BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1356, 6 February 1912, Page 6

BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

♦ CHRISTMAS IN LONDON. London, December 29. Christmas Day in London was this year marked by fairly (rood weather. After ii night »f pel tint , ruin, (he morning opened fair, and (he sun shone for somn hours. Tim day remained fine on the whole, although (here wore showers of rain in some districts. The weather was fairly warm, 47dcg.—lour above (he average—but there was a chilly nip in the wind. Compared with Boxing Day, Christina* Day was The national holiday was so wet and miserable that very IViv people ventured out. The rain was almost continuous. This is the iifth Boxing Day in succession that has been bad. lu Ifflfi the record was, sunless; 1909, drizzling rain; 190S, overcast; J!!07, no sun. GAMBLING DEX IN PEER'S MANSION. An extraordinary story has just come to light concerning tho "goings on" in the servants' hall at (lie big town mansion of a distinguished nobleman. For some time the peer hail boon aware that his house was under surveillance by plain-clothes detectives, and at last he asked an explanation. The result of his inquiries was that he found out that in the servants' quarters a large'room, supposed to be a bedroom, was found to contain a perfectly poised roulette wheel and all (he (Hlings of a small Monte Carlo. There were scores of packs of cards and several luxurious appointments in the »ar of buffet, wine cooler, easy chairs, and so forth. In part of the space which the owner supposed was occupied by bins for his store of wines there were two more gambling rooms with all kinds of tables for "the duo manipulation of cards, and these rooms, it was explained, were principally used by the servants of visiting families. SERVANT AS A CROUPIER. The other and better furnished room was reserved for some gamblers in quite a superior status. Over all this one servant nightly presided at such times as the town house was open, and often was represented by a trusted fel'.ow-servant when tho family were at one of their country seats. All the servants wore in the secret, and were under solemn vows of fidelity, their reward being a share in the/weekly profits of the concern, which sometimes, it is surmised, amounted to hundreds of pounds. Not only did servants of the better class come, from all pa.rts of fashionable London to gamble, but detectives found out that among the supposed seivants calling at night and staying for hours in the basement of Lord — s house were a number of gentlemen and young noblemen, Army officers, Fiid fashionable men 'lbaut'town, all slinlcing in a:i'd slouching out of (he servants' entrance, with upturned coat collars and a very evident desire "not to be recognised." There has since boon a clean sivcu in.the servants' hoii, but ;s the gambling was absolutely "squ.ire," and as Lord has not been robbed at ill. no prosecutions will tako place. STATE TELEPHONES. At midnight on Sunday-at the moment when A.D. 1911 becomes A.D. 1912—the whole of the land, offices, plant, and staff of the National Telephone Company will become State property. Nearly twenty thousand men and women will pass automatically from the service of a private company to a Government service. In a general way the employees will gain by the change to State employment, though some of the more expensive officials will either have to leave the service or to accept lower salaries. Houts of work will be shortened by half an hour a day, holidays will bo more numerous, and in the majority of cases the pay will be better. There is, moreover, tho adyantago that two-thirds of the transferred servants, or thereabout, will he entitled to pensions under Government. Altogether some 600.000 telephones are to be taken over by the State. POPULAR PANTOMIMES. The most popular pantomime this season is "Cinderella," which is being played at no fewer than nineteen theatres. Last year "Cinderella" was second, "Dick Whittington" being first in popularity. During the last twenty years "Cinderella" has been first eleven ■ times and second eight times. No other pantomime has such a good record. During tho twenty years tho first place has always been held by one of four pantomimes: "Cinderella." "Dick Whittington," "Aladdin," and "Babc-s in thp Wood." Titles that have not been used for twenty vears are "St. George and the Dragon," "Little Jack Frost," "Little Miss Muffet," "Jack of Hearts," and "Santa Claus." "Hop o' My Thumb," which is Ireing played at Drury Lane, was last seen there in 1864. GAEKWAR OF BARODA CASE. A case in which tho Gaekwar of Baroda was concerned has been dealt with in the Divorce Court. Tho suit was a petition for divorco, the petitioner being Mr. G. W. Statham, and the corespondent being the Gaekwar. The question at issue was whether his Highness could be cited as a co-respo,ndfnt. At the last hearing it was contended for the petitioner that the Gaekwar came within the jurisdiction of the Court, as he was not an independent ruling Sovereign, ho and his country being under the suzerainty of the King. In a case against the Sultan of Johore it was held that tho Court had uo jurisdiction over an independent ruling prince. It was admitted that no native Indian prince could be sued in the civil Courts without tho permdssion of the Indian Government. Such permission was never granted. For the Gaekwar it was pointed out that Mr. Justice Lush, in the King's Bench Division, had, after communicating with the India Office, set aside the writ in an action on the ground that no proceedings could lie against him because he was an Indian ruling Sovereign, over whom tho Court had no jurisdiction. Iho Judge gave his judgment in favour of the Gaekwar.

