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AT FRESNOY AND BULLECOURT Every Assistance to Russian Railroads Will Readily be Furnished A despatch from Washington says: â€"The *nited States Railroad Comâ€" mission to the Russian Government left Washington on Wednesday fori Petrograd, where it will give asâ€" surances to the Russian national luth-l oritics that this country stands ready' to furnish all the rolling stock .ndi other material that may be needed tol Increase the capacity and efficiency | of the Russian and Siberian railroads. By making the loan the United States will take the burden of the reâ€" lief of Belgivm and France from the shoulders of Great Britain and France and conduct it from this country so far as possible. U.S. EXPERTS LEAVE The loan will be advanced at the rate of $12,500,000 a month, of which $7,000,00¢C will be available for relief in Belgium and $5,000,000 for relief in Northern France. A despateh from Washington says: â€"â€"The United States has arranged to make a loan of $75,000,000 to Belgium, which will be expended by the Belgian Relicf Commission. Will Remove Heavy Burden From CGreat Britain and France. LOAN FOR BELGIUM vitation to travel on the Royal train to Portsmouth, and they were favorâ€" ably impressed with this permanent memorial of the Dominion‘s interest in the welfare of the navy. A considerable number of Canaâ€" dians availed themselves of the inâ€" The opening ceremony by her Maâ€" jesty was quiet but impressive, and Sir George Perley‘s speech handing it over, emphasized the magnitude of the war work carried out by Canadian women . A despatch from London says:â€" The inauguration of the new wing of the Haslar Royal Naval Hospital at Portsmouth on Wednesday by the Queen was the final achievement of a movement initiated at the outbreak of war by certain Canadian ladies. Miss Plummer, secretary of the Field Comâ€" forts, claims to have made the original suggestion for the hospital ship, and which found the ready support of Mrs. Gooderham, Mrs. Ellen Bruce and Lady Drummond, with the result that $250,000 was collected. Of this $100,â€" 000 was handed to the War Office for Military ase. _ Another amount was devoted to the building of a wing to the Chatham Naval Hospital and the balance to Haslar. _ As the authorâ€" ities decided against the hospital ship the scheme for provinding a hospital for naval nurses was accepted. This new wing overlooking the most famâ€" ous naval centre of Britain bears a suitable inscription on behalf of the women of Canada. Queen Officiates at Opening of New Section of Naval ‘Institution. HOSPITAL WING CANADIAN GIFT To the east of Bullecourt, where the British have established themselves a scant two miles from the outskirts of Queant, the Germans are striving hard to push back the British to preâ€" vent the capture of the southern end of the Drocourtâ€"Queant line, which tish around Fresnoy and to the cast of Bullecourt, but are being hard held by Field Marshal Haig‘s forces. The village of Fresnoy apparently remains in the hands of the Germans after its recapture Tuesday, but the Canadians and South Englanders are still holding vantage points around it, from which the Germans are vainly endeavoring to expel them and put an end to their harassing fire. A despatch from London says: The Germans are keeping up with great inâ€" tensity their offensive against the Briâ€" British Take Another Portion of the German Trenches Defending Lens and its Coal Fields. w D PCO P PUULOY TTE ". F E OF ! N“C“. WiLL go TUe Bo w wg 1x iy last surmer \\‘. +244 J Z v, M <g%) 1;" & _,_--; t ’*\ C & A‘V\ ‘._7 E v:,’i,r_ 4 \Ffi ns o2 Bg Nce O de: CE i N | I l4 }> â€"IR ,E.