The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-07-29 00:00:00

Aliwilancotts

HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

THIS Is A FACT.— MllEical Jones's Doctor last
week forbad him to eat Pastry. Musical Jones simply
responded to him Medical Man by singing, dolorously,
"(mod bye, sweet tart, good bye."—Punch.
KILLED BY THE PRICK OF A PIN.—An in-
quest has loon held in I Aolld. MI to inquire into the death
of William Leeding, aged 63 years. It appeared from
the evidence that the deceased, who was a cab pro-
prietor, a few days ago complained of a boil which
had formed on his hand, and he lanced it with a 1.1,11a11011
brass pin. His hand became very much inflamed, and
lie went to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where he was
directed to poultice it with linseed meal, which he did,
but becoming much worse he comodted a doctor, but
notwithstanding the efforts made by that gentleman,
erysipelas and pycomea, or blood poisoning, set in, and
he died on Tuesday last. The doctor stated that he
had no doubt but that the deceased had brought about
his death by lancing the wound with a brass pin. The
jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical
evidence.

-
SUCCESS TO THE TELEGRAPH SYSTEM. A
Parliamentary return for the working of the telegraphic
system, just furnished by Mr. Scudamore is of the most
oeful character. The experienceof fourteen nionthshas
enabled Ihy Mr. Scudamore to reckon on a revenue of
at least 1:750,000, or ten per cent, on the capitaL
Of this gross revenue the expenses amount to only 58
per cent., and are in a decreasing ratio. As the tier,
vice becomes more efficient the amount of business is
rapidly increased. For instance, the moment com-
munication between London and Dundee was made
direct the traffic more than doubled. Again, the busi-
ness at many stations can be doubled without increa.,
lug the expenses ; which is tantamount to saying that •
if a sixpenny rate doubled the number of messages to
those places, there so add be no lies of revenue in those
quarters. On the whole, looking at the increase of
business, notwithstanding the hindrance of the•war
and the veryoundabout circuits inherited by the Post
Offiee in many parts ; looking, too, at the fact that
working expenses arc not much more than half the
gross revenue, and would not increase in proportion to
the increase of business; and remembering that money-
making is not the function of the department we may
look out soon for the sixpenny rate.
THE NEW LAW ON BANKRUPT PEERS—The
act for disqualifying new bankrupts from sitting or
voting in the House of Lords (the last statute passed
this session) has just been issued; and took effect July
13. It is stated to be necessary for the dignity and
independence of parliament that bankrupts should be
disqualified from sitting or voting in parliament After
an enactment to that effect, what is to constitute an
act of bankruptcy is defined. In England it is where
an order has been made under any act of parliament
adjudging Lim a bankrupt from and after the date of
such order ; when a special resolution has been passed
in pursuance of the Bankruptcy Act, 1869, declaring
that Ids affairs are to be lividated by arrangement
There is a variation as to Scotland and Ireland. A
peer is to be restored to his privilege on the determina-
tkn of his bankruptcy. The seat of a representative
peer is to be declared vacant unless the bankruptcy be
determined within one year. A peer sitting or voting
disqualified is to be guilty of a breach ie privilege.
There is a special rIOViSiOII a.s fl) persons to whom the
new law is to apply.
Tue Pitt ti OFFicEPS' CoMMIS:sIoNS. Now
that promotion by purchase is about to cease it may
lie interesting to the general public to know the cost
of army commissions, as published in the official army
fist. The value of commissions has been estimated at
the following rate (officem on their promotion paying
the difference in value between the several grades of
rank) : Life Guards : Lieutenant-colonel, 127,250 ;
major, L 5,350 ; captain, £3,500; lieutenant, £3,785 ;
carnet, £1,200. Horse Guards :—Lientenant-colonel,
£7,250 ; major, £1330; captain, £3,500 ; lieutenant,
