MISCELLANEA 27 



EUROPE 



EN(ii,ANr). Dr Nansen's lectures are attnuting large aiuliences, not- 

 withstanding the very high prices charged for admission. 



Although the traffic receipts of the Manchester ship canal for 189(5 

 show a large increase over those for 1895, the diversion of trade has made 

 no appreciable impression upon the revenues of the port of Liverpool. 



Fi{.\NCE. The Paris Academy of Sciences has awarded one of the two 

 Arago medals to ^l. 1). Abadie, the Abyssinian explorer, and a prize to 

 Prince Henry of Orleans for his explorations. 



Gkkmanv. 7,531 steamships and 9,02.] sailing vessels passed through 

 the North Sea and Baltic canal during its first year. The receipts from 

 tolls fell far short of the official estimates. 



ASIA 



Jap.\n. The German consul at Yokohama rei)orts that a general rise 

 in the cost of living as well as in the ,«cale of wages is already decreasing 

 the danger of Japanese industrial competition with European nations. 



India. The production of coal has increased 55 per cent in a single 

 year and has almost quadrupled in ten*^'ears. The imports are also in- 

 creasing rapidly, and as coal is not used for domestic purpo^^es, its increas- 

 ing consumption j)oints to that exi)ansion of manufacturing industries of 

 which there are so many other indications^. An illustration of the maxim 

 that the trade follows the flag is found in the fact that SG per cent of the 

 tonnage that entered the ports of India last year was British. 



AFRICA 



Transvaal. It is believed that of the public revenue for the current 

 year, estimated at £4,402,19;], the Uitlanders will pay £3,500,000. 



WicsT Afi{Ica. Telegraphic dispatches aniKHince that ex-King Prcmpeh 

 and his relatives and attendants have been removed to Sierra Leone. 

 — A British officer has just returned from an important mission, occupy- 

 ing five months, to the north and northwest of Kumassi, having traversed 

 the entire distance of 900 miles on foot. He reports the country as ex- 

 ceedingly rich in mineral and vegetable products, gold, rubber, kola-nuts, 

 and mahogany being abundant. 



MISCELLANEA 



In a paper read last month before the Royal (leograpliical Society, Col. 

 J. K. Trotter, R. A., who was the principal British offii'er of the Anglo- 

 French Delimitation Commission appointed in 1895, i^tated that tlu> com- 

 mission were disappointed at finding the sources of the Niger at so low 

 an elevation, the highest recorded being 3,879 feet. The adjacent coun- 

 try was mountainous, but none of the summits exceeded 5,000 feet. 



The Proceeduigs and Transactions of the Queensland Branch of the 

 Royal Geographical Society of Australasia contain, among other articles, 



