The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-11-30 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN

A landowner, writing on the labourers' strike in
Kent, says :—As to landlords lowering rents, a good many of
us have no rents to lower; we oannot get tenants, let alone
rents. _ .

Reports are current in the London clubs that an
early dissolution of Parliamtnt is exceedingly probable.
There were 278 divisions in the late session of
Parliament.

It is stated that Mr. Coxwell, the celebrated aero-
naut, is preparing six large balloons tor military purpose&

- - -
The following is a- brief conversation between a
German and a countryman, who had been inquiring for a
friend at the next house :—German: "Nein, Chane's nod ad
home. Visitor " Where is she'?" German "She's gone der
cemetery down." Visitor: "When will she come back?"
German "Oh, she von't.come h9.ck already any more ; she's
gone to stay—she's det.—Pictorica World.
Sir Willi.= Robinson, Governor of the Straits Set-
tlements, is about to visit Bankok to invest the King of Siam,
in person, with the insignia of the order of St. Michael and
St. George.

- -
A singular accident happened the other evening to a
passenger train from Leeds to Bradford. At the mouth of
Thackley Tunnel it was passed by a goods train, from which
something was projected which struck the engine, and after-
wards grazed seven out of the nine cgrriages breaking the
windows and doing other damage. Fortunately, none of the
passengers were hurt. There was a dense fog Ot the time.
At a public meeting at Birmingham on Tuesday
night, addressed by Mr. Chamberlain, a resolution was
parsed that the foreign policy of the Government had been
hostile to the interests of freedom at home and abroad, had
paralysed trade, had weakened the resources of the nation,
and added to the burden of the people. The meeting also
condemned the polizy of the Government in relation to
Afghanistan, believing. that no sufficient grounds had been
advanced for war, and war ought not to have been com-
menced without the sanction of Parliament.

On Tuesday, Southport was enveloped in one of the
most dense fogs which has visited the coast for a long tine
past. An the trains from Manchester, Liverpool, and Pres-
ton were upwards of an hour late, and the greatest caution
had to be used, as it was impossible to see the signals at
more than a few yards' distance. The Southport streets
are intersected with, leyel crosaings,.'`and the ofticiala took
protatittolis to use fog-signals to annouffee the approach of
the tube.

75,77-7-7, :""""

The far-famed showman, P. T. Barnum, has been
re-sleeted a member-of the Cnnnectient Legislature,
The King of Burmah has married, in accordance
with*the custom of the country, his own half-sister.

A telegram from Sydney say's that an extensive
strike has broken out there amongst the seamen, who pro-
test against the employment of Chinese on board ship.
The average price of wheat last week was 41s. 2d.
per quarter. The average price during the corresponding
week last year was 51s. sd.

The Town Council of Cannes and several of the
leading inhabitants of that pleasant little town, mindful of
the fact that Lord Brougham made it his winter residence
for the last twenty years of his life, and greatly exerted him-
self to improve the town, have determined to pay a tribute
to the memory of that great Englishman. They have de-
cided that flte,s, to last six days, shall be celebrated there in
April next to commemorate the centenary of his birth.
Much distress exists at Barrow at present owing to
the depression in trade, and the Mayor has called a meeting
with a view of promoting a scheme to afford relief.
An order has been issued for the introduction into
the Prussian army of a new kind of drum, with metal
drumsticks, invented by Herr Bertram, of Rendsburg.

Some idea oL the distress which exists in the neigh-
bourhood of Wigan may be formt d from a statement made
at the last meeting of the poor-law guardians for that dis-
trict. The expenditure for the last half-year was £2,344 more
than in the corresponding six months of the past year. In
outdoor relief there was an excess of £7OO, an increase of
nearly 20 per cent. The members said this was to be
accounted for by the state of trade.

It has been decided to build a memorial church at
Plumstead, on a site overlookiag a spot where the Princess
Alice was lost and also to erect a national memorial on
Plumatead Common, opposite Tripcock Point, as a warning
to navigators and as a landmark.
The goods station of the Nicholas Railway at Mos-
cow is being fitted with arrangements for illuminating the
place with the Jablochkoff light. Hitherto the building has
been lighted by petroleum, costing the company 25,000
roubles per annum.

Majo-r.General Edward Trevor, formerly of the
Royal Artillery, and one of the few remaining Waterloo
°facers, died at Plymouth on the 22nd inst., in his 88th year.
The deceased obtained his commission as second lieutenant
in the Royal Regiment of Artillery June 4, 1810, and first
lieutenant December 17, 1818. He served in the campaign of
1814 in Holland, and that of 1816 in Flanders and France,
and was present at the battle of Waterloo and captures of
Cambray and Paris. He became captain in 1832, major in
1846, lieut..colonel 1854, colonel 1868, and major-general in
1861.