£1,;;00; cornet, 1:1,906. Foot Guanls :----Captain, with
rank of lieutenant-colonel, £1,500; lieutenant, with
rank of captain, 1:2,050 ; ensign, with rank if lieu-
I tenant, 1:1,200. Cavalry and infantry of the line :
Lieutenant-colonel, £4,500; major, £3,200 : captain,
£1,000; lieutenant, £700; cornet or ensign, 1:150.
AN ABSURD CHRISTENING. —I (Boz) had a :
gmsl piece d absurility in my head a night or two ago.
I dreamed that somebody was dead. I don't know who, •
Indies not to the purpose. It was a private gentleman,
and a particular friend; and I was greatly overcome
when the news was broken to me (very delicately) by a
gentleman in a cocked hat, top boots, and a sheet.
Nothing else. "Good God !" I said, "is he dead?'
" le is as dead, sir," rejoined the gentleman, 'as a
door nail. But we must all die, Mr. Dickens; sooner
or later, my dear sir." "Ah r' I said. "Yes, to be
sure. Very true. Ihnt what did lie die of?" The
gentleman burst into a flood of tears, and said, in a
voice broken by emotion, "He christened his youngest
child, sir, with a toasting fork." I never in my life
was on affected as at his having fallen a victim to this
complaint It carried a convictvm to my mind that he
never could have recovered. I knew that it was the
most interesting and fatal malady in the world ; and I
wrung the gentleman's hand in aci,nrulsion of respect-
ful admiration, for I felt that this explanation did equal
honour to his head and heart. "Oar Whinpering Gal-
lery," in the Atlantic Monthly.
CONTEMPORARY TRAGEDIES.-- What would be
thought of anybody who, in conversation, seriously
called a Murder a Tragedy ? A Tragedy ought to
have five Acts, and a :Murder can only lie an incident
in one sf them. Why will report,rs conthme to write
immense which they would not speak?-- Punch.
THE BAN KRUPTCY ACT. —ln KAldithill to the
319 rules already in force for regulating the practice in
bankruptcy, a further instalment of 28 has 'been pub-
lished (printed by its last week), and it may fairly be •
expected that as time progresses, and the defects in
working the Act are discovered, a still greater number
will be issued until the whole Act is overlaid with
rules. The most noticeable features about the present
are a salutary provision for taxing accounts under
liquidations in the same manner as under bankruptcies ;
in fact, there seems to be every imaginable check upon
everybody, except that most important officer the
trustee, whose remuneration depending solely upon the
same authority which appointed him may lead to very
great abuses. This we think is the great point main
which the beneficial working of the Act depends, and
we shall look forward with much curiosity to the
development of this minciple of self-government. There
are two points ill the rides interesting to either branch
of the profession. The one, Rule 8, dnmniinshes by
two-fifths the attorneys' costs in estates where the
assets arc under t2OO, or the debts do not exceed MO.
This is the further application of the County Court
principle, and with it the thne-honoured six-eighths
will disappear. The fairness of the change it would be
diflii•ult to discover. The other glances at the Bar,
and provides that no fees to counsel be allowesl upon
certain ordinary applications ; to this we think there
can be no objection.—Solicitere Jonrioal.
SOMEBODY PLEASED.-- That large section of
the community who have nothing to sell and every
thing to imy, and who are never incommoded by the
" moo:nolo plethora of cheap money," or, indeed,
money of any sort, are th•lighted beyond measure to
hear that " Purchase" is al ((dished —Peach.
V Elt Y Ci iMPLIM ENTA HO INDEED !—Eser since
James 1. 's bishops assunsl him that " his Majesty was
the breath of their nostrils," or indeed long before,
ecclesiastical flattery ui Princes has :oared in higher and
more fantastic flights than that administered by any
• they class of men. The last number of the " Papiers
, Secrets " contains a minds...of very foolish ti anpliment-
ii y letters ashlressol ti Niis lc, di 111. Iry wor...hipp.rg
u hi lit I been favoured iiith copies of his " Vie de
But the following absolutely takes the wind
out the rest. The intermediary recipient of the
letter M. I 'onti

