BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1011, 29 December 1910, Page 3

BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

, LATEST LONDON DOINGS. MEETING OF. PARLIAMENT. m, . ,' , '* London, November 19. . lhe first day of the meeting of Parliament was full of surprises. legislators had come back to "Westminster to be in timo for Mr, Asquith's, statement. They lound it had been postponed until Wednesday, but nevertheless • assembled at St. Stephen's, only to discover that it had been decided .to put off the momentous declaration until Thursday. But u'hon Mr. Lloyd-George—in the absence of the Premier—rose to move the adjournment of tho House until that day, M.P.'s learnt that they must restrain their inipa«.iencs even longer, for Mr. Balfour strenuously objected to the date as ho was due to speak .at' Nottingham then. 1 ho. Opposition Leader" stated, that if the choice were forced upon him ho would fo?I, pbjged to keep his. engagement and be absent from Westminster. Tho Chancellor of the Exchequer thfn suggested that tho House should-adjourn until Friday. -This, proposal was agreed to, and, after a certain amount of business had been got through, was adjourned until to-day.

LOSS OF THE BEDFORD. Captain IJ. : S. Fitzherberty who was in command of .tlv& armoured cruiser Bedford at the time of her stranding off the coast of. Korea, has been found guilty of negligence by a co,urtmartial, and sentenced to bo dismissed his ship and to be ssverely rpprimanded. One of tho points in tho prisoner s * defence was that the course of -the Bedford was influenced by a - enroot of far greater speed than was indicated in the information at his disposal. It was stated in evidence that Captain Fitzherbert did everything to salve the vessel. . OVERSEA.TRADE. The Board of Trade desire to call the attention of, the'heads of firms and other representatives of British manufacturers and merchants . visiting Canada,. Australia, New Zealand and South Africa to the . desirability of placing themselves in communication immediately on tneir arrival with his Majesty's Trade Commissioner in. tho Dominion or State concerned.; These officers are, prepared to give information as to local trade conditions, names of suitable firms upon whom to call, and other similar' matters. The names and addresses .of his Majesty's Trado Commissioners are as -follow:— Canada: Mr. R. Grigg, 120 Board, .of Trade Building, ■; Montreal; Australia: Mr.' C. Hamilton "Wiclces, Equitable Building, Melbourne; New Zealand: Mr.; G. H. F*Rolleston, 9 Grey Street-, ."Wellington; South Africa:. Mr -E. -Sothcrn Holland, Norwich Union Buildings, Cape Town. .

THE FORT OF. LONDON. The. first annual, report of the .Port, of London Authority for tho .year ended March 31, 1910, which has just been . issued, states that the total net tonnage .of vessels that entered and cleared with cargoes and in ballast from and to foreign countries and-. British possessions, and coastwiso at' the port of London during 'the year 1909-was 35,351,799-tons, as compared with 33,768,599 tons during tho year 1998. Of . the tonnage referable to tile yfar 1909 20,228,01-1 tons entered and cleared from and to foreign countries and British'possessions,' -and* 14,923,785 -tons entered and clcaral coastwise. The shipping which entered and left. the port of London aiid paid port. tonhago dues dnr-- ; ing the twelve months ending-March 31,. 1910; amounted' to .28,579,G48 tons. .Tho >total of value of 'the imports and; exports, exclusive of coastwise goods, was, for London, >£322,fiU,363.--PLAY CENSORSHIP. ~ ; The following gentlemen have consented to serve.-oil the Advisory Board to deal . with tho censorship of. plays—which, it ■wtlf lie 'noticed, is 'a-*jutlicious::l)iend of law, drama, literature; and officialdom:—President, tho Earl Spencer, Lord Chamberlain (ex officio),' the Right -Hon. Sir Edward Carsou;' Iv:C., M.P., Sir Squire Bancroft, Sir JohnVHnrei Professor Walter. Raleigh, S. 0.. Buckiriaste'r,'.Esq., K.C., Colonel Sir Douglas Dawson, ' K.C.Y.0., C.M.G., . Comptroller, Lord Chamberlain's Department- (ex officio). Tile report 'of the, Joint Select. Committee of the Houses 'of Lords ■ and Commons on the 'Censorship of Stags Plays, which was. issne.d just: a year ago, contained the following paragraph-.—Wo consider that tho Lijrd Chamberlain would .be. well advised to proceoil with the : formation of a consultative committee. HUGH NTUV CRUISER. ' ■ It instated' that, the .-leading. private builders' on., the. Clyde have been .invited by tho'Admiralty to tender for the construction.of, a largo armoured cruiser. Both'in gun power ' and' speed, it is said that the vessel is to be superior, to any■thing. yet; designed for tile Navy.- The new. warship'will bej it is believed,' a development of the type, of the armoured cruiser Lion, which is now being completed at Devonport. She is to .have a speed of 30 knots,per hour, , and will bo 720 ft- long. Her displacement is to bo 28,000 tons, horsepower. 8000, beam 87ft., and her largest guns .will be 13.5 in.

