NEWS AND NOTES

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 83, 9 April 1910, Page 12

NEWS AND NOTES-

The following items of intelligence have been selected Irora tiles received hi' the latest mails: — TOLTSTOI S LETTERS. As literary repwjiMitative of Count Tolstoi, Mr. V. Tthertkoff, of Christchurch, Hants, writes to tho Daily Alail to say that Tolstoi gives his free- ton sent to the publication of any of his letters that may be found worth printing, or two conditions. Tolstoi desires that none of his writings should become the property of any one person, and hence publishers of his ' letters are requested to affix the statement, "no rights reserved." As portions of the letters might be judged unsuitable for publication for some reason, copies of them should be first submitted to Mr. Tchertkoff for revision. FRENCH ACADEMY AND BERLIN. Invitation* from Berlin always raise delicate questions here (says tne Talegraph's Pam correspondent). The rerent reception by the German Emperor of »everal French artists and members of the Institute of France was covertly but acidly criticised Ly French opinion. Berlin has now sent an invitation to the French Academy to attend festivities there in November. Will the French Immortals accept ? The A cademie Franen isc has never been officially represented on any occasion in Berlin since the Franco-German war. An academician, who, however, remains anonymous, announces that the academy, in private conference, has unanimonMy decided to refuse the invitation. The time has not yet come when the oldest public body in France can consent officially to be entertained in Berlin. The death is announced of Colonel C. K. Conder, who for many years took a prominent part in exploration and archaeological research in Palestine. He was in bis 62nd year. At a iown's meeting held in Manchester over £1000 was subscribed for Captain Scott's Antarctic expedition.., A French Parliamentary paper is published, containing proposals to create an adequate battle iieet, to provide ships for pofitical requirements abroad, to organise » system of submarine defence, and other matters relative to the stores and ammunition of the fleet. Mr. Lionel Phillips, who has stood aloof from South African politics for tho last four years, announces that he has joined the Progressives — Dr. Jameson's following. It is probable that most of the new ships for the Turkish navy will be built in British yards. The Turkish Cabinet has decided to adopt the naval programme drawn up by Admiral Sir Charles Gamble. The St. Petersburg correspondent of The Tiroes draws attention to the activity of the Austro-Hungarian and German diplomacy in the Russian capital, which, he says, lends particular interest to a recent lecture on Anglo-Russian relations, delivered by M Wesselitsky, tho Londou correspondent of the Novoe Vremya. A London medical man who is a specialist in radiography has lost £800 worth of radium by an unfortunate mischance. While he was using tha radium he was called away to an urgent case, and during his absence the tubes containing it were inadvertently thrown into the tire with Rome soiled bandages. Tho ashes are being analysed with a view to tho partial recovery of the radium, but success is regarded a* doubtful, fo. the draught of an ordinary fire would probably carry away the small quantity of powdev which represents so large a value. An ice gorge forty miles long filled the Mississippi River at St. Louis during January. The river is not often frozen over during winters there, but at this time one could cross from bank to bank, though not easily because of the heaping up of irregular, jagged pieces of ice. Recent catastrophes have shown that navigation is not even safe in the Mediterranean — of al' seas, remarks Paris Figaro. It is time that lighthouses were erected in many dangerous spots where they are still wanting. The death is announced of Mr. Geo. Adams, of Wadley House, Faringdon, one of tho best known of Berkshire farmers. Starting business as a milk vendor and dairy farmer in a small way, he eventually acquired seventeen farms, comprising some 4000 acres, and milked about 500 cows. He was a noted breeder and exhibitor of Oxford Down sheep, and an exporter to America and Germany. He was on the council of the Royal and other leading agricultural societies. Artistic impulses govern even the ordinary artisan in Japan. This, from an article in the Craftsman, by Mr. L. Wakeman Curtis, illustrates tho fact : "In so commercial and non-artistic a porcelain district as Nagoya I saw a big room full of men working in clay, hastily copying in quantities pieces that weie to go, in a shipload, to fill an order in England. I paused beside a man who was finishing soap dishes. On each cover, before it went to be baked, ho was adding the knob by which it could be lifted, that on the European model before him was utterly ■ without sentiment, less gracious of i»h*po than a freshly digged onion or potato. With a few slight, quick touches, seemingly as unthinking as a machine, he wa» yet doing more than was required — he was causing each knob, as it passed under his hands, to take the look of a halfopened bud, a faint hint of a leaf being also quickly modelled in the "bjscp.it" beneath it." Summonses were allowed «c the Madras Courts on 28th February against H. B. Miller and F. Rouse on a charge of kidnapping boys and girls belonging to the Pollard's Liliputian Opera Company. The many thousands of lascors who are employed in the steamers trading between London and Indian ports havo a special claim to kindly assistance («tay« the Calcutta Statesman). Probably they are more helpless in London than any class of foreign seamen. Professor Lowell, of Flagstaff Observatory, Arizona, announces the discovery of a new canal on Mar». Not only did he see the new canal, but he> photographed it. Previous photographs of this region made as late as hut May failed to show any trace of the new canal. The fact that it developed between May and September, when it was first ob»e-ved. Professor Lowell regard* as positive proof that it was artificial, and therefore that living beings exist on the nei^hbouiiiiK planet. The new canal extends south-east from the regjon of vegetation known a* Syrti* Major, through the great plain of Libya. Professor Burnham claims that "Professor Lowell's discovery is of the utmost importance.*' Profe?.=or Lowell, fie myi, has been DreW* in his researches and observations, and to him is due the credit for the greater part of our present knowledge of the^ planet.

