The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-10-19 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN_

At a conference last week of the Liverpool Ladies'
Temperance Association the chairman said it was calculated
that by the cocoa-rooms established in Liverpool £50,000 a
year was taken from the publicans.
It appears that the prettiest women in Cyprus are
the Turkish descendants of the Venetians, whom Mustapha
spared when ho slaughtered all male inhabitants after taking
leukosia.
A correspondent writes to me: "I have just been
presented by my wife with a boy. To her the monthly
nurse; 'What is his name to be?' Reply : Henry Charles,
but he will be called Ilal.' Rejoinder: 'Hall I thought
that was short for Hatred.' "—The World.

An American paper states that 360,000 acres of
white oak timber and mineral land in Western Virginia
were sold in New York the other day in large lots for about
one cent. an acre—probably the cheapest sale of land on
record.

The East Anglian Daily Times prints a circular just
advanced by Lord Tollernache to his tenants in Suffolk, re-
commending that more barley an less wheat be grown, and
suggesting a rotation of crops by means of which a farmer
will get three crops of barley during a period of eight years
from one field, and a crop of wheat every eight years hastead
of every four years as has hitherto been the custom.

Her Majesty the Queen, accompanied by Princess
Beatrice, and attended by the ladies and gentlemen of the
Court, will, it is expected, leave Balmoral about the 21st of
November for Windsor Castle. ller Majesty will reside at
Windsor for about a month, and will then go to Osborne, in
order to spend Christmas in the Isle of Wight.
At the Lancaster quarter sessions, the following
motion was unanimously adopted :---`• That, owing to the
frequent occurrence of cases of rabies, it is the opinion of
this court that an enactment should be passed rendering it
incumbent upon the owners of all dogs to keep them at all
times under safe and efficient control; and that a copy of
this resolution be sent to the Secretary of State."

"A sample of productive husbandry :—A farmer in
Essex has this year grown on 10 acres of land a crop of
15 qrs. of wheat. The corn was greatly injured by the wet
weather, and sold at the low price of 245. per qr. The re-
turn was, therefore, at the rate of 365. per acre—probably
about enough to pay rent, tithe, and taxes."—Mark Lane
Exvress.

Mr. Ira D. Sankey, formerly associated With Mr.
Moody, the evangelist, arrived with his family yesterday at
Liverpool from New York. It is stated that Mr. Sankey
contemplates making a religious tour through England.—
Wednesday's Daily Telegraph.

The Brussels correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette
says that the King of the Belgians has granted a week's leave
to the band of the Belgian Grenadiers to go to London for
the purp )se of giving concerts for the benefit of the suf-
ferers by the Princess Alice catastrophe.

The heavy guns of the Dreadnought have been tried
with maximum charges of I€olb. each, the projectile weigh-
ing upwards of 8001 b. A report of the-experiment rays that
the concussion was tremendous when the guns Were fired
simultaneously. A considerable portion of the glass in the
ship was broken, and the huge vessel heeled over fully two
degrees, but her hull and machinery sustained no damage
whatever.

A correspondent at Athens states that Hobart
Pacha, during his recent sojourn in that city, passed under
the name of "Mr. Hampton." The secret of his presence
In Athens, it appears, was well kept until he was recognised
In the street by an old acquaintance, 31. Goltz, the German
Charge d'Aff..tres. Soon afterwards he embarked on hoard
an Austrian steamer bound for Constantinople.—Daily
Pews.

"There is a fashion creeping in for ladies to wear
the regular Turkish scarves, four yards long, twisted round
the waist with the end going over the shoulder, instead of
wearing opera cloaks or shawls. This mode of arranging the
scarf is the prettiest part of a Turkish woman's costume, and
there is no reason why it should not look as well on a fair
western."—" The Tether," in Pictorial World.

