BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 799, 23 April 1910, Page 15

BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

LATEST LONDON NEWS. THE FESTIVAL OF EMPIRE. IMPORTANT TRADE STATISTICS.

•'.■'■ . London, March 11. Princess Louise Duchess of Argyll mot the Lady Mayoress and a largo number, of metropolitan mayoresses at a special gathering at 81 Piccadilly, recently, in connection with the Festival of. Empire to be held at tho Crystal Palace this summer. Her Royal Highness is honorary president of the Ladies' Advisory Committee, which indirectly . concerns iteelf With the appointment, of performers for the Pageant of.London. Each of the metropolitan boroughs has been allotted a scene in the pageant, a local secretary being appointed, in each case to receive applications for parts in the pageant. Tho co-operation' of the mayors and mayoresses has been, most sympathetic and helpful.- ihvJohn Hewat, one of the vice-chairmen of the. South- African National Union, has been-appointed chairman for South Africa in connection with tho Festival of' Empire. The- Earl of Selbourno is president of- tho South African branch of tho festival, and Dr. Hewat writes to the festival .authorities that the leading residents in the large towns 1 of South Africa have been calledtogether, and preparations for the journey to England aro being hurried forward. . A strong \committee, is formed, consisting of the Administrator, the Governors, Prime .Ministers, and leading citizens of . the chief towns in.' South Africa to""assist ; in" malting the festival,, so far .as South Africa is concerned, at any rate,. as representative as' possible:

' ' TBADE IN.FEBRUARY, _An'examination of the fißures given in the trade' returns for February, shows that'the results are really quite as good as, if not better than, those for January. lii the case of imports, for example, the increase is only"£690,000, or 1J per cent., but there was a qnito exceptional fall of about X 3,000,000 under tbo head of cotton. Again, in the exports, it should bo-:noted that, although this month's increase of ;£3,6G7,000, or 13 per cent., compares with an advance ,of a month ago, the figures on that occasion were. affected , by.the fact that new ships ngured;for over : a million sterling, whereas this month there is a slight decrease under that head. In".the case pf the imports, it.is not altogether satisfactory to note that foodstuffs ■ again account for an increase of over/a million ■ Mr-n T «SJ? e - of F" n and flonr alone being greater than last year. In view of .the. recent-.activity in and the increased; production of. rubber, ■it is scarcely surprising to find, that arrivals of that commodity were. jE1.000.000 more than last year. ,

. FEATURES ,OF THE EXPORTS.- ]; An examination of the details of ex-' ports show's much the Fame features l as those which ha.ve characterised recent returns—namely,. a, great expansion in the' shipments pf .yarns! "ad textile fabrics: Exports of cotton were greater 'by'about -81,000,000, and woollen goods by J27if1,000. ■Exports.of fuel show a- decline both in quantity and value, and there was also a falling off- in consignments 'of' machinery;.. In almost every, other direction,, however,' there ie' a slight expansion to note: A good business was done durinst the month-in manufactured ■ iron and steel, whero the.exports show an expansion', in value'of £378,000. The vilne of imports for February was je51,15a,357 (an increase of j£690,21i on February, 1909): exports, £31,691,870 (plus £3,667,418). • .

-.:■■-; DYING BISHOP'S MESSAGE. Dr. , : King, the aged Bishop of Lincoln, who! has "just died, issued a- pathetic lel> teriio his as he lay. dying in:-the Old , ? Lincoln. TKo following passage occurred in it: "\ fear I.am'not able to'write the-letter I should wish to write., I. have for some time been praying; God to .tell me-when I should give up ;my work.; Now Ho has eent me, in £Wi. lovMg wisdom, a clear' ansWer:' It is a very great, comfort, to me to bo relieved from' the responsibility of leaving yon. All I .have to do is to ask you to forgive my many faults and ijinunierable shortcomings during tho hventy-flve years. I have been with you, and to ask.you to pray God to perfect my repentance and strengthen, iny fa-ith to the end." ; . ■ ;

