The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-04-22 00:00:00

HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

EMIGRATION PROM LIVERPOOL.—During the
month of Mar+ the number of emigrants leaving the
Mersey was 4,315. which is an incrgase over the month
of February of 1,732. Of these 29 ships went to the
United States with 3,490; of whom 2,133 were Engligh,
16 Scotch, 375 Irish, and 966 foreigners; and to Vic-
toria, one ship, with 100. Not under the Act,
there sailed nine to the United States with
371; of whom 280 were English, 61 Irish, 28 foreigners,
and two nationality not given. To Nova Scotia three,
with 89; 81 being English, three Scotch, sod five
foreigners. To Victoria one, with 46; 24 Englieh,
seven Scotch, and nine Irish. And to other ports, 21
ships, with 223.

G ARDIS SING OPERLTIONS. —A gentleman writes
to the papers to may that "Where the euealyptus will
not grow, the neighbourhood might be improved by
the planang of vigorous hardy conifers and other ever-
green trees." This information will be found useful by
persons whose gardens are at least twenty feet square.
A few oaks, cedars, and so or, might also be kept in
pots on the window ledges.—.72l4.
RELIGION IN THE gavy.—A parliamentary
return of "the religious persuasions of the seamen of
the Royal Navy, and aLio of the Royal Marines,"
states that of the seamen. 22,816 belong to the Chureh
of Eneland ; 1,150 are Presbyterians ; 2,675 belong to
other Protestant denominations; and 3,866 are Roman
Catholics. The religious classification of the Marine',
is as follows :—Church of England, 9,545; Presbr•
terians, 462; other Protestants, 1,295; Roman
Catholics, 936. The return also gives the number of
chaplains employed on her Majesty's ships, with thei
pay and allowances, and a list of ministers of every
denomination employed in the home ports, on foreign
stations, and among the coastguard men.
AN ExiaNsiv.s GRAZIER.—The mostextensive
cattle raiser in America, if not in the world, is J. W.
Hifi, of Northern Colorado, *hose ranch is 156 mile3l
long, beginning at Julesburg on tke east and eitendiegl
-to Greely on the west. He cuts no hay for his cattle. i
They live the entire year on the rich native grass. and ;
,the percentage of loss is small. He now ownslB,oool
head of cattle, and will have this number after his
sales for the present year are completed. The number
of calves branded this year will be about 5,000 head,
and his sales of three and four year old steers and fat
cows will be about the same. He expects to realise
43 dollars per head, net, on his sales this year, or, in
the aggregate, about 200,000 dollars.
THE BEST DOG STORY YET. —The Portland
(STo.) Press tells it thus: —" Yesterday, as the morning
train over the Rochester Road was nearing Alfred, the
engineer discovered a large Newfoundland dog on the
track. He blew the whistle, but the dog stood his
ground, and, thinking something was wrong, the engi-
neer whistled down brakes, and the engine stopped
within a few feet of the dog. It seems that a four-ox
load of logs had attempted to cross the track, but the
sled caught on the rails. The driver heard the train
approaching round a curve, and rushed, down the track
to stop it. His dog took in the situation, and dashed
around the curve and stopped the train. It would
have been impossible to stop the train after seeing the.
man."

TKE SPEAKER ON PUBLIC) OPINION. —The
Right Hon. the Speaker of the House of Commons was
present the other night at a conversaione at the Me-
chanics' Institute at Wisbeach. In addressing the com-
pany, he alluded to the great powers of the present day—
not the great military powers, hut those of public opinion,
the press, the steam engine, railways, telegraphs, wealth,
knowledge, and religion. Referring to the power of
public opinion, Mr. Brand spoke of she Reform Act of
1832 as a transfer of power from the Crown and the
groat families to the people, and he remarked that it
took place without any violence whatever. It was a
change of a very extraordinary kind, and it was re-
markable that, while the influence of the Crown,
which was derived from prerogative, patronage, and
power, was very much weakened, yet he ventured to
say that at the present day the authority of the
Crown is as great as it was in the days of the Georges;
but its influence is not now due to prerogative, patron-
age, or power, but to the constitutional character of
our Sovereign and to the personal respect which her
subjects feel towards her as a mother and as an exam-
ple to the whole nation. The right hon. gentleman
then alluded to the Reform Act of 1867 and to the
growth of public opinion -which led to and followed
that measure.

