has been placed on the judges, while some of the trials have extended to an inordinate length of time, and this despite the fact that special tribunals of three judges were set up for the trial of cases of anarchical and seditious crime. The point made by the correspondent is that the creation of a High Court for Eastern Bengal and Assam, with its headquarters at Dacca, would be a much more effective method of coping with the congestion of judicial business than the expansion of the High Court of Bengal at Calcutta to twenty judges from its present number of fifteen. Except for judicial purposes Bengal has been divided, and, as he truly points out, “the concentration at Calcutta of all appellate jurisdiction from two large provinces containing eighty-six and a half million people (nearly double the population of the United Kingdom) is without parallel in any part of the Empire." This certainly seems to be the most sensible manner of dealing with the present position, and is one that should certainly give satisfaction.

66

THE returns of the seventy-five companies which have embarked in the business of insurance against employers' liabilities in respect of accidents are eloquent testimony to the magnitude of the risks and the financial burdens consequent upon them. The claims paid have eaten up no less than 67 per cent. of the premiums, and the expenses entailed have cost another 36 per cent., whilst the increased provision necessary to meet outstanding claims and unexpired risks represents another 7 per cent. In a word, there is a loss of 10 per cent. on received premiums, and the actual loss for one year has been over a quarter of a million. Since the period covered by these figures, mainly 1909, the companies have been naturally driven to increase their rates, but it is still a question whether the insurers are even now earning a legitimate profit. No policy-holder can in the end be deemed to be satisfactorily insured unless the insurers are making some reasonable gains out of this branch of their business, and, unless this should prove to be the case, companies may be compelled to withdraw from this expensive undertaking-a circumstance of considerable gravity to all employers of labour. The causes for this state of things are not far to seek. Judicial decisions have rarely erred on the side of piggardliness in amount or as regards the limits of the risks. The latter tend to extend themselves in area as the years go on, and it must be further admitted that malingering is developing in a a considerable degree, and legitimate claims are thereby growing into something inordinate. The matter is indeed one of some gravity, and the Legislature might profitably consider whether the experience of the past few years has not been such as to justify some overhaul of the existing law as judicially interpreted. Even now the rates of premium are serious items in a commercial balance sheet, and, if a further increase is needful, the results must be to impose a still more onerous burden on the industrial situation.

assembly of the nation, and no man actually was king till he had been admitted to the kingly office by the consecration of the Church. Edward I. was the first king whose reign began before his coronation; he was absent in Palestine when his father died, and his right was acknowledged without opposition.

But even in this case there was an interregnum. The regpal years of Edward I. are not reckoned from the day of his father's death, but from the day of his funeral, when the prelates and nobles swore allegiance to him. Edward II. dated his reign from the day after his father's death. No sign of the doctrines that the king never dies, that the throne never can bevacant, that there can be no interregnum, and that the reign of: the next heir begins the moment the reign of predecessor is ended can be found at any time earlier than the reign of Edward I. : (Freeman's Growth of the English Constitution, p. 144). From the accession of Edward I., the first king who reigned before his coronation, hereditary succession became the rule in practice.

The king in early times was not only elected, but he went through a twofold election, the second being the form of an ecclesiastical consecration to the kingly office.

“ That form,' writes Mr. Freeman, we still retain, but in modern times it has become a mere form—a pageant, impressive, no doubt, and instructive, but still a mere pageant which gives the crowned king no powers which he did not equally hold while still uncrowned. The death of the former king puts at once his successor in possession of every kingly right and power; his. coronation in no way adds to his legal authority, however much it may add to his personal responsibility towards God and his. people. But this was not so of old time. The choice of the national assembly gave the king so chosen the sole right to become king, but it did not make him king.

The king-elect was like a bishop-elect, and the recommendation of the Crown, the election of the chapter, and the confirmation of the archbishop give a certain man the sole right to a certain see, but it is only the purely religious rite of consecration which makes him actually bishop of it. So it was of old with a king. The choice of the Witan made him king-elect, but it was only the ecclesiastical crowning and anointing which made him king. And this ecclesiastical ceremony involved & further election. Chosen already to the civil office by the nation in its civil character, he was again chosen by the Church —that is, by the nation in its religious character by the clergy and people assembled in the church-when the crowning rite. was to be done : (Freeman's Growth of the English Constitution, pp. 146-147).

Down to the time of Henry VIII. the old ecclesiastical form of choosing the king remained in the coronation service, which in its present form falls into three stages of ceremonial which are full of historical and constitutional interest: First, the recognition and the oath ; then the anointing, investiture, and actual crowning; and, lastly, the homage of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal.

