The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-08-31 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

A recently issuel official document shows the
balance standing to the credit of the Paymaster-General of
the Court of Chancery to be £1,080,006 103. I.ld.

-
The vtdangeurs of Paris, that is the workmen
employed in emptying the cesspools of the city, have struck
for an increase of wages.

A mammoth has been found at Bois de la Balie,
near Geneva. No such fossil has been discovered in the
Canton since 1786.

As Mr. Maples, of Liverpool, was bathing at Rhyl
nswimming
some distance, he
stion. Mr. Maples
was observed to make signs of distress. Before assistance
could Saturday
beprocafutreerdnhooen, ter s
s anaikfr.o
m
had been staying with his family at the Westminster Liotel
bit woekis•
o

It is stated that the late Juggurnaut festival was a
complete failure. It is in contemplation to hand over the
great god to the Court of Wards.

The fires in Paris were less numerous in 1877 than
In 1878 and 1875. During the last year the brigade was only
called to 55, The approximate estimate of the damage
done in 531 cases (in the others no calculation could be made)
was 2,104,010 francs. The firemen, in 12 cases, saved persons
in various ways. Out o the 14 people who were in danger,
& were got out dead.

Mr. Pender, speaking at Dornack, said he had been
a Liberal from boyhood, but as he thought conscientiously
that the Eastern policy of the Government was for the good
of the country, he therefore gave it his support. A vote of
thanks to Mr. Pender was carried unanimously.
As a lad was riding on horseback at the side of a
canal near Barnsley on Saturday, the horse and rider by some
means fell into the water. The animal scrambled out, but
the boy was unable to save himself, and was taken out of the
• water in haltan-hour afterwards quite dead.

It is curious to notice liow we hardly ever use the
Turkish rugs that come to Regland for the right purpose.
They are meant in most cases to hang up before doors, or to
be used instead of doors. A Turkish r,,g, or mat, used in
place of a stained glass door • over the entrance to a con-
servatory, which opens on to a drawing-room or landing,
has;a very pretty and quaint effect.—The "Tailor "In Piotorial
World.

An order was issued at Chatham Dockyard on
Saturday, stating that the discharge ot hired hands will be
resumed on Saturday next, when a large number will be com-
pelled to leave. The establishment will now be brought
down to its peace footing. •

At a Parisian hotel during the Exposition. Mad-
dened Guest: Sixteen francs fora candle I—Courteous Host;
No, sir; one franc for the candle, fifteen francs for the
candlestick, milord.—Court Journal.
A celebrated oculist offered to operate on a Parisian
blind beggar's eyes, and said, "I'll guarantee to restore your
sight." "What," exclaimed the beggar, "restore my sight,
and so ruin my business I A pretty notion I Do you want
to deprive me of my livelihood?"

The Sultan's ratifieation of the Treatfof Berlin ar-
rived in Berlin on Saturday.
The death is announced of Mrs. Anna Maria Eliza
Rowley, the last surviving child of Dr. Adam Clarke, the
eminent commentator. She died on the 10th Inst., at Sat.
terton Vicarage, in Lincolnshire, the residence of her son,
the Rev. Adam Clarke Rowley.

The Sultan has offered to confer on Lady Layard,
the wife of the English Ambassador, the first distinction of a
new order for ladies called the " Nichan Mwavenet," but
Lord Salisbury has declined to authorise its acceptance. The
mother and consort of the Khedive have been decorated with
the first class of this order.

The bodies of Dg. Sachs and Heinitz, the guide,
killed by an avalanche on the Cevedale Peak, in Switzerland,
have not yet been found. Dr. Salomon lies, with a broken
leg, in the hospital of San Caterino, near Bormio.
• The Society for the Protection of Animals has
memorialiQed the French 31inister of the Interior against
allowing the rumoured introduction of bull-fights into Paris
as being quite out of character with the Exhibition and the
Trocadero.Congresa on scientific and moral progress.

A popular doctor, while escorting a lady home the
other evening, attempted to relieve her cough and sore
throat by giving her a troche. He told her to allow it to
dissolve gradually in her mouth. No relief was experienced,
and the doctor felt quite chagrined the next day when the
lady sent him a trousers button, with a note, saying that he
must have given her the wrong kind of troche, and he might
need this one.—Court Journal.

