The Dewsbury Chronicle, and West Riding Advertiser. — 1895-03-06 (Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England)

TOPICS OF THE WEEK.   Tun council of the National Fire Brigades Union state in their reports just issued that they have carefully watched the movements of the " Bogus Fire Brigade Collectors," and no less than eight(making a total of twenty-two in four years) are undergoing sentences varying from one . month to five years' penal servitude. They take every opportunity of warning the public not to give to these "sham institutions." Collectors are not sent out by the Union, neither by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade.. ,  A TELEGRAM from Verviers states that a double murder, followed by the suicide of the murderer, occurred there at the Caf6- de la Banque, when a sergeant of a regiment of the line suddenly entered the estalislinient with his -rifle and shot dead a young girl of his acquaintance and a fellow sergeant of his regiment, who were sitting in the caf6. Turning the weapon against himself, the murderer then blew out his own brains. The tragic occurrence took place in' go short a time that before the spectators had recovered sufficient self-possession to think of interfering all was over.  A PASSENGER by the steamer Wa rimoo which arrived at Vancouver British Columbia, from Australia on February 10 reports that the most disastrous hurricane on record swept the Fijian Islands on January 6th and 7th. In Suva, the capital, immense damage was done. The Customs House, three churches, and scores of houses were levelled to the ground, whilst in Levuke two large sailing ships and dozens of smaller craft were blown on to the coral reef and destroyed. The lighthouse on Wailaugalala, the northernmost island of the Fijian archipelago, was also wrecked, and the Warrimoo was commissioned to take workmen there to construct it.  SIR JoinT KiNLOCH proposes as a practical, it partial, relief of the depression in agricultnre; that the Postmaster-General should make arrangements for conveying butter under a special rate of a penny per 17 ounces, so as to allow for the packing of one pound parcels. It is pointed out in support. of this iner4ased facility for enablihg farmers to commuicate direct by parcel post with customers, that the import of butter from abroad has increased from a trifle under 12 millions sterling in 1892 to a sum approaching 131; millions last year. On the return to the House of Commons of the President of the Board of Agriculture the matter will be brought under his notice;  THE robbers of Canton are getting more audacious every day, judging by the fact that a gang of desperadoes of the city have been sending " eXpresses " to all the leading and wealthy families of Canton asking them to pay premiums to a newly-organised "Insurance" Company, called the " Ying-hsiung Insurance Company," which will guakantee the subscriber's immunity from robbery and plunder for one year. Some of the premiums demanded by this precious set of underwriters amounted to as much as T 15.10,000, the amounts varying according to the recognised status of the family to be laid under contribution. Those refusing to subscribe are threatened with the particular attention of the gang.  HULL ISLAND is one of the Plicenix Group in the Pacific, and is situated in 172.0 degiees west longitude and 3.22 degrees latitude south of the equator. Calling here on January 27th, the Warrimoo found that the population consisted of two Englishmen and twenty-five Polynesian natives. They spend their time in collecting guano and in growing' cocoanut trees. They consider thenisel''Ves fortunate. if a small schooner happens to call at the island once or pexhaps twice a year. -The only complaint that the inhabitants made was that lhere were hundreds of thousands of rats on the island. A bundle of newspapers, a sack ok potatoes, and a few other requisites of life w.ere:giVen to these inhabitants of the outside world; and the Warrimoo then sailed for Honolulu, 'Sandwich Islands.  Tnn Technical Education Board of the. London County Council, and other bodies, City Companies, and Trustees or Governors of various educational charities, are now offering for competition Among boys and girls from elementary and other schools in London, 1,000 scholarships a year, worth perhaps £lO,OOO yearly, to promising children who wish to eon, tanue their training at some places of secondary education. 500 such scholarships of which the London County Council contributes 300, will be offered next May. The examination is to be conducted by the Incorporated ~kssociation of Head Masters, who report thereon to the awarding bodies. Several other County Councils and provincial charities avail themselves of this means of testing .the merits of candidates. Last year nearly 4,000 children were examined. 5S per cent. of London Board schools competed, and 25 per cent. of London voluntary schools ; and Greenwich highly distinguished itself. It is hoped that this year many more schools Will enter the field. •  AN eloping wife in Germany has just discovered the inconvinience of allowing her weight to be known. She is married to a rich manufacturer of Essen (not the famous Herr Krupp), and she ran away with a young man. The couple took the train for Pecska, in Hungary. Soon after their flight the husband discovered the fact and traced them to the railway station, where he ascertained the place they had booked to. Instantly he telegraphed to the Police at Pecska, "Arrest woman in train from' Germany. Exact weight 83 kilogrammes" (about 13 stone 11b). The authorities of the Hungarian town were a little puzzled to know what to do as first, as of course they could not tell a woman's weight merely by looking at her. After full consideration, they determined :to make every woman in the train pass through the luggage office to be weighed on the weighing machine. This was done and the runaway wife was caught, she being the only woman of the required weight.  A WOMAN has been sent to bard labour for two months for cruelty to horses. If a woman so far loses the characteristics of her sex as to be cruel, she is cruel without compunction. In this case Mrs. Weston, an omnibus proprietor, was cruel to her horses With obvious deliberation. When questioned as to her ownership of the overworked and wounded animals, she exclaimed, "What a fool I should be to own them and get six months! " The magistrate at the Thames Police Court, had thus her Own testimony to his leniency in advance. She knew she deserved four months more than she got. The man who harnessed her horses had gallantry enough to conceal her name from the police ; but his efforts to save her were also proof of his guilty knowledge 'that it was cruel to. work her horses. The magistrate had never seen animals in a more disgraceful condition. He gave the man the option of a heavy fine; for the woman, who had eleven convictions against her, nothing less than imprisonment would meet the justice of the case.