HOME NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 763, 11 March 1910, Page 4

HOME NEWS.

S ' .' . 1 INTERESTING ITEMS BY MAIL. e . 8 ; ' : : ■ I London, January 21. I The death has taken place at Tranent > of Sergeant Harrison, of the Gordon * Highlanders, at the age of 76. He en- ; listed'the late. General. Sir Hector. Mac- - donald into the Gordon Highlanders; King and Centenarian. The King has just sent'a telegram of congratulation to Mrs. Ann Speed, of Heighington, near Lincoln, on attaining , her hundredth birthday. Mrs Speed has brought up nine children, and keeps - house for her eldest son, who is 76. She l bakes, her own bread and regularly atl tends Lincoln market,; whore, with her butter baskot. on her arm,- she is a - familiar figure, s ■ '•■•' ■ ■'" .. ' ' ' - Simple Life Exponent. '.''.., ' Dr.-. George Skene Keith, who has just died .at Ainey, near Edinburgh, aged? 91 i years, is . now. 'best remembered; by ■ his :' book,- 'Tlea.for a Simpler Life.". Less ' food, fewer drugs, and greater reliance 1 on nature constituted his theory, and in the ~ teeth of stubborn resistance he built up 3 a largo medical practice. In his own life he was a consistent; exponent • of- the ' simple life doctrine. He was also a great traveller. He visited Burma when over ' ngEV,.''.'.:■ ■• ■:,-<*, !-:*:.-? Family." of Solcfiers. ! There ;died' at Blyth recently Corporal- . Walter ;Adams, one of a' family of five brothers, "all soldiers'in the Durham , Light Infantry.- Although only 27, Cor- ■ poral Adams, had seen ..ten years active service) He: went through the Boer : War. His father, the . late Sergeant" Adam's, ' - was ' Mus- ■ ketry instructor" to • the Durham Light Infantry. - King Edward some time, ago acknowledged, in, a. letter,: his gratification at the interesting record .of father and. sons creditably and continuously maintained in \ the Durham ■ Light In- . fantry. 'The Queen, on'the same occasion sent Mrs.' Adam's a,' present of,'.£3. ■■'■■' Singular' Scene. A singular scene occurred- during a meeting, at ,'Stanenhill, Burton-on-Trent, a. portion, of .'tho Smith. Derbyshire Division..' The gathering, was called by. the local Free- Church Council', to protest against the House of Lords, and among the speakers was the Rev.'■ Newman. Wycherley,' pastor of tho Mosley Street Primitive Methodist Chapel. As he appeared to bo taking up more,time than had been, allotted to him, the chairman(Councillor Hutchinson) asked ' him : to shorten'his ramarks. The rev. gentleman complained that he had never before experienced such treatment, and, refusingto accept an explanaiton from the chairman, said he felt that he had been in? suited and declined to proceed. Some of tho audienco expressed their- sympathy with Mr. Wycherley; and one member suggested .that they should proposo a vote of thanks to the rev. gentleman and close tho meeting. Some twenty-five. out of the seventy persons present then left the'roomj and the meeting closed with the passing, unanimously of the resolution of protest and the singing of the Doxology. A Vast Bequest.. .Dr. Ludwig Mond, the famous chemist, probate of whoso will has -now,- been granted, left ■ estate to the ■'-.•' value < of 21,000,000, so far as can at. present be ascertained. ■ The -National Gallery is to benefit by acquiring the bulk of the collection of pictures gathered together by Dr. Mond. The pictures—most of them of the early Italian school—are bequeathed subject to his wifo having the uso of them during-her life. . They include: — "The Crucifixion," by Raphael; "Miracles of Zenobius" and "Baptism of Zenobius," by Botticelli; "Madonna and Child" and. "Portrait of Pietro Aretino," by Titian; and "Madonna and Child Enthroned" and "Pieta," by Bellini. Dr. Mond be-

Lqueathed, subject to his wife's interest, .£BO,OOO-.to the Royal Society of London, "to be employed in the endowment, of research in natural science, more particularly, but not exclusively, imchemistry, and physics." Ho left large '■■ sums of money to his family and. relations, and various German institutions. ..';'■'■'■ £100,000 London Fire. A destructive lire, strongly recalling the terrible disaster '■ at Clapham Junction at Christmas, but happily without the same tragic result, started -on the ground -floor of the linen department of Messrs. B. B. Evans and Co., drapers, in the High Road, Kilburn, and did damage estimated at more thau .£1.00,000. Fortunately it was early-closing day, and the principals and most of tic .'largo staff had gone away. When the frrf broke out some twenty' assistants and maids were in the building. Some of thifm were in the sitting-room on the second floor, when it suddenly rilled with sniokc. Thij rushed screaming along the corridor, which stretches right along the building, and got out by. tho iron staircase at the end. Within half an hour one-half: of the premises was reduced to wreckage. Tho first and second floors; and soon afterwards the roof, fell in with a crash. Eight of the shops were completely wrecked, and much damage was done to the remaining portion, tho whole of the stoclc being ruined by smoke and water. Several buildings at the rear of Jlossrs. Evans's premises were also involved. The head' of the firm stated that the fire must havo been caused by the fusing of a light. j . Tho South Pole Expedition. , The first member of the j British Antarctic expedition under Captain Scott has just left England, and expects to be absent three years. This is Air. Cecil M. Mcares, • who has been despatched to Siberia to obtain dogs and ponies for use in the next British attempt to reach tho South Polo. With the' exception of' a brief stay at Moscow,' Mr. Meares will