The recognition represents the reat officers of the Witan or council presenting the Sovereign of their choice to the assembled. people, who are asked to record the national approval of the chosen king—the people being for this purpose more especially represented by the boys of Westminster School, who take the part played by the crowd at a mediæval coronation. While the coronation oath indicates the contractual character of English sovereignty, the anointing, the investiture, and the crowning would seem to confer upon Royalty its sacred character, while the homage of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal represents the oath of fidelity by the Ministry of Saxon times, and later by the great vassals of the Crown, which gave practical security to the new reign : (see Anson's Law and Custom of the Constitution, ii., the Crown, Part 1, pp. 235-238).

When the coronation was not merely a recognition of the king chosen by the nation, but a second election, it must always have been a mere form, although absolutely essential, a'r the choice of the nation had already been made before the ecclesiastical ceremony began. To the superficial observer the Crown of England would seem to be purely hereditary, the people having no voice, much less a power of selection, in its occupant. A closer student of the Constitution would come to a different conclusion—that kings who have been called to reign by the direct operation of the law under the provisions of the Act of Settlement are invested with power which flows

THE CORONATION CEREMONIAL. The approaching Coronation is full of interest to the student of the development of the English Constitution. The contrast in its effects between the coronation of an English Sovereign of the present day ard the same ceremonial in early times cannot, perhaps, be more vividly pictured than by the statement of the fact that formerly there was a real interregnum between the death of one king and the election or cleric's choice of another. Until the new king was crowned the king's peace was in abeyance. The State had no one to represent it for the purpose of enforcing the peace, which was, however, maintained by the justiciar during the interval preceding the coronation of the new king : (Stubbs' Select Charters, p. 446; Anson's Law and Custom of the Constitution, ii., the Crown, Part 1, p. 227). The Crown was elective. No man had a right to become king till he had been called to the kingly office by the clerics of the

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8

ing particularly in what mander and to what extent the owner was to cut the bedges; that this was a substantial defect, and not one merely of form; and that the surveyor was liable to an action of trespass for cutting the hedge in default of the owner's obeying the order.

THE CONVEYANCER.

Lord Chancellor of Ireland, in the course of a reasoned judgment, put the following proposition : “It under the disentailing deed the . lands had been limited to the use of the father and son as joint tepants in fee simple, and they under their ownership had by various deeds created charges on their lande, and subsequently under the same ownership had given back the lands to the first tenant for life as by restoration of his former life estate, with the powers annexed, could be sell discharged from all the intervening charges ? Mr. Walker said he could. That may be so, but I am not aware of any deoiding that." Lord Justice Holmes, after referring to numerous decisions bearing on the point, said: “All which and other authorities I have read with reasonable care, but with little profit or satisfaction. Different judges have come to different conclusions; deductions are drawn which it is bard to follow, and in most of them trustees of a compound gettlement were, as a matter of fact, appointed whether it was necessary to do eo or not." Lord Justice FitzGibbon thought that even if the question were doubtsul it would be the duty of the court to give the benefit of the doubt to the purchaser, With the latter dictum we respectfully agree. The case of Re Domville and Callwell's Contract is not binding on the courts in England, and it would seem to conflict with Re Mundy and Roper's Contract and Re Cornwallis West and Munroe's Contract, as explained by Lord Wimborne and Broune's Contract, before cited, which seem to show that as long as there are trustees of the original will or deed creating the settlement the tenant for life under such will or deed can soll not only free from the limitations and charges created by the original settlemont, but also from any limitations or charges created by any resettlement or sub-settlement, without trustees of the compound settlement being appointed. Assuming that, however, to be the case, suppose that the re-settlement by the father and eldest son, after the usual dicentailing a899 urance, begins by creating a term of 500 years to raise money, and subject thereto the estate for life under the original settlement is restored, and then money is borrowed on mortgage of the term, can the tenant for life sell free from such mortgage either with or without trustees of the compound settlement being appointed ? It is submitted that he cannot. The point, however, is by no means free from difficulty. Under sect. 20 of the Settled Land Act 1882 tbe tenabt for life has power on sale to convey the land for the estate or interest the subject of the settlement, s.e., as a rule, the fee simple (see Re Knowles' Settled Estales (51 L. T. Rep. 655; 27 Cb. Div. 707) and the observations of Mr. Justice Stirling in Ducane and Nettlefold's Contract (78 L. T. Rep. 458 ; 1898) 2 Ch. 107), but he cannot convey free from charges arising under the settlement and create for securing money actually raised at the date of the deed. It may be said that mcoey borrowed under a term created by the resettlement is not a charge arising “under the settlement.” It is a charge arising under the compound settlement, but is that “the settlement" within the meaning of sect. 20 of the Settled Land Act 1882 ? “ Settlement” of itself may include several instruments and therefore includes a compound settlement, but does it mean that in sect. 20? It wonld seem from the observations of Mr. Justice Stirling in Re Marquis of Ailesbury and Lord I veagh (69 L. T. Rep. 101 ; (1893) 2 Ch. 358) that it does not. But even then it is a strong thing to say that the tenant for life can convey free from such a mortgage. Notwithstanding the difficulties, however, there appears to be a consensus of opinion among English lawyers that as a rule it is not necessary to appoint trustees of the compound settlement where deeds bave been executed subsequent to the original settlement affecting the interest created thereby : (848 Re Ducane and Nettlefold's Contract and Re Lord Wimborne and Browne's Contract, respectively before cited, and Wolstenholmo's Con. veyancing and Settled Laod Acte, p. 326, 9th edit.). Sect. 4 of the Settled Land Act 1890 is not to be read as providing that an assignment made by a tenant for life of settled land in consideration of marriage or by way of family arrangement is to be deemed one of the instruments creating the settlement for all the purposes of the Act, but is limited to the purpose of excluding the operation of sect. 50 of the Settled Land Act 1882—that is, the section which prevents the powers of a tenant for life from being assignable : (see Re Ducane and Nettlefold's Contract).

