344 GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



GREECE. 



influence for settling the general question." 

 He had dealt with foreign Governments in a 

 frank, straightforward manner. That frankness 

 had been reciprocated, and the demeanor of 

 the foreign representatives with whom he had 

 come in contact had confirmed him in the 

 opinion that " the old saw was true that ' hon- 

 esty is the best policy.' ' 1 



The new session of Parliament was called to 

 meet January 6, 1881. 



An inquiry into the railway disaster of De- 

 cember 28, 1879, at the bridge of the North Brit- 

 ish Railway over the river Tay, Scotland, when 

 the bridge was broken down, and the train with 

 all the persons upon it was thrown into the 

 river, was begun before a commission of the 

 Board of Trade, January 3d. The investiga- 

 tion resulted in the presentation of two reports, 

 both condemning the construction of the bridge, 

 and attributing its downfall to inherent defects. 

 The minority report, by Mr. Rothery, attributed 

 the responsibility for faults of design in the 

 bridge wholly, for faults of construction prin- 

 cipally, to Sir Thomas Bouch, the engineer 

 of the bridge. The majority report agreed 

 as to the responsibility of Sir Thomas Bouch, 

 but did not regard it as within the province 

 of the court to express judgment respecting 

 it. 



Great anxiety was felt, from and after the 

 24th of March, respecting the safety of her 

 Majesty's training-ship Atlanta, which had set 

 sail from Portsmouth four months before, with 

 three hundred and twenty persons on board, for 

 a cruise in the West Indies. She was an old 

 wooden sailing-frigate, which had been com- 

 missioned as a training-ship in 1878, and was 

 considered by the Admiralty sound, stanch, 

 and well officered. Vessels were sent in search 

 of the Atlanta, but no clew could be found 

 to her fate, and the Admiralty announced in 

 the month of May that little hope was enter- 

 tained that she was still afloat. An inquiry 

 was ordered into the fitness of the vessel for 

 the service on which she was employed, the 

 report of which, published at the end of the 

 year, was favorable to the soundness of the 

 vessel. 



The Annual Autumnal Congress of the Sani- 

 tary Institute of Great Britain met at Exeter, 

 September 21st, under the presidency of Lord 

 Fortescue. Papers were read on " The Sanita- 

 tion of Ancient and Modern Times compared," 

 on " The Sanitary Condition of the Camps in 

 the Crimea," on " Cleansing Sewers," on " Wo- 

 man as a Sanitary Reformer," on " The Appli- 

 cation of the Teachings of Science to Modern 

 Life," and other subjects. A resolution was 

 passed, to be forwarded to the Minister of the 

 United States, expressing satisfaction at the 

 admirable manner in which the city of Mem- 

 phis, Tennessee, had been drained. 



The Social Science Congress met at Edin- 

 burgh, September 29th, and was opened with 

 an address by Lord Reay, who compared the 

 social system of the Continent with that of 



England. Addresses were delivered by the 

 Lord Advocate on " Criminal Law Administra- 

 tion," and by other speakers on subjects relating 

 to the drama and education. Sir A. K. Shut- 

 tleworth read a paper in the Economy and 

 Trade Department on charitable endowments, 

 in which he pointed out that the income de- 

 rived from existing charities was wasted and 

 misapplied. In the Health Section, Dr. Alfred 

 Carpenter and Dr. Little discussed the subject of 

 the fogs in London. Mr. Hastings, M. P., spoke 

 of the useful measures of legislation which the 

 Congress had promoted, and expressed the be- 

 lief that its deliberations would materially as- 

 sist the Home Secretary in his action with 

 reference to juvenile delinquents. 



A conference of members of the Farmers' Al- 

 liance, October 18th, adopted resolutions urg- 

 ing the Government to pass a compulsory act 

 for giving tenants security for capital invested 

 in improvements, and recommending the abo- 

 lition of the law of distress, and measures for 

 securing to ratepayers their legitimate share in 

 county government, and for a fair apportion- 

 ment of local burdens between landlord and 

 tenant. 



A deputation of peers, land-owners, and oc- 

 cupiers called on the Local Government Board 

 early in November, to press upon the Govern- 

 ment the necessity of introducing legislation in 

 the next session of Parliament, to enable local 

 action to be taken for dealing with floods and 

 preventing the injury caused by them. The 

 Duke of Bedford introduced the deputation, 

 and the Speaker of the House of Commons 

 urged that as the question was one which af- 

 fected more or less every watershed in the 

 kingdom, it should be dealt with by a general 

 Government measure. Mr. Dodson, of the 

 Board, admitted the pressing character of the 

 evil, and promised to lay the subject before 

 his colleagues. 



The House of Keys of the Isle of Man has 

 adopted an electoral reform bill, by which 

 the franchise is extended to women who are 

 householders or owners of property, and a 

 burial bill, based upon similar provisions to 

 those of the English burial bill, but granting 

 larger liberties to nonconformists. 



GREECE, a kingdom of Southeastern Eu- 

 rope. Reigning King, George I, born Decem- 

 ber 24, 1845, second son of the reigning King 

 of Denmark ; elected King of the Hellenes by 

 the National Assembly at Athens, March 18 

 (30), 1863; accepted the crown June 6, 1863; 

 declared of age by a decree of the National 

 Assembly, June 27, 1863 ; married October 27, 

 1867, to Olga, daughter of the Grand Duke 

 Constantine of Russia, born August 22, 1851. 

 Their children are : Constantinos, Duke of 

 Sparta, born August 2, 1868; George, born 

 June 24, 1869; Alexandra, born August 30, 

 1870 ; Nicholas, born January 21, 1872 ; Maria, 

 born March 3, 1876; Princess Olga, who was 

 born April 6, 1880, died a few months later. 

 The area is 50,123 square kilometres; the 