\r(h 1 t e * SAY, TOM, ARE You | Gomné FISHING uP To THE LAKE Acain THS SUMMER € | GuEss THe FROM UNITED STATES FOR RUSS CAPITAL »! _A despatch from Rome says:â€" >‘ Rudyard Kipling, who has been at the ) front in France, and has been making !a short stay in Rome, compares the | British army to a machine working so | perfectly that no human power can | arrest it. _ He expresses the greatest | admiration for the work of the French | and British, which, he says, the Ger-| ' mans are now powerless to check. The Icssesâ€"the heaviest in historyâ€"which' | they have incurred by their efforts bol | do so, must end, he says, in affecting | | the morale both of the army and the‘ | civil population of Germany. leen. _ "Shure, an Oi think she can; she‘s six feet high, and four feet wide! (an she be seen? Sorra a bit of anyâ€" thing ilse can ye see whin she‘s about." | SVRE AM, IF 1CAN ARRANGE IT,. 16E3 EXCITED EVERY TiIMeE 1| THISK OF tr. 0 0_ |__A despatch from â€" Ottawa says:â€" The Imperial Munitions Board anâ€" nounced on Wednesday night that W. I. Gear of the Robert Reford Comâ€" ;pany, Montreal, has been appointed tto take charge, under the board, of steel merchant ship construction in Canada for the British Government. Mr. Gear will establish an office at Ottawa, and will at once assume the dutics of his position. _ It is underâ€" stood that Sir Robert Borden on his return to Canada will at once take up the question of further stimulating shipbuilding in Canada, this being one of the most important phases of Canadian coâ€"operation in war work urged by the Imperial authorities in London. ' | ALLIED MACHINE STEEL SHIPBUILDING "(Can she be seen?" sniggered Kathâ€" Our casualties in the present offenâ€" sive were from 50 to 75 per cent. less than on the Somme. â€" Our success was largely due to our distinet artillery superiority, in connection with which the Chancellor paid a warm tribute to the flying corps. \ J 10 se uids s 0 0 eate o AOPRE sR ie inn id CEWEst nuul;m'l!o;’ml; lard" i to ight in the open, with heavy 1088e8; | yube 253 to $6fc. pal because he had not had time to preâ€" | gouqd, tlerces. 204 to pare trenches. _ Since April 1 we had | 03‘:;,.35'":1;3:’.__"1’43,1,: taken 20,000 prisoners, 257 guns, 227 ) 25¢ per lb; clear bellic trench mortars. While in the first 24‘ f= days of the Somme drive we advanced| y,,,,, Ml"‘gf:",“li three and oneâ€"half miles on a mx-ml]ei W:steg). Nri. 3 sg toss | % ed, 8 front, we had now advgnced 'from two ;}‘a;‘}mb‘; f”d‘_‘““. 19 to five miles on a 20â€"mile front, where Manitoba Spring whe there were twice as many German, g}f}o‘) i gvef,‘l’&i’-pilt:;]' divisions against us as on the Somme,'umjgm rollers,; _ $14. and half of them had to be withdrawn.| baks. $8.75 to $6.9( A despatch from London says:â€"In the House of Commons on Wednesday Right Hon. Bonar Law, Chancellor of the Exchequer, referring to the west front, said the rapidity of the attack had forestalled the enemy, who had Average Expenditure of Great Britain for Military Operations. DAILY WAR COST IS $37,000,000 cess. For the most part the line where the French are facing the Germans is undergoing a period of comparative calm, except for artillery duels and small German counterâ€"attacks, none of the latter of which met with suecâ€" The British evidently have pushed a step forward toward the capture of the town of Lens, and the important coal fields in its immediate vicinity. South of the Souchez River during a night attack another portion of the German front and support lines, toâ€" gether with a number of prisoners, was captured. . I. Gear Appointed by the Imperial Munitions Boardâ€"Govt, * Action Expected would prove