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{REUFER'S SUMMARY.}
London, June 17.
On the lOfch June the Earl of Belmore, Presi
dent of the London Commission for the Sydney
Exhibition, with Sir Daniel Cooper as Vice
President, attended at the South Kensington
Museum to pass the lasb of the pictures going
from England for the Fine Arts Department of
the Sydney Exhibition. By the exertions of
the Royal Commission for the Australian Exhi
bitions a very valuable representative collection
of three hundred works of English artists has
been secured, and such as, it is quite safe to say,
was never seen before in any of the Australian
Colonies. Sir Frederick Leighton, Mt\
Calderon, Mr. Elmore, Mr. Ansdell. Sir J.
Gilbert, Mr. Prinsep, Mr. Watts, Mr. Poole, Mr.
Alma Tadema, Mr. John Brett, Mr. Horsley,
Mr. Armitage, Mr. Sydney Cooper, Mr. Cooke,
Mr. Storey, Mr. Cripp,Mr. Lehmann, Miss Mon
talba, M. Chevallier, and Mr. Haag are among
the artists represented. Mr. Woolner has sent
two or three pieces o? sculpture. Mr. E. M.
Barry, Mr.C. Barry, Mr. Wyatt, aud Mr. Severn
contribute architectural drawings. The in
surance value of the English pictures alone
calculated upon the premiums paid by the Com
mission exceeds £30,000, and there are 500 other
pictures going from other countries of Europe.
The miscellaneous collections include well-filled
cases from Lord Dudley's and Messrs. Barrow's
iron works, goad collections of glass, china,
porcelain, agricultural implements, and edu
cational appliances and books, of which last
mentioned Mr. Edmund Johnson ia, with the
powerful assistance of Sir Charles Reed, so far
as the School Board is concerned, forming a large
group which will, after the Sydney and Mel
bourne Exhibitions, become the property of the
Sydney Free Library.
The Paris correspondent of the Cologne
Gazette says Carlotta Patti has accepted a year's
engagement in Australia, on the termination of
which shewill finally retire from the stage.
At the concluding sitting of the International
Library Congress held in London, on June 15,
under the presidency of M. Ferdinand de Lessepg,
the Chairman announoed that he had just re
ceived a letter from his son, stating that the
whole of the 2,000,000 francs required for the
preliminary expenses of the canal through the
Isthmus of Panama had been already obtained,
and that consequently the works might be com
menced immediately. He trusted that general
support would be given to this great enterprise.
The Victora Cross has been conferred upon
Colonel Butler, C.B., Major William R. Steel,
Surgeon-Major James Henry Reynolds, Lieu
tenant Edward S. Browne, and private Wassail,
for gallant conduct during the recent operations
in South Africa.
Sir Arthur Gordon, the Governor of Fiji, has
been presented with a farewell address by the
Aborigines' Protection Society, expressing ap*
proval of the policy which he had adopted
during his rule over that dependency.
The steamship Faraday started on June 18
from Woolwich for Brest, having on board a
considerable portion of the new cable to be laid
between France and America.
Mr. C. Bowen, a distinguished member of the
Bar, has been appointed a Judge of the High
Court of Justice, replacing Mr. Justice Mellor.
In a debate on the Army Discipline Bill, tbe
House of Commons on June 17 adopted the pro*
posal of Mr. J. Brown for reducing the maxi
mum number of lashes inflicted in the army
from fifty to twenty-five.
Iu consequence of the vigorous protest of the
German Government, supported later by similar
protests from Frauce,England, and other Powers,
the Khedive has withdrawn the decree of the 22nd
of April dealing in an arbitrary manner with the
claims of holders of floating debts. The Egyptian
Government subsequently addressed a circular
to the foreign Consuls, promising the integral
payment of foreign holders' floating debt, and
generally offering submission to the Powers, to
whom it referred the question of the rate of in
terest and guarantees of unified debt. England,
however, disapproves of the payment of foreign
holders, to the exclusion of native holders, as
unjust. Both England and France refuse to
approve a demand of the Messrs. Rothschild that
the Khedive should issue a decree declaring
exempt from seizure the land and palaces ceded
by the Khedival family to the State. Messrs.
Rothschild make the issue of such a decree the
condition of paying over to the Khedive the
balance of the Domain loan. Iu reply to a ques
tion in the House of Commons this week, the
Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs stated that
negotiations were still proceeding on the
Egyptian question, and that it would be inex
pedient to communicate the correspondence re
lating to them.
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