It was published! among the exile news of the papers that the i iraingham Post", had_aunounced the intention, voiced by' Sir Edmund Bur'o", of the Commonwealth to establish a bank on the Ines of the Bank o* Bughind. The rumour was uni: versally declareil to he entirely inewreect 5 at the same time it 1s known that the present Ministry is much in favour of establishing a Commonweilth Ba Pablic opinion runs more in the direction of a Stave bank pure and sinip'e whic showht have the sole issue of notes, When the proposed Federal Bunking Bill is brought forward the matter will be discussed in full.
The Drayton Grange Inquiry.
Scandals in conne: tion with returning troop-lilys from South Africa have been rife of late. Worse than all is the Grange affair, which is uow bein into by a Royal Commissi i shocking condition, troops ill and dying epidemic of measles, the doctor and the colonel at loggerheads, decks overcrowded, dirt and disorder everywhere. The overcrowding a Durban was the primary cause; the men say they were given dirty brdliny, and there was nit enough room for proper exercise. Besides 2,(100 troops 120s owavways were discovered on beard, di-guised in khaki. When the sickness broke out, nearing home, the ship's. medical otlicer, Dr. D. Shields, ied to have the invalids landed Allany, but the quarantine authorities ther Tefused' to receive them ashore. Twelv deaths have occurred and in some cases the relatives of the deceased were not com. municated with at once. The report of the Commission is looked for with great keenness by the publi An Australian Professor for China, Mr. Louis Bevan, san of the Rev. Dr. Bevan of Collins St. Independent Church, has sailed for Chins, where he has accepted the post of professor of history and the law: of civilisation at the Univer. sity of Changsha, This is the second of Dr. Bevan's sons to settle in China, Mr. Willett Bevan being a missionary in Shanghai. Dr. Bevan's four sons have all passed exceptionally brilliant university careers. Mr. Louis Bevan is a graduate in honours of Melbourne and of Cum bridge, and besides that they are all noted athletes, The Rev. J. R. Bruce's Death.
The news by cable of the martyrdom of Mr. Jamez Roberts on Bruce, of the China Toland Mission, who with his fellow-worker was boston to death by a mob at Chenchou, in the province of Hunan, was receiv-d here wich the doonest feelings of regret, especially in the Western district, Mr. Bruve's birthplace. Along with some other missionaries he joined the Mission in 1896, and his letters from China were always worded in the most hopeful strain. He had studied medicine, which greatly helped him, he said, in influencing the official mind. Mr. Bruce has three brothers, all well known in their district. One is studying for the Scotch ministry.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.