THE USE OF WATER.—The Sanitary Record
remarks on the distaste shown by the working classes
to water as a beverage, and states that an adult
school when the pupils were asked what water was
for, the answer was "to give to horses," another,
"to Flake lime with." The application of water to
quench the thirst of 'human beiog's (lid not seem to be
known to the rising youth educated at the schaol• in
question.. The Sanitary Record however, attributes
this distaste to water to the had quality of the fluid
supplied under that name to the poorer classes, and
the, additional impurities it absorbs from the very
deficient method of storage in water butts and defec-
tive cisterns.
BURIED WITH HIS HAT 0/.7.—The Raleigh
( S.C. ) News says :—" Paschal Loyd, an aged tens.ut
on Wiley J. ,Thnes's farm, near the died the other
day. He was 73 years of age. His dying request was
that he should be buried in the shoes he wore every
day, with his every-day hat on, and his walking cane
to be placed in his coffin. It was done as he requested.
He also asked that the lid of the coffin should not be
screwed on tight. His hickory stick, with a buckhorn
handle, was placed in his coffin, and at the grave his
friends unscrewed the coffin, and lowered him down,
hat, shoes, stick, and all.
MARRIAGES AND BIRTHS IN GERMANY.—From
the official report we notice (says the London Medical
Record), that there were 416,048 marriages of which
252,567 were in Prussia. There were 1,715:132 births,
of which 882,945 were males, and 832,186 females;
one, sex undetermined. Of these 67,165 were still-
born. Among the infants b,rn alive 1,498,283 were
legitimate, and 170,097 illegitimate—a proportion of 1
in 10. There was a greater number of still-born
children among the illegitimate—viz, 59,337, while
there were only 7,827 among the le; itimate, or 13 per
cent. The total number of deaths during the year
was 1.241,120, of which 647,206 were male, and
593,193 females. The number of births exceeded the'
deaths by 474,012.

THE PLAHUE. —The Levant Herald of the
sth inst. says :—The plague is still in missing at
liillah and Bagdad, though it has net up to the pre-
sent, apparently, spread to any other town. The
following are the latest official returns :—At Hillah,
from the 20th to the 26th ult., seventy-six persons were
attacked and there were thirty-four deaths. The
greatest number of cases in one day at Hillah was re
gistered on the 26th, when twenty persons were
attacked, and the greatest number of deaths occurred
on the 23rd, when twelve persons died. At Bagdad,
from the 21st to the 27th ult. inclusive, there were 119
cases and forty-five deaths; the maximum of cases
(thirty) was attained on the 26th, and the maximum
of deaths (ten per day) on the 23rd and 27th nit.

CHEEK.— (The regiment is about to" march
out" with twenty rounds of "blank cartridge.")
Suh.Lieutenant (of twenty-four hours' service).
"Whereabouts is this pyrotechnic display of yours
comieg off, Colonel I ?" Punch,
CELEBRATED SHOEMAKRRS.—A well, to
shoemaker of Bremen recently conceived the idea of
having the front of his house decorated with life-sizee
statues of the three most celebrated shoemakers in
German history (says the Academy). The first of these
was the holy St. Crispin, the petrel' of the shoemakets'
craft; the second was the brave Hans von Segal?,
who, in 1370, turned the tide of the great battle of the
German orders against the heathen Lithuanians by
bearing'the Imperial standard right into the midst of
the enemy; and the third was Hans Sulu, the well.
known shoemaker bard. The figures of these nota-
bilities have been executed with considerable skill by
Herr Kropp, a sculptor of Bremen, and are said to be
very characteristic werks.
IMPORTATION OF BRICKS FROM JAPAN.—The
threatened disturbance in the building trade owing to
the scarcity of bricks appears likely to be speedily
obviated (says the Daily News). For some time past
bricks have been exported from Japan to America, but
owing to a duty of 20 per cent, being charged the
trade has been limited. Last week a cargo of bricks
of Japanese manufacture were placed as an experi-
ment on the London market, the result being that the
cargo was instantly bought up, and large orders for
future pupplies were given by several leading contrac-
tors and West end builders. The bricks, which can
according to pleasure be made of any shape, size, or
colour, are said to be considerably harder than those
of home production, whilst for ornamental fAcings pat-
terns of every description are manufactured. As
these bricks are admitted duty free, and as German
and Belgian ready-made sashes, moulding', doors, &c ,
are being largely used here, the building trade bids fair
to be almost revolutionised. It is stated that this first
venture was at the instigation of one of the young
Japanese sent over by
,thei.Mikado to be educateld in
this country at the elpeiute -of his Government.
EDITORS AND PRINTERS.—An. American re-
porter says :—Working for forty editors and scores of
authors, every one of whom is as sensitive as a sore
thumb, and as lively and interesting as a hornet, no
wonder that printers die young, and only pachyderma-
tous grizzy, mulish specimens get their share of life. The
writer wishes he could offer himself as an awful
example of the penis which environ the man who
meddles with cold—type. A thoroughly trained printer
should have had a stepmother, and then a stepfather,
and then have been bound out to a tanner, and then
have married a scolding wife, and lived in a smoky
house, and have had a family of habits who were
afflicted with the colic. He should have added to all
this discipline a thorough knowledge of science, art, ,
law languages, theology, history, and bioerapby. If,
in addition' he ham 'a vicious-looking countenance and
an areiabledisposition, he may stand some chance with
theze authors and editors; but the probabilities are,
'after all, that they will worry him to death.' •
PATRIOTIC IF YOU LIKE I—What Mr. Punch
:aeishee the whole of the Royal Family—Many Happy
Returns :—Punch.
' . LONDONERS ENJOYING THEMSELVES. —Not-
withstanding the dullness of the weather on Monday,
the number of holielay makers in all directions was
, •
pamenee. Thousand went into tbb country by 6x-
-Icursion trains, to the dates side, and by the ordinary
:trains to various places near London. The
.tratn cam
"pmnibuses, and .river steamboats Were filled, and all
Ithe parks and open spaces in the suburbs were thronged.
'.-011 Hampstead-heath, for instance, it is estimated.;
that theme were from 30,000 to= 40,000 persons; and
"about 30,000 went to Evp,ng Forest to ffee the anunab
Ittag.hunte • At the Crystal Palace the nunaber of
visitors is said to have been:about:l2:ooo larger than on
any previons Easter Muni ay, over to,ooo'persone hav-
tWg,entereid the building during the (ley. Over 66,000 ,
perponnwent to the Alexandra 'Palace, 36,639 to the I
Zoological Gardene,:l3,3B4 to the Britiot Museum,
and 2,600 to the. Tower. St. J344111'8, Westminster
Abbey, the Houses Of Parliament, and other public
institutions were also visited by large numbers of
sightseers. Nearly 10,900 persons passed through the
turnstiles at the Brighton Aquarium during the day,
_