Mr. Gladstone has notified his willingness to address
his constituents next month. A committee has been ap-
pointed to make the necessary arrangements for the meeting,
which will be a very important one. Mr. Gladstone will not
only review the past session of Parliament and comment on
the great questions of the day, but will make the meeting the
occasion of taking farewell cif the electors of the borough of
Greenwich prior to his retirement from the constituency.

News of the damage caused by storms and inunda-
tions is being received from all parts of the Italian penin-
sula. On Sunday night a hurricane destroyed a portion of
the railway between Castellamare and Salerno, and at Avil-
lino a torrent called the Sant Antonio invaded the lower
quarter of the town, threw down a number of houses, and
damaged the church of Madonna della Saletta to such an
extent that the campanile fell. Seven persons were
drowned.

We had thought it an undisputed fact that Robert
Fulton was the inventor of the first steam boat, but the honour
is now claimed for a Captain Samuel Morey, who built and
used a vessel of that kind on the Connecticut Eiyer as early
as 1793, fourteen years before Fulton produced his first boat.
Fulton, it is said, obtained his ideas from Morey, with whom
he was well acquainted.—Echo.
The Dutch vessel William Barends has returned to
Amsterdam from her voyage to the Arctic regions. It is
stated that the voyage has been very successful from a
scientific point of view, and it is expected that a full account
of the discoveries made will shortly be published

A Parliamentary paper issued this week states that
out of the total number of 14,017 parishes in England, main-
taining, or liable to maintain, their own poor, returns of
pauperism are now received weekly in respect of 14,212.
An explosion of dynamite occurred on Monday at the
Ronhead Mines, near Dalton-in-Furness, whereby two men
were severely injured
The Duke of Cambridge was present on Tuesday at
a sham fight in the neighbourhood of Fareham, In which the
whole of the troops quartered at Portsiaouth and Gosport
took part. About rive thousand men were engaged, the de-
fending force occupying Fort Fareham, on the crest of the
hilL The action was supposed to represent the landing of an
invading force on the south coast, and the detaching of two
corps with instructions to mask the garrison army of Ports-
mouth, and if possible to destroy the dockyard. After nearly
an hour's vigorous fighting, the duke decided that the attack
had been successful, A march past concluded the day's en-
gagement, in which the local rifle volunteers took part.
There were 2,358 births and 1,418 deaths registered
in London last week. Allowing for increase of population,
the births were 49 and the deaths one below the average
numbers in the corresponding week of the last ten years.
The annual death-rate from all causes, which had been
equal to 19.8 per 1,000 in each of the two preceding weeks,
rose to 20.7. . The deaths included 5 from small-pox, 13 from
measles, 33 from scarlet fever, 17 from diphtheria, 52 from
whooping-cough, 34 from different forms of fever, and 37
from diarrhoea.
The steamship Brooklyn, recently purchased by the
Dominion Steamship Company, arrived in the Mersey on
nolAstYt. ircm ganola.,with hoc firsts cArgo, of 4ve. Stock,
comprising 2,040 sheep 'and 442 head of fat 'cattle: - • •
A "geographical bee" is one of the latest of social
"fads." A society has just been formed of persons who,
moved by Lord Salisbury's commendation of "maps" and
other geographical appliances, are seeking by meetings at
each-pther's houses to make up for deficiencies in early train-
Afghaniatan and 3u,rkey are at present the leading
"bee" subjects, —Court Journal.

A walking and dining club has been formed in New
York, the members pledging themselves to a weekly tramp
of fifteen or twenty miles. The amount of dinners they are
to consume afterwards is not stated_

Gas-lighting comes cheap to the inhabitants of
Fredonia, in Chautanqua County, New York, for the town
has been supplied during the past ilfty-two years with
natural gas, which finds its source between two large coal
measures.

On Saturday night a signalman named Creedy, em-
ployed on the Great Western Railway at a crossing near
Dnnball tunnel, was knocked down by an express train and
killed on the spot.

