The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-04-15 00:00:00

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

The King of Italy has just received four magnifi-
dent Aran horses sent to him by the Khedive.
The son of the Shah of Persia is to spend a month of
the approaching summer in Paris. Be is on the point of
setting out on a voyage of instruction in Europe.
The Army and Navy Gazette is informed that the Ad-
miralty intends constructing two small men-of-war, to be
composed of steel.
The Midland Railway have given notice to their
draymen at Sheffield. that in future the practice of pay log
overtime would be discuntiuued.

John Ritchie, a goods guard on the Glasgow and
South-Western Railway, was on Monday crushed to death
between the bailers of a goods train near Ayr station.
Snow fell heavily on Tuesday morning in the coun-
ties north of the Toy. In Forfarshire the fall in a f‘w
hours averaged a depth of three inches. The fall was
sceornpanied by a biting north wind.

Lieutenant Cameron, according to the 21forning
Post, intends to proceed again to Africa to prosecute his
geographical researches.

Large supplies of good cheap oysters are now brought
from Russia in six days by steamer, and promise to revolu-
tionizo the market in regard to prices.
A special telegram to the Daily News from their
New York Cirrespondent announces the death of Mr.
Stewart, the richest merchant in America. His property is
estimated at eighty million dollars.
"Dearest, lam vEry sorry you have gone, not for
always I hope. Shall often think of you, and hope you will
not forget C L."—Advertisement in The Times
The Morning Post is informed that the tender of a
French firm has been accepted by the Admiralty to raise the
Vanguard, and deliver her to the naval authorities.
The French Government has given orders to the
prefects to permit the sale of all newspapers without excep-
tion by the ordinary newsvenders and in the streets.

At the Norfolk assizes on Saturday £3,000 were
awarded by a special jury to the widow of Mr. Womack,
Norwich, who was klLiel in the Thorpe collision.

-
The death is announced of Monsignor Tarnoczy,
Cardinal Archbishop of Salzburg, in Austria. The vacated
see is reported to be one of the richest in the world.

The Pungolo of Naples says that in the night of the
bth, a slight eruption of ashes occurred at Vesuvius. Pro-
fessor Palmieri analyted the failing matter and found that
it contained sulphuric and hydrochloric acids and sal am-
moniac.
The Prince of Wales has accepted the invitation of
the Council of the Royal Albert Hall to a congratulatory
concert in honour of ills return to England. The concert is
fixed for Wednesday evening, the 17th of May.
The Malabar troop ship arrived in Portsmouth Har-
bour from India on Monday. She has on board the first
consignment of animals presented to the Prince of Wales
during his tour in India. It consists of two ponies, tour
dogs, and five Brahma cows.

The Watts Memori,ll Hall was opened at Southamp-
ton on Monday It comprises a se; of school buildings
erected at a cost of £6,000 on the site of Dr. Watt's garden, at
the rear of Above Bar Chapel, where the Doctor's family wor-
shipped for many years, and in which his first hymn was
sung.

That Baltimore man's flying machine is not an over-
whelming success; Keely's motor is as quiet as the grave ;
Virginia has refused to take part in the Centennial: but a
German chemist has obtained ferrocyanide of tetramethy
lammonium by saturating ferrocy.nic acid with tetramety
lammonium hydrate—and this is some consolation, anyhow.

The ship Lightning, 1,248 tons, Captain Cameron,
chartered by the Agent-General f r South Aastralia, sailed
from Plymouth on Saturday, for Port Adelaide, with 403
emigrants, composed of singie and married agricultural and
other labourers and mtchanics, with sixty single young
female domestic servants. Dr. Morell is surgeon superin-
tendent, and Miss Dant, matron, in charge of the single
women.

Besides the horses exported from this country to the
Continent, a large number of dogs appear to be annually
exported to France, and in the year 1874, according to Vice-
Consul Stigau'd's commercial report on Boulogne, lately
Issued, no fewer than 632 of these animals set their paws on
French soil at Boulogne during the year 1874, being im-
ported from England.
The addition of the title "Empress of India" to
that of "Queen of Great Britain and Ireland" I.e considered
in St. Petersburg political circles to be entirely warranted by
existing circumstances, and it is said that immediately after
the Royal proclamation shall have been promulgated official
expression will be given in Loudon to this view on the part of
ItUssia.
It is proposed to hold a large Dairy Convention at
Philadelphia, in October next, in connection with the Exhibi-
tion of Dairy Products, which will open about the 17th of that
month. The American Dairymen's Association proposes to
Make it an international convention, by inviting foreign
Invions interested in dairying to share in its deliberations.
A Times' telegram says that four magazines near
Salt Lake City, containing thirty tons of powder, exploded on
April 5, sending showers of boulders throughout the city,
some falling a mile distant. Three men were blown to atoms
while working in one magazine, also two boys who were in
the vicinity. Two persons were killed by falling boulders,
and one lady was frightened to death. Many persons were
injpred and several buildings damaged. Nearly every glass
window in the city was broken.

