The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-12-13 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Dr. Leslie Ogilvie has been appointed Physician to
the Royal Academy of Music.
By a fire on Saturday night at the Bothwell Storage
Company's Store, Glasgow, it is estimated that £20,000
worth of grain, paper, &c., was destroyed.
At Durham on Saturday a great fire took place at a
timber yard, and two of the spectators, in. falling
into an adjoinirg coal depot, received serious injuries.
Princess Beatrice has graciously accepted the office
of President of No. 111., or St. James's and Hyde-park,
District of the St. John Ambulance Association.
Intelligence received at Hong Kong from Tonkin
states that desultory fighting has taken place there
lately, resulting in the defeat of the Chinese.
The Paris Chamber of Commerce has protested
against the raising of the duties on corn, whereas the
Toulouse Chamber has pronounced in favour of the pro-
posed measure.
Mr. Mundella, M.P., and other influential gentlemen
attended on Saturday a conference of managers and
teachers of London Board schools, at which it was re-
solved to form a :entral council to assist local charities
in providing penny ainers for the poor on a self-sup-
porting basis.
No less than three fires occurred on Saturday night at
Sheerness, the most serious breaking out in a block of
stabling adjoining some wooden dwellings in Hare.
street. These Stables were burnt to the ground, and
the houses, and also a sehool, were much damaged. A
person was badly burnt about the arms at another fire
in the town, which was promptly suppressed.
On Saturday morning a prize fight of a determined
character took place in a field near Bromley between two
men named Lambert and G urnall, said to be well known
in pugilistic circles. The stakes were £1.5 a side, and
the encounter was witnessed by a large number of spec-
tators, although every effort was made to keep the affair
as quiet as possible. At the conclusion of the four.
teenth round Gurnall's seconds threw up the sponge,
and Lambert won the stakes. Both the men presented
a frightful appearance, being much disfigured and
bruised. while Gurnall was nearly blind.
A Lloyd's telegram from Maassluis, on Sunday, re-
ports that the British steamer Demetrius, from Rotter-
dam for London, while lying at anchor off Maassluis,
was cut down to the water edge by the British steamer
Albula, from Kertch for Rotterdam, and sank a few
minutes after the collision. All hands were saved.
A new branch of the Irish National League of Great
Britain was formed on Saturday under the title of the
Metropolitan Branch of the Irish National League, at a
mee€ing held in Palace-chambers, Westminster, under
the presidency of Mr. T. P. O'Connor, M.P. Mr J. H.
WCarthy, M.P., was elected president of the new
metropolitan branch, and the presidents, vice-presidents,
and officers of the various metropolitan branches of the
league were constituted ex-officio members of the new
branch. It was explained by several speakers that one
of the chief objects in view in forming the new branch
was the extension and consolidation of the Irish voting
power in London, so that there should be amongst the
Irish residents a thorough electoral organisation.

Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Roberts, Com-
mander-in-Chief of Madras, has, since he has taken over
that position, inaugurated several important reforms in
the Madras Native Army. Sir Frederick has just issued
the following order in connection with the force, the
result of which will be watched with great interest:
"No recruit enlisted after the Ist January, 1885, will
be permitted to marry, or, if already married when he
enlists, to have his with to reside in the regimental lines
for three years after his enlistrneiat."
The Dean and Chapter of Bangor have accepted the
offer of Mrs. Symes to erect an oaken screen as a
memorial to the late Dean Edwards. A memorial
scholarship is also being fou 'led at the University Col-
lege for North Wales.
The " Observer " understands that an intimation has
been privately conveyed to members who have in-
terested themselves in the matter that the instruction
for the division of boroughs which directs the Commis-
sioners to "pay special regard to the pursuits of the
population" is one of the questions vital to the exis-
tence of the Government.

It is stated that Earl Smdes, Lord Harris, and other
large landowners in Kent, have requested their tenants
not to join in the movement for reducing the wages of
agricultural labourers dming the winter months. In
some parts of Kent, however, a reduction of wages by
28. 3d. and 2.6 d. a week is being made._

