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through rules and exercises, he described the trials of the beginner in the dark valley "through which every shorthand writer has to go," viz., speed practice. The first attempt at speed practice was a tremendous blow to pride, and in many cases was a great deterrent to the study of shorthand. However, by much practice and much tiresome reading of Phonography, they did manage to reach the appalling speed of 60 words per minute. But now came a much more discouraging time. Speaking from his own experience he was never more inclined to give up trying to attain any speed than when he could write from 60 to 80 words per minute. A different set of muscles seemed brought into play when 80 words per minute had been passed, and it required great perseverance and encouragement to get beyond that speed. He had found that if he could persuade a student to get past "that terrible 80," the student was enabled to progress to much higher rates than he ever thought possible. Having reached 100 words per minute they struggled with sermons. The amount of theology they swallowed was tremendous. Sometimes they could read their notes; more frequently they could not. Sometimes they made the reverend gentleman utter statements which no selfrespecting Christian would think of uttering. After six months of this practice they tried reporting a political oration delivered in the county town. They boldly marched up to the reporters' table and took their seats there, wondering whether the audience took them for representatives of the Times. What joy there was in comparing on the following day one's own note with the verbatim report in the daily paper! With a speed of 120 words a minute there came a temptation to linger in the shorthand "delectable fields." Most people thought this a very good place to pull up at. But it would be a good thing if the young student could see the "vision beatific" of 200 words per minute! Our pilgrim about this time usually came to London, found to his surprise that there was much more to learn about shorthand, got employment in an office, and was tempted to make adaptations of his own to suit his peculiar work. Oftentimes he found it difficult to read his notes; and in some cases, as in his own, there came a determination to write Phonography as correctly and as symmetrically as possible. The turning point in his own connection with shorthand was when he determined to enter for a Society of Arts certificate. Mr Hall gave a picturesque account of his experiences at successive examinations, mentioning specially the feeling of panic that seized him when he heard the word "sarcophagus in a stiff test piece at 140 words per minute. Examinations were invaluable because they inspired enthusiasm and created a healthy rivalry which was one of the greatest helps to excellence. Referring to the struggle and the training to reach a speed of 200 words per minute, and the many attempts necessary to most people before they succeed, and pointing out that there appeared to be an enormous difference between 190 and 200 words per minute, he said there was no reason why everyone of those whom he addressed should not secure a certificate at the latter rate. It only required plenty of practice and just a little self-sacrifice.

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After remarks by Messrs Ponsford, Abbey, Shedlock, and the Chairman (Mr E. A. Cope), a hearty vote of thanks was awarded to Mr Hall for his interesting address.

CORRESPONDENTS' FAILINGS.

"Very few of our correspondents fold letters and put them in the envelopes properly," said the correspondence clerk in a City warehouse the other day. "This firm receives upward of 1,000 letters a day, and it is my duty to sort them and send them to the various heads of departments. Each letter must be sent opened flat, with the envelope attached by a clip. In almost every instance the letter is folded and put in the envelope so that I have to turn it round before I can read it. It seems a trifling matter to a person who opens only five or six letters a day, but to me this loss of time caused by either the ignorance or carelessness of letter writers is considerable. Fully two-thirds of the letters received by a business house are filed. Cabinets for this purpose are arranged so that one must refer to the beginning of the letter, on the right-hand side, to find the date. Onehalf the persons who write on matters of business, particularly women, put the date at the end of the letter, and on the left-hand side, so that we have to lift the whole bunch to get at it. These failings of correspondents are worse than illegible writing and incorrect spelling."-Household Words.

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IV. MISCELLANEOUS TERMS (CONTinued). Escheat.-Escheat means the reverting of an estate in fee simple to the original grantor on the death of the "tenant or holder of the estate-intestate and without leaving any heirs surviving. This is an event that very rarely occurs, for most people have some traceable relatives who are capable of inheriting. The few instances that do happen could all be avoided by the simple expedient of making a will. An intestate without heirs who dies possessed of copyhold property benefits the lord of the manor, of whom the property is held. In the case of freehold property the Crown reaps the benefit as a rule, for all freeholds are assumed to be held of the Crown. But they may not have been held directly of the Crown. Possibly, although they are freeholds, they were originally granted by and held under a lord of the manor. In that case if he can prove his title, the estate will revert to him and not to the Crown. This is termed an Escheat; and the property is said to have been escheated.

