NEWS OF THE DAY.

THE LONDON PRESS.

In a recent number of the Spectator, it alludes to the possibility of the Times being some day printed in half a dozen places at once, the whole of the mat er being telegraphed from Printing House Square. The day when this encroachment of the "Great Monopolist" shall take place is, says a London correspondent, still far distant, but in the meantime it is notorious that the London journals are making great efforts to recover in the provinces the ground from which they have been beaten by provincial enterprise. The newspaper trains, which are now started at an hour which enables the Times to reach Leeds as early almost as the most diligent man of business requires it, are very mixed blessings both to the staff and readers of London papers. For the former it means an increase of pressure, and for the latter it signifies decrease of news. The reports of the Parliamentary debate are what will be made to suffer the most, for by common consent no report of any speech made after midnight will be admitted into the London dailies. This is a matter of such serious importance that I understand a discussion will take place shortly in the House of Commons on the means to be adopted to obtain an official report of each night's proceedings. "Hansard's " report, upon which so much reliance is now placed, and which is so frequently quoted as an official record, is only compiled from the reports in the Times and the Standard, occasionally corrected by the speakers themselves. Messrs. Gurney, who undertake the whole of the reporting in committees, have offered to take and publish verbatim reports of each night's proceedings for a comparatively small sum, and it is hoped by London readers that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, now that his heart is cheered by a surplus, will be inclined to favourably reconsider this suggestion.

THE BENEFIT OF A COPYRIGHT.

Whatever may be the case in the United States of America, it is cheering to reflect that English authors have the benefit of copyright in Canada. As late as the first of October last, the Archbishop of Dublin received distinct evidence of the fact, and the evidence is now made public. The Archbishop's works have long been circulated throughout the world, and at length the reward has come, in the shape of a letter from the Treasury, inviting him to come and claim his due. Here is the letter, the terms of which read a little strangely when we come to find the amount to which they refer:-" My Lord,-I am commanded by the Lords Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury to acquaint you that the Paymaster General has been authorised to pay to you the amount inserted in the annexed receipt, for copyright duties received in the colonies. I am, my lord, your obedient servant, G. S. Ryder. To the Right Hon. and Most Rev. R. C. Trench, D.D., Archbishop of Dublin, &c., care of Messrs. Longman and Co., 38, Paternoster Row. N.B.—This receipt (when signed by you) must be presented at the office of her Majesty's Paymaster General, Whitehall. It may be negociated through a banker. It should be presented for payment without delay." The sum iso os. 11d., and as that is an inconvenient sum to carry, perhaps the Archbishop would do wisely to "negociate it through a banker." Safety in transmission would thus be secured.

WOMEN'S WORK IN AUSTRIA.

In the soda water manufacture, says the Art Journal, the duties of handing in and washing the syphons and polishing the taps of the syphons are added to those of washing, filling, and labelling. In the confectionery business a wide field is yet open for female industry. At the present time women are only employed as saleswomen, and for the easy supplemental operations, such as folding bon-bon papers,

5

packing, &c. Such duties as peeling and preparing the fruit for boiling, preparing and cutting the bon-bon papers, making fine envelopes for confectionery, and executing the ornamental work which is in so much demand at the Christmas season, could be most admirably performed by women. The manufacture of candies, chocolate, and substitutes for coffee, is the next industry described in the (Austrian Official) report. In the first, female labour is employed in arranging bon-bons in cases or envelopes, and in making pipes of sugar, which have to be pierced and tried, to ascertain whether they will draw. We recommend this branch of education to the serious notice of all anti-tobacco reformers. Little girls thread sugar-drops on twine, make leaves and stalks for apples, and attend to the trays used in the manufacture of peppermint drops. In the chocolate manufacture all the heavy work is done by men. But women are engaged in the operation of removing the seeds from the roasted and pulverised cocoa, removing stalks and stems from the cocoa beans, weighing the chocolate and forming it into tablets, turning out the tablets when cool, folding the tablets in an inner and outer cover, and labelling: modelling designs in chocolate by metal forms, and ornamenting to taste; preparing, folding up, and arranging in paper boxes chocolates used for dessert; weighing the prepared manufactures for delivery; ornamenting the sugar models of fruits; folding in sugar goods as bon-bons; cutting out such labels as cannot be cut by the machine. In the manufacture of substitutes for coffee, women are employed to weigh the meal and put it in paper envelopes; to prepare these envelopes, close, and finish them, and to label the packets. We have now exhausted only five out of the eighty-two different trades described in the report, and in the number of distinct occupations for which a skilful distribution of labour makes room are to be found so many distinct and permanent kinds of work well suited for performance by female hands.

