The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-12-21 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

The Albert Medal of the First Class has been con-
ferred by the Queen on Mark Addy, of Salford, in recogni-
tion of his repeated acts of heroism in saving life from
drowning in the River IrwelL
The report of the Registrar-General on vital statis-
tics for Sydney and its suburbs and country districts for the
year 1878 shows that between the ages of 95 and 100 there
died 14 males and two females, and that at the age of 100
years or upwards there died six males and two females.

The talk at dinner was about various acquaintances,
how they hid married, and their domestic life. After
numerous observations from one and another, a guest
addressed the host's daughter, an interesting girl of nine
or ten year's old, who wore a very thoughtful expression;
"Well, mademoiselle, what is your opinion about all this?
Shall you marry or remain single?" "Neither. I think I
shall be a widow."
The death (at Chiswick) is recorded of Mr. Henry
Dawson, the lanchcape painter. Pie was in early life a m'll
hand, at Nottingham, and his first works as a eelf-taught
artist were sold for about as many shillings as, in his later
career, they would have commanded hundreds of pounds. At
the art museum in Nottingham Castle, opened last summer
by tie Prince of WAes, an entire gallery was devoted to the
works of Mr. Dawson.

A Bible dinner is described by a Transatlantic con-
temporary, every item of the m,al being in;eniously col-
lected from various parts of Scripture, given verbatim in the
langaage of the text. Every detail in the feast is noted
from the invitation of the guests and the laying of the table,
to the actual bill of fare, the beverages and the music during
the festivities.

Mr. Lewis Fry, the Liberal candidate for Bristol,
was returned for that constituency on Saturday by a majo-
rity of 1,547 votes over his Conservative opponent, Sir Ivor
Guest, the numbers having been 9,342, against 7,795. The
Liberals polled 454 more than at the general election, while
the Conservative strength was 727 less. Bristol is the sixth
constituency which has been contested since the proroga-
tion of Parliament in August. In five of these Liberals
have been returned, and two of the places—Newcastle-under-
Lyme and Idaldon—had been hitherto represented by Con-
servativea.

The Volunteer Service Gazette says that the Volunteer
force of Great Britain on October 31, IE7B, numbered
203,212, of whom 201,1026 were present at inspection, and
191,179 were " efficient " This is, in round numbers, an in-
crease of 10,000 over both the enrolled and efficient strength
of the previous year. The highest enrolled number which
we have ever had before has been 189,191 (in 1868), and the
highest "efficient" strength that of 1876 7, 193,026.

Barnsley and Worksop are both feeling something
of the distress which pinches so hard in Sheffield, and at
both plwes effoits to relieve the suffering are being systema-
tically made.

, The brevity of the Queen's I.peech, and its curious
phraseolcgy, led to the expression that it meant a dissolu-
tion in J nuary. The anthorit yof a Minister a;sures us that
no such meioure is at psesent contemplated by the Cabinet.
—Court dournal.

A man known " Steeple Jack" lost his life the
other day whilst engaged in repairing the tall chimney of the
Print Works at Wh4ley Bridge. Through the loosening of
some stones at the top he tell to the ground, and was killed
ou the mot.