Tue comparatively recent decision of the Court of Appeal in Ireland Re Domville and Callvell's Contract (1908, 1 Ir. Rep.475) calls attention to the vexed question of compound settlement. The law on that subject is rather a tangled skein if that case is to have any weight, and it is difficult to say with certainty under what circumstances it is necessary that trustees of the compound settlement for the purpube of the Settled Land Acts ehuuld be appointed. The point turns principally upon sects, 2 and 20 of the Settled Land Act 1882 and sect. 4 of the Settled Land Act 1890. Sect. 2 of the former Act provides, in effect, that any instrument, or any number of instru. ments, whether made before or after, or partly before and partly after, the commencement of the Act, under or by virtue of which land, or any interest therein, stands for the time being limited to or in trust for persons by way of succession creates a settlement, and is in this Act referred to as å settlement or as tbe settlement, as the case requires. Sect. 20 of the same Aot provides, in effect, that on a sale, &o., the tenant for life may convey the land for the estate or interest the subject of the settlement, or for any less estate, discharged from all the provisions of the settlement, and from all estates, interests, and charges subsisting or to arise thereunder, exoept (1) estates, interests, and charges having priority to the settlement, and (2) such other estates, interests, and charges as have been conveyed or created for securing money actually raised at the date of the deed, and (3) leases and grants at fee farm rents or otherwise, &.c., made before the date of the deed; and eect. 4 of the Act of 1890 provides that every instrument whereby a tenant for life in con. sideration of marriage or by way of family arrangement, not being a security for money advanced, assigns or charges his interest under the settlement is to be deemed one of the instruments creatiog the settlement, and not an instrument vesting in any person any right as assignee for value within the meaning of seot. 50 of the Act of 1882. The facts in Re Domville and Callwell's Contract were shortly as follows: Lands

were settled by will on the vendor for life with remainder to his first and other sons in tail. The will contained powers of jointuring and chargiog with portions for younger children. The vendor joined with his eldest son in a dis. entailing deed, dated 1891, and conveyed the land to trustees to such uses as the vendor and bis eldest son should jointly appoint, and in default of and until suob appointment, upon the pre existing trusts of the will, and so as to restore the old uses and powers. The trustees of that deed were appointed trustees for the purposes of the Settled Land Act. some time afterwards–Damely, in 1885—the vendor joined with his eldest son in a deed whereby he released the power of charging portions under the will, and in lieu thereof he and his eldest son, under the power of appointment in the disentailing deed, a ppointed the said lands to trustees for a term for raising new charges for younger children. Subsequently by a deed of appointment, dated in 1904, in exercise of the power given to them by the gaid disentailing deed, the vendor and bis son settled the said lands on the vendor for life, with remainders over, The life estate was expressed to be in restoration of the vendor's old life estate under the will, and the power of jointuring thereunder was restored. The deed contained power of jointuring by future tenants for life, and of charging portions for younger children, and with payment of certain gums for purposes therein specified. The trustees of that deed were appointed trustees for the purpose of the Settled Land Acts. In exercise of the power under the will and resettlement, the vendor, by deed dated in 1906, executed his power of jointuring on the occasion of his subsequent marriage. It would appear from the argument that there was a mortgage on foot for the payment of costs, &c., created under the powers of the deeds of 1895 and 1904, and it was admitted in argument (but whether rightly seems open to question) that if trustees were appointed of the compound settlement, the purchaser would not be concerned with such mortgage. The purchaser required trustees of the compound settlement constituted by all the above-mentioned documents to be appointed, and it wae beld by the Court of eal that the will and subsequent instruments constituted a compound settlement, and that the purchaser was entitled to require the appointment of trustees of such compound settlement for the purpose of the said Acts. The court of first instance had decided that such trustees were not necessary. The principal argument for the appellants was that the will alone did not constitute a settlement, because the life estate of the vendor was the only interest then subsisting under it, and, further, that under sect. 20 of the Act of 1882 the vendor could only convey free from charges, &c., subsisting or to arise thereunder, wbereas here there were charges which did not arise thereunder. The appellant's counsel distinguished Re Lord W'imborne and Browne's Contract (90 L. T. Rep. 510; (1904) 1 Ch. 537) on the ground that in that case there were jointure and portions remaining to be raised under the original settle. ment, and they relied upon Re Mundy and Roper's Contract (79 L. T. Rep. 583; (1899) 1 Ch. 275) and Rc Cornwnllis West and Munroe's Contruct (88 L. T. Rep. 351; (1903) 2 Ch. 150), as explained by Lord Wimborne and Browne's Contract, as being directly in point. The

