July 28, 1887] 



NATURE 



309 



Occultdtions of Stars by the Moon (visible at Greenwich). 



Corresponding 



1- m T-.- D angles from ver- 



-ust. Star. Mag. Disap. Reap. tex to right for 



inverted image, 

 h. m. h. m. o o 



1 ... 21 Sagittarii ... 5 ... o 23 ... I 29 ... 99 323 

 6 ... 70 Aquarii ... 6 ... I 14 ... i 38 ... 35 6 



August 3. — Partial eclipse of the Moon. First contact with 

 shadow igh. 36m. ; middle of eclipse 2oh. 49m. ; last contact 

 with shadow 22h. 2m. Magnitude of eclipse = o"4l9 of moon's 

 liimeter. The moon will rise at Greenwich at I9h. 3Sm. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



The rumour as to the death of Mr. Stanley is universally 



credited in geographical circles, and among those directly in- 



■sted in the Emin Pasha Expedition. The rumour seems 



;ie inconsistent with the news as to Mr. Stanley's having left 



Aruwimi River on June 3 for Wadelai. Had he been shot, 



reported, it must have been after this date, and during the 



I journey, whereas one version of the rumour gives out that 



was killed on the Congo. He may meet with Emin Pasha 



)ner than he expected. Emin, it seems, is at present exploring 



.a the south of the Albert Nyanza, endeavouring to find the 



connexions of the great affluent he discovered on the south side 



if the lake, and ascertain whether it may proceed from the 



Mwuta Nzige. So that he and Mr. Stanley may meet half 



way. Letters from Mr. Stanley are expected in this country 



early in August. 



The Report of Dr. Hans Schinz on his exploration of the 



( ierman colony known as Luderitzland (South-West Africa) has 



just been published. Dr. Schinz made two journeys : the first, 



in 1884, from Angra Pequena to Am-Hub on the Xamob, a 



-i.l)-affluent of the Orange ; and the second, in 1885, across 



nnaqua-land and Damara-land, and the little-known region 



ich separates Damara-land from the Cunene River. The 



iiort contains much valuable information, especially on the 



a and the people of the region visited. The region is quite 



.V-, sterile and hopeless as it has been painted by previous 



visitors. It is only on the north of Etosha (18° S. lat.) that the 



flora and fauna become anything like abundant — bauhinia, 



palms, cassia, baobab. The population becomes more dense as 



we approach the Cunene. But three-fourths, if not four-fifths, 



of the new German colony is unworkable and uninhabitable. 



In the new number of Timehri the valuable serial published 

 in British Guiana, will be found a condensed translation of Pere 

 de la Borde's "History of the Origin, Customs, Religion, Wars, 

 and Towns of the Caribs of Antilles," the first of a series of 

 reprints of the literature of West India and Guiana red men, 

 which it is proposed to publish from time to time in the journal. 

 A large part of the number is devoted to Mr. Im Thurn's notes 

 on the plants observed during the Roraima expedition. 



The last Annual Report of the Russian Geograpnica Society 

 for 1886, which has just reached us, contains a good deal of 

 useful information. An account of several interesting journeys 

 is given. The publications of the Society were numerous 

 and valuable. Seven fascicules of the Memoirs appeared 

 during the year, containing the work on the geology of Lake 

 Baikal, by M. Tchersky ; a hydrological inquiry into the Upper 

 and Middle Amu-daria, by the late M. Zuboff; on the landslips 

 at Odessa, by M. Jarintseff ; on the exposure of thermometers, 

 by M. Savelieff ; on a journey to North- West Persia and the 

 Transcaspian region, by M. Nikolsky ; on the province of 

 Olonets, by M. Polyakoff ; and on the Votyaks, by M, Soko- 

 lovsky. The Society published, moreover, a volume of the 

 " Works of the Siberian Expedition," containing Fr. Schmidt's 

 "Miocene Flora of Sakhalin," and three volumes of obser- 

 vations of the Polar stations on the Lena and on Novaya 

 Zemlya. It is good news that the addenda to the capital 

 " Geographical Dictionary of Russia," by P. Semenoff, are being 

 rapidly prepared for the press. The great gold medal of the 

 Society has been awarded to M. Potanin for his twenty years' 