The yellow fever epidemic in the United States has
cost 12,000 lives and £40,000,000.
A bill bearing the name of Mr. Holms, to limit the
duration of Parliaments to five years and a bill brought in
by Mr. Marten to amend the Public year*,
Act of 1b75 sto
interments, have been printed.
From statements issued by the Union leaders at
Maidstone, it appears that the number of labourers on
strike has greatly increased during the past week, over nine
hundred being now in rec,- ipt of strike pay. Pile Union is
now making every possible effort to enable the men to
emigrate.
"The Editor of the North American Review asks to
be allowed to s ate that the printieg of "Queen " with a
small q, and of President with a capital P, in Mr. Glad.
stone's article in that publication, 'Kin beyond Sea,' upon
which some remarks were made in this country, was a
printer's error. Tne Editor promises that his proof-readers
will 'mind their p's and q's ' better in future."—Pall Mall
Gazette.
What is believed to be the most complete Chess
library in the world is that collected by the late Professor
George Allen, of Philadelphia. The books have been secured
by the Library Company of that city, and will be placed in a
room sacred to chess in the Ridgway Building. The library
is valued at 3,000 dollars.
During the present month many Catholic churches
in the Bernese Jura district which had been closed for five
years have been reopened for worship.
An inquest has been held at Devonport on the body
of a girl named Rowe, six years old. She was sitting in front
of the fire, when a spark flew out, and igniting her apron
she was soon enveloped in flames. There was no one else in
the room at the time but a baby in a cradle. A neighbour,
however, hearing the girl's snrieks, ran in and extinguished
the flames. The child was, however, se attach injured that
she died shortly afterwards. A verdict of "Accidental death
was returned.'
A mass meeting of South Staffordshire iron workers
was held at Bilston on Monday, when a resolution was passed
that the new wages rate, according to the Weights and
Measures Act, ought not to cause a reduction in the amount
per ton to be paid them. Many of the ironrn.asters in the
same district gave their men notice on Baturday for the
wages to be based on the reduction of from 2,400 to the
2,2401 b. per ton.
A communication on the subject of assistance to
unemployed artisans and labourers has been issued by the
Scotch Board of Supervision. The Board lays down the
principles which should guide parochial boards and local
authorities in rendering such assistance, and specially points
out that no person who is on strike or who declines to
accept employment at wages sufficient to maintain him,
should be admitted to relief.
"I am convinced that the world is daily growing
better," remarked a reverend gentleman to a brother
minister ; "my congrezatlon is continually increasing."
"Curious," replied the other, who happened to be a
penitentiary chaplain, for so is mine."
Woodcocks have been plentiful in Central France
during the recent bad weather. In the mountainous country
through which part of the Loire runs the birds have been
frightened out of the woods by the storms and cold, and have
flown in fl cks to the furneces of the works at Terrenoire,
where, fascinated by the flames, they have hovered so near
that the workmen knocked them down with sticks.
An application has been made to grant permission
for laying steam nipee in the Chicago streets on the Holly
plan' far an Illinois company organi,ed with a capital pf
300,000 dols. A company has also been organised In
Detroit for the same purpose. They have laid pipes alreaoy
in Griswold-street, and are furnishing steam to Senator
Zeck Chandler's new buildings, for heating and running the
elevator.
A Berlin telegram in the Morning Post mentions a
report that the Czar purposes making an important change
in the organisation of his Government, by appointing a
Cabinet with collective responsibility, in the place of the
present separate departments, altogether independent of
one another. The Cabinet is to be presided over, according
to the same report, by a Prime Minister.
Among the petitions recently presented to the
Ilou,e of Commons, is one from Buckband for a prolongation
of the use of the old Table of Lessons in the Church of
England. Ut der the Act of 1871, establishing the revised
Table of Lessons recommended by the Royal Commissioners,
the use of the old table was permitted "at any time prior to
the let of January, 1879."
The barque Scottish Hero, 869 tons, Captain
Mowat, jun., sailed from Gravesend on the 14th inst., with
the following number of emigrants for Maryborongh, viz :-
25 married men, 25 married women, 112 single men, 71 single
women, 37 children, and 6 infants, making a total of 276
souls, equal to 251 i statute adults.
Robert Healer, the conjuror, died, after a very short
illness, on November 28, at Philadelphia, where he was
giving performances of sleight of band and natural magic.
Robert Hedler (whose name was Palmer) was born near Can-
terbury, in Kent, about 1830. His father intended him to be
a musician, and placed him in the London Academy, where
he attained considerable proficiency as a pianist, winning
both a scholarship and a medal.
The debate on Mr. Whitbread's vote of censure on
the Government occupied four nights, and extended over 32
hours and 43 minutes. The number of speakers was 37, of
whom 19 supported and 18 opposed the motion. Dividing
the number of speeches by the period over which the debate
extended, the average duration of each speech was, as nearly
as possible, 53 minutes.
A strike in the building trade at Oxford has just
been averted. The masters builders of the city met a deem-
tatiou of carpenters, and after some discussion it was agreed
that the wages should be reduced id an hour from the 28th
December. A set of rules was drawn up and agreed to, by
which for the future it will be necessary that six months'
notice shall be given on either side before any alteration is
made.