.tlFt

i•Sailos) thtt

_
THE SELL FISHING. —A telegram from Cap-
tain Adams, of the Antic, of Dundee, who proceeded
to the Newfoundland seal fishing, announces his corn-
parative success. He has got 45 tons of oil, but unfor-
tunately he had to return home, his propeller having
been broken. Captain Adams, so long favourably
known in connection with the Greenland seal fishing,
decided this year to abandon that ground in conse-
quence of the scarcity of fish. There is, however,
001 i news this year from the Greenland fishing, and a
Norwegian ves- el, the Harold Harfager, is expected
immediately with a considerable cargo.

THE STRAY Duos OF PARIS.—AII stray dogs
in Paris are tak..n to the Prefecture of Police' where
they are examined and divided into lots according to
their value. Those of a high breed are well cared for,
as it is known that the owners will soon appear and
pay handpome, v for their hoard and lodging. Thnse of
a good breed, but less valuable, are also treated' hand-
Fomely, as at the s.le which takes piace weekly they
will fetch a good price; but the worthless curs, which
constitute *he largest portion, are taken to the Fourriere,
or Municipal Pound, where they are left without any
food for two days, and are then, if unclaimed, or if
they do not die in the meantime of hunger, hung up by
hooks fastened in their throats and tortured in the
cruelest manner.

