BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 827, 27 May 1910, Page 10

BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

> LONDON SUMMARY. ' BRITISH TRADE FIGURES FOR > MARCH. ] ; OUTSTANDING FEATURES. < [ London, April 15. j I Tho trade figures for March are good, c [ especially when regard is had to the \ " fact that, by reason of Easter coming in 1 ! March this year (against April in last ' 5 year), the month contained fewer work- j ' ing days. In spite of that fact, however, j * there is an increase to note in imports ; \ of no less than ,£0,10G,925, or 11.7 per , b cent., while exports . advanced by i ,£■2,486,855, ov 7.8 per cent. In tho case j of tho imports, it is satisfactory to note . that out of tiie total increase of ,£6,000,0(10 .- .. only .£1,000,000 is for foodstuffs, whilst \ i just over .£4,000,000 is represented by s t raw materials. Outstanding features are !j 3 the noteworthy expansion in wool and j 1 indiarubber. As regards the former, the : '• total advance is £1,100,000, and in. this , 3 ease there was a considerable increase in ' 'I quantities received from South America, \ while a still more' marked advance was ~ noticeable in the case of arrivals from i Australia and New Zealand. The value ■ t of indiaxubber received is practically 0 double that of the same- month last year, ; ? tho figures for the past month being g .£2,287,28.5, a's compared with .£1,140,334. a : . year ago. ] Turning to the exports, a satisfactory \ 1 point to note is that the total increase : '- of two and a half millions has been ' 11 achieved notwithstanding a decline of \ j .£G25,000 under the head of new ships. ' t Activity has again been most pronounced ' in the case of shipment of yarns ajid tex- ' tilo fabrics, though the expansion hern ' is a little less marked than in recent re- < turns. Under the head of cotton piece ] 0 goods there is an advance of about i ,£400,000, chiefly due to larger purchases I by India, West Africa, Australia, and 1 Canada. Exports of woollen goods in- i creased by about ,£750,000. There is a : rather general decline to note in iron ' ore, other metallic ores, and wood and i timber. A feature in exports was an ex- ' pansion of about .£600,000 in the value of electrical goods and' apparatus, the ad- :- vance being chiefly connected with tolet graph and telephone cables. For tho first i 0 quarter of the present year imports now 1 show a total advance of ,£9,220,000, or , Y about 5.9 per cent., while during the * saino period exports have increased by , •£12,154,000, or 13.7 per cent.. i- THE EOKEBY VELASQUEZ. ' In consequence of tho statement made [* in the press by Mr. James Greig, the art li critic, that the famous Rokeby Veins- !- quez was not a Velasquez at all, a num- £ ber of experts have made a thorough : ; examination of tho picture in Mr. Greig's I r a minute examination made of that part of tho picture where Mr. Greig said ho had found tho monogram J. B. D. 11., which ho held to be the signature of ; Velasquez's son-in-law, Juan Bautista del : Mazo. The experts state that they are i !.' satisfied that tbo marks and cracks :, pointed out by Mr. Greig "do not show !, the vestiges of any monogram or eigna- ■> lure." Tho experts included Mr. Claude * Phillips, keeper of tho Wallace Collec- ■. " rion; Mr. Lionel Cust, fomierly director : of the National Portrait Gallery; Proi fessor Holmes, director of tho National ■', Portrait Gallery; Mr. A. S. MacColi, !, keeper of the Tate Gallery; and Mr. ; ■; Sidney Colvin, keener of prints and 5 drawings at the British Museuni. STANDARD-BEARER TO THE KING. '• A dispute which has'been carried on since the days of George IV has just ; been decided in the House of Lords. The { case concerned- the ■ office of Standard- ■■ I Bearer to, the King of Scotland, which M was claimed by Jir. Henry Scrymgeour ; Wedderburn, and the, Earl of Lander- : dale. . Mr. Scrymgeour Wedderburn's. : ": argument was that tho direct lino of . Scrymgeours, who held tho office from the B days of Alexander 111 (1057-1093), had died out, and that he was head of the , ' existing senior line, and so inherited tho office by right. Tho Earl of Lauderdalo' ' maintained, however, that tho office was r sold to his ancestor about 168 S. Shortly before the coronation of Kins Edward, the Court of Claims decided in Mr. Scrymgeour Wedderburn's