BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1348, 27 January 1912, Page 6

BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

THE GAEKWAR AND.THE LAW: . 'V ■ London, December 15. • A ourions • case was heard iu the Divorce Court this week, when H.H, the Maharujalr'Gaekwar of Baroda. applied, b.v counsel, to have hi? name struck out of a divorce ease in which.lie wan cited co-respondent', and to have the citation declared. Tiuli and'void. The question' raised was whether, the irince' was in a position to s'av lie'waS the ruling Sovereign of an .independent State, and, therefore,, exempt from the process of the .Court. A. certificate from .the India Office said: "His Highness the Gaekwar of Baroda has'been recognised by the Government of India as a ruling chief, 'governing his own territories under the suzerainty of his Majesty. The British Government does not regard or treat his Highnesa's territories .as of British India or-part of his Majesty's Dominions, and it does not treat him or his subjects as subjects ■of his Majesty." The Judge'reserved his decision. [Cable messages have since advised that the Gaekwar could not be cited/] ANARCHISTS' MINT. At the Old Bailey two Frenchmen, stated to. be Anarchists, named Estigny and Barault; were sentenced respectively to five years - and four years' penal servitude,- after bejng found guilty of possessing coining. .moulds.' A detective-ser-geant. said the police raid on the preI inises used by the men had resulted in one of the biggest seizuros of counterfeit coin that had taken place for a considerable time, the workshop being a 1 niiniature mint. The articles seized during the raid filled a van. Another police witness said Estigny was an Anarchist of a most violent and dangerous character, and after his arrival in England detectives had kept him under observation for four years. Barault admitted he was an Anarchist.

SCNSTAR'S DERBY. i In the Court of Appeal, Mr. W. Allison, a journalist attached to the "Sportsman," newspaper, appealed from an order of Mr. Justice Scrutton in Chambers setting aside the service of the writ on the Independent Press Cable Association of Australasia (Limited). Mr. Allison brought the action against the association and'the "Sun" Newspaper (Limited)' for damages for alleged libel published by the first-named defendants in a cable-' gram issued from London, and by. the othe,r. defendants in a newspaper printed and published in Sydney, ana also published, in London, to the effect that the plaintiff had been arrested on a charge of conspiracy to prevent iSunstar from winning the Derby. ■ The appeal was dismissed, on the ground that the action must fail'in this country, because the associatibu did not carry on business within, the-jurisdiction of the English courts. PEDLAR'S ACRE. A case has just come-on in the Law Courts whiclr'.decides the allocation of .£BI,OOO. The story of the case opens in the fifteenth century, when a pedlar bequeathed to the old Lambeth parish an acre of riverside land—on which the new L.C.C. County Hall is now being built—upon ,the condition that his dogs, which had accompanied him upon , his travels, might''be buried in the churchyard. ' The-.pedlar's gift, known as the Pedlar's Acre, only brought in 2s. Bd. a year originally,, but. at the time the estate was acquired by the L.C.C. the Lambeth Borough Council was getting JEISOO a year- ont of: it. • In years gone by ' there -were many famous battles for the estate, but eventually, an .Act of Parliament was secured in the reign of George IV, vesting -the property in the rector and churchwardens and ten other rated inhabitants, the.'rents' ajid proceeds to be applied to parochial purposes. When, however, the L.C.C. acquired the famous acre, " paying ,£BI,OOO for it. the churchwardens claimed a share, and the council paid the money, into Chancery, where it has sincei remained, pending the settlement of the claim. ' Tho_ Jmlgo lias. decided that the legal estate is vested in the Lainbeth Borough Council for civil purposes only, and directed the income of the fund to be paid to thenr foi'.-the'relief of the general rate of the borough. ' WARSHIP EXPLOSION. Commander Garnett, an officer from the Admiralty, and other naval officers and men . and dockyard'hands, to the number, of nineteen, were injured on Tuesday by an oil explosion on the newbattleship Orion, at Portsmouth Dockyard. The explosion, which canned a terrific report; occurred about half-past ten o'clock, while the Orion was in No. 15 dock, .where she .had l;een : carrying out..machinery and other tests. The scene of the mishap was the forward, dynamo-rooin; and all who were working there, to the -number of twenty, were, injured,- being more or'less-burned and scalded-about-the face and.hands. An engineer-lieutenant, came on deck with clothes burning,'and they were pulled off bv a dockyard labourer... Medical aid was at once-summoned, and the injured attended to. .' ■