The Time*, dealing with the political eitu.it ion, fc.iy.« ; "A* for th« Labour Party, if Mr. Hardie speaks for them, their notion is that mpplio* nhould \x> refiiMyi altogether until the King conurnu to compel tho House of Lord.* to commit Miitide. If thin ik rcully the idea of constitutional politic* entertained )>y the Socialibt members of Parliament, the crici* ha* rendered a public acrvioo by bringing it to light." Routroa Pa»ha, Premier of Egypt, who died of wounds inflicted by a "Na- j tionaliftt" student on 20th February, «m the only native-born Egyptian who filled the appointment in the course of some thirteen centuries. He had also served previously as M roister of Finance, but it was as Minister of Foreign Affairs that his special qualities were shown to mwt ad\antage. General Sir John French returned to London on 20th February from a tour of inspection of military garrisons and fortifications in Ceylon, Singapore, and Hongkong. The French Chamber has decided to form a battalion of Senegalese tirailleurs, numbering 800 men, for service in Algeria, and two other battalions in West Africa. Irish-Americans are reported to view the situation in English politics with confidence, which U based on a belief not in the sincerity of the Liberal fledges, but in the ability of the Nnionalbts to keep Ministers to their promise*. For the first time in 22 year*, there 1« no deficit in Russian Government finance. The debate on the Budget began in the Duma on 28th February. Lorn and damage caused by the floods in thirty departments of r ranee have been provisionally returned at £3,000,000, and lons of real and personal property in Paris is estimated at £2,000,000. Tho Edict published in Pekin on 25th February, deposing the Dalai Lama and depriving him of rank and orders, accused the Dalai Lama of disobedience, intrigue, and refusal to pay tribute, and characterised him as one of the worst Lamas ever known. The trustees for the Beit Memorial Fellowships for medical research, at a meeting in February elected ten Fellows — nine men and one woman. Seventy applications for Fellowships were received. The next election will be held in December. The special correspondent of The Times in Perm wrote at the end of December from Ispahan, describing the state of lawlessness which prevailed in tho city and surrounding country. "The truth is that Ispahan itnelf lies at the marcy of any determined band of robbers who like to enter." Tho new Prustian Franchise Amendment Bill will, it is thought, provide Herr yon Bethmann-Hollweg with an opportunity of showing his ability to get out of difficulties, either real or artificial, such as Prince Bulow used M> greatly to enjoy. The British Minister in Pekin has called the attention of the Chinese Government to tho necessity of consul'.io,; Russia, and Japan before concluding arrangements for the construction of the Chinchnu-Aigan Railway. Not one clockmaker in a hundred in England has the huzieet notion of wh.it an electrical clock it, whereas in Switzcr land it nas been an active part of their profeAfcion for a generation or two, said Mr. F. Hope-Jones in an address before the Institution of Electrical Engineers in London on 17tn February. Even if Victoria in not to be, regarded as the Australian "cabbage patch," she has certainly small inducement! to offer immigrants from oversea as compared with Queensland (rays tho Brisbane Courier). The trend of event* is absolutely certain, sooner or later, to make Queensland the hret of the Australian StatM. The best and indeed the oruy real hope for the future of South Africa lies (sayn the Diamond Fields Advertiser, Kimberley) in the fuller awakening of the white population to the supreme importance of the claims of education in the true seme of the word. The largest restaurant iv the world, capable of accommodating 6000 people, is to be erected in New York, on Broadway, between Forty-seventh and Forth-eight-streets. It will provide first-class fare at prices lower than are now charged at the best New York dining-placei, nnd customers will be served in the family style of the German cities. There will be 10 kitchens, each with its. separate staff and each equipped to serve 600 people. There will also be 10 serving bars. In the centre of the restaurant there will be a j glass dome 60ft. high, with an area of about 10,000 square feet. A glasscovered ice skating rink will be provided on the roof, which may be transformed into k root garden theatre in the summer. The director of a Braila (Roumania) bank, having to visit Constantinople leeently, found on arriving there that the authorities insisted that he should •have off his beard. Expostulating, he was informed that his beard was of exactly the same t>h»pt> as that of Abdul Hamid, tho ex-Sultan, and that since many supporters of the old regime wear their beards thus he might be taken for a reactionary and expelled from Conktantinople. Thus it wax for hi* owi good that the authorities wished to shave him. On this explanation the banker consented to the sacrifice. If Khartoum has almost vanished from the newspaper*, it is pleasant to recall that Fashoda has vanished even from the up-to-date map. Fashoda town is now Kodok, Fa&hoda village Dahvar, and the old province of Fashoda the Upper Nilo Province. These changes were made with the friendly international object of burying all unhappy associations. There are few instances of place name* changed for such kindly reason*. As a rulo the motive has been quite otherwise. It was not from consideration for other people's feelings that New Amsterdam was trans, formed into New York and Fort Duquesne into Fort Pitt, afterwards Pittsburgh A minor instance of the good feeling motive, however, is the Place do la Concorde, once the Place Louis XV., and later the Place de la involution. King Gustave of Sweden tried to find out the facts concerning the recent great strike in hi* country, bnt without complete success. Now, it it reported, he disguises himself and works among artisans of various sorts, unknown, that he may have knowledge of actual conditions at first hands. Recently lie carried socks of coal as a stevedoie for several hours. Rumour* *re prevalent in Atherut that a reactionary movement is in piogrc** for the overthrow of the Militmy League. Mrs. Fowler, a mufic-linll artist, professionally known at> Miss Daisy Jerome, sued the proprietor of the Walwll Observer for damages for alleged libel, contained in a notice of her appearanco at a Walrall variety tlieatre. Tlw» iury found for plaintiff with one farthing damages, for which judgment wm given witiU costs*