9

OCCASIONAL NOTES.

Sir S. T. Evans sat in chambers last Thursday and disposed of several summonses and applications. He will not sit again during this vacation, and his duties as Vacation judge will terminate on Monday next.

The Whiteun Vacation will end on Monday next, and on ths following day the Trinity Sittings will commence, lasting until Monday, the 31st July.

Yesterday Mr. Justice Bray opened the commission at Presteign, on the South Wales Circuit. When the business at this town is finished he will return to London, where he will remain until Tuesday, the 4th July, when he will return to the second part of the circuit at Chester, being joined by Mr. Justice Bankes.

To.day (Saturday) Mr. Justice Bankes opens the commission at Mold, on the North Wales Cirouit. When the business at this town is finished he will return to London and will remain until Tuesday, the 4th July, when be, being joined by Mr. Justice Bray, will return to the second part of tho circuit at Chester, and will open tho commission on the following day.

When the courts reopen there will only be ten of the judges of the King's Bepcb Division available to assist in the disposal of the Londoo business - viz, the Lord Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Darling, Mr. Justice A. T. Lawrence, Me. Justice Grantham, Mr. Justice Phillimore, Mr. Justice Channell, Mr. Justice Hamilton, Mr. Justice Scrutton, Mr. Justice Horridge, and Mr. Justice Lugh. There will be six of the judges away on circuit, and Mr. Justice Ridley and Mr. Justice Bucknill will be engaged for a considerable time with the bearing of the North-West Ham eleotion petition. At no time duriog the sittings will there be more than eleven judges of the King's Bench Division available.

The North-West Ham election petition will commence on Tuesday next. Mr. Justice Ridley and Mr. Justice Bucknilt will be the presiding judges. Mr. Alderson Foote, K.C., will lead for the petitioner, and the respondent will be ropresented by Mr. Dickens, K.C., Mr. Hemmerde, K.C., M.P., and Mr. Hugh Fraser.

The June Sittings at the Mayor's Court will commence on Monday next at 10.30.

The June general session for cases arising on the north and south sides of the Thames will commence on Tuesday next at the Sessionshouse, Newington, at 10.30.

The Ions of Court Tripity Term will commence on Tuesday next and will end on Tuesday, the 18th July, both days inclusive.

The International Peace Congress at Clermont Ferrand concluded its labours on Wednesday by passing a motion in favour of the limitation of military expenditure.

Mr. N. J. Paterson is acting as Attorney-General of Grenada and St. Vincent during the absence on leave of the Hon. D. T. Tudor, who has arrived in England.

Mr. Hall T. Price is acting as Attorney-General of the Colony of British Honduras, in consequence of the departure on leave of Chief Justice F. M. Maxwell.

Mr. A. K. Young, Chief Justice of Seychelles, h48 assumed the duties of the offi:e of Governor during the absence on leave of Mr. Walter E. Davidson, who has arrived in England.

During the absence on leave of Mr. T. A. Thompson. Registrar of the Supreme Court and Marshal of Trinidad, Mr. L. H. Lovelace will act for him, and Mr. F. Collins will perform the duties of Chief Clerk and Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court.

Mr. William Lawrence Wemyas Pearson, of The Albany, Piccadilly, W., and of Hare-court, Temple, E.C., barrister-at law, who died on the 6th May last, aged fifty-six years, left estate of the gross value of £65,283, of whiob the net personalty has been sworn at £64,783.

