National.

During the year 1902 the number of National banks increased from 4,291 to 4,666; the total resources increased from nearly five and three-quarter billions to over six billions—more than a million a day; the increase in loans and discounts was about three hundred millions. The amount of money held in reserve November 25 was over five hundred millions, and the capitalization at that date was $714,616,353.

Dies for the new Philippine coinage are being cut at the Philadelphia mint in anticipation of the favorable action of Congress authorizing such a coinage. The Philippine Commission has agreed to indemnify the mint management for this expense in case of the failure of Congress to pass the coinage bill.

The San Francisco-Honolulu Cable, which the eable steamer Silverton has been laying, was completed in time to allow New Year's greetings to be sent to the United States from Honolulu. It is expected that by July 4 the work of continuing the cable to Manila will have been completed.

Ambassador McCormick, who succeeds Ambassador Charlemagne Tower at St. Petersburg, was tendered his farewell reception by Emperor Francis Joseph at Viennalast week.

On December 29 the new time ball crected on the top of the Ames Building, Boston, by the United States Hydrographic Bureau was dropped for the first time at 12 noon.

Foreign.

December 29, the viceroy, Lord Curzon of Kedleston, made his state entrance into the capital of the Moguls at Delhi, India. This constituted the opening of the durbar held to celebrate the accession of King Edward as Emperor of India. At the head of the procession. mounted upon an elephant, rode Lord and Lady Curzon; behind them were the Duke of Connaught, who represented King Edward, and the Duchess of connaught; then followed in the order of their precedence the seventy ruling chiefs. At the rear of the procession rode General Lord Kitchener, the commander-in-chief in India, surrounded by a brilliant staff and followed by the heads of the provinces, with escorts of Indian cavalry and tribal leaders from beyond the border line. The entire route was lined by British and native troops. Huge crowds of onlookers witnessed the spectacle, which, it is claimed, has never been surpassed in magnificence. The announcement of the coronation of King Edward was made on New Year's Day. His message was received with great enthusiasm. The ceremonies will continue a fortnight. The total expense, it is estimated, will be $1,950,000.

A new Russian route to Persia is being opened via Odessa, Batum, and Baku to Lenkoran and thence to Enzeli, on the Caspian Sea. The route will be partly by rail, partly by sea. The distance is about a thousand miles.

France and Gautemala have agreed to submit to the International Arbitration court at The Hague the French claims against Gautemala.

The Brazilian government has made an appropriation of $200,000 to defray the necessary expenses of an exhibit at the St. Louis Exposition.

If present plans are carried out, half-a-dozen of the Boer leaders will settle in Mexico and conduct extensive ranches.

Industrial and Commercial.

Anticipating the removal on January 1 of the tax of ten cents a pound on tea of ten cents a pound on tea imposed during the Spanish war, an importing concern had accumulated at the bonded warehouse in Boston a stock of about twenty thousand chests of tea. During the last three days of last week this was shipped to various points of New England and beyond.

If the chests of tea shipped during these three days were arranged in a pile, having one hundred chests at the bottom in the form of a square and successive layers piled one upon the other, it would make a monument 312 feet high. In other words, this tea monument, if actually constructed. would tower into the air 92 feet higher than Bunker Hill monument. If the chests were spread out on the ground, they would cover about ten ordinary city lots. If they were placed side by side in a row they would reach within fourteen inches of six miles.

It is safe to say that this is the most important event in the tea history of Boston since the famous "Tea Party" of 1773, In quantity shipped and activity of work, the case has never, so far as is known, had its parallel.

Statements complied as to Colorado's production of beet sugar show that five factories. representing a capital of $6,000,000. have turned out $8,000,000. worth of sugar during the year. Four new factories are to be built for the coming season. Seventy five percent of the total amount is paid to the farmers for beets and labor.

The United States Steel Corporation has issued a circular to its officers and employees in which it announces its intention to inaugurate a system whereby any employee on its pay-roll may become a permanent stockholder and share in its profits. One hundred and sixty-eight thousand men are employed by the company.