As many ladies have crimped and burned away their
front hair, all manner of devices are resorted to in order to
give the appearance of thick, abundant hair. False fronts,
called " scalpettes" have been introduced, which are made
of invisible hair net, in which luxuriant tresses of hair are
fastened. These scalpettes are worn quite low in front in
order to give the appearance of a low, broad forehead.—
Court Journal.
A. painting by B,embrandt, signed by him, dated
1858, and known as "La Doreur," was lately put up for sale in
Paris, and after sevenl biddiugs was purchased by Mr.
Wilson, a well known English collector of paintings, for
44 070. It was originally in the collection of the late Duke
de Morny, who had bought it fur £BO, and on the sale of his
effects was purchased by the Chevalier de Lissengen, of
Vienna, for £2,000.
A tine specimen of the Angler or Devil fish
(Lopsius piscatorius), a rare and most curious fish, was
caught off urignton on Saturday last, and at once taken to
the Aquarium where it is now to be seen alive in one of the
tanks. It is said this is the only specimen of the kind to be
seen alive in Europe.

By the Australian mail details have been received
of a disastrous hurricane which had passed over the North-
West Settlement in Exmouth Gulf it blew for upwards of
forty-eight hours, and did immense damage. Several
vessels were driven from their anchors on shore, and were
lost, with the greater portion of their crews. Altogether
sixty-one persons are stated to have perished.

A public meeting of the inhabitants of Southwark
was held on Monday night at the Bridge House Hotel, Mr.
Locke, M F, in the chair, at which a resolution was passed
deprtcating the unseemly haste manifested by the Govern-
ment in pushing on the Royal Titles Bill, and it was agreed
to petition the House of Commons in favour of the resolution
of Mr. Fawcett which stands for consideration after the
Easter recess.

The Duke of Buckingham has signalised his acces-
sion to office in Madras by the issue of an edict regulating
the dress to be worn by Hindoo and Mahometan gentleman
when they visit Government House. The most important
point insisted upon is, that the lower limbs should be care-
fully covered. Loose shawls are inadmissable, and boots or
shoes need not be worn ; but when they are worn, they must
be of black polished leather.
A further distribution is to be made to each of the 85
London hospitals and charities to whom bequests were made
by the late Lord Henry Seymour. Each has already received
£668., and will now obtain £l7 more. At some future time
another charitable fund answg out of the same estate will
become available for distribution.

