decrease of £94,000. On Maria Island, quite near, an inexhaustible carboniferous limestone deposit has been discovered, which makes into excellent Portland cement almost without any admixture or manipulation. The Fifth session of the Federal Council of Australia was opened at Hobart Town on the 26th of January; Sir S. Griffith, from Queensland, was elected President; only Victoria, Queensland, W. Australia and Tasmania were represented; and the meeting was not of much importance.

From NEW ZEALAND is announced the discovery of new goldfields in Otago, and what in the long run will probably be even better for the colony, a successful attempt to acclimatize lobsters. A similar attempt is being made with salmon. There has been a greater influx of emigrants than usual; and the receipts for the financial year, amounting to £2,940,000, show an increase of £80,000, leaving a clear surplus of £168,000, for the 11 months the Customs exceeded the estimate by £56,000. A destructive fire at Hastings, near Napier, caused a damage of £50,000.

In CANADA, the returns for the last fiscal year give the following results: Revenue $36,340,000; Expenditure $36,190,000; surplus $150,000. The Exports stood at $113,963,000. Those to the United Kingdom were $65,000,000, to the United States $41,000,000, the latter declining $8,175,000, while the former increased by $15,750,000. There was, however, a decrease in the Revenue of $1,650,000, in the customs of $3,000,000, on the Railways of $500,000; but the Excise increased by $1,000,000. The national debt was $295,000,000 (an increase of $5,000,coo) with an annual interest of $10,000,000. The Dominion still smarts at the restriction on cattle; and while it authoritatively declares that there is no Pleuropneumonia there, an influential meeting at Glasgow has backed up Canada's demand for the withdrawal of the order in Council. Among other returns we find that the 3,600 dozens of eggs exported to Great Britain in 1890 had in 1892 increased to 3,987,655 dozens: the increase in cheese being 22,000,000 lb., and in butter 4,000,236 lb.

The 1st consignment of Turkeys for Christmas (only one of many such) last exceeded $50,000. The Budget Statement made in the middle of February, declared good prospects and a substantial surplus. Free trade was declared to be an impossibility as neither the revenue nor the Industries of Canada could stand the strain. The Government, however, favoured preferential trade with the British Empire; and though opposed to unrestricted reciprocity with the United States, would accept any fair measure offered by them: we note that the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce have recorded a protest against any "Imperial Federation" modification of absolute Free Trade. The Franco-Canadian Steamship Co. offer a line of fast steamers between Rouen and Halifax, but the proposed new treaty with France is not yet concluded. Canada has removed the preferential canal tolls, which had given offence to the States; and these have, on remonstrance, removed the quarantine they had placed on Canadian cattle coming to Chicago. Severe weather had caused several blocks on the Pacific Railway, while many trains had been delayed. The NOVA SCOTIA Premier announced the purchase by a Boston Syndicate for 99 years of the Cape Breton Coal mines and said he preferred American to British Capital. The proposal passed both Houses; but good coal has been announced in other places near, which practically discounts the value of the acquisition. A return of shipping for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward's Island shows an alarming decrease from 1884. Nova Scotia, 1884 vessels, 3,019; 1892, 2,740; decrease, 279. New Brunswick, 1884 vessels, 1,096; 1892, 946; decrease, 50. Prince Edward's Island, 1884: vessels, 243; 1892, 196; decrease, 47. This total decrease of 376 vessels made a decrease of 142,000 in the tonnage.

The Behring's Sea Arbitration continues to drag on. In January the two counter-cases were put in and two meetings of the Arbitrators took place at Paris on the 23rd February and the 23rd March. The United States demands are the declaration (1) that Russia had

exclusive rights, which (2) England recognised; and which (3) were passed on to the U. States by the cession of Alaska in 1867; that (4) the "Pacific" in the treaty of 1825 does not include the Behring's Sea; and (5) that all the past acts of the United States are justifiable and justified. They ask that England should be mulcted in compensation; and that even if they have not proprietary rights in the seal herds, an International obligation be imposed on England to prevent Pelagic sealing.

The NEWFOUNDLAND Ministry have split on the subject of last year's delegation, and Sir W. Whiteway the Premier has been placed in a minority. The operation of the Bait Act has just been suspended, and French, American and Canadian vessels can now purchase bait at Newfoundland ports on paying the license fee.

In the WEST INDIES, the Governor, Sir H. Blake, is relieved at his own request of the Presidency of the Jamaica Legislative Council, to the delight of both himself and people: Dr. Phillips is now President. The coffee crop is one of the best for many years. The import duties exceeded the estimate by £4,662. To a credit in hand of £243,987 was added the Revenue of 1891-92 = £590,611. The expenditure (including £28,998 for sinking funds and £600 for redemption of debts) was £639,864, leaving a credit to carry over of £194,734. The imports were £1,759,890— being 49% from the United Kingdom (decrease), 372 from the United States, 10'4 from Canada (great increase), and 3'4 from other countries. Exports were £1,722,096, being 327% to the United Kingdom, 509 to the United States, 3'5 to Canada, and 12'9 to other countries. In the Bahama Contempt of Court Case, the Privy Council decide that the Queen having the power to remit punitive sentences of contempt of Court," has delegated it to the Governor, in the words of his commission. British Guiana export of Gold in 1892 was 121,358 oz. = = £436,142.