160,000. WOEKEBS LOCKED OUT. • About 300,000 workpeople are likely (o be rendered idle in Lancashire as the Tesult of the dispute in the cotton trade. Upwards of 160,000 were locked out in the Blackburn and Burnley districts on ■Wednesday, and if, as appears probable, the employers' organisations in both the spinning and weaving sections of the industry resolve upon combined action aim «hut up the mills, something like 50 000 000 spindles and 430,000 looms will be' thrown idle. There are 350 largo mills in Oldh.-im alone, reprcsfnting an MinUte capM of .it least £30,000,000, S employing 50,000 hands. The lockout Ins been decided on by the North ami North-East Lancashire Cotton Spinners'" and Manufacturers Association, as an 'answer to strikes at Accringtpn and Grcit Harwood, caused by the retusal ot four persons to join the trades union.

FIREMEN'S DISCOVERT. Summoned shortly after four o'clock on Wednesday morning to -No. 62 Hanbnry Streot/SpitaHiolds—a rcstaurant-hrcmeii dUovercd that a terrible murder had teen perpetrated. In a bedroom at he back of the restaurant they found the dead bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Mills!* n, the proprietors, terribly cut, apparently bv a Ion? thin, knife which was ioimd near the" bed. In addition to these wounds, the woman s body w marked with injuries probably inflicted by Broken tireirons which were lying on the floor The bed and bedding which supported the bodies had been ret on fire, and near bv was a bottle of paralHn and a box of matches. It is believed that while the man died from his injuries, Ins wife was suffocated by the burning mattress. A MYSTERIOUS TRAGEDY. ■\ doctor who examined tho remains states that it was-impossible that the injuries in cither case could have been seli'-inllicted. A remarkable story is current that certain persons were in tho habit of playing cards in tho basement beneath the restaurant, and that only recently Millstein declared his intention of putting an end to the practice. Tho Millstein!) wcro Poles, and arc spoken of as hardworking and peaceable people, who did not quarrel cither with each other or other persons. At their restaurant they carried on a brisk business, and it is believed that they kept their savings in .i cash-box .it (he restaurant. That box is now misiin?. THE "MIIIACLG." Probably the biggest spectacle of its t-iiir) over produced in Great Britain,

