25. In Hyde Park, a demonstration of 100,000 persons was held in support of the Licensing Bill. (See English History, Chapter IV.)

At the Crystal Palace, the Salvation Army celebrated its fortythird anniversary and welcomed General Booth on his return from his country tour.

27. Opening of the International Peace Congress. (See English History, Chapter IV.)

The report of the Commons Committee on Home Work recommended legislation regarding wages, wages boards, and registration of home workers.

28-31. The regatta in connection with the Olympic Games (see above, July 13) took place at Henley. All the events were won by representatives of Great Britain. The Belgian crew from the Club Nautique de Gand was beaten by Leander in the Eight-Oar Race; Magdalen College beat Leander in the Four-Oar, and H. T. Blackstaffe (Vesta R.C.) beat McCulloch (Leander Club) in the Sculls.

29. It was announced that Sir Rennell Rodd, British Minister to Stockholm, had been appointed Ambassador to Rome; Sir C. A. Spring Rice, British Minister at Teheran, would succeed him at Stockholm; Mr. G. H. Barclay would become Minister at Teheran, and Mr. C. L. Des Graz, Minister at Lima.

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At Goodwood, the Goodwood Plate was won by Mr. H. S. Goodson's Asticot. Time, 3 min. 48 sec.

30. At the Central Criminal Court, before the Lord Chief Justice, the trial of Mr. Robert S. Sievier on a charge of attempting to extort money by blackmail from Mr. J. B. Joel, the South African millionaire and racecourse owner, resulted in an acquittal. The verdict was loudly cheered inside and outside the court.

The Goodwood Cup was won by Mr. L. de Rothschild's Radium. Time, 4 min. 51 sec.

31. The annual Report of the Board of Trade on the working of the Bankruptcy Acts showed that during 1907, 4,111 receiving and administration orders were issued and 3,488 deeds of arrangement were executed with an estimated loss to creditors of 5,034,510l. and 3,354,0341. respectively.

Disastrous bush fires in the Crow's Nest region of British Columbia destroyed some $7,000,000 worth of property and over 100 lives. The town of Fernie was wiped out.

AUGUST.

1. Parliament adjourned for the recess.

-At the Parliamentary bye-election for Haggerston, due to the death of Sir W. R. Cremer (L.), Mr. Rupert Guinness (U.) was returned by 2,867 votes, against 1,724 for Mr. W. R. Warren (L.) and 986 for Mr. Herbert Burrows (Soc.).

3. The Rev. H. Bury, Vicar of St. Paul's, Avenue Road, London, was elected (Anglican) Bishop of Honduras, vice Bishop Ormsby, resigned,

4. At Cowes, the King's Cup at the Royal Yacht Squadron Regatta was won by Sir James Pender's Brynhild.

4-7. The International Free Trade Congress sat in Caxton Hall. On the opening day it was addressed by Mr. Winston Churchill, M.P. At a dinner in the evening Mr. Asquith was one of the speakers.

5. Count Zeppelin's airship, after a successful flight on August 4 from Constance to Mayence, when returning by Stuttgart was compelled to descend at Echterdingen and await fresh supplies of hydrogen. It was there struck by a thunderstorm and destroyed by fire, several persons being seriously injured. Subscriptions were opened for the inventor and a Government grant of 500,000 marks was given him.

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The Turkish Reform Ministry was reconstructed, Said Pasha being succeeded as Grand Vizier by Kiamil Pasha.

At Cowes, the German Emperor's Cup was won by Herr Krupp von Bohlen's schooner Germania.

6. The Lambeth Conference of Bishops was closed by a celebration of the Holy Communion at St. Paul's Cathedral, in which nearly 200 Bishops took part. An Encyclical letter from the Primate was subsequently issued reviewing the decisions of the Conference, and it was announced on August 10 that the total thank offering amounted to about 345,000l.

7. An International Congress on the political institutions of various States was opened at the Franco-British Exhibition.

At the Central Criminal Court, ten members or ex-members of the Mile-End Board of Guardians were convicted after twenty days' trial of conspiring with a contractor, James Calcutt, and others to defraud the Guardians, and for corruptly soliciting gifts from him in consideration of his employment by the Guardians. Hirst, an exMayor of Stepney, was fined 250l. and sentenced to two years' hard labour; the others were fined various sums ranging from 250l. to 25l. and sentenced to shorter terms of imprisonment. The evidence was largely derived from the revelations of Calcutt, who was undergoing imprisonment for his share in the frauds.