Another cocoa and coffee•house was opened in Shef-
field on Monday. This is the fourth which has been set
agoing in that city. They are all said to be doing well.
Some men employed by the Preston Local Board
were working at a drain in Fox street, when a spark from a
pickaxe ignited some escaped gas in the drain and it ex-
ploded. Part of the roadway was torn up, but no personal
injury was caused.
A deputation, consisting of property owners and
representatives of local boards in the Bait districts of
Cheshire, has waited upon Mr. Sclater-Booth to ask for a
commission of inquiry into tile serious state of affairs caused
by the excavations. It was stated that both Northwich and
Winsford had the appearance of having been visited by an
earthquake, the foundations of houses, railways, bridges,
aro., dials•svlued1..•••xlawtoloo•••• of 411.....1.
earth.
On Tuesday a deputation of unemployed men in
Edinburgh waited on the magistrates and asked that em-
ployment should be provided for them. The magistrates,
after considering the matter, authorized the inspectors of
cleaning and lighting to employ as many men as possible in
clearing the snow and ice from the streets at the rate of
is. 3d. per day.
The next Social Science Congress is to be held in
Manchester.

Progress with the new dock extension works at
Davenport has been arrested by a landslip which took place
on Monday. A mass of rock, 250 f t. long, 12ft. wide, and 30ft.
deep, equal to 90,000 cubic feet, shifted from its position,
carrying with it a great deal of masonry and destroying
bui,ding material valued at several thousand pounds. The
main road round the dock also shows a considerable fissure
"A statement that the Duchess of Edinburgh is the
bearer of a friendly letter to the Queen from the Czar, and
indications from other sources, have created a favourable
impression, and the belief grows stronger daily that there
will be no Russian intervention Lathe Afghan quarrel.—Paris
Correspondent of the Observer.
The Chinese Ambassador left London on Monday
morning by the Sauth-Eastern Railway for Folkestone, en
route for Paris, where he expects to meet the new Chinese
Ambassador for England and France.
During the last month twenty-three farms have been
to let in Berwickshire, Roxburghshire, and North North-
umberland, and it is stated that still more will be thrown
into the market in consequence of the depression in agricul-
tural circles.
Any one in want of oil is invited to proceed to the
Pacific, where, according to the authority, they will find an
oil well at sea in thirty fathoms of water on the California
coast off Santa Barbaba, which sends forth a constant stream
of oil, running to waste.
Shortly before six o'clock on Sunday morning a
slight shock of earthquake was distinctly felt at Cowie,
Perthshire. It lasted a few seconds, and was accompanied
with noise like thunder.
The third volume of reports on the Philadelphia
Exhibition of 1876 has been issued among the Parliamentary
Papers, and completes the series presented by the Education
Depsr:ment. These three volumes, containing 1,800 pages,
and with many maps and plans, charged only a guinea in all,
supply a great store of information of much interest and
value.
There has been no such fall of snow in this part of
Switzerland for many years as during the past week, not
even during the winter of 1870 71 (says a Geneva correspon-
dent. Traffic is greatly impeded, the omnibuses are running
as sledges, and from the Jura to the Alps there is one almost
unbroken mass of stow.
The Earl of Jersey has met with an accident of a
somewhat serious nature. The Earl, who is an acminiplished
skater, was playing at hockey on the fish-pond at Midaleton-
park, when he slipped and fell on his face. Oa being p cked
up it was found he had seriously injured his nose, but
medical examination pr ved th it no bones were broken.
The telephone is about to be acclimat•zed in Frat cc.
A company has been formed in Paris to woik the telephone
systems of E n aed Grey, and the ra can be no doubt the
undertaking nil be a ;peat succtss. lo Germany, the tele-
phone has been for some time past used in the offices of
Government and for military purposes.
Several of the insurance offices are at present engaged
in making up their accounts for the year; and that, speaking
genet aiiy, this has been a very good year for the companies.
Why that is so is very difficult to any, but one idea the fact
smigests is that people are finding it more and more difficult
to lay up store for the future of their families, and so resort
to insurance as a means of securing something for those
dependent upon them. —Court Journal.
On Monday Mr. Cross and the Duke of Richmond
and Gordon received at the Home Office an influential
deputation having for the object of the interview to urge
that a general Act should be introduced by the Govern-
ment, lasing down the principles as to what should be done
to prevent the damage caused by the overflow of certain
rivers in England. In answer the Home Secretary said the
matter should have the most careful and serious attention of
the Government.
The great show of cattle which usually precedes
Christmas took place at the Metropolitan Market on
Monday, when the supply of beasts and sheep was about
the average. The sales are described as having been some-
what slow.
There were 2,397 births and 1,698 deaths registered
In L milou last week. Allowing for increase of population,
the bir.hs were 77, and tee deaths 89 below the average
numbers in the corresponding week of the last ten years.
The annual death-rate from all causes, wlych in each of the
two previous weeks had been equal to 237 per 1,000 (alter
correction for the 389 dea:hs due to drowning through the
collision between the Bywell Castle and the Pradcsss Alice,
and reglitered during the week ending on the 7th inst.), rose
to 21-8. The deaths included 17 from smallpox, 34 from
measles, 46 Inns ccnet fever, 14 from diphtheria, 47 from
whooping-cough, 33 from difierebt forms of fever, and 11
from diarrbo3ll
Mr. Roebuck was expected to take part in the
debate on the Afghan war, but wrote to the Sheffield Tele •
graph that sorrow at :1 personal calamity had reduced him
to silence In the division he voted with the Government.
The calamity to which ho refers is the sadden death of one
of his brothers, a gentleman who, as Mr. Ruebuck writes,
was eedeared to all "by the gentle and courageons manner
in which he bore up against a great deprivation, and ny the
way in which he rendered himself the affectionate friend of
all his relations."

