BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1112, 27 April 1911, Page 7

BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

9 — LONDON SUMMARY. NAVY ESTIMATES INCREASE. Lcnrion, March 17. . According to the Xavv Estimates for 191.1-112, the total expenditure on the Navy is to be £44,392,500 (an increase as compared with last year of £3,788,800); tne shipbuilding vote will bo ono of .£15,01)3,87/ —an increase of .E1,784,047. There is to be an increase in the number of men of 3000. The following table shows the number and typo of new ships to be laid down: — Large armoured ships 5 Protected cruisers 3 Unarmourcd cruiser 1 Destroyers "0 Submarines () River gunboats 2 Depot ship for destroyers 1 Hospital ship 1 A second dock has been ordered at Ros.vth. Arrangements are being made for a reserve of additional trained nurses to be known as Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Special Reserve. DOMINIONS AND DEFENCE. In addition thero will bo under construction, on April 1, 1911, for Dominion Governments, two armoured cruisers, two projected cruisers, and two submarines. In connection with tho Oversea States, the First Lord of the Admiralty states: "Certain questions affecting tho administration and organisation of tho Dominion naval forces on tho basis of the scheme outlined at the Imperial Conference in 1909 have been discussed with the Dominion Governments, and I hope that many of the details may be settled before tho meeting of the Imperial Conference in May next. AVith regard to the agreement arrived at with representatives of tho Australian Government at the Defence Conference in 1909, tho Commonwealth Government have decided not to ask for any contribution from Imperial funds towards tho maintenance of the Australian naval unit."

ENGLAND'S GRATITUDE. "An expression of the cordial thanks of the Board of Admiralty has been convevcd," he continues, "through tho Colonial Offico to the Commonwealth Government for the additional relief which will thus be given to Naval Votes when the Australian naval force is established. Tho Commonwealth Government of Australia have secured tho services of Admiral Sir Reginald Henderson, K.C.8., 'and three other officers of tho Royal Navy, to adviso them as to the best manner, of organising their naval forces. The Canadian Government liavo completed the purchase of the cruisers Niobo and Rainbow, to which I referred in my statement last year, and these vessels are now in commission on the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards respectively of tho Dominion. Both cruisors were manned mainly by officers and men lent from the Royal Navy and tho Royal Fleet Reserve." THE NAVAL POSITION IN 1914. In a letter which they have sent to the members of tho House of Commons anent the Navy Estimates, tho Imperial Maritime League points out that according' to tho present programme the United Kingdom will have ready, in the early part of 1914, thirty Dreadnoughts, less one, which, as Mr. M'Kenna has definitely stated, is to be sent to the East. (The two oversea Dreadnoughts will also serve in their own waters.) We shall, therefore, havo twentv-ninn left for service in .European waters, against twenty-one,which Germany will then have ready. "The next great salient fact to bear in mind," tho letter continues, "is that by the date named Austria and Italy will each have four Dreadnoughts in the Mediterranean. Unless, then, we arc prepared to leave that- sea, and, with it, 3lalta, Egypt, and the Suez Canal, at the mercy of Germauy's two pledged allies, wo must, whether wo like it or not,- place at least eight Dreadnoughts in tho Mediterranean at that date. It should be remembered that even that force .promises us only a bare equality, and not a superiority capable of assuring victory in tho event of conflict. But when the3c eight Dreadnoughts are withdrawn from Home waters for the purpose named we shall bo left with but twenty-one in Homo waters opposed to the twenty-one of Germany, who will then practically have reached the equality with ourselves, at which she has so long aimed." PEER V.. DRAPER. Lord Howard de Walden has been awarded a farthing damages and costs in the action 'which ho brought against Mr. John Lewis, the Oxford Street draper, for libel in respect of notices oil boards in front of tho defendant's premises in Oxford Street and Holies Street.. Mr. Lewis, who is tenant of Lord Howard de Walden, had a complaint that "ho had not been allowed to carry out a schemo for enlarging his establishment by making two houses part of his business premises externally. He had- at one time been imprisoned for contempt of Court (or not obeying a judge's order made in connection with tho dispute which has lasted for years. In cross-examination Mr. Lewis said that tho placards had - been posted with the intention of bringing the plaintiff into Court. Now that he had been successful they had been taken down, and would bo kept as '"heirlooms." After the case had come

to a conclusion the disputants shook hands. £1,171,000 IN CHANCERY. The aggregate amount of the dormant funds in Chanccry is about £1,171,000, according to a supplement to the "London^Gazette'' just issued. This list of funds, each account amounting to not less than £50, has to bo prepared every third year in accordance with tho Supreme Court Funds Rules, 1905, which also enact that the accounts must mot have been dealt with for the last fifteen years, otherwise than hy the continuous investment or placing on deposit of dividends, The total sum is distributed over more than 3580 separate accounts, of which many date back to the early eighteenth century. One-half do not'exceed £150 in value, and only about one-twentieth exceed £1000..