The Hon. D. M. Eberts, K.C., for may years Attorney-General for British Columbia, and now Speaker of the British Columbia Legialature, is unable to come to England this year, having bad to undergo a serious surgical operation. According to latest advices he is now convalescent.

The following have been appointed Nautical Assessors for the County Court of Somersetsbire, holden at Bridgwater : James Smart, Bridgwater, Harbour Master ; William Holding. Bridgwater, Master Mariner ; George Warren, Bridgwater. Master Mariner ; John Eson, Bridgwater, Master Mariner ; L. W. Nurse, Bridgwater, Master Mariner.

The World Peace Foundation Publishing Company of Boston have sent us some of their papers, principally two pamphlets, one on the International Duly of the United States and Great Britain, by Edwin D. Mead, and a reprint of Sir Edward Grey's speech in the House of Commons on Union for World Peace. We think it was a good idea to print the latter in pamphlet form.

The Scientific Press Limited has issued a new edition of Sir Henry Burdett's Hospitals and Charities, being a year book of philantbropy and the hospital annual. Its scheme is comprehensive and its information up to date, and items are easily found in a very complete index. Some interesting and perhaps surprising statistics are given in the first chapter, on the volume of charity. The chapter on Nursing has been enlarged and contains fuller information than hitberto.

On Friday evening of last week a flash of lightning set fire to the Palais de Justice at Evreur, France. In a very short time the fire spread and reached the wing adjoining the prison. The work of extinction was considerably hampered through scarcity of water. The fire was discovered at five o'clock, and by half-past seven the upper stories were completely destroyed, as was also the assize hall. By eight o'clock the prison was in such danger that 130 men and women incarcerated were removed to the soldiers' houses. The Palais de Justice dates from 1875. The archives were destroyed with their contents, but the minutes of judgments of the Civil Tribunal and the Tribunal of Commerce were saved. One man was injured.

A sensational trial has just terminated before the Assize Court of the Basses-Pyrénées. It has been known as the affaire des arortements. A qualified medical practitioner was indioted, and with him twelve women, who, it was alleged, were his accomplices. The jury has acquitted all the parties, who came from Bayonne. In view of the dow birth rate of France, it can be supposed that all the responsible writers in the Prese deplore the collapse of the prosecution. But what strikes tho English student of the French legal system is that during the trial, under the auspices, it is alleged, of certain Socialists, the Department was placarded with bills in which the crime was not only " excused, but praised as the exercise of a primordial law," and the judges seemed powerless to deal with the authors.

Mr. Arthur Stewart Dfield, M.A. Cantab, who has just been appointed Registrar of Chelmsford County Court, succeeds his father, Mr. William Ward Duffield, who held the appointment for a period of twenty-eight years and recently resigned on attaining his ninetieth year. Mr. A. S. Duffield was educated at Rugby and at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He rowed for his university agaiost Oxford in 1890. He was admitted a solicitor in 1894, and is a membər of the firms of Duffield and Son, Chelmsford, and Duffield. Bruty, and Co., London.

Mr. Roland Edmund Lomax Vaughan Williams, son of Sir Roland Vaughan Williams, was married to Miss Grace Phillimore, daughter of Sir Walter Phillimore, at St. Mary Abbot's Church, Kensington, on the 1st inst. The officiating clergy were Prebendary the Hon. J. S. Northcote (cousin of the bride) and Prebendary Somerset Pennefather, vicar of the parish. The bridegroom was supported by Mr. Rhya Williams 83 best man. The reception was held at Cam House, Campden-bill, the residence of Sir Walter Phillimore, and the bride and bridegroom afterwards left for Lechlade.

Mr. M. Mair Mackenzie has brought the late Mr. Macrory's Notes on the Temple Organ up to date in a third edition. The original text is undisturbed, Mr. Mackenzie having confined himself to merely supplementary matter. The reconstruction of, and additions to, the organ which the Beachers of the two societies of th: Temple have lately caused to be carried out by Mr. Rothwell, org sn-buildor, under the supervision of Dr. Walford Davies, are dealt with. The book now has four illustrations, and is published by G. Bell and Sons at ball.a.crowo.

It is obvious that there is still room for legi-lation in regard to bird-catching, if the facts given in a pampblet published by the Humanitarian League are cor:ect. The case for the caged bird is well stated in The Other Side of the Bars, by Ernest Bell, who shows that the meshes of the law in the various Wild Bird Protection Acts and the Wild Animals in Captivity Act are too wide to entrap the wary bird.catchers. Mr. Bell admits, however, that, from the point of view of supply and demand, the bird.cagers are chiefly responsible for the cruelty inflicted on thousands of small birds.

