NEWS AND NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume LXVII, Issue LXVII, 30 January 1904, Page 12

NEWS AND NOTES.

Carnegie libraries cost something. Mr. Carnegie recentlj' said : " 1 have helped found 760 libraries and have 800 more under advisement." This will make, Buy, 1500 in all. During last year he gave 138 library buildings, at a* cost to him of £1,334,000, so the nventgo cost of the buildings is £8,450, and 1500 of them will aggregate £12,081,000. 'Che New York authorities are taking steps to reduce street congestion, and lessen the danger to the lives of the people of New York, 538 of whom were struck, crushed, or ground to death by the street curs, trucks, and other vehicles in the city la.st year. It is said that ono hchcino which Mr. Herbert Spencer prepared ho was never able to carry out. It was conceived a? a kind of supplement to his " Descriptive Sociology,' and tho end in view was lo present briefly, in a tabulated form, tho contents of our Statuto-book from early days onwards, showing why each lilw was enacted, the effects produced, the duration, and, if repealed, the rou•ona for repeal. According to tho Berlin correspondent of the Berlin Advertiser, an undertaker nomod Swjejkowski has been arrested in singular circumstances. lie was inotructed to furnish the coilin for the little Princess Elizabeth of Hesse, and upon being asked to present his bill for the work, requested that ho should be permitted the title of "Purnishor to the Court." This wna construed as an outrage to Royal sentiment, nnd led to his arrest. It' is reported in Belgrado that the Metropolitan of Belgrade, who solemnised tho marriage between the late King Alexander and Queen Drnga, and who was tho only official personage who displayed a mourning flag over his residence on the day of tho assassination of their Majesties, is to bo relieved of his post. Tho earliest instance known of ponalising smoking in the streets (soys Health) is in the Court books of tho Mayor of Methwold in Norfolk. There is the following entry on the record of the Court hold on 14th October, 1690 : — " We agree that any person that is taken cmoaking tpbacoa in the street shall for13tt ono shillings for every time so taken, and it shall bo lawfull for the petty constable to distrains for the same, for to be putt to tho uses above said — i.e., to the use of the tow'u. Tho German Emperor's illness is stated to have been much more severe than was conveyed by tho intelligence published at tho time ; tho exalted patient suffered a great deal, and tlioso who have visited him find that during his illness he has considerably aged in appearance. - The growth of tho population of Germany in 1902, regarding which statistics have just been tabulated, was the greatest ever known, amounting to 902,312, or 15.61 per 1000, compared with 15.09 in 1901, and 14.63, the average for tho laat ten years. Captain Archibald, of the steamship Cherokee, which left San Domingo early in December, says that there is a rumour in the Republic that when ex-Presidont Was y Gil fled from tho island ho took •with him £273,000. Tho now Government is so sh^rt of funds that it is paying its soldiers with coats and shoes. The captain adds that no fresh revolution was expected before January. An exceptionally high tide at Venice early in December caused many amusing incidents^ Numbers of persona were carried through the flooded streets by porters. Don. Carlos and his wifo mado a trip through St. Mark's-squaro in thoir steam launch, while gondolas and boats of tho Nautical Club, rowed by stout yonths, were also seen there. Seventy persons were recently arrested at Foggwi« in Italy for belonging to «• society whoso objects are robbery and murder. At the headquarters of the society at Baxletta there was a school for the members, who were taught the best way to rob nnd aasassinato quickly.. The members paid a monthly subscription, and graduated according to tho amount of money they brought to the funds of the society. , For two years they have terrorised the towns of the Adriatic. The Paris edition of the Now York Herald states that Fatfhoda is .henceforth to be known as Kabak, out of deference for French feeling. Tho Journal (Paris) statos that tho French Steeplechase Society has been informed that the horses which havo hitherto run under tho name of Jacques Lebaudy will from Ist January next bo entered as owned by Jacques the First. The Paris Sieclo is of opinion that in view of the good feeling existing between Great Britain and France fche. time i« opportune for reviving tlio idea of constructing tho Channel tunnel. In December a young English lady, Miss Cave, was denied the right to pructiio at tho English Bar, < but doubt.ess her claim, or that of some moro fortunate successor, will be admitted at some future date. In America more than hal( a, century has passed since- the first lady lawyer raised her voice. Maryland waa the State whioh led the way, and gradually all the other States have' followed miit. Thero are now over twenty legal firms in America in which husbands havo their wives as partners. Twenty-one years ago a peasant in tho village of Jaennersdorf, .near Ostpriognitz, placed his aon in a small building, and after walling him in, kept him there. Food was litvnaed in through a small opening not many inches in diameter, which was tho only channel for lightand air within. 'Iho peasant is now aged ninety, his wifo eighty-six, and tho son forty-six. Rumours caused the police to investigate, and they released the victim, whose condition was indescribable. He was totally mad. His paronts, who my that ho was a lunatic beforo ho was immured, were arrested. Tlio London Morning Post publishes a declaration of some importance as to tho Pope's intentions in the matter of his "im prisonmont." It is a written statement sent privately in answer to tho Post's correspondent's enquiries by ono -whose position in the immediate entourage of tho Pope stamps hit) assertion with tho im-press of authority. Ho ■writes : "Tho Holy Father, will remain in the Vatican a prisoner of the Italian Government." Wales is famous for intermarriage, but a record in this respect has been achieved by the remarkable series just reported from Vroneyxyllh, ft littlo village in the Valley of Llango'.'.en. The son of ono family married Iho daughter in another. Then tho son's father marfied his son's «tster-in-ln.w, and, not to bo outdone, the father's younger son ho« now married a younger sister-in-law of his brother. \ According to this amazing matrimonial puzzle the brothers have married their* aunts, nre their own uncles, and are brothers-in-law to their father! Thf Petit T'arisien publishes a- telecram from Berne which states that tho record for the height of a balloon ascent La« boon broken. A balloon ascended at Zurich, nnd in less tli»n fifty minutes reached ;<n altitude of 18,000 metres (over eleven miles) The balloon contained only registering instruments, which marked the temperature as 58deg below zero. This achievement constitutes a re-oid in ballooning. Of course human bent's could not live at such a height. The limit of human existence seems to be about seven miles, for such a- height has be*n reached on moro than one OCCftfon. but he* not been passed