of great menace to the important town of Cambrai. The viciousness of the battle is indicated by the German official communication, which announces that the fight for the village is of a fluctuating nature. DIRECTOR CHOSEN IS IRRESISTIBLE SAN, HELEN, HAVE You STartep PDineR YETF | KNow WHAT I°p LIKE TO HAVE. Comge, WALK OVER To The CORKER "WiT} ME AND WE‘LL G6ET ‘ some â€" weue Yyou WAIT AND "Well," said Pat. "I am the one and you are the two narghts." "I‘m not such an omadhaun as all that," said Pat. _ ‘There‘s 100 of us," "Oh,‘ said the Englishman, "how do you make out that ?" "How many of us are here now ?" they asked jokingly. Two Englishmen were one day walking along a road in Kerry when they met an Irishman. sheep, $10 to to $18. I Live Stock Markets 1 _ Toronto, May i0.i« ... c.010e SteerB, |$12.00 to $12.65; choice heavy stears, :11.35 to $11.75; good heavy steers, 10.50 to $10.75; butchers‘ cattle, choice, $11 50 to $11.75; do., 7good. $10.50 t $11.00; do., medium, $9.75 to $10.00; do., common, $8.8$5 to $9.15; butchers‘ bulls; choice, $10.50 to 311.00; do., medium bulls, $8.50 to $9.00; do., rough bulls, $6.40 to $6.50; butchers‘ cows, choice, $10.00 to $10.75; do., good, $9.00 to $9.75; do., medium, $7.00 to $7.25; stockâ€" ’erl. $7.50 to $9.00; feeders, $9.50 to 10.%5; canners and cutters, $5.50 to 6.%5; milkers, good to cholce, $85.00 to 125; do., com and med., ach, $40 to $60.00; springers, $60.00 to $110.00; light ewes, zu.oo to $15.00; wheep, heavy, 8,50 to $10.00; calves, good to cholce, 12.00 to $13.00; spring lambs, each, 9.00 to $14.50; lambs, csxo!ce. $14.50 to 16.25; do., medium, $10.50 to $12.50; ogs, fed and watered, $16.85 to $17.00; do., wel%hed off cars, $17.10 to $17.25; do., f.0.b., $18.15 to 16.40. ‘ Montreal, May 15. â€"Choice steers, $12.25 to $12.75; good. $11.175 to $12; lower grades, $9.75; butchers‘ cows, $8. to $11; bulls, $10 to $11.75; calves, $5.50 to $11; spring lambs,. $% to %12%> aia | Duluth, May 15.â€"Wheat, No. 1 hard, $3.28; No. 1 Northern, $3.20 to $3.22; No. 2 Northern, $3.15; May, $3.20; Julg. $2.234 asked. Linseed, $3.60; May, $3.59; g;lgb $3.49; September, $3.41%; October, Minneapolis, May‘is.â€"Wheat. May, 33.02; July, $2.71%; & wo. 1 hard, 3.264 to $8.33%; No. 1 Northers, $3.01% to $3.164. Corn, No. 3 yellow, 81.56!2 to $1.584. Oats, No. 3 white, T70% to T2%c. Flour, fancy patents, $16.30; first clears, $14.00; other grades unchanged. Bran, $34.50 to $35.00. Winnipeg, May â€" 15.â€"Cash _ prices:â€" Wheatâ€"No. 1 Norrherr;i $2.94; No. 2 Northern, $2.91; No. 3 Northern, $2.86; No. 4, $2.74; No. 5, $2.49; No. 6, $1.90; feed, $1.45.) Oatsâ€"No. 2 C.W., $1#¢; No. 3 C.W., 781o0; extra No. 1 feed 78@c. ‘Barâ€" leyâ€"No. 8. $1.29; No. 4, $1.24; rejected, 1.02; feed, $1.0%. Flaxâ€"No. 1 N.W.C., g.lssall; No. 2 C.W., $3.30; No. 3 C.W Provisionsâ€"Wholesale Smoked meatsâ€"Hams, medium, 29 to |$0¢; do., heavy, 25 to 26¢; cooked, 40 to | le; rolls, 26 to 27¢; breakfast bacon, 30 |to 85¢; backs, plain, 34 to 35¢; boneless, 36 to 38c. I Lardâ€"Pure lard, tierces, 264 to 264c; ! tubs, 264 to 26%c; pails, 264 to 27¢; comâ€" 7gnound, tlerce!‘ 204 to 20%c; tubs, 204 to PRam.lcmo ank OmE Mess E2sE TTT EC ECC ECE CIIICC, 852 to $57. Hu{â€"â€"No. 2, per ton, car lots, $13..to $13.50. Butterâ€"Choicest creamery, 424¢; seconds, 41 to 41ic. Eggs â€"Fresh, 44¢; No. 1 stock, 42%¢. Potaâ€" toesâ€"Per bag, car lots, $3.75 to $4.00. Montreal, _ May 15. â€"Oatsâ€"Canadian Western, No. 2, 87 to $8¢; No. 3, 86 to 8Te; extra No. 1 feed, 86 to 87c. Barleyâ€" Manitoba feed, $1.19 to $1.20. Flourâ€" Manitoba Spring wheat patents, frsts, 315.10; seconds, $14.60; strong bakers‘, 14.40; Winter