.' LOWEST.. BIRTH-RATE. According to an; official return which has just been, issued, 'the birth-rate and death-rate in; England and Wales tor'the • quarter ending. September 30 last , were the lowest ever recorded. Births : hum- : bered 227,240, or 24.9 per 1000 of . the population, 2.0 per 1000 below the average for. the ten preceding third quarters.' Deaths totalled .104,158, or 11.'4 per 1000, ' which is 2.8 per 1000 below "the, average. In the' whole of ' the United Kingdom 282,519 births and 135,015 deaths were regis- . tered, the birth: rate being 24.7 and. the death rate 11.8 per 1000 of'tho'population. The'population thus increased by 147,504. The population of tho British Isles in tho . middle of. 1910 is estimated at 45,409,534 • persons. ; . • COLONIAL OFFICE CHANGES.' It is understood that in consequence of the sudden transfer of tho Earl of Crewe to the India Office and tlio necessity of having someone in the. chief permanent, post at the Colonial Office who is fully conversant-with all-the questions to'be submitted to the next Imperial . Conference,, it has been decided to retain Sir Francis Hopwood's services as Principal Permanent Under-Secretary' until the' end* of May next. .The. original. arrangement was that, ou his return from South Africa,;where lie is at present in attendance upon the Dulie of Co'nnaught, Sir .Francis • should , retire from the Colbnial Office and. take up his now duties . as vice-chairman of tho Development Commission, to .which post he was appointed last summer.. Silt F. HOPWOOD'S POSITION. . But the number of awaiting settlement and tho fact that ulr. Barcourt is new to most of tn'o Questions that will engage his attention for the next six or..seven months, make it very desirable that the Secretary of' State should have tho assistance of the principal 'Under-Secretary, at all. events until ' the' new scheme of reorganisation has been fully matured. Moreover, the .Secretary for Greater Britain is to hold important conferences on large schemes of development with 1 three . or four Crown Colony Governors at different times during the next six months, and it is understood that Sir Francis Hopwood has for some time been devoting special attention to some of tho questions that will como up for consideration, at these meetings. No assistance can be. rendered in the discussion of these schemes by Sir . Charles Lucas, as the'whole of his time is. nonoccupied, with tho work of the, Dominions Department. RUN OX A BAXfC. Scenes of great.'excitement were witnessed at the head offices of the Birkbecjc Bank when,, owing to, the circulation', of an anonymous letter connecting .the Birkbeck Band, with the. Charing. Cross Banlc huge numbers-.of depositors . presented themselves and. withdrew their. balances. 1 The run lasted for two days,, and somo of the crowd, spent the whole night - - out- . sido the bank.'; At times there wero so many .depositors waiting that the queue extended from- the-middle-of Staple 'Inn j

to Chancery Lane, up past Southampton Buildings to Holborn and down again on the opposite side of tho road to the entrance. The Bank of England, however, readily backed the llirkbcck Bank, and the "run" finally came "to an end, many of the depositors returning their, money almost as-soon as-they had withdrawn it.

EMIGRATION OF YOUTHS, Lecturing on the subject of juvenile emigration oversea at the rooms of the Royal Society of Arts this week, Mr. Thomas. Sedgwick said that all dominions preferred to receive immigrants in youth, in order that they might learn, . settle down, and get married. The days of promiscuous transportation were past, and due regard must now be paid to the overseas reouirements. It was to be hoped that the Coronation Year would Ik celebrated by the establishment of an Imperial Migration Department, aided by State funds. As to the kind of. lads wanted for the dominions, oversea farmers needed quick, active youths, who could learn to milk, drive, dig, and make themselves useful in the house. London working: lads had been tried all over the Empire, and had done well. Tho.Post Office dismissed 1000 telegraph messengers of sixteen years of age every year, but could not spare 'any of tho. .£-1,000,000 annual profit they helped to accumulate in order to start them in tho oversea States. There were 100,000 lads in. the Old Country willing to emigrate, but there wero ao funds except for paupers.

LABOUR EXCHANGES. . •The Board of Trade Labour Gazette states that the number of people on the register of the Board of Trade labour exchanges at the end of October was 90,71-1. The corresponding number at the end of September was 85,477. The applications received during October numbered 151,0-17, a daily average of 6419, as compared with a daily average of 5833 during September, and 37,010 vacancies were filled, an averago per working day of 1 '2, compared with 1510 during September. During October 98G, fresh applications for work were registered by ten women's employment bureaux and 706 situations were offered by. employers. Work was found'for 283 persons, of whom 101 were domestic servants and 230 of the situations filled were of'a more or less permanent character.

. . X2G,89G,224 IN SMOKE. . Interesting figures have been compiled by Mr. R. MoncrielT, an anti-tobacco statistician, Who resides at. Ncwcastle-on-Tyne,,concerning fh'c amount spent by the average Briton on "the weed" in its vari-ous-forms and the appliances, such as pipes, which' minister to the smoking habit. Mr. Mor.crieff declares that the average family of,four and a half persons (that is merely tile census approximation) spends ,£2 15s. 25d. a-.'year,' to--just over's shilling a week on tobacco. lie adds the statement : that each family--spends ,£ls 18s. Gjd. a year on drink, mid declares that the combined expenditure represents 23.9. per cent of-wages, earned. The total sum spent on tobacco, pipes, matches, and sundries is reckoned at. .£20,890,221.— "Standard of.Empire."