A woman named Mss. Fanny Bailey is now living
at Worthing, who was born on the 7th of August, 1776.
Elihu Burritt, famous as a linguist, has presented to
the library of the Btu-ritt School, at New Britain, Connecti-
cut, all the books in the various languages which he has
collected at home and abroad for the last twenty years. The
collection includes, in manuscript ready for the Press his
Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Hindoostanee, and Hebrew h'snd-
books, containing the lessons and forms of his i. sauskrit
Handbook for the Fireside," recently published in the
United States and in England. He has also added a copy of
every work ever publi,hed by him
unu
Last session a deputation, c• • -•sting
mainly of
Yorkshire manufactures, waited upon the Horne Secretary
with the view of induchg him, and through him the Govern-
ment, to remove from, employers of labour lb.'burden of
pqing the certifying surgeons' fees for the exam.maetinoto
ionf
childrkn and young persons prior to their en
factories. Mr. Cross replied that the matter.
an one
at the
Cnaueellor of the Exchequer,
same time he stated toat his wasgeabreiemfor the
with those of the deputation. The Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer has just been memorialised on e subject,
oNsnaffionescwure
•
, repiy is that he has sent the memorial to Mr. Cross, to whose
I departraeut the subject belongs.

This is not pleasant news for Sheffield. We read
that the representative of a German cutlery firm visited
that town and offered cutlery and similar goods at
about one-half the rate at which they could be produced
Ip-re. —Echo

The Queen has sent a donation of £2 for Mrs.
Allen, of Birmingham, who recentiy gave birth to three
male children One of the infants only lived two days, xnd
the other has since oied, so the case wits not eligible for the
Queen's bounty of £3.

There is the bPst sample of a London fog outside to-
dy that I h.ve ever seen. It is like midnight as
write, at one p.m —Mark Lane Express.
- -

- --
"Only a few days before his sad end, Major Whyte.
Melville was dircussing with a friend the best way of dying.
' There are,' raid be, 'only two places where a man should
die, the is the bittle-field, the other the hunting-field' "
Vanity Fair.

Another firm of lace manufacturers at Chard have
given their employes notice to leave unless they give up the
Union. The masters hold that the trades unionists interfere
with the arrangement and working of the mills. Another
firm is expected to give a similar notice ta its hands.

Early on Tuesday morning the Leamington branch
of L'oyd's Bank was found to be on fire. The Volunteer
Fire Brigade was soon at work, and put out the flames after
about £l,OOO worth of damage had been done. The business
of the bank was not stopped, and the bank books and securi-
ties escaped injury.

A Renter's telegram from Adelaide says the first
matck of the Eoglish cricketers, under the captaincy of
Lord Harris, against 16 players of South Australia was
finished on Saturday last, and resulted in the victory of the
English Eleven by four wickets.

The Journal des Debats of Dec. 15 publishes the
following statement :—" We have received private infor-
mation, which we believe to be accurate, but which we
publish under reserve, declaring it possible that England
will guarantee a Turkish loan in return for the cession of
the port of Alexandretta, which would serve as the starting
point of a railway line in Asia Minor."

Short Ball Dresses are to be wem in Paris this
winter.