patents, choice, $14.50; straight rollers, $14.00 to $14.30; do. bags, :6.76 to 36‘90. Rolled oatsâ€" Bbla., $8.50 to $8.75; do, bags,â€" 90 1bs., :4‘;& to $4.50. Bran, 243. Shorts, .:.. Ml-dzd_.llngg,' $48 to $50. Moulllie, Cured meatsâ€"Long clear bacon, 24 to 25¢ per lb; clear bellies, 24 to 25¢. | _ Country Produceâ€"Wholesale Beansâ€"Imported, handâ€"picked, _ per bushel, $7.00;_ Canadian, handâ€"picked, per bushel, $7.75 to $8.00; Canadian imm“i per bushel, $7.50; Limas, per lb, 8 to 19¢. wares, per bag, $4.25; Albertas, per bag $4.00 . aB e ul wiae a dn e e o Enc mTE to 15¢; 5â€"lb ting, 14%c; 10â€"1b, 13%c; 60â€"1b, 13¢; buckwheat, 60â€"lb tins, 10 to 10%c. Comb honeyâ€"extra _ fine and heavy weight, per doz., $2.75; select, $2.50 to $2.175; No. 2, $2 to $2.25. ,]Mfiph syrupâ€"Imperial gallon, $1.65 to Potatoesâ€"On track, Ontario, per bag, $3.75 to $4.00; New Brunswick Delaâ€" Dressed poultryâ€"Chickens, 26 to 28¢; fowl, 24 to 25¢; ducks, 22 to 25¢; squabs, ;r;r dozen., $4.00 to $4.50; turkeys, 30 c. Cheeseâ€"New, large, 27‘ to 28¢; twins, 274 to 28%c; triplets, 284 to 286c; old, large, 29¢; twins, 29%c. Honeyâ€"White clover, 24â€"lb tins, 144 to 15¢: 5â€"lb ting: 144c: 10â€"1b 1%%e+ RN.lh Butterâ€"Fresh dairy, cholice, 39 to 40¢; c‘:l:;eamery prints, 43 to 45¢; solids, 42 to c. Eggsâ€"Newâ€"laid, in cartons, 44 to 45¢; out of cartons, 42¢. Ontario flourâ€"Winter, according to sample, $12.50 to $12.60, in bags, track Tornnto,efrompt shipment. Miliféeedâ€"Car lots, delivered Montreal freights, bags includedâ€"Bran, per ton, $42; shorts, per ton, $45; middlings, per tton’.sa:g; good feed flour, per bag, $3.00 o $3.10. H:&â€"Extra No. 2, per ton, $12 to $13; mlxt per ton, $9 to $11.50, track Toâ€" ronto. Strawâ€"Car lots, per ton, $8.50 to $9 track Toronto. according to freights 'oi.lâ€"u'lae's‘ _‘ oniarilo wheatâ€"No. 2 wih Manitoba flourâ€"First patents, in jute bags, $15.00; second patents, in iute bags, $14.50; strong bakers‘, in jute bags, $14.10, Toronto. EEDRCR ERRDOEITB TD IIDMIBNUT UHEIRTUE, Peasâ€"No. 2, nominal, according to freights outside. Barleyâ€"Maiting, $1.40 to $1.42, nomiâ€" nal, according to frel&\ts outside . Ryeâ€"No. 2, $1.93 $1.95, nominal, according to freights outside. No o al quotations. M oba catsâ€"No official quotations. Am n cornâ€"No. 3< yellow, $1.71, nomi subject.to embargo, track Toâ€" ronto. Ontario oatsâ€"No. 2 white. 76 to 786, nominal; No. 3 white, 75 to 77¢c, nominal, Ontario wheatâ€"No. 2 Wihter, per car lot, $2.98 to $3.00; No. 3 do., $2.96 to $2.98, mccording to freights outside. One Hundred All Right. Doings of the Duffs. spring lambs, $8 to $12; old United States Markets to, May 15.â€"Manitoba wheatâ€" Winnipeg Grain $11; selected hogs $17.75 J3 ED WHATS Up L" .| _ NoW# of : the World Author of Gyroscope Submits Plan That Amazes Naval Experts. A despatch from Washington says: It was learned Wednesday night on ungitestionable authority that the Naâ€" val Consulting Board has submitted to Secretary Daniels and his advisers a definite and completed plan to _ cope with the German Uâ€"boats which has proved a revelation to the best techâ€" nical brains in the service here. ‘ Supply Has Been Cut Off by the War and Prices Are High. One of the sidelights of the great war is furnished by the disappearance from the market of singing canary birds, of which many thousands were formerly imported annually from Gerâ€" many, where their breeding and trainâ€" ing occupied many of the peasants of the Hartz Mountains and neighboring :districts. War conditions, it is said, have caused the birds practically to disappear in the Hartz. The servees ‘ of the inhabitants have been otherâ€" wise required and the