavy seas wore breaking over. Others huddled into the main rigging, from which they subsequently escaped. After witness landed on the rocks, it being then daylight, the bridge was carried away with fully 40 persons who were clinging to it. Witness saw the people floating out to .3e3. on bits of wreckage, somo remaining visible up to inul-day. A life raft with 20 per- sons on it floated bodily out to sea, being unobserved by the boats which were engaged in the work of rescue, and which with the sur. vivors they had picked up proceeded along the coast till a landing could be effected. One raft aft-erwarus came ashore 20 miles from the wreck, .ind on it there was a hat tull of oranges, which showed that the occupants had lived long after daybreak. Witness swore that the captain was sober he was never the worse for liqu ir. There had been no boat criil on board the Wairartpt for six months, and when the ship struck the boats could not be got into the water in loss than ten minutes. Wh?n the inquiry was resumed this morning the examination of the chief officer was continued. He was interrogated as to whether he had got lines ready beforehaud, and replied in the negative. The line., were kept in the forecastle, which, after the vessel struck, was unapproachable. Witness also admitted that he left the ship before tho survivors gob from the main to the fore rigging, but he never expected that they would get there. He thought it was useless to attempt to get a rope to the people in the main rigging, or do provide for their safety but they did eventually escape about mid-day, it being then low water. It was impossible to rescue those who were dinging to the captain's house owing to the Heavy Seas and Darkness. I The- fore rigg,tig, moreover, which was full of Pi?ople, most of them women and children, had l<rsviou»;ly been washed away. In cross-oxamina- tion. the chief officer further admitted that he left a mother and child partly submerged ill a corner, while he himself was pulled up into the rigging by the steward. He was going to their a>i;siatice afterwards, but they were washed away. He believed that many of the passengers never left their cabin?. The carpenter, in his evidence, stated that after the ship struck he heard no orders given to place the women anci children ta brats first. He thought it was a case of everyone for himself. He made his pscalD m a, boat, from which, when the day broke, the wreck couul not be seen owing to a projecting piece of land, and those who were on board the boub con. cluded that the ship had gone down. Mr Johnson, third i,9ber, corroborated the evidence of the chief ofticcr as to the Wairarapa going' full speed ahead until she struck, adding that at a quarter-past eleven o'clock lie asked the captain when he was going to slow down. The captain replied that the ship was all right, and that he had perfect confidence in the course he was steering. He, however, ordered a sharp look-out to be kept. The course of the ship was slightly different from that usually taken, audths cap- tain's explanation of this was that it was due to the heavy seas. Witness suggested that fog signals should be used, hut the captain declined to give order; to this effect, remarking that it would only frighten the passengers. Tlie. itiquiry was then adjourned. The manager of tho Union Company has tele- graphed to the Hon. n, J. Seddon," Premier of the colony, declaring that everything that could be done was done to rescue the survivors, and that the third officer, with boats from the island, searched closely all along the coast till all hope of further rescue was at an end. 1-

ILLNESS OF AN ACTRESS, I Alleged Peisoning. After appearing in the first act of the drama, I Rolibery Under Arms," at the Princess's Theatre last evening, Mdule. Ruppert, who sustains the leading part, was compelled to retire in consequence of illness caused by her having partaken of a quantity of sweets the previous evening, which it is alleged were poisonous, and which had bepn sent to her by some unknown individual. A Morning representative who saw the lady just after she left the stage found her in the dressing-room looking exceedingly faintand ill. It is most singular," she remarked, for .1 don't know that I have an enemy of any kind, and I can hardly say whether it has been done purposely or not. Certainly I was the recipient of a very unpleasant letter in September. (Some anonymous person wrote saying that I had better steer clear of the theatrical profession and give other people a chance, or words to that effect, 44 and, strangely enough, the handwriting tallied with a similar communication Mr Charles Warner received about the same time. I am here in direct opposition to my doctor's orders. I was told that I must remain at home to-night, but I couldn't. I managed to get through the first act, but I became too weak to continue, and Miss Williams has had to go on in my stead. I don't know whether I shall be woll enough to appear to-morrow night, but I hope I shall." In the course of further conversation it tran- spired jhat an assistant who was in the dressing- room with Mdme. Ruppert the previous evening when the sweets were brought in, also took one or two, but fortunately declined more, and was not affected with any symptoms of poisoning. Mdme. Ruppert. however, ate a considerable quantity. I b was thought that a strong solution of carbolic acid had been used, but the sweets have been submitted for chemical analysis, and this will settle the matter. The police have been com- municated with, and every effort is to be made to discover the guilty party. A reward is to be offered for any information that will lead to an I arrest.

