The Washington times., 1901-08-03
FOREIGN TOPICS.

Some recent proposals that the hour of
| convening the British Parliament be
changed call attention to the striking diff
| ference between the working methods of
that body and our own Congress Par
liamentary sessions begin late and last
far into the night. The parliamentary
hours. indeed, have undergone a good
| many changes. and it is only twelve years
! since radical change was made in
| them-the. House meeting at instead OF
| !. and adJourning, nominally. at u in
| stead of at some hour in the morning.
| ms has produced greater regularity in
| the hours, but it has certainly not re-
| duced the time spent in debate.
Parliamentary sittings in the early days
| began generally at o'clock in the MORN
ing, but often at or 7, and continued
| until II. In the time of Charles III .
| O'Clock was the usual hour for commenc-
ing public business and o'clock the hour
| for rising. AT a later period 10 o'clock
was the ordinary time OF meeting and the
! practice of adjourning the House nomi-
| nally until that hour continued until 1906,
although so early meeting had long
been discontinued. According to the pres
| ent practice no hour Is named by the
| House for its next meeting, but 1t is an
| nounced in the votes at what hour the
| Speaker will take the chair. There is
| 10 prevent the House Slttlng at
later hour than usual for the sake OF
convenience. Thus. on the occasion of
| the naval review at Spithead in 1853 it
did not meet until 10 O'Clock at night.
French naval experts are now beginning
| to sum up the results of the recent fleet
maneuyres, which were conducted upon
! much larger scale this year than usual.
! The following was the plan outlined by
the Admiralty authorities: THE French
squadron in the Mediterranean must pre-
vent hostile squadron coming from Gil
braltar from joining u squadron allied to
1t, and remaining in the east; it must
then unite with the French northern
squadron, which has traversed the Straits
OF Gibraltar behind the enemy" Accord
ing to the French critics the French
squadrons succeeded in this double mis-
sion. Hostilities began on July g. and
that very night the cruisers of the hos
tile fleet were destroyed, while on the
morrow the main battle fleet was forced
to accept action in the Bay of Alicante.
During the night OF the 5th to the 9th the
two French forces Joined at Mers el Kebir
About eighty vessels in ALL including tor
pedo boats, were engaged. The special
significance of the maneuvreS was that
they were conducted upon the lines of AN
offensive strategy instead of a defensive
one, as heretofore, and the commander
in-chief, Admiral Gervais, is being CON
graduated on all sides for his boldness in
of the French fleet is not to wait for
assault. but to attack the enemy and
defeat him. There appears to be less dis
position now than heretofore to attach
overfmportance to the achievements of
the submarine Gustave Zede.
Statistics have recently been collected
of the height of 10000 English boys and
men. AT the age of seventeen these aver
aged feet inches; at the age of twenty
two. feet 9 inches. At seventeen they
weighed 10 stone pounds; at twenty-five,
10 stone 13 pounds. No nation is increas-
ing in height and weight so rapidly as the
British. In forty years the average has
gone up for the whole nation from 5 feet
71a inches TO feet Sia inches The aver
age height of the British upper classes at
thirty years of age is feet S12 inches;
OF the farm laborer, feet 1875 inches.
The criminal class brings down the aver
age, as their height is but feet 54-5
inches.
1t Is said that the smartest automobile
in London belongs to the Duke of Suth-
erland. The vehicle is light in design and
noiseless in its movements. The duke is
an expert driver. to the manner born.
The late duke, his father, had private
railway at Dunrobin and was his own en-
gine driver. From his father the present
duke learned In this way to be on excel !
lent terms with machinery and the re-
suits of that early training have been ap-
parent Moreover. the duke succeeds in |
doing that rare thing-looking cool In |
motor car.
The Comprehensive Education act, de-
signed to bring about educational uni |
formity in the elementary schools |
. n prits oil hat
must attend school from six until four |
teen years of age. Exceptions may be
made. but blind and deaf and dumb chill |
dren are subject to this rule wherever |
special arrangements have been made for /
their instruction. Children attending !
other public schools or receiving instruc- |
tion from private teachers, correspond |
ing, at least, to that of the public schools, |
are not obliged to attend the latter. |
Children who continually neglect school |
without sufficient excuse can be compelled /
to attend. Parents or guardians who neg
lect to keep their children at school |
will be subject to fines or Imprisonment |
varying from three hours to two days. |
Instead of Imprisonment work for the |
community may be imposed. Employers
who keep children from school will be |
fined not less than $50 marks. Parents |
and guardians are obliged TO provide ma
for girls. Otherwise the school |
board has the right to obtain these things |
by compulsion. According to the District
Physicians act OF April l. all public and
private schools are, in hygienic matters,
under the control of an official physician.
who must, at certain intervals, winter
and summer, visit every school in his |
district and examine the buildings as well |
as enquire concerning the health of the
pupils and the schoomaster.
An important step is to be taken in
India with the evident object of increas-
Ing the loyalty of the native aristocracy
rank upon a certain number of highly
born cadets. A large field is already pro-
vided for the military employment of |
native officers of good birth or position,
nearly 5000 being in the commissioned
ranks of the native army: but there has
been dearth of corresponding openings
FOR the sons of Indian princes, mobiles
and gentlemen. who are every day re-
,eiving a superior education, but to whom
of active public service
when they reach years of manhood are
desire to crafty the mill
AIRY aspirations of these classes has long
'xisted. but difficulties in connection with
selections, tuition, military rank and
iuties have barred the way. The present
experiment. Will be of a tentative char
icter, and some time must elapse Before
is details are fully worked out. 1t rests
lpon the periodical selection of a small
twenty to start with
If scions of noble families. who, with
are exceptions. will be drawn from the
our chiefs colleges at Ajmere, Lahore
iajkot, and Indore, and who will consti-
ute what will be known as the Innerial