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ue r y
A telegram from India announces the death as having
taken place at Peshawur, in his forty-third year, of
Lieut.-Colonel Edward George Godolphin Hastings,
Judicial Commissioner, and eldest son of the late Cap-
tain the Hon. Edward Plantagenet R. H. Hastings.
The deceased officer was created a Companion of the
Bath for his services in the late Afghan War, taking
part in the memorable march to Candahar.
A Mormon conference near Sheffield on Sunday was
the scene of a disturbance in which three persons were
injured. Several elders from Utah were vigorously
opposed by an ex-Mormon and his friends, and the police
had to eject the anti-Mormons from the hall. This was
accomplished only after a stout resistance had been
offered. A second conference, which it was intended to
have held in the evening, had to be abandoned, as the
anti-Mormons returned in still greater force, and en-
deavoured to mob the Elders. The latter, however,
were got off in safety. The anti-Mormons afterwards
held an immense open air meeting, which was very ex-
cited, but no further damage was done.
The Ven. Archdeacon Blakeney, preaching on Sunday
in the parish church, Sheffield, earnestly called atten-
tion to the distress which prevails generally throughout
the town and neighbourhood, and appealed for assist-
ance. There are at present over 10,000 persons receiv-
ing parochial relief in Sheffield, a number which has
had no parallel since 1858, the year following the great
American panic. Hundreds of Sheffield families are at
present earning no more than from eight to ten shil-
lings a week.
On Saturday, among the prisoners brought up at
Lambeth Police-court, were two men named Alfred
Thorn and Walter Watney. Thorn, who was charged
with begging was ordered to be imprisoned for one day,
and Watney, who had been previously convicted, was
committed for trial. Both prisoners were placed in the
same cell, Thorn to be detained until five o'clock, when
he would be released, and Watney until the arrival of
the prison van, when he would be conveyed to Wands-
worth to await his trial. At five o'clock Oakes, the
gaoler of the court, went to the cell and told the person
wearing the prisoner Thorn's clothes to go about his
business, which he quickly did. Shortly after the
prison van arrived, when it was discovered that Thorn
was in the cell wearing Watney's clothes, they having
changed garments.
The death is announced of Mrs. Meadows White,
better known in the musical world by her maiden name,
Alice Mary Smith, under which she published several
compositions, not, perhaps, marked by very striking
originality, but all of them refihed in style and well-
written. She was among the few female composers
who attempted the higher forms of choral and orches-
tral music, her most ambitious effort being a setting of
Collins's" Ode to the Passions" successfully produced
at the Hereford Festival of 1882. It contains, among
much that is effective, a very fine trio with chorus on
the subject of " Melancholy. She also wrote music to
at the Houses
Mr. Charles Ross, who was well known
1 joKff ien,
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Meadows
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White,
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primedeath
of
of Parliament as a member of the reporters' gallery,
died on Saturday morning. Mr. Ross was born in 1709.
He entered the reporters' gallery of the House of
for 64 years, with the excep-
tion latter position he held until last year, when he re-
tired and
parliamentarys succeeded c ceeded
parliamentary r .
o oDmoc
pod r
pa
n, tsiho einn; origi-
nator rBisg iass-.
tnCiarotemodrminooncfsonins"equence of declining health, having occu-
piedtion of a brief interval, when he was engaged to manage
a new paper called the "Carlisle Patriot," started by
Sir James Graham. As a member of the staff of the
" Chronicle " Mr. Ross reported the seditious proceed-
ings in Ireland which led to the trial of Daniel O'Connell,
and became the principal witness at the trial against the
Irish states Mall:
nlanaagseeatofinthp:

At the Uxbridge Petty Sessions, Elizabeth Gibbons
has been committed for trial on the charge of the
wilful murder of her husband, by shooting him with a
revolver.
The Duke of Cambridge, presenting commissions in
the Royal Artillery to 49 cadets who have just passed
their examinations at Woolwich, said he had been much
pleased at hearing such admirable reports of the cadets,
both as to their learning and conduct, and was especially
proud of their moral character.

- The King of Roumania has declined to accept thtt
resignation of the Bratiano Cabinet.
Lord Dufferin landed on Monday evening at Bombay.
It is announced from Ismailia that a convention has
been concluded between the Egyptian Government
and the Suez Canal Company for the construction of
a fresh water canal from Ismailia to Port Said.
It is stated that the Technical Commission of the
Suez Canal proposes to make the canal a uniform depth
of about forty metres.
Baron Henry de Worms, M.P., having been requested
to contest the new borough of Greenwich at the next
election, has consented to do so.
At a discussion at the Birkbeck Institute on the sub-
ject of local government, Mr. H. W. Lawson. who moved
a resolution calling for a drastic reform of the existing
.83 stem, sketched a plan for the election of representa-
tive bodies both in rural and urban districts, and
specially urged that the interference of the Government
in local affairs should be restricted as much as possible.
The resolution was unanimously adopted.
"Becket," a new dramatic poem by Lord Tennyson,
has just been published. It treats of the career of St.
Thomas a Becket and the events which led to his
murder in Canterbury Cathedral. The work, which the
noble author explains is not intended to meet the
exigencies of the modern theatre, is dedicated to Lord
Selborne.