The Lord-Lieutenant of Surrey (Colonel the Hon. H. Cubitt) bas, with the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor, invited the following magistrates of the county to serve on a committee to advise as to the appointment of county justices : Sir William Vincent, Bart., chairman of Quarter Sessions ; Sir Charles Walpole, deputy chairman of Quarter Sessions ; Mr. A. W. Chapman, chairman of the Surrey County Council; Mr. R. V. Barrow, chairman of the Croydon County Bench; and Mr. J. Cable, of Guildford. These gentlemen bave con. sented to serve, and the first meeting will be held shortly. The three last mentioned bold Liberal views 10 politics.

Judgment was given on the 1st inst. in the Central Hull election petition, Sir Henry Seymour King, who for twenty-five years has represented the division, being upseated. The court held that the distribution of coals and the entertainment of children became illegal when continued at the time of an election, though they recognised Sic Seymour King's good intentions, and acquitted nim of any corrupt motive. A hostile crowd hooted the judges when they left the court, and two pieces of coal, one of which struck Mr. Justice Ridley on the back of the head, were thrown at their motor-car. Two men who had run away directly after the outrage had been committed were arrested,

The numberlegs wise and witty sayings of Mr. Birrell in his writings, on the platforms, and in Parliamentary debate ha ve tended to throw into oblivion his brilliant mots when practising at the Bar, of which the following, recorded some time ago in the lay Pre:8, may serve as a specimen : " If you are going to punish a man," he said, when addressing a jury for the defendant in a libel action, “ if you are going to punish a man simply for having a lively fancy, I don't know where it will end." There wouldn't be many to punish,” said Mr. Justice Darling. “I don't know,” rejoined Mr. Birrell, “that many judicial vacancies would be created, my Lord”-an observation which, when addressed to the brilliant author of Scintille Juris, was ipso facto deprived of everything that savoured of bitterness.

Io the Burlington Magazine for June the editorial deals with the recent extensions at the National Gallery and the British Museum, and criticises a method of "improvement” which leaves outside the opinions of the officials in charge of the departments concerned. Mr. Lionel Cust continues his notes on pictures in the Royal Collec. tions, giving examples of nine portraite. Mr. Roger Fry writes about the Richard Bennett collection of Chinese porcelain which is now on view in Bond-street, the proceeds of the exhibition to go to the National Art Collection Fund. Mr. G. F. Hill has an eleventh series of notes on Italian Medals ; Mr. Claude Phillips writes of an unrecognised Carpaccio ; F. Melian Staweil reviews the new book Letters of Vincent van Gogh, and J. A. Joyce The Ruins of Mexico, by C. G. Rickards.

At Hull Police-court on the 2nd inst., William Lount, a witness in the election petition trial, was charged with assaulting one of His Majesty's judges, Sir Edward Ridley, by striking him with a piece of coal. Supt. Sharp said a large crowd assembled as the two eleotion petition Judges were leaving the law courts in a motor-car. Witness was standing near the prisoner, why, as the motor-car passed, threw something at the vehicle, at the same tice using objectionable language. Witness at once took prisoner into custody. The car was stopped, and Mr. Justice Bucknill said something which witcess could not hear because of the noise. Witness subsequently received a piec: of coal (produced) from one of the mounted police. On the app'ics. tion of the police, prisoner was jemanded for seven days and was admitted to bail, ono gurety in £50 or two guretieg in £25.

The] Kensington Borough Council recently adopted resolations urging the London County Council (1) to claim in aid of the rates the profits of the Middleser Deed Registry, estimated at £15,000 a year, following the example of the_Yorkshire County Councils, who receive the profits of the Yorkshire Registries; and (2) to take action in accordance with the recommendation of the Royal Commission on Land Transfer to obtain the extension of the Middlesex Deed Registry to the whole county of London which, it is estimated, would increase the profits to £27,000 per annum. The movement has already obtained the support of the following metropolitan borough councils : Battersea, Bermondsey, Chelsea, Fulbam, Hammersmith, Poplar, Stoke Newington, Wandsworth, and Woolwich. The Local Govern. ment Committee of the London County Council have the proposals under consideration.