THE LAND LAWS.

At a meeting of the Midland Farmers' Club at Birmingham, Mr. J. J. Mechi read a paper on "How to Make Farming Pay." He asked that the false delicacy and fear of interfering with land and its old feudal customs should be done away with, and the food-producing business be treated on common. sense principles. A powerful political reason existed for the cheap and ready transfer of land. Let them make the transfer of land as quick and almost as cheap as the transfer of Consols, and land would rise in value, and an important element of discontent would be removed. His advice to Birmingham and Manchester was, to go in for a reform of our absolete land laws. Having pulled down the wall between the buyer and seller of food, let them remove that which obstructed the cheap and ready purchase, sale, and use or transfer of land. He hoped public opinion would sanction the Government having a mapped record of every acre of land and its owners and transfers. Mr. Mechi, in conclusion, gave a table which showed that the total amount of home-grown and foreign meat consumed in the United Kingdom, at 7d per lb., was estimated at 95 millions per annum. The inhabitants of the metropolis consumed a fifth of this vast amount; and if other great cities consumed a like proportion, it followed that vast masses of the general population could only consume quantities of meat.

very small

FEMALE CLERKSHIPS IN THE POST OFFICE.

It has long been known, says the Civil Service Review, that there was an intention on the part of the Government to make a further trial of the clerical capacities of ladies by establishing a number of female clerkships in the Post Office Savings Bank. This scheme is now definitively settled, and we understand that several ladies will shortly be nominated by the Postmaster-General to compete before the Civil Service Commissioners for a few of the new appointments. The subjects

The

of examination will be:-1. Handwriting and orthography. 2. English grammar and composition. 3. Arithmetic including vulgar and decimal fractions). 4. Geography. limits of age within which candidates are eligible are liberalnamely, 16 to 30; and the scale of salary is fixed at a more liberal rate than has been adopted hitherto for the remuneration of female labour in the Post Office. The scale is as follows:-Second class, £40, rising by £7 10s. yearly to £75; first class, 80, rising by £7 10s. yearly to 100; principal clerks, 110, rising by 10 yearly to £150. We presume this scale is designed to compete with the attractions offered to the better class of governesses, rather than with those offered to shop-girls and milliners.

PROPOSED CONGRESS ON TELEGRAPHS.

This is the age of International Congresses and Codes. All the European Powers have recently given their adhesion to the International Postal Tariff which a Congress held at Berne framed and recommended. The Czar, despairing of securing success for his pet project for the conduct of war on the most humane principle possible, has undertaken a new scheme, a Telegraphic Congress, at which, we are told, a proposal will be made recommending the negociation of special treaties for preserving telegraph wires in time of war. And from Berlin it is announced to-day that Prince Bismarck has devised an International Maritime Code, and asked the maritime Powers whether they are willing to adopt it.

MR. GEORGE SMITH'S ASSYRIAN DISCOVERIES.