centenary of lord: colling-' '■■'\'>.--, ■■-.: ■.-■:. .wood.; -.::.-:■• ; : . ; ' The hundredth anniversary of the death of Lord Collingwood, who was second in command to Neleon at the battle of Trafalgar, . has been celebrated/ at St. Paul's Cathedral,; wlere he lies/ 'and at Newcastle, which was his birthplace.- He never saw. England! after fot ho stayed in the Mediterranean for four years and/a half after the battle, and was only'brought homo for his. funeral in St; Paul's. Hie descendants and famous naval men attended the memorial ser- , vice, at St. Paul's, ' where - Canon Alexander' preached a memorial.sermon. Mr. Balfour, who was invited to- attend the Iseucastle commemoration, wrote regretting his inability to attend In the course of his letter ho said "Nothing could be better for an Empire than thaif v,e should preserve in loving memory the deeds of the great men who have helped to build it up " Lieutenant Etherton, a young officer in. the Garhwal Eifles, has just arrived in England after completing a secret service mission on behalf of the British Government He spent three months in an overland journey from the Himalayas, through Chinese Turkistan, Mongolia, and Siberia, to the Trans-Siberian Rail way, a total distance of nearly 4000 miles. After suffering almost incredible hardships and .privations, Lieutenant Etherton finally cained his mission to a triumphant conclusion. Amongst. his discoveries is a mjsterious, deserted late near the Russian frontier, eight hundred miles m extent, but of nnknown dentil, in -which no fish ewim and no boats float

THE NEW LCC The election for the eighth London County Council has resulted in the ie turn of the Municipal Reformers with a majority of tno over Progressives, La bour, and Socialist Tho strength of the parties is now as follows — Municipal Reformers GO Progressives s"> Labour 2 Socialist l

Total 118 The curious and anomalous electoral conditions were strikingly illustrated by the fact that, while the Moderates actually polled 100 000 more \otes than the Progressives, the latter gained twenty seats Tine week end weither reduced the Moderate poll enormouslj Large numbers of their supporters evidentlj chose pleasure out of town rather than duty (as voters) in town.

TRANSVAAL GIFT TO itUSEUM. The Premier (Transvaal) Diamond Mining Compnny, Limited, havo presented to the trustees of tho British Museum a number of diamonds, which will shortly be added to the collection in section of the Natural History Museum at South Kensington. Tho diamonds number 18, and weigh about 28 carats altogether. The specimens include all types of stones from thoso of the finest quality to the worst. They comprise two brown, a pink, and a yellow stone, and also an exceptionally. Interesting specimen of a diamond in the matrix. Examples of iron pyrites, and other minerals found in association with tho diamonds, including the rod garnet, liavo also been forwarded.

' A GIFr OF .CKE.OOO. Mr. W. H. Lever, who' succeeded tho Into Sir Alfred Jones as chairman of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, has presented the ;£!)1,000 which he was awarded as damages in the soap libel actions to Liverpool University. He made this announcement when he entertained the members of tho council and profonsors of LiverDpol Uninsisifo; to J.unch »t

his residence, Thornton Manor. Ho said that as ho never at any tirno intended that this -moriey should go lo himself, he had decided to assist, the' university. He had arranged with the owners of the old Bluccoat School for a leaso for a a nuniher of years, and during that time the university would have the option of purchasing tho school for He "proposed to transfer to the university. £GO,OOO worth of shares for. tho School of House and Town Planning, tho School of Tropical Medicine, and the School of Hussion Studios. ■ As these shares were not now paying a dividend, he had arranged that for ten years he would guarantee to pay 3 per. c.?nt. on the .iliO.flOO. ■ Mr. Lever's gift represents an aggregate of ■£102,000.