The term will be better understood by bearing in mind its derivation and history. It comes to us direct from the old French word escheate, which is a form of the Low Latin escheta, derived from the older Latin escado (to fall out) made up of the prefix ex, out, and cado, to fall. [The same root is seen in cadence, originally, a falling inflection.] To escheat is to fall out of private ownership by reason of the failure of heirs, and therefore to revert to the superior authority from whom the right to ownership is ultimately derived.

Estoppel. This word, and its related verb to estop, seldom seen in the infinitive, but familiar enough in the past tense estopped, will be easily understood if it is borne in mind that in origin they are nothing more than another form of the

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ordinary word_stop. As legal terms they have become specialized, and are applied only to certain kinds of "stoppage." A man is estopped or hindered by law from denying the truth of the finding of a Court of Record. He is also estopped from denying his own act, and from repudiating certain consequences that flow from his own acts. becoming tenant of a man and doing anything to show that he considers himself that man's tenant he is estopped, or precluded from disputing his landlord's title. If he executes a deed containing a recital or a statement of fact he thereby estops or precludes himself from contradicting or disputing that fact, unless he can show that his execution of the deed or his concurrence in the statement was obtained by fraud. If he treats a document as valid and as binding upon him, and takes the benefit of it, he is estopped, except under very special circumstances, from afterwards denying its validity. This is called the doctrine of estoppel.

Extradition. The word extradition is simply our familiar word tradition with a prefix. A tradition is something delivered over or handed down, an opinion, a belief, or a practice passed on from one generation to another. Extradition is also a delivering over. In its technical sense it has come to mean exclusively the delivering over by one Government to another of a person who has escaped from the jurisdiction of the latter with the object of avoiding a prosecution for a criminal offence. Before a man whose extradition is demanded by a foreign Government will be delivered up, evidence is required of the offence, and that there is good and sufficient reason for putting the accused person on his trial for it. Accordingly, extradition does not take place except after an investigation before a magistrate here. English courts in particular are very careful not to give up a fugitive whose real offence was of a political character, even though for the purpose of getting him in their power a foreign Government has formulated against him a charge of a purely criminal character.

Fiduciary.—When a man is said to act in a fiduciary capacity, or to stand in a fiduciary relation towards another, it is intended to indicate that by virtue of some position that he occupies, certain duties are cast upon him which involve the interests of others, and which must be paramount over his own personal interests whenever the two come into conflict. A trustee acts as of course in a fiduciary capacity. Certain trusts are confided in him, and his duties towards the persons intended to be benefited by the trusts rest on that fact. He must not make any personal profit out of the trust property or by reason of any dealings with it. Any profit made must be accounted for by him to the persons beneficially interested. But persons who are not in any strict technical sense trustees may, and often do occupy, a fiduciary position. Directors of a joint stock company, officers of such a company, and promoters of such a company hold a fiduciary position as between themselves and the shareholders. This means that whatever benefit may accrue from their actions with reference to the property or affairs of the company, belongs to and must be accounted for to the shareholders. It is a common thing to insert in the agreement for the sale of a business to a company, a stipulation to the effect that "the validity of this agreement shall not be impeached on the ground that the vendor as promoter or otherwise stands in a fiduciary relation to the company." When a man sells to a company he usually makes a profit. If, as generally happens, he is the promoter, or one of the promoters of the company, and one of the persons appointed as directors by the Articles of Association, he is making a profit at the expense of the company which he is promoting, and of which he is one of the directors, and towards which he therefore stands in a fiduciary capacity. The stipulation quoted is intended to protect him against all liability which he might otherwise be under to account to the company for the proût he is making, or to have the agreement set aside by reason of its not disclosing that profit, or by reason of any other legal consequence of his position as promoter or director.

(To be continued. Commenced in No. 1.)

FOREIGN COMMERCIAL EXERCISES.

FRENCH. 107. AVOINES.

Ainsi que nous le disions mercredi dernier, le moindre retard dans la récolte devait1 amener, à Paris, une demande suivie d'avoines disponibles, et fait diminuer sensiblement le stock du marché. Les événements nous ont donné raison3, et, si le stock au marché de Paris à la date d'hier est encore porté à 5,000 quintaux, nous savons qu'il est entièrement liquidés.