66

At a meeting of the Society of Biblical Archæology, Mr. George Smith gave a short exposition of two Babylonian bricks which had been presented to the Society by Lady Tite. They were both of the kind known as contract tablets recording business transactions, and bearing, as their chief interest, an important relation to the dates of Mesopotamian chronology. One of the tablets was rather remarkable in this respect, that Mr. Smith had for a considerable time been acquainted with the inscription which it bore, and now for the first time had seen the original. The Arabs, it would appear, in whose hands the tablet had been, had made several casts-"forged tablets," in fact-and it was one of these that Mr. Smith had previously examined. Mr. Smith further described an ancient Assyrian sword, lent by Mr. Hanbury, M.P., which bore the inscription, "Palace of Vulnirari, King of Nations, son of Budil, King of Assyria, son of Belnirari, King of Assyria also." This is the longest inscription yet found on any Assyrian weapon.

WORKING MEN.

It appears that the new scheme of African civilisation contemplates something more than the cutting of a canal through the Great Sahara. What Sir John Glover and those who think with him propose is nothing less than the submersion of the basin of the desert, and the creation As the Sahara covers thereby of an immense inland sea.

an area of something like 2,500,000 square miles-extending 2,000 miles from east to west, and about 1,000 from north to south-the Atlantic has its work cut out for it if it has to play the part of reservoir for the prodigious water supply which will be required to feed an ocean twice as large as the Mediterranean.

POLITICAL SUMMARY.

THE BUDGET.

The Saturday Review remarks that Sir Stafford Northcote's scheme for advancing loans to governing bodies may probably be on the whole useful, but it was not urgently necessary, and it has little connection with the Budget. The Spectator says that the proposal of the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the reduction of the National Debt is by far the greatest scheme which has yet been laid before the country for the systematic reduction of this burden. We earnestly trust his proposal will receive the hearty sanction of both sides of the house. The Economist, referring to the Budget, says-" In our judgment the statements of the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the subject of the income-tax form the most important and creditable opinion on finance which has fallen from the present Government, or any Government for many years. By retaining the income-tax the revenue will have the benefit of an elastic element which can be shifted as occasion requires, without the cost to trade and the harm to business which every addition to an indirect tax involves."

CHINA.

We have so often been warned to expect a revolution in China that a revival of rumours of this nature necessarily excites a considerable amount of scepticism. The threatened storm, however, cannot, we are assured, be averted much longer. The question to be decided will not relate merely to the succession, but will involve the existence of the foreign dynasty which has for more than 200 years ruled the destinies of the Chinese. Although the Mantchoo Tartars have for so long a period occupied the throne, they are still regarded as aliens by the native Celestials, and the Court language remains to this day that of the usurping Mantchoos. The great offices of the State are, as a rule, equally divided among Tartars and Chinese, and the relations between the two races are not of that bitter character which need inevitably lead to the desperate attempt which is said to be in contemplation to throw off the Tartar yoke.

A CONTINENTAL BLOCKADE.

La France, the organ of M. de Girardin, holds forth as follows:-"We are on the eve of a new Continental blockade. Bismarck, in his war against the Church, is trying to adopt the process used by Napoleon against England. The universal character of Catholicism may extend this duel to gigantic proportions. It is easy to see the consequences of the principle invoked by the great German Chancellor. Wherever a voice be raised in favour of the German Catholics-be it in Rome, France, Austria, Belgium, or England-he will assume the power of silencing it. Never did a Government conceive such an undertaking; we search in vain in the history of the past for anything like it. No wonder that everybody is asking if the axis of civilisation is in its right place, and whether we are not retrograding to the times when the Roman Emperors were the arbiters of the minds and souls of their subjects.'

THE CONDITION OF EUROPE.

The Standard says:-"We have no wish to be alarmists, but our readers must bear in mind, that in the present condition of Europe, war may break out literally almost at a moment's notice. Within three weeks of Lord Granville's assurance in July, 1870, that the state of Europe had never before been so tranquil or so devoid of all motive for disturbance of any sort, the French and German armies had encountered each other at Saarbruck. It is idle to talk of the restraining influence of public opinion. Public opinion carries no weight with the masters of many legions. When a monarch has got 1,200,000 soldiers immediately at his disposal, newspaper articles, though