Professor lfeinhordt'e gigantic production, the ".Miracle," at; Olympia, has mot with great succoh. The story told—without words—is that of a nun, the guardian of i\ wondrous slntuc of the Madonna in a vast cathedral in the Rliinelnnd. It tells how she was tempted from the gloom of tho cloister into tho outer world, and drank deep of the cup of bitterness, and how, during her absence, tho Madonna came to life and look lier place. It (ells iinw, worn and weary, tho nun came back at last, mid the. Madonna returned to her gilded throne—and it was all a dream. Olynima was transformed for the production into a huge cathedral. One of the most splendid scenes was that in which tho mm is tried by the Inquisition, condemned to be beheaded as a- witch, and rescued by the people. AN OLD-TIME RAJAH. News has been received in London of flic death of the Rajah of Nabba, one of flip Cis-Sutlej Sikh States which were taken under British protection early in the last century. Throughout his long reign (he ]? fl jah slrowed himself a firm riend ol tho English, but ho was not less distinguished for his proud adherence ■to the traditions of his race. Among lie present generation of Indian chiefs lie gave the impression of .1 survival of tUβ days, when the Courts of Rajahs and -Maharajahswere scarcely touched by tho spirit of Western civilisation. He habitually spoke- tho Punjabi language, and clung to old Sikh fashions in his costume and manner of life. On tho other hand, ho took good care that the Nabha Impenal Service troops should be second to none in efficiency. MINERS' NARROW ESCAPE. . Over one hundred miners had a thrilling escape tram drowning on Saturday, naen a colliery at Wigau was flooded. -}, scenes were witnessed in tho mine. Some of the miners, in their efforts to escape, swam through the nightblack water, whilst others climbed up tho pumping pipes, and were hauled to tho surface by ropes. 'AH except one were rescued, tho last party being brought to tho surface after the lapse of twelvo hour?.. By a coincidence the accident occurred within two days of the date of the terrible disaster last Christmas time in the colliery at Little Hulton, which is only about four miles away. DISASTERS AT SEA. . This Christmastidc has been marked by a number of shipping disasters to British ships. The steamer Lincairn has just landed at Greonock the seven survivors of the London steamer Guillemot, which foundered in the Bay of Biscay on the 21st. The Test of the crew, sixteen in number, perished.. The captain went down with his ship. While the vessel was sinking lie- distributed lifebelts among the men, and refused to keep one for himself. The Grimsby trawler Persian, with a crew of nine hands, has been given up as lost in the North Sea. Three men were, washed overboard from tho Newcastle steamer Ella Sayer while on a voyage to Bordeaux. HUGE TRAFFIC COMBINE. For some time past it has been a matter of common knowledge that, alike in the interests of shareholders and of the more complete organisation of facilities for the travelling public in the metropolis, the directors of the London General Omnibus Company and the directors of the Underground Electric Railways of London were negotiating the forms of a scheme for a close affiliation of the two concerns. It is now understood that a provisional agreement has just been reached, between the two companies, the full details of which will be made public in a short time. SUFFRAGIST AS INCENDIARY. At Bow Street, Emily Wilding Davison, a suffragist, was committed for trial on charges of attempting to place in a letterbox at Parliament Street Post Office a quantity of lighted linen saturated with kerosene, and committing this offence at a Fleet Street letter-lxix. "My motive in doing this," said Miss Davison, "was to protest against the vindictive sentence and treatment of my comrade, Mary Leigh, when she was last charged in this court, compared with tho treatment accorded here to Lady Constance Lytton, who had done far more damage. Second, I wished to call on the Government to put woman's suffrage in the King's Speech on February 14, 1912. As the protest was meant to be serious, I adopted n serious course." Bail was fixed at ,61000. ■ DUNDEE STRIKE OVER. The strike of carters and dockers in Dundee which has occasioned many violent scones of disorder in tho streets of that city, has been settled. The settlement is due to Sir George Askwith, the Board of Trade's great strike settler. Immediately on his arrival Sir George conferred with representatives of both sides, and, for seventeen hours, almost without a break, the conference went on, first one side and then the othtr conceding a point until an agreement was reached. The carters have gained substantial increases, ordinary contractors having fixed tho minimum wage at 225., rising to 235., while the minimum for railway contractors is 215., rising to the same maximum. Tho dockers have received a halfpenny increase per hour for weekly boats. Work has been resumed.

UNIONIST GAIN. As the result of tho by-election in North Ayrshire enured by the appointment of Mr. A. M. Anderson, K.C., to the post of Solicitor-General for Scotland, tho Unionist candidate has got in. Tho victory was not altogether unexpected, as there was a marked diversity of opinion anions the doctors on tho Insurance Act, nntl Home Rule was brought , much to the fore by the Unionists. Tho figures were:—Captnin Dnncan Camnbell (U.), 7315; Mr. A. M. Anderson (1,.), . 7047— Unionist majority. 271.- North Ayrshire is the third'gain that has fallen to the Unionists in. the last four weeks. The Liberal majority at the last election was 3M, unil at tire January, 1910, election, 238. The Unionist party is now- represented in Parliament by 277 -members, as against the Radical total of .287. A RAPID COURTSHIP. A singular story was told in the Court of Session, Edinburgh, the other day, when an action for a declaration of nullity of marriage was biought by Muriel Aimie Miller against Thomas " Bucklev Deakin, of Edinbiireh. The plaintiff snid she met the defendant while travelling liv train to Edinburgh. Oa arrival Mr. Deakin asked her for her address, and she pave it to him. A week later she received from him a letter asking her to meet him. She did so at a picture palace. Two d.ivs later he asked her to marry him. She consented, and on October 18. a fortnight after their first meeting, tbev executed n declaration of marriage. The declaration set forth that the contracting parties hail resided in Scotland for tho statutory period of tnenty-one days immediately preceding tho marriarro. That was untrue. The case was adjourned. PENALTIES FOR PERJURY. With the first day of 1912 the new Pedjury Act come= into force. It is a statute nf IS effective- clauses, and aims at cnnsolidaMns and simplifying the law relating to perjury mid other, offences of such kind. Tt should 1» a severe warning to the false witness or the signatory of untrue ('wlaratioiiß and affidavits. Penal servitude for seven years, imprisonment with or without hard' labour for two vears. with fines attached, nre tho penalties in almost evnry cause. Tho Act repeals or mortifies 131 Acts ■of Parliament put on the Statute Book, from the thirty-second year of the reien of Henry V7TI io r)i« ninlli year of (lie reign of Edward VIT.