9. The American battleship fleet arrived at Auckland, N.Z., and had an enthusiastic reception, repeated at Sydney on August 20, at Melbourne on May 29, and at Albany on September 11.

11. King Edward VII. visited the German Emperor at Cronberg, and on the following day the Austrian Emperor at Ischl. Considerable significance was attached to both meetings by the Press.

13. It was announced that the Midland and London and NorthWestern Railways had entered into a working arrangement allowing a considerable increase of facilities to the public in through bookings and alternative routes for passengers and goods.

15. The Pourquoi Pas, with Dr. Charcot's Antarctic expedition, left Havre. [She put back several times, and finally sailed from Guernsey on September 5.]

Some thousands of French working-class excursionists visited London for the Franco-British Exhibition.

15. At Calais, six visitors were swept off a jetty by the wash from the outgoing cross-Channel steamer Queen, and were drowned.

17. The Report of the London County Council for 1906-7 showed that the Council had provided housing accommodation for 41,602 persons, controlled 1163 miles of tramways and 290 miles of sewers, and possessed 539 Council Schools. The school places in its elementary schools exceeded 580,000.

18. An attempt by T. W. Burgess to swim the Channel failed after he had covered 50 miles in 20 hrs. 11 mins., and was within one mile of Cape Grisnez. He was checked by the strong tide, and failed similarly on August 21, after swimming 22 hrs. 45 mins. Numerous other attempts were made during the month.

At Abram, near Wigan, an explosion at the Maypole Colliery was followed by fire; seventy-six lives were lost. An attempt at rescue of those entombed was stopped by the fire.

19. After a successful march towards Marrakesh, Sultan Abdul Aziz was betrayed and overthrown by tribal auxiliaries; on August 23 Mulai Hafid was proclaimed Sultan at Tangier.

20. The Lusitania arrived at Sandy Hook in 4 days 15 hrs. from Queenstown, or 3 hrs. 40 mins. below the record.

21. It was announced that the Rt. Hon. Sir W. E. Goschen and Sir F. L. Cartwright were respectively appointed British Ambassadors at Berlin and Vienna.

23. At Constantinople, a fire, attributed to incendiary reactionists, destroyed 4,000 buildings and caused considerable loss of life.

24. At Seal Chart, near Sevenoaks, Mrs. Luard, wife of MajorGeneral C. E. Luard of Ightham Knoll, was found shot outside a summer-house in woods on a neighbouring estate. Her body was discovered by her husband, who had left her about two hours previously. At the inquest, terminated on September 16, the verdict was "wilful murder against some person or persons unknown." (See September 18.) 26. The King was visited at Marienbad by the French Premier, M. Clemenceau, and also by M. Isvolsky, the Russian Foreign Minister.

27. Remarkable discoveries in Crete, indicating the existence of a highly developed civilisation in the island in the seventeenth century B.C., were announced by Dr. A. J. Evans in The Times.

29. A memorial recording the formation of the Royal Irish Regiment of Foot Guards was unveiled by Earl Roberts, by command of the King, at Wellington Barracks, Knightsbridge.

SEPTEMBER.

1. In a heavy gale, the barque Amazon was wrecked near Swansea; twenty lives were lost.

The Welsh National Eisteddfod was opened at Llangollen, and was addressed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the President of the Board of Trade.

1. The British Association began its annual meeting in Dublin; the President, Mr. Francis Darwin, F.R.S., delivered an address on the movements and the beginnings of habit and memory in plants.

The Hedjaz Railway was formally opened from Damascus to Medina, amid great enthusiasm. (See Foreign History, Chapter III.) 5. Serious forest fires took place in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and Duluth was at one time in danger.

8. It was announced that Sir George Buchanan, C.B., had been appointed H.M. Minister at the Hague.

9. The Eucharistic Congress (Roman Catholic) was opened by a solemn service in Westminster Cathedral. A great procession traversed the streets near the Cathedral on September 13. (See English History, Chapter V.)