Stir,—The second volume of the History, which his Majesty
has condescended to destine for me, has. reached me with
your letter. In reading this beautiful and astonishing work,
it has occurred to toe that Julius Firsar was very fortunate
in having conquered (taut and composed his Connuentaries :
for, if he had not, the Emperor wouht have done both ! I
may you to lay at the feet of his Majesty my profound
homage and the expression of my gratitude.—CFaxote, Car-
dinal Archbishop of Besancon.
A MONSTER HOTEL.—The Pacific Hotel,
Chicago, which is in course of erection, and is expected
to be open next spring, rovers an area of nearly an acre
and a half, with dimensions from east to west of 3251 t.,
and IS6ft. from north to south, and a height of 104 ft.
The cost of the building will be abut 800,000 dolt. The
hotel is Intik lif the Amherst (Ohio) sandstone, and
already its great facades present a very striking effect,
and bid fair to add a noble feature to the architecture of
the city.
Mutt PER OF AN AMERICAN POLITICIAN.
Newark, an outlying suburb of New York has been
thrown into a state of the intensest excitement by a
horrible murder, exceptional for the social position of
the victim. A man 52 years of age, married, and living
with an estimable wife and several grown children,
carried on an intrigue with a depraved woman, for
whom he had taken apartments on the second floor of a
pothouse. He was the 80n of the venerable ex-Chan-
cellor HA-dead, of New Jersey, who still survives, at
the age of 82, and he went by the slang name of "Pet"
Halstead. A member of the bar, he had been far more
prominent in polities than in his profession. He was a
very active and efficient member of the Republican
party, and stood well with the present administration.
He had spent the night of Ist July with his paramour,
and on the morning of the 2nd, at an early hour, the
rooM adjoining the chamber in which they slept was
violently entered by a lover of the woman, a char-
coal vendor named Botts, an Englishman by birth, 46
years of age, who shot and killed Halstead on the spot
as he came from the bedroom. Botts wan at once ap-
prehended, , and awaits his triaL

SUSPECTED FENIAN MOVEMENT.--A discovery
has just been made in Liverpool which, along with
other information in the possession of the police, leads
to the conclusion that some new mischief is in contem-
plation by members of the Fenian brotherhood in that
town. A police-officer, having seen a number of rifles
and bayonets being removed flout a house in a court off
Summer-street, made an immediate communication on
the subject to the Detective Office, and shortly after
the premises referred to were searched, but all the
arms had disappeared. Further investigations led to
the dragging of the canal in the vicinity, and the tingl-
ing there a quantity 14 new Snider rifles and sword-
bayonets. It isaupposed that those concerned in the
removal if the anus front the depository in the court
had got a hint that their proceedings had excited
attention, and hail thrown the rifles into the water to
avoid detection. The police are endeavouring further
to elucidate the affair.

EMMEN T ATION W trT R. - - A ',prehen-
sion has been expressed that, unless it clause is intro-
diced into the Ballot Bill entitling electors who cannot
read to have their bath It-paper., secretly marked for
them by the Returning Officer, they will he practically
disfranchised. What a calamity that would be to the
country! What a loss would be that of the advantage
of their enlightened judgment and appreciation of men
and measures ! How desirable it is that the numemus
and important class of electors who are unable to read
should be fully represented in Parliament Pooch.
TEARS, FLOWERS, AND RENT.—The following
hint is recommended to the landlords and tenants of
England :
A lady relates that she announced to the occupiers of a
house belonging to her—working people for the most part—
that she would ask no rent for the past year : but that the
tenants went to her to say that that they would only accept
a reduction of six months. " And they brought me Sowers,"
she said, " and expresses! their thanks in the most touching
terms." "And what did you say to that, madame ?'' " Why.
I began crying-, acting me cry, they cried too ; awl the crying
did us all good. .
NOT ALL SMOOTH SAILING !—There Is trouble
afoot for the female suffrage agitators in Massachusetts
(says the American correspondent of The Timr). Two
of the Women's Rights women—Mrs Julia Wad Rowe
and Miss Stevens—who were recently appointed Jus-
tices of the Peace by the Governor of that State, as
they were about opening offices, were suddenly arrested
by the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. The ( 'ourt
decided that, although a woman, whether married or
umnarzied, may have been properly awointed and
commissioned, yet she can have no constitutional or
legal right to exercise the functions of the office of a
Justice of the Peace. In other States, especially in
the far West, there are women lawyers and justicem ;
and great is the astonishment at Massachusetts, the
State wherein the new doctrines had their birth, turn-
ing thus sternly agains the sex.
OVERWORKED RAILWAY SERVANTS. —At a
meeting held on Saturday, at Derby, to hear a lecture
deliver,l on this subject, Mr. Bass, MP., who pre-
, sided, ,aid he had long taken a great interest in the
matter, having hail a voluminous correspondence with
Mr. All port, the general manager of the Midland
Railway, and he believed his efforts would not even-
' Wally prove fruitless. But he had not confined his
efforts to that railway. Not long since an accident
which occurred on the London and North-Western
Railway directed his attenticn to the course pursued
by that company, and at his instance Mr. Cawkwelh
the manager of the company, instituted an inquiry into
the matter. Accidents arising from the excessive
work of railway servants were constantly occurring.
He disclaimed all antagonism towards the Midland
Railway Company, of which he was an extensive share-
holder, besides being a large customer. He was glad
to find that a committee approved by the directors had
inquire,' into the evils complained 01, and that in some
places the hours of work would be reduced from twelve
hours to eight hours a day. Sidings, too, and, in some
cases, additional lines would be shortly laid down to
aid the men in the expeditious and efficient execution
of their work.