The population of India, according to the last census
or to estimates, is stated approximately as follows :-
191,018,412 under British admtnistration ; 48,298,895 in
native States; 271,480 in Pondicherry, Karikal, and other
French possessions; 407,712 in Goa and other Portuguese
possessions—making a total of 239,998,47 souls.

"The proverbial wit of the Irish jarvey is often-
times mixed with an undercurrent of stern reality that is as
touching-as it is eloquent. Driving through Backville-street,
Dublin, the other day on an outside car, the wretched ap-
pearance of the horse suddenly struck me. I said rat,
you ought to be taken up for cruelty to animals, driving
such an old screw as that." Be gor, sur, was the quick
reply, 'if I didn't dhrive that, I'd be taken up for a cruelty
to a wife and six childhren.' "—The World.

The New Caledonia convicts at the end of 1876, ac-
cording to a return just published, numbers 8,664, of whom
2,766 were Catholics, 311 Protestants, 22 Jews, 89 Blahome-
dans, and 366 Idolaters (sic). One hundred and seventy
had their punishment remitted on condition of not leaving
the colony. There had been 219 deaths and 16 escapes.—
Paris Correspondent of Tl 4 Times.

According to latest American accounts, the yellow
fever epidemic in the South has cost 176,000,000 dollars, and
is likely to cost a great deal more.
Sir John Eardley Wilmot, member for South War-
wickshire, presiding at a school prize distribution on Mon-
day night, expressed his firm conviction that education not
based upon religion and the Bible was worthless. He was,
therefore, delighted to find that the Bible was being taught
without sectarian difference. He also expressed gratifica-
tion that the girls were being practically taught cookery.
Mr. J. Beer, chief accountant at Devonport Dock-
yard, died on Sunday night. On Friday he dined with Rear-
Admiral Wiles, superintendent of Devonport Dockyard, and
shortly after dinner became unwell, and was obliged to re-
turn home. A surgeon was sent for, and he discovered that
Mr. Beer was suffering from acute bronchitis and congestion
of the brain, from which he rapidly sank.

There was an exhibition of the electric light in the
Dean Park Cricket Ground, Bournemouth, on Monday night.
The light was that known as Jablochkoff's, and the machine
used was filemen's. Four lights were placed in a kind of
quadrilateral on the ground, and some capital bicycle races
and other sports took place. There were several thousand
people present.
A goods train on the London and South Western
Railway, from Plymouth, when approaching the Iforrabridge
Station, on Tuesday night, ran off the line, when several
truck were completely smashed, as also was the guard's van,
while the guard himself was so severely injured that he died
a.most immediately.

" Tally-Ho," writing in Bell's Messenger, advocates
the use of the bicycle as the farmer's horse of the future, and
thinks that no agricultural Rip Van Winkle need dream oi
an electrical substitute for a horse while he has such an
efficient substitute as a bicycle ready to hand. He points out
the superior economy of the bicycle, and remarks that one has
been ridden 200 miles within 24 hours, and 100 miles under
7i hours. Every young farmer, he thinks, should keep a
bicycle in his stable.—Mark Lane Express.

The London newspapers are prepared to go to im-
mense expense in order to provide their readers with the
earliest intelligence from Inala. Long telegrams appear from
day to day, and the cost of these may be easily calculated by
readers who go on the basis of calculation which allows for
4s. 6th for every word printed.

An otter, weighing 133/41b,, hag been ehot in the
private fishery of Mr. (1 .T. Eastwood, King's Weir, Cheshunt,
Herts. _

On Saturday morning a man named William Mayes,
aged thirty-three, met his death in very shocking circum-
stances at Wolverhampton. He crossed the rails of the
Great Western Railway in front of an approaching goods
train, and, not taking warning from the driver's whistle or
the shouts of bystanders, he was overtaken by the engine,
knocked down, and killed. His mangled remains were
gathered up and removed to a publichouse to await an
Inquest. He has left a widow and one child.
At a theatre in Alton& there has been a painting
competition, the two conditions required being rapidity of
execution and general merit; and one artist painted a storm
at sea in fifty minutes, and was declared the victor.

