... THE VERMIN ASPHYXIATOR. The following explanation of the above apparently useful invention is from The Times .— Such is the title of a machine cf ingenious but irople construction recently invented by Mi-. Samuel Bate- son—a well-known sportsman—and commending itself at once by its name to the notice pi farmers, gardeners, and others who suffer from the depredations of the dangerous classes ...

... A Midland Coalmaster has sent the following letter to The. Times for publication. It will be read with great interest just now:- I am a mineowner in one of the Midland districts, and wish to call the attention of the public, through your columns, to the very serious position, both pre- sent and prospective, of the trading community, and, indeed, of all classes^ owing to the highly abnormal ...

... Lord Salisbury has accepted the Portfolio of Foreign Affairs, vacant by the resignation of the Earl of Derby, and has entered upon his official duties. Mr. Gathorne Hardy becomes the Secretary of State for India, in the place of the Marquis of Salisbury. Mr. Hardy will, we understand, in the course of a few weeks, be raised to the House of Lords. Colonel Stanley succeeds to the Secretaryship ...

... IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. In the HotTBB OF louds, March 29, Lord Bury, In reply to Lord Sandwich, said that in reference to leave of absence to officers in the Army attendance to Parliamentary duties overrode all other duties, even those of a military nature, and the military authorities had always granted leave of absence to omeers to enable them to discharge their func- tions in Parliament. In ...

... Last Sunday evening Mount Pleasant Chapel was the scene of much excitement, it being known that a sermon bearing upon the memory of'our late respected fellow-townsman, Mr D. Jones, was to be preached by the Rev. T. Ll. Jones. The chapel, which on ordinary occa- sions is crowded, was on Sunday evening thronged before six o'clock by an eager multi- tude and after all available standing room had ...

... From Monday's Times. On Saturday Windsor enjoyed the privilege of seeine the last public appearance of the late Government and tae first of the present Ministry. Nothing could have been more marked than the contrast of the respective receptions given by the Inhabitants to the two aets of statesmen. A sneering. curiosity was the attitude of the crowd at the station, and of the groups at the ...

... EPITOME OF SBITISH AND FOREIGN, The poor-rate in Bristol for the ensuing half-year is to be Hid. in the pnun l. This is the first time since 1840 that the rate has been oelow la. The Hackney petition was, up to Saturday night, the only one lodged against areturn curing herecen general' election. The pressure of local poverty at Brighton has become so severe that. tbe General Soup Charity of ...

... The Golos states that the St. Petersburg Municipality, by direction of the Minister of the Interior, is preparing a list of persons eligible for Militia officers in the event of that body being embodied. ...

... A characteristic figure, well known to the thousands who frequent the Berlin Exchange, has just dis- appeared from the busy stage of life. We allude to Herr Lobel Sohn, who breathed his last a few days ago at the age of sixty-eight. For nearly forty years he had been a regular frequenter of the Exchange, where the sharp Jewish face, the coat which never seemed to be renewed, the napless hat of ...

... A map of Germany had been just publishPd showing the districts in the German Empire in which tobacco is grown, the percentage of hectares in each province in which the plant is cultivated, and the yield per hectare in different localities. Information on all these pomts is afforded at a glance by the employment on the map of six different colours and ten different kinds of shading. From a ...

... (Frem The Time.) Lord Charles Bedford's speech on Torpedoei last Monday raised very effectively a question which inti- mately affects the whole naval policy of the country for purposes both of cfiance and of defence. Navies are at present estimated very much in proportion to the magnitude and the armament of the ships which compose them. A vessel like the Devastation in the English Navy, or ...

... BRITISH AND FOREIGN, Fowl keeping in France is declared to yield an annual return ot more than 400,000, COO francs. It is stated that the work of removing to England the obelisk known as Cleopatra's Needle will be earrled out at the sole cost of Mr. ErMmns Wilson, F.R.S. L. P.—Write whenever you can. I will never give you up. Perfect trust and love. So sorry for yon. You shall hear from me ...