The Prince of Wales returned to London from the Continent on Wednesday. 1 caught a glimpse of him as he drove away in a closed carriage from Charing Cross station to Marlborugh House. He was looking very well after his little holiday. He has a busy time before him now in the preparations for the "Diamond Jubilee" celebrations. Every suggestion for the celebration of Her Majesty's long reign which any crank thinks fit to send to Royal Highness receives courteous consideration; but he has been compelled to decline to consider any alteration in the route of the royal procession. One little mistake has undoubtedly been made in taking the procession along the north side instead of the south side of Trafalgar Square, since the royal carriages will now be quite invisible from the square itself; but the choice was no doubt made on account of the facilities which the National Gallery and the Church of St. Martin's in the Fields afford for the erect tion of stands. It is obvious that all sorts of difficulties would arise from any altoration of the route even though these alterations were in themselves improvements, The people who have given huge sums for windows or houses—in one casa much as £7,000—from which to view the procession might find that their view was cut off altogether by the change, Apart from the great function on the 22nd of June every little town and village is arranging its particular Diamond Jubilee" celebration. As for the Prince of Wales's Hospital Fund for London, no official return has yet been made of the total amount received. What was asked for was a promise of annual subscriptions amounting toa hundred thousand pounds but the great majority of the subscribers have declined to pledge themselves for future years. The consequence is that the sum received this year will be far in excess of the hundred thousand asked for, but the promises of annual subscriptions will fall a good deal below it. This and the numerous other "Diamond Jubilee" funds have naturally to some extent checked the flow of subscriptions to the Lord Mayor's Indian Famine Fund; but the total amount subscribed to this fund is now very nearly half a million sterling, This is a good deal short of the last great Indian Famine Fund collected in London, but fortunately the reports from India show that as the present condition of things is, it is not nearly so terrible as some previous famines have been.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.