National.

George B. Cortelyou took the oath of office as Secretary of the Department of Commerce and Labor on the 18th. At the same time William Loeb, Jr., was sworn in as secretary to the President. The oaths were administered by Chief Justice Fuller of the United States Supreme Court.

The new secretary's official career began in 1889 as private secretary to the post office inspector in New York. Later he was confidential stenographer to the surveyor of the port of New York; private secretary to the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General; in 1895 executive clerk and confidential stenographer to President Cleveland; in 1898 assistant secretary to President McKinley and later secretary, which position he has continued to hold with President Roosevelt.

James R. Garfield of Ohio, second son of the late President Garfield, will be Commissioner of Corporations under the act creating the new Department of Commerce. The law provides that the commissioner shall have authority to make, under direction of the secretary, "Diligent investigation into the organization, conduct, and management of the business of any corporation, joint stock company, or corporate combination engaged in commerce among the several States and with foreign nations, excepting common carriers, subject to an act to regulate commerce, approved February 4, 1887, and togather such information and data as will enable the President of the United States to make recommendations to Congress for legislation for the regulation of such commerce, and to report such data to the President from time to time as he shall require."

Judge Grosscup has issued an injunction against the Beef Trust on the ground that their agreement concerning prices is in "restraint of trade." By the legislation recently passed by Congress to expedite cases of litigation in which the United States is a party, this case, if appealed will go directly to the Supreme Court. Unless appealed. the injunction is permanent. Considerable interest is manifested as to what action will be taken by the trust.

President Estrada Palma, of Cuba, has signed an agreement which the leaders of the Cuban Congress are pledged to ratify, giving to the United States two coaling stations, naval depots, and military establishments upon the island for the mutual security and defence of the two high contracting parties. The arrangement gives the United States two harbors, Bahia Honda and Guantanamo.

Secretary Hay for the United States and Mr. Bowen for Venezuela last week signed a protocol providing for the adjustment of the claims of the United States against Venezuela by a commission to meet at Caracas. In case of disagreement, Queen Wilhelmina will name the umpire. This will be done as a compliment to the country of The Hague Tribunal. This protocol will probably serve as a model for the other claimants.

Justice Shiras of the United States Supreme Court last week presented to the President his resignation as a member of that tribunal to take effect February 24. William R. Day of Ohio (former Secretary of State) has been selected as successor to Mr. Shiras.

Foreign.

King Edward, accompanied by Queen Alexandra, and surrounded by the Court and the officers of State, opened Parliament February 17. In the morning the vaults of the Houses were searched, as usual, for imaginary conspirators by the yeomen of the guard. The movements of the troops taking up positions along the route of the procession followed. The royal procession, consisting of six state carriages escorted by Life Guards, started from Buckingham Palace. Their Majesties were seated in the last carriage, which was drawn by the eight Hanoverian horses which have figured in all the recent royal ceremonies. The King and Queen reached the Victoria Tower through the Mall, the Horse Guards, and Whitehall. All the officers of state, in varied uniforms, were assembled at the royal entrance of the House of Peers to receive the King. The procession formed here, and, headed by the pursuivants and heralds, marched to the robing room, their Majesties being immediately preceded by the sword of state, carried by the Marquis of Londonderry. After the robing the procession re-formed and, with a blast of trumpets, advanced to the Peers' Chamber, the Duke of Devonshire, Lord President of the Council, preceding their Majesties with the imperial crown, which he carried on a cushion. The King then seated himself on the throne, with the lords bearing the cap of maintenance and the sword of state standing on his right and left. The Queen sat on the left of the King and the Prince of Wales on his right.

The members of the House of Commons were then summoned, and on their arrival the Lord High Chancellor, Earl Halsbury, kneeling, handed the King the speech, which his Majesty read from the steps of the throne.