SAD ACCIDENT AT THE ISLE OF MAN.—TWO
young men named Yermode and Rudd were walking
along the cliffs at the Abbey Sands of Lonan on Satur-
day, when the former missed his footing and fell into
the sea. Rudd went to his assistance, brought him
ashore, and finding that his leg was broken, he put him
In a place of safety in the rocks, while he went for
medical aid. Rudd, in ascending, also slipped and
fell,"sustaining such injuries as to cause death. The
injured youth Kermode, with great pain and difficulty,
managed to draw himself up the cliff and crawled to a
farmhouse, which he reached about midnight.
A Roves or COMMONS CHICICR.—No persons
understand bow to cheer like the country gentlemen.
A cheer in the House of Commons means the rapid
pronunciation of " Hear " so peculiar that the stress is
laid noon the latter part of the wori, and the sound,
as it thickens by the multiplication of voices very
nearly resembles " Yah, yah, yah, yah, yah A
deafening shout of " Yah, yob, yah 1" is raised as a
' song of triumph over the opposite side of the House;
and when it begins to subside, again the country gen-
tlemen burst forth in full cry, " Yah, yah, yah 1"
; Etymologically, indeed, the Yah, yah," of the
present day is identical with the "Yea, yea" of olden
times and with the "0 yea, 0 yes "which may still be
heard in the courts of justice. Only the modern cry
has a singular, pugnacious, insulting sound, and when
" Yah, yah" comes in full chorus from the throats of
innumerable men, whose business it is to cultivate
their lunge, great ix the excitement and noises.
EIBASTER 'OLIDAYS.— Ist Gent. If I was agoin'
to Brighton, I'd wear an 'igh 'at.-2ud Ditto. A
irentleman is known by 'is haddress, not by 'is 'at.—
Judy.
THE HAT OF THE PERIOD !—The Court
ournal remarks—" You meet a remarkably modest
nd timid appearing young lady to-day, and you notice
that her hat has a meek and shrinking indentation in
the crown. It looks as if it wanted to shun the wicked
world and hang itself up in a nunnery. To-morrow
you meet the same lady, and what a change! She
' appears as a daring Joan of Arc, and as independent
as the president of a woman's congress. And her
whole appearance is thus altered by pinning up the
front of that hat.—Next day she appears like a
brigand. The brim is flattened out and her
eyes gleam furiously from underneath, as if
watching an opportunity to order you to stand
and deliver. You see her again, and the rim,
turned up behind, while it is very flat in front,
giving her the appearance of a female Solon Shingle
trying to find a customer for that bar'l of apple sass.'
Again, and it is pitched on the extreme back of the
head, reminding you of Toedles in his cups, when he
is assuring the sailor man' that when his father
heard of the sailor man's death, 'he went broken-
hearted to his grave, and died there.' With all these
advantages it is no wonder that the reigning hat is
popular. It is comfortable to the head—so they say—
and it is an ornameut or a disguise, as required. It is
demure, jaunty, meek, saucy, bold, sly, obstinate, con-
ciliating, tender—whatever you please—everything by
turns and nothing long. It is the hat of the period,
cunning and deceitful, but above all things desperately
wicked.
A DURABLE 'WOOD.—A paper printed in
Austin, Texas, says :—" The bois a'arc is a native of
Texas and the most durable wood in *he world,
whether it is used under ground, on top of ground, or
under water. No one has ever seen a rotten piece of
boii d'arc, Stakes and old landmarks have been seen,
which, on being pulled up, were found to he just as
fresh as when first driven down. There is no kind of
doubt but that it is superior, in point of durability, to
any other timber: For waggon S and buggies, it is
superior to any other 'carriage timber' known. It
- neither shrinks nOr swells from expoeure to heat, wet,
and cold."
HEALTH AND RENT. —Mr. *North, in a recent
report to the urban sanitary authority of York,
shrewdly remarks in the Sanitary Record :
"People ought to know, and in time will learn, that whole
some houses are the most profitable to their owners. Apart
from the question of cosla which sickness entrdls on the COM.
munity (for every sickness is a loss to the country, if not in
the form of poor-rates, in the diminution of profitable
industry), people do not like to leave comfortable houses,
and for this reason rents are more secure. But men do 'lilt '
incessantly from unwholesome ones, and I suspect much rent
is forgotten in their migrations."
RESPARCHES ON THE SECRETION OF HONEY.
—Dr. Reicheneau has been engaged in an inquiry as
to whether honey and other industrial products of the
bees are obtainelirectly from the food of the insects,
or are products e,7aborated by the organism. He has
not completed his research, but, as of three albutui-
noid, nitrogenous substances found in the honey, one,
coagulable by beat. does not occur in the juice of the
flower., he infers that it is a true secretion by the bee,
which becomes mixed with the nectar. Honey is,
therefore, strictly a nitrogenous body,,and not simply
a carbo-hydrate. In purified beeswax nitrogen was
found to the extent of 0'597 per cent.

TERRIFIC EXPLOSION. —The New York papers
of April 6 furnish particulars of the fearful explosion
on the previous day of thirty-two tons of gunpowder,
deposited in four magazines cn Arsenal-hill, Salt Lake
City. The shock in the city was so fearful that
people ran out ot their houses, horses took fright, and
many buildings sustained damage. Gigantic stones
were hurled through the city, one of which killed on
the spot a woman upon whom it fell, and many other
persons were injured. One lady was so terror-stricken
that she dropped down dead. The men who were
at work near the magazines have wholly disappeared,
with the exception of two or three. The supposed
cause of the disaster is that two boys who were out
fowl shooting fired one of their guns into the magazine
either for frolic or in ignorance. The remains of one
of the boys were found near the arsenal.
THE WORK OF THE SESSION.-14 to the
present time 127 public Bill. have been introduced
in the House of Commons, all of which originated in
the Lower House, with the exception of toe Appellate
Jurisdiction, Crossed Cheques, aud Patents for Inven-
tions Bills, which have been passed by the Lords and
are in the House of Comsnons. Thirty-seven of these
are Government measures, of which eleven (out of 13
which have received the Royal Assent) have become
law. Five other Bills have passed the Commons and
gone to the Lords, where two—the Royal Titles Bill
and the Drainage of Lands (Ireland) Provisional
Orders Bill—have passed, and the rest have been read
a first time. Two others, after being amended in the
Upper House, have been agreed to by the Commons.
Seven Bills have been put off for six months," five
Withdrawn, and two droPped.. 'Of the remainder, only
ten have.Pasifed a second reading,'aild of these but six
are 'actually -in Cunimittee. One is 'down foX third
reading:en the 26th inst. The 'House of Lords has
been principally occupied in considering private Bills.
no public measures beyond those Mentioned • above jsu
having as yet engaged the attention of the Peers.