breathing the most lofty morality, can scarcely be expected to produce much effect upon him. Diplomacy is equally powerless, since time is not given for the operation of its necessary slow and cumbersome proceedings, and sometimes it is used as a fresh incentive to the letting of blood. All that we really have to ask ourselves is, whether Prince Bismarck has any reason to desire a fresh struggle, and if the conditions exist for the realisation of his object. We fear that neither question can be answered in the negative. There can be no doubt that France was not so hard hit in the last war as was generally supposed, and that Germany sees with uneasiness the political settlement of the country, the expansion of its already enormous wealth, and the steady, systematic reorganisation of its army. Prince Bismarck may quite conceivably be of opinion that it is his duty, as a patriotic German, not to wait till the moment arrives when France shall have completely recovered its strength, and shall be able to confront Germany on a footing of something like equality. Were he to accuse France of preparing for war and of seeking to contract anti-German alliances, and were he to call upon the French Government to give a proof that it harbours no such intentions, by halting in its martial efforts, he would be doing nothing for which we must not be prepared. Our opinion that he would not be justified in taking such a step would not prevent him from taking it. There is something eminently suspicious in these accusations, which everybody knows to be, for the moment at least, unfounded. They might be true ten years hence. But will Prince Bismarck wait till they are true? Many people will be painfully reminded of the fable of the wolf and the lamb; but we are not aware that the wit of the fabulist abolished for ever the casuistry of wolves. In this case, however, the tact and forbearance of the lamb may be of more use than it was in the fable. If Germany should suddenly become exacting, France will have to turn away its wrath with mild replies. There is nothing else for it at present."

A POSSIBLE WAR.

When news arrived of the murder of Mr. Margary on the Chinese frontier, and the consequent failure of the BurmoChinese expedition, to which he acted as forerunner, many Anglo-Indians at home seemed disposed to blame the King of Burmah more than the Chinese officials. They remembered the hindrances the astute, monopoly-loving King placed in the way of the earlier expedition, undertaken by Major Sladen, and of the jealousy with which the Burmese have always regarded any attempt to open to European merchants the old trade routes between India and China. Their suspicions of the unfriendly disposition of the King were soon confirmed by later intelligence from Calcutta, reporting that difficulties had arisen between Great Britain and Burmah regarding the boundaries of their territories, and the claim of the King to the sovereignty of the independent Karen States-that His Majesty had, in fact, re-awakened disputes which it was thought two wars had settled in favour of the British. The result of the first Burmese war was the cession to Britain of the two provinces of Arakan and Tenasserim; the result of the second was the annexation of the Pegu territory, which is situated between these two provinces. But the right of Great Britain to Pegu was never recognised by the Burmese Government, and the diplomatic warfare which this refusal occasioned has lately been complicated as well as embittered by the desire of the inhabitants of Western Karen to be received under the protection of Great Britain, while the Eastern Karens are content to remain under Burmese rule. The report of Mr. Margary's death, followed by an intimation of the revival of the old controversies about state boundaries, has led to predictions of the near approach of a third Burmese war; and the King of Burmah himself seems to believe in the probability of the prophecy being realised, for it is telegraphed from Delhi that he "is making military preparations.'

NOVELTIES.

[inventors or Exhibitors of New Goods desirous of bringing them before the notice of the Trade, whether at Home or Abroad, can be gratified by forwarding Specimens, Wood Engravings, or Electrotypes.]