Sergeant-major Bracer, of the Herefordshire Rifle,
Volunteers, was buried at the cemetery at Hereford on Mon-
day, with military honours. Every company in the county
was numerously represented at the funeral, the deceased
having gained the warmest respect of the officers and pri-
vates alike throughout the corps. The non-commissioned
officers of the Militia also joined in the procession, and thou-
sands of peoplo'assembled to witness the ceremony.

The new German Reichstag contains 105 landowners,
28 lawyers, 21 Catholic priests, one Protestant minister, 15
professors and tutors, 14 journalists, five doctors, two
brewers, and one banker.
-

Open-air fern culture is supposed to be almost next
to impossible to be done in the midst of the London clay
and smoke. However, I know several instances to the con-
trary. Some friends of mine who lfve in the very heart of
the great city, still manage to grow plenty of ferns in their
bit of back yard. They have even succeeded in cultivating
the mountain maiden hair I think the sole secret of their
success lay in their keeping the plants thoroughly well
syringed both night and morning. —The "Taller" In Pictorial
World.

An accident, resulting in loss of life, occurred on
Saturday last, in the workings of No. 6S pit ilimley
Colliery, Lower Gorual, belonging to Lord Dudley, an un-
expected fall of coal burying and instantly killing Slatthew
Bale, aged 19. Three other miners who were in the pit
narrowly escaped death from the same cause.

With the object of limiting the number of objec-
tions to the names of persons on the register of voters, re-
presentatives of the Liberal and Conservative Associations
at Bolton have entered into a formal agreement that at the
approaching revision the number of objections on each side
shall be confined to 1,000 names, and that if any qualified
person other than the party agents shall make any objec-
tions, "It shall be an honourable understanding between
the associations to defend the voter or voters objected
to, and mutually bear the expenses incident to such de-
fence"

The "Grand Worthy Chief Templar of the Grand
Lodge of England of the Independent Order of Good Tern-
plars" has issued a manifesto in which he declares that
"the hour has come" for the Order to fulfil its mission;
and he gives "a trumpet blast to shake up and awake the
dry bones." He states that the Grand Lodge has "unani-
mously affirmed the necessity of our supporting the Per-
missive Bill ;" and he is of opinion that the members of his
Order can so influence elections as to make possible the
obtaining of the Permissive Bill from the very next Parlia-
ment.

A telegram from Brisbane says that an expedition
has been organized by the proprietors of the Queensiander
newspaper, for the purpose of making a flying survey of the
territory between Blackall, Queensland, and Port Darwin, a
distance of 1,400 miles, with the views of determining the
character of the country and the practicability of construct-
ing a trans-continental railway. It is expected that the
party will be fully equipped, and start from Blackall on the
12th inst.

In alighting from a railway carriage at Chester
station on Saturday, Dr. Reed, the late resident house-
suraeon of the Manchester Infirmary, fell on to the plat-
form, and his left leg was broken in two places.

Dr. Nobiling, who shot at and injured the German
Emperor, will shortly be conveyed to an insine asylum,
where he will be subjected to the clostst scrutiny, with a
view to ascertaining his mental condition.

Maharani Surnomoye has been invested at Bombay
with the Insignia of the Imperial Order of the Crown of
India. This lady is the Burdett Coutts of India, and ot all
natives the most eminently distinguished for her noble and
enlightened benevolence. She has contributed over £20,000
in famine charities enumerated by the Commissioner from
1871 to 1877, and bestowed over £50,000 in works of charity
and public utility. During that period she had expended in
charity one•sixth of her whole income.

A shocking affair has occurred at Brownsover
Warwickshire. George Biddons, a farmer, while superin-
tending wheat-cutting by a machine in his fields, thought one
horse was not working well. Taking up a small stick, he
struck the horse, whereupon the animal kicked hllm in the
region of the heart. He fell among the corn and died almost
Immediately.

Six hundred journeyman shoemakers of Chicago
have struck for an advance of wages from nine to twelve
dollars. They have refused an offer of the employe-s to
conpromise 10 dole. 50 cents per week. The employers de-
clare that it is a liberal price the best they can offer, and
that, if it is not accepted, they can and will get their wolk
done in the East at less prices. There are one thousand
shoemakers of this class in Chicago, and those who have not
already struck threaten to do so. The strike includes all
the leading wholesale houses.