birds have lackâ€" ed their customary supplies of food, so that the region will have to be restockâ€" . ed after the war before a fresh supâ€" ply of the familiar songsters is availâ€" able for export. As a consequence, the price of canaries, which before the | war was about $3 or $4 in Chicago bird stores, has jumped to $12 or $15, and there are few to be had at any | price. l Uâ€"BOAT "KILLER" IS ENDORSED. The Provisional Government will, however, insist on coalition in order to force the Socialists to share in the responsibility of the government of the country. They have repeated the appeal recently issued warning the people against anarchy and civil war, with a possible return to despotism. The Moscow executive committee of the Workmen‘s and Soldiers‘ Deleâ€" gates is opposed to the idea of a coaliâ€" tion Government, and advocates the immediate summoning of an allâ€"Rusâ€" sian congress of soldiers‘ and workâ€" men‘s delegates. A despatch from Petrograd says: General Ruszky has been removed from the chief command of the army on the northern front. He remains, however, a member of the Council of War. _ SINGING CANARY BIRDS. RUSZKY REMOVED FROM â€"COMMAND Famous Russian General Superceded on the Northern Fr it. "During the month since the ot-' fensive began we have taken twice the number of prisoners, four times the amount of ground, and five times the number of guns taken in thel Somme offensive. The British and : French between them have captured some 50,000 prisoners and 450 guns.| If this is thxsultvof defeat, then| we are williing to go on being defeatâ€" ed. Weatave kept on going and we are going to keep on going. The Arâ€"| ras offensive is much bigger than the‘ Somme, and our next offensive will, be bigger than Arras. | UATTWCU L _ "Bodies of Teutons continually have been sent against the British over open ground without any apparent regard for casualties, but the British have held their line when it might have been expected they would give way, and have inflicted tremendous losses ‘on their opponents. Total of 450 Guns Also Taken in Spring Offensive. A despatch from London says: The recent partial success of the Germans at Fresnoy, on the Arras front in France, has ‘not upset the British plans of operation nor has it caused surprise, said Majorâ€"General Frederâ€" ick B. Maurice, Chief Director of Miliâ€" tary Operations at the War Office, in his weekly statement on Thursday. As a matter of fact, the General addâ€" ed, the British Staff has been surprised that the Germans have not succeeded before in making gains in view of the tremendous â€" counterâ€"attacks . which they have been hurling against the British front. The Chief Director conâ€" tinued : l 50,000 TEUTONS Is "Milk is one of our most importâ€" ant staples, and it costs far less for its actual /s0od value than meat or wheat. Approximately 98 per cent. of our farms zre understocked because slaughter houses will pay larger prices for calves." Number of Cattle Decreasing, Price of Food Rising. The first step to reduce the high cost of food, according to W. Scott Matthews, state dairy and food comâ€" missioner of Illinois, should be the passage of a federal law forbidding the sale of heifers. "While the population of the Unitâ€" ed States has increased 24,000,000 in the last fifteen years, the number of cattle has decreased 6,000,000. If the: 2,500,000 heifers now slaughtered anâ€" nually were allowed to bear, they would be ancestors of 45,000,000 cattle in five years. | _ The story of the thrusting of opium upon China makes a dark chapter in the history of Angloâ€"Chinese relations, and there will be great satisfaction in the fact that at last that