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oh HALF Of tee fQELDi-r^ssrr^.r, How the Working Classes in the British Metropolis Are Housed. In a recent issue of Lloyd's Weekly News, published in London, England, is the following interesting article on the housing of London's working population. The News says cheap buildings, which would last about twenty years, until the transit facilities have been developed. The Liverpool corporation has already made a move in this direction. The city engineer has perfected a method by which buildings will be erected from slabs made from the clinker thrown off by dust destructor. The fronts, floors and roofs are all to be in single individual parts, hoisted into position, and then bolted gether. The cost of construction Municipal house building in Lon- be about one-half that at present don is proceeding very rapidly. The j paid ; it will be possible to build a County Council has already provided the rate of a house a day, and thi accommodation for over 40,000 per- I corporation will be able t approaching lions and a half sterling, and when it has completed the schemes it has in hand it will have housed some 90,000 people at an outlay of about four and a half millions. These 90,-000 persons constitute a population larger than that of Barrow-in-Furness, or Bath, or Blackpool, or Carlisle. The Tottenham scheme which the Council has in hand far the largest that has been undertaken by any municipality ii world. It will, in fact, mea creation of a new town almo big as Swindon.* I date 40,000 persons, and will contain all the requisites and appurtenances of an ordinary, self-possessed centre. The Borough Councils hav< not undertaken such extensive housing schemes as has the central authority. Eleven of them have taken action, including the City Corporation, which does not work under the same laws as the other local governing bodies. The City Corporation has several blocks of dwellings in occupation. The Shoreditch Borough Council, too, has buildings in vise, and schemes are more or less nearing completion under the control of the Camberwell, Woolwich, Westminster, St. Pancras, and Stepney authorities. The projects of the Bermondsey, Battersea, Chelsea, St. Harylebone, and Hackney Councils are at present only in their early stages. MOST DIFFICULT PROBLGM. In face of this activity the problem of the poor in London is as great and as pressing as ever. Over-wding during the past few years high in the East-end--if not higher-- than ever they were ; the County Council itself is not able to house the "very poorest"--to use a phrase that has been uttered many times recently at Spring-gardens. The j tenants of the Council's dwellings-- and even progressive County Councillors thoroughly in sympathy with the housing policy-- complain that the rents are more than can comfortably be paid, and that the regulations are harsh, and sometimes prohibitive. The County Council is not, as will be admitted by its most optimistic members, housing the "very poorest." Among those in occupation of its dwellings at the time the iast reliable computation was. made, g per room per week--the ideal of the housing reformer. MADE FROM A FARTHING. A Dublin workman has produced a novelty in the shape of a kettle, cup, saucer, and spoon made out of a farthing. He hammered the bronze coin till he had obtained a very-thin sheet of metal, from which he fashioned a complete and workable kettle, with a swing handle, removable lid, etc., togethi and spoon. He car ater m the miniature utensil our it through the spout, eight of the kettle, cup, sa forty grains. boil five clergymen, eighty-om threo customs officers, s clans, fifty-four engineers, clerks, Thes 5 do not, those who follow them to the low* depths of poverty. It is not t noorest who are the Council's tc ants. But what does occur is th these j--~ople remove from other houses, which are thereby available for tho really lowest classes which the Council la unable to touch, this way I lie pressure is, and wil! relieved ; accommodation beco: available , *he volume of demand decreased ; and rents necessar ly show a tendency towards reduction also. That, at least, is the theory, which had not yet been justified otherwise because municipal hous has not been sufficiently extensiv undertaken to supply any relit POOREST STILL UNHOUSED Why, then, cannot the County Council house the poorest are many reasons, some of are obvious. The price of high ; the cost of building Both have to be absolutely wiped out by