 geographical work ; and that of Count Liitke to M. Tchersky for 

 his remarkable geological explorations around Lake Baikal and 

 in East Siberia altogether. Other gold medals have been 

 awarded to MM. Nalivkin for their work " On the Position of 

 Woman amidst the Settled Population of Ferganah," published 

 last year at Kazan ; to M. Yastreboff for a work on Turkish 



Servians ; to M. Makaroff for his researches into the double 

 currents in straits ; to MM. Skassi and Bolsheff for carto- 

 graphical work ; and to M. Eigner for his work at the Lena Polar 

 station. Many silver medals have been awarded for works of 

 less importance. The Committee of the Russian Geographical 

 Society for Pendulum Observations and the Meteorological 

 Committee have done most useful work. 



THE TECHNICAL EDUCATION BILL. 



I. 



'T'HE following is the text of the Bill to facilitate the provision 

 ■*• of technical instruction : — 



Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and 

 with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and 

 Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, 

 and by the authority of the same, as follows : 



1. This Act may be cited as the Technical Instruction Act, 

 1887. 



2. Any local authority as defined by this Act may pass a 

 resolution that it is expedient to provide for supplementing by 

 technical instruction the elementary education supplied in its 

 district, and for that purpose to put in force the provisions of 

 this Act. 



3. (l) A local authority shall, before proceeding to carry into 

 effect a resolution under this Act, cause the resolution to be 

 published in the prescribed manner, and within the prescribed 

 time, not being less than two months after the publication, 

 fifty persons entitled to vote at the election of members of the 

 local authority, or one-third of the total number of those persons, 

 may, by a written requisition, require a poll of those persons 

 to be taken as to carrying the resolution into effect, and there- 

 upon the poll shall be taken in the prescribed manner, and in 

 accordance with the prescribed regulations. 



Provided that — 



{a) the poll shall, so far as circumstances admit, be conducted 

 in like manner in which the poll at a contested municipal elec- 

 tion is directed by the Ballot Act, 1872, to be conducted ; and, 

 subject to any exceptions or modifications contained in any order 

 of the Department of Science and Art made in pursuance of this 

 Act, the Ballot Act, 1872, shall apply accordingly ; and 



(b) all persons entitled to vote at the election of members of 

 the local authority shall be entitled to vote at the taking of the 

 poll ; and 



{c) each of those persons shall be entitled to one vote only. 



(2) If the resolution is negatived at the poll it shall not be 

 carried into effect, and shall not be again proposed until the 

 expiration of not less than twelve months after the taking of the 

 poll. 



(3) This section shall not apply to the metropolis as defined in 

 the Elementary Education Act, 1870. 



4. (i) For the purpose of supplementing by technical instruc- 

 tion the elementary education supplied in its district, a local 

 authority may in pursuance of a resolution under this Act — 



(a) Provide technical schools for its district ; or 



\b) Combine with any other local authority for the purpose of 

 providing technical schools common to the districts of both 

 authorities ; or 



{c) Contribute towards the maintenance, or provision and 

 maintenance, of any technical school ; or 



{d) Make such arrangements as to the local authority seem 

 expedient for supplementing by technical instruction the instruc- 

 tion given in any public elementary school in its district. 



(2) The expenses incurred by a local authority for the purposes 

 of this Act shall be defrayed out of the local rate. 



(3) Provided that no payment shall be made under this Act 

 out of the local rate in respect of a scholar unless or until he has 

 obtained a certificate from the Education Department that he 

 has passed the examination in reading, writing, and arithmetic 

 prescribed by the standard set forth in the schedule to this Act 

 (being the Sixth Standard fixed by the minut cs of the Education 

 Department in force at the passing of this Act) or an examina- 

 tion equivalent thereto. 



(4) Two or more local authorities may, with the sanction of 

 the Department of Science and Art, enter into any agreement _ 

 which may be necessary for carrying into effect any resolution 

 under this Act ; and any such agreement may provide for the 

 appointment of a joint body of managers, for the proportion of 

 the contributions to be paid by the respective authorities, and 