A frightful accident occurred on Saturday at the
Fave-sham railway station, by which William eaylerson, one
et the engine-drivers, lost his life. It appears that he was
standing in the goods yard, near a pair of points which com-
municate with tee main line, talking to the foreman of the
locomotive department, and on the departure from the
station of the 8.45 pm. down train he stepped into the four-
feet way, when just at that moment another engine knocked
him down and ran over him, mutilating him in a frightful
manner. The poor man lived only a few minutes.
All Fool's Day in France is as great an occasion for
practical jokes as in England. To protect themselves from
unpleasant witticisms the Parisians send their friends pre-
sents of " poinsons d'Avril," made of pasteboard and filled
with bonbons. The pasteboard is beaten into pulp and
spread upon a mould in the shape of a fish. When dry the
fish is painted, and gilded or silvered, and the inside is tilled
with a linen or silk bag for sweets. Mere expensive kinds are
made in Chinese lacquer, in enamel or in silver, and are in-
tended to contain jewellery.—Court Journal.
Few deciduous 'shrubs (says the Gardeti) form more
charming hedges in early summer than lilacs. There is a
large orchard enclosed by one at Henham, a wire fence being
added as a safeguard, and most lovely it is when the lilacs
are in blossom. The only pruning required is thinning out
the longest straggling shoots annually, so as to keep the base
thickly furnished with young growth. Hedges of this kind
should not be clipped, as in that case most of the bloom
would be sacrifioed, and a stiff formal aspect imparted to
them which would rob them of half their beauty.
If ever there was a good excuse for not getting a
paper out in time it is that offered by the Spanish paper the
Star and Herald The editor says that the Government
troops were seeping up a continuous fire on the door of his
siting-room, aud halt-a-dozen shots did not vary three feet
in striking. "ro this annoyance," he says, "we must attri-
bute our delay in getting out this edition, for it is difficult
to perruade men to work under a steady and dangerous tire,
each one expecting the ' bullet !' "
On Saturday the London stage coaching season was
commenced by the first coach starting from Piccadilly and
running over Westminster-bridge, Kent-road, and Shooter's-
hill to sevenoaks and back. It carried a good load of passen-
gers either way. The driver was a well-known amateur.
The coaca is horsed by Earl Bective and Mr. Chaplin, and
on the 22nd i11E46. this coach will run to Tunbridge Wells,
Several other coaches will be put upon the road this month.
The proprietors of a New York paper offer the fol-
lowing advantages to all who subscribe to it To have their
hair cut free for a year, and the offer of free vaccination
every three months. Every subscriber who pays three years
in advance will be entitled to a coffin, free of charge at hi
death, or in lieu of that article his heirs may have six silver
spoons.
The Sanitary Record remarks on the distaste shown
by the working classes to water as a beverage, and states tha
at an adult school when the pupils were asked what water
was for, the answer was "to give to *horses," another "to
slack lime with." The application of water to quench the
thirst of human beings did not seem to be known to the
rising youth educated at the school in question.
A Bill to amend the laws relating to game in Scot-
land, brought in by Lord Eicho and Sir Graham Montgomery,
proposes to enact that a tenant in occupation may kit' hares
as well% m a
ya sarpapbobiintts
ea
pi lerlros
person
ei
or rkill beadr
et os tate
reaubtbai
tlsi c e
e,
Bill provides that a tenant may recover compensation
from his lessor, m tlio.n.riff court, for damage ty increase
of game.
A Initeteepr,oxnesst 7oef
before the tiliwepeCmetocd
th artificial
inz Fisheries,stth eso
oyster
witness
i
culture in Fiance, and had tri-d expel itnents himsclf
ntsheasiogdf England. 111 one pond he laid down 50. 00.)
oysters. they spatted in July, 1836, arid the experim, nt Was
generally so successful that he was induced to repeat is on a
larger scale. The only requisites were to have a pond a
certain tize, with a certain depth of water arid sufficieut
stock They might then confidently depend upon obtaining
a spat every year. The money expended is stock did riot
exceed 13a,e00 or £3,000; the cost of tiles was hot more than
£3OO or £3OO.
The musical arrangements on the occasion of the
landing of the Prince of Wales at Portsmouth are to he very
imposing. Sir Jules Benedict hive written a national SJg
with chorus, entitled "Welcome Home which will be et:
formed under the leadership of the distinguiehedwreiotmtetope3exri
the
Bhthnoeaet
ne
composer,brd
vocaliststur
himself. A Grand March "Hail to our Prince,''
r.
is
lm
e ta,
eta,
ttibnehydriew,
,mcaftrouili,
bdP
ert tc' oirrYf
ocf
rof
nirt
etll.lde :11,1°oney ei
tea
er
du); each:A:et.
oitt!ruljnal eoor
(eircetki e;atrdra.forAth7a:cieoounis
moor
tary bands.
Comparing tbe budgets of England, France, end
trrhauscsiawhuforetthheeyperarualsiB,7ns,
lithie Ju
nhoterrnanfl.FdinesaTaatsn
announces
e an
n
eprlncessnsfotihreerE,,gehuase ohrebrudegzeptenwdaltsuzreno,o
to be
~vtahnenesuirn-1.4
1.4 Th 3 [56;
Prussia, for a Population numbering on the lit of December,
1871; 24,806,157 persons, .was R.V,204,641, or rather more
than £1 Bs. per head. In England the revenue, for a total
population oi 31,876,834, was £77,131,693, or a ti ifie more than
£2 is. per head. The revenue of France for the same period
was, for a populatisn numbering (in 1872) 36,102,021 persons,
£107,720,000, or within a few pence of £3 per head. As the
accounts for the French budget for 1875 are not yet definitely
closed, the amount of the surplus cannot be stated with pre-
cision, bu tit is estimated at £2,880,000.

At a Spelling Bee, held at Oxford, printers were not
allowed to compete, as it was considered "other classes had
not a fair chance with them."

The t•allot papers upei at the last General Election
weighed upwards of five tons; they were kept for a year at
he office of the Clerk to the Crown, and then reduced to pulp.
Four hundred Italian emigrants have passed through
Paris on their way to Havre, where they will embark for
America.

At a public meeting which has just been held in
Calcutta it was resolved to erect a statue to Lord Northbrook
and to present him with a farewell address.

The Alliance News says over four thousand signa-
tures have now been obtained to the clerical memorial to the
archbishops and bishops on intemperance. It is intended to
invite the remaining 16,000 clergymen of the Church of
England in this country to add their names to it.
Here is a soliloquy of a Parisian inebriate, ad.
dressed to his hat, which had fallen off. It was overheard
one night on the Boulevards: "If I pick you up, I 1.11 ; if I
fall you will not pick use up—then I leave you :" and he
staggered proudly away.

The labourtre on the estate of the Right Hon. the
Speaker of tne House of Commons. at Glynde, have struck
for an increase of 2s. per week in their wages. The men do
not belong to the union Au increase has also been de-
manded by the men on other farms.
The German Euaperor has forwarded, through
Count Munster, to the Rev. James Davis, Secretary of the
Evangelical Alliance, His Majesty's portrait, bearing an auto-
graph signature, with the expression of Big Majesty's
favour and also interest in that society.