Mr. Bright has been visiting some friends in Glasgow
for a few day s. I hear he has come back again looking
much better after his Scotch tour. But he is still very much
shaken, and utterly averse to any publicity.—Mayfair.

A banquet was given at Torquay on Saturday night,
to celebrats% the completion of an important sanitary work,
a new intercepting sewer having been constructed, by which
the sewage of the town is conveyed to a headland two miles
distant, and there discharged into the Channel. The sewer
is altogether three miles long, and 6,400 feet have been tun-
nelled through hard rock. The total cost of the work is
L. Palk, NI.P., Sir J. Kennaway, M.P., and Sir
Joseph Bazalgette were present at the banquet; and tha
last-named, under whose advice the work was carried out,
stated that there were few, if any, provincial towns which
had undertaken more comprehensive, satisfactory, and com-
plete works for the total removal of their sewage.
A very industrious enumerator has set to himself
the task of counting the number of hours spent by Parlia-
ment in actual work during the past Session. He recounts
that the Lords bad devoted 100 days to legislative labour,
the Commons 136; and in the 138 days managed to extend
their work over 1,100 hours. "the House of Lords at for
less than a sixth of the above number of hours. The House
of Commons sat beyond midnight eighty-five times, and on
thirteen nights sat until later than 3 a.m., extending its
sitting of the 2nd of August until past 4 o'clock on the next
morning, its sitting of the Ist of April until past 6 a in., and
its sitting of the 13th of May until half-past nine on the next
morning.' The Times reports at the rate of about 4
column per hour, and had 1,200 columns of speeches during
the year.

A. fatal gun accident has occurred in a harvest-field
a few miles from Weymouth. A party of men were at work
harvesting, when two of them sat down behind a stack of
wheat to have some food. Two other men, who were work-
ing in the same field, had been using a gun for the purpose
of frightening birds. In putting the gun on the ground, by
some means or other the charge went off, going through the
wheat and injuring one of them. He died in about a quarter
of an hour afterwards. An inquest was held, and the jury
brought in a verdict of "Accidental Shooting."

On Monday morning, at the 8.39 train on the London
and South-Western Railway from Addlestone to Waterloo
was coming into the former ststion, a Mr. Hopkinson en-
deavoured to cross the line in front of the engine, but in
doing so the buffer caught his left arm and threw him down
on the rails. The engine and one of the carriages passed
over him before the train could be stopped, completely
crushing his head and otherwise mangling the body. Death
was, of course, instantaneous. The unfortunate gentleman,
who had lately lost his wife, leaves fr ur children.

The Mark Lane Express of Monday night says that
during the past week the wind has remained persistently in
the cold quarter, and more or less rain has fallen daily.
Much delay has consequently been caused to harvest opera-
tions, and in some localities wheat in stook has sprouted,
but complaints on this score are not numerous. In the
earlier districts of the home counties, the land has been
pretty well cleared of cereals; but in the north a large pro-
portion of barley is still uncut. Whatever opinion may be
held about barley, the wheat crop is certainly a better one
than the very deficient crops of late years.

. The death is announced, at Wrangle Vicarage, a
few days since, of Mrs. Henrietta Weeks Wright, widow of
the late Rev. T. B. Wright, vicar of Wrangle, at the age of
83. The deceased lady was descended from a long line of
freeholders of Lincolnshire, and was the youngest daughter
of a respectable yeoman, of Spilsby, in that county, and
sister of the late Rear-Admiral 81r John Franklin,
,the distinguished Arctic explorer, of whom ahe Vern nins
years the junior.

Mr. Arthur Peel, M.P., presiding at a Foresters'
dinner at Warwick on Monday night, speaking of friendly
societies, said that in this country the State had happily
recognised the limits to which its interference ought to ex-
tend, and lied drawn the boundary between just and legiti-
mate supervision and that interference with our own
domestic social concerns which, however mach it might
flourish on the Continent, could never take deep root in the
soil of England. Mr. Peel then instanced the way in which
the German Government dictated to friendly -societies and
controlled their operations, and characterised the inter-
ference as despotic and tyrannical.

