1. In the House of Commons, after five nights' debate, the second reading of the bill for the Disestablishment of the Church in Wales carried by 304 to 260 votes.

Prince Bismarck's eightieth birthday, in connection with which fêtes had been going on for a week, celebrated with indescribable enthusiasm throughout the German Empire. The deputations to Friedrichsruhe, where Prince Bismarck received them, filled thirtyfive trains.

A petition against the arbitrary authority of the Russian Minister and police over the press presented to the Czar by a number of journalists and literary men.

The Government offered to the masters and workmen in the boot trade, through the President of the Board of Trade and the Home Secretary, to ascertain the definite demands on each side for reference to arbitration.

2. The surrender of Jabez Balfour to the British Legation at Buenos Ayres ordered by the Federal judge at Salta, where he had been detained on a local charge.

An attempt made by the editor of a newspaper of advanced Magyar views to blow up the monument erected in Budapesth to the memory of General Hentzl and the Austrian soldiers who had fallen during the revolution of 1849.

3. Two of the brigades of Sir A. Low's force engaged on the Bajaur expedition stormed the Malandrai Pass, and after five hours' heavy fighting drove back the natives.

The spring elections in the Western States of the Union showed generally successes of the Republican party.

4. The German Commercial Congress assembled at Berlin passed resolutions in favour of the maintenance of a gold currency and condemnatory of Count Karletz's proposal for a State monopoly of imported cereals.

— The representatives of Canada and Newfoundland appointed to consider the federation of the provinces met at Ottawa.

5. In the House of Commons, after three nights' debate, the Irish Land Bill was read a second time without a division.

At the Central Criminal Court the Marquess of Queensberry, charged with a criminal libel on Mr. Oscar Wilde, was acquitted, the

10. Jabez Balfour, having been surrendered by the Argentine authorities, left Buenos Ayres in charge of the English police.

The French Chamber of Deputies voted a credit of 2,000,000 francs in supplement of the pensions granted by workmen's benefit societies to workmen of sixty-five years of age.

11. On Strangford Lough, Co. Down, a boat containing eight servants belonging to Lord Londonderry's household capsized near Portaferry and all the party drowned.

The fortifications on Sandy Hook, intended for the defence of New York Harbour, which had been in hand for several years, finally completed and armed with sixteen mortars sunken in pits, each capable of throwing a projectile weighing 1,000 lb. a distance of six miles.

13. A railway accident, unattended by loss of life, occurred near Bodmin Road, the mail train from Plymouth to Penzance running off the line, which was blocked for several hours.

The Cuban insurgents under Maceo attacked and routed near Palmarito in the Eastern Province.

14. Serious and repeated earthquake shocks felt at various places between Vienna and Rome. The centre of the disturbance was at Laibach in Carniola, where thirty-one shocks were felt. About fifty lives were lost and severe damage was done to public and private buildings. There was a serious panic in Cilli, Furnes, Trieste, and Venice, where many persons passed the night in the open air. Laibach and in the neighbourhood the shocks continued for several days.

At

15. The Japanese and Chinese plenipotentiaries, held a final conference at Shimonoseki, at which the terms of peace were finally settled, subject to ratification by their respective Governments. China ceded the LiaoTung Peninsula, Formosa, and the Pescadores Islands, agreed to pay an indemnity of 33,000,000l. sterling and made other important concessions of suzerainty and freedom of inland trade.

The third annual conference of the Independent Labour party, attended by eighty-four delegates, met at Newcastle-on-Tyne under the presidency of Mr. Keir Hardie. The conference lasted the entire week, the attitude of the members towards the two political parties being chiefly debated.

A fire broke out at the Oxford County Lunatic Asylum, at Littlemore, causing great damage and necessitating the removal of all the inmates, numbering over 300.

16. The President of the French Republic started on his first official tour, visiting Rouen, Havre, etc. He was everywhere received with great cordiality and expressed his appreciation of the visit of H.M.S. Australia to the latter port.

A lake of considerable size formed at Leprignano about thirty miles north of Rome by the sudden rising of springs, chiefly sulphurous. 17. Professor Flinders Petrie, lecturing before the Edinburgh Royal ciety, gave an account of a race quite distinct from the Egyptian

libel being declared by the jury to have been published for the public benefit. Mr. Oscar Wilde was subsequently arrested and committed to prison.

5. In the French Senate, M. Hanotaux, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, replying to an interpolation on British interests in Western and Central Africa, refuted Sir E. Grey's version, and stated the views of the French Government.

