Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-04-07

tloial HaehsufeS TOT Ghe prevention or any escape of the captive According to circular just issued by the minister of the colonies at Paris, the governor of Guiana IS ordered to change every three months the guards charged with the duty of keeping watch on Dreyfua Oa the He du Diable, where he is confined.
 Tho report of the Russian prisons de. partment has just appeared in St. Po- tersburg and contains some remarkable statistics. It appears that there arc gre prisons in Asiatie and European Rus. sia, with the total number of l0e,91s prisoners. The maintenance of this vast army of criminals, many of whom are merely political offenders, involves an enormous cost, for which adequate pro. vision is not made by the state. The consequence IS that in the majority of cases the inmates of the prison havs to endure the worst conceivable sanitary conditions, and the official figures, which are invariably optimistic, show that no less than 30 per cent of the pris. on population suffer during the year from typhoid fever and kindred epidem. ics.
 A statue of the late Count Ferdinand dc Aesseps is about to be erected at Port Said, at a point overlooking the harbor and the entrance to the Suez canal
 The commercial treaty between Aus. tria and Bulgaria which was on the point of being negotiated at the time when Prince Ferdinand made his hum. ble submission to the czar, and which has hung fire ever since, is finally about to receive signature and ratification. Bulgaria has only obtained this by means of sacrificing number of de- mands which Austria had formerly con- scented to concede, but which she now refuses to grant. Inasmuoh, however, aA most other countries had declined to ratify their new treaties of commerce with Bulgaria until that with Austria had been arranged, there was practical ly no other course open to Prince Ferdi- nand The treaty with Austria provides for general Bulgarian duty of IA per cent ad valorem, while 26 specified ar. ticlea are excepted. These include tim Der and agricultural machines. which pay s per cent; glassware, i2 per cent, and sugar. IS per cent.
 It is reported at Brussels that Baron Dhanis, i'll command of the Kongo Free State troops ill the Nile valley. has been killed by the Mahdists to the north of Lado.
 Ex-Cabinet Minister Baihaut, recsnt. ly liberated at the conclusion of ths term of imprisonment for which be was sentenced for fraud and corruption. of which he had while minister of public works rendered himself guilty in con. neetion with the tlefunet Panama com. pany, has, to the astonishment of every body, just been rearrested. It appears that he is still liable to the government to the extent of 89i, 900 francs for fines. costs and legal expenses. The courts re- gently decided that the unfortunate man, who is completely ruined, should either pay this sum at once or be i'm. prisoned for another year. Naturally he chose the latter, and has now the con- solution of knowing that every minute spent ill the penitentiary is wiping on, roughly speaking, about 3 cents of his debt to the state.
 The English government has just ss- tablished sanctuary for the African elephant in the coast area of SomaIiland. Within the reserve shooting of elephants is strictly forbidden, and the observance of this rule will be an essential condi- tion to shoot other animals within the prescribed area. The reserve ill questio4i extends from the Sheik pass on the east to the Abyssinian frontier on tine west. while the northern boundary IS the edge of the Haud Altogether the reserve is about 200 miles long by 50 wide. At