The ninth annual Bar Golf Tournament began on the links of the Prince's Club at Sandwich on Wednesday, when the first round was deoided. Of the judges who had entered, Mr. Justice Lush (11) was beaten by Mr. Alexander Glen, K.C. (16), at the pineteenth hole after a tie, while Mr. Justice Buokaill (17) was defeated by Mr. A. Macpherson (8) by two holes. Mr. Justice Sorutton (13) had a walk over, Mr. D. M. Kerly (14) scratching. Mr. H. W. Beveridge, the Scottish International, who owed 4 strokes, played wel'. He beat Mr. E. Morten, K.C. (13), by 6 and 4. In the second and third rounds, Mr. D. M. Smith (plus 1), who won last year, Mr. J. E. K. Hall (3), and Mr. E. C. Clay (8) walk over owing to the withdrawal of Mr. A. T. Buckpil (11), Judge Lusb Wilson (15), and Mr. W. M. Heald (5), respectively. Mr. Justice Lush, captain of the Bar Golfing Society, has presented a silver cup for the best return agaiest Bogey this week.

The Local Government Board has issued reports made on the results of experimental investigations designed to prove the extent to which infection may be carried by flies. Experiments were made to measure the possible range of fight of fies, and further observations were recorded on the ways in which artificially infected fies carry and distribute pathogenic and other bacteria. The experiments and observations quoted in the report show definitely that artificially infected flies, both house. flies and blow-fies, are capable of infecting faids, such as milk and syrup, on wbich they feed and into which they fall. Io the case of the house-fly, infected with certain micro. organisms, gross infection may be produced in milk for at least three daye, and a smaller degree of infection for ten days or even longer. Blow-flies produced gross infection for six to nine days with nonspore-bearing microorganisms and some degree of infection for three or four weeks.

Letters have been addressed by the Cobden Club to Sir Edward Grey and President Taft in support of Anglo-American arbitration. “The proposed treaty,'' they say in the letter to the Foreign Minister, " would be an inestimable security for lasting peace between the two nations, and we bail with satisfaation your testimony to the spirit of reasonableness and good will which characterises negotiations with the United States.” In the letter to President Taft the following passages

“You have devoted your high authority and influenoe to the promotion of a measure wbici under Providence, will render war between the two English-speaking nations, spread as they are over the globe, an impossibility. Your proposal to refer all differences to arbitration has found an echo on both sides of the Atlantic, and if, as we feel assured will be the case, it is ratified in a treaty wide in its terms and generous in its confidence, you will gain for yourself and your country a triumph greater ani more lasting than ever was acoorded to military ao bievement."

Mr. H. Westbury Preston, the clerk and solicitor, called attention at the meeting of the Hampstead Board of Guardians on the 1st inet. to a peculiar case and one for which, so far as be was aware, there was no precedent. Some weeks ago a woman who had been separated from her husband became an inmate of the work house because the man did not pay her the 155. a week due under the separation order, and she was destitute. The man was now petitioning for a divorce, and the woman bad been served with a copy of the petition. As the guardians would, in the event of the man being successful, have to keep the woman and her children, be (the clerk) had_entered an appearance in the Divorce Court on ber bebalf. The Rev. Henry Gow, the chairman, asked how far the guardians could legally go in Buch a case, and Colonel Sheffield questioned if the Local Government Board auditor would allow expenditure for such a purpose. The board approved the clerk's action, and instructed him to proceed with the defence and to report to them on the matter from time to time.

Delegates from London, Sheffield, Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Doncaster, Hui), Liverpool, Manchester, Leed:, Edinburgh, and other towns, attended the thirty-niotb apoual conterence of the National Society of Bragsworkers, at Birmiogham, on Monday. A resolution was passed beartily supporting the Government's Insurance Bill, but suggesting certain amendments. One of these was that the contributions of the State, the employer, aod the workman should be equal, which would mean for invalidity three peoce each, and for unemployment twopence each. A deputation was appointed to wait upon the Home Secretary to urge the institution of a public inquiry into tbe unbealthy and dirty character of metal polishing, with the view of probibiting women and girls from following that employment. It was also resolved “That this society expresses to the Right Hon. Winston Churchill, M.P., its high appreciation of the service he has readered to the cause of labour by bis manly denunciation of the gratuitong and irrelevant remarks of judges in cealing with labour questione, and assures him that in the opinion of trade unionists judges are mostly biassed against trade unions."