the County Council withi i a term of 60 years. Land that in London is a permanent asset, increasing in value every year, has to be paid for in less than the average lifetime. Mr. John Burns has stated that the Council's dwellings will last for 200 years if kept in proper repair, and they babe to be paid for in 60. The effect is simple and unavoidable. The Council may not go upon the rates for deficiencies in its housing schemes, so it has to fix the rents sufficiently high to cover the annual repayments of capital and the interest charges. What is happening i; that the tenants are themselves paying the capital expenditure on the buildings. Were the lard made what it really ought the king's household. MYSTERIOUS DUTIES OF THE ARMY OF OFFICIALS. Queer Titles and Salaries of the Heads of King Edward's Household. There is a fascination, as well at mystery, about the army of offi als who constitute the King's household ; and the least curious has probably often speculated :> what kind of a man a Gentle-Usher Quarterly Waiter can i sibly be and how he differs from Groom of the Great Chamber, or what are the duties of a Gentle-n-Porter and a Page of the Back Stairs,. quite a small world in itself, this domestic retinue of the King, world as interesting as it is little known ; and many of its inhabitants most enviable of men. Who, for instance, would not be willing to change places with the Clerk of the King's Kitchen, unattractive as the title may appear ? This gentleman is said to be the autocrat of the under-world of the Royal palaces, where all the dainty dishes are. made that "are set before the King" ; and, as becomes such an important official, he is reputed to fare more delicately than any gourmet in Eng- As a reward for his agreeable duties he receives $3,500 a year, with irreproachable "board and lodging" and has a personal retinue of four clerks, a messenger, and a "necessary woman," whatever the qualifying adjective may mean. Then there is the chief cook, the culinary Caesar of the kitchens, who j also draws $3,5©0 a year, and ! doubt earns it well ; and v word is law to a small army of ter cooks, assistant-cooks, apprentices, steam apparatus men, roast-ing-cooks, and kitchenroaids, to mention a few only of his subjects. The Yeomen of the Confectionery Department are passing rich on $1,-000 and $1,250 a year, with the best of board and lodging ; and there are a pastry-cook and a baker, each with his own body-guard of assistants ; while there is also a dignified official known as THE "ERRAND-MAN." To the King's chief butler, who draws $2,500 a year is entrusted the ordering of. the royal wines and the custody of the cellars ; while two officials, whose sole duty it is to prepare and deck the royal tables, receive $1,000 a year each. From the errand-man to the Lord Steward, the supreme head of the King's Household, is a great jump; for the Lord Steward is Field-Marshal of the army in which the gentleman who runs errands is a private. The Lorfl Steward, who receives $10,000 a year, and is always a great nobleman, is first of the four debt-- the again of t i repayment uildings extended hundred years, the rentals of the County Council dwellings could be reduced by about one-half. QUICKER TRANSIT REQUIRED. The London housing question will be solved, however, not by huge barrack structures, but by more efficient transit facilities, which will enable the working people to be carried to the areas outside tho city, and to live in airy cottages. But even here the municipal authority will be unable to build sufficiently cheaply unless its burdens are eased by the Legislature in the direction of spreading the capital re-payments over a longer period of years. The only criticism ;hat can fairly be di. rected against the County Council's housing policy is whether the Council is not building \oo well. Its workmen's dwellings are not, like the graves of the digger in "Hamlet," to last till Doomsday. The term of years for which they will be .required Witt, on the contrary, be ttoroparatively short. It will be great officers of the royal hold, of whom the others s Treasurer, the Comptroller, and the Master of the Household, the last-named ranking next in salary to his chief, with $5,790 a year--to which must be added the privilege of dining at the King's own table. These are the four dignitaries who preside in a judicial capacity at the Board of Green Cloth and the Court of the Marshalsea--two little-known courts, of large and varied jurisdiction . The Court of Green Cloth not only includes Buckingham Palace within its dominion, but the whole district within a radius of twelve miles ; and at one time held the power of life and death over traitors and murmerers. Now, alas ! its function is chiefly to settle disputes points of etiquette and preced-3, or arrange kitchen and other domestic differences. The Court of the Marshalsea, to which jaany officials, including constable*, are attached, has jurisdic-!T all royal houses other than BucWtgham Palace. Thyi Master of the Ceremonies is a very dignified and courtly official, a '.