The strike in the hosiery trade at Belper, after last-
ing over a month, has terminated, the men agreeing to
the masters' terms—namely, a reduction in wages
averaging 15 per cent, and the severance of their con-
nection with the Framework Knitters' Union.
At the meeting of the Geographical Society on
Monday evening—Sir H. C. Rawlinson presiding—
General J. T. Walker read a paper entitled "Four
years' journeyings through Great Thibet by one of the
Trans-Himalayan explorers of the survey of India," in
which he dealt exhaustively with the geography of
this region of Central Asia so far as it has yet been
explored.
Two men, a warehouseman and a -lerk, named Cross
and Weeks, both residing at Clapton, were charged at
Worship-street Police-court, London. on Monday, with
wilfully damaging a fire alarm post in Hackney. An
officer in charge of the district fire brigade station said
since the posts were erected in March. 1882, thirty false
alarms had been caused by persons playing with the
machine. This had led to :30 fire engines, 100 men, and
30 escapes being brought out needlessly. In the pre-
sent case the evidence failed to show that the damage
done was other than accidental, and Cross was ordered
to pay fourpence, the value of the glass.
The Banbury Chamber of Agriculture has passed a
resolution in favour of a Government inquiry into the
depression of agriculture.
The Rev. Dr. Autliff has died at Preston. For many
years he held a prominent place in the Primitive
Methodist body. Entering the ministry in 1831, he
aontinued in active service 50 years, retiring three years
ago.
Very serious subsidences are reported from the
Rhondda Valley, in consequence of which the founda-
tion of houses have been shaken and impaired in many
places.
The Dublin Corporation have resolved, by 31 votes to
12, to change the name of Sackville-street, the leading
thoroughfare in the city, to O'Connell-street. Mr. T.
D. Sullivan, M.P., said if the inhabitants of the street
questioned in a court of law the legality of the decision
the Nationalists of Ireland would never spend a shilling
in any of their establishments.
The Treasury have authorised the authorities of the
British Museum to purchase, at a cost of upwards of
£BOOO, the whole (with one excep Lion) of the majolica,
Palissy ware, and Limoges enamels, bought by the
syndicate at the Fountaine sale in June last. The one
exception is a pair of Palissy candlesticks, worth £l5lO,
which have been bought by a private purchaser.
These articles will be divided between the national
collections at the British Museum and South Kensing.
ton.

A widow named Smith brought an action against
the North Metropolitan Tramways Company to recover
compensation for injuries sustained through a car get-
ting off the metals. An independent medical examina-
tion of the plaintiff having been crdered, a surgeon
stated on Monday to the Court of Queen's Bench that
he could not find she had sustained any injury. Upon.
this the jury found that the twenty pounds paid into
Court by the company was sufficient, and Mr. Justice
Field gave judgment to this effect.
Mr. Jacob Wilson was on Monday night entertained
at dinner at Willis's Rooms, the Duke of Richmond
presiding, and presented with a cheque for three thou-
sand guineas for his services to agriculture.
The brigantine Cha/ciope, of Fleetwood, from Corunna
to Cardiff, with a cargo of pit good, went ashore off the
coast of De7on on Monday. The crew were saved by
the Robert Catherine lifeboat.
An accountant named Alfred H. Elsom has been
fined £lO at Clerkenwell Polies-court, London, for
having ;falsely pretended to act in the capacity of a
solicitor.

