BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1447, 23 May 1912, Page 5

BY THE ENGLISH MAIL.

. * NEWS AND NOTES FROM LONDON. London, April 12. Tho great strike of coal miners, which has lasted over five weeks and done incalculable industrial damage, has at last como to an end. Tho men are rapidly returning to work, railways beginning to augment their restricted services, and factories arranging to reopen. People are now busy estimating the cost of the tremendous struggle. It is stated that tho • nation has lost something like .£80,000,000 • in wages and trade. Tho miners have lost .£9,700,000, of which 81 millions sterling represents lost wages, and the remainder money spent in strike pay. Bv tho strike some 100,000 miners will havo ■ an increase- in wages of about ss. a week— JiSr IS .' a 5^? rl y e aiu >» w«.»cs of xi.soo,000. Accordingly, the loss to the miners themselves will not be made up for ncarlv eight years. Apart from tho financial aspect, the strike has cost tho nation i 'Ii m H lO - wa y of suffering, sickness, and death. In all parts of the country distress has been rife, and private mid public chanty has beeu severely strained. HELP FROM OVERSEA. The whole of the .£IOOO given by the Now South Wales Government as a contribution towards the. relief of distress 'ras speut in tho Midland sand Potteries districts, where privation was very keen and widely spread. It was the original intention of Air. T. A. Coghlnn, the AgentGeneral for the State, to distribute Now South Wales produce to the value of tho allotted sum, but on account of tho vast amount of suffering among women and infants, tho money instead was spent in milk and soup. The distribution of tho State's gift was under the direction of the mayors in-, the districts • named. Mr. Coghlan has since received another sum of ,£IOOO for strike fund relief purposes from the Lord Mayor of Sydney, who asked that the money should bo given to the mayors' funds in tho distressed districts, and used primarily for the relief of women and children. The lligh Commissioner for New Zealand, Sir William HallJnnes, received last week-end cabled authority to contribute to the relief of women and children sufferers £1186, subscribed by tho people of New Zealand. RAILWAY SERVICES. The restoration of tho normal railway services, which is now the supreme concern of the commercial world, will be begun in earnest on Monday next. A number of important trains are already being restored to the. schedules, but the full restoration will not take place until next week. The London and suburban traffic, which was the last to be restricted, is being restored iirst. Then, as the supply of coal permits, will follow the resumption of the long distance main lire traffic. In tho meantime every opportunity will bs taken of obtaining for the railroads and the great industries of the country tho coal that is now in such, urgent demand. The price of the precious, fuel is now decreasing. During March, by the way, the exports of coal amounted to 1,655,145 tons, as against 5,580,868 tons in March, 1911, and showed a decline in .value of .£2,053,6!)!). REVOLT AGAINST LEADERS. Tho revolt of the miners against their leaders is taking definite shape. A scc- • tion of tho Northumberland miners will bring before the May council meeting a proposal to leave tho federation, and a section of the North Wales men are stated to have decided to secede from the local association. A vote of censure on the Yorkshire leaders was passed at a I meeting held at Dinnington, and they j were called on to resign. Mr. Thomas fj Spencer, ono of the Derbyshire represenT jtatives at tho federation conference, told . a mass meeting of miners at Alfreton ■ i that recent events had shaken the-consti-I'.tution of tho federation to its foundation, - and that in order to try to save it the extremists at the fateful conference turned completely round and actually proposed that the men should return to work. AFRICAN TRAGEDY RECALLED. An African tragedy is -recalled by tho announcement of tho forthcoming ' marriage of Miss Olive MacLeod, younger daughter of Sir Reginald and Lady Agnes MacLeod, to Mr. Charles Lindsay Temple, C.M.G., Chief Secretary of Northern Nigeria. It is now eighteen months since . Miss MacLeod made her sad pilgrimage to tho grave of her fiance, Lieutenant Boyd .'Alexander, the famous explorer, who was treacherously murdered by natives near Wadai, in Central Africa, in May, 1910. Lieutenant Boyd Alexander's body was recovered, and buried beside that of his brother, Captain Claud Alexander, who also lost his life in the Wadai hinterland. Some weeks later Miss MacLeod, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Talbot, set out on a 4000-mile journey, through wild and dangerous country, to place a memorial cross ou the grave of her lover. SHOOTING FROM AN AEROPLANE. An interesting experiment demonstrating the possibility of firing from a fast flying aeroplane in war time was carried out at the third day of the London aviation meeting at the Hcndon Aerodrome. A number of small silk balloons v;ere ■ set adrift, and when they had reached a considerable height Mr. Gra-hame-White, with Captain Tyrer as a passenger, gave chaso dn a Farman biplane. Captain Tyrer, who was armed with a gun, took pot shots as the biplane circled round the balloons, and 6ficcossfully brought several down to the ground. THE KING'S MAUNDY. The picturesque ceremony of the distribution of'tho King's Maundy Gifts has been performed in accordance with custom in Westminster Abbey. All tho ancient .ceremonial was observed, and the procession from the nave to the choir was of a strikingly beautiful character. At its head walked the beadle of the Abbey, bearing tho mace, and he was followed bv tho children of the Chanel Royal, dressed in their coats of scarlet and gold. The dish upon which reposed the.rotl and white leather purses containing the alms was carried on the head of a vcoman of the guard. - Tho chief dignitaries talcing part in the ceremony carried small posies representing tho sweet-smelling herbs used at the obsolete ceremony of washing the feet of the old folk bv the monarch. The whito purses, for the AG aged and' deserving poor contained this year 47 pence, being ono penny for each year of the King's age. Tho other money gifts amounted to £i 15s. for each man and £i ss. for each woman. SUNKEN TREASURE. Towards Hie end of this month anBther, and it is hoped, the final, attempt will be made to recover the gold and silver bullion, amounting to over a million, sterling, from the British frigate Lutine, which lies below the waters off Terschelling, on the Dutch coast. The Lutine left Yarmouth -roads for Cnxhaven on October 8. 1799, and she foundered on tho evening of the following day in a terrific gale. On board her was -C 1.217.000 in gold and silver bars and .£147,000 in coin shipped by tho War Office for the payment of tho troops in Holland. The bullion was injured at Lloyd's, and the chairman of the corporation at that, time himself carried the biggest amount of insurance. As a result of the. loss of the Ircasuro the chairman committed suicide. HOW LONDON SPENT THE HOLIDAYS. Despite coal strike, restricted services. • snd general liir-k of cheap travel facilities thousands of people went down into the country fnr the Easter holidays. Tho Great Eastern Railway hooked no fewer than 10(1,876 passongers for long-distance [•„ Hie East. Coast resorts. The flbsenco of cheap day trips on the railways gave thr> omnibifs companies a splendid opportunity which thpv did not miss. On Easter Monday all the parks and commons in_l.on.lon were thronged, while thousands visited Kempton Pork races. Hie Crystal Palace. Alexandra Park, Hampton Court, and other popular resorts, and there seemed to l» no fallinsfoff in the numbers of bank holiday-mak-S s i? h £ mn f.l'°rest and on Hampstead Heath. The Zoo maintained its old-timo popularity, no fewer than 42,000 people visiting it; Hampton Court coming second on the list with nearly 13,000 visitors. A CANADIAN HERO. The King has conferred the Albert Medal of the second class on Mr. Edward Bell, of Copper Cliff, Ontario, whose gallantry in. a" forest fire last July wa.s