A Day of Intercession for Foreign Missions is to be
held on Saturday. The annual summary of British contri-
butions to 87 societies, for-foreign mission work, during the
finnancial year 1877.8, has just been completed by Canon
Scott Robertson, of Sittingbourne. It shows an increase of
more than £52,060 upon the total for 1676. Of this increase
the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel received
£.9,818. and the London Missionary Society £11,558 ; while
th. Church Missionary Society received £32,931 more in
1877 than in 1876.
The Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, who has been ailing for
the past ten or twelve days, was still unable on Sunday last
to officiate in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, at either the
morning or evening services, which were conducted by his
son, Mr. C. Spurgeon. Considerable improvement, how-
ever, has taken place in the rev. gentleman's condition,
the pain having greatly diminished within the last few
days.
A journal has already been started in Paris to give
the list and description of each lottery prize object and its
official value; the sheet will also publish daily the list of the
winning numbers. Also a company has been founded to buy
Up such prizes as a winner could not use—steam engines,
pumps, iron houses, agricultural implements, bottles of pills,
dozens of patent medicines, dx.. It will also wade through
the columns and figures on the payment of a small fee to
ascertain if the holder of a ticket has had good luck. —Court
Journal,
The health of the Russian troops in Roumelia is very
had. The admission into the hospitals at Bourgas of typhus
patients averages 100 a day.—Vanity Fair.

King Humbert and Queen Margaret returned to
Rome on Sunday. Their Majesties were met at the railway
station by the senators, deputies, and the magistrates. They
then proceeded Ins state carriage to the Quirinal, amid en-
thusiastic demonstrations from the people. After reaching
the palace they had to appear four times on the balcony in
response to the appeals of the crowd.
On Saturday the Court of Appeal gave judgment in
a case which had been argued before it, affecting the re-
ligion of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Agar-Ellis. The
father is a Protestant and the mother a Roman Catholic, and
the question was whether a promise made to Mrs. Agar.
Ellis by her husband before her marriage, that the children
of the union should be brought up as Roman Catholics,
could be retracted by him now. Tice-Chancellor Malin& had.
decided that the children should be educated in the doc-
trines of the Church of England, and against this decision
Mrs. Agar-Ellis appealed. Lords Justices James, Baggallay,
and Thesiger now held that the whole responsibility of the
children's education should be throwa upon the father, and
that no order should be made as to the religion in which
they should be brought up.
You know perhaps that pet "tiny dogs" nearly
always die from heart disease, and that they are very easily
killed by any over•excitement. The other day I heard of a
kind lady who eventually killed her pet "tiny' by dosing it
with quantities of chlorodyne. "Ali. poor little darling,"
she used to say, "he gets so restless, that there is nothing
to do him good but proper sleep, so I last give him his drops,
and off he goes." I believe that this lady's treatment of her
faithful animal is not by any means exceptional.—" The
Tatler ' in Pictorial World.

Semi-official intelligence has reached Berlin that
eight Russian divisions, forming a total of 120,000 men, have
been ordered to Bulgaria, and will be sent there before the
new year. The Russian force at present north and south of
the Balkans is estimated at about 230,000 men. An artillery
park of 300 guns has been formed at Kiscliineff and Bender,
in Bessarabia.
A. largely attended meeting of merchants, mann-
faoturers, clergy, and others was held at Sheffield on Mon-
day, under the presidency of the Mayor, for the purpose of
raising a relief fund, it was stated that the distress was
greater than had ever before been known in Sheffield, and
that there were thousands of working men and their families
who were absolutely without bread. A subscription list
was opened and £2,000 obtained in the'room.

In London, on Monday, Dr. Hardwick° held an in-
quest at the Coroner's Court, St. Pancras, on the body of
Sidney Adams, 22, a shunter on the Midland Railway. It
appeared that on Friday evening in last week Adams was
engaged at the St. Pancras goods station in coupling the
waggons, which were slipped out of the siding by the fore.
man shunter. About 6.25 the foreman, noticing that some
waggons drawn by an engine were jumping, signalled to the
driver, who at once stopped. On going back Adams was
found across the line dead, five waggons having gone
over him. It was not known how he got on the metals and
the jury returned a verdict of "Death from accidental
cancel."
Sunday (24th) was the 29th anniversary of Queen
Elizabeth's state visit to St. Paul's to join in the general
thanksgiving for the defeat of the Spanish Armada.

- -
A German paper states that the real population of
China, which is usually eAlmated at between 450,000,000 and
500,000,000 has been recently ascertained not to exceed
120,000,000 souls. The development of agriculture has
reached Its highest point, and both the po?ulatirm and their
means of subsistence have been gradually decreasing for the
last 125 years.
In consequence of the expected assembling of Par-
liament a large Dumber of workmen are busily engaged
in decorating and temporarily refitting the Houses of
Parliament, and to get it ready by the sth proximo are
compelled to work day and night. It is thought that the
business of the House will last a fortnight.

