The Washington times., 1901-09-28
FOREIGN TOPICS.

turning home with his wife recently was
grossly insulted by student who was
under the intiuence. of liquor. Next day
the student apologized, but the litterateur
refused to accept the apology unless the
onender should tender it in person next
day, dressed in, a, heavy fur ccat, fur
cape, and sealskin boots. which the
authors messenger brought him. Prompt
iy at IL next day the too boistsrous stu
dent set out in the almost tropical heat
to the professors house. dressed for an
arctic climate. No cabman would drive
him, so he walked. followed by jeering
| crowd. Arrived at the authors residence
he was ushered into the study, where he
was compelled to partake of the profess
sors hospitality. in the shape of three
| huge steaming glasses of hot whisky and
| water. More dead than alive the student
returned wiser than he set out.
The British Parliament has quite IL
brary Of unwritten laws governing legis-
lators. The most peculiar one of all is
| that which forbids a member of the
House of Commons raising both feet from
the floor at one and the same time.
A member may sit resting only one foot,
the other must be on the floor. But this
old rule is excepted in the case of front
| benchmen.
Curiously enough, while a member may
sleep and dream. he may not snore, or
else his peaceful reverie will be disturbed
by the sergeant-at-arms
| Mr.. Keir-Hardie is the only member
who has ever entered the precincts of St
| stephens wearing cap, an event whlch
induced the late Lord Randolph Churchill
to call him Don't Care Hardie. But
Lord Randolph himself once broke an un-
written law of the Commons by standing
on his seat and calling out to the Govern
| ment OF the day who has just suffered
defeat to resign
| seats, Tor to do so would be committing
preach OF House Of Commons etiquette.
ana there are few members who would
| care to reach fame that way.
Major General Gribsky, Military Gov
ernor Of the Amur region, yho was i'm
| mediately responsible for the massacre
| OF several thousand peaceable Chinese at
Blagovestchensk and the surrounding
country last year, has been appointed
Governor OF the Province of Archangel,
which, fer man of his rank. Is regard
ed as sign of official disfavor. 1t is not
believed. however, that II has anything
to do with his connection with the mas
sacre. The investigation ordered by the
Car into this deed was suddenly stopped
| by orders from st. Petersburg, after 1t
| had reached an advanced stage. General
Gribsky acknowledged his immediate re-
| sponsibility, but declared that the blame
lay at the door of others. as he merely
carried out orders At this point further
investigation was stopped, and the whole
| question was allowed to drop. The ap-
pointment of General Gribsky to Arch
angel is understood In the Amur region to
be his punishment for having failed to
ascertain anything whatever of the move
ments of the Chinese troops who con-
structed trenches and armed them almost
opposite to his official residence. and were
thus enabled to create a panic through
out the whole AInur region, which might
| have cost Russia the loss of the province.
| themselves of the situation But they
were afraid to press their advantage, and
| their inertness enabled the Russians to
| retrieve the situation.
The question Of irrigation is one that
has long occupied the anxious attention
of the Indian Government, which has now
appointed a special commission, with Sir
Colin Scott Moncrief as President, to ex-
anime and report upon the whole subject
Special instructions have been drawn up
in which the commissioners are told that
in their consideration Of proposals for
new irrigation works they are to be gov
| erned not so much by the cost as by the
| amount of benefit and protection to be
secured. The irrigation works = hitherto
constructed by the State have on the
the recognized programme OF works OF
this kind Is now approaching completion.
and the great storage works required for
the extension of irrigation to the tracts
most exposed to famine must necessarily
be more costly. and therefore less remun-
erative than the completed works which
from the great rivers Of Northern and
Southern India. As regards new works.
therefore. the main question is TO be
whether the charges for interest and
n "a N a y will hxa f0tN
pay for the protection against famine
which they are certain to afford. A large
part of the attention of the commission
will be devoted to districts where culti-
walton has always been exceedingly pre-
carious, and famine. where millions of
inhabitants are involved, is a very costly
business.
An amusing illustration of the attention
paid to petty details and red-tapism by
the German Government is being told by
the Continental papers. At Thorn, in
West Prussia. recently a huge placard,
embellished with many seals and Govern
ment stamps. was pasted on the wall of
the railway station. 1t looked formidable
more so than 1t really was-for it an
nounced the sale by public auction of
three lemons. The porters on the line had
found three lemons at liberty in a freight
car, and, with an honesty more than ad-
mirable, they turned them over to the au-
advertised for the time required by law,
and, no owner appeared to claim them,
they were sold at auction. The price
brought was Is pfennigs. about cents
a trifie under the market figure.
The London Mall has been delving
into statistics and has discovered that,
despite British protests against taxation.
the English people are better of than
other European countries. The "Mail'
follows up it's statements with the follow
ing:
Take the Italians, for example Their
accumulated taxes are positive night
mare. An Italian pays away in taxes %
per cent of his earnings. compared with
the Britisher's s.3 The population of
Italy is 100000 less than that of Great
Britain, and yet the income tax in the
former country is made to produce as
much as in the United Kingdom.
An even more striking comparison is
that between Pussia and Italy. Russia
has a population of 100000; Italy has
only 30.OO0, 600, and yet the total amount
OF the income tax is the same in both
countries. Italy has debt of ESQ. 100000,
which is growing at the rate of f14.oo0.000
a year. The only way the Italians can
escape the taxation is to emigratc, and
this they are doing in considerable num-
bers.
Britain Each inhabitant pays lis year
more than anyone lucky enough to be liv
ing in the United Kingdom. Moreover, an
Englishman's earnings are greater than
those of Frenchman. The latter devotes
1876 per cent Of his income to maintaining
his country