At a French provincial theatre, recently, in a
military play, an actor who was performing the part of a
general slipped on the stage, and fell ignominiously at the
very moment when he was supposed to be conducting his
troops to battle. With ready wit, however, he saved him-
self from ridicule by exclaiming, "Soldiers, I am mortally
wounded, but do not stay to aid me. Pass over my prostrate
body to victory."
An inquest has been held at the Dockyard surgery
at Portsmouth, on the body of Jeremiah Shanahan, a sea-
man of the Excellent. He was practising diving, and
went below water soon after dinner, and on touching the
bottom of the harbour he made the signal "All right.' A
continuous stream of air was applied to him from the boat,
and about- five minutes after his last signal that all was
right he ts as signalled to come up. As no reply was made,
he was immediatelY hauled up, and lifted into the boat.
His face was very pale, and he was insensible. Prolonged
efforts were made to restore animation, but without effect.
Dr. Smith, the Staff surgeon of the Excellent, stated that
death resulted from syncope or fainting, caused by the
failure of the action of the heart, arising from natural
causes. The same thing, he thought, might have °centred,
had Shanahan been in the open air. There were none of the
appearances of death from asphyxia or want of air. A.
verdict of "Death from natural causes" was returned.

It is stated that Major Graham is about to retire
from the office of Registrar-General of England, lie has
held that post since 1841 or 1842, when he succeeded Mr.
Lister. Alajor Graham's retirement will place a piece of
patronage at the disposal of the Cabinet worth £.1,200 a year
There is to be a conference of Librarians held at
Oxford in October next, when the question of a wider recog-
nition of the claims of educated women for the pest of
librarians will be advocated.
Since the Reform Bill of 1832 Newcastle-under-
Lyme has never had two Liberal members till now. Even in
1868, when the Liberal party was in the ascendant, Sir E.
Buckley'.headed the poll by a majority of 341. At the election
on Friday last, the Liberal headed the poll by a majority of
340.

The death is announced of a writer who has perhaps
had more juvenile readers than any contemporary author.
Mrs. Mortimer, who wrote "The Peep o' Day," and sundry
other works for children, has just died at Ruuton, near
Cromer, at the age of seventy-six. The deceased nee
Bevan, was the widow of the late Rev. Thomas Mort:incr.

It is gratifying to observe the thrifty habits of our
tqrs in the RoyAl Navy. During the year they invested
£57,000.; and in the last 22 years required more than a mil-
lion money-orders, each for an average of £6. This shows a
great advance on the old times, when Jack spent his money
In another fuEhion.—Echo.

The Austrians say that there are two things that
cannot he got out of a i'Bosnaik or a tierzegowazer' (as they
call' them), namely, work or money. They are quick at
learning anything, and as quick to turn it to good account.
But manual labour they do hate manfully.
At a meeting of a c )mmittee of manufacturers held
at Sheffield, twenty workmen representing Sheffield trades
were selected to go to Paris to report upon the exhibits
connected with their respective trades, with a view of im-
proving and developing local industries.

The big balloon in the courtyard of the Tuileries
must be a good business. It made 15 ascents on Saturday,
taking up 355 passengers at 201. each, whilst 5,636 persons
were admitted at If. each to the enclosure. The proceeds for
the day reached nearly £5OO sterling. A few such receipts
will defray the original cost of the huge machine.
The Constantinople al-Joyiedib of the 14th inst. says:
—"We are assured that a mixed company has obtained a
concession for laying down a railroad between Jaffa and
Jerusalem; also to oonstruct a harhour for shipping at the
former place General Mott, of the United States army, and
a member of the Red Cross Society, is the representative of
the company here. He sailed last Friday for Paris to consult
with the company with regard to putting the concession
into immediate execution."

Official statistics have now been completed showing
the number of births, deaths, and marriages in the French
capital during the past year. The number of births was
55,045: deaths, 47,509; and marriages, 18,032. The last
figure is the smallest entered under the head of marriages
during the past ten years.

