BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 961, 31 October 1910, Page 8

BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

. . * LONDON SUMMARY. MEETING OP UNIVERSITY BEPRE- • SENTATIVES. London, September IG. A project has been started to hold in London a great meeting of representatives from the Universities of the Empire in the year 1912. With the concurrence of Oxford and Cambridge, the ViceChancellor of London University lias sent out invitations to all the universities of thie United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, South' Africa, New Zealand, and. India. Favourable answers have, already been- received from the majority of those written to, and it is expected that the remainder will reply favourably when the governing bodies have met- and discussed the question. Four representatives will be. sent by each university. The secretary of this committee which is : making the preliminary arrangements in Dr. R. D. Roberts, 11.A., ■ D.Sc.

IN "PAINTERS' CORNER," The ashes of Mr. Holman Hunt, the great artist, have been burricd in St. Paul's Cathedral; and' now rest in "Painters' Corner," with those of Turner, Leighton,. Millais, and other illustrious artists. , The, body was cremated at Golder's Green, and the ashes enclosed in a marble urn bearing '. the •. inscriptions "Their bodies are'buried in peace, .but their names liv-e for-evermore." The. bier on which the urn was placed, was borne up the central,'aisle of the, cathedral by Sir Charles Holroyd, Mr. William Rossetti, Mr. Arthur Hughes, Mr.' Forbes' Robertson, Lord Tennyson, Mr. Charles Booth!, Sir Norman Lockyer, and Professor Gollancz. The service, which was one of ■ impressive simplicity, was attended by the City Corporation in state. The spot where the urn is interred is in the south-east part of the crypt at the, foot of Millais" tomb. Professor Currelly, of Toronto, was present, representing 'the artist's eldest son.

. AERIAL TARGETS! •Interesting experiments have been carried oui by the scout Adventure'and the 115 th Battery of the Royal Field Artillery at Whitsand Bay, with a view to. determining the' vulnerability of airships to artillery fire. The consisted of a number of miniature balloons attached to man-lifting kites, which were towed rapidly along through the air by the warship. For upwards'of five hours the Adventure towea her aerial targets in wide circles past, the 1 6hcre batteries. The shooting was rendered desultory by the haze which prevailed at.the time. On tho whole it cannot be held that it was very effective. ■ Given. real conditions and tho high speed which an airship could havo kept up in such calm weather, it is very problematical whether the gunnere would hove <hit her at all.*

2} MILLION DAYS. LOST. ; ; . According to the Board of Trade annual report on strikes and. lockouts for 1909, the aggregate-duration .of all the disputes amounted to 2J million working' dayslittle' more than a quarter of that recorded in 1908, and' well below, the average of the preceding ten years. Exclusive of seamen and agricultural labourers, the working time lost averaged about a quarter of a day per head. . 11l the case : of 11.2 per cent, of the workpeople involved in disputes, the results were in favour of the employees'; in the case of 22.2 per cent, in favour of the employers'; and in disputes affecting 66 per cent, of the workpeople directly involved compromises were arrived at.

"LONDON GAZETTE." England's oldest., newspaper, the "London Gazette," which was established in 1667 and is nearing its 30,000 th.number, is to.have now printers and,publishers. The "Gazette" lias been printed and published by Messrs. Harrison, of St. Martin's Lano, for more than 130 years, but owing- to. new arrangements having .Seen made by the Government 1 Stationary' Office a ne\jr contract has been entered into. with Messrs. • Wyman and- : Co., Limited, .of Fetter Lane. > At one time, the' "Gazette" was the first to .publish, war 1 newsr-anticipating' the London newspapers. Although the "Gazette" was.lfirst J issued'in the'reign of Charles 11, it was not registered' at the General Post Office as a newspaper until two years ago.

FATAL FmE MYSTERY.' ■ ■ ■ One woman assistant ' was killed . aid three others seriously injured in a terrible fire which broke out in a big draper's" .shop belonging to Mr. Wallace Hughes; in Brixton Road, S.W;, The-fire apparently' originated' in :a 'cupboard under d staircase on ,the ground floor, and spread rapidly up the stairs .to the bedrooms where the assistants . slept! The women, awakened by the crackling noise, were 6o alarmed that they jumped out of the window -into the street—one being killed' through striking aii iron signboard as she fell—although if they ' had waited another half-ihinute tho fire-escape would have been-fixed and they could have escaped safely.' 'The fire is the fourth' on drapery premises in Brixton Road within a month; and the third; at Mr. Wallace Hughes's shop.' The fires are put down by the proprietor to foul play. .