Obituary. We record with regret the death, during this quarter of H. H. Sir Ranjit Singhji; Raja of Rutlam; the infant Prince of Mysore, Devaraj Wadayar; J. R. Taylor,

C.B., the author of the present system of tabulation of wounds; the Hon. George Higginbotham, of Victoria; Genl. W. B. Price, R.A. ;* Genl. W. Reid Martin ;* A. M. Ferguson, C.M.G. of Ceylon; at Jerusalem the Chief Rabbi Raphael Meir Phanisel; Genl. Francis Young ;* Gen. H. F. Kennedy ;† Pundit Dharm Narain, C.I.E.; Genl. Conrad Hamilton ;*+ Genl. W. C. Anderson, C.S.I. of the Bombay Legislative Council; Sir J. P. Grant, successively Lieut.-Governor of the N. W. P. and of Bengal, during the mutiny, and Governor of Jamaica; Dr. Gottfried von Wagner, of the Tokio University; Sir P. B. Maxwell, of the Straits Settlements; Prof. Gustave Volkmar of Zurich; Col. Marmaduke Ramsay ;* Col. T. W. Martin ;* H. F. Blandford, F.R.S., Indian Meteorological Dept. ; Prince Charles Alexander Edward Theodore of Abyssinia; Dr. David Cassel, a well-known writer on Hebrew literature; Sir James M'Culloch, K.C.M.G., of Victoria; Sir Augustus Fitzgerald, late Bengal Artillery; Sir Thomas Baker, K.C.B., who served in the Crimean, Mutiny, New Zealand, Ashanti, Afghan and Burma campaigns; Genl. S. J. A. Whitehall, who served in the 1st Afghan and Persian wars, and in the Mutiny; Thakur Haribal Amratram, late Prime minister of Radhanpur; Pestonji Hormuzji Cama, founder of the Cama Hospital, Bombay; Gen. George Burn who died at the age of 90, after 42 years of Indian service, including the China war; Kaid Bushta Bin Baghdadi, Basha of Fez; Genl. G. B. Mainwaring, the great authority on the Lepcha language; M. Crozet, the explorer of Massi; Ex-chief Kreli, of the Gulchas of Transkei; R. E. Minchin, Director of the Zoological gardens at Adelaide; Genl. A. L. Steele, Madras Army, who served in China; Gen. A. A. H. Gordon of the Hong Kong Police, who served in the Ashanti and Afghan Wars; Genl. Sir Henry Bates, K.C.B., who served in the first Sikh War;-Col. R. C. Cross ;* Col. Hewitt Barnard, C.M.G.; Judge Kelly of Prince Edward Island. 23rd March, 1893.

* Served in the Mutiny. Served in the Burma War.

† Served in the Second Punjab War.

REVIEWS AND NOTICES.

1. Letters from a Mahratta Camp, by J. D. BROUGHTON. (Westminster : A. Constable and Co., 1892; 6s.) This forms the fourth volume of Constable's new Oriental Miscellany. The letters (32 in number, making 262 pages) extend from December 1808 to February 1810, and give a plain, unvarnished, and therefore all the more agreeable account of the manners and customs of the then Maharaja Scindhia, his armies, and their contemporaries. Court intrigues and debauches, native feasts and customs, military manœuvres and insubordination, grinding tyranny and cruel devastation, bloody deeds and amusing incidents, descriptions of places and character sketches,-and, distinctly towering over all, the chronic state of abject impecuniosity, of camp-followers, soldiers, officers, chiefs,—and especially of Scindhia himself, the cause of that of all the others,-are told in a narrative, clear and simple, familiar and full. The book is most interesting and instructive, as a true picture of the times of Maharatta ascendancy in Rajputana, and it will be appreciated by all who love to read of the East and its ways. We single out descriptions of Dharna at p. 31,of an Akhara or Pancratium at p. 162,—of a camp tumult and murder at p. 167. To mention all the strangely characteristic and telling incidents would be to indicate every third page. We recommend the book heartily to our readers. The map, the 10 illustrations quaint and life-like, and the general get-up of the book are very creditable to its enterprising publishers. It would have been an improvement had Mr. Broughton's quaint spelling of Indian words been corrected: it is vexing to find such things as Muha Raj for Maharaja perpetuated without any need. The innate interest of these letters needed no introduction; least of all so insipid and colourless a one as Sir M. E. Grant-Duff has most unnecessarily given to it.

2. Grammar of the Hindi Languages, by S. H. KELLOGG, D.D. (London: Kegan Paul and Co., 1893; 21s.) We welcome the second edition of this grammar, which shows, on every page, the learned author's thorough and rare knowledge of the language and its various dialects. It is already a well-known standard work on the subject, and is the one used for the Civil Service examinations. It embraces everything requisite to be known, even by the advanced scholar, and goes into the fullest details of exceptions and variations; and almost always with perfect accuracy. Dr. Kellogg has, however, been unfortunate in this, that in revising his first edition, he decided also on "enlarging" it. The reverse exactly was needed; for when a grammar reaches 584 pages and 1,017 sections, besides numerous double and triple page inserts of paradigms, the most enthusiastic students of a language and the warmest admirers of the grammarian are forced to cry, "Ohe! jam satis !" In fact, Dr. Kellogg's great faults are prolixity of style, redundancy of illustration, and wearisome reiteration of details. He also belongs to the class of grammarians who delight in multiplying diffi

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