Telegrams from Naples anncunce greatly increased
activity in the volcanic action of Vesuvius

Herr Schutt and Major Mechow, of the German
African Society, are exploring the Angola Musaumla
country.

About five o'clock on Sunday morning, a fire was
dficovered at the "Queen's Head " Tavern, Tower-hill, Lon-
don. The police, who discovered the outbreak, called the
fire brigade, and the nearest escape arrived in time to save
three persons whose escape had been cut off, and who were
driven to the roof. W. Wallis, the fireman in charge, was
greatly applauded by a large crowd for the gallant part he
took in effecting this rescue. The fire was soon suppressed.
The International Congress on artistic property,
held in Paris recently, recommends a copyright of 10(..
years.

The movement for raising subscriptions to present a
testimonial to Lords Beacontfield and Salisbury, which was
intended to be subscribed by ladies only, has, in consequence
of numerous applicatiors, been extended to gentlemen, and
will in future be called " The National Presentation Fund."

A telegram from Lisbon states that a train has run
off the line on the Minho Railway. Seven persons were
killed.

Professor Palmieri has published the following
communication on the state of Vesuvius :—" On Saturday
afternoon the seismical instruments, which had been in re-
pose, showed a return of animation, and in the early part
of the night the reflection from the crater was more brilliant,
notwithstanding that the moon, near the full, and surrounded
by a magnificent halo, shed a very vivid light around. The
new lava resembles in its quality that of 1871'

The invention of the telephone is now claimed by
the Celestials. A Chinese writer in the Pekin Gazette de-
clares that Kung Foo %Thing. a distinguished philosopher
who flourished at the close of the tenth century, invented the
telephone in 968. Tue instrument is known in China as
" Thumthsein."

On Monday evening Lord Coleridge and his former
colleague in the representation of Exeter, Mr. Edgar Bowring,
attended a lecture by the Hon. Bernard Coleridge on 011ver
Cromwell, the Bishop of Exeter presiding. His lordship
pointed out that nothing so tended to the elevation of the
working classes as the existence of mutual improvement
societies, and nothing promoted improvement more than the
study of such characters as Cromwell's, who was one of the
greatest rulers known in this or any other country.

The Dutch Cremation Society recently held its
annual general meeting In Arnhem Hitherto the Govern-
ment of Holland has not legalized burial by cremation; but
the society has a capital of over 10,000 florins, invested in
the Two and a Half per Cents., for the purpose of con-
structing one permanent and another moveable "corpse
aven." On the general council of the Netherlands Cremation
Society are Professor Tiele, of the Leiden University, Pro-
fessor Oudemans, Past-Rector Magnificuo of the Amsterdam
University, and several distinguished theologians, chemists,
and scholors.

Henry Potier (son of the celebrated comedian of that
name), who after, at the age of 16, gaining the first piano
prize at the Paris Conservatoire in 1831, has remained attached
to that establishment ever since, was struck with paralysis
while accompanying a pupil. It is related that his left hand
fell helpless, the right still continuing to touch the keys.
He was carried home, and died in a few hours.
The Medical Press and Circular, referring to a recent
order from the Home Office giving directions for the discon-
tinuance of the practice of taking plaster casts of the heads
of condemned criminals, says ;—" The object of this decision
it is difficult to even guess at. It surely cannot be to arrest
the study of comparative phrenology or craniology. We are
fast drifting into a sentimental cycle, in which a false
humanity plays too important a part. It would not surprise
us to hear that a society was established to suppress the
practice of dissection, so that our schools of medicine would
then be rendered virtually useless.

On Sunday evening, while four men were in a boat
on the Tyne near the Redheugh Bridge, Newcastle, it was
capsised owing to one of the men happening to be changing
his seat just as a steamboat was passing. Two of the men,
William Spence, aged thirty, and Edward Hill, twenty-five,
were drowned, but the other two were saved by a boat in
which some boss went to their aid.