PERRY & Co.'s LADIES' LONDON PATENT WHEEL SKATES. Encouraged by the amount of success which has attended the "Wheel Skates" for gentlemen, described in the previous number, the Messrs. Perry have now Extended the application to the size and use of ladies, and thus furnished them with a new lever in graceful physical exercise, combined with a health-giving amusement. The "Ladies Wheel Skates" are distinguished for all the excellencies of the others as regards strength, durability and safety, but they are lighter, more elegant, and better adapted to the female foot, in the manner of the Dutch skate. Mr. C. Roach Smith tells us that the Dutch are allowed to be the first skaters in Europe, and that the farmers' daughters are frequently skating on the canals to market towns with milk, eggs, butter, &c., in baskets on their heads, in perfect safety, an idea which has not been lost upon the patentees. The advantage to ladies in these skates is, that they can practice with them on any smooth surface, such as a boarded floor, street pavement, or asphalt surface, in all seasons, in-doors or out-of-doors, quite independent of ice or skating-rinks. A happy illustration of the fashionableness as well as gracefulness of ladies skating with these Wheel Skates is given in the Graphic, April 3rd, 1875. Then again, these skates are recommended as a means of natural gymnastics. By their use every muscle in the body is gently and uniformly brought into action through the swing of the trunk in various directions. These undulations made are not only in accord with "Hogarth's line of beauty," but also in that tending to perfect health and grace. To those with weak ankles no better curative can be recommended, and the Trade may anticipate with confidence the support of the lady public, as the utility of the skates becomes known. more useful or noble present to a lady cannot be made.

A

PERRY & Co.'s PATENT STYLOID PEN-NEW ISSUE.— This impressive novelty, already described, reminding the public of the stylus used by the ancient Romans for writing on wax tablets, or on bark, has proved to be a palpable modern hit. The trade has received the Styloid Pen with approbation,

although it went forth unheralded by puffery. The new pen fittingly emanates from the same house from whence originated the "Perryian Steel Pens" half a century ago, and whose name is associated with the origin of steel pens, thus proving that the experience of the past has not been thrown away, and that the trade and the public still find here those novelties or old favourites in the pen department most suitable to their needs. Although not three months old, the Styloid has attained a perfection, through extensive experiments, in the manufacture which the most sanguine could hardly have anticipated. The present issue has two alterations-one by which a shorter and broader nib is secured, rendering the down stroke heavier, when desired, while the interstice is widened, which prevents clogging-the other improvement consists in having made the pen harder and more like the favourite J pen, self-evident

advantages. The improvements still enable the pen to carry

as much ink as before, and thus reduce the manual labour of constant dipping. The Styloid may now be had of different degrees of flexibility without fear of blotching, scratching, or spurting, and is therefore not only a good business pen, and a good bank and merchants' pen, but is well adapted for ruling, mapping, drawing, or writing Oriental characters. Ladies will find it a unique and exquisite pen, remarkable for its fine and pliant qualities, peculiarly suited to them. The Styloid is bound to take a large position in the stationery market.

THE "BEE" LETTER CLIP, REGISTERED.-A very curious chapter might be written on "Letter Clips," the varieties of which are innumerable; but as we have not the facile pen of

pretty certain to have a good sale.

a Daran or a Timbs, we shall not attempt it. It is only fair, however, that a newcomer should possess some characteristics of its own. The present specimen forms a very good fac-simile of a "Bee," and, like its living prototype, is useful, as by the mechanical spring contrivance, it holds papers and what not firmly, yet kindly. What more need be said, except that it is neat, cheap, and

NEW ISSUE OF THE COPYING INK PENCILS.-As was naturally expected, these peculiar chemically-constructed pencils have swiftly found their way into public favour, but the patentees do not rest on their oars-on the contrary, they have adapted the copying ink property into the popular form of the common cedar pencil Many persons prefer the old cedar form in writing to the pencil case form, and they can now be gratified. Both kinds are to be had; but this recent judicious adaptation is likely to render this unique pencil more appreciated than ever.

ERRATUM.-IMPROVED SAFETY LIFT CORKSCREW.Occasional typographical errors creep into the columns of the press. In our notice of this article in the previous number, through a printer's error, the patentee's name was printed Messrs. Buyers, instead of Messrs. Burgess & Sons, Birmingham.

