'Under this act,' the Shop-lifting Act, 'one Mary Jones was executed, whose case I shall just mention; it was at the time when press warrants were issued, on the alarm about Falkland Islands. The woman's husband was pressed, their goods seized for some debts of his, and she, with two small children, turned into the streets a-begging.

But even the rule, if confined to South America, of trees flourishing only in a climate rendered humid by rain-bearing winds, has a strongly marked exception in the case of the Falkland Islands. These islands, situated in the same latitude with Tierra del Fuego and only between two and three hundred miles distant from it, having a nearly similar climate, with a geological formation almost identical, with favourable situations and the same kind of peaty soil, yet can boast of few plants deserving even the title of bushes; whilst in Tierra del Fuego it is impossible to find an acre of land not covered by the densest forest.

The Falkland Islands, which are inhabited by a wolf-like fox, come nearest to an exception; but this group cannot be considered as oceanic, as it lies on a bank connected with the mainland; moreover, icebergs formerly brought boulders to its western shores, and they may have formerly transported foxes, as so frequently now happens in the arctic regions.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "The UK has no doubt about its sovereignty over the Falkland Islands and surrounding maritime areas, nor about the Falkland Islanders' right to decide their own future.

M2 EQUITYBITES-January 21, 2015-AAR gets 10-year contract in Falkland Islands from UK defence ministry

COMEDIAN Jim Davidson was said to be "delighted" after being told he will face no further action over an alleged historic sex offence in the Falkland Islands.

THE Falkland Islands will hold a public day of mourning on Wednesday as a mark of respect on the day of Baroness Thatcher's funeral.

The isolated and sparsely-populated Falkland Islands, a British overseas territory in the south-west Atlantic Ocean.