The Washington times., 1901-09-22
FOREIGN TOPICS.

FOREIGN TOPICS.
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1hose lucky persons who are the posses
sors of fiaids and woods wherein. at this
season OF the. year. that delicacy of the
table. the mushroom. makes its sudden
appearance on every mild morning, will
be interested in the manner In which
srench sayant protects his mushrooms in
the Meudon woods from the greed of the
pilferer. Every few weeks he causes a
new paragraph to appear in one of the
most popular Partisan papers to the effect
that yet another poisoning case has been
traced to the eating of mushrooms from
he Meudon woods. The paragraph is diff
ferently worded each time, but as a rule
II Is "A whole family or "a large num-
per OF persons who have made them
selves desperately i'll by eating of the
said mushrooms. Occa asionally there is a
lugubrious ending in which ii is doubted
whether madame, or mademoiselle, or the
little boy who partook of the meal will
recover. The result is that the learned
owner of the woods has now never TO
complain of being bereft of the fungi
that he loves,
The veterinary surgeons of Paris and
the Department of the Seine have just is
sued n report on the subject of hydropho-
bia The statistics are calculated to alarm
Frenehmen. as during the past summer
the disease was prevalent in the city
proper and In fifty-nine suburban com
munes.
IN Paris itself the dogs and cats
killed as mad numbered sos, and in
the suburbs 3O2. grand total of s01 cases,
which is some 200 above last years num-
ber. IT may safely be said that no other
town in Europe can show such figures.
Madness has not only not diminished.
but has increased To an alarming degree.
1t is true that r. .S95 dogs have been cap
tured on the public roads, but although
this nuraber seems considerable it does
not form u large proportion of the total
number of dogs In the city. The wander
Ing population of dogs in Paris is so large
that the report fixes $1,000 as the number
that ought to have been caught during
the year. Until a muzzling order Is put
in force. or until II is enacted that dogs
must be kept in proper control. it is not
easy to see how matters can be bettered.
Here are few figures concerning the ac-
cidents of last year; S07 mad dogs or cats
bit ,J9I animals of the same species. Both
biters and bit were in every case destroy
ed according to law. Among other ami
mais eight horses, one COW, and two goats
were also bitten: these were all put under
surveillance. Besides these. one horse,
one COW, and a donkey were slaught-
cred after showing symptoms of mad
ness.
Humanity suffered even worse. There
we're l.6s4 accidents to people that might
easily have been avoided by the adoption
OF the measures indicated above. Nine
people in all died from hydrophobia, three
women and six men, all belonging to the
Department OF the Seine.
Great Britain is about to try an expert
ment with her army in India. High-caste
natives are to be permitted to attain rank
in the military forces and will hereafter
be entrusted with commands. Since the
Sepcy rebellion 1t has been the policy or
the Government to discourage any at
tempt on the part of the aristocratic resi-
dents of India to attain commissions.
This policy was due to the well-founded
suspicion that the high-caste natives were
not to be trusted. But of late years this
class has so often demonstrated its 10y
atty that a change has been decided upon.
The plan contemplates the bestowal of
military rank upon a certain number of
highly born cadets. A large field is al
ready provided for the military employ
ment of native officers of good birth or
position, nearly 5000 being In the commits
stoned rank of the native army; but there
has been a dearth of corresponding open
ings for the sons of Indian princes, nobles
and gentlemen, who are every day receiv-
ing superior education. but to whom op-
they reach the years of manhood are re-
A desire to crafty the military as
piration of these classes has long existed
but difficulties in correction with selec-
tion, tuition, military rank, and duties
have barred the way.
The present experiment Will be of 4
tentative character and some time must
elapse before its details are fully worked
out. 1t rests upon the periodical selection
OF n small number-probably twenty to
start with-of scions of noble families.
who, with rare exceptions. will be drawn
from the four chief colleges at Atmere,
Lahore, Rajkot. and Indore, and who will
constitute what will be known the
Imperial Cadet Corps. under the com
and adjutant. The cadets will pass
through two years course of training In
the cold weather and Will. from time to
time, be in personal attendance upon the
viceroy on ceremonial and other occa-
sions Such of them as exhibit special
capacity will then pass through a course
of military training in a garrison class
and ultimately will be appointed to staff
positions or other extra-regimental mill
tary employment. The scheme is said to
have the enthusiastic support of Edward
VII.
The new japanese law of divorce has
produced wholesome effect. Under its
operation the number of divorces has
fallen from 30 per 100 couples to 22.s5 In
other words, whereas formerly out of
every three marriages one resulted in
divorce, the ratio has nearly changed to
one out of five. That Is certainly a de-
cided Improvement Some years ago,
when the merits OF the extra territorial
system used to be so loudly extolled q
well-known "old resident OF Yokohama
complained that when foreigners passed
under Japanese law they would be able
to divorce their wives at will. The pro-
cess is not now quite so easy as It was
in the time of that gentleman, nor does 1t
seem that there Is any disposition among
the foreign residents to avail themselves
of such relief as the law does offer So
far only three American residents have
availed themselves of the divorce facili-
ties Of Japan; one hailed from Chicago
one from New York, and the other from
San Francisco.
The recent exhaustive enquiry by
commission appointed on the question OF
the total abolition OF black labor on the
sugar plantations in North Queensland
has resulted in the opinion that the total
abolition CT that labor means the extinc-
ton of the industry. The result of the
finding of the Federal Parliament will be
interesting after the Governments recent
pronouncement against any further i'm
portation of Kanaka labor with the grad
uai extinction of the existing black en-
ployes.
Leopold ii of Belgium is known through
out Europe as the Commercial mon
arch from the fact that he Is more of
a man of business than any merchant in
Brussels. AS a speculator In land and
houses the King OF the Belgians has
proved himself an expert second to none.
1t is in this direction that his leanings