THE DUPLEX PEN-TRAY INKSTAND.-This very beautiful inkstand is introduced by Mr. W. L. Smith, of Birmingham, and is worthy of notice, as it is excellently adapted to the purpose for which it is designed. It is oblong in shape, with two bottles in one stand, with pen tray, all of one piece of clear glass. As it is ribbed and fluted, it is interesting in an artistic and industrial point of view, and not only strikingly appeals to the eye, but will be found useful as well as beautiful. It may be cheerfully recommended to the notice of the trade. HAT TICKETS-Mr. Hearn, Great College Street, Camden Town, has devised a design for hat tickets to substitute the ordinary white and black cards now in use, something more attractive, consisting of pasteboard, with a dead black surface, imitating leather, its upper portion the segment of a circle, narrowing downwards to the point to be inserted in the band, tooled round with a border in gold, and impressed in the centre with the figures indicating price, also in gold, which is in contrast with the general surface.

JEWELLERY IN THE SHOE TRADE.-Uneasy shoes-the

occasion of so much discomfort-give fair promise of becoming "institutions of the past." A neat and pretty invention, says a Birmingham contemporary, has been lately produced by Messrs. Handley and Draper, of the Lion Works, Bath Passage, which promises to effect this. The following is a brief description of the invention. A "tab," or short band of leather, similar to, yet different from, that of buttoned boots, is fastened to the inner side of the shoe, and brought over the front. In the tab two holes are made, and through these, when the shoe is on the foot, a part of the solitaire (fastened securely to the shoe) passes. The shoe is then secured by pressing down the upper half of the solitaire, which is made fast to the tab. The improved shoes are on sale at many of the retail boot shops in the town, and are, we understand, being received very favourably by the whole trade.

DESIGNS FOR THE GOLDSMITH COMPANY.-In the reply to the liberal advertisement of the Goldsmiths' Company, there were twenty competitors for the premiums offered for the best designs for articles above 30 oz. in weight, twelve for articles under 30 oz. in weight, six for those offered for models, three for articles in silver, and two for chasing or repousse work. Under the first heading a prize of £50 is awarded to W. Clausen for a clever work; and £25 each to R. Lunn and W. F. Randall (a design for tea service with some meritorious points). Under the second head (articles less than 30 oz. in weight), a prize of £25 is awarded respectively to F. W. Sharp (design for a cup with groups of figures on it) and to J. J. Shaw. Owen Gibbons gets £25 for a model of a work over 30 oz. in weight; and Thos. A Crichton and E. H. Stockwell 25 each for articles in silver. The designs may be seen, without payment, at the Royal Architectural Museum, Tufton Street, Westminster.

THE LATEST NOVELTY IN PAPER.-Inasmuch as paper has been made available for the manufacture of almost every variety of furniture and articles of dress, it is passing strange that paper coffins should have been left till this late day unthought of. The undertaker is certainly not an enterprising party. Trunk-makers, says the Scientific American, have long been credited with using all the unsaleable printed books; but at the present rate of production, were every traveller supplied with a van-load of these troublesome impedimenta to travelling, such a stock would remain that all the bookshelves in the world would not contain a tithe of them. To further reduce the stock, a manufacturer out West proposes to supply every journeyer to that bourne whence no traveller returns, with a last trunk made of papier maché, waterproofed with asphaltum.

EXHIBITIONS.

THE EXHIBITION AT VIENNA.-The Imperial Mint of Vienna is still engaged in coining Exhibition medals, and will not, it is thought, complete that work for some months hence. Up to the present only about three-quarters of the number of medals awarded have been distributed, the remainder not yet being struck.

DRESDEN-Eleven hundred and eighty-four applications have already been made for the Dresden exhibition of manufactures and products of the kingdom of Saxony, which is to be held from the 15th of June to the 15th of September of this year. For the German "Reichsindustrie" exhibition to be held in 1878 at Berlin, a provisional committee has just been formed.

THE PHILADELPHIA EXHIBITION.-Messrs. Thomas Cook and Son, of Ludgate Circus, London, have been appointed general passenger agents to the British section of the International Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876.

AN International Potato Exhibition is announced at the Alexandra Palace for next Michaelmas. The committee is presided over by Mr. Alderman and Sheriff Ellis, and over £100 will be given away in prizes.