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The bodies of John aid Miche McNamara 'and Patrick Houlihan, 'who were recently drowned near Kilkee, have been recovered. Official 'statistics show that the value of Ireland's annual import of boots is $9,000,000, or almost half the total export of boots from Great Britain. A few days ago Wm. Scanlan, an American army pensioner, was hanged at Cork prison for the mur- 'der for his wife's sister, Bridget Gaver, in July, 1909. Recruiting of den known as the 0 2d : Maguires," is being actively under- : taken in the fit of Ireland. 'In the city of Cork alone it is said that 2,000 members have been enrolled. An old age pensioner from the Kilkelly ~~ district named Mary Beisty, has fallen in for a legacy of | on $8,500 thro the death of her bro- ther in the States. Under the law she may still continue to draw her Rumors have been current that |pension Lord Aberdeen intends to resign his position as Viceroy, but so far it has been impossible to obtain any confirmation of the rumors. An inquiry has been held into the request of the Ballinasloe Urban Council for a loan of $37,800 for the erection of 4b cottages under the housing of the Working Classes ct. The Board of Works have con- sented to advance a sum of $12,500 to the Roscommon Town Commis- sioners for the building of ton arti san dwellings at' Antogher on the verge of the town. In the Mullingar Lunatic Asylum recently, steam heating apparatus 'connected with a large metal table used for cooking purposes, burst and smashed the table, pieces of which flew in all directions, injur- ing patients and room. The Earl of Aberdeen is one of six noblemen now living who have filled the post of Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland--the others are Lords Londonderry, Zetland, Crewe; Ca- dogan, and: Dudley. Lord -Abez- deen is the only nobleman now liv- ing who has 'beén twice Lord-Lieu- tenant of Ireland. ep Tr THE GREAT SPONGE HORROR STARTLING ACTS REGARDING THE FISHERIES, Most Dangerous of Occupations-- Men Are Robbed and Abused. When daily using the sponge, how many people are there' who dre aware of the fact that possibly the price of that sponge is a man's life? One of the most dangerous of occu- pations is that followed by the men who gather sponges. The best of sponges. are those coming from the 'Levant, where snme 5,000 men are kept busily af work. It is in the early part of the spring that a tremendous amount activity is apparent among three or four of the chief islands of 'the Aegean, as it is then the sponge fléet start for the yearly cruise. The sponges, of course, grow on Asuder the water, the best, of all sing obtained at the detached heads rock in at least eight- or ten fathoms of Water, 1t is the ob- ject of the men - obtain these suonges without rine them. TORN OFF-BY A GRAPNEL. oe are three ways of fishing for sponges adopted in the Lévant. One 18 81 i by tearing off = the hough a sorb of grapnel, Thi} is only used in the case rior sponges, OF oferior is by means of what is called the "'Gungava," which is lit: 'tle else than an Adaptation of the British 2 trawl. 'The trawl is being rs sponges from the Sroutin, while the movement of the boat naturally, sends them into the bag slinging be: QGrecks found that wheréas a man previously could only stay in. the water for a minute to a minute and a half, he could now remain: for half an hour. The owners were unwilling. to waste the time which should be al- lowed for the descent wnen diving is carried on under: proper con: ditions. Instead, therefore; of low- ering 4 man' a fathom a minute they decided to throw him overboard; al- lowing him to sink like a log. Bo general is this disgraceful state : of affairs that' about eighty per cent. of the sponge divers suffer from paralysis, eventually total paraly- sis being their fate. One would ims agine that in a civilized country, either the Government would have adopted gome measures to prevent this, 'or that the divers themselves would have shown themselves re: luctant to undertake such a haz ardous profession. Such, however, is not the case. It 'should be men: tioned to the credit of the infidel Turks that Turkey has forbidden the use of * the diving dress 'for sponge fishing. DECOYED OUT. TO SEA. A few aah preceding the depart- ture of the sponge fleet a lament: able spectacle is: provided. divers, like the gladiators of hi are aware that they may never see their 'mative shores again, so the go in for a course of unrestrained debauchery in which they are en: couraged by the huge prepayments which are given them as bribes for their services. It is commonly understood that a diver will receive 8,000 drachmas (about $500) for the summer fishing, | 1,000 of which he will be paid be: fore he sails. 'He gathers unto him his boon companions, and after three of four nights of drunkenness wakes up with 4 splitting headache to find that he is already far out at sea, with the under a yulies oy a master and never. oh ie of serving rmed 80 : ed the Furod 23 hve methods of Shiiinental poses : spionage is natiiraly of the ork done by the inf department, which: with the task of collecting : ly accessible information about the military affairs of other countries. It must be remembered that very many details about the "and. navy of each country are pu lished in the press 'of that country, and can thus be obtained without any difficulty by collecting the newspa- |. per cuttings of parliamentary pa- pers in question. NEWSPAPER SPIES. Every Continental intelligence department maintains a staff = of newspeper readers, who have to peruse all the publications® on na- val and military subjects in all the civilized 'countries of the world. In this way all the particulars of naval and military estimates and many details of new battleships or forti fications or 'other preparations for|2 war are gathered and classified un- der théir respective heads. It frequently happens that infor mation of this Rind; which is Ren- erally accessible to any vigilant watcher, suggests the need of more complete knowledge on some par- ticular subject, and then' éspionage begins to supplement the opera: tions of 'the intelligence depart: ment, Bupposing, = for fnistaboe,' that some newspaper report contains|M the information that new fortifie-|W? tions are to be constructed at some new stragetic point, one or more Becret Service 'agents are-insaruct- ed to obtain sup; simi bt details | concerning the i of the new? works, with the armament with which they will be supplied. Sim-| ©" ilar efforts are made in the case of |? new battleships and other miliary y preparativt a, ALL SORTS OF MEN. are employed in operations of ess pionage ; they include broken-do noblemen, bankrupt business men, |S] professional 'workers who have 1 their means of sustenance, retired civil service officials, and so forth. Women,' too, are employed in very many cases where it is thought tha YI they can' ferret out informat which 'would be less accessible' male spies: The work of supplementé undertaken professional spies: actual miss y military and na eer, Who Who stain Li of ab- sence for the pur of 'gettin important. Tatormani 1 On some §! ject of particular interest to own Government. The empl of officers for such employ crus desirable owing to the utter reliabil Ty of foational ,