General -Billow, the Danish Ambassador at the
court of St. James's, celebrated his silver wedding on the
31Ito ult., with great festivities at the estate of Gaunii, be-
10.iging to his son.iu-law, Baron de Reedtz- l'hoth.
As a labourer named Hayward was engaged in
oiling the driving gear in the armour-plate shop in Ports-
mouth Dockyard his clothes caught in the band, and he was
whirled round and instantly killed.

Nearly all the Dutch publishers have united in
securing space for the representation of their new books at
the Philadelphia Exhibition; a room fitted up with several
handsome bookcases has been secured and herein will ,
displayed some three thousand articles. The best school
books, periodicals and daily papers will be included.
Valetta was illuminated on the occasion of
Prince of Wales's visit to Malta. Along the bastions of the
fortifications troops stood with coloured liehts. The ships
of war and boats in the harbour were also illuminated, and
nothing like the display is said to have been ever seen be-
fore in Malta.

Her Majesty's ship Inflexible is to be launched at
Portsmouth on Thursday, the 27th inst. The ceremony of
christening will be performed by Plincess Louise, and notice
has been given that -a limited number of tickets will be
issued to members of both Houses of Parliament on appli-
cation.

The number of newspapers and other periodical.
published in the Austrian Empire during the past year was
810, of whith 279 were political jougpials. Out of the total
number of publications, 644 were in "the German, 108 in the
Czech, 67 in the Italian, 47 in the-Polish, 18 in the Slav, 11
in the Hebrew, 8 in the Ruthenian, 4 M the Illyrian, Sin the
Servian, and 2 each in the French and the Greek lan-
guages.

The Princess of Wales, with her children, accom-
panied by bliss Knollys and General Knollys, have ridden
and driven daily in Sandringham Park, and in the neigh-
bourhood, during the past week.—On Sunday morning they
attended at Sandringham parish church, where service was
conducted by the Rev. W. Lake °aglow, MA, rector of
Sandringham, and private chaplain to the Prince and
Princess of Wales.

Mr. W. H. Melvill, solicitor to the Board a! In.
land Revenue, was further examined zila House of
Commons select committee on the railway passenger duty,
to whom he presented elaborate statistics regarding that
tax. He stated thit the railway companies had marked for
exemption from duty trains which did not directly come
within the legislation of 1844. The Board of Trade fell into
the error and allowed the exemption, and that error had re-
sulted in a loss to the National Exchequer of at least five
millions sterling •
Rewards amounting to £313 have been granted by
the Royal National Lifeboat Institution to the crews of life-
boats for services rendered during the severe storms of the
past month, in which period they had saved 84 lives from
different wrecks, besides assisting to save three vessels from
destruction. Payments amounting to £4,060 were made on
the 254 lifeboat establishments of the institution. The re-
ceipt of various contributions and legacies was announoed,
including £4OO from the Loyal Order of Ancient Shepherds,
in aid of the coat of a lifeboat, to be named the "Good
Shepherd."

Mr. Cave gives some interesting information about
land and labour in Egypt. "The tenure of land (he says)
varies. All land theoretically belongs to the State, as in
feudal times in Europe, and similarly large estates were
parcelled among the conquering races, and charged only
with a fixed quit-rent called the dime or onchur. The re-
mainder of the land is held from the State by communities
or individuals on pajment of a tax called karadj, which is
really a rent, and which was variable, and might at any time
be augmented at the will of the Gnvernment. This land
could not originally be leased, alienated, or devised, but
relapsed to the State at each termination of ownership.
More liberal and humane laws hive been enacted by the
present ruler, and the land passes as easily as copyhold in
England. _ _ _

41. Luz,ss meeting has been held at San Francisco in
opposition to the Chinese immigrants. About 10,000 people
attended in Union Ball and the street in front, where auxi-
liary meetings were held. Govtruor Irvin, of California, pre-
sided in the halL Resolutions were adopted declaring the
evils flowing from Chinese immigration, and urging that, as
local measures of relief are exhausted, the only course re-
maining is to appeal to the Treaty-making Power, declaring
that a delegation should be sent to Washington to present
the question to the Government urging immediate action.
Several leading Californians spoke counselling moderation
and conservative action and the policy of granting full pro-
tection to the Chinese now in the country, and earnestly
deprecating violent proceedings. The meeting was orderly,
but ample police preparations had been made to prevent any
riotous outbreak. A cordon of police was drawn round the
Chinese quarters of the city, its ichabltants, under the ad-
vice of their leaders, remaining there. Much alarm had been
excited among the Chinese population, and extensive pur-
chases of weapons had been made by them in view of the
anticipated trouble; but the city remained quiet all night.