BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1036, 27 January 1911, Page 6

BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

LONDON SUMMARY. BOYS FOR NEW ZEALAND: MESSAGE FROM THE KING. London, December IG. A party of fifty boys picked from the poorer parts of London and Liverpool, who left London at the end of last week on board tho steamship Athenic to take positions on New Zealand farms, sent a telegram to the King expressing their dutiful and humble devotion to his Majesty. When the vessel touch at Plymouth Mr. T. E. Sedgwick, tho lion, superintendent of tho party, was handed tho tollowing reply from tho King:—"The King thanks the first party of town lads who havo left tho Mother Country for colonial farms for their loyal message, which his Majesty lias received with much satisfaction. His Majesty wishes them overp possiblo'good luck, and trusts they will be happy in their new homes in NewZealand, which Dominion his Majesty has hinisolf visited, and of which he maintains tho plcasantcst recollections."

THE CORONATION. In connection with tho preparations for tho Coronation, a special pile carpet for the'nave of Westminster Abbey is being made- by a Glasgow firm. The. foundation colour will be royal blue, and the ornamentation will include emblems. of the Order of the Garter and other heraldic devices. The pattern is on such a large scale that tho design is repeated or matched, only onco in- every six and a half yards. At the previous Coronationspecial Chippendale chairs with rush seats were used, and small chairs and narrow stools of unpolished beech wero supplied in hundreds. Next June polished chairs with seats upholstered in silk wilt.be used. After the Coronation of King Edward and Queen Alexandra many of tho peeresses who had been present were anxious to secure the chairs they, sat on as mementoes, and'tho Office of Works agreed to. sell them at practically the cost price. It is extremly probable that this will again be the case, and that tho provision of the 'seating accommodation will entail little cost to the organisers.

MOTOR-BUS TRAGEDY. Two persons were killed and a third seriously injured in a motor-bus accident which took place in Regent Street. About mid-day a motor-bus was proceeding along Regent Street towards Oxford Circus when a private motor-car attempted to pass it. Accordiug to the bus-driver,' the motorcar touched the hub of tlio off-front wheel of tho bus, and the jerk twisted the steering-wheel out of his hands. The rchiclo mounted tho kerb, charged along the pavement, and finally crashed into some shop windows. • The street was fairly clear, but four.people were unfortunately walking along the pavement at che time of tho disaster. Two, a man and a woman, were knocked down and killed, another woman was seriously injured, while the fourth person escaped unharmed.

STEERING WHEEL DANGERS. A verdict of accidental death was returned at tho inquest of Miss Marjorio Bliss and Mr. Arthur Goodridge, who were killed in the accident. The jury added that in their opinion Charles &celey, the driver, was negligent in attending to iiis steering wheel. The drivor of the private motor-car which was said to have struck the omnibus denied the statement, saying that he passed the omnibus with a couple of feet to spare. Giving evidence, another motor omnibus driver said, "A stone on tho road will knock the steeringwheel out of your hand unless you hold your wheel tight enough. ■ If you hold it tightly, it is. a terrible .strain on the hands, and if your omnibus is touched at all it will pull your arm out of joint."

AUTHOR'S LIFE STORY.. Ernest Druco, aged thirty-nine, an author, was .sentenced at the London Sessions to nine months' imprisonment in, the ..second division cigars.! by fraud. iPeHl'Mifß.-story-j as,revealed in Court, is a curious ono. Ho was the. son of humble parents, but showed so much promise that Lord Ponrhyn sent him-' ro Ox'ford University. : ' Lately, it was alleged, lip' divided his time between living at the most expensive hotels, incurring debts, and writing. Among his works wero a novel, a-book of prose aud verso, and the history of on episode in the lifo of Mary Queen'of Scots. _ At ono time he was engaged to 'a Nottinghamshire lady possessing .£7OOO. A year, ago he was accused of obtaining jewellery by false pretences, but the. money was paid by !a friend. His custom was to write to hotels at which he "stayed, and ask the managers to solid, him - certain brands of cigars. • Thoso cigars he exchanged with a tradesman for eggs.'

"FOUND"; HIMSELF IN AUSTRALIA. A remarkable story was told in the Hull Bankruptcy Court, when William Temple, lately a commission-agent, was examined by the Official Receiver. The debtor stated that he. had travelled to London on business, remembered walking along the Euston Road, and recollected nothing else ' until ho awoke in a hut on a farm in New South Wales. He said that he found himself in a bunk in the hut, and that the other occupant informed him that he had fallen off a load of hay and had been rendered unconscious. Mr. Temple further- stated that in Australia he was known as "Jim Thompson." A. letter from a farmer named Morley was received by a relation, stating that a mail named Thompson, had-been employed on his farm in .Australia. The case was • adjourned. .■„.;•' ...

