has just been apparently squashed. Mr. Henry Hess has it is announced, '"temporarily" discontinued his action for libel against Mr. Henry Labouchere. It may be remembered that Mr. Labouchore's only practical reply to the damaging disclosures about him which Mr. Hess published in the African Critic (now called simply The Critic) was to bring still more damaging charges against Mr. Hess, charges of flagrant dishonesty and of a lack of that kind of honour which is said to prevail even among thieves. Now we are informed on behalf of Mr. Hess that the "entire record and documents of certain judicial proceedings in the Transvaal have been stolen or illegally removed from the archives of the Johannesburg Court," and Mr. Hess is discontinuing his notion until he has obtained the restoration of this record and these documents—which are essential to his case—to their proper custodian. On the other hand Sir George Lewis, Mr. Lahouchere's solicitor, does not hesitate to declare that all this is a mere transparent excuse to avoid going into Court-—a confession in fact of the truth of Mr, Labouchere's charges; so far it may be a victory to Mr. Labouchere, who, however, can hardly clear his own character by defaming his accuser.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.