BY THE ENGLISH MAIL

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 992, 6 December 1910, Page 6

BY THE ENGLISH MAIL

LONDON SUMMARY. THE BALACLAVA LIGHT BRIGADE. London, October 28..' Thirteen of the twenty-eight" survivors of the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava kept the fifty-piith anniversary of that event by a dinner at the' Horbori* Restaurant. In response to a telegraphic menage from the assembly tho following telegram 'was recevied from the King: "The King ami Queen warmly thank survivor* of the Balaclava Light Brigad* charge'{or their kind message, and trust that those who are celebrating that eveiit of undying fame will enjoy a happy anni. versnry." The chair was taken by Lord Cardigan, who is the nephew of the Lord Cardigan who commanded the Light Bri. gade in the charge on the Russian guns

NATIONAL SERVICE. Lord Curzon made a remarkable speecft at Hanley the other day in advocacy ol Hie National Service League ideal ol "every man a soldier." ' He said: "Under the present system many noble fellows are ready to defend their hearths and homes as well as those of the idlers and skulkers. It is not the spirit that is wanting, but the conditions. I advocate compulsory service for home defence— that every young man physically sound should be liable during a few years of early life to be called for service in the Territorial Army for purposes of home defence. I believe that compulsory training would throw a real shaft of light on the darkness of the submerged classes— that it would in many cases be a strong help to lift the downtrodden from the mire, and thaj: the men who took part •would emerge better citizens and finer men."

A MISSING BARONET, u In .the Probate Court leave has been granted to presume the death of 'Sir Claude Robert Campbell, the fourth,baroimt. It was stated that Sir .-Claude dissipated what money he was entitled to early in life, and in 1898 he left London on board the sailing ship Sutherlandshire, as an ordinary seaman. In 1899—when his father, according to Burke, is "supposed to have died"—he succeeded to the' title, but rejoined the Sutherlandshire. Tho ship was wrecked off Sumatra on July 25, 1900, and Sir Claude and an apprentice volunteered to swim ashore and get assistance. According to the- affidavits of the ship's master and the apprentice, Sir Claude was drowned, and his body was washed ashore. "Within the last week or so a document had been received by the solicitors, saying: "Alive and well.—C.-.R. Campbell, 13/1f1,''09," but this was not in Sir Claude's handwriting.

NEW THAMES BRIDGE. . The City Corporation have adopted the report of the Bridge House Estates Conimittee recommending tHe reconstruction of Southwark Bridge at'a cost of .£261,OCO, and the building of a new bridge," to be called St. Paul's Bridge, at a cost of «£1,e46,953. Mr. W. H. Thomas,. the chairman of the committee, in moving the adoption of the report, said the Institute of British Architects had suggested that the northern approach oi the bridge should open immediately ojn posite the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, but that proposal, if carried out, would involve the corporation in an additional outlay of one million sterling. The cor. poration will now proceed with a Bill iv Parliament to carry out the scheme.

AUSTRALIAN INVENTOR'S DEATH. An inquest was held at the TottenhamCoroner's Court in the caso of William! Paris, an Australian, aged seventy-four, described as a watch and clockinaker. The deceased lost his wife and family on the journey from Australia to England in the wreck of the Gambia in 1883. For a. number of ..years he had been engaged in perfecting an aeroplane and airship inventions, but lately had been obliged to go into the Islington Workhouse. Later the guardians released him from the workhouse and continued, to pay hiin'Ss. weekly to Enable him to perfect his inventions, which had been patented. The deceased was engaged on his inventions: up to, the time '.of his death.' A veedict' of natural death was returned.

CORNISH SOCIETY SCANDAL. At the Bodmin Assizes Mrs. Hugh Will* yams, who comes of a prominent Cornish family, was ■ sentenced to three , years' penal servitude on a charge or , , forging a series of promissory notes in tlie name of her husband's uncle, Mr. Brydges Willyams. A- sum of .£II,OOO ia j all was involved in these promissory notes, which wore made payable to Mrs.". Willyams, and two for;a"-total of £400 were discounted for her by a London firm of. moneylenders. Captain Willyams, who , was charged with having, conjointly wiSh his wife,. forged and uttered a promissory note for .£2OOO, was found not guilty, amid the applause of the| court.

SCHOOLBOY'S TRAGIC EXD. At Oxford an inquest was held on. the body of Theodore William Meyer, the twelve-year-old son of, Sir William Stevenson Meyer, Financial Secretary'to the Government of India, who died in extraordinary circumstances at Suminerfielda School, where he was a boarder. He was found unconscious near a window in the schoolroom with a ventilator .cord round his neck tied in a slip-knot. He had not been seen by any of the other .boys. The boy's feet were touching the floor, .and.it!is believed that-the sligEt pressure of the cord round his neck had induced a condition" of scmi-conscious-nsss, and ho had rolled off his seat-and become partially suspendad. The marks on the neck proved that it was an accident, and a verdict to that effect was returned. .

NIGHTINGALE MEMORIAL; National support is asked for the fund to be raised to. the memory of the late Hiss Nightingale, to render' pecuniary assistance to aged nurses or those- in-; capacitated ill-health from continuing their nursing career. : It is not generally known that there are yet four survivors, who, accompanied. Miss Nightingale to the Crimea. One of these , women is in the workhouse, through no fault of her own j others there are who entered the calling .when it seemed to ■ hold out little prospect of adequate but whose early devoted services are reflected in standards of modern nursing, while many of those now advancing in years will stand very near this "periloug position unless they can be provided- for. Even at' middle age, it is. /pointed out, there are 'few appointments "'open-to nurses who have spent their'time in, public service. A nurse's career is necessarily short, as the public demand the services of,a young and up-to-date woman.

THE SURVIVOR Of NAVARINO. Naval Pensioner Henry Cox, the last survivor of the Battle of Navarino, interviewed recently by a /'Daily 'News" representative, told some of his most in< teresting recollections of the days of old. Pirates and slave dealers he had come across often, and he remembered' well an exciting time ho had had with a blood* thirsty, gang of pirates off Nova Scotia, "I had joined the naval schooner Fair Rosalind, and one day we gave chase for many miles to these fellows, who had captured a British barque. When we got up to them the crew of fifteen liad mutinied. The mutineers hit the first mate over the head with a belayiug pin. and threw him intr>. the water. They brought up the captain from below ,by shontinjr. 'Man overboard.'. and lie. was 'served the same way. The ship's car. penterV throat was cut, and in the end only fix of the crew: were alive. We made these prisoners, and took them to Halifax, where four of them were, hung, - DEADLIER TORPEDOES. A new invention which,'it is claimc6\ will increase enormously the effectiveness! of torpedo warfare, was tested in the great basin at Birkenhead the.other day. iiy the new plan- torpedoes will pierce Hie nets hung- round -warships as> a protection, by means of a new au'd highly, powerful explosive, instead' of,-by the cutter with which they are at present Jilted. Indeed,, if the new invention is approved, these nets will be rendered obsolete. ..During the test a torpedo cut clean through a'not placed some distanc< away. The inventor of. the new devic< is Sir: G. S. Hazlehurst, ex-Mayor ol liirkeuhcad:—"Standard ot Emj)ite."