"You see the Lancet has been great on the subject
of pins and needles swallowing. It speaks of a woman who
had such a penchant for swallowing pins and needles that
she must have managed to get through a couple of thou
sand before she died. This certainly seems rather improba-
ble; but some years ago I heard at Manchester of an in-
dustrious housemaid who had a perfect mania for biting
pins in half, although whether she swallowed them is
another matter altogether. This strange young woman
would frequently purchase a paper of pins merely for the
pleasure of tryinE her teeth on them."—" The Tatler " in
Pictorial World.
The son of a Sheffield sawmaker, while playing the
other day at "John Bull," fell with his head against a boulder
and died. -.

There were 24 British and foreign wrecks reported
during the past week, making the total for the present year
1,106, which, compared with the corresponding period of last
year, shows a decrease of 207. The approximate value of
property lost was £300,000, including British, £198,000. The
total tonnage represented 6,804 tons.
A speculator in Winconsin has started a factory for
the production of paper bricks, which are said to be ex-
ceedingly durable and damp proof.

English occupation in Cyprus has so altered the
character of the place that anyone landing in Larnaca now
(declares the Cyprus newspaper, Kupros) would find it hard
to recognise the sleepy place of two months since. When
the English entered Larnaca there was not a single hotel,
but only one wretched eating-house, while £5O would have
nearly bought up the contents of all the European shops in
the town Now new banks have established themselves,
houses have been converted into shops, and almost anything
to be found in an ordinary English town can be bought at
Larnaca. The latest addition is an International Club,
which is shortly to be opened in the Marina.

An improved horseshoe has been invented by an
Ingenious Swiss gentlemen, Dr. J. liirsiger, which bids fair
to be a great boon to the equine race, insomuch as it con-
tains to nails, the shoe being secured to the hoof by three
clamps, which are set by a spring and a couple of inoffensive
screws. The invention is now being tried at the Horse-
guards, and if successful will doubtless be instrumental in
saving many a valuable animal from lameness and more
serious disca.res.

General Gazibaltli is now living quietly at Caprera
with his daughter Terozita and her husband, Colonel Canzio.
The General spends the morning on the seashore; in the
evening his daughter plays and sings old American songs
taught her by her father, while Garibaldi himself frequently
joins in the songs, his voice being still fresh and young
The whole party will adjourn for the winter to a villa near
Genoa.

Presiding at a temperance entertainment at West
Hartlepool on Monday night, Mr. Bell, M.P., dwelt at some
length on temperance legislation. After referring to the
extent of drunkenness, and to the manner in which, at this
time of commercial depression, the vast expenditure on
intoxicants affected the country, Mr. Bell said that the
Legislature too often contented itself with admitting the
evil, but it was to be borne in mind that the cure was sur-
rounded by many difficulties. He had supported the Irish
Sunday Closing Bill, the working of which would be keenly
watched, as well as the Permissive Bill, because it was of an
experimental character.

I hear that it is not improbable that the 93rd High-
landers may be ordered to Afghanistan yid Gibraltar, as the
Ameer, and indeed all Indians, have the greatest respect
for our Celtic soldiery in their primitive war-paint:—The
World.
With another week of fine weather, says Monday's
Magnet, considerable progress has been made with field
work. Autumn sowing has been progressing under most
favourable .circumstances. The agricultural returns for the
past year have been published. They show that in the
acreage under wheat there was an increase of 60,000 acres,
or about 2 per cent., and a similar feature was noticed in
barley.

There was a swimming race last Saturday at Leeds
between E. T. Jones, of that town, champion swimmer of
England, and W. Beckwith, of London, son of the veteran
ex-champion. The distance was 110 yards, and the race was
won by Jones in lmin. 17sec., he being then a yard in ad-
vance of Beckwith.

The Montreal liner Colma lost 160 head of cattle on
the voyage across the Atlantic.