A PROFITABLE PROFESSION.—The Athenaurn

says :
Wile Christine Nilsson, whose career in America has beer
hitherto confined to the giving of Concerts, Sacred and
secular, will commence a series of operatic perfOrMallee9 in
New York in September. Iler financial success has been of
such a nature as to preclude the possibility of any itoprt curio
essaying to tempt her to retuni to any European Opera-
house. Within leas than a year, it is stated on the twat
authority, the Swedish songstress cleared £30,000. It is
prohable that her Transatlantic bin will close her artistic
career, to be followed my marriage and retirement into pri-
vate life.

FOLLOWING THE ROYAL EXAMPLE !—Rather
an amusing story is related by a Naples paper of an
incipient which took place during the visit of Victor
Emmanuel to Naples. His Majesty has always been !
fowl of a circus performance, and, when he is in a •
city where there is one, never misses an opportunity
of going thereto. Instead of therefore going to see
the illuminations of the Villa on Friday evening, he
went hi M. Guillaume's circus. When there he pulled
Out las cigar case, and was about to "light up," when
a very ominous-looking placard caught his eve ! -" E
prohibit° di fee ma re ! " Here then was a dilemma.
The cigar was returned to its case, with a look of disap-
pointment, when an officer about the Court went to
the proprietor of the circus to inform him of the fact.
M. Guillaume repaired at once to the Royal box, and
with a bow informed his Majesty that lee was quite at
liberty to smoke. The King, however, replied that he,
above all others, could not violate an order ; he could
not think of smoking whilst those placards remained
there. "Very well," said the obliging impresario,
"they shall be taken down." This was no sooner said
than done, and his Majesty lighted his Royal cigar.
But no sooner had he done so than everybody in the
theatre followed suit, and from hundreds of mouths
such a cloud of smoke was blown as hie seldom been
seen in a place of public entertainment before.
THE POPE AND THE CARDINALS.—During his
Pontificate of a quarter of a century Pius XI. has
witnessed the deaths of nearly a hundred Cardinals,
and has all but twice renewed the Sacred College.
There are alive to-day only nine Cardinals who were
presented with their hats by his predecessor, Gregory,
and the youngest of these is 75 years ppf age. Several
others are more or less infirm ; especially Cardinals
Millet, Barnabo, Quaglia, Asquini, awl Twenty-
two hats-- an unusually large number—are just now
vacant; and the members the Carclinalate now at
Rome and belonging to the Curia are only 28 in
number, of whom three On four are reduced, more or
! less, to a state of inactivity by age or sickness.
SHOT Ili A SoMNAMBULIsT.—On the sth of
1 July Mr. Bartol, a Philadelphia sugar refiner, invited
a young man named Robinson to stay with him, as his
' wife and family hail gone to the country, and they
occupied the same room. Mr. Bartol has been in the
habit of walking in his sleep, and he has also been
nervp pus poi the subject of robbers, as he discovered five
men in his room about a year ago and at that time
hi, room was ruled 14 articles valued at about 500
pippllars. Then he purchased a four-barrelled revolver,
and it has been his habit to examine the weapon to see
if it was in proper condition, every night previous to
going to bed. Before retiring he had a conversation
with his friend about robbers, and showed him the
pistol. After going to bed he says he remembers
nothing until aroused by the exclamation, "Harry,
is that you? lam afraid you have hit me." He had
the pistol in his hand them awl remarked, "My God !
that cannot be so." He immediately: rushed around
to the Mal, tore the shirt frpmi Mr. Robinson, and found
that he was wounded in the breast. He was expected
to recover.
THE CULTUS OF HoRTICULTURE.--BUddhif3lll.

