National.

One hundred and ninety-three days after it sailed from Solomon's Island. Chesapeake Bay, the great dry dock Dewey arrived at Olongapo, P. I., having finished its voyage of more than twelve thousand miles with an average speed of one hundred miles a day for the time it was in tow. Twice the dock broke away from its convoys and was in serious danger, once off the Canaries in February and again in the Mediterranean in April. After leaving Solomon's Island on Dec. 28, 1905, the Dewey was first sighted off the Bermudas on Jan. 5, 1906. It reached Las Palmas, Canary Islands, on Feb. 23, where it was obliged to remain for repairs until March 18. It passed Malta on April 4, Port Said April 18, Colombo June 5, Sabang June 13, and Singapore eight days later, arriving at the naval station at Olongapo July 10.

The appropriation this year for the Agricultural Department, enabling it to do the thousand and one things that come under its supervision, is $9,882,690. In 1897 the appropriation was only two and one-half million dollars. More than six thousand persons are now on the rolls of the department, and of this number about three thousand are rated as scientists and scientists' assistants. Nine years ago only about two thousand persons were employed, of which number only about nine hundred were scientists or scientists' assistants.

The gross losses of thirty-five insurance companies doing business in San Francisco were $75,000,000, while the net losses are but $45,000,000. The re-insurance money to be received by thirty-five companies is stated to be $12,000,000 in round figures, leaving the large sum of $18,000,000 to be accounted for as salvage.

Thirty young Chinese students, appointed by the Chinese Government from various provinces, are coming to America for instruction. Ten others are coming with the party at their own expense. These forty students will be distributed among different colleges.

By creating the office of Ambassador to Turkey, Congress has abolished that of Minister. The Sultan is procrastinating in his acknowledgement of the new diplomatic position, but unless the Sublime Porte accepts the new official, diplomatic relations must necessarily be severed.

One hundred thousand dollars has been appropriated for the restoration of the frigate Constitution to her original condition. It is one hundred and nine years since the famous old ship was launched from the ways at Boston. The work of repair will be done at the Charlestown Navy Yard, not far from where she was built and launched.

The United States Grand Jury of the Cleveland District last week began the investigation of violations of interstate commerce and anti-rebate laws alleged to have been committed by various prominent railroads and the Standard Oil Company.

The Associated Bill Posters and Distributers of the United States and Canada, in annual convention at Chicago last week, passed a resolution prohibiting any member from posting bills or hangers carrying objectionable titles.

A conference of the parties interested in the use of the Niagara Falls for power purposes was held last week with Secretary Taft at the Falls.

Foreign.

The new Tibet treaty has stimulated the completion of an enterprise commenced more than half a century ago, but subsequently abandoned. the Hindustan and Tibet road. This was projected and put in hand in the fifties of the last century by the Marquis of Dalhousie, with the double object of providing work and remuneration for the hill people and coolies, who were then subject to forced labor, imposed upon them in accordance with an ancient custom, by their petty rajahs and chiefs; and supplying a means of communication for commerce with Tibet, Lhasa, and Western China. The idea of the Governor-General was to build a good substantial highway up to the Tibetan frontier at Shipki.

At the recent session in London of the sixth Congress of Chambers of Commerce of the Empire, resolutions were adopted favoring a freer interchange of newspapers and periodicals published in the Empire, by means of reduced postage; the establishment of a universal penny postage; asking the Imperial Government to devise means whereby cable telegraph news from all parts of the Empire can be furnished entirely through imperial channels.

Without a division the British House of Commons adopted a resolution recently affirming its conviction that the Indo-Chinese opium trade is morally indefensible, and requesting the Government to take such steps as may be necessary to bring it to an end. The Secretary for India pointed out the difficulty the Ministry would face in making good the $3,000,000 in revenue which the opium trade brings to India.

In connection with the campaign of German, Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian grain importers against alleged improper grading of American grain, German grain dealers assert that Argentine corn is rapidly replacing American corn in the market, because it arrives in merchantable condition, while American corn is so bad that the buyers have lost millions of marks thereby.

The vote in the French Chamber of Deputies respecting the Dreyfus affair was decisive, Dreyfus securing 473 votes for his restoration to the army and advance in ranking, against 42 and Picquart 467 votes against 26. The Senate had an exciting session, but passed the rehabilitation bill by 183 votes against 30. The Picquart bill was passed by the Senate by 185 to 26.

Italy has proposed a vital reduction in the fighting strength of herself and her sister Powers, Great Britain and France, and those nations, it is said, have entertained the project favorably. If a final agreement is reached, Italy will immediately reduce her army by two corps, thus taking from her effective force sixty thousand men.

Festivities of an imposing character, extending over two days, July 4 and 5, were carried out to mark the return of General Cipriano Castro to Caracas and his formal resumption of executive authority as President of Venezuela after an absence of three months.

Admiral Rojestvensky, whose trial on the charge of surrendering to the enemy after the battle of the Sea of Japan, began before a court-martial at St. Petersburg July 4, was acquitted after the court had deliberated for nearly ten hours, on the ground that his previous injuries had so incapacitated him as to make him irresponsible for his action.

Industrial and Commercial.

An advance of five per cent in wages in cotton mills in thirty or more cities, towns, and villages of southern Massachusetts and Rhode Island went into effect last week. About 45,000 operatives are benefited. Since the inception of the upward movement in mill wages early in the year, 165,000 textile operatives in the New England States have had their pay advanced from five to fourteen per cent. Of the total number 11,000 work in the cotton mills and about 55,000 in the woolen and worsted plants.

The aggregate rail tonnage now on the books of the mills in all sections of the United States for delivery in 1907 exceeds 1,500,000 tons. It is expected that the car manufacturers will produce about 200,000 freight and passenger cars this year in order to fill all requirements.

It is said that an agreement has been entered into by which the iron ore lands of the Great Northern Railway of England have been leased to the United States Steel Corporation for the consideration of a billion dollars.

The total exports from Paris to the Unites States for the fiscal year ending in June were $52,037,685, an increase of twenty-seven per cent and breaking the record.

General.

A deep sink-hole near Orlando, Fla., has recently become of considerable geological interest, says the Scientific American. Through its subterranean outlet it has carried away the overflow water of more than a dozen neighboring lakes, and may have done this for a thousand years; but about two years ago this passage became stopped, and the water, thereby shut off from this means of escape, filled the sink-basin to overflowing and formed a lake which eventually covered nearly 250 acres of the surrounding lowland, driving many people from their homes and covering gardens and cultivated fields. It is not known how the subterranean passage became stopped, but it may have been from a cave-in of the walls, or from water hyacinths which filled the sink basin. Various unsuccessful attempts were made to open the passage. A short time ago the idea was conceived of trying to find a new passage, or make a new opening into the old one, by drilling a well near the sink. A two-inch hole was first made and a passage was found, the hole carrying down the water easily and rapidly. Then an eight-inch hole was drilled, and now these holes are carrying away the water so freely that the big sink lake which has been so unmanageable a thing and the cause of much alarm in its ever-enlarging area for a long time, is rapidly being drained, and the big sink environment will soon be in its normal condition.

More than $4,000,000 worth of automobiles were brought into this country during the fiscal year which ended June 30, and more than $3,000,000 worth exported during the same time. The manufacture of automobiles in the United States during 1905 amounted in value to about $26,000,000.