There is a French beggar on one of the Paris
bridges, who has just started a new breast plate, with the
following painted thereon—" Have had—children, ; wives,
3; mothers-in-law, 3; battles and engagements, 6-Ig."
You stop and ask him, "Nineteen what ? " He replies,
'Nineteen claims on your purse, kind sir."
Dr. Schliemann's Homeric tastes lead him to furnish
all the members of his household with classic names. Thus,
according to a Transatlantic journal, his daughter is named
Andromache, and even his two maid-servants are styled
Penelope and Briseis

A Kentucky farmer writes to the local paper, com-
plaining of the low price of dairy produce, and adds, "I
shall not sell my eggs for eight cents a dozen—it don't pay
for the wear and tear of the hen "

The thrashing machine is telling tales, which are
not at all pleasant ones generally, as far as I have heard
them. On one very large breadth of wheat land, where
there was straw enough for eight sacks an acre, the result is
six sacks. On another farm, where ten sacks were con-
fidentially expected, only seven were yielded; and on a third,
a very fine piece of straw—three waggon loads an acre—
there are only eight mks. The best crop I have heard of
Is ten sacks an acre, after clover, on a very good piece of
wheat land. Here there was as much straw as there was in a
crop that produced fourteen sacks in 1868. —Mark Lane
Express.

By an Imperial ukase issued on Monday at St.
Petersburg, it is ordered that, in consequence of the recent
series of attempts upon the lives of public functionaries,
crimes against the State and attacks upon Government
officials shall be placed for a time under the Jurisdiction of
the military tribunals and tried according to the laws in
force in time of war.

A praiseworthy attempt has of late been made to
brighten in some degree the existence of blind paupers in one
of the workhouses. The workhouse committee of the guar-
dians of the City of London Union at the last meeting of the
board reported that they had made arrangements for the
blind inmates of the workhouse at Holloway being read to
daily, and had also taken steps for their general amusement.
One of the blind men, it was stated, had been provided with
a violin. "with which he greatly amused the rest."_ Most
of the blind'paupers, it seems, are old people, whom it is not
easy to instruct. They cannot, as in the case of young blind
persons, be taught occupations, and be thus enabled to em-
ploy their dreiry hours in work. All that can be cone for
them is to amuse them, and this, fortunately, is not, it
seems, a difficult task. —Pall Mall Gazette.

The Duke of Teck attained his 41st year on Tues-
day.
The new materials for fabrics is called vegetable
wool, and is described as being found on the top of the grass
in the immense sheep runs of Western Australia, especially
In and around the district of Perth. It is about half an inch
in length, and is as soft as silk. A special commissioner is
already in Australia investigating the value of the new
material, and the extent of the districts wherein it may be
obtained.

An inquest has been held at the Isle of Sheppey
Union workhouse as to the death of a man named Gregory.
Ho was helping to work a thrashing machine, and while he
was engaged in " feeding " the machine with sheaves of corn
his leg was by some means drawn in among the wheels. The
machine was immediately stopped, but Gregory's leg was
torn away above the knee joint, the thigh being also injured.
He was removed to the workhouse hospital, where he died on
the following day. The jury returned a verdict of "Acci-
dental Death."

Recently a lady bequeathed to Mr. Spurgeon several
thousand pounds for his own personal use. Mr. Spurgeon
was induced to inquire into the circumstances of the rela-
tions of the donor, and upon finding they were neody, and
that nothing had been bequeathed to them, Mr. Spurgeon
very generously divided the legacy amongst them.—Court
Journal.

According to information received from Toulouse,
the opening of the shooting season this Ntar in that part
of the country has not been by any means favourable. Many
a sportnu.m of Toulouse has returned home from a day'S
shooting without a bird.

On Saturday the Prince of Wales accompanied by
the King of Denmark, visited the wreck of the Eurydice in
one of the Royal yachts from Osborne. The Port-Admiral
and other officials received the Royal party, who made an
exploration of the ship, and manifested the greatest interest
in the explanations of the arrangements for floating the
wreck, and bringing it into harbour.

A meeting of the Women's Temperance Association
has been held in Dublin, at which Miss Todd, of Belfast,
said she was glad the meeting was being held after that of
the British Association, as of late the Women's Temperance
Association had broken fresh ground and had taken up a
scientific standpoint in relation to the question. She re-
ferred to the researches of Dr. Richardson in proof of the
deleterious character of alcohol, and advocated the circula-
tion of works on temperance.