A new steamship service between Boston and Manchester to be operated by the International Mercantile Marine Company, with vessels furnished by the Leyland Company, Ltd., in connection with the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad, will be inaugurated by the sailing of the Caledonia January 10.

Increases in the wages of the employees of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railbord amounting to about $500,000 per annum, and of the employees of the Baltimore and Ohio averaging seven or eight percent, went into effect January 1.

The Memphis Long Distance Telephone Company, consolidating all the independent companies in Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Texas, with connections with New York, Boston, and other Eastern cities, has been projected.

Evidences of industrial progress in the South during the past year are shown in the investments of more than fifty million dollars in constructing new railroads and twenty million dollars in cotton mills.

General.

The Automobile Club of Great Britain has planned an endurance run for 1903 that will be more severe than any hitherto attempted. No stops whatever are to be allowed, and an operator may not even clean his vehicle. Every minute spent in examining, oiling, or in any way touching the machine, except to regulate its speed and guide it, will be penalized.

The run will be one of one thousand miles on successive days, starting and finishing at the Crystal Palace. Not even punctures, or blocked roads, or railroad gates will be accepted as non-penalizable. Every one must take his chances. When the machines come in at night the operator must jump out and leave them without doing a thing. If the machines must be oiled or thinkered, the operator must do it in the morning, and be penalized one mark for every minute be spends at it.

The proposed dredging of the Tiber at Rome should result in some rich discoveries of works of art. In 1877 the dredging, which hardly went more than three feet below the bottom, brought to light an immense number of antoques; and when the Garibaldi and Sisto bridges were built the excavations revealed a great number of coins, medals, sculptures, bronzes, brasses, gems, pottery, and marbles. None of the objects, with the exception of some iron articles, had suffered much from their long submersion, which varied from fifteen to eighteen hundred years.

In proportion to the student enrolment. Johns Hopkins has one instructor to every four students; Cornell has one to eight: Yale one to nine; Columbia, Harward, Northwestern, and Pennsylvania, one to ten: Leland Stanford Junior, one to eleven; California, Minnesota, and Syracuse, one to twelve; Nebraska and Princeton; one to thirteen; Michigan, one to fourteen: Missouri and Wisconsin, one to fifteen: Indiana, one to twenty-five, and Chicago, one to twenty-seven.

The Greek Terra-Cotta Room in the Bostom Museum of Fine Arts contains in the 869 specimens, and is the largest collection on this continent. There are but four greater in Europe—the Athens. the Berlin, and the British Museums, and the Louvre. The collection represents finds from Tanagra, Myrina, Tegea, Smyrna, Tarentum, Corinth, Attica, Boeotia, Magna Graecia, Cyprus, etc.

Eight statues, twelve feet high, for the new cathedral near the palace in Berlin. have been by the German Emperor, and will take their places on as many prominent pedestals. They will represent Frederick the Wise, Albert of Prussia, Joachim the Second of Prussia, Philip of Hesse, Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, and Zwingli.

In the intercollegiate chess tournament just ended the colleges finished in the following order: Columbia, Yale, Harvard, Princeton. At a conference of the presidents of the chess clubs held during this tournament, the challenge from Oxford and Cambridge for the fifth annual cable chess match was accepted.

The International Mercantile Marine Company, organized by Mr. J. P. Morgan, proposes, it is said, to inaugurate an arangement for a fast passanger and mail steamship service from both sides of the Atlantic for each day of the week except Fridays and Sundays.

Eight statues, twelve feet high, for the new cathedral near the palace in Berlin, have been approved by the German Emperor, and will take their places on as many prominent pedestals. They will represent Frederick the Wise, Albert of Prussia, Joachim the Second of Prussia, Philip of Hesse, Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, and Zwingli.

In the intercollegiate chess tournament just ended the colleges finished in the following order: Columbia, Yale, Harvard, Princeton. At a conference of the presidents of the chess clubs held during this tournament, the challenge from Oxford and Cambridge for the fifth annual cable chess match was accepted.

The International Mercantile Marine Company, organized by Mr. J. P. Morgan, proposes, it is said, to inaugurate an arrangement for a fast passenger and mail steamship service from both sides of the Atlantic for each day of the week except Fridays and Sundays.