NEW. MIDDLESEX'GUILDHALL. It is now almost certain that another new building will, shortly be erected on the fringe of Parliament Square" to take the form of a new Guildhall for the county of Middlesex. The County Council arc to be asked to empower the Guildhall Extension Committee to consider a scheme for clearing away the present building, which stands on a site used fof tho past 100 years as a sessions house for the county. Provided the now propoals are. agreed to, the county will have to find a temporary home for thousands of historical records, weighing many tons, now contained in the present buildings. Thcso county records go back to the time of Edward VI, starting in the year 1519, and they extend, with several short interruptions,' over a period.of 335 years. ■•

LORD JUNTO'S .RETURN. .. . Tho Earl of Minto,,ex-Viceroy: of India, has just.reached. London from. India, and; with tho inombers of his party, received a welcome of the utmost cordiality, hi which a representative of the King, the Secretary of State for India, several former holders of that office, tho members of the Council in India,.nractically every important official of tho India Office, and about 200 relatives and personal friends took part. Tho India Office had charge of all the arrangements, and nobody was permitted on the platform at Victoria without tho invitation of that department. The most stringent precautions for Lord Minto's safety were taken. Tho platform was railed off a long timo before the special train was duo at 5.30, and only those who had special" permits were allowed within the barrier. Tho thoroughness of these precautions-was due to certain information that had been received at headquarters. .

•YOUNG EMIGRANTS. Tho annual meeting of the supporters or Mrs.'Birt's Sheltering" Homes for Destitute Children was held in the Liverpool Town Hall, tho Lord Mayor presiding. In the annual report, which was submitted, it was stated that 24S now cases were received, and 180 were emigrated and found homes and situations iu Canada. As to tho work on the Canadian side, it was. reported that at the Knowlton Distributing Homo 1002 applications were received for children and young people, and 180 were placed on first arrival; 152 others were replaced, making a total of 33S placed out. Three Government school inspectors visited regularly the children who were placed out in the province of Quebec. In addition, Mr. Drummond, tho headmaster, had spent three monlhs this summer visiting tho children in Ontario. Ladies from the stall' had also been sent out to visit particularly the girls. There was not the slightest foundation or justification for tie statements sometimes made that these

children when sent out to Canada were lost sight of and drifted away, as there was a branch.of tho Dominion Government especially charged with tho oversight of British immigrant children. A proposal was made to erect a commodious home for the carrying on of tho work in Canada. For this purpose not less than ,£51)00 would be required.

COINERS' METHODS. • ' Interesting disclosures wero made at tho Old Bailey when three men wero sentenced for possessing counterfeit coin. "Supposing a man used good silvor," tho Judge asked a Mint official, "what profit would be made by manufacturing silver pieces?" "Almost as much as tjio Mint," he replied. "A crown is worth only Is. 6d. in silver." "One can make coin of perfectly good silver at one-fourth tho lace value?" said the Judge. "Yes, but silver coins cannot be made well in a house. The plant is too large for a coiner." "It would bo illegal," counsel remarked. "Coining is, unfortunately, increasing in tho East End," the Judge observed. "An immense.amount of profit can be made by the coiners, and coining itself can- bo dono fairly safelv. It is the uttering that is dangerous."

FALSE ELOPEMENT STORY. Miss Alexandra Louvima Ivnollys, daughter of Lord Knollys, the King's private secretary, has been awarded ioOO damages in the Law Courts for a libel that appeared in "John Bull." The statement complained of was as follows — "Tho papers havo been filled with mysterious references to a young lady who eloped, somo say with a noble lord, others with a British officer, and all are agreed that tho happy pair were followed across Europe by detectives. So far, however, wo. have only ascertained (through the French papers) that 'the voung and beautiful Englishwoman' is called Alexandra Louvima, and that she is the daughter of a famous Court official." The story' was stated to bo without any foundation whatever, and tho defence apologised for the publication of it.

MIGRATION LEAKAGE. At the annual dinner of the Ashford (Kent) Cattle Show, held at Ashford, Sir John Tnvo.rner (Agent-General for Victoria) proposed the toast of "The Imperial Forces," and in referring to tho land settlement scheme of the Victorian Government deplored the- fact that large numbers of people were leaving the Mother Country and settling'under foreign flags, and pointed out that these people were lost to the Empire. He went on to say that tho great JKmpiro work of British pioneers should not be forgotten. They had preserved for the British people a Continent coti-ting 2,974,531 square miles, where the same flag flies that guarantees all the, privileges wo enjoy under the Union Jack. Ho further expressed the hope that tho Imperial Government at the . forthcoming conference would give serious attention to this Empire leakage. Wo could not afford to lose British people while there were vacant British lands. —"Standard.of Empire."