At Doncaster, the St. Leger was won by Mr. J. B. Joel's colt Your Majesty, Mr. W. Hall Walker's White Eagle being second and Mr. L. Rothschild's Santo Strato third. Time, 3 min. 6 sec. Signorinetta, the winner of the Derby and Oaks, was seventh.

9, 10. Unemployed disturbances at Glasgow. (See English History, Chapter VI.)

10. The St. Vincent, an eighth Dreadnought, was launched at Portsmouth.

Count Tolstoi's eightieth birthday. In celebration of the event a Tolstoi Museum was projected in St. Petersburg. The Russian Press were forbidden to allude to the anniversary.

It was announced that Sir James Thomson, K.C.S.I., had been appointed a member of the Council of India vice Sir Philip Hutchins, K.C.S.I., whose term had expired.

11. Major Gross's German military airship made a flight of 13 hrs. 2 min. from Tegel to Magdeburg and back, beating the previous record for a dirigible balloon (that of Count Zeppelin) by 1 hr. 12 min.

12. Mr. Orville Wright, at Washington, flew in his aeroplane for

1 hr. 10 min. 24 sec., beating all previous aeroplane records.

The marriage of the Rt. Hon. Winston Churchill, M. P., President of the Board of Trade, with Miss Clementine Hozier, took place at St. Margaret's, Westminster.

15. A plan was issued by the President of the Board of Trade for a standing Court of Arbitration in industrial disputes. (See English History, Chapter V.)

The Report of the Committee on lotteries and indecent advertisements suggested that further power should be given to the authorities to deal with the circulation of lottery circulars, and that it should be illegal for newspapers to charge entrance fees in prize competitions. It was held undesirable to confer increased powers on the Postmaster-General enabling him to interfere with the carriage of lottery circulars and obscene matter by opening letters. The advertisement and sale of certain artificial means for the restriction of births ought in the opinion of the Committee to be declared illegal.

15. The third International Congress for the History of Religions met at Oxford.

16. The Earl of Rosebery opened the new engineering laboratories of the Heriot-Watt College, Edinburgh.

Official statistics gave the number of paupers in England and Wales on January 1, 1908, as 928,671.

17. At Berlin, the Conference of the Inter-l'arliamentary Union was opened, and was addressed by Prince von Bülow.

At Washington, the breaking of one propeller of Mr. Orville Wright's aeroplane caused the machine to fall 75 feet; Mr. Orville Wright was seriously injured, and a passenger, Lieutenant Selfridge, U.S.A., mortally.

18. At Corbridge, Northumberland, a hoard was found of forty-eight Roman gold coins dating from 364 to 395 A.D.

General Luard, husband of the lady murdered near Seal, Kent, on August 30, committed suicide at a level crossing near Maidstone, while temporarily insane from anonymous attacks ascribing the crime to him.

19. A circular from the Local Government Board to county and borough councils maintained that most of the evil results of motoring could be dealt with under existing legislation, and suggested measures to be taken by local authorities for expediting traffic and dealing with dust.

At Lichfield, a statue of James Boswell, presented to the town by Mr. Percy Fitzgerald, was unveiled by Dr. Robertson Nicoll. 20. The National Telephone Exchange was burnt at Paris.

21. The ballot of engineers of the north-east coast resulted in the acceptance of the employers' terms, involving a reduction of 1s. per week in wages, by 4,609 against 3,739. The strike had begun on February 14, and earlier attempts by the Board of Trade to settle it had failed. This ballot was the outcome of a Conference held at the Board of Trade on September 8 and 9. About 500,000l. had been lost in wages alone during the strike.

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At Le Mans, Mr. Wilbur Wright (brother of Orville Wright) flew in his aeroplane 66·6 kilometres, or about 41 miles, in 1 hr. 31 min. 25 sec.

22. At Carlisle, the Speaker of the House of Commons was presented with the freedom of the city, and delivered a speech on the history of his office.

-The Report of the Prison Commissioners and Directors of Convict Prisons noted a continued decrease in juvenile crime, and commended the results of the Borstal system, and the projected treatment of habitual criminals under the Prevention of Crime Bill. The total of persons imprisoned in 1907-8 was 196,233, against 199,282 in 1906-7.

23. In a motor race of nine rounds of 37 miles in the Isle of Man, limited to cars whose cylinders did not exceed four inches in bore, 38 cars started; the first three were a Calthorpe car driven by W. Watson