BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1211, 21 August 1911, Page 3

BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

LONDON SUMMARY. QUEBEC TERCENTENARY APPEAL. London, July 7. Ail interesting appeal c<iso connected with the Quebec tercentenary celcbralion has been before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council-the .Supreme Tribunal of Empire. Tho seven applicants constituted in 1908 the Finance Committee of the Montreal City Council, the respondent was At. Henri Larin, a ratepayer of the city. The action was instituted in 1908 by Mr. Larin, to force the appellents in t'ne present case to repay the sums allowed the Mayor for the eipenscs of a visit to Franco in connection with the celebration there of the Quebec Tercentenary, on the ground that the resolution to defray the expenses was illegal Tho respondent asked that the appellants should be unseated and disqualified for two years from acting as members of tho Council. Tho appeal, which was allowed, was from a judgment of the Suprenw Court of Canada, upholding a decision' of the Court of Review in favour of the respondent. CAPTAIN COOK'S DIARY. Among many notable manuscripts which are to be sold by Messrs. Sotheby on tli*. 27th inst., t'hero will bo a few pages covered with writing (hat arc of especial interest to Australians and New Zealanders. For the sale will include fragments of the diary kept by Captain Cook. The most remarkable is a leaf of the lost journal of_the first voyage, dated May 5 and C, 1770, believed to be the only leaf of the original journal which has survived. On a . r G, Captain Cook writes: ■the great number of new plants, etc.. our gentlemen botanists have collected in this place occasioned my giving it the name of Botany Bay. . . . The English colours were displayed nshoro • . . and 1 caused an inscription to be cut out upon one of the trees near the w atermg-nlace, sotting forth the ship's name. _This is the first reference to Botany Bay. Two leaves from tho lognook of the second voyage, March 2(i, lu3, and November 22 to December 1, l<<4, written when Cook was off New i when ho was crossing homeward from New Zealand to Tierra 'del I'uego, will also be put on tho market.

PROPOSED NEW UNIVERSITY. At ., a mating of fhe conncil of University College, Reading, it was anISniwSin 1 th ? 1 , an endowment fund of A-00,000 hod been presented to the college with the object, of enabling it within tlio next four years to apply for a charter ns an independent university. The donors of the fund are: Lady "Wantage, .£50,000; All: George William Palmer and Mrs. Palmer, ,£100,(100; and Mr. Alfred Palmer, -£50,000. The fund is to be employed in maintaining and developing at I*niv?rsi'v fading, and hereafter at _ tho _ university of Reading, work of university standard in arts, science, and agriculture, and it is intended that the university, in addition to rendering national service, shall endeavour to render particular service to the county borough of lieading, and to tho counties in that' part of England. It was also announced that Mr. Alfred Palmer would, in addition, present to the college the freehold of that portion of land, extending to four acres, which is contiguous to the main college site, and is at present held and used for horticultural purposes by tho college under lease from him.

HUGE REVENUE DECREASE'. The Treasury returns for tho first quarter of this financial year, just issued, $how a tremendous diminution of reveniK as compared with the corresponding period of last year. The net decrease is no less than .£18,574,501. Of this sum, ,£17,051,000 is accounted for by the falling off in the income-tax receipts. There is also a loss of -£1,1.13,000 in estate duties. Other decreases are in Customs, stamps, land tax, and house duty. The most important increase is J81,160,000 in excise. Other increases arc recorded in land valuo 'duties, Post Office telegraphs and telephones. The total increases amount to i 11,146,131)- against decreases. In considering these figures it should be mentioned that last, year a large amount of arrears of income-tax was collected in April, May, and June;

A GIFT OF AEROPLANES. The interesting announcement nas been made that tho well-known aviation ex T pert, Mr. H. Barber, has geneiously offered to present to tho Government four Valkyrie military aeroplanes, with a view to encouraging aviation in the naval and military services. The Government have gladly accepted Mr. Barber's publicspirited gift, and—in accordance with tho donor's suggestion—two machines will be allotted to the Royal Navy and two to the Army. Mr. Barber's offer was accompanied by no conditions, and his generous and patriotic act is highly appreciated by the authorities. These machines will be a valuable addition to the Government fleet of aeroplanes, which now consists of nine aeroplanes, including four Bristol machines.