La même situation existe pour les avoines exotiques; à la date du 31 juillet, il n'existait en entrepôt, dans les ports de mer, que 32,500 quintaux, contre 43,000 en 1901 et on7 y a puisé largement depuis. On le voit actuellement, puisque, Îoins de baissers, les avoines nouvelles étaient fermes aujourd'hui et, depuis quelques jours, s'enlèvent auo fur et à mesure des9 offres.

Nous avons publié hier le chiffre total de l'importation de cette campagne, il n'est supérieur que de1o 353,000 quintaux à celui de l'année précédente, ce qui est surprenant avec le déficit de la récolte de 1901. Il est vrai que l'Algérie nous a fourni 2 millions de quintaux d'orge. Il est probable que le bon marché dell l'avoine fera abandonner cet emploi pendant cette campagne; nous avions été les promoteurs de la demande, il12 y a un an12; nous sommes d'un avis13 contraire, cette campagne, d'autant plus que les Algériens ont livré, depuis six mois, une affreuse marchandise.

Les avoines vieilles sont fort rares; à Lille on a vendu aujourd'hui des blanches à 20.35 les 100 kilos, et à Paris, il devient presque impossible d'en 15 trouver15. Il n'y en a plus, dans les entrepôts, en avoines indigènes 16; et en avoines étrangères il ne reste que quelques lots de Libau et une quantité insignifiante de Suède.

A livrer sur 12 mois, il y a acheteurs en grises à 16.50, vendeurs à 16.75; les noires valent 50 centimes de plus.— L'Echo du Commerce.

I ought, was sure, was bound; 2 for disposal, available; 3..3 have proved that we were right; 4..4 still amounted ; 5 liquidated, disposed of; 6 imported from abroad; 7..7 it has been drawn upon; 8..8 far from going lower; 9..9 in exact proportion to the; 10 by; II, II good market for; 12..12 a year ago; 13 opinion; 14..14 so much the more because; 15, 15 to find any at all; 16 indigenous, of native growth, home grown; 17 up to any time within, forward. ENGLISH VERSION OF LAST WEEK'S EXERCISE. SPANISH. 106.

THE THREE EIGHTS.

The struggle to regain the Three Eights" has for its ultimate object not merely the recognition of the right to leisure and to the increase of remuneration, but of the right to have opportunity for recreation and of means for enabling the proletariat to advance in the life of intelligence.

For many years past, many intellectual workers have experienced a conscientious impulse to put themselves in contact with the mass of the population. They have created extension courses, popular universities, art sections, and institutes for teaching. And there is no provincial capital or industrial centre of any importance in which there are not periodically organized and directed, especially to the working classes, lessons and lectures more or less co-ordinated! But notice must be taken of the fact, however painful the confession may appear to be, that these lectures or lessons are not followed with sufficient assiduity, at least by those whom it is wished to attract.

Save in happy exceptional cases, professors and lecturers are not slow in becoming convinced that their working class assemblies are principally composed of small shopkeepers,

clerks, teachers, women and young girls, anxious to make up what was lacking in their early education. On the contrary, working men, and above all men who work in factories, miners, toilers compelled to work at the most laborious tasks, are on each occasion less numerous in proportion as the course of lessons proceeds, and as the lessons themselves lose the attraction of novelty.

Is it to be inferred from this that the lecturers deal unskilfully with matters, and do not succeed in being sufficiently simple to be understood by imperfectly educated hearers?

Possibly so, but there are, at any rate, those who have tact to control public meetings, who possess the art of expounding the most abstract questions in concrete terms, who know marvellously well how to bring themselves down to the level of those who listen to them, and yet, in spite of all this, they also complain of not having many working men in their classes.

Certainly the workers would with the utmost goodwill be glad to hear the professors, but, in order to complete their instruction, to "provision their intellectual granary," time is needed and leisure is needed, and the majority of manual workers have it not.-Heraldo de Madrid.

A BELGIAN TESTIMONY TO
PHONOGRAPHY.

