Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-08-05

wire 4o-ton guns In each; upper deck, four
6-lnch Qutck-frinS guns and six 12-pound-
ers; main deck, eight 6-inch quick-firing
guns and four 12-pounders. She will carry
eight Maxim guns and nineteen Whitehead
torpedoes. discharged from four submerged
tubes. When fully manned and ready for
sea she will have fighting crew, includ-
| ing officers, men-of-wars men, marines
and boys all told, of 500 souls.
Flying the Union Jack.
The following figures are interesting at
present when the worlds commerce is in
creasing and shipping interests are para
mount They are taken from Lloyd's Reg
lister of Shipping, just published.
Under the British flag there are now TO-
s9S steam and sailing vessels of l., 9Ss sos
tons register The entire fleet of the world
Is represented 2S.1S0 steamers and sail
ing ships, with total tonnage of 27,673,-
52S TONS 1t appears, therefore, that 80 per
cent of the merchant tonnage afioat is
worked under the red ensign, which has
been authoritatfvely declared 1.-The proper
national colors for all ships and boats be-
longing to any subject of her majesty
The Americans are the next largest ship
owners, possessing 300 vessels of 2.465.-
5SI tons register. Norway comes next with
2,o2S vessels, but only 1854 go tons; then
Germany, with 1,676 vessels, representing
2,4o3334 tons Including some particularly
large new boats; next Sweden, with !. 40S
vessels of 60o,991 tons, and Russia, with
rs boats Of 1882 tons. The Italians
and the French are nearly equal in the
number Of ships, at 1,150 and LISP respec-
lively, but the tonnage on the side of the
trlcolor is 366,240 in excess, and a little
| manipulation fot bounty earning purposes
no doubt accounts for the difference. No
other nationality can boast of a thousand
ships, the nearest to approach 1t being
Japan, with S41; Denmark with 1856 and
Spain with 701 vessels The remaining YES
sells are owned by some twenty-four other
natonalities In varying proportions. no
for Greece, with the smallest record stand
ing to the credit of Sarawak. with three
vessels of 1854 tons register. 1t is of in
terest to note that the British and Amerf-
can flags together dominate one-half Of the
entire merchant ship tonnage afioat.
Some Commercial News.
Much interest has been excited in city
circles by the news that Mr.. Clinton Daw-
klns, who early In the current year sue
ceeded Sir James Westland as financial
member of the India council, will next
year retire from his present post in order
to become partner In the welI-known
American banking house of J. S. Morgan
& Co. That gentleman acquired his first
experience of financial affairs when acting
as private secretary to Mr.. Goschen during
the latter's term of office as chancellor of
the exchequer. He subsequently took
charge of the affairs of the Peruvian cor
poration in Lima, retiring from the cor
poration In 1894, after a service of about
three years, when he became financial sec
rotary to the Egyptian government, con-
tinuing in that position until the early part
of the current year, when he Joined the
India council.
Opera Season Over.
Monday nights performance of 'Romeo
and Juliet brought to close an opera
season which at first gave little promise
but which has proved to have possessed no
mean interest If for no other reason, it
would be specially memorable for the splen-
RI NTnc
distinguished it, and, above all, for the two
superb representations of die Meister-
singer included in the double series of
Wagner nights which were so successful
paign. Twenty-Five operas have been pre-
sented in the ten weeks-"Faust' and
,,Lohengrin' more frequently than any.
Carmen Romeo and Juliette' and
'Tannhauser' standing next in order of
popularity. Mozart and Beethoven have
met with only scant attention, for the list
includes but three performances of Don
Giovanni and merely one of ''Fidelio," and
yet both operas We're most carefully rem
dered and exceedingly well received. Wag-
ner, on the other hand, was honored with
tWenty-three performances, Gounod being
far behind with twelve. Italian has been
the language most frequently heard, but it
has been closely run by German, the re-
spective figures being twenty-siX and TWEEN
ty-four, while French has been used on
twenty-one occasions. Only two operas
have been added to the Covent Garden
repertoire. As to one of them-Puccinis
La Boheme'-an unequivocal success NAV
be recorded OF new accessions to the COM
pany there has been a comparative dearth.
The debut of Frau Gadski, however, was a
decided event" as introducing to a
very capable and versatile artist, whom we
shall expect to see again. No less impor-
tant was the return of Nine. Lii Lehman
after many years absence, her magnificent
representations of Donna Anna and Or
trund being among the most pleasurable of
the many happy "reminiscences of the sea-
son. One very notable feature of its closing
weeks has been the readiness with which
less known but highly gifted vocalists have
stepped into the shoes of star artists, work
ing Loyalty to dispel the disappointment of
the public on the non-appearance of the
favoriteS. Nevertheless, when all is said
and done, the general success Of any OPP
cratic undertaking must be found to hinge
upon the skill of those who hold the
threads, and In this respect Mr.. Grau and
his colleagues have been singularly fortu-
nate in their three clever conductors Signor
Mancinelli, NJ. Flon and DR.. Muck.
Old Inn Has New Favor.
Lovers Of London antiquities are eagerly
anticipating the publication of the chronf-
c1es of that celebrated tavern, The Old
Cheshire Cheese, in Fleet street. 1 I'M
derstand the proof sheets are already be-
ing passed through the press. Although
THE Cheese" boasts of it's Johnsonian ira
ditions, modern scepticism has been in
clined to adopt the view that it's only sub
stantial claim to have been one of the
great photographers houses of cali rests
on the fact that the doctor in his Fleet
street roamirgs probably visited every
tavern in turn, and that 1.-The Cheese" was
never one of his habituaI resorts The
pages of the forthcoming volume will be
largely concerned to show that ii was real
ly Jonsonian haunt, and that the tradf-
t1ons which surround the old-time tavern
are not purely apocryphal The Old Che
shire Cheese does roaring a trade as
ever. In winter the celebrated ''rump-
steak, kidney, lark, mushroom and oyster
pudding, in summer the pigeon pies bring
crowds of hungry visitors. and the Ameri-
can tourist Is always in evidence. Since
Mr. and Mrs Chamberlain gave their
luncheon party at DR.. Johnson's table