-
THE ENGINEERS' STRIKE.—The proposed Con-
ference between the engineer+ on strike in Newcastle
and Gateshead came to nothing on Friday on account
of their inability to agree upon preliminariea The
masters insisted that the vote of the men on strike
_ _ _ . .

should be taken by the ballot, which the delegates re- !
sisted air dictation; at the same time they stated that
if they had been left to themselves they would pro- !
bably have voted in that manner. The action of the
delegates has since been confirmed by two mass meet-
ings of the men, one of which was held on Saturday on
the Town Moor, Newcastle, aria was attended by be-
tween 4,000 and 5,000 men. The meeting on Saturday,
wax very determined to stand out for the nine hours
movement. The prospect of an early settlement is,
therefore, very-unpromising.
PROI:REss IN PARLIAMENT.- The House of
Commons created by Mr. Disraeli's Reform Bill i very
Aberal, but also very Conservative. The Ministerial
majority in it is extremely large, and the Government
can get it to pass extremely few measures. Alsintain-
ing things much as they were, it is thus Olsalerably
more Conservative than Progressive, and the Leader of
Her Majesty's Opposition may chuckle over the
thought that, in constituter," it on the basis of house-
hold suffrage, he did the best he could for his party.—
Punch.
OLD SCRAOWS INTERVIEW WITH THE PAINTER!
—Sir Edwin Landseer, with his recovery from his
severe indisposition, has resumed his pencil awl palette
as valiantly as over, and, moreover, has lately found
that his great gift of dog-charming has not deserted
him, for the Duke of A being anxious to secure
the likenness of Old Seragg, a famous bloodhound,
the last of his breed, the dog was sent to Sir Edwin's
studio under the care of the only individual who has
the least control over him. No six ner had the wild
hound entered the studio, than, creeping from the
leash, he took refuge under a sort (if sofa, growling
and snarlieg at all who apprtswhed. At length Sir
Edwin, drawing near, spoke to the savage beast in
terms of vonciliation, betraying no sympts m of fear,
but gradually raising his voice, all the while keeping
his eye steadily fixed on that of the hound. Slowly
and at first with evident reluctance did Old Seragg
begin to crawl from beneath the sofa, and at last
dragged himself like a serpent to the very feet of
Sir Edwin, who, talking to him an the while almost
in a whisper, managed to hit off his likeness in a very
short space of time. Strange to say, the animal, sub-
dued during the whole time of the Sjf I Off turned
savage as soon as he had passed out of the studio, and
flew with such blind fury at the servant who opened
the garden gate, that had it not been fir the friendly
apple tree winch stands close by, up Whiell he climbed
in an haste, he would have been made a luncheon.
—I lire is a companion-stswy to the alsive which is
narrated in the "Life and Letters of William &trick,
Artist. Edited by Thomas Landseer, A.R.A.

Sir Walter (Scott) asked me if I had seen his own room. I
said I had not. "011, then step this way." I followed into
his private study. and was greeted by the slight growl of a
large dog lying on the hearth-rug. Oh, poor Nimrod—he
knows you are all artist—for ever since his likeness was taken
he carefully runs allay from all the artist race. Poor fellow!
well, go away then, there ; "—and he shut the door, and I
was in the 0,101501 sanetortim of the all-creating author of
"Waverley."
RAILWAY COMPENSATION CA.SES.—At Exeter
assizes, on Friday, verdicts were given against the
Loudon and South-western Railway
i Company on
account of injuries received by two passengers n July
last. A portion of an excursion train was left on a
steep incline near Exeter whilst the engine ran in with
the first part of the train. On coming back for the
end carriages the engine knocked against them with
some force, setting them in motion, and they were
only stopped by dashing against a stop block with great
violence. The widow of a chemist now claimed 4.300
for injuries received chiefly to the right knee, and the
jury Awarded her the full amount —ln another case
a dressmaker and her husband claimed .£5OO for
injuries to the wife, and loss of service to the husband.
The injuriee in this case were to the logo and head.
The jury gave a verdict for £3OO.