"I heard a good story (which has the advantage of
being true) in connection with an appointment recently
gazetted. A young gentleman who had received a special
mark of his Sovereign's favour by being appointed to repre-
sent Her Majesty in one of the most insalubrious stations on
the West Coast of Africa, called In at the Colonial Office to
make inquiries as to what might be the retiring allowance
pertaining to the post. The obliging clerk, after a prolonged
search through a series of documents' looked up at the
hopeful young man, and blandly said, 'I do not find, sir, a
single instance of a retiring allowance having been paid to
gentlemen who have gone out to this particular station.'"—
Mayfair.
The dispute between the Liverpool Gas Company
and the dock board on the question of damage by the explo-
sion of gas which led to the destruction of the great landing
stage in August, 1874, has been finally adjusted. The Gas
Company had paid £70,000, and an arbitration was to have
been held this week as to further payments ; but on Monday
the Mersey Board agreed to accept the sum of £17,500 in
addition to tho amount already paid, as a final settle-
ment.

The Calcutta Engilshman mentions that a young lady
of Goa has adopted a novel way to procure a husband. She
has posted at the Municipal Chamber at Margaum, an an-
nouncement that a young lady of eighteen years, of pretty
good appearance, and of having an income of 1,500 xerafins,
wishes to marry a man under thirty years of age, who can
command 1,000 Iterations yearly income; in addition, he
should understand the English and Portuguese languages
and the metrical system of accounts. On the 25th inst., she
would pass at noon through the public streets of Margaum
with a green umbrella and a handkerchief of the same colour
In her left hand, after which she would receive suitors with
their proposals, and choose one from them possessing the
stipulated qualifications.

Competition for Government employment is keener
than ever, to judge from an anecdote in the Times of India,
At a Lahore office a Hindoo clerk recently fell down sud-
denly in a fit. Some of his fellow workers ran at once to help I
him, but found that the unfortunate man had expired.
" Now's the time for promotion," whispered one ot the lot,
and all rushed off in a body to lay their respective ,claims
for the vacant post before their chief.
Mr. Edison is still adding to the list of his inventions.
The latest are the voltameter, the mirror thermometer, a
self-resonant tuning-fork, and a device for laying in a supply
11 of "daylight,"
I The Mark Lane Express says an average crop of
I wheat has been secured, and that roots promise well, but our
contemporary characteristically adds that the prices for
' agricultural produce have fallen so low that the season can
hardly prove remunerative f4r farmers.
A sad case of drowning has occurred at Rouen,
where a couple of British seamen, named Kitchen and
Redford, who were wrestling on board the steamer Whit.
wood, fell ovetboard and were drowned. Though every
endeavour was made to rescue them when they fell into the
water, they both sank before help reached them. Redford's
body was recovered and interred at Rouen. Both men were
married, and Kitchen leaves seven children.
Tuesday, the 15th, was the 55th anniversary of the
birth of the Duke of Manchester, K.P., who was born at
Kimbolton Castle, his seat in Huntingdonshire, on Oct. 15,
1823. His Grace (William Drogo Montagu) is the eldest son
of George, the sixth duke (who was a commander in the
navy), by his first wife, Mithicent, only daughter and heir
of the late Brigadier-General Roben Bernard Sparrow, of
Brampton Park, Huntingdonshire, who was descended ma-
ternally from the celebrated Sir Oliver St. John, Lord Chief
Justice of the Common Pleas. He succeeded to the dukedom
on the death of his father, which took place on August 8
1855.
Mr. Bright, M.P., has writteehnentwsotillitnhnßeto.,tblbeaem.yagobrl
set o.tlofl
aßtltremnidngahapmropeoxsperdessbinagn
grueegtre tonthtaht
obliged to refrain from taking part in public meetings of
any kind.
Judgment was given on Monday, by Mr. Stonor,
judge of the Southwark county court, In an action broughi
against the South Western Railway Company by Mr.
M`Gredy, secretary to an insurance company, to recover
the sum of 1715. 6d., expenses incurred by him in cab hire to
enable him to reach his office punctually, in consequence of
delay at various times in the arrival of the train from
Walton to Waterloo. The company pleaded that the action
was barred by the conditions of the plaintiff's season ticket,
which expressly stated that they would not be responsible
for delay in the departure or arrival of the trains. The judge
held that the plea was valid, as the defendant was carried at
special rates, subject to the conditions of his season ticket.
The plaintiff was allowed a month in which to appeal.