At the fifteenth anniversary festival of the Metro-
politan Beer and Wine Trade Asylum and Benevolent
Fund held in St. James's Hall, London, subscriptions
were announced to the amount of 1550 guineas.
An extra sentry of the Windsor Castle guard was on
Monday night posted, as a precaution, in St. Alban's-
street, owing to suspicious characters having been
noticed loitering about the Royal stables and the
Windsor Post-office. On Tuesday, however, it was
found that the suspicious persons alluded to were
simply a party of mechanics who, seeking work in the
neighbourhood, strolled up St. Albans-street to see the
Castle. They happened to attiact some attention, and
a sentinel was hastily placed at the entrance to the
Royal mews.
Some alarm was occasioned at the Dublin Land Com-
mission Court on Tuesday by a loud explosion. The
judge subsequently explained that it was caused by an
officer searching for an escape of gas with a lighted
match.
Frank Hudson a young farm labourer, has been com-
mitted for trial by the Canterbury Bench for attempt-
ing to wreck a train. On Sunday night two men were
walking along the London, Chatham, and Dover line,
when they stumbled over a sleeper which had been
placed across the metals On being subsequently appre-
hended on suspicion, Hudson admitted his guilt, but
gave no reason for the act.
Francis Coppen and Samuel Wilson, described as
medical students, and George Alfred Williams, stock-
broker's clerk, were on Tuesday charged, at the West-
minster Police-court, London, with riotous conduct out-
side the Aquarium, and also with assaulting the police.
Each of the prisoners was fined £5, or a month's hard
labour.
Lady Brassey on Tuesday evening presented about
twenty certificates to the candidates who have recently
passed the examination for membership of the St.
John Ambulance Association at the Rye centre. Her
ladyship expressed her desire to present an ambulance
hamper to each fishing craft in the port whose crew in-
cluded a member of the Association.
A Committee of Experts has been appointed, wilh
Professor Paley as chairman, to arbitrate upon the
points in dispute in regard to Peterborough Cathedral,
between the Dean and Restoration Committee on the
one hand and the Bishop and the Cathedral Chapter on
the other.
The woman Edna Carter, who was sentenced to death
for the murder of her child at Wrentham, and was
recently respited, has now had her sentence commutod.
to penal servitude for life.
A Reuter despatch from Washington reports the
decision of the Supreme Court to the effect that the
Emigrant Head Tax law is valid and constitutional.
Mr. J. W. Henley, formerly one of the best known
and most respected members of the House of Commons,
from which he retired in the year 1878, died on Tues-
day at his residence in Oxfordshire, at the ago of
ninety-one.
The Earl of Dunraven presided on Tuesday evening
at the meeting of the Colonial Institute, when a paper
was read by Mr. Baden-Powell on National Unity.
He proposed a scheme by which the Colonies should be
represented, and the whole Empire fused, so to speak,
into one great nation. The chairman observed upon
several of the difficulties in the way of the scheme, but
pointed out that the Colonies might remove many of
these.
Mr. Trevelyan, M.P., addressed a large gathering of
the Brighton Liberals on Tuesday evening in the Royal
Pavilion, and congratulated his hearers on what, he said,
was the present triumph_of sound political opinion as
shown by the recent compromise.
Viscount Hampden, speaking at the dinner of the
Lewes fat stock show on Tuesday, expressed his opinion
that the compromise on the franchise question reflected
great credit on both parties. Although some districts,
Sussex especially, would lose a considerable number of
members, all must admit that the Redistribution Bill
was framed on just lines—namely, an equalisation of
representation among the wealth and population of the
country.
Samuel Lidster, a well-known bookmaker, between
40 and 50 years of age, has been found drowned in the
Endcliffe-wood Dam, Sheffield, having, it is supposed,
committed suicide while his mind was affected by
recent serious losses on betting transactions.
The ship-builders in the Tees district, which embraces
the Middlesbrough, Stockton, Hartlepool, and Whitby
ports, have given notice of a 71 per cent. reduction in
their workmen's war;es. The men, in the face of better
trade prospects in the district, show a disposition to
resist any reduction.
The attention of the Home Secretary having been .
,c,rtallleudba
atthwehieahxisategnocoed
dealoLfivbeertriao of s
gl
iscarlineirdioouns
and drinking indulged in at all hours, the Inland
Revenue Department has been making an inquiry in the
iciistr.my, aenadtaparroaceeexdpiencgtsetdotteo sftoltlhoewl.egality of these estab-
Lord George Ha meo,ifl
at o;,e:gle. Pn
referringe. ,raa
I principles
rr
ietnsocs
tnphgl
cesa
doConserva-
tive ward meeting in Birmingham on Tuesday evening,
tdehxiseptrtleaThrsugseetdiraopropsucrohgvhearaslinto single-membered constituencies,
as
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oln
the Government have determined --
iioriftohtl,hiet(e could get for
constituencies. The result of the compromise
set their face
facae
three-cornered'ecsci
aj us st fi
Mr.ed
Gladstonethe posi
position
ndamt that
l t
the
conceded Lords
the two
tipp iLtthse
for a autumn,
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they contended.
The polling for the election f o a member for Knares-
borough in the place of the late Mr. T. Collins took
place on Tuesday, when Colonel Gunter, the Conserva-
tive candidate, was elected by a majority of 52 'votes
over his opponent, Mr. Holden, Liberal The return
makes no change in the balance of parties in the House.
Judgment was given on Tuesday in a Board of Trade
inquiry at Middlesbrough into the loss of the steamer
York, of West Hartlepool, which stranded on the
Gosker reef in the Gulf of Finland, on the 25th or. .
October. The court found that stranding was owing to .
the unskilful and careless navigation of the master and
chief mate, and suspended the certificate of the master, •
Captain Mossman, for six months, and of the mate,
Simon Tose. for three months.

'we .!•••rie worek, ''

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