It would seem strange had M. Ballin so readily accepted defeat. The explanation lies in the fact that, at the request of a very highly-placed person, his interest has been transferred to another more delicate and more or less secret organisation, devised to undertake those duties of M. Ballin's would-be "Weltverein," which concerned the German reputation abroad. A short time ago, a meeting, of which the secret has been well kept, was convened in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, of which Dr. Hamann, the notorious head of the Press Bureau of the German Foreign Office, was the originator and at which the Foreign Secretary himself was present. The meeting was attended by members of the leading industrial concerns of this country: the North German Lloyd, the Hamburg-America Company, the Deutsche Bank, the Disconto Gesellschaft, the Allgemeine Electrizitätsgesellschaft, Siemens and Halske, the Schuckert Works, Krupp, the Cruson Works, etc. They formed a private company with the purpose of "furthering the German industrial prestige abroad"--a conveniently vague purpose. The company will be financed by private subscriptions and by a Government grant. The sum at first suggested as a necessary revenue from private subscription was £12,500, but the company present at the first meeting was so enthusiastic that it definitely promised annual subscriptions amounting to £25,000. The Government will add £12,500 per annum--the whole Secret Service Fund, in fact, at the disposal of the Imperial Foreign Office for similar purposes (_e.g._, for the payment of subsidies to certain papers abroad). The company has entered into an agreement with the _Agence Havas_ that the latter will in future only publish news concerning Germany if supplied through _Wolff's Telegraphen-Bureau_. The latter will receive its German news exclusively from the new company.