LATE MAIL NEWS

West Coast Times, Issue 10437, 16 December 1896, Page 4

LATE MAIL NEWS

At a meeting of . the Warwickshire County Council a discussion took place on the draft regulations for the speed of motorcars on roads. A city member said it would be ridiculous to limit their pace even to 14 miles an hour (10 miles was suggested). In Nice and Paris he had seen motor cars driven about tie crowJed streets without any damage resulting. They could be pulled up suddenly.—Lord Willoughby de Broke proposed that the council ask the Local Government Board to reduce the speed to eight miles an hour. They must not forget that Warwickshire was an agricultural county, and that one of the chief industries was horse-breeding. They could not all breed racehorses and hunters, and what were they to do with their "misfits"? — Alderman Flavel seconded the amendment, saying that motor cars were diabolical machines.- -Lord Willoughby's motion was lost by a large majority, and a ten miles limit adopted. At a meeting of the Spalding Board oi Guardians on October 9th, a scarcity oi labor was reported in the district. It was said that children twelve years of age wen being paid 2s a day for potato picking and that some laborers' families wert earning as much aa £3 a week at the work. On the alignment of the great Siberia! railway there is a break which cannot bt biidged This is Lake Baikal, and ii carrying out a contract for a steamei specially designed as a connecting link tin Elawick firm recently accomplished ai engineering feat. The vessel which is t< carry the trains across, is of 4200 tons and measures 290 ft by 57ft, with a draugh of 18£ ft. It has screws at stem and stert Armstrongs received the order early thi year, and delivered the ship in section marked, and ready for despatch in si months. A peculiarity of the contrac was that the sections had to be made a amall as possible, for on the latter part c the route to the lake they were to be cor veyed on sledges. The Engineer d< scribes the whole enterprise as " withou precedent.'* Some idea of the enormous cost of th Presidential election in the United State may be gained from the fact that early i ( >ctober the single item of franked env( lopes, which are supplied free of charg to members of the House of Represent* tives and Senate, had cost the Governmec through the public printing office 140,00 dollars. Over 5.000.00O 1 envelopes wei printed for the free transmission of on representative's speech. The Evenin Post of New York also says that the af propriation for folding public documeni at Washington ha 3 been exhausted owin to the great strain, and clerks are no\ working on faith of future remuneratior Measured by weight, from 60 to 74 pc cent of the mail matter that leaves Wast iugton goes under frank. Many tux paj ers object to seeing their money diverte in this way to the use of a cara,pai£( fund. An extraordinary general meeting o the shareholders qt the Bqyril compan was held on October 23rd, for the pm pose of passing a resolution confirming th sale of the business and assets of th company to Mr Hooley for £2,000,00( The terms were that £2,000,000 should b p&jd in cash on December 20th, or th equivalent for each £1 share of £5 6s 8i —a profit of £2 Is 8d per share on thi market value of the shares on the sth, This company pays the expenses of tin transfer, and Mr Hooley gives £30,001 for distribution among the directors. Tin resolution was carried. In the opinior of the directors, £5, £6, or even £8 wouk not be an extravagant anticipation of tb,< Value of the shares, but this proposa would ensure that result immediately Those who wished to remain in the busi ness might do so, as the shareholders it the company would have preference h the allotment of shares in the new company which, Mr Hooley intended to form io the extent of one-third of the shares With Mr Hoo ley's opportunities a a i, financier and with his singular capjvcitj for exploiting subsidiary Companies, the new company would have great advantages and would be aole to develop the foreign market. At; the Crystal Palace on October 22nd two cyclists, M'Gregoraud Nelso, lowered some tandem records to the following .• - Two miles, 3inin 43secs ; three miles, 5 mm 35.25 ec; four miles, 7min 28.6 se c; five miles, 9min 24.65ec. On the same day a couple of amateurs had a " training spin " for an hour, and covered 30 miles 3 yards in that time.

Some Loweatof t fishermen relate a tale of having seen a sea serpent off the coast on October 30th. Ihe moqster was observed a few miles off, and all who sighted it agree in their description. They are positive they laboured under no optical illusion. The closest view was obtained by the lugger Conquest, belonging to Banff. While all th* crew of eight men were on deck, shortly after six o'clock, they heard on their lee quarter a loud noise resembling a big steamer cutting her way through the water. Looking in that direction, they saw a huge serpent only twenty yards distant. They state that the monster was fully 300 ft long and moved along at the rate of about eight miles an hour. It resembled three enormous half-circles in line, each being fifty feet long and 10ft high, and there was room between each of them for the lugger to have passed. Still making the same nuise it passed close under the boat's storn. All the men watohed it and it was in sight for fully a quarter of an hour. They describe It as like a ashing boat

turned upside down, and equally as large in girth.

Buiawayo, after its recent spell of palpitating excitement, seems to be again (in October) coming rouud to the commonplace. Chiefs who were recently watching an opportunity to sweep down on the township are walking about the streets, while disbanded volunteers are casting about for a living, and speculators are resuming operations. Gigantic building schemes are on the tapis, and one alone is said to involve an expenditure of over £200,000. Complaint is being made that with the resumed /activity of transport, drink is arriviug in quantities out of ill proportion to food supplies. Famine prices prevail ; board at ordinary hotels costs £20 a month, and Boer goats in poor condition fetch 60s to 80s in open market.