A PLEASANT REVENGE.—It must afford the
French some-alight satisfaction to have found it in
their power to a small extent literally to repay the
Germans in their own coil? (remarks the Nil Moll
Gozeftrh Most of us know what Gelman money is
and we can therefore appreciate the dismay with which
the authorities at Strasburg witnessed the arrival of
s'cr pieces. 'this ((liii
fl.lg,"'Bra7,l7eZlodctoyslilflervtcaleitlerlici.iu\o;llifi:llllille,(l!Lai;llt)}:sl..el money imported ismto,
d far more handy thaii
their own, the Germans were naturally very ready to
part with the latter ; the desire of the French, on the
other hand, to rid themsel VC6 at the eariiest °ppm tunitY
of the unpleasant souvenir can otteasion litt:e surprise.
There is a saying that Urn, an prinece
enjoy constant good health, because their faces are
always to be seen with red cheeks OH bits- er thalers and
itities'rjusw, foir'ihrit'olrud tlehele':rlitegru"redl'ohnotrerelrieeonk ilsyobscin mureetwi
by the black coating collecting on the coins in greasy
lunips. Of course this musk of payment imposed upou
the German Commiseoners the task of counting over
the whole sum, whereas the simple process of weighing
suffices for French money. The thickness and weight
of German coins varying in the came species often a,
one to three, or even one to four, the use of the balance
is quite out of the question. Possibly the ineonvenience
experienced in this instance may accelerate the decision
of Government regarding the adoption •.1 a new
coinage, uniform throughout the empire, takieg as a
standard our gold sovereigm
ADMINIsTERING OATHS ON A "READY RECK-
ONER:' —With reference to Colonel Tontline's startling
discovery that lawyers practising in the Queen's Bench
are disqualitio I from serving as " Knights of the
Shire," and the subsequent assertion that in conse-
quence of there having been several lawyers elected for
counties in contravention of the Act, the proceedings in
Parliament in which they took pari may possibly be
challenged as unconstitutional, there is a gosh story
told of a former Clerk of the Peace of a certain West
of England county. He had served the post for is great
number if years with so good a constittribin that he was
never absent from quarter Sessions until he had
attained a very great age, when, being one day unable
to attend, the ('leek of the Crown had to till the post.
Upon that occasion a new batch of magistrates bad to
be sworn in. The Clerk of the Crown took up the
venerable looking volume upon which the new Mstiees
were to is: sworn, and seemed to look rather suspiciously
at it, as if there was just a possibility that under the
closely-tied red tape any other woric but the New
Testament could be comprised. He cut thetape with
his knife. opened the book, and found he had instead
the " Heady Iteckoner," which had been used in all the
business of the Sessions for forty years. He whispered
his discovery to the Lord Lieutenant, no the story goes,
and his lordship said, "Keep it a dead secret, get a
Testament, and say nothing about it ; for otherwise
the public may be calling M question every decision
come to for all these years in which an oath has been
taken upon the book."

DiaTMXISHED FonEtnNEn.— We are to have
the Ballot after all; imported, too, from another
country, and that neither Australia nor America, and
not in the first instance into England, but into Scot-
land. The British Association (why do they mix them-
selves up with politics ?) are going to meet at Edin-
burgh, and expect "Br. Buys Ballot of Utrecht"—
Pooch.