favour, and it was against this decision that Lord Lauderdnlc appealed to tho Law Lords. Judg- , ment was given in favour of Mr. Wedder- , burn, their lordships holding that the , office was "not a commercial affair which , could be sold and purchased by any- j one." i USE OF ANAESTHETICS. ■ 1 1 An extraordinary situation is exposed ' 3 " in tho Teport, just issued, of the commit- ' tee appointed by tho Homo Ofiico to in- ' quire into the number of deaths duo to > the use of anaesthetics. "The nduiinis-' tration of anaesthetics," the report says, ''■ t "is under no regulation. ■ Although a ] e man cannot sell a glass of beer to ani other without a license, yet ho may ' 3 drug that other person to his heart's ; ' content without let or hindrance from ! ; the law. This unregulated state of af- ' ' fairs constitutes a serious menace to the j public, and the administration of anaes- '■ thetics should be carefully regulated by J law." Tho committee state "that every ' - death under an anaesthetic' should be re- 1 ■ ported to a coroner, but we do not think ■ that the coroner should in every case bo bound to hold an inquest." • NOVELISTS IN DIVORCE. In the Divorce Court Mrs. Ka'therine Cecil Thurston, the author of "John 1 Chilcote, M.P.," was granted a divorce ■ from her husband, Mr. Ernest Temple ; 1 Thurston, who adapted "John Chilcote, f ' M.P.," for the stage, and has written a j ' number of novels. It was stated for the c I plaintiff that Mr. Thurston complained 1 - to his wife that she was making move ( f- money than he was. He declared that her . * personality dominated him, and that he , ! must get away from her. The result was ) ; that ho left.her and took a flat in Soho. j He called on her once or twice, stated ] - counsel, and said he was perfectly miser- t able without her. She told him he could | come back, and just before Christmas, j 1907, ho did so, but ho left her again on , December 30, and did not return. ( M.P.'S TRAGIC DEATH. ■ ] I " The House of Commons and Bar y Steeplechase Meeting, at Epping, was : S marked by a tragedy, owing to the '■ death, due to a fall, of the Right Hon. ■■ James Tomkinson, the veteran M.P. s for tho Crewe Division of Cheshire, and , a member of the Privy Council. Mr. , * Tomkinson, who was aged 09, was rid- j ing his horse May Day in the House of | Commons race—the chief event of the ~ i! day. Ho was leading the field near the finish, when the mare took the last fence badly, and fell heavily, hurling i Mr. Tomkinson on to his head. The inI. jurcd man was taken to a fnrm' near by, but expired on the following morning, death being duo to a fracture of the spine. Mr. Tomkinson belonged to a celebrated hunting family, and at the n age of 65 won a' point-to-point Yeomanry race between Cheshire and Lancashire. Hundreds of.members of Parliament, Lords and Commoners, including tho Speaker, who was acting with Mr. 'Justice Grnntham as judge of the * race, were witnesses of the accident. WIRELESS ON TRAWLERS. Trawlers are now being equipped - with wireless telegraphy apparatus, and tho first wireless telegram has been received in London, from a North Sea trawler. This means that in the event of anv disputo between the Powers 'afloat the North Sea trawlers, of which there are some COO always at work between tho coast of England and the Continent, will be in a position to advise the Homo defences of the presence of an enemy. The telegram received was the result of a. private experiment which was arranged by the Hull Fishing and Ice Company (Limited), of Hull, and tho e United Wireless Company, of Cornhill. Tho equipment was supplied by the United Wireless Company to the Red Cross trawler St. Vincent, and the success of their experiment is shown by