Preparations for a resumption of hostilities are being
Pushed at Constantinople with feverish haste. Immense
quantities of guns and ammunitions of war from America
are being landed daily; and recruits continue to pour in
from Anatolia.— Vanity Fair.

Four Italian Alpine excursionists—MM. Vaccarone,
Costa, Nigra, and Brioschi, have succeeded in making an
ascent which has hitherto been attempted in vain—viz., that
of Mont Blanc from the Italian side, descending it on the
French.

An lowa lady argues well when, in writing upon the
woman suffrage question, she says, "You may look at the
matter in whatever light you will, but simmer it down, and
it is but dissent from the wise and benencent Orderer of all
things that we are not all men.:

A singular outbreak of fire, resulting in the total
destruction of extensive premises and stock, took place on
Monday evening at Preston. A shopwoman in the employ
of Mr. Parkinson, oil merchant, was explaining the method
of trimming a lamp to a purchaser. She took up by mistake
a measure-ot benzoline for paraffin, which she intended to
pour into the vessel. The benzoline ignited at the light,
and the shopwoman, who must have been in serious danger,
allowed the measure with its contents to fall on the floor.
The flaming liquid ran about the shop, setting on fire every-
thing it touched, and in a short space of time the building
was completely gutted.

A joiner named Peter Waring, of Sheffield, met with
a shocking death at Rowsley, on Monday. He had been to
Haddon 11a11 on a four-horse coach, and was riding on the
top of the vehicle, when he was precipitated to the ground,
and one of the wheels passed over his neck, clinking instant
death. At the inquest the jury returned a verdict of acci-
dentally killed.

The Late Mr. Alfred George, a brewer, at Bristol, is
said to have left by will a fortune of a quarter of a million
sterling.
An inquest has been held at Bagshot on the body of
Selina Mary Page, aged eight years. It aveared that the
child went into a neighbour's garden, and began picking and
eating the gooseberries. A woman residing near saw the
child and called out to her, and she then ran away, but had
only proceeded a short distance when she fell. She was
picked up by the woman, when it was found that the child,
who was black in the face, was choking. She was at once
taken into the shop of a chemist, but bef.re any remedy
could be administered she died. The medical evidence
showed that a gooseberry had lodged in the child's throat.
and that death had been causei by suffocation from choking.
A verdict in accordance with the medical evidence was re-
turned.

Last Saturday there was a heavy thunderstorm in
London, during which a serious accident occurred to a
dorueatic servant in the employ ,f Mr. Manson, of the Pal-
merston Hotel, Peckham. A sudden flash of lightning shot
out from the clouds, as it seemed, Just over the house and
the Queen's-road station. The peal of thunder, which was
almost simultaneous with the flash, was deafening. The
servant, who was with Mr. Manson's daughter in the large
drawing-room, went to close the window, and an passing a
large mirror was struck blind. Miss Manson, who was very
much frightened, called out for her father, who immediately
came to the scene and at once despatched a messenger for a
medical gentleman, who promptly attended, and having
opened the girl's eyes, bandaged them up, and ordered that
she should be placed in a dark room. On Sunday after-
noon the sufferer was better, but still lying in a precarious
condition.

The Chancellor of ,the Exchequer acknowledges in
The Times (s 'Conscience Money ) receipt of the first
halves of bank-notes for £4OO from "D. W."
On Monday morning a number of youths attending
a Weileyan Sunday School at Charlton-llorettiorne, Dersct,
arrived by an excursion train at Bournemouth, and several
made their way to the beach. Two of their number went
into the sea to bathe, and one of them, named Taylor, about
17 years of age, was observed sinking. An alarm was at
once raised, but all efforts to discover the lad were fruitless,
although .the coastguards, fishermen, and some bathers
searched the water for several hours.

In London, on Saturday, a potman, aged thirty-
four, was admitted to Guy's hospital sutferiLg from disloca-
tion of the vertebra of the neck. The young man uas
bathing at the Lambeth Baths, when, in taking a header, he
miscalculated his distance, and striking his head against the
bottom of the bath, suatained the injury from which he Is
now suffering.

Intelligence has been received of the death of the
infant Prince Imperial of Japan.