I A DISTINGUISHED AMATEUR. Another Johnny," There is originality of a sort among some of our gilded youth, although it has a knack of taking a particularly useless and foolish form. The youth who bore for a time the title of the Marquis of Ailesbury once, for the noble purpose of a wager, drove across London apparelled in the coster costume sacred to Mr Albert Chevalier, in a donkey and truck; and now another "Johnny:" 1 of evidently similar tastes, has from equally high souled motives spent the greater part of a day in selling newspapers, habited in an eccentric garb, in the streets of the West. end. Well, he might be, and no doubt commonly s, much less usefully employed, although the professional street vendors of the district appear to have wrathfully resented the intrusion of the distinguished amateur, as professionals have a tendency to do in most oallingii, for the matter of that. This masquerade is said to have profited the young gentleman to the tune of J350, and as I he has probably retained some recollection of the discomfort of street selling, even when well fed and warmly clad, he might do worse than devote some portion of his easy gains to alleviating the lot of those who, with luck, earn about half that amount a year.

Br. MRN.-Thp way (o attain manhood is to eat good food. Porridge marie with IT ivi !ey, an(I Co.s Oalnieal i* the perfection of food. Xryit. "TlIR PITMAN'S "-Tit i- IS the t. t;'e I of a powerful new ruinins: story oflove and y [ from tii- pen of.T. Monl: Foster wbich now appears in the Cardiff Times end South Woltt Weekly WsW A Ma gazine and Newspaper in one.

FRIENDS AiAIN. Both exciting and amusing was the scene wit* nessed lately on the Boulevard Sauit Germain, at the corner of the Rue du Bac. An apparent)? affectionate couple were sauntering up the lattef street, followed by a woman of mature years in a cab, who, unpercoived by them, was amusing the bystanders by her excited and irate behsviotr. At length, when the pair turned down the boulevard, the lady leant for a moment on the gentleman's arm, whereupon the second lt%dy jumped out of the cab and went for her rif..l, who sought refuge in a cafe, upsetting tables disturbing customers in her anxiety to avoid h8 elder woman, who was in hot pursuit. Catching up her rival for a moment the gentleman's for so she turned out to be, pounded the handle of an umbrella but the frighten" woman succeeded in length to out-distanoing het infuriated foe. The latter was, in fact, left the husband having prudently absconded. excused her conduct on the score of rig" jealousy. All's well that ends well," howev • The next morning both husband and wife, paired betimes to stop the divorce proceedings which had been commenced, as they had m it up ana were friends again.

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOUTH WALES. Professor Sorle.y, M.A. The Press Association states that the V upon the recommendation of the for Scotland, has been graciously pleased tu '*l_|PriV the appointment of Professor William "c' Sorley, M.A., of the University College South Wali--s, to the chair of Moral Philosophy the University of Aberdeen. )Qa"l"

t f THOU ART THE MAN IS the tit. J fil, J llraddon new si<,ry whiidi i-i now appearing \r n,; Cur dig Times and South )Y alee Wei kin 0ue special features. A tna?aziue ? <'<' nevrspap-J' 111 weekly. Order at once.