A snake-killing cat is owned by an Arizona settler
near Mohawk. Master Puss is a- perfect adept at catching
ratilasnak,.s ; he watches them till they uncoil and begin to
glide off, then he springs on the creatures, clutches the back
of the neck, and chews t 1 .e vertebrre until the snakes are dead,
tearing loose with his claws any coils that may be thrown
round his body.

The traffic receipts of the railways in the United
Kingdom for the week ending Dec, 13, upon a mileage of
15,612, amount to £1,057,194. being equal to £67 14s. per mile.
For the corresponding week of last year the receipts were
£1,061,515, the number of miles open 15,429, or £6B 16s. per
mile.

•
Another American Exhibition is projected on the
plan of the Centtnnial—this time, however, in New York.

A meeting of the Sheffield Executive Committee for
the relief of the distress in the town, was held on Monday,
when £5OO was granted to the Ladies' Committee for the
purpofe ot relief for the next seven weeks, and a further sum
of £250 for clothing.
The movement for the re-establishment of the Ii
punithment of death in Switzerland is, owing to the con-. Id
tinuous increase of heavy crimes, gaining ground there.
Deputy Freuler has already proposed in the Council of State
the abolition of Section 65 of the Federal Constitution,by
which the punibhment of death was done away with.

The Rev. H. Back, vicar of Banbury, and his
brother, the Rev. J. Bick, Are erecting a beautiful memorial
window in Banbury Church to their uncle, Sir George lack,
a celebrated Arctic) explorer. The window will consist of
Arctic subjects chiefly. Another window will be put in to
the memory of Mies Back, who some years ago gave several
•
thousand pounds for the decoration of the church.
At a meeting of delegates representing 5,000 mem.
hers of the Kent and Sussex Labourers' Union, held at
Canterbury on Tuesday night, reports were presented
showing that in East Kent there was reasonable ground for
hoping that after another fortnight there will be an end to
the labour difficulty. The farmers now much require the
services of men for hop digging and manuring, and it is
thought that with mutual concessions the present dispute •
will cease in East Kent.

The funeral of Dr. Birt Davies, who for five-and.
thirty years held the office of borough coroner, during which
time he never had a holiday, slept out of the borough, or
engaged a deputy, took place at Edgbaston parish church on
Monday afternoon, and was of a strictly private character.
Deceased, who was in his eightieth year, resigned the
coronersbip two years ago.

Sir William Jenner went to Windsor on Tuesday
morning to have an audience of her Majesty on his return
irom Darmstadt.

Accounts of the distress at present existing in Man-
chester led certain benevolent persons Co suggest Co the Lord
Mayor of London the propriety of opening a public subscrip-
tion in the metropolis His lordship forwarded two of the
letters he bad received to the Mayor of Manchester, and -
asked his opinion on the subject. The Mayor replied, ex-
pressing gratitude for the proffered help, and assuring his
lordship that in his opinion—which was confirmed by gentle-
men actively engaged in the work of relief—thera was no
necessity for the course suggested. He assured the Lord '
Mayor of London that, though there were great depression
in trade, scarcity of employment, and consequent privations,
aggravated by the inclemeney of the weather, "this corn-
munity is both able and willing to sustain whatever pressure
it may have to bear through the present season."

A private meeting, convened by the Mayor, was
held at Birmingham on Tnesday, to consider the best means
to be adopted for relieving the distress which prevails in the
.town Alderman Collings (Ma) or) presided, and a large
number of lalies, members of the Town Council, and others
were present. After some discussion it was decided that
the distress now prevailing was exceptionally severe and
widely spread ; that public relief had become absolutely
nf-cessary ; and that the Mayor be requested to take imme-
diate steps to organise means of raising and distributing
that relief.

Pope Leo XIII. is a very hard worker, and has so
fatigued his secretary that he has been obliged to take an
assistant. His Holiness dictates sometimes for hours at a
time walking up and down the room, and even during his
meals he likes a secretary to read aloud to him his private
correspondence. The Pope also cares little for eating, at
dinner he only takes one kind of meat, and his supper con-
sists of one or two new-laid eggs. His solitary pleasure of the
table used to be a certain wise called asprino, •which heal-
ways drank at Perugia, and which he now to his great regret
cannot obtain at the Vatican. Asprino is miide from grapes
2litel,ltnacti çn PaiLlacitetileabninaTtlliengiteltil Palle
gestion. .