THE DIVORCE COMMISSION. . Some remarkably interesting evidenoo was given before the Royal Commission on Divorce. Tho most important was the statement made by Mr. E. Heron, a well-, known solicitor, who declared himself in favour of the- suppression of the publication of Divorce Court proceedings. Ho said that/the custom of reporting such cases, fully had led to a system of blackmail—"the gravest scandal which existed in connection- with any legal proceedings.'" Men were blackmailed through fear of publicity,- he said. ■ Mr. Kobert Moore, a barrister, stated that he had been driven to the conclusion that amongst the very poor "no sanctity whatever and very little ■ importance An in general attached to the marriage tie. I do not say no importance is attached-to it, .because, on the whole, women, preferred to be married,' and, where there is no obstacle, will, as a rule, insist on marriage. - I must say I think this, low "estimation in which marriage is held by tho .very poor is very largely due to tho difficulty of dissolving the marriage tie."

: :.; THE NEXT CENSUS. The' next census is to be taken on Snn■'da'y,,-, April 3, 1911, if .Parliament sanctions the'.'formal,proposals : ; laid. on the .table of the House of Commons by Mr. John Burns. The present Bill, which contains an' entirely new clause, ■ and some alterations as compared with the Bill for the last-census in 1901, calls for the following [particulars, among others:—The name, sex, age, profession or occupation, condition as to marriage, relation to head of family, birthplace, and (in the case of a person born abroad) nationality,:of every living person who abode in 'every house on tho. night of the census .day; .and the number of rooms inhabited; and in the cases of Wales or the county of Monmouth, whether any person who so abode .(being of three years of age or upwards) speaks English only or Welsh only, or both English and Welsh.

:;.'PATENTS ACT WORKING. '■>.. The following details' of the 'effects of .tho'-Patents aud Designs .(Amendment) Act,- 1907,' which; came into forco on January 1,; 1908, and' by which foreign holders of Engßsh, patents are, compelled to manufacture, their'goods in. Great Britain if they wish to retain the monopoly, here, may be interesting.. The-two years' .working of tho" Act, it is stated, nils not only served to. steady tho markpt for factory, wharf, and- warehouse pi'bperty, and ,lnnd, but foreign firms havo •ij'een compelled :to expend- considerable capital in this country, arid many thousands, of working men have been found employment.. Briefly the results of the Act may., bo summarised as follow :— Value of land and premises acquired. ..:. . ;£188,650 Amount , , expended and''being 1 expended in buildings, housing work-people, etc. 290,750 On plant, machinery, and equipment ,£«0,972 Value of annual assessment to local rates ......................... Workpeoplo employed, about ... 8,000 Amount.paid-in wages per week, . about : .......... ..£8,700 Number of foreign firms work-

I ,EAEL'S DEATH IN THE STREET. . On March 8 an elderly gentleman, walking iff Great Smith', street, towards Westminster Abhey, was seen-'to .fall on to the ' pavement. Passers-by rushed to his assistance, and no was carried l in an ambulance to the -Westminster Hospital, where he was found to be dead;' Papers found in his pockets proved the dead man to be the Earl of Carniratli, head, of the ancient house of Dalzell. Lord Cafnwath was sixty-two years old, and a representative Peer for Scotland. The house of Dalzoll has always suffered from misfortune. There havo been four Earls of Carnwath. during , the : last, twenty years, and tho late earl's eldest son dropped dead in his rooms in Bloomsbury, owing to sudden • heart failure. ' To the second Earl; of CarnwatK.Clarendon ascribes' the' defeat "of '■'the ■■■ Royalists .at Naseby.' : King -Charles was about -to charge ..with, hia reserve oi horse when "the Earl ■• of Carnwath, who rode ' next to him, on-a sudden , laid hand on the bridle of tho King's horse, and swearing two. or throe full-mouthed Scottish oaths ' (for he was of that nation), said: 'Will you go upon your death-in an instant?'" the. effect of which interference was confusion, and the charge.was never made. —"Standard of Empire."