FESTIVAL OB' EMPIRE CASE. The Earl of Plymouth, as representative of the Festival of Empire, 1910, was sued in the King's Bench Division by Un Bernard Braunstein, the proprietor of the British Tofam Art Works, who contended thatdie had suffered damage because he did not get space allotted to him owing to the postponement of the festival through the death of King Edward. The jury found that the agreement with tho plaintiff wns made oil the basis that tho festival would happen in 1910. They agreed that the fact that it was not held was not due to any act or default by tho defendant, and that there was no evidence of damage. Judgment was accordingly entered for the defendant, with costs. RACE IMPROVEMENT. A bequest of residuary estate, which will probably amount to £65,000, has been left by the late Sir Francis Galton to found and endow at Hie University of London "a professorship to be known as 'The Galton Professorship of Eugenics,' with a laboratory and a library attached thereto, stating that it'shall be the duty of the professor to pursue the study and further the knowledce of national eugenics, that is,

of the agoncios under social control that may improve or impair the racial faculties of future generations physically and mentally.' 1 The holder of the chair will he expected to collcct material hearing on eugenics, 1o provide information to private individuals a,ml puhli;: authorities concerning the laws of inheritance in man, and to extend the knowledge of eugenics hy instruction, publications, lectures, and experimental or observational work. 12,000,000 OUNCES OF GOLD. Further oxcccding'.y inteicstiug statistics are given showing the value of tho Empire's principal products during 1!)09. It is estimated that in that year there was produced throughout the British Realm 300,000,000 tons of coal, the \aluo being 120 millions sterling ; 16,000,000 tons of iron ore, .0,000,000 tons of pig iron, diamonds to tho value of six millions sterling, 12,000,000 ounces of gold with a value of •54 millions sterling; silver to the value of millions; copper, four millions; tin, eight millions; 689. million bushels of wheat, 125 million bushels of barley 545 million bushels of oats, 53 million bushels of maize, nine million gallons of wine, 133 million pounds _of cocoa, 39 million pounds of coffee, 50 million hundredweights of raw sugar, 15 million pounds of rubber, and 1817 milion pounds of cotton. GENERAL BOOTH'S SIGHT. With unshaken courage, General Booth has been preparing, calmly and methodically, flnr tlie blindness wlncn, it is feared, must overtake him unless the wonderful operation to be performed in tho autumn is successful. Genoral Booth has lost the sight of one eyo ovrjng, it is believed, to a speck of dust blown into it during ono of his many motor-car tours. The other is so enfeebled that he can hardly see. In tho autumn surgeons will attempt the delicate task of clearing away tho obscured lenses of the remaining eyo. If that operation is not successful, General Booth will be blind. > So every day this brave old man of eighty-two has had both his eye.; bandaged round, and thus he lias walked about his home, familiarising himself with the feel of obiect3 which ono day he may be unable to see.

EIGHT MILLION ELECTORS. An interesting White Paper just issued from the Home Offieo shows the total number of electors on the now register to be 7,904,465, compared with 7,705,602 in 1910, thus giving an increase over the old register 011 which tho Government forced an election last December of 298,863. Tho figures for England and Wales are: 6,407,642; for Scotland, 800,448; and for Ireland, 690,375. In tho case of Ireland, these represent a decreaso of 2412. The counties furnish 4,782,127 voters, apportioned thus: 3,751,39 in England and Wales, 462,990 in Scotland, ar.d .568,098 in Ireland; ami the boroughs 3,075,663, of whom 2,636,430 are in England and "Wales, 316,022 in Scotland, and 123,216 in Ireland. University electors number 46,670. Tho Romford Division of Essex retains the distinction of possessing tho largestnumber of voters in any single constituency, there being 55,951 on its lists. The smallest constituency is Kilkenny, with 1690 voters. . TREATMENT OF SUFFRAGISTS. In answer to a question 011 the subject of tho treatment of Suffragists, Mr. Winston Churchill, tho Home Secretary, states that the plan followed by his predecessor at the Homo Office, Lord Gladstone, was that tho police should bo instructed to defer making arrests in cases of disturbance by Suffragists until the conduct of individual women had become so outrageous that their arrest was imperative.' That course, ho pointed out, had the great disadvantage of allowing the disorder to continue .for a- long time. "I have given explicit instructions," ho states, "that in tho future, with a view to the avoidance of disagreeable scenes, for which no one is responsible but the disorderly women themselves, police officers shall be told to make arrests as soon as there is lawful occasion." PREMIER'S DAUGHTER ILL. The Prime Minister has had to leave England with Mrs. Asquith for Switzerland, owing to tho sudden illness of Miss Elizabetii Asquith, their younger daughter, at Lautorbrunnen. Miss Elizabeth Asquith, who is in her fourteenth year, is Mrs. Asquith's only daughter, although Mr. Asquith has another, Violet, by his first wife. Mrs. Asquith and her daughter went to Murren 011 January 19. On tho 24th they wero at Wengen for the skating competition, in which Miss Elizabeth took part, and 011 February 3 Mrs. Asquith returned to London, leaving her daughter in Switzerland. It is believed that Miss Asquith contracted a chill while skating. CORONATION FLOWER. The official statement is made that tho Queen has intimated to the Gardeners' Company her wish that the Coronation bouquet which the company is to present to her Majesty shall be composed of pinlc carnations. Tho flowers from which it is .understood her Majesty's choice will bo made are tho varieties known as Enchantress, a pale pink; Mrs. Lawson, a cerise; and Windsor, a full pink. The announcement lias given great satisfaction to horticulturists, as it is believed that from every point of view the Royal choice is a happy one. The carnation is a flower that has admirable decorative qualities, and it has increased in public favour very rapidly during the past few years. —"Standard of Empire."