-master on all points of eti-te and of grace of deportment, receives the seemingly inade-Se salary of $2,500 a year. The King's military domestic retinue consists of a corps of forty gentlemen-at-arms, each of whom receives retaining salary of $500 a year, while the captain and lieutenant respectively draw $6,000 and $3,000. THE MEDIAEVAL GENTLEMEN known as the Yeomen of the Guard are rewarded by ,§450 a year each ; and their captain, always a peer, sceives $6,000. The Keeper of the Privy Purse has the pleasing duty of signing all the King's cheques and dispensing hi private charity, in return for $5, 000 a year and many perquisities while the Lord High Almoner, th Bishop of Ely, is responsible for the distribution of royal alms on Maundy Thursday and on two other occasions during each year. The King's medical body-guard consists of twenty-two of the most eminent physicians and surgeons in England, to whom the honor is more than the comparatively small retaining fees they receive. His musical taste is ministered to by an excellent band, which costs nearly $10,000 a year ; of which the master reeeives $1,000, the conductor $500, and the instrumentalists $200, which is also the salary of the ten State trumpeters. Of more ornamental officials there are eight lords-in-waiting, all high nobles ; as many grooms-in-waiting, distinguished officers of the army and navy, with three extra grooms-waiting. The Gentlemen-Ushers b an army in themselves, and are of many classes, of the Privy Chamber, Black Rod, and Daily and Quarterly Waiters. Among lower-placed, and perhaps lore useful, officials the footmen receive from $300 to $400 a year ; and, surprising to state, the wages of the royal housemaids $100 a year. Tc Jd a large numbi hold officials, too numerc tjon, and ranging from the Librarian and Poet Laureate to the Master of the Royal Barge, the Keeper of the-Swans, and that most mysterious official gentleman, the Coroner o: the Verge.--London Tit-Bits. gmc«io>OKHae<e>ei^ The Halls of Tara. VOICES MADE TO ORDER. Actual operations have demonstrated that the larynx or vocal box car be successfully removed, and thi patient may not only survive th< shock, but recover. In order to re store speech to the patient an arti-fiscial larynx and vocal cords an provided. The voice artificially produced is incapable of inflection; bu although it is a monotone, the patient is perfectly able to carry c. pepper has been found grow-in New Guinea. It is called kissine pepper, and is of a reddish brown color and spicy flavor. Most parrots' skins for millinery pigeons, sei ing the pla hitherto us< from China. White . from Japan, are tak-! of the quiTl feathers The Hill of Tara, in County Meath, of which 239 acres have just been sold by public auction for £3,700, is probably the least known and yet most historical spot in the three kingdoms. The fame of Tara rests on better foundations than the story of the Ark of the Covenant being concealed there by St. Patrick, which periodically makes its appearance in certain London newspapers. In February, 1895, I had the honor of reading a paper before the members of the British Archaeological Association on the excavations which were then proposed on this far-famed spot, writes Mr. R. H. McDonald, and as it is now stated that excavations are in progress there, some authentic details of Tara and what may be found in its may be of interest, s true that Tara in the minds of the Irish peasants is in some way associated with the Ark of the Jewish Temple, which is believed to have been hidden before the Babylonish captivity, and has never since been heard of, but there seems no likely foundation for the story, and in any case to suggest it may have been taken to Ireland by St. Pat- THE STONE OF DESTINY. Unfortunately for Tara, it is situated only a few hours from London, in a "distressful country" called Ireland, and about 24 miles from the seat of the Viceregal Court. Consequently