travel direct'to Vladivostok. He'intends to get most of his dogs, particularly the main team leaders,.'in Siberia'. Mr: Meares will- then collect ponies--in the country round Harbin. When the purchase of. the necessary animals is completed, they will be taken to Vladivostok . and snipped to Kobe, where they will be '■■ transferred to another steamer for con- (. veyance to Now Zealand. Mr. Meares, .. with his animals, will join the main body tt . of the expedition on board the Terra i- Nova in New Zealand in December. The Crystal Palace. A Parliamentary Bill, which has just ' been drawn up, mates an interesting pro'J posal in.connection with the reorganisa'l tion of the Crystal Palace. If the scheme g should become-effective, after January 1, s 1911, the management willbe vested in a s board of nine members, one (the chaire man) appointed by the Board of Trade, - four by the company, and one each by r the City Corporation, the London County 1 Council, the Surrey County Council, and the Kent County Council. The Palace is to be deemed to be a work on which , the Public Works Loan Commissioners' i are to be authorised to lend .£75,000 at 3 l 2 , per cent., to be repaid by annual instal- , ments. _ Arrangements are also: made for extinguishing the debenture stocks. '. 5 Clergyman as Workhouse Master. ? A Newmarket telegram. states, that the 3 Eev. John Vincer Minter, the only work- | house master known' who. is also a clerk | in holv orders, has just notified his inten- : tion ot resigning that.office, which he has held for tVehty- ; one*ye'a , rS,' to take np the 1 chaplaincy of the Barnet Union workhouse. During his period of service at [. Newmarket lie.ha'd shown the King and , tho late Duke "of Cambridge round the . i institution. ; Sentence on Safe Robbers., ) The trial has been concluded at the . Central Criminal Court of the six men t who were charged with being concerned ! in the theft of a safe, containing ,£l6l in . cash, £32i\ .in postage stamps, and : • ,£B9G in postal orders,, from'the Goswell • Eoad sub-post office on the night of De- : . ccniber 8. The robbery was discovered at : . 10.25 p.m., and tvi'o hours later Detec- : tivo-Sergeant Laing had traced the thieves ■ to a house in Rosebery. Avenue,, half a ! : mile away, where some; recent marks on ■ the stone steps indicated that something ■ ' heavy had,been taken,into tho house not :

' long before.' Xaing and■ Detective-ser-geant Leach mounted a wall at the rear . of the house, and wero thus enabled to ; see into a back room, where several men ' were engaged with chisels and hammers '■' in trying to open the safe. The house ! was surrounded, and all the prisoners, .with' the exception of one, who was arrested several days later, were captured." All the prisoners were found guilty, and sentenced to terms of ■'■imprisonment ranging from eighteen months', hard - labour to five years' penal servitude. New R.A. Mr. Stanhope Forbes • has been. elected as an.R.A., to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Mr.' Norman Shaw, ■ who .retires "to give a younger man a chance." Three new AJi.A.'s were also .elected—Mr. William Orpen (painter), Miv Derwent Wood (sculptor), - Mr. .Ernest George (architect). Mr.- Stanhope Forbes, who is a son of the, well-known railway manager, Mr. William Forbes, was born in Dublin in 1857. He -was educated at Dulwich College; and his art studies, commenced at tho Lambeth School of Art, were.completed.in- the atelier, of M. Bonnat,- in Paris.- He lives at Newlyn, in Cornwall, and is the founder of the Newlyn. school of painting. His bestknown works are:."The Fish Sale," "By Order.of the Court," "Forging the Anchor," "The Lighthouse," "The Smithy, and "Christmas Eve." He was elected an AiR;A. in 1892.-, ■'. Healthier England. "If official go for anything, England • and "Wales are. " becoming healthier. Several diseases have become

practically extinct, whilst the continuous warfare. waged by the medical officers of the Local Government. Board against epidemic and contagious diseases is having its effect, though, perhaps, not so quickly as might be under a more stringent system. The thirty-eighth annual report of the Local ; Government Board issued emphasises these points. In his report Dr. Arthur Newsholme, the chief medical officer, states that the average death-rate in England and Wales was H. 7 per thousand, a lower rate than in;any previous year on record. The larger the town the greater the risk of death; in-tho country, tho greater chance of long life. Infantile mortality hns a specially.important place in the lists-of the national well-being. .Onring 1908 more than one-fifth of the total deaths of all ages in England and Wales occurred in infants- in tho first year of life. That'in figures is a deathr'ato of 121' per thousand! And this in a year the" weather of which was favourable to a'low mortality.'Several diseases which once ravaged tho. country are practically extinct. Amongst these is typhus, whilst smallpox has been almost stamped out. ' Sir M. Nathan Interviewed. • Speaking to . an\ interviewer on board the ICenilworth Castle, by- which he has just. returned from South' Africa, Sir Matthew Nathan, the retiring Governor of Natal, said that the expansion of tho Natal revenue was largely due to the increased receipts from railways and Customs. The former was: now yielding an ; average of .£SOOO a week above tho esti- j mate, based on the receipts of'last year. ; This was a result of improved trade, both : export and import, and still more favour- j able figures were anticipated with the new railway rates from the South Africau j ports to Johannesburg, which were intro- | (luccd on the first day of the year. The < demand for coal was st.-adily increasing, -i and called for development on the part j of. tho _ mines and the railway. Sugar was doing better than it had over done before, and the area under wattle plantation was rapidly increasing, without any sign :of tho requirements.of tho market - being - exceeded.—-"Standard of Empire."