We have received from a correspondent at Antwerp the following interesting experience in the acquirement of Phonography, and in its employment for writing French and German :

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"I consider Phonography as by far the best of all modern shorthand systems. I spent a year in England with a view of learning this important business language, spoken all over the world, and I learnt Phonography in a week, i.e., I got through the Teacher' in that time. After two or three months I had a full knowledge of Phonography. A few months ago I came back to Belgium, and soon afterwards I went into a big maritime business in my native town, Antwerp, where the three languages French, English, and German were used. As I had chiefly the duties of a corresponding clerk, I looked for French and German shorthand works, in order to adapt them to Phonography, I got the German Stolze-Schrey system and the French Duployé method. I read both through carefully and I understood nearly nothing of all that I was told. The methods are obscure and cumbrous, in opposition to Phonography, which is clear and short. There are many rules which alternate with one another, not as in Pitman's Shorthand, few rules, which must be used without exception. In a word, I saw that Phonography stood there without a rival. I am now writing French and German letters in Phonography at the rate of 80 to 90 words a minute, which rate is increasing every day. Another great advantage of Phonography which I would like to mention to you, is its writing by sound, and this advantage is very great for foreigners. Writing phonetically the English language, they are urged to pronounce phonetically, each sound is a fixed symbol for them, which once fixed in the memory, is not easily forgotten. This advantage gave me great help in learning the English language."

CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATIONS
ANNOUNCED.

CLERKSHIPS GENERAL REGISTER HOUSE, EDINBURGH.(Age 20-25). Law agents' apprentices with two years' experience in a Scotch conveyancing office, and Register House Boy Clerks and Engrossing Clerks only are eligible.

JUNIOR CLERKS' ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSION.-(Age 18-22). Latin and French or German obligatory.

ASSISTANT SUrveyors of TAXES.-(Age 19-22). A language and political economy are among the obligatory subjects. Prospective candidates must apply at once to the Civil Service Commission for the regulations.

PITMAN'S YEAR BOOK FOR 1904.

A subscriber to our annual volume expressed anxiety the other day lest the size and weight of "Pitman's Shorthand and Typewriting Year Book and Diary for 1904 " (price is.) should be so much increased by the inclusion of new matter, that he would no longer be able to carry the treasured volume in his pocket. We are glad to be able to reassure him on this point. There is, it is true, a greater amount of new matter in the "Year Book" announced to be ready on Monday next than in most of these annuals of recent date, but it has been found possible to include everything relating to new enterprises with an increase of only eight pages on the "Year Book" of 1903. The table given below exhibits the usual enumeration of institutions of different descriptions associated with the twin arts, as far as we have been able to collect information regarding them through the post. There are, of course, obvious disadvantages about this method of compiling a directory, arising from the unpunctuality, the indifference, or the changes of address of those from whom information is sought. It is, too, one of "life's little ironies" that in some instances those who are assumed to be eminent in the business education world seem to attend but indifferently, or not at all, to their reply paid correspondence. There are, we have reason to believe, a considerable number more of evercirculators, shorthand writers' associations, schools of shorthand, and typewriting offices than we have been able to discover. All who initiate new enterprises of these kinds are invited to send a post card notification to the Editor at the Phonetic Institute, Bath, at any time throughout the year, giving name and address, so that in due course forms may be sent.

The following return shows the number of institutions dealt with in the Year Book" for the past ten years, as follows:

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On Saturday afternoon and evening, 10th Oct., in the Bewick Hall, High West street, Gateshead, a joint conference of the North District of the National Federation of S. W.A's. and the North East District of the Incorporated Society of Shorthand Teachers was held. Mr J. Brodie, A.N.S.A., Newcastle (Chairman, North District, Nat. Fed. of S.W.A's.), presided.

The Chairman, in his opening address, offered a hearty congratulation to Mr Millican, of Gateshead, upon his appointment as general secretary and treasurer of the Federation. This was the first district meeting where the two societies had held a joint conference, and he expressed the hope that the gathering would be beneficial to the members of both organizations. It was a great pleasure to him to welcome to that meeting Messrs A. Nixon and J. Hynes, two of Manchester's most prominent and highly esteemed shorthand teachers, who had done so much in the furtherance of the interests of writers and teachers of the art of Phonography. The chairman alluded also to the movement which was being made for a District Shorthand Speed Champion

ship, which, he trusted, when inaugurated, would prove a valuable means of stimulating more and more shorthand writers to attain to, and maintain, a high state of efficiency.