the fact that telegraphic communication was definitely and fairly established bitween the St. Vincent and the wireless station at Caister, whence the message was sent by wireless to London. A HEEO'S DEATH. A coroner's jury at Wolverhampton has returned a verdict ■of accidental death in the cases of George Richard Hughes and Ernest Edward Bell, who died as the result of carbon monoxide poisoning nt Hie works of Messrs. Alfred Hiekman (Limited), of Bilston, whilst cleaning out a large gas tube, through which gas was conveyed from the furnaces to the tan house. Gallant attempts were made to save Bell by fellow workmen, mid Hughes lost his life in doing so. The coroner, at the conclusion of the inquiry, said that Hughes had served in tho Sudan, Khartum, South Africa, and the Transvaal, and possessed medals, but his act in entering tho chamber filled with the deadliest gas known was quite as brave as any he had performed in his military career. The Carnegie Fund of i£250,0f10 was designed to meet such cases, and he asked the jury to join with him in a recommendation to , the trustees of the fund that such heroism of n father should bb recognised. Tho jury did so. A SHOPPING PALACE. Before .the end of next .year Messrs. William 'Whitclcy (Limited) will open, new premises in Queen's Road. The front- . i will be 600 ft. by 310 ft. More than ,6250,000 will be expended, and the total area will cover four acres. The architecture is to' be of the Grecian-Corinthian style, with a large central dome, the lighting effect of which will be similar to that of the famous dome above the Napoleon tomb iu Paris, from which the design will be copied. In all there will be five floors, each having a circular corridor. From the top corridor the customers look dowu :•. well, and cau =eo everything that takes place on the ground floor. Italian gardens are to be laid out on a portion of tha aopf—one acre in extent. Here flowers of every, description will bo grown, shady trees will shelter customers from the sun, and tea will be served in the sumir.er on a grass lawn nearly 100 ft. above tho street below. SEVEN YEARS FOR FIVEPENCE. At Haywards Heath a boy ' named Charles Bulbeck, aged twelve, was sent to a reformatory for seven years for stealing a lump of coal valued at 5d., as well as being sentenced to- receive six btrokes with the birch rod. The lad's explanation of the theft of the piece of coal was that he did not want to have to go next morning to buy some for his mother. So he went to the wharf in the evening and took the lump home. His father buret' into tears on hearing (he sentence imposed on the child, and told the 'magistrates that he ' thought they were "a bit hard." The magistrates ordered the father to pay £1 9s. lid. costs, aud to contribute to the lad's ' maintenance in the reformatory. The Home Secretary, questioned on the subject in the House of Commons, has stated, that he has ordered an inquiry to bo made. ALL-BRITISH SOCIETY. . The practical sequel of the public meeting of manufacturers and delegates of the Chambers of Commerce, at the Hotel Me-tropole, on March 16, is the formation of "The Register of British Manufacturers." The chnirman is Mr. C. Charleton, vice-president of the London Chamber of Commerce. The objects for which the society is established are:. To combat tho fraudulent marking as British of foreign-made to promote the sale of British manufactures in preference to foreign-mada goods; to adopt and register for the use of members a mark or.marks under Section 62 (Standardisation) of the Trade Marks Act of 1905; to promote, forvard, and assist the international protection of industrial property in such mark or other marks 'as may be registered as the property of the members; and induce Oversea Governments to grant protection for the society's ~ mark or marks, and to extend inter-Im- c I perial trade relations by enrolling as members the manufacturers i and. producers of such Oversea States as are willing to give reciprocal protection for the society's mark or marks. BARONET'S SUICIDE. An inquest was held at Westminster on the body of Sir Thomas Selby Tancred, who was found unconscious on a seat in Rotten Row and was removed to St. George's Hospital, where he died' shortly after admission. A private in tho 3rd Grenadier Guards said ■ that shortly after eleven o'clock at night he Was crossing Rotten Row on' the way to tho barracks, when ho saw the baronet on one of the seats. His hat was on the ground, and he was lying with his head resting on the back rails. A policeman found a pencilled note in one of tho baronet's pockets, which ran: "Please don't disturb my peoplo or let them know until to-morrow." It -was stated that the cause of death was prussic acid poisoning, and that Sir Thomas had been suffering badlj from mental depression after influenza. The jury returned a verdict that the baronet met his death by taking prussic acid with intent to take his life.—"Standard of Empire."