The news that the famous "Cast.'° stamp collection has changed hands fo. £60,000 will excite the philatelic world. It is not, indeed, the most v able collection that exists the "Tapling" collection, now in the British Museum, has been Med at £60,000, and a Parisian amateur owns a collection computed to be worth a quarter of a million. But it is the best collection that has ever come into the market as a whole, and the price shows what an excellent investment stamps have proved to the people who began collecting in the early days. One dealer, now naturally a very rich man, boasts that, at that epoch, he bought two sacksful of "three-cornered Capes" for a five-pound note: the sacks contained many " wood blocks," now catalogued at forty shillings each, and a certain number of the "errors" which now fetch as many pounds. But, of course, he took—as anyone who now puts money into.stamps must also take—the risk of the philatelic mania going the same way as the tulip mania of our forefathers, July says England is still suffering from a spell of phenomenally hot weather, and there is still an entire absence of rain over the gteator part of the country—no rain having fallen in pws of London during the past 21 days, and at Dung-ness there has been no rain for 2 days, The summary of the weather issued by the Meteorological Office for the week ending July 21 shows that the excess of tempera ure for the peried am-aunted to 4 deg. or 3 dey, in all the more western and northern districts, and am-aunted to as much as 6 deg. in the Midland counties, and 7 deg. in the east and south of England. In Ireland and Scotland the thermometer did not reach 80 deg:, but in nearly all the English districts it exceeded 85 deg., the highest rendings of all being 95 deg. at Cambridge on the 20: h, 92 dog. in London on the 16th, and again on the 19th, and 90 deg, at Hillington and Oxford on the 19th. The amount of bright sunshine was in excess of the avenge over the whole of England, the excess being largest 'n the Eastern, Midland, and Southern counties. The heat im London on July 24 was very severe, un interrupted, and overpowering, sunshine prevailing from an curly hour, and with only the faintes of breezes to temp. it. In the Strand at noon the thermometer registered 90 deg. in the shade, and 128 deg. in the sun, compared with 80 deg. and at the same hour the previous day, The power of the sun's rays was responsible for " heavy list of casualties. On the n wharves and in the large markets, notably in the Borough and Covent Garden, a considerable number of the porters were incapacitated at quite an early hour. Seven inquests were held on victims of sunstroke, and over a dozen bodies of persons who have succumbed tu the heat still Hie in the various meteopolitin mortuaries. It is computed that, since the present tropical weather set in nearly 400 caves of hest stroke have been treated at the hospitals and stations of the St. John's Ambulane+ Association, It is reported that last week the London Geuersl Omnibas Company ost. and had Inid up 150 horses, and the Road Car Company 30 horses on account of the extreme heat.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.