it is overlooked by explorers and archaeologists. Rich men anxious to provide the funds for the exploration of Mesopotamia or to investigate the remains o' Babylon have no interest in tb< ancient crowning place of the King! of Ireland, the historic spot associated with the most distant past of the Green Isle, and which has been known to song and story for vu. wards of five-and-twenty centuries. Tara, Tarah, Heamhair, Tea-mt (or house of Tea), Taragh, and Teamlirah are some of the many 3 of this small hill, a green ig mound about three-quarters mile long from north to south, and rather less than half a mile ir extreme breadth. It is covered with earthworks, commonly known in Ireland as raths. the remains of thG palaces, fortresses and halls of Tara. In the centre of the principal of these which has escaped the devastating plow is a monumental pillar, and a half feet high, and buried about three feet in the ground. This is the celebrated Lia-Stone of Destiny, which disputes with that in Westminster Abbey the claim to be the true Pillar^ of Jacob. Rath mi Riogh, or Rath of the King, and the Liafail stands on the grave where 50 Irish patriots, whose ears had been slit for' a previous rebellion, fought, died and were buried, in a last stand in 1798. Here on the top of the ancient home of Ireland's Kings they sleep under last sleep, with the stone of fate as their monument. The other principal remains are King Cormath's rath, the crowning mound from which the Liafail was removed to its present position, and a long, narrow excavation, locally called "Tara's Hall." THE STORY OF A PRINCESS with a prophet, and his scribe, whose name, Simon Burgh, recalls Burach. It is still more cur' that they brought with them a stone or stones of great sanctity, one of which to this day is shrined in Westminster Abbey and known to popular superstition as "Jacob's stone." Tea is praotical-ly a Hebrew word meaning "tender one." "Mergech," the name of " tomb, a word used in an eleventh century ballad, is pure Hebrew for "sepulchre" or "resting-place" ; while Torah, the Hebrew for "law," is near enough to the word Tara t_ help out the other coincidences, and these combined circumstances have perhaps given rise to the story about the Ark. In any case, a spot so renowned in Irish history, is worth excavating and exploring, but it should be done scientifically and under gov-aent supervision. The hill tops of Ireland have yielded much valu-archaeological matter in the past, although most of them have been ravaged in early times by the Danes, who discovered that gold .ments were often to be found concealed in them. THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW. Items of Information Which Will Be Found Interesting. The Belgians are the greatest potato eaters in the world, and the Irish come second. Paris has a place of worship for each 17,000 inhabitants; London one for each 2,000. At the London general post office an average of 1,800,000 letters handled per day. A lock of the Duke of Wellingt hair brought $25 at a London i tion tne other day. San Francisco has a dredger, the bucket of which can pick up twenty-five tons at one scoop. The Cathedral of Genoa boasts the possession of a vase cut from single emerald. It is 5J inches height. „««h^e aTe now no fewer than 2 000,000 scholars and teachers in 1 Sunday schools of the world The jawbone of the average whale i 25 feet in length. The tongue of JCh a monster will yield a ton The police of Berlin carry revolv--s which fire seven shots in °ardsand km at 3 distance of 660 Only 24 per cent, of doctors attain the age of seventy years. About 42 per cent, of clergymen reach that age. It is said that there is a woman in Manchester, England, who has eyes which magnify objects fifty times their natural size. Denmark's educational system is 3 perfect and popular that through-nt the entire country there is not ne illiterate family. According to the monks of the hospice of St. Bernard, their famous dogs save on an average twenty "ves every year on the mountain. In Hungary the parents of rail-ay employes are entitled to travel t half price, and superannuated employes travel free over all the The pearl-shelling industry is a very valuable product in Queensland, where $25,000,000 has been secured during the last twenty-five years for pearl shell. In every 1,000 marriages in Great Britain twenty-one are solemnized between first cousins. Among the nobility the rate is much higher, ting to forty-five in 1,000. Disregarding the absolutely