There were 24 British and foreign wrecks reported
during the past week, making a total for the present year of
931; or a decrease of 183 as compared with the corresponding
period of last year. The property lost was approximately
valued at £196,000, including British £llO,OOO.

Mr. Gladstone has intimated to the Senate of the
Glasgow University his intention to give a prize of £5O for
the best essay on a subject to be afterwards announced. The
competition for this prize is to be open to matriculated.
students In any of the three Sessions of Mr. Gladstone's-
tenure of office as Lord Rector.
At the Liverpool Police-court on Tuesday, was
heard the first case under the new Customs and Inland
Revenue Act, which empowers the police to lay informations
against persons for keeping dogs without licenses, and allows
the magistrates, when summonses are issued by the police,
to mitigate the penalties to the lowest amount, half of which
is to go to the police superannuation fund. One person was
tined 103. and costs for keeping a dog without a license In
several cases brought by the Excise flues of 255. were im-
posed.

At a meeting of the railway employes on strike at
St. Margaret's, Edinburgh, held on Monday, it was re-
ported that the spring makers to the Dumber of 57 had
returned to work on the railway company's terms. It was
also stated that the majority of the boiler makers were in-
cdned to accept the company's terms. A motion to the
effect that the meeting should still adhere to their former
resolution, and not resume work until the 51 hours system
has been established over the whole North British Railway
systeni was carried.

Is is said that the Prince of Wales is likely to visit
Australia next year.
Everybody seems to be off to Cyprus. One cannot
pass a trunkmaker's shop in London without noticing out-
side, in a conspicuous position, boxes upon which are painted
in large letters the names of their owners, the destination
being in all cases our island in the East.—Court Journal.
It is believed th..t the receipts at the Paris Exhibi-
tion will not cover onc-half of the immense expenditure.
The Serviaus are growing excited at the Austrian
successes in Bosnia, and at the Hungarian demands for an
Austrian occupation of Servia itself.

A fine octopus was discovered on Monday by a diver
on board the Eurydice and landed at Sea View.
A New York paper says that a lady recently wore a
train twenty feet long, so that when she was on the first
landing the end of the tall was on the bottom stair.
- - -
• • -

- -----
During a thunderstorm which occurred on Monday
afternoon, a few miles to the south of S. Andrews, a water-
spout burst over the residence of Mr. Alexander Chespe, and
completely flooded the house. The storm was quite local.
_ _ _

The dead body of a man, frightfully mangled and
torn, was found on the line near the Great Northern Corn-
pany's station at Retford on Sunday morning. It is supposed
that he had fallen off the platform and was run over by a
passing train, and from the marks on the lis it appeared
that he had been carried a distance of some twenty or thirty
yards. The body has not been identified satisfactorily, but
from letters in his possession it is believed that his name is
Richard Smith.

On Tuesday morning a severe shock of earthquake
was felt in the neighbourhood of Cologne and a number of
Germ‘n towns, and a similar phenomenon occurred in parts
of Belgium. _

A correspondent of-The Times writes to Bay that the
Italian papers contain details of a terrible accident which
has occurred on a glacier pass between Julden and the
baths of Santa Caterina, above Bormio. Three companies
started the same morning with the intention of crossing the
pass. One party consisted of three German gentlemen and
two guides. On the glaciers one of the gentlemen slipped,
and his foot caught against the leg of his guide and over-
threw the latter also. The rope broke and the whole party
lost their hola, and were precipitated downwards into an
abyss of over 1,801! t. The bodies of the two guides were
found at the bottom, but of the three travellers two had not
been recovered, and the third was brought up against a pro-
jecting rock, and escaped with a broken knee-cap.

_
There were 2,491 births and 1,433 deaths registered
In London last week. Allowing for increase of population,
the births exceeded by 145, whereas the deaths were 75
below, the average numbers in the corresponding week of
the last ten years: The annual death-rate from all causes,
which in the three preceding weeks had been equal to 274,
247, and 2-21, further declined to 209. The deaths included
10 from small-pox, 10 from measles, 24 from scarlet fever,
11 from diphtheria, 74 from whooping cough, 16 from
different forms of fever, and 195 from diarrhcea.