It is reported that a fire in the forest of Vallambrosa, fifteen miles east of Florence, has destroyed the Villa de Medici, a point of interest to artists and tourists. Vallambrosa was visited by Dante, is mentioned by Ariosto in "Orlando Furioso," and by Milton in "Paradise Lost." In 1038 a Benedictine abbey was founded in the forest. The present magnificent buildings were erected in 1673. The abbey was suppressed in 1869, and the buildings are now used for a School of Forestry supported by the Italian government.

It is stated on good authority that the Irish group in Parliament is convinced that the Wyndham Land Purchase Bill will be satisfactory, and that agrarian troubles and grievances will cease. It is expected also that Mr. Wyndham's bill will not meet with serious opposition from any section in the Commons, but will be helped along by Radicals and Nationalists and enacted quickly.

The Canadian Department of the Interior has been advised of a meeting of the Doukhobors with Peter Veregin, their leader, and the agents of the department at Swan River and Yorktown, at which it was resolved to become British citizens and Canadians. The Doukhobors also decided to take out their patents for homesteads.

It is said that certain of the Powers are prepared to go further than Austria and Russia in their determination to compel peace in the Balkan peninsula and to require the Porte to introduce needed reforms in Macedonia.

The Italian Chamber of Deputies has passed the bill making an appropriation for the erection of a Marconi wireless station. It is expected that the rate for messages to America will be six cents a word.

General.

The dimensions of the new cup defender, which, it is announced, may be named the Republic, are reported to bear the following comparison with those of the Columbia:—

Length over all, 141 feet, as against Columbia's 132 feet: beam, 28 feet 8½ inches, to 24 feet 7 inches; draft, 19 feet to Columbia's 20 feet. The waterline of both craft measures a trifle over 90 feet.

A gang of one hundred expert mechanics is now engaged on the hull of the boat and on the mainmast. The plating has progressed rapidly and the entire mid-sections are nearly covered over with metal. The step of the mainmast has been completed, and the platers are laying out and riveting the deck plates along the waterways on both sides.

On a recent trip of the Etruria from New York a newspaper was published containing summaries of the latest news of the world. This way received by wireless telegraphy when the vessel was still nearly two hundred miles from the Irish coast. The dispatches were received by Operator Hughes, edited by Purser McCubbin, set up by the ship's printer, A. Harris, and managed by Assistant Purser H. D. Stainer. A copy of the edition was placed at the plate of each passenger at breakfast. There was such a demand for the papers as souvenirs that that a second edition was printed. Signor Marconi was among the passengers.

The Cedric, sister to the Celtic of the International Mercantile Marine Company, arrived at New York last Friday on her initial trip from Liverpool and Queenstown. The voyage was made in 8 days, 8 hours, and 16 minutes at an average speed of 14.43 knots per hour. Her best day's run was 390 knots. In spite of rough weather she rode as "steady as a church," and the passengers report there was no mal de mer.

This vessel is 700 feet length, 20 feet longer than the Great Eastern, 75 feet wide, 49 feet deep, 131 feet from her keel to the top of her smokestacks. It took twelve tugs an hour to dock her.

In the collection of George Frederick Kunz, now on exhibition at the Museum of Natural History, New York, is a diamond embedded in the center of a forty pound meteorite. The diamond is of the purest and hardest carbon, but dark in color. With several other small particles of diamond dust it rests in a small jagged area of less pure carbon about the size of a large marble. The area is surrounded by solid meteorite iron from four to five inches thick.

The seacoast of Maine is the most wonderful in the world. In a straight line it measures two hundred and twenty-five miles, but when all the ins and outs are counted the shore line is two thousand four hundred and eighty-six miles. There are 54 lighthouses and 23 fog signals between Kittery Pont and Quoddy Head. The tide at Eastport has a rise and fall of 18 feet 2 inches.

Bids have been accepted for dredging a thirty-five foot channel in Boston harbor out to sea. New York is dredging a forty foot channel: but with the advantage of a much higher tide at Boston the two channels will accommodate vessels of about equal draft.