account of the recruiting of their employes and of shortage of
coal the companies operating the electric tramways of the city have
reduced their service to the minimum, as no power is available for the
running of the cars.

Heartrending scenes are witnessed in front of the closed doors of the
various banking establishments, where large posters are to be seen,
bearing the inscription: _Closed temporarily, by order of the
Government._ The most popular of these institutions is the Wiener
Bankverein. This bank, by making special inducements to small
depositors and by paying a higher interest than the others, succeeded
in concentrating the savings of many people of the working classes,
and as this institution is in imminent danger the rush to its doors is
exceptionally great and riotous.

The municipality has issued a number of ordinances fixing the prices
of all necessary commodities, and the Government, after the first
panic, declared that no further requisitions are to be made. At the
same time the authorities took special pains in order to induce the
various merchants to import goods from abroad, thus relieving the
extremely strained situation of the market; but it is doubtful whether
such measures will have any calming effect on the scared population.

Immediately after war was declared between Germany and Russia the
Porte ordered the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles closed to every kind
of shipping, at the same time barring the entrances of these channels
with rows of mines. The first boat to suffer from this measure was a
British merchantman, which was sunk outside the Bosphorus, while
another had a narrow escape in the Dardanelles. A large number of
steamers of every nationality are waiting outside the straits for the
special pilot boats of the Turkish Government, in order to pass in
safety through the dangerous mine field. This measure of closing the
straits was suggested to Turkey by Austria and Germany, and was
primarily intended against Russia, as it was feared that her Black Sea
fleet might force its way into the Sea of Marmora and the Aegean.

TURKISH PARLIAMENT PROROGUED.

_On Sunday, Aug. 2, the Medjlissi-Meboussan, or Parliament of Turkey,
was urgently called together, and the Speaker of the House addressed
the members as follows:_

Dear Colleagues: The imperial proclamation ordering the last elections
has produced some uneasiness both within and without the empire. It
was said at that time that the C