A MURDERER LYNCHED IN ILLINOIS.—A
special from Wateska, Iroquois county, 111., says that
a crowd of citizens from that town and the surrounding
country, to the number of nearly one thousand, includ-
ing men, women, and children, proceeded to the gaol
in that place on July sth, and took therefrom Martin
Merit, the murderer of his son, a lad of ten years,
and proceeded with him to a convenient place near
at hand, where after giving him twenty minutes to
pray, a rope was placed around his neck, thrown
over a limb of a tree, awl hundreis of ready hands
hauled him up, awl then held him until he was dew'.
The leader of the daring party Was a doctor in that
vicinity, and he and his abettors claim that Merit
could only have been convicted of manslaughter, and
for that reason they were justified in putting the arch
fiend beyond the reach of mercy.
POPULATION AND WHEAT.—The (Umber of
Agriculture Journal remarks :

In the seven decennial pens is which have just now elapsed
, since the taking of the first census, the population of Lug-
taunt, Scotland, and Wales has rather more than doubled,
having increased by about 12,230,000. The ratio of increase
has Ineon tolerably unitonn, the avenge increase for the
whole
.period having been at the rate of about 175.000 a year,
White an the two latest divisions (ten and ulilne years) it has
averaged 210,000 and 245,000 a year respectively. The rapid
increase in the importations of corn is surprising. It appears
that the average number fed IT foreign wheat in caul, year
for the period of ten years ending 1650 was 3,500,000, and the
corresponding figures for each year td the 11111 C last in the
table are 0,000,000. It appears, too, that free trade was the
Iturning pont in the history of our agricultural production.
6ince WA the home growth of wheat has steadily diminished;
I it maintained only 15,400,000 011 the average of the past nine
: years, compared with 16,000,009 then.
" BY-THE-WAY ! "—A worthy old clergyman
in a Scotch town is sery absent minded, and has a
short memory. It is a common habit with him in the
! pulpit to forget somethino,, and then, after sitting
: down, to use up again, and begin his supplementary
• remarks with the expression, "By-the-way." A few
, Sundays ago he got half-way through a prayer, when
Inc hesitated, forgot what he was about, and eat down
abruptly without closing. In a moment or two he
rose, and pointing his forefinger at the amazed congre-
gation, he said, "Oh! hy-tho-way—Amen !"
! AN AWKWARD PREDICAMENT. One Miss
Maggie Seitz (says the New York World) lately afforded
the inhabitants of Columbus, Ohio, one of the most
alarming sights they ever saw. On the fourth of July
elle started to go up in a balloon, but one of the ropes
connecting the basket with the bag caught OTI the limb
of a tree, a hundred feet from the ground, the bag
turned bottom upwards, and the gas began to escape.
Sixty feet below her on this tree, was a dead limb,
• which four young Then essayed to climb, only one suc-
ceeding. lie hauled up a small rig te, then a big one,
and two other heroes, and then all three climbed to
the top of the tree and there fastened the basket, thus
rescuing Miss Seitz "amid the loud acclaims of the
spectators, who had stood in great awe for as much as;
an hour to see what fate would betide her." Fate
same near taking from this "airynaught" her local
, habitation and her name.

THE WINNER OF THE QUEEN'S PRIZE. —The
residents of the town and University of Cambridge
turned out en maser to do honour to Ensign Hun-t-
-idily the winner of the Queen's prize, at Wimbledon,
Humphry is a native of Cambridge, as well as a
member of Trinity College. His father is Dr. Humphry,
Professor of Anatomy at the university. The Uni-
versity Volunteers and the Ist battalion Cambridge
Volunteers, with their respective bands, met the ensign
at the Great Northern Railway Station, and on his
arrival by the train the bands struck up "See, the con-
quering hero comes." The crowd, consisting of many
thousand persons, cheered him lustily; and he was
drawn in an open carriage by the people through the
Principal thoroughfares of the town to his father's re-
sidence. Flags were displayed at nearly all the houses
on the route. The torchlight procession was equal to
anything if the kind attempted before in Cambridge.
On arriving at his father's house, Ensign Humphry,
at the request of the pi.iople, came on to the balcony,
and returned thanks for the reciition given him, ex-
pressing a Lupe that the Queen's Prize might often
come to Cambridge.
- -