tho means of saving seven lives. Tho town of- South Porcupine and a mining camp were destroyed by the fire. A party, including the manager of the Dome Mines, his family, and two employees, managed to make their way through the smoke and ilnmc to some water barrels, but then collapsed. .Mr. Bell, notwithstanding the dense smoke, went to their rescue, and stood by them for nearly two hours, damping their clothes, and by this and other means saved them from further injury. SOMERSAULT ON AEROPLANE. Mr. Grahame White and two passengers whom ho took for a flight at Hcndon the other day narrowly escaped death in an accident which overturned and wrecked the aeroplane. The wind was blowing at the rate of forty-eight miles an hour. Flying was cbviously daugerous, but about live thousand people had gathered in tho hopo of seeing some nights, and Mr. Grahame White had announced the day before that ho would go up in the air whatever the conditions wore, so that the peoplo should not bs disappointed. The machine had just risen, and was about thirty feet from the ground when it suddenly turned completely over. Mr. Grahame Whito nnd his companions were found to bo uninjured. They had remained in their scats as the machine turned over, and were able to scramble out without a scratch. ■£1,750,000 KOAD PLAN. If the local authorities in Louden and Middlesex through whose territory the proposed new western road will pass agree to contribute their share of the expense, it is probable that the work of construction will be begun before long. The Road Board have intimated that they are prepared to grant i' 875,000, subject to the approval of the Treasury, for the work. It is probable that tho local authorities interested will appoint delegates to discuss the *scheme in detail. The cost is estimated at .£1,750,000. According to present plans, the new approach to London is to be 80ft. wide, and will run from Hounslow to West Cromwell Road by way of Brentford and Hammersmith.