A terrible explosion took place in a grocery store, in which was a quantity of gunpowder, at New Orleans, by which fifteen persons were killed and many injured.

6. At Leipzig, before the Disciplinary Court, Herr Leist, exChancellor of the Cameroons, charged with having flogged and illtreated a number of native women in the colony, found guilty, and sentenced to be dismissed the public service, the previous decision of the Court of First Instance being quashed.

Telegraph Hill, Hatcham, about ten acres in extent, formerly an Admiralty station for the transmission of messages by semaphore, conveyed to the public as a recreation ground, the total cost, about 800l., having been provided by the Haberdashers' Company and Mr. George Livesey.

A cholera epidemic broke out in the quarantine lazaretto at Camaran in the Red Sea, where 2,000 Mecca pilgrims were resting on their way to Djeddah. The fatal cases amounted to thirty a day.

8. In the House of Commons the Speaker (Mr. A. Peel) formally announced his resignation, and made his farewell address. Subseqently the Chancellor of the Exchequer introduced the Local Veto Bill, which was read a first time without a division.

Owing to a disagreement between the Hovas and the foreign officers, Colonel Shervinton, who was in command of the native troops, withdrew from the Malagasy service.

- Madame Joniaux' appeal against her capital conviction for murder rejected by the Court of Appeal in Brussels.

In the Supreme Court at Washington judgment was given to the effect that tax on income from real estate and on Municipal and State Bonds was unconstitutional.

9. The general election in Denmark resulted in a great Radical victory, the Right returning twenty-four, the Moderates twenty-eight, and the Radicals sixty-one members.

Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, Bart., appointed Governor of South Australia in succession to the Earl of Kintore, K.C.M.G.

- In the House of Commons the Chancellor of the Exchequer moved and Mr. A. J. Balfour seconded a resolution of thanks to the Speaker for his distinguished services in the chair, and a motion for an address to her Majesty to confer some signal mark of favour upon him.

10. Mr. W. C. Gully, M.P. for Carlisle, the Ministerial nominee, elected Speaker of the House of Commons by 285 to 274 votes, the Conservatives having proposed Sir M. White Ridley.

10. Jabez Balfour, having been surrendered by the Argentine authori ties, left Buenos Ayres in charge of the English police.

The French Chamber of Deputies voted a credit of 2,000,000 francs in supplement of the pensions granted by workmen's benefit societies to workmen of sixty-five years of age.

11. On Strangford Lough, Co. Down, a boat containing eight servants belonging to Lord Londonderry's household capsized near Portaferry and all the party drowned.

The fortifications on Sandy Hook, intended for the defence of New York Harbour, which had been in hand for several years, finally completed and armed with sixteen mortars sunken in pits, each capable of throwing a projectile weighing 1,000 lb. a distance of six miles.

13. A railway accident, unattended by loss of life, occurred near Bodmin Road, the mail train from Plymouth to Penzance running off the line, which was blocked for several hours.

The Cuban insurgents under Maceo attacked and routed near Palmarito in the Eastern Province.

14. Serious and repeated earthquake shocks felt at various places between Vienna and Rome. The centre of the disturbance was at Laibach in Carniola, where thirty-one shocks were felt. About fifty lives were lost and severe damage was done to public and private buildings. There was a serious panic in Cilli, Furnes, Trieste, and Venice, where many persons passed the night in the open air. At Laibach and in the neighbourhood the shocks continued for several days.

15. The Japanese and Chinese plenipotentiaries, held a final conference at Shimonoseki, at which the terms of peace were finally settled, subject to ratification by their respective Governments. China ceded the LiaoTung Peninsula, Formosa, and the Pescadores Islands, agreed to pay an indemnity of 33,000,000l. sterling and made other important concessions of suzerainty and freedom of inland trade.

The third annual conference of the Independent Labour party, attended by eighty-four delegates, met at Newcastle-on-Tyne under the presidency of Mr. Keir Hardie. The conference lasted the entire week, the attitude of the members towards the two political parties being chiefly debated.

A fire broke out at the Oxford County Lunatic Asylum, at Littlemore, causing great damage and necessitating the removal of all the inmates, numbering over 300.

16. The President of the French Republic started on his first official tour, visiting Rouen, Havre, etc. He was everywhere received with great cordiality and expressed his appreciation of the visit of H.M.S. Australia to the latter port.

A lake of considerable size formed at Leprignano about thirty miles north of Rome by the sudden rising of springs, chiefly sulphurous.

17. Professor Flinders Petrie, lecturing before the Edinburgh Royal Society, gave an account of a race quite distinct from the Egyptian