The Rev. Dr. Herman Adler, M.A., of London,
preached lest Saturday afternoon at the Jewish Synagogue,
Princess-road, Liverpool, in aid of the funds of the Liverpool
Hebrew Philanthropic Society, to a very large c3ngregatioo.
In the course of his sermon he pointed out that the world is
indebted to the Jewish race for the preservation of the oldest
code of laws in the world, and that municipal self-govern-
ment, so dear to the people of England, was derived from the
Jews. The weekly day of rest was also due to them. As the
promoters of education they had also followed the Bible rule,
which made education compulsory.
The appeal on behalf
the charity resulted in a collection %mounting to Reo.
Lord Coleridge and Lord Chief Baron Nally have
of
announced that the circuits which from time immemorial
had been held in the spring 0 each year would In future,
under a new arrangement which had been made, be held in
the month of January. Consequently throughout lugland
the circuits which would have been held in the spring would
commence on January 11 next.
The Furness Railway Company
have ntimated to
their Workmen that a. reduction must be made in their
i
.
wages to the extent of 5 per cent. oweek r that
The workmen will they must return
to the system of 67 hours per
probably accept the former alternative.
t a reduction amounting to is. per
o their station porters of The Nlldiand RailwAy Company have given notice
week after Decemeer 18th. The Manchester, Sheffield, and
Company's servants have been re-
Liluincceod.lnhhe onirrev
dr'aucititwaYtaking effect from Saturday last. The
Lancashire aud Yorkshire Railway Company have also just
reduced the wages of their porters and other servants; and
Uwe resolvedlo reduce
the-North Hrithh Cl/14'n'
the wages of tla'eir azit•docir servants by ii. per week.

A cask of Johannisberg, containing 1,600 bottles of
the wine, has Pot been sold at Cologne for 56,000 florins,
which snakes the price of each bottle about f. 3 4s.
There were 42 British and foreign wrecks reppxted
during the past week, making the total for the preseetYear
1,394, or a decrease of 220 as compared with the correspond-
ing period of last year. The approximate value of proPertY
lost was £430,000, including British £233,000, and the
aggregate tonnage abour, 10,000 tons,
"A letter from Sebastopol informs me that the
number of Turkish prisoners of war that have thus passed
through there on their way home is 4,000 officers and 50,000
men."—Mayfair.
Previous to the Prisons Act taking effect it was the
custom at Kirkdale Gaol and most of the county gaols to
punish garotters with the lash in the pretence of reporters of
the press. This will no longer be allowed, for according to a
letter from the Horne Office to the representative of a Liver-
pool newspaper, the cat will be administered in private and
the reporters excluded.

Mr. Archibald Forbes has again succeeded in sur-
passing all his competitors, and in sending over the wires a
description of the capture of Ali Musfid as succinct, as glow-
ing, and as interesting as though it had been written at his
ease, with all accessories at his hand, instead of scribblod
amidst the din of the Indian battleileld.—The World.
- - - -

Mr. Frederick Leighton attended on .Monday at
Windsor Castle, and received from Her Majesty the Gold
Medal and Chain of the office of President of the Royal
Academy worn by the late Sir Francis Grant. The Queen
afterwards conferred the honour of knighthood upon him.
On Monday, at a meeting held at Birmingham,
under the presidency of Jr. J. S. Wright, resolutions were
passed expressing sympathy with the shareholders in the
City of Glasgow Bank, and a local fund was opened to assist
the worst sufferers from the disaster. Subscriptions amount-
ing to nearly 1..500 wore announced.

A Reuter' s telegram from Sydney statee the City of
New York, with the Australian cricketers on board, arrived
at Sydney from San Francisco on Monday.

There was a violent storm on Sunday at the month
of the Tagus. Three vessels were lost in the river and 13
persons were drowned.

The Civilian is in a position to state that the autho-
rities have resolved to try the electric light oa a large scale
at the General Post Office in London.

A knowleige of Scotch is sometimes valuable, even
if Gaelic be of no service to the Saxon. Recently a friend
of mine said to a barefooted urchin in a Highland village,
"Have you seen the clergyman's wife pass here, my little
man?" The answer was a gaze of mere blank amazement.
He then tried, "Hae! lad, -hae ye seen the minister's
gude wife gae by here?" and at once the boy's face lit up
with a ray of intelllgence.—Pistorial World.

