The Washington times., 1901-09-19
FOREIGN TOPICS.

|
,heir rights. The other day an extraor
binary sight was witnessed in the shape
| OF public demonstration of the womer
! against the employment of machinery In
the binding of grain. About O'Clock p
m the town bellman promenaded the
| town. calling upon the women who were
In the habit of working in the harves;
| fleld to assemble at the town hall and
make protest against the farmers em-
pioying machine binders. The Trade and
Labor Association also held a meeting
and resolution was passed unanimously
caiilng on the farmers to employ women
at the binding, as heretofore. in prefer
ence TO having the work done by ma
chinery.
second Sto Patrick must undoubtedly
rise up and free Ireland from snakes.
as matters are getting serious. \ few
months ago It twas noted that a couple OF
snakes had been killed in County Wex-
ford, and now last month again informa-
ton came that two more were seen in a
field at Summer Hill, about a mile from
the town of Wexford. One OF them was
killed by n iabOrer, but the other escaped.
1t is presumed that these reptiles are
brought over IN shrubs and plants which
come from England, encased in bass mat
ting. ) rieg
Japan will have to hold her hand soon
in the matter of creating peers. No less
than 2I5 have been added to the number
since the system was inaugurated. In
1884, when peers were first created, pat
ents We're granted to eleven princeS-ex-
cluding princes of the eblood-twenty-iour
marquises, seventy-three counts, 81 VS.
counts and seventy-four barons. Now the
numbers stand: Eleven princes. thirty.
four marquiseS eighty-nine counts, 900
viscounts and PSI barons. The total In
1854 was SOB; today it is rs.
The Earl of Halsbury who has just
passed his seventy-seventh birthday, has
been Lord Chancellor in all the Marquis
of Salisbury's Ministries. yet. though he
is four and one-half years older than his
chief, there has never been any sugges-
ton of an approaching vacancy on the
woolsack. Curiously enough, his retire
ment seems so remote thing that specu-
lations as to his successor are practically
unknown. Lord Haisbury is today as
alert and active and Dimble-minded as
when. sixteen years ago. to the huge sur
prise of nearly everybody outside the
Hatfield party. he first took his seat in
the House of Lords, as it's President.
Since then. with the exception of the
three years when the Liberals were in pow
er. he has occupied that familiar seat.
Looking back over the last century, when
Lord Eldron first held that exalted post,
II is found that only fifteen peers have
sat on the woolsack, almost incredi-
Bile record when it is considered that the
office is the crown of the judicial career,
and is seldom attained until late in life.
Lord Eldron and Lord Lyndhurst held 1t
on five occasions. Lord Erskine but for
one year, Lord Brougham twice, Lord
Cottenham twice also, and the others
were Lord Truro, Lord st. Leonard. Lord
Cranworth. Lord Chelmsford. Lord Camp
bell Lord Westbury. Lord Cairns. Lord
Hatherly, Lord Herschell. and the pres
ent holder During the same period there
were twenty Prime Minister'S
The return of merchant shipping for
1900. just issued by the London Board of
Trade, shows that there was considera-
bic decrease in the tonnage of British
vessels entered and cleared at ports in
the United Kingdom.
The tonnage of sailing and steam vessels
dropped from 65.6is,9s9 to 62,710,S36 tons,
due principally to falling off of ISL, ,0l7
tons in steam tonnage. The tonnage of
foreign shipping showed considerable
increase. particularly the German ton
mage, which rose from less than five and
a quarter million tons to 6.o27o2S tons
Our shipping yards built last year 9i4,-
26I tons of shipping. of which 207, ,36I were
built for foreigners.
OF the 2i7 .44s persons employed on Brit
isn snips, oo,s95 were aliens, proportion
of Ella per cent Last year there were
only 5.6l7 apprentices, as compared with
Is, ,303 in 1870. T..
The suez Canal traffic still bears wit
ness TO the fact that British shipping
leads the world. Out of the 1859 23S tons
which passed through the canal last year
the British owned 7.771.3 .3s6 but these fig
uTes We're the lowest since 1880. and show
ed a great decrease on the previous year
when there We're over nine million tons
The chief rival was Germany. which in
1870 owned only ~, ,SS8 tons of vessels us
ing the Suez Canal. Last year this had
increased to 2,odI, 30 tons, against 1.492, ,657
tons in 1899.
The British inspectors of weights and
measures have been supplied with the
Kings stamps. and the new letters "E
r. will in future be used The practice
of verifying weights and measures is a
very ancient one. Standard weights and
measures were provided for the whole of
England by the sheriffs of London In the
reign of Richard /, those were corrected
in the reign of Edward III, and one uni
form weight, measure and yard were or
dered throughout the Kingdom. The first
statute directing the use of avoirdupois
weight was passed in the reign of Henry
VIII All weights and measures, by an
act of George III, were to be examined by
justices at quarter sessions. Repeated
acts have since been passed, the most i'm
portant being that of 1873, which en-
forced uniformity throughout the United
Kingdom. In the act of 1883 is something
like bull: mo baker shall be liable to
any forfeiture or penalty for refusing to
weigh in the presence of a purchaser any
bread conveyed or carried in a cart unless
he is requested so to do" How could he
refuse unless asked?
The wife Of the President of the French
Republic has no official standing: the
proof of it is, to mention only one in
stance, that, though Car Nicholas II
paid his first visit to France in 1896, ac-
by his consort, the return visit
of NJ. Felix Faure was paid alone. Nine.
Loubet, If the truth were known, has not
had the slightest share in the political
aspirations that led to her husbands eIe-
walton to the first magistracy of France.
From all that is known of her she would
have been perfectly content both for her
husband and herself with a much less
conspicuous social status. Now she has
before her the ordeal of entertaining the
CZarina under her own roof for Com
piegne, whittier the Russian imperial cou-
pie are to go in few days. is to all in
tents and purposes the residence of the
President of the Republic
President MacMahon and his consort
left the Elysee Bourbon considerably
poorer than they entered it, and the
Parisians in particular and Frenehmen in
general cordially acknowledged the ex-
quisite grace and freehandedness with
which they discharged their duties of
hospitality. No word of reproach has
ever been uttered in that respect either
against Nine. and NJ. Carnot Nine and
NJ casimir-Perier or Mime. and M. Faure.
If anything, there was a reproach In the
iatters case of ostentation. 1t is inpos-
sibIe tc please everybody. Nine Carnot
and Nine. Casimir-Perier belonged to the