BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1153, 14 June 1911, Page 4

BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

LONDON SUMMARY. ST. GEOKGJ; AND SIIAKESI'EAIiE. London, April 2S. Sunday, April 23, was St. George's Day, and il was also the anniversary of Shakespeare's birth. The joint celebration was, on the whale, kept up with more than usual fervour. Although the name of Sit. ticorge. has been popular in England since the days of Richard Cueur do Lion, the ciislom of coniinemurating his day had until recently fallen somewhat out of use. The efforts, however, of the Koyal Society of St. George to reawaken tho old enthusiasm has so far been successful thai. English people have noticeably begun to do honour 11 St. George by wearing the national (lower on April and although the custom cannot yet be said to be general, it is steadily growing. In many pulpits appropriate references were made to citizenship, its rights, privileges, and duties, and from not a few of the church towers iu London the l!ed Cross ol St. George floated throughout the day. In response to a circular from the Royal Socirty of St. George many of tho provincial Mayors attended Divine service in state. The three hundred and forty-seventh anniversary .of Shakespeare's birth has been commemorated in his native town, Stratford-on-Avon. Falling this year on a Sunday, the biithday rejoicings were necessarily somewhat restricted, several of the chief functions, including .the decoration of the poet's tomb, being reserved until the following day. Thcro was, however, an imposing procession of townspeople and others to the collegiate church, where a special commemoration service took place. The Mayor and corporation, members of the' Shakespeare Club, representatives of the local public bodies, and numerous distinguished visitors attended. After the service the procession returned to the Town Hall, where the Mayor proposed "Tho immortal memory of Shakespeare," which was drunk in silence. Tho streets were decorated, and everywhere Shakespearian (lags, emblems, and mottoes wpre' entwined with flags of St. George. EMPIRE RECIPROCITY. The "Even'ing Standard" is informed that the leading AA'ost Indian Islands arc about to enter into reciprocal trade arrangements with Canada. The present position of (he negotiations lias been ex-, plained in an interview by Mr. Algernon k Aspinall, the secretary of the West Indian Committee. "All Hie A\ est Indian Colonies," said Mr. Aspinall, "have, with the exception of Jamaica, Barbados, and Grenada, now passed resolutions in their councils approving of the proposed establishment of reciprocity with Canada. The adhesion of Barbados, however, is daily expected, as its legislature on former occasions has passed resolutions in favour of reciprocal trade. -It was alwavs understood that Jamaica would stand out, as the conditions there, _ with her large food industry with tho United States, are not in the same category as the other islands. The AUst Indies are now wailing for Canada to name a convenient time for the treaty to come into operation." SECRET OF TIIE AWE. An interesting development lias taken place in connection with the search lor the Bacon-Shakespeare secret which the Duke of Beaufort and Mr. Orvillo Owen have been conducting for some months past in the bed of the liiver Wye at Chepstow. Eighty yards from the scene of their excavations a cache lias beendiscovered, -which may possibly be., the roof of tho hiding-place in which Francis Bacon is supposed, to have buried his kev to the mvstery of -the Shakespeare •pi a vs. The Duke of Beaufort s agent, Mr." 11. Piric-Gordon, states that tho spot at which the cache was found is indicated with astounding.clearness in a series ot new Bacon cyphers which the explorers liavo just obtained. Th 6 cache, Mr. I'irit-Gordon states, is situated in the l»d of the Roman ford.: It is a- largoframework of timber, 41ft. long and loft, wide. It .is intersected by J 9 each twelve, inches square. fheso form compartments filled with stones battered into a blue-grey' cloy. Underneath this, casing .it is hoped to find the long-sought manuscripts .proving Bacon to have been the author of Shakespeare's plays. MUTINY MEDALS. It is stated that there are several thousands of unclaimed Indian Mutiny medals still awaiting distribution. Although the India Ulfiee instituted inquiries after tho Mutiny as to the whereabouts of those who were entitled to these decorations many of the medals have never been claimed. After the lapse of about ten years these medals were returned to the Mint to be melted down. The original dies were, of course, preserved, so that when an old soldier sends in a claim and it is found to be justified a medal can. be struck at any time. Only those who actually took part in the lighting ate entitled to the decoration. Much difficulty arises from the fact that some of the officers in preparing the roll omitted the names of a number of soldiers who were entitled to tho medal, through inadvertence or insufficient knowledge. AUSTRALIAN MILLIONS CLAIMED. The "Urquhart millions," left by a Scotsman who emigrated from Dingwall to Australia three-quarters of a century ago, and who amassed a great lortuno as a railway contractor, and died without issue, are now being claimed (states the "Dailv Chronicle") by a Salford resident named William Urquhart, who contends that his grandfather was brother oi tho Australian millionaire. The claimant's life story is one of strange adventure, lie is US 'years old. As a sailor he declares lie was shipwrecked six times. He also says that at one time he was "bugler to the admiral of the Argentine fleet at Buenos Aj'res." Urquhart states that ho made his* escape from the ship, and eventually went to Australia. At Ccj I - gardie lie started a bakery shop with- a partner, but his partner died of fever, and then Urquhart sold up and went to Melbourne, where he was confined to hospital with typhoid fever. His adventures, according to his own account, include his serving in tho South African war, mid he also savs ho was in Cuba during tho Spanish-American war. A DUSTLESS AGE. Figures just published show that if tho motor traffic of London increases and the horse traffic decreases as (hey are doing at tho present, Londoners ought to look forward to an age of dustlcss streets. ''The reason for the extraordinary decrease in the mud and dust of London," an official of the highways department of the AVestminster City Council stated the other day, "is due in a large extent to the gradual disappearance of horse traffic. 11l the year ending 1010 Westminster showed a decrease on 190G of 18,000 tons .of mud and dust, which is a very large consideration when one considers that it costs 3s. Id. a lon to collect." At this rate it means (hat motorcars have saved AA'estniinster - .C 2775 a year. Westminster dees not stand alone, 'as the following figures of the dust and mud collected in other districts showsTons removed. 190 G. 1(110. Battersea 37,080 2!),1)53 West mi lister M),G!M llolhorn ;i'J,3l)tl 21,09:! Hammersmith 27,07(1 £0,69-1 Stepney (bads) 51,5111 -la.l-7 City of London (loads) 31,107 !J3,93S HURLED THROUGH A WINDOW. A horse-cab was standing in Hie street outside Messrs. Dunn and C-o.'s hat shop, at the eiirnvr of Agar Sjrer-t, when a moi.or omnibus from A'iolorta to Liverpool Street came along, and the driver of the omnibus had suddenly to divert, his course in order to avoid knocking down a boy. 'J'lie omnibus ran into the cab, which was hurled over the pavement into Messrs. Dunn's window. The horse and cab smashed the window. Tli driver of the call was standing at: the rear of (he vehicle and was (lung to the ground, but he did not suffer any injury. Ho was talking to a friend, who was nearer the horse, and (he body of (lie cab went, over the latter, injuring his left wrist, slightly cutting his face, and tearing the sole olf his left boot. 11c crawled out at the other side of the cab. and then pulled a woman from under it. Another woman and a man wero thrown through the window, and a young man was knocked dowu.—"Standard of Empire."