EMIGRATION.— It appears from an official
paper recently published that in 1870 the emigration to
Australia and New Zealand amounted to 17,063, being
4,265 more than the emigrants of 1868, and 2,164 more
than the emigrants of 1869. Of the whole number, 4,393
were sent WI, lets tria by the agent-general for that colony,
of whom 4,037 were nominated in the colony and 358
selected by the agent; 2,153 were sent to the several
provinces of New Zealand, of whom 237 were nomi-
nated in the colony and 1,918 selected in this coun-
try ; and 3,311 were sent to Queensland, of whom
2,413 went from this country, and 898 from Hamburg.
Of the Queensland emigrants from this country 610.
and of those from liamburg 15 paid their oxen passages.
It is stated that so far as returns have been yet received
the emigrants have been healthy, the deaths among 3,512
emigrants having been only 24, equal toarateof 67 per
cent., or taking the voyage at three months, 27 '3 per 1,000
per annum. To Queensland the mortality was compara-
tively large, the deaths among 2,164 emigrants having
been 93, es mad to 1 'O6 percent. Of the 23 deaths 10 were of
infants. The emigration conducted by the Emigration
Board during 1870 was very small ; it consisted of only
126 emigrants, of whom 1643 were female domestic ser-
vants sent to New South Wales, and of 16 emigrants,
of whom ten were female servants sent to West Aus-
tralia. Of the 17,063 jag:sons who emigrated to Aus-
tralia and New Zealand in 1870, 1,933 were married
non, 2,074 married women, 6,030 single men, 3,798
single women, 1,366 boys between the ages of one and
twelve, 1,339 girls between the same ages, 242 male
and 218 female infants, and 33 males and 12 females
not distinguished as to age ; 11,165 were English, 2,192
Seotch, 3,169 Irish, 491 foreigners, and 46 not distin-
guished.
" REPEAL'S " NEW NAME. ---A remarkable
change of phrase has lately occurred in the nomencla-
ture of Irish politics- The repeal of the Unites be-
tween Great Britain and Ireland was a political object
briefly termed " Repeal." But what nsol to be called
" Repeal "is now denominated "lime Rule." Irish
Nationalist newspapers, instead of the original word,
employ the synonym, and speak of the Home Rule
principle and the Home Rule candidates and Members
of Bafflement. The synonym of Repeal is a milder
name for it ; and the fact that a euphemism as well as
a synonym has come to be substituted is pleasing.
The Repealers have taken to put Home Itule for
Repeal for the same reason that the Tories changed
their name to Conservatives.---" Home Role' will be
a mighty pretty town for the Irish Nationalists.
"Prea9! "as the German students say. Much good
may it do them.—Purreh.
LORD ERSKINE ON THE ENGLISH ARMY.—
Lord Erskine denounced the army in the most sire-
lent manner. The pamphlet "On the Abuses of the
Army, by the Honourable. . .. an Officer," was
published al.ut the year 1775' just as the young
aspirant for forensic honours had sold his commission,
and had entered Lincoln's Inn as a student. To show
the spirit of the attack, we give the following extract,
levelled principally against the aristocracy, who after-
wards proved, during the Peninsular amid Waterloo
campaigns, the falsity f ti. charge : --
"Bo long as the battalions are eneamped on native plains,
or ensconced in peaceful barracks, so bola these sons of riot
and effeminacy maintain their posts. The brilliant orbit of
Ranelagh glows with their scarlet, and the avenues of Vaux-
hall glitter with blades drawn against unarmed apprentices
in honour of a courtesan, which rust in their scabbards
when their country calls. If for a review Sr a muster they
are obliged to 101 l in their sic-aria to the quartos of their
regiment, it is but to inflame the contempt and hatred of the
people of England against the defenders of their peaceable
privileges. They gallop again to town sites having filled the
sethltry ith Stich ),,ST,••• :it their prothc thst hospitable
doors are abut against °duets of pi iso 10: JO reputation.
Such are the advantages which the military profession reaps
from these apes in embroidery ; such are the heroes that In
the event of war must lead the British troops to battle ; for
these men rise almost universally over the heals of officers
grey with fatigues and rough with scars—whose courage and
abilities yet preserve the honour of the Mash name—who,
without money and without interest, languish in the sub-
altern mks unknown and unrespeeted ; who, after having
braved all the terror., and calamities of war, and immortalised
their country, sink Into obscure graves. unwept and unre-
membered, without a tongue to speak their worth sea stone
to mcord their virtues.'