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Oamaru Mail, Volume XXIII, Issue 7215, 20 May 1898, Page 4

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i A War Office report gives the recruits l raised fir the army, navy, and auxiliary • forces during 1897 as : Army 35,015 v ; militia 38,246, volunteers 44,057, yeo- : manry IS3O, navy 9922, marines 2861, ' naval reserve 3818, making a total of I 134,749. The number of 35,015 for the s army is an excess of 6483 as compared , with the previous year. Out of every s 1000 recruits inspected during 1897 the ) occupations, were given.. as follows : • Laborers, Servants, husbandmen, etc., 3 640, manufacturing artisans 148, mechanics i (as smiths, carpenters, masona, etc.) 102, 3 shopmen and clerks 73, professional occu--3 pations, students, etc. 10, boys under 17 - years of age 27. More than 7000 ex--3 soldiers were found employment on being 7 discharged. 1 The passenger traffic through the city of 1 Winnipeg, over the Canadian Pacific Riilf way, for the three weeks ended March . 19th, was unprecedented in the history of , the line. Each day it was necessary to 7 divide the regular Pacific express into 7 two or three sections, of 10 and 12 cars l each, in order to accommodate the rush of - people westward. At Moosejaw, 300 - miles west of Winnipeg, extra sections . are added to the regular express to acp commodate the heavy Yukon traffic from i St. Paul, Minneapolis, Chicago, and the r Western States. The reduction in rates, - and the consequent increase tn traffic, is a benefiting Winnipeg and the Far West, a and is bringing permanent settlers into f the country, which all efforts of the a Government and the Canadian Pacific - emigrant agents have heretofore been un--1 able to accomplish. fc On January 10, in the Government of 1 Tienessee, near the River Kizir, two l workmen who were examining the soil s found a block of pure ore, weighing 341b . 6oz. The size and weight of this block of 1 gold rank it as the largest that was ever r found in Siberia, and it can only be compared to that found in the Oaral in 1860. - The Professor of the University of Tomsk i (Mr Zaitseff) is of opinion that the gold--5 seekers are on the eve of a groat discovery r in that locality. The Johannesburg " Standard and 1 Diggers' News," in an apparently inspired a article, says that President Kruger's jr speech on March 15 was meant as a disl avowal of British suzerainty. The Re--9 publican Government, supported by the £ whole country, will continue to assert, y and, if necessary, will euforce, the dist avowal. The Republic has made up its . mind, and, though horrified at the thought b of an impious war, whould resist the claim e at the extremest sacrifices. The " Stans dard and Diggers' News " considers, howy ever, that there Is little likelihood of a trouble since the reply to Mr Chambert lain's despatch is moderate, though emI phatic. After its publication the " Stan- , dard and Diggers' News " considers that s it will be impossible to believe that the f suzerainty contention will not be aban--3 doned.

According to intelligence from Tokio (says the Vienna correspondent of the Daily Chronicle) the Japanese Government has devoted 193,000,000 yen to the building of new warships; between 1895 and 1905. Up to now 47 warships have been ordered with shorb terms of delivery in England, France, Germany, and America. Arrangements are being made for a large increase of marines and a considerable addition to the number of •transport vessels. The works at Massura Harbour are 'exceedingly _ busy. The nominal value of the yen is 4s, but its .actual value is aboub 3s 4d. At this calculation it will be seen thab 193,000,000 ;yen slightly exceeds L 32,000,000. 1 A memorial'brass to Thomas Arnold, rD.D., has been,place,d on the north wall of Laleham Church. It is carved in brasd, with' : letters In relief, the brass being designed and executed by Messrs Benham .and Froud, Limited, Chandos Metal Works, London. The inscription is as follows: "To the memory of Thomas Arnold, D.D., head master of Rugby, '"School, 1828-1842, Regius Professor of Modern History in the University of Oxford, 1841-1842, scholar, historian, and. who, as the head of a great public school, raised;the character of all education, powerful to rouse and, train the intellect, bub desirous above all to impress religion and duty upon the hearts of his pupils in this parish, beloved by him as the home of his early labors, Is offered'this grateful tribute of respect and, admiration. " Born at Wesb Cowea, June; 13, '1795 ; died ab Rugby, June 12, 1842. Erected March, 1898." The inscription: was written, ab the vicar's requesb. by the late Dean Lake, formerly Dean of Dur-1 ham, then senior surviving pupil of Dr,| Arnold.