THE TOLL OF THE SEA, According to Lloyd's Register for 1911-12 the number of steam vessels owned by the United Kingdom is 8487, with a net tonnage of 10,519,076. Oversea States own 1414 steam vessels, having a net tonnago of 788,580. The number of Home-owned sailing vessels is 847, with a tonnage of 579,932, and the Oversea States own G94, with a tonnage of 195,193. This gives a total of 11,442 British and Greater British vessels with a'tonnage of 12,803,831. During the three months comprised in tho rotnrns a total of 58 British and oversea vessels of nil classes were lost, with a tonnage of 49,298. During tho quarter, two British steamers and two oversea sailing ships were abandoned at sea; two British steamers were burned; t\vo British steamers and one sailing vessel were reported as having left port and never been heard of again. GREAT IPSWICH FIRE. Damage estimated at the very least at ,£IOO,OOO was done by a fire which devastated the business centre of Ipswich last week-end,- and was only subdued after eight hours' strenuous labour on the part of the firemen. The outbreak started in the factory of Messrs. R. D. and J. B. Eraser, general furnishers. The contents being of a very inflammable nature, tho flames increased in fierceness with great rapidity, and the premises of a firm of bicycle makers and gunsmiths forty or fifty feet away caught fire, and were completely destroyed, and two buildings adjoining were gutted, whilo other important premises were threatened. About ten o'clock at night it looked as if the wholo of Princo's Street would be burned, but as the result of a great united effort tho fire was got under shortly after midnight, and was finally extinguished about two o'clock in the morning.

MINISTER'S HOUSE BURNED. Mr. Percy Illingworth, M.P., one of tho Government Whips, and his family had a narrow escape when their home, Lake House, a famous Elizabethan mansion, near Salisbury, was burned to the. ground. The lives of the thirteen inmates of the household were undoubtedly saved by a retriever which slept outside Mr. Illingworth's door, and aroused him by her barking. The family had but little time in which to effect their escape, and most of them hurried to the lawn in the bitter early morning air, clad only in their night attire. The 'roof fell in twenty minutes after the discovery of the fire, and the house was speedily gutted, somo priceless antique furniture and valuable pictures being destroyed.

EXPRESS TRAIN'S ESCAPE. Passengers on the North-Eastern Railway's night train north from York had a remarkable escape from death a few miles from Stockton-on-Tees last week-end. Between Northallerton and Eaglcscliffe the train was running at about fifty miles an hour, when it began to swav and jerk, and about 300 yards past Eagfescliffe Station the carriages leaped in the air as if they had struck a rock on the road, and left the rails. Tho engine-driver at once applied the brakes, but for fully a quarter of a mile the train ran on, ploughing up the permanent way, sleepers being broken into splinters, rails twisted and bent into all manner of shapes, and.rail chairs torn from the sleepers and strewn about. Fortunately every carriage kept on its wheels, and the train camo to a halt at last without anyone being seriously injured. BURGLAR EXCAVATORS. Another daring jewel robbery—apparently the work of the same gang of expert thieves who (as stated in last week's "Standard of Empire") tunnelled their way into a Regent Street shop and stole thousands of pounds' worth of gold and silver articles Tecently—has been perpetrated in the West End. In tho present case Messrs. J. Moore, jewellers and silversmiths, of 211 Oxford Street, are the victims. Tho perpetralors of this second burglary, after climbing over a roof at the back ot the premises, entered the rooms above thb shop by forcing their uray through an iron-baxrod window. They then wrenched open an iron, door, bored a hole through a fourteen-ineh wall, which is also covered with iron, and so reached Messrs. Moore's shop. Their booty amount' ed to jewellery valued at some .£SOO.