chapter, as far as may be, has been blotted out. And China‘s victory over the opium habit is certainly one of the most reâ€" markable and splendid chapters in her history. The only parallel to it in modern times has been Russia‘s vicâ€" tory over the drink evil. _ In 1907 the British Government enâ€" tered into an agreement with the Chinese Government, fixing a ten years‘ limit to the importation of Inâ€" dian opium into China, and the ten years expired on the 31ist of March last. China had herself more than lived up to her part of the bargain as to the reduction of the cultivation of the poppy and the consumption of opium; in fact, the edict prohibiting both was promulgated in 1906. At last the Indian opium traffic with China has come to an end, and Britain wipes out an old and ugly stain, and the new republic is emancipated from a great evil. China‘s Victory Over Opium is Bright Chapter in Her History. Moral triumphs seem ~sometimes very slow to win, and yet every day brings one to its consummation. Because of heavy snowfalls in the Rocky Mountains a warning to the reâ€" sidents of Edmonton of the possibility of a big flood in the Saskatchewan River this summer is given by those who have recently travelled through the section. On the arrival of a troop train at Cranston, B.C., recently, the marriage of Quartermasterâ€"Sergt. Murer and Miss Mamie Folds was celebrated in the dining car while the train made its usual 10â€"minute stop. Retail price of flour in Prince Alâ€" bert, Sask., jumped 20 cents per hunâ€" dred one day last week, and two days afterwards another 20â€"cent rise was announced, $6.50 and $6.40 being the prices last named. A sixâ€"yearâ€"old Vulcan boy, whose leg _ was broken, crawled on his hands and knees quite a distance toâ€" ward his home before he was discovâ€" ered. The British Columbia branch of the Great War Veterans has been formed. Sergt. Charles Pendry, a Creston reâ€" cruit, was killed in action recently. forms, mounts, etc. Alberta‘s provincial police are to be more closely modelled after the R. N. W. M. P. in regard to uniâ€" A farmer in the vicinity of High River, Alta., sold 4,000 bushels of wheat last week at $2.24 per bushel. He has still 18,000 bushels of grain on hand. At least 500 cars of potatoes will be shipped from Alberta to the United States this spring. last week. This is the latest spring the Kooteâ€" nay valley has known in almost 25 years. P _ _One big farming concern at New Dayton, Aita., had 200 acres seeded From The Middle West Four hundred trees were planted in Henderson Park, Lethbridge, last items ANOTHER MORAL TRIUMPH. SAVE THE HEIFER. Ontario Boys and Girls Are N ONTARIO AND BRIâ€" TISH COLUMBIA. enâ€" the ten Inâ€" But each dredge costs three hundred to four hundred thousand dollars, so only rich corporations can afford this way of getting gold. There is toâ€"day in the West a fleet of at least one hunâ€" dred and fifty of these great craft, not one of which ever saw the sea, or any navigable lake or river. All the soil she digs is worked for gold. She can make a profit if there is only ten cents worth of gold in each cubic yard. * } These are the gold dredges. The parts are hauled over a sageâ€"brush deâ€" sert, and put together on dry land. The navigable water begins with a dry pit, in which the hull is assembled and calked. Water is brought from some creek, then the great steamâ€" shovel starts work, and presently the dredge is digging away into tho soil with her chain of buckets, scooping it out to a depth of fifty or sixty feet, and always increasing the size of the lake in which she floats. In California Ships Float in Seas of Their Own Making. Up in the deserts of