legendary history of Tara, the first authentic story is associated with a princess, who came over the Magh Rein (plain of the sea) in 580 B.C., and who married the Heremon of Ulster. She was accompanied by a Prophet, or Revealer, known as Ollan Fodhle, and his tcribe or pupil, Simon Burgh. They also brought with them the Liafail and came via Spain. The Annals of the Four Masters, which are the oldest written history Ireland possessess, state that this lady, Tea Tephi, was a daughtei Pharaoh, who married the Heremon of Ulster, the ruler of the Tuath an Eastern tribe who conquered Ireland about 1342 1029 B.C. Daughter of Pharaoh y implies royal descent and Egyptian origin. She chose as her dowry (a typical Jewish custom) this hill to be the of her palace and for a burying 2. The old prophet who accompanied her gave to Ireland her first code of laws. The Liafail, of destiny, was set up as a crowning stone, the tradition being that it groaned when the rightful heir sat upon it. Two hundred and •fifty years later Fergus, the brother of the new reigning monarch of Ireland, crossed to Scotland and took a. stone with him ; whether the real Liafail or not no man can say. Fergus was a direct descendant of Tea Tephi's race, and he and his .descendants were firowned on the smaller stone until Edward I. removed it to Westminster. The tradition, however, followed it, for ths race who had usurped it died out, and it was James XI. of Scotland who founded the new English line of monarchs crowned on the Scottish" stone, and James XI. was descended from Tea Tephi. SOME COINCIDENCES. Who was Tea Tephi ? The legends handed down by an uneducated peasantry are'rarely accurate; but, on the other hand, they are often very near the truth. There is no smoke, in fact, without fire. The L-ish oral tradition is that Tea Tephi was the daughter of Zedekiah, the last king of David's line. She' disappeared in Egypt with Jeremiah and Daruch in 588 B.C. It is certainly a curious coincidence that only eight years later there appeared a princess in Ireland, described as a daughter of Pharaoh, were there no alcohol SOME OF ITS VICES AND ITS VIRTUES. Misery and Crime Would Almost Disappear, But Doctors Must Use It. There are 24 million consumers of alcoholic liquor in Great Britain, and they spend on an average $35 each every year on drink. If alcohol exist, or were suddenly to disappear, the people of the United Kingdom would save $805,000,000 a year. In other words, all the working families in the kingdom would be about one-fifth better off than they are at present, says London Answers. Another advantage of the absence of alcohol would be that Britain's prison bill would drop in an amaz* ing fashion. If) is calculated that two-thirds of ■ all crime and insanity irise from over-indulgence in alco-lolic drinks. Now our police cost the country $30,000,000 yearly, our lunatic asylums $7,500,000, and our of justice (in salaries alone) another $2,500,000. We also pay t more than $40,000,000 yearly poor relief, quite half of. which uld be saved to the country by the disappearance of drink. There would thus be a further saving ol $50,000,000 a year to the United Kingdom, in addition to the $805,-000,000 already mentioned. " much for the advantages of there being no alcohol. There is another side to the shield. More than one-third of our whole National revenue comes from Excise. The amount so raised last year was over $177,500,000. All, or nearly all, this money would have to be raised in other ways. We might have to pay a 25 cent tax on tea, and 12 cea4s on every bottle ol ginger-beef. The money at present invested in the brewing industry is GIGANTIC IN AMOUNT. It is reckoned at $1,150,000,000. II alcohol suddenly vanished, all this valuable plant would be practically useless. The whole business of the country would be disorganised. Also the rates and taxes levied on this vast amount of property would have to be raised in some other fashion. Nearly 200,000 people make a living out of the brewing and distilling industries, and considerably over '50,000 depend directly on the sale of drink for their livelihood. New work would have to be found, therefore, for almost 1,000,000 people. But alcohol is not used for drink-ig purposes only. In the form ol methylated spirit, or spirits of wine, 3 extending into dozens of varying industries. Without alcohol e should be at a loss for some imple and clean material for boiling ur tea-kettles where gas is not available. The perfumery industry would