The Russian Red Cross Society has solicited per-
mission of the Imperial Government to be allowed to offer
medical assistance to the Afghans.—Vanity Fair.

There were 2,530 births and 1,547 deaths registered
In London last week. Allowing for increase of population,
the births exceeded by 113, whereas the deaths were 181
below, the average numbers in the corresponding week of
the last ten years. The annual death-rate from all causes,
which in the three preceding weeks had been equal to 202,
231, and 243 per 1,000, declined again to 226 The deaths
Included 7 from small-pox, 18 from measles, 64 from scarlet
fever, 11 from diphtheria, 31 from whooping-cough, 24 front
different forms of fever, and 15 from diarrhea.

In the French Chamber on Saturday a proposal of
M. Bardoux, the Minister of Public jnstruction, that the
salaries of the cures should be increased 100 francs, was
rejected by the House. It was objected by those who
opposed the augmentation that, poor as is the stipend
allowed to the clergy, it is more thaa is given by the State
to the schoolmasters, and even to some of the Juges de
raiz and Judges of First Instance.

A long and severe winter is predicted by the Swiss
weather prophets from the signs at present exhibited in the
Alpine regions. A letter from Interlaken states that the
northerly declivities of the Bernese Oberland group of moun-
tains are covered thickly with snow down the valley level.
The traffic on the Mont Cents Bailway has been stopped on
account of the enormous snowfall and the inundation of the
line on the morning of November 2L

Another fact for the gentlemen who talk about the
low return on capital invested in land: Mr. Baxter aaid at
Montrose the other night that daring the last twenty-five
years the land rent of the United Kingdom, capitalised at
thirty years' purchase, showed an increased value of
£33l,ooo,ooo.—Mark Lane Express.

Some grumblers are saying that it is to be hoped the
Marquis of Lorne will not lose his head with the popularity
he will meet with. He is more likely to lose his nose from
being frost bitten. Again, how about questions of pre-
cedence; as first representative of the Crown, will he not
have a superior rank to his wife, as a Princess of the blood
royal? It so, he will get his proper dignity at last.—" The
Tatler," in Pictorial World.
The death is announced of Dr. Frederick Foster
Quin. In the early days of his professional career Dr. Quin
travelled in Italy with Prince Leopold, afterwards King of
the Belgians, and was appointed for the special duty et at-
tending on Napoleon I at St. Helena, but before he left
England Napoleon died. Dr. Quin was physician in Ordinary
to the present Duchess of Cambridge, and was on intimate
terms with the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, and
other members of the Royal Family.

An association has been formed. in Lancashire to
extend the present teaching of " singing' in public schools
Into the teaching of "music.'

The Committee of the China Famine Relief Fund
have issued a balance-sheet showing that the total amount
raised in connection with the fund is £32,303. A further sum
of about A 16,000 has been contributed through various
niissionary societies in ngland, and has been sent direct to
China. Mr. Forrest, the British Acting-Consul at Tientsin,
speaks confidently of the favourable impression made on the
Chinese by the sympathy which England has shown them in
their hour of need.

The Banbury Chamber of Agriculture have passed
a resolution in favour of selling all grain by cental.—A dis-
cussion took place on the temperance question. Some of
the members considered the Csamber should not be turned
into a temperance meeting. A proposal to petition Parlia-
ment in favour of giving ratepayers in each district some
control in granting and continuing licences to sell drink was
postponed for further consideration.

Whilst a crowded ferry•boat was crossing the
Mersey on Tuesday morning, a fog prevailing at the time,
she came into collision with a ship lying at anchor in the
river, and two lives were lost.

On Sunday night, at Wolverhampton, Alfred
Maylott, a porter in the employ of the London and North-
Western Railway Company, seeing an intending passenger
who was crossing the line in danger of being knocked down
by an incoming train, jumped off the platform to save him.
lb suconeded in doing so; but was himself knocked down
by the engine, and his left arm was so shockingly smashed
as to render amputation necessary, and the poor fellow is
now in a critical position. He is an old servant of the com-
pany, having fog many years acted as guard.
- - -

Her Majesty awl Princess Beatrice, attended by the
suite, left Windsor Cattle on Saturday afternoon to visit the
grave of the late General Sir T. M. Biddulph, in Clewer
Churchyard. The Royal party drove through WiLdsor to the
place of burial, were the grave was shown them, the Queen
and Princess Beatrice placing three wreaths, formed of
yellow and white immortelles and moss, upon the turf over
the vault.