SCIENCE IN CRIME, ' - Three men who, it is alleged, are members of a gang of burglars that attempted to open' a safe containing .£40,000 worth of platinum and gold ot a: well-known firm of jewellers in Birmingham,' have been remanded on a charge of attempted burglary. It is stated: that offices next 'door to' the premises occupied by the jewellers were rented shortly before the attempted burglary by men representing themselves to be diamond merchants.' When the discovery was made it " was found tliat the thieves • had broken through thr.ee walls to get at the strong-, room. They then prooeeded to cut a hole hi the strong-room door, which consisted of eight inches of solid steel with an asbestos lining,'by means of an.'Oxyhydrogen blow-pipe. They had bored through all but half an inch when they were, alarmed and decamped, leaving behind appliances weighing, ovei .a ton and worth at least .£2OO. • Tniiy had installed a temporary'telephone arid 'electric alarm to enaole them. to keep in : communication with tho man on watch.

. ■ RAILWAY DEATHS. : Seven persons, other than railway passengers, were kilkd on the railways of the United Kingdom by accidents to trains—acoording to the Board of Trade report for the first three months of the year. These figures compare very unfavourably with the ; statistics for the same period last year, 'when no oneexcepting railway servants—was killed through train accidents. There was a total death roll for the quarter of 294— an increase of 49. ■Of those killed 123 were trespassers' and suicides, 24 passengers, and 12G railway . employees. • Increases are shown ill every class of fatal ■accident save one, in which there is .a decrease of two. ■

EMPIRE LINKING. 'An interesting oeremoiiy has taken place in the grounds of King's College School at Wimbledon, when Captain ft. Muirhead Collins, Official Secretary of the Commonwealth of Australia in Lon-' don, unfurled a flag which had been presented by the school children of Wimbledon, New South Wales, to the school children of Wimbledon, Surrey. Tho presentation was the response to a message—tile first approach from this. side of the ocean—sent .from the English Wimbledon to the Australian some time ago, at the suggestion of Mr.; A. A. Pear6on, of. Petcrsneld. Captain Collins said that, as one associated with Australia, it gavo him great pleasure to make tho presentation of tho (lag. "Tho gift," lio said, "reminds us that wo are members of one family, citizcns of one Empiro hold together by ties of kinship, and acknowledging allegiance to one flag and one King—''United we stand, divided wo fall.'"

HERMIT OP THE TEMPLE. A tragedy of a lonely life was discovered in chambers in Pump Court, Middle Temple, when a "laundress," entering to clean the rooms, found Mr. Isaac Renwick sitting dead in his favourite armchair before a table littered with papers. There was a bullet wound in his head, And a. BBiallxfiyol'vejf'.lay.iJa his lap. Hr.

Benwick was years of age, and had lived alone in the Temple for iitfeen years. His occupations were reading hooks for publishers aud making translations. ' His chambers were his worldi and he seldojn left them. Occasionally he went for a tramcar or bus ride, but thdse were his only excursions into the world outside. Although' ho had lived for so long in Pump Court,-none of those who occupied chambers in the same building liiul more than a nodding acquaintance with him, and 'he seemed to have no friends. A verdict of suicide was returned at the inquest.

THIEVES AS SERVANTS. How a gang of thieves obtained employment as servants in West End flats by means of fi.lse references and then robbed the premises was told when Frank Baker was sentenced] to twelve months' hard labour, and his wife and mother : in-law to six months' each for theft. Mrs. Baker and Hi's.: Prior, Tier mother, would apply at. a registry office • for situations, ana when they, had fcDAd.'a-suitable employer the employer wiujdi receive a letter of recommendation from a Major and Mrs. Eynd, who gave a country hotel as their address. The letters were written by. Frank Baker, who would communicate with a country hotel under the pretence of obtaining rooms and ask that letters addrossed to him thero should be forwarded to a London address. In this way 'the women installed themselves in a flat'.in Chelsea Gardens; which had been sublet by . a Mrs. G. M. Gibson, and during the absence of the occupant they stole articles valued at £400. It was stated that all\ three had been convicted of similar frauds previously.—"Standard of Empire."