The herald., 1896-02-16

the British association, which le to be held
in Toronto at that thine. A representa-
of the leading officers of the association,
who said in regard to the matter:
'It is as yet too early to determine Just
what arrangements will be made for the
Toronto meeting. The association is ex-
erting itself to make the occasion sue
cess.
sit is probable that il the prince of
Wales is unable to accept the presidency
of this meeting it will be offered to the
duke OF York. Failing in this. either Mr..
A, j. Balfour or Joseph Chamberlain will
he asked. Mr.. Griffiths, secretary of the
association, will start for Canada in May.
and upon his return he will be able to an
nounce something more definite. We are
extremely gratif1ed at the success the asso-
citation has enjoyed in the last year. The
attendance at the meetings has been large.
The president, Capt. Sir Douglas Galton,
has taken an immense interest in the
work.
The christening of the second son of the
Duke of York will occur on Monday, Feb
| ruary II, at Sandringham. The ceremony
will take place in the church there and
Canon Harper. chaplain of the Prince of
Wales, will officiate. II is probable that
the child will be named Henry, and in view
of the recent death of Prince Henry of
Battenburg, it is understood the queen par
ticularly favors this name. The gold
christening bowl that will be used on the
occasion was made in Edinburgh. Both
the bowl and the font will be surrounded
by white heather. This is an ancient GUS
tom at like ceremonies, and is supposed to
bring good luck. The heather used at SAM
dringham will be brought from Lancashire.
but as none is in bloom at this season of
the year, the greenhouses, int tead of the
moors, will have to be depended on. The
infant will be sprinkled with water brought
from the River Jordan.
One of the interesting houses, which are
disappearing before the touch of innova-
ton in London is the three-story brick
residence, No. los Cover street, which
was taken down last week. This is the
house which John Dickens, father of the
novelist, rented, in order that his wife
might start q young ladies' school, and
thus repair the family fortunes. The
scheme was failure and the very expense
incurred forced the Dickens family into
debtor prison, known as the Marshalsea.
D. S, Willard will make no change in his
bill after Easter, when The Professors
Love Story will be withdrawn and the play
by Henry Arthur Jones substituted. The
Professors Love Story is now nearing the
25Oth presentation.
The stories of the coarse treatment to
which John Hayes Hammond, the Aneri-
can engineer and member of the reform
committee at Johannesburg, and other
board at Pretoria, have aroused much in
terest. The promptness with which the
colonial secretary. MIR. Joseph Chamber
lain, obtained the release of Mr.. Ham,
mond upon the representations of the
United States government, has been warm
" praised. and he has been urged to act
likewise in the case of the British prison
ers.
The Daily News and Graphic publish
descriptions of the prison at Pretoria, and
describe a cell in this so-called "black hole
of Pretoria" in which Hammond and four
others were confined. 1t was stated to be
hideous hole ~ feet square, swarming
with vermln, having no ventilation nor
drainage, and presenting sickening
scene. heightened, it is said, by the torrid
heat
It transpires that an incident which it
was at first thought might cause friction
between the United States and great Brit
ain occurred in the Transvaal in connec.
ton with Captain Heney. an American,
and one of Jameson's officers, who was
handed over to the British authorities.
Captain Heney. it appears, was placed OH
board the troop ship Victoria, now on her
way to England. and it is said the British
government is aware the captain is an
American. and consequently explained the
matter to United States Ambassador Bay.
ard in order to avoid trouble.
/, Inquiries at the colonial office show the
story to be true. But the official there who
admitted it said that had it not been for
the action of the British authorities in get
ting Captain Heney away from the Trans
vaal, the latter would now be breaking
stone in Pretoria. 1t was also admitted
that Mr.. Bayard had been notified of Cap
tain Heney's arrest and that he had been
promised that the captain should be re-
leased Immediately npon it being pos.
sible for him to touch British soil. This
will possibly be at the island of
Malta, where the Victoria arrived
today. The colonial official added: 1--WE
wish it to be clearly understood that we
have not acted in an unfriendly spirit.
The government will extend all its good
offices in the matter. He was in a similar
scrape before. He got into trouble with
the Portuguese and at that time claimed to
be citizen of the United States, natural
lied in Chicago. The British government
helped him to escape the consequences"