California, hunâ€" dreds of feet above seaâ€"level, scores of great ships float in little seas of their own making. Attacking on a front of about four miles in the Lake Doiran region, Britâ€" ish troops on one wing took Teutonic allied trenches on a front of two lmiles and on the other flank advanced on a front of about a mile. At the ‘Cerna bend the Russians carried sevâ€" eral trenches by assault, while north of Monastir the Serbians occupied two points of support and took a few prisoners. A Serbian official stateâ€" ment, dated May 9, reports violent artillery duels along the whole Serâ€" bian front. The Bulgarians bombardâ€" ed Monastir with asphyxiating shells,‘ the statement adds. A number of | civilians were killed. | A despatch from London says:â€" With the advent of Spring weather in Macedonia contingents of the Salonica army have become active, separate successes having been scored on Wedâ€" nesday by the British, Serbian . and Russian forces. British Attack on Fourâ€"Mile Front and Occupy Bulgar Trenches. NEW OFFENSIVE IN MACEDONIA sary, he said, to provide an additional 100,000 workmer and to double the weekly supply of steel, while, at the same time, allowing the present Adâ€" miralty program to proceed. In ships exceeding 1,600 tons each, he said, the United Kingdom had in June, 1914, 8,900 vessels of gross tonâ€" naage totalling 16,900,000 tons. The corresponding figures in March, 1917, he said, were 8,500 ships aggregating nearly 16,000,000 tons. If the Shipping Minister‘s program was to be realized, it would be necesâ€" Lord Curzom gave figures showing tlat before the war the United Kingâ€" dom had 45.3 per cent. of the merâ€" cantile ships under 1,600 tons each, and 45.2 per cent. in December, 1916, __In making his statement in the House of Lords, Lord Curzon anâ€" nounced that the program of the Minâ€" ister of Shipping provided for the creâ€" ation each year of mercantile shipping aggregating 8,000,000 tons gross. The Government, said Lord Curzon, was taking the most drastic steps in its power to acquire merchant ships by building or purchase, and after t.he“ war, he predicted, the British merâ€" cantile fleet would be equal to or betâ€". ter thai. before the war. ' _ _A despatch from London says:â€" During a discussion of the shipping problem in the Hou#a of Lords on Thursday, Earl Curzon said that the Admiralty had the first claim and the first call on the national shipbuilding resources. _ The result of the British naval program, he stated, would be that after the war Great Britain‘s naval tonnage would exceed the naval tonnage of all the other nations of the gram of <British Shipp Minister to Meet the Sub OF SHIPS YEARLY THE GOLDâ€"BOATS. TORONTO "It‘s lucky, when I came home unexâ€" pectedly, the kiddy told me where you had gone, lass," said Joe, as they went home. "I guessed the rost!" And when they were seated in the wee nest which Kad been saved from Shylock‘s clutches by Joe‘s providenâ€" tial advent, he locked her in his arms and forgave her. I told you Joe was & good husband. Don‘t you think he proved it? I‘ll not trouble to describe the terâ€" rible thrashing Joe gave the usurer. All I need say is that afterwards he was in bed for three weeks. band Joeâ€"Joe, unkempt and unshavyâ€" en, boots plastered thick with the mud of French trenches; Joe, withâ€"the glad light of love shining from his honest eyes. He put his wife tenderly on one side, then turned to Shylock, and askâ€" ed the amount of the debt. With his unshaven jaw set grimly, he counted the full amount out of a pocket in his bodyâ€"belt, and took a receipt in full discharge and settlement, Then the lovelight disappeared, and he