A lamentable occurrence has happened at Zell, in
the Zdlerthall, Swit.aerland. The water from the glade at
the head of the valley, swollen by rains, swept down with
resistless force, carrying before it houses, mills, and even
sweeping the fields bare of their crops and soil. Roads and
bridges were destroyed, and even the churches far up the
hill were inimdated. After two days the waters subsided,
but starvation threatened the population of that and the
sdjacent villages. •

We are authorised to state that the Government
have decided that the present Parliament shall not be dis-
solved till the autumn of 1880.—Vanity Fair.

In London, on Tuesday, the Earl of Shaftesbury
presided at a meeting of the Committee of the Briti‘h Kos-
pitallers, held to consider the means that ought to be
adopted for the assistance of the men who have been re-
duced to necessity through their engagement in the Reserve
forces. Resolutions were passed to the effect that the
alacrity with which the men of the Reserve forces had re-
sponded to the call to arms deserved national recognition,
and that it devolved upon the nation at large to see that
they were rewarded by at least being enabled to regain their
former positions. A relief committee was formed to collect
subscriptions.

The Prince of Wales, the King of Denmark, the
King's brother, and the Prince's two sons, visited Ports-
mouth Dockyard on Monday, crossing from Osborne in the
Fire Queen, which was flying the Danish flag at the main.
The King wore the uniform of the Danish navy, and the
Prince that of a captain in the Royal Naval Reserve. The
various naval officers on the jetty were presented to the
Prince of Wales and the King of Denmark, and the party
then entered a train and proceeded on a tour of inspection
of the various objects of interest in the dockyard.
A "Police Order" was issued in London on Satur-
day effecting an increase of pay and other advantages in
various branches of the service. Station sergeants are to be
called third class inspectors, and to have an increase of pay
at the rate of ss. per week. Sergeants are to have an increase
of pay. The number of constables of the first-class is to be .
greatly augmented, and several years' service in waitieg for
promotion is saved by the new order.

Professor Mendeleff, of St. Petersburg University,
has been commissioned by the Russian Government to study
balloons in Europe, especially in France, and his tour will
last a year.

A terrific thunderstorm of several hours' duration,
accompanied by torrents of rain, visited Abingdon and its
vicinity on Friday evening in last week. Several chimneys
were thrown down by the lightning in the adjoining villages,
and at Tubney, about three miles distant, a stonemason
named Ritchiugs was struck by the electric fluid and in-
stantaneously killed. Deceased was crossing a field with
two fellow workmen, who, when the storm increased in
violence, sought refuge under a hayrick, their companion
saying he wd'uld weather the storm. Fifteen minutes later
he was found lying upon the ground, with his hat, coat, vest,
and his other clothing, even to his boots, torn into shreds
down the front, while his forehead had been scarred and his
chest blackened. About a fortnight ago a large elm tree
near the same spotovas shivered into thousands of fragments
by lightning.

At Liverpool W. Pegler, No. 10 of the River Police
Constabulary, has been presented with a silver medal and
clasp, besides £2 from the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane
Society, for having jumped into the Mersey and rescued a •
child which had fallen overboard from Her Majesty's ship
Assistance, and also for having saved the life of a man who
bad fallen into the river. For the same services Pegler was
also presented with a bronze medal by the Royal Humana
Society. The chairman of the Watch Committee said that
this was the tenth presentation of a similar kind to the same
constable for saving life.

"One day last week no fewer than three inquests
were held on bodies found in the Thames 'under mysterious
circumstances.' Of these bodies two were those of a man
and a woman and the third that of a wale child.' They had
been dead many days when found, and as no information
was forthcoming as to who they were, how they died, or why
their remains were deposited in the river, the jury returned
an open verdict of 'found drowned' in all three cases. The
coroner recommended that their clothing should be kept, on
the chance of their relatives 'coming forward,' but it is not
likely, to judge by precedent, that anything more will ever
be heard of the deceased. There is, in fact, no efficient
machinery in existence for unravelling 'mysteries' of this
nature. Photographs are, it is true, now taken of bodies of
unknown persons found under suspicious circumstances; but
until these photographs are open for public inspection at
the police-stations and are widely circulated among them
they will be of little use.—Pall Mall Gazetts