The errore in matters of law into which novelists have been betrayed have often been a source of entertajoment to persons learned in the law. A still more amusing chapter might be written embodying a collection of the errors of writers in the lay Press on matters of Parliamentary procedure and practice. The other day an organ of the lay Press accounted for Lord Haldane's elevation to the peerage on the following ground-that the Lord Chancellor was finding the strain too great of taking a leading part in political discussion in the House of Lords and at the same time enforcing the rules of order in that assembly as its ex officio speaker. The Lord Chancellor has po authority whatever in the House of Lords more than any other member. When & member of the House of Lords speaks to a point of order, be addresses the House, not the Lord Chancellor. He cannot call upon a member to address th» House. There is no such thing as

catching the Chancellor's eye.' When two rise at the same time. unless one gives way, the House, not the Lord Chancellor, will call on one of them to speak. When, more than a generation ago, it was in 1869 suggested that the Lord Chancellor should be invested with more extended powere, it was pointed out by the Lord Chancellor bimself that as he was & Minister of the Crown pot chosen by the House, and as the Lord Chancellor was often a member of the least experience in the House, he could not properly exercise powers of enforcing order such as are the powers with which the Speaker of the House of Commons is invested. Most remarkable of all, the Lord Chancellor, although sitting on the Woolsack io the House of Lords and empowered to put the question, need not be a peer at all.

In the City of London Court on the 31st ult, Mr. William J. Pike, bill discounter and moneylender, 20, High Holborn, with a head office at Bristol, sued W. R. Perry Limited. inquiry agents, Busb.lade House, Cappon-street, E.C, for £33 189. 2d. as damages for giving bim incorrect information. Mr. Attenborough, plaintiff's counsel, said that the claim was made by one of the subscribers of the defendants, and the information they gave him was wbolly inaccurate. Plaintiff had been carrying on business for many years, and for twenty years was & subscriber to the defendants. Defendants issued books of in quiry forms of 100, for which they were obarged £4 104. Plaintiff was asked by one Fryer for a loan for £30, and he gave as security the name of Major Madan, lately an officer in the North Staffordshire Regiment. It was necessary that the plaintiff should know about the major's commercial status, and be asked the defendants about him. He lived at the Limes, Hampton. Defendants gave some information to the effect that the major paid £30 a year rent, was respectable, and care was advised in granting a loan. Plaintiff made the advance to a large extent on defendants' report, and now that he lost his money it was found that the major was made a bankrupt in 1903. Plaintiff therefore demanded damages. He only got £7 out of the major. The major bad not obtained bis discharge, and the man who had obtained the loan had absconded. Mr. Stuart Bevan, defendants' counsel, said that if the plaintiff bad not given them the wrong name he would have bad the correct and full information. Defendants were not responsible for any claim on the part of the plaintiff, as they gave ipformation upon the undertaking pot to hold them responsible “for damage or loss arising from insufficient or inaccurate information whether by reason of mistake or negligence of yourselves, or your servants, agents, correspondente, or otherwise." They had thousands of inquiries every day, and there was nothing to show that the major would not still pay up. Judge Lumley Smith was quite satisfied that in fact there had been no negligence on the part of the delen. dants. He was also satisfied that they were protected by the conditions that they would not be responsible if there had been. Judgment for the defendants with costs.

In the City of London Court on the 31st ult., before His Honour Judge Lumley Smitb, K.C., a claim was made by Mr. James Knox, trading as James Knox and Co., 1, Jewin-street, against Mr. Horace J. Knox, 10, Walbrook, E.C., to recover £85 damages for detaining blouse-making, button-boling, and lace-stitching machinery. Mr. Harold Brandon, plaintiff's counsel, stated that the action was brought against the defendant as the trustee under a deed of assignment of a firm called Rayper and Palmer, blouse manufacturers, &c., Hackfordroad, Brixton. Plaintiff was a dealer in machinery. He did not, as a rule, enter into bire-purcba se transactions at all. On the occasion in question a Mr. Harden called upon the plaintiff and asked him for certain blouse-making machinery. Plaintiff had done business with Harden before. Harden had traded as “ The Misses Harden,” “The Holland Blouse Company," and afterwards as “ Rayner, Palmer, and Co.," the latter of whom he said were two of his travellers. He wanted the machinery in their names because there were reasons why he should not sig the document. It was agreed that Harden or Rayner and Palmer should have machinery to the value of £126 on a hire-purchase agreement, and to give bills as collateral security. That was done. The bills were made payable on the same date as the bire purchase ipetalments. Six or seven bills were paid, but on the 23rd Feb. one was dishonoured. Then the plaintiff found that Harden, or Rayner and Palmer, had made a deed of assigo ment for the benefit of creditora. The trustee, the present defendant, refused to give up the machinery, although it was the plaintiff's absolute property until all the instalments were paid. The hirer could not give the defendaot an effective title until he had completely paid for the machinery. Plaintiff therefore demanded the return if the machinery. First, the defendant said that the bills were taken in substitution of the hire-purchase agreement. If so, the defendant should bave got them back. Defendant also said that the plaintiff bad credited the bills in defendant's account. Haiden conducted the whole of Rayner and Palmer's business. Mr. Charles Jones, defendant's counsel, said the plaintiff sold the machinery out and out to

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