turned a blazing gaze on the moneylender. [F m 9 OPmR mme T TEexhs ‘\ _ Thus, when Joe‘s wife fell ill, when, i/ for some reason or other the Post * , Office refused to pay the separation alâ€" ~|lowance to her messenger, and the ‘ / son and heir, aged five, caught a touch ‘ , of bronchitisâ€"â€"when,'n I say, these ‘ three tiny tragedies happened toâ€" |getherâ€"Fate ordained that the feâ€" : male temptress should come alomg» | and insidiously whisper in her ecar how _ easy it was to borrow a couple of _pounds for a time. | She was tempted, and she fell. For | weeks she paid out twopense in the ;shilling. Then she got behind in her payments. And now, at the moment when she had reached the lowest , depths of despair, she found bherself in | debt to the extent of about three | pounds ten shillings. | In the Nick of Time. |__A letter, which seemed to scorch her as it lay in the bosom of her dress, |told her that on the morrow Shylock would enter the little home, of which she fnd Joe were so proud, and proâ€" ceed to levy the distraint obtained from a county court judge, who had granted it in ignorance of the real facts. At eleven o‘clock she told the kiddy where she was going, and made her way to Shylock‘s office. There she pleaded, as woman never pleaded to usurer before, for time to pay her debt. Her plea fell on deaf ears. Either she found the money within one hour, or the distraint would be levied. She was in the midst of pourâ€" ing out a final plea, when the door of the spider‘s office burst open, and in a moment she was sobbing out the story of her shame on the breast of her husâ€" She went to bed, without sleeping, and arose witl) a splitting headache. There was a man near her home who lent money to the workers, â€" and had pressed into his service womenâ€" [touts as unscrupulous as himself. 'They induced others of their sex to | borrow small sums, on which they had to pay interest at the rate of twoâ€" | pence in the shilling a week, 1 Joe‘s father had been ruined by a ‘ moneylender, and it had embittered | the lad‘s whole life. He hated ‘moneyâ€" |lenders, and he hated borrowers. He heard of judgment summonses, brokâ€" ‘er‘s men, homes being soid up, vamâ€" ‘pires waiting as the men left their , work, women asi men drowning their | sorrows in drink, and even becoming | thieves, because they could not pay |their loan instalment to the moneyâ€" | lender. "You‘ll rub along on the separation allowance and what bit you‘ve â€" got, lass!" Joe said. "And if I‘m out yonâ€" der long, and you rurt shortâ€"well, struggle on! But, whatever you do, lass, don‘t borrow! Promise!" It was on his mind when he came home on final leave before going to the Front. |Pathetic Story of a Predicament in Which a Soldier‘s Wife Found Herself. ; _ The woman‘s eyes became moist as she gazed into the embers of the dying fire. | Bhe was looking back on a moment _of madness. As she went to bed she prayed that God in His mercy would find some way out of the labyrinth of |despair into which that moment . of !lnndneu had led her, says London Anâ€" In some things he w;s;lm;s:‘p:r:‘i- monious. Borrowing money was one of them. He hated it. No; she had not committed any sin. In that respect her conscience was clear. But she had been very indisâ€" creet. And she knew that her indiscreâ€" tion would wound to the core her solâ€" dier husband who had been fighting in France for seventeen long months. Joe was a stnlch{ ch_u; *!i::;ald not do an underhand action if he tried. HOW SOME UNSCRUPULOUS PER. SON8 TREAT THE N~EDY. f In Shylock‘s Clutches SHE LOATHED fys "ther Now, % €x cR by ney Ke of * eloâ€" preâ€" ‘nc Fye setweon call it le," "e your wo fac» ts has (