, 1881-12-30


on. Passengers We're not molested.
There was no money in the express box.
Whether there was money in the mails is
not known.
In the matter of contest over the codl-
ell to the will of Samuel Woods, who left
the residue OF his estate, valued at ST.
600 900, for the endowment of a musical
college in this city, Surrogate Calvin
rendered decision to-day in which he
sustained the probate OF the cOdlcil orig
inally made by deceased. and decree that
the residue should be applied to the en-
down.ent Cf all institution for the bene-
fit of needy relatives.
The president has nominated ThOs. G..
Acton assistant treasurer of the United
States mt New York; Horace Gray of
Massachusetts, associate ustice of the
supreme court of the United States; Wm.
Henry Trcscott of South Carolina, special
envoy extraOr iinary and minister pleni-
potentiary of the United States to the
republics of Chilli, Peru and Bolivia !;
Geo. NJ. Duskin, attorney of the United
States for southern district of Alabama.
The report of the secretary of state on
the necessity of introducing notifications
into the extra territorial JurIsdlctional
system of the United States in China,
Japan and eastern countries where consul
lar courts are allowed by treaties, Is a
long document. The secretary deals
with the subject comprehensively without
absolutely denying the constitution4lity
of the judielal acts of our ministers and
consuls as the law now stands, and shows
there is ample room TO question the en-
tire conformity of their procedure to the
constitutional duties of consular officers,
and as Il rule to discharge judicial func
tons 1t is considered in conclusion
that the needs of the consular service
demands men of business capability,
alive to the interests of trade, rather than
trained jurists. Passing to the consider
alton of a reformed code of extra terri
torial jurisdiction, thesecret Iry suggests
the constitution of proper court of the
United States at the principal center OF
foreign intercourse with a country, Sc
lecting Shanghai in China for instance,
the appointment of an American judge
there with functions analogous to those
judges in the federal district courts of the
United States, and holding Office for life
or during good behavior. Also provision
for choosing grand juries to present in
dictments, aud ordinary juries to treat
cases; appointment of clerks, thus max
of associated justices in larger commercial
cities, with powers and functions pre-
cisely defined by law; PRONUNCIATION of
an intelligent code; holding full terms at
the seat of the principal court, and lastly
appellate recourse to circuit courts of the
United States. Since the present law
was passed seven capital convictions have
been made in all China and Japan. Ex-
ecution of sentence was performed fol-
lowing the conviction in the case of Jno.
d. Buckly, hanged at Shanghai in "a,
after denial 10y Minister Burlingame of
the privilege ofappeal to executive elem
ency. Another case mentioned is that of
Dinkille, convicted of murder by the
consular court at Heogo, and pardoned
by the president on condition of under
going life Imprisonment, but who has
refused to accept such conditional COM
mutation, aud is now held in prison un-
der indefinite postponement of execution
of the death sentence, The recent well
known case of Miriam at Alexandria is
also referred to.
In his annual report to the president
the commissioner of agriculture says the
expense of the attempt to cultivate the
tea plant in South Carolina have been
somewhat curtailcd without detriment to
the experiment. One of the experts
(Saunders) who visited the tea farm es-
tablished in Summerville, S. c., reports
that the two hundred acres of land Sc
lected for the experiment are most of
them covered with heavy forest growth,
poor and sandy, and of u character to
support only the scantiest kind of yegeta-
tion. OF this about fifteen acres have
been cleared and was under primitive
cultivation. On these acres operations
were commenced in January last.
space was prepared for sowing the tea
and preparations made for covering the
plants, which when young suffer severely
on being exposed to the sun. The plants
were growing we'll and constituted the
entire tea crop of the farm. Saunders
reported that with regard to the future
prospects of the enterprise, If continued
in the line of the present system, 1t may
be said there IN not much room for en-
couragement. The poverty of the soil
and character of the climate in which
frosts sometimes occur, seem to be un-
favorable to the production of strongly
favored teas, as had already been proved
by experiment in Mcintosh, Ga. Prom
inence is given to the report of veterinary
surgeons sent to Great Britain to inquire
into alleged impOrtations from the United
States of diseased cattle, and the commis-
sioner believes the misunderstanding on
this subject have given way before con-
yincing proofs presented by American
surgeons. Recognizing the importance
10 our western farmers of acquiring data
upon which to predicate As to the prob
able action of the Rocky mountain locus
in 1892, l have had an agent specially
engaged under direction of the entomo-
logical bureau to gather such data in
their permanent breeding grounds of
this pest, for the most part in the thinly
settlsd regions of the northwest. Re-
membering the invaluable loss and suf