BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 968, 8 November 1910, Page 6

BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

LONDON SUMMARY. THE FESTIVAL OF EMPIRE. Festival House, where tho official business of the Festival of Empire is being transacted, is becoming a scene of rest,'less activity. The premises facing the Green Park are already found inadequate and the council is now negotiating for moro commodious offices in a central position. With the addition of an Imperial Exhibition to the already gigantic programme, it will be realised readily that the task in front of the council is a stupendous one. No effort is being spared to organise an Imperial Exhibition which will properly . represent the productive and industrial greatness of the Empire. The fact that the exhibition will be under the direct patronage of the Government, that the entire profits of the Festival of Empire and Imperial Exhibition will be devoted to King Edward's Hospital Fund, and that the exhibition will be restricted to articles produced and manufactured within the Empire, will make for the success of the undertaking. PROFITS OF SALVAGE. The men at work salving the battleship Montagu, which was wrecked on Lundy Island four years ago, have discovered a bpamsh vessel which went down off ■bundy in a gale 50 years since. This means a very considerable haul for tho workmen, as they own the Cornish Salvage Company which bought the Montagu. They recovered a quantity of anchors and heavy iron chains from the Spanish wreck, and then shattered the hull with guncotton. There is much valuable material in the wreck, and the divers will be busy for months with the vessel, which is entirely submerged. The salvage of the battleship has proved a profitable business for the salvors. Tho salvage men have been taking the sunken [iiuit up piecemeal ever, since they bought her for ,£4OOO. During the first year they cleared about .610,000 profit, nd 10,000 to 15,000 tons of the sunken ship still he under the waves. ROYAL ROMANCE. Princess Clementine of Belgium whose marriage 'with Prince Victor Napoleon ' the Bonaparfcist claimant to the Throne of France, is about to take place, has arrived in London .and proceeded to Farnborough on a visit to the Empress Jingenie. She was 'accompanied' by the Prince, and it is officially announced that the primary object of the visit to Famborough is to decide the place and date of the wedding. The romance of this royal marriage has aroused great interest in England. It will be remem- ■ bered that tho royal couple met while driving near Brussels, and, it is eaid, fell m love at first sight. Leopold II of .Belgium, Princess Clementine's father would not, however, hear of the alliance despite the request of the Empress Eugenie herself. Tho present King has given his consent to the marriage.

THE NATION'S PAUPERS. The thirty-ninth annual report of the Local Government Board for 1909 shows that there were in England and Wales, in the month of January, 850,160 pauppers, an increase of. 26,617 compared with the previous year, which total declined to 820,493, in December last, representin" a rate of 22.9 per thousand of estimated population. The average number of casual paupers relieved nightly was 11,954,as compared, with an average of 11,401 tor the year .1908. The average number relieved nightly in London during the year was 1139. Six hundred and thirtyttvc paupers were emigrated, all within the Empire, with the exception of five at a total cost of .£7952. The total number of old age pensions payable on March fiJb«o 10, n" '110I 10 P ni , tcd Ki »B<l°m. was 699,352. One hundred and twenty-five deaths took place in England and Wales in the case of which a coroner's jury returned a verdict'of death from .starvation, or death accelerated by privation.

HOME-COMING FESTIVITIES. The homo-coming celebrations at Leicester have come to an cndi . The mayor, in addressing the visitors, who came from all parts of the Empire, as well as from foreign countries, said that the movement thus begun would extend to other towns, and the bonds o£ union between people at Home and those in far distant lands would be strengthened. At night there was a big gathering at which patriotic songs were a special feature. The iollowing message , has been received by the secretary from Balmoral in reply to a telegram conveying loyal and respectful wishes to the King and Queen :-The king has received your telegram with much satisfaction and interest, and desires that you will convoy to the 300 Leicester-born people who have availed themselves of the invitation of their native town, his best thanks for their loyal good wishes. Both the King and Queen offer them a hearty welcome on their return to the Old Country, and hope that their visit will be in every way an enjoyable one.

INCREASING TRADE. Accounts published bv the Board of Trade show that the United Kingdom's imports during the first six months of this year amounted to .£279,141,000, a very substantial increaso over the totals in the corresponding periods of ■1908 and 1903, which were respectively .£258,996000 and ,£255,099,000. The exports were equally satisfactory, the ■ six months' total of ie 204,556,000 comparing with .£189,993,000 in 1908; and in 1909. Statistics covering the trade to the end of July give the United Kingdom's total for this year as .£320,241,000 in imports as against .£298,021,000 in 1909 and ■£299,447,000 .in 1908, whilst in exports the record was .£242,974,000, in comparison with .£212,420,000 in the preceding year and ..£223,099,000 in 190 S.

OSBORNE JUDGMENT SEQUEL. ■ It is the intention of the joint board to call a special conference of the representatives of the various trade unions, to take place in London on November 13 and 14, for the purpose of -formulating their demand for the reversal of the Osborne judgment, and deciding upon the best means to make effective their hew policy of defying the courts over the Osborne judgment. Counsel's opinion has been taken with respect to the legality of such a gathering, and the leaders have been warned that the use of union funds for the purpose of sending delegates to a conference of this character is a clear breach of the Osborne judgment, and that in the caso of those unions against whom injunctions have already been obtained the officials would be liable to committal for contempt of court should any member of the unions concerned take ection.

BARONET'S SON SENTENCED. Robert Henry Spearman, aged twentyseven, son of Sir Joseph Spearman, Bart., and formerly a lieutenant in the Navy has been sentenced to three months' imprisonment on. charges . of fraudulently obtaining credit at two restaurants anil of obtaining £i by false pretences from a. lady living in South Kensington. It was stated that time after time- Spearman had substantial meals at restaurants in various parts of London, and then referred the waitress to friends, saying he had no money to pay. In connection with the last charge it was stated that the accused had called upon the lady, to whom .he and his father had been introduced, and, stating that Sir Joseph was lying dying in Scotland, and that he had no money to go to him, obtained the amount mentioned above from her. It was stated that Spearman had made a number of foreign cities all over the Continent too hot to hold him.

MACHINE THAT ASKS FOR MORE. By a new and remarkable electrioallyoperated machine which has just been installed on the Metropolitan District Railway the railway foghian has been rendered obsolete. The apparatus, whioh is worked in connection with the automatic signal system, has an arm which works simultaneously with tho ordinary signal. "When the signal .is at danger and a train enters the section, ths arm picks out a detonator from a magazine

and places it on the line. Directly the signal 19 lowered, and the train proceeds, the arm swings back, drops the used detonator and picks up another. Each magazine contains fifty detonators, which, with a, forty-trains-an-hour service, will lost for an hour and a. quarter, and when these are all exhausted the machine whistles shrilly and continues to do so until its stock is replenished. FLODDEN FIELD. On Flodden Field, hitherto unhonoured save in English and Scottish minstrelsy, there has been unveiled by Sir George Douglas, the well-known Border essayist and poet, a Celtic monolith cross of grey Aberdcenshire granite, inscribed 'To the brave of both nations." There was a representative attendance in glorious weather. The cross, which is near the spot where King James fell, has been erected by a public subscription organised .by the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club. From Pipers' Hill, tie site of the memorial, where the decisive point of the battle took place, can be seen all the principal points of the battlefield, whereon the Scots alone lost 9000 men. The memorial has cost over ,£IOO, and a sum will be invested for the upkeep of it.—"Standard of Empire."