practically vanish with the disappearance of alcohol. Nearly all this i les the world c Still won the doctor, gist sed yearly in Great iver $25,000,000, and ,n one-tenth of what 3e would be the case of the chemist, and drug-alcohol wiped from the Pharmacopoeia. The tinctures which compose the majority of useful medi-| cines are almost all prepared I BY THE AID OF ALCOHOL, for paper has been re- i Doctors prescribe these vered in France. It is | made with dilute proof spirit found that the substance makes cellent sails for yachts, fishing boats nd the smaller craft generally. Many churches in the central dis-■icts of London, each occupying ground worth $1,250,000, have "congregations on Sunday mornings of than a dozen persons, v process hailing from Holland it is claimed that a moist hide be turned into leather ready for the saddler's and shoemaker's use in from one to three days. More than 40 per cent, of the people of Great Britain could not writs their names when Queen Victoria ascended the throne. Now only 7 per cent, are in that condition. Grey hairs at an early hereditary in certain familie thought to be the result of r dark hair marrying women with dark hair through several genera- caustics, irritants, stimulants, and tonics. It has been nothing but our foolish fiscal regulations with i • • to the importation of pure aicohol that has given over the drug and allied trades into the hands of Ger- The painter ancf decorator would find i BUFFET CARS IN JAPAN. . Sen a Day The Sanuki Railway, has arranged to have its refreshment cars served by waitresses, says the Japan Times. Each train includes one such car, and each has a waitress as attendant. This arrangement was started a few months since, and the girls were selected from about thirty applicants as having the following qualifications : First, a passable personal appearance ; second, education; third, good health, fourth good conduct, and, fifth, an absolutely respectable past. The waitresses rank as officials of the railway, and are under the following regulations : First, hair to be dressed in the agemaki style--resembling a Greek helmet; second, an improved style'; third, the girls to rest morning or afternoon by turns and every sixth day; fourth, the wages to be 18 sen per day ; fifth, the girls on duty to behave with military discipline, to take no "tips," to refrain from chatter with the passengers, and when passengers re in the carriage to stand in the irner of the carriage. Among the girls who have entered ie service are many from respectable families, and they have behaved rell and decently. The company had pprehended that passengers might behave vulgarly toward them, but, happily, every respect has been paid them, and the railway authori-: consider the service a success, j ate for alcohol, the varnish maker use to dissolve the resins of which he uses such quantities ? The instrument maker would be lost without alcohol. Alcohol has the rare and c-rious property of refusing to solidify even under the most bitter Arctic cold. It is therefore invaluable for use in thermometers and similar insini-ments employed in climates where mercury becomes solid with frost. Collodion is indispensable to the photographer. Collodion could not be prepared without, the use of alcohol, so it may almost be snid that the whole science and industry of photography depends on alcohol. So, too, do the manufacturers of sulpholine chloral, of artificial billiard balls, and of the new modified cordite powder. Finally, natural Brians would have much difficulty in finding any substitute for spirits as a means for preserving intact and perfect specimens whioh would otherwise be lost to science.' ONLY A PUPPY YET. The youth had just left college, nd his ambition, like his collar, /as high. At home the all-engrossing subject fas the young man's future career, and he was discussing with his par-its which of the professions stood iost in need of his genius. The father's idea of his son's abil-y was disgustingly low. "I think," said the old man, "that you had better adorn one of the stools in my office." The young man drew himself up, and the high collar grew tight as he ove to swallow his righteous an-■. Folding his arms, he asked: Am I a dog?" No; but you'll grow!" came thf crushing response. Foreman of the locked-in jury (iron patiently) -- "The rest of us are agreed, and you would see the case re do if you had an ounce of brains." Obstinate Juror (reflect" ively) -- "But that's just the tro»« I've got more than an ouncs,1*