Mr J. Hynes, F.N.S.A., F.Inc.S.T., Manchester (President of the Federation), then delivered an address upon "Elasticity in Phonography." This elasticity, the lecturer said, was present in every stage of the system, from the simple consonants to the most advanced phrases, and it was due to various causes-the extraordinary wealth of alternatives in the system; the extensive use of the double consonants: the fact that certain of the consonants might be written upward or downward, sometimes with, and sometimes without, a change of form; the diversity of outline which necessarily followed from the principle of vowel representation in Phonography; the divergence of form which frequently followed from an exercise of prudence on the part of a writer, and a generous interpretation of a rule, making it elastic, rather than cast-iron. A very interesting and humorous blackboard demonstration was given by Mr Hynes.-Messrs R. Pearson Shaw (Newcastle), W. H. Blades (Gateshead), H. Knott (Newcastle), and J. Campbell (Sunderland) took part in the subsequent discussion.

Mr J. Campbell, A.N.S.A., Sunderland, followed with a paper upon "Association and District Efficiency." It might seem a bold statement to make, but he did not think, considering the many years of training they had had, that their Associations were as efficient and as useful as they might be. Indeed, taking into consideration the tremendous amount of time, money, and thought spent upon these societies, they were a long way behind what they should be in the matter of results, particularly as regarded membership. It was absolutely necessary for the welfare of an association, that the enthusiasm should be kept up almost to boiling point, and any lukewarm officials should be got rid of. Every department should be most carefully looked after, as any slackness, however trivial, might be the means of losing a member. More advantage should be taken by Associations of the excellent facilities afforded by the Federation in the matter of speed examinations. The younger members should be encouraged to take more than a passing interest in the work, as it very frequently happened that many a young member was willing and eager for work, but was never asked to assist. He might require training, he might not, at first, be the successful officer his predecessor was, but if he had ordinary brains and intelligence, and, above all, enthusiasm, and a desire to help forward, the rest was easy. As far as the Federation itself was concerned, it had been blessed with officers at the head of affairs full of enthusiasm, men of brains and the capacity for using them to the best advantage, of which the organization afforded abundant proof. But he was not so sure he could say this of some of its district officers. A few districts he knew were fortunate in possessing thoroughly capable, energetic officers, who fully understood their duty, and who were ever on the alert to help forward the Federation movement, and to carry on the work in the best and most efficient manner. But there were others who were not "object lessons." If the Federation, as a whole, were to be productive of any good at all, its districts must be in regular working order. One department required constant looking after-the work of the District Council, and district conferences in particular. Such gatherings, indeed, formed one of the stoutest planks in the Federation platform, and their importance could not be over-estimated. In the discussion (in which a large number of Association workers took part) the prevailing opinion was that the essayist had taken a somewhat gloomy view of the situation.

After an adjournment for tea,

Mr J. Hynes delivered a highly instructive technical criticism lesson on the stroke, which produced quite an animated discussion. Mr J. Brodie occupied the chair.

Mr A. Nixon, F.C.A., F.Inc. S T., the other Manchester delegate, under the chairmanship of Mr Salkeld, then delivered an address upon "Why I am a Member of the Incorporated Society of Shorthand Teachers." In a highly interesting address, specially concerning shorthand teachers, Mr Nixon dwelt on the advantages of the Society, which was doing all it could to raise shorthand teaching as a profession, and dwelt upon the advantages which the Society offered. The lecturer expressed the hope that the North East District, which was one of the smallest, would soon become one of the largest in connection with the organization.-In the discussion following, Mr J. Brodie objected, on principle, to persons who have had a considerable number of years' experience as teachers, and who have also proved their ability as practical writers, having to undergo a theoretical examination. Mr Nixon replied.

Votes of thanks brought the conference, which was in every way a successful one, to a conclusion.

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(To be continued. Commenced in No. 40.)

Learner's Style.

THE ENCHANTED WOOD.

(Continued from page 850.)

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At night the man came, and as soon as he saw the boy asked him what was wrong with the well. 'It is all right!" answered the prince, holding his hand behind his back so that the man should not see his finger. But the man made reply that the prince had dipped his finger in the water, and told him that though he had done no harm this time, he must now take care not to touch the water, or even to let anything fall into it.

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