The oldest 'in-habitant of Vienna, Anna &Ida, born
en the 29th of March. 1767, has jutt died.

_
According to recently publist,ed statistics there are
more deaf-mutes, idiots, and lunatics in Switzerland, in pro-
portion to the population, and fewer people afflicted with
blindness, than in any other European country.
Telegrams of Sunday's date from New Orleans state
that, on the previous day, there were forty deaths thera
from yellow fever, and twenty-six at Memphis. Down to
Friday in last week the number of deaths recorded during
the week in all the places infected was 199 The weather,
however, is reported to be cooler, and the fever slowly
declining.

"Barley on clay soils, where it is not injured by
rain, is ef very good quality this year, but the yield is
lamentably deficient. It is but a poor consolation to obtain
50s per quarter if you grow only 3 quarters per acre. Row then
can we sufficiently pity the unfortunate men who had their
small crop iujured by net weather, and wi'l only get 355. or
403. per quarter for a crop of from 3 to 4 qrs.—Mark Lane
Express.

At the Reading Philanthropic Seciety's dinner on
Tw,Ed.sy night, Mr. Palmer, M.P., said that if the nation
determined to have a large standing arm), a great fleet,
and volunteer force, let them do it well. but he objected to
fostering ill will between this and other countries. He
should vote in favour of a more hat moutons policy. It was
said we should never have peace with Russia till we had
war with her. He would, however, postpone war, hoping
that time would work a more amicable state of things.
Madame Blanche Victor concluded at the Albeit
Hall, Plymouth, the task of walking fifteen hut dred miles in
a thousand consecutive hours. She started at six a.m on
Tuesday, September 3, and completed her distance at nine
o'clock on Monday night in the presence of a large crowd,
who cheered her enthusiastically. For the first three weeks
Madame Victor did her mile and a half in from 16 to IS
minutes, but latterly she has taken from 18 to 23. She had
previously, at Leeds, performed the feat of walking one
thousand quarter miles in one thousand ten minutes

An inquest has been held at Portsmouth on the
body of a pensioner from the 31arine Artillery named John
Wright, who had committed suicide by throwing himself in
front of a train at the level crossing at Copnor. His widow
stated he had not enjoyed good health since he left the ser-
vice, and had complained of pains in the chest during the
last two years. A verdict was returned that the " Deceased
had committed suicide while of unsound mind."
A boot and shoe famine is threatening Chicago. A
thousand shoemakers have struck, the manufacturers refuse
to accord higher wages, and propose to call in Chinese cheap
labour, so the Chicago Crispins menace the city with a riot
it the Celestials appear, and the militia leaders are said to
have secretly promised the strikers their assistance.

At the Portsmouth registration of voters, the vote
of the Rev. N. S. Godfrey, vicar of St. Bartholomew, Port-
sea, was objected to. The rev, gentleman claimed a vote on
the ground that he had a freehold property in the emolu-
ments of the church, chiefly consisting of pew rents. It was
argued on the part of the objectors that the pews were open
to any of the parishioners, and that the vicar had no power
to enforce payment. The Revising Barrister held that he
had a freehold in the pew rents and allowed the vote.

A discovery, which may possibly turn out to be one
of great importance, has just been made in America. It is
that good sugar can be made from the stalks of Indian corn.
The matter is considered of such general interest that the
Government of the United States has taken the matter up,
and the Agricultural Department is carrying out expert
ments to determine whether the manufacture on a large
scale would be commercially profitable.

