'A small scandal which has just comic to light shows the importance still attached in France to the right to wear a bit of red ribbon in the buttonhole. Proceedings have been taken against M. Motte, an official of the Ministry of Commerce, and against two men named Camuset and Dumoulis, who belong to the increasingly numerous class of Personages wh The manner in which they operated was described by Camuser in a statement to the cxaminisg magistrate. "Dumoulin" ne caid "who ig an old friend of mine and who knows a great many People connected with finance, news Papers, theatres and business interests, came to me and asked me! to use my influence in favour of merchant, friend of his, who was very anxious to be decorated. To oblige him, I went to see Motte, an intimate friend of, mine, and sua. Bimoutin to bin." He replied that that I should' introduce
this was unnecessary and that he was quite willing to do what I asked without scing Dumoulin. Some time afterwards, Dumoulin called on me and handed me 60,000 francs, say+ ing that his friend the merchant was s0 pleased at being decorated thet the had given him 100,000 fines, of which Dumoulin kept 40,000 frs. for thimsclf. I went to see. Ruotts and offered him half of the 60,000 franco, Motte, who owns Ianded property and has no need of money, nade a great many difficulties about accepting the 30,000 francs, but finally T slipped the notes inia his hand and he kept them. Subsequently I interested myself in three other candidatures for the Legion of Honour, and in each case 100,000 franes was handed to Dumoulin and divided in the same manner as before, We also intervened in the jon of a Foreign Trude which brought Motte dentes that he received any money at all, and says that he had no power to procure decorations for anybody, and that the persons concerned would have been nominated in any ease, He also says thata Camuset came to him one day and asked him for the official letter notifying his protege that he had been made a chevalier of the Legion of Honour, Notifica tions of this kind ought in the regular course to be sent by special uniformed messenger from the Ministry, but this rule is frequently broken when an official at heads quarters wats to be the first to convey to a friend the glad tidings of his election to the national order of chivalry, and therefore Motte saw nothing out of the way in giving his friend Camuset the letter. Camuset of course handed it over to the enterprising M. Dumoulin, who immediately called on the newly decorated citizen and collected the 100,000. frs. When called before the magistrate, Dumoulin, who pro-ably knows more about the matter than anyone else, proudly replied that his conscience did not reproach him. with anything, but that would ruther not answer anyo tion until he ind the assistance of We have seldom had such a frank statement as that of Camuset about the methods Prevailing in the "République d Camarades."
Power From the Ocean Limitless power from the ocean is the prospect held out by two French savants. One of them is Georges Claude, who, as the inventor of processes in operation on a large scale for the manufacture of synthetic ammonia and liquid airy must be considered a practical man, The other is M. Boucherot, who is also well-known in the Frenen scientific world, At a meeting of the Academy of Sclenco they produced a working model illustrating their idea for obtaining power by utilising the difference in temperature between the surface of the sea and its depths. According to their plan, the comparatively—warm surface water of the sen is made to boil in a vacuum. The light vapour thus produced, which has a sure of only 0.03 atmosphere Passed into a sort, of frigerating chamber over which cold water pumped up from the depths of the sea is passed the vapour wi the inventors claim, thereby acquires enormously inereared power and can be made to drive turbines with such a dexreo of efficiency that the work done by the surface water, converted into steam, is equal to the work whic the same quantity would do in the form of ferfall 300 feet blah, The inventors maintain that the est of installing their plant on auf dustrial scale would be less. that of hydro-electric plant. Nothing now remains but to find a capitalist or capitalists with sufficient faith in defence to put up the money. Many wonderful things are dare in Ynboratories. which are impassible in actual practise, because they cost more than the comparatively rough and ready methods with which the world har hitherto macrod to carry
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.