A HIGHLY MORAL HORSE.—The Boston
Traveller says :--" Mr. Ezra Tirrell, an aged resident
of Weymouth, has for many years been a eonetant
attendant on Sabbatn services at the Old North
Church in that place. He owns a horse of unex-
ceptionable moral character, which, though not ;
laying claim to as great an age as his possessor, still All
Is venerable with the weight of years. This horse
has carried his owner and family to church so many ."
times that he appears to have been thoroughly -
indoctrinated into the orthodox custom of church-
going, and also seems to recognise the proper day and
time for slice journeys. Several Sabbaths since, as
the family were not in usual health, Old Roan was
given a leisure day, but when the bells for meeting
began to ring, true to his principles, or doing honour
to his training, he started off alone, called a moment
at a neighbouring house, where his master usually took
in another passenger, and prooeeded on h's way to
church. He took his accustomed stand there, stayed
during the service, and was escorted home, at the
clvse, by one of his obliging neighbours, apparently
well satisfied with duty performed."
THE INCOME TAX.—" A Clerk to Property
Tax Commissioners" writes to The Times : `Che
following table will illustrate the effect of the pro-
poe.ed alteration by the Chancellor of the Exchequer
en those having incomes of £4OO and those having
incomes under that amount, incomes under £l5O
being wholly exempt :
Future tax At Dowses' and
Present tax 3d. £l2O abated. Increase sx sm pti ons
Income. thereon at Id. sub. £4OO. on 3d. on 3d.
0. s. d. £ a. d. £ a. d.
400 .. 3 6 8 .. 5 0 0 .. 113 4 ..
399 3 6 6 .. 3 9 9 .. 0 2 3 ..
300 .. 210 0 .. 2 5 0
150 .. 011 8 0 7 6
149 .. 011 6 .. Nil.

I

.. 0 5 0
.. 011 6

1,393 .. 10 6 4 .. 11 2 3 .. 116 7 .. 1 0 8

WATER-CRESS.—In the vegetable kingdom
there are several substances that possess tl.o double • ,!t
quality of food and medicine, - and as such might be '
I,i,efully employed in therapeutics (says the British
ltlecitcal Journal). Among the vegetables that possess
the valuaole property referred to water-cress may be -
mentioned. According to an analysis by M. Chatin,
Director of the School .of Pharmacy of Paris, and
„presept President of the Academy of ' Medicine,
water-cress contains : 1, a sulpho-nitrogenous essential
oil ; 2, a bitter extract; 3, iodine; 4, 'iron ; 5, phos.
phates, water, and some other salts. As medicine the,: • •
water-cress has been vaunted.. for its et:hi:any in all
cases in 'Which the digestive organs are weak, in
• oichexia, in scurvy, in scrofula and lymPhatisml, • •
it - has even been prescribed as a' '.bure for -
phthisis. ,The medicinal principles Which
"contaii.s .are • more or '''.less • .gbumizint accordlitaf_.,
to the culture or maturity of the plant. *Thus
when the plant is in flower they are in greater quan- 4i•-• °'" 4
tity in the plant than before that condition; the essen. (4:sse
tial oil increases according to the quantity of the sun's. -
lays it receives. The proper culture of the plant
develops in it the hitter and tonic principles, and the •
phosphates will,be forma In proportion to the manure
emplo3 ed. Finally, the quantity of iron will depend •
upon the richuesB of • the-water in which the cress is
planted. its too.l water-cress ought to be used in its : Al
green or uncooked state, in the form of salad or with. ,•
out any seasoning. Water-cress enters largely into •'•
the composition of the "sirop antiscorbutique" of the
French Pharmecopceia, which is commonly preseribed
In scrofulous and soorbutic affections.

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