Mr. Sclater-Booth, M.P., President of the Local
Government Board, at the Hampshire Quarter Sessions sub-
mitted a report of the financial committee, and said their
experiences of the Prisons Act, as far as it had gone, showed
a saving to the county equal to about a halfpenny rate. The
payments for the maintenance of children in industrial
schools and at reformatories, heretofore made by the visit-
ing justices, now came under the cognisance of the finance
committee. There had been a conflict of opinion in some
counties whether these charges should not now be borne by
ihe Home Office, the Government having taken charge of
the prisons; and as an industrial school was a charitable
institution, whilst a reformatory was of the nature of a
prison, probably the subject, at least so far as reformatories
are concerned, would come under the notice of the Home
Secretary with a view to legislation.

During the past month 8 beasts, 172 sheep, and 30
pigs, suffering from loot-and mouth disease, and 27 sheep
with sheep-scab, were'landed at the port of London. These,
together with 1,921 beasts, 22,275 skeep, and 2,976 pip,
healthy animals brought over in the same vessels, were all
slaughtered on landing under instructions from the Privy
Council.

A new kind of bicycle has been invented, one where
the driver sits astride the small wheel and drives the big
one in that position. It is a preferable thing for people who
have short legs, or for long-legged people who are not
acrobatic and timid.

A San Francisco paper has interviewed the diamond
wearers. The column devoted to this gives the name of the
lady who stands first in the gem roll She is reputed to be
the fortunate possessor of a diamond necklace worth £16,000.
The next "private personage" in the list of the Morning
Call is Mrs. Lloyd 1 evis, who, it appears, has the greatest
variety on the coast of bracelets, rings, medallions, &c.,
valued at £20,000. Then Mr. J. B. Haggin, a great land
speculator, is, it seems, known as a diamond connoisseur,
and the gems and trinkets in his house are set down at
£.16,000.

A layman in the West of England has offered
£3,000 to erect a church dedicated to St. Simon, at
Shepherd's-bush, as a thankoffering for the preservation of
the peace of Europe, provided that £2 000 more is raised be-
fore the end of the year.

-
"People who wish to have bread at a moderate
price should not insist on having the very whitest of white
bread, to make which flour of extra fine quality is required.
Wheat that makes a darker-coloured flour often contains
more gluten than that which is extremely pale, and as long
as bread is light and well made it is none the worse for being
a little dark in colour—like home-made bread."—Mark Lane
Express.

Mr. Mackenzie, who was for several years the
Bishop Suffragan of Nottingham, died at Lincoln on Tuesday
morning from congestion of the lungs. He was in his
seventy-second year.
"There is just now considerable difference of
opinion with regard both to the orthography and the pro-
nunciation of Afghan names. It is general to spell the
capital as Cabul, and pronounce it as Caybul. Again, we say,
Afghan. In the old days of 1839, the spelling was always
Canbul. Affghaun and A ffghauuistaun ; the pronunciation
being Corble, A fgorn, and Arfgornistorn. The old mode is a
nearer approach to the Persian, and the real Afghan pro-
nunciation is somewhere between the old and the new"—
"The Tatler" in Pictorial World.

A meeting of the Liberal Four Hundred was held
at Bristol on Monday night to hear Mr. Morley's reasons for
retiring from the representation at the end of the present
Parliament. Mr. Morley denied that he wished to retire
because he thought he was in less favour than formerly, or
disagreed with his colleague, or intended to stand for another
constituency. The fact was he was getting an old man. He
was in his sixty-eighth year, and wanted rest, and the duties
of the House of Commons required the expenditure of more
phy Meal us well as mental powers now than heretofore.
Speaking as a commercial man, he could not afford the
sacrifice. He condemned strongly the Eastern and Indian
policy of the Government, and said whatever his future
sphere might be, he should press forward those Liberal
principles which he believed were closely identified with the
welfare of the people. A resolution was cordially passed
thanking Mr. Morley for h!s past services, and requesting
him to take time to reconsider his intention.