The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-07-15 00:00:00

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

The hatters of London say that hard times pinch
them first of all, and are already destroying their trade
•

•
Reports from the moors are said to be encouraging.
Tner6 is no trace of disease, coveys are expected to ba large,
and the grouse well grown. _ _

The Chinese Government has had Professor Tyn-
dall's work on "Sound" translated and published at the
price of about forty cents.

An application made by several officers in the Prus-
sian army to be allowed to proceed to the seat of war, with
the view of studying the campaign, has been refused by the
Government.

According to a telegram from New York the Ventre ,
and Mandan Indians, hitherto friendly, numbering 3,000,
have joined the Sioux, and other tribes threaten to follow.
A general Indian. war is considered as inevitable.

The teetotal movement in the Earopean army in
India is extending month by month. By the returns for May
this year it appears that there are 7,40) non-commissioned
officers and men of the service on the rolls of the total absti-
nence societies.

Emily Warrnington, aged 12, has died at Surbiton
from injuries sustained by a wall, eight feet high, falling upon
her. A verdict of Accidental Death has been returned.
Only a clergyman with a candid, clever wife should
be permitted to indulge in extempore preaching: he would
not be allowed to repeat himself.—Blacktoood.

Mr. Macdonald, M.P., in addressing the coal miners'
demonstration at Ashton-under-Lyne on Monday, advised the
men to avoid striking, and to appeal to reason.

By the permission of the Archbishop of Canterbury,
a great fête, on behall of the Temperance Hospital Building
Fund, was held on Saturday (Bth) in the Lambeth Palace
grounds.
The corner stone of a new Mechanica' Institueon
and Public Hall for Barnsley was laid on Monda'y. There
will be provided in the new building a news-room, library,
school of art, and a lecture room to seat 2000, people. The
cost of the building is to be nearly £lB,OOO.

Damages to the amount of 600 have been obtained
by the widow of a Great Northern pointsman from the
North-Eastern Railway Company as compensation for the
loss of her husband, who was killed by a North-Eastern train
at Leeds. The action was brought on the wldow's behalf by
the Amalgamated Soiety of Railway Servants.

It appears that eighty tons of fresh meat from New
York are sold in the London market every week, and bloat It
is of such excellent quality that by far the largest proportion
of it finds its way into the shops of the West-eqd butchers.
The secret of preservation is that immediately after the
beasts are slaughtered the meat is chilled.

The Tree of Liberty which had flourished in the
Place des Palain, Brussels, during the last forty-six years,
was removed last week in consequenae of its decay. This
tree was the last survivor of the many planted to commemo-
rate the revolution of 1830. It Is suggested that a monument
should be erected upon the spot where It stood.

Competition between San Francisco watchmakers is
very keen. One announces that he has a chronometer
warranted to keep San Francisco "mean time." A rival
dose by placards his as an important instrument of his own
manufactare, warranted to keep San Francisco "meanest
time." _ _ _

On Saturday evening Lieutenant Robert 'Walker,
30th Regiment, whose horse fell on him during a sham fight
In the Long Valley on the 28th ult., died in the Officers'
Hospital Ward, Aldershot. Deceased, who was only 28 years
of age, had passed the Staff College, and at the time of the
accident was attached to the Royal Artillery, under Staff
College iegulations.
Last week the supply of grilse and trout in the
Tweed improved, especially during high winds, but salmon
continued remarkably scarce. There are good prospects of a
good grilse season. Should the present favourable appear-
ances be fully borne out during the next few weeks, the
grilse crop may go far to make up a very unprofitable salmon
year hitherto. Some fair takes of grilse have been landed at
the sea coast stations.

The destruction of human life by wild animals in
the Indian central provinces last year was considerable In
six months 617 persons lost their lives, and 3,536 head of
cattle were destroyed. Daring 1876, 193 tigers, 63.5 leopards
and panthers, and EB3 other wild beasts were killed in the
central provinces, at a cost to the Government of over
£1,350.

It is said that emigration from England to the
United States and Canada is almost stopped, and steamers
from New York bring to Liverpool weekly hundreds of arti-
sans in search of work in the old country. Zverything finds
its level in time, and the same amount of energy in the old
country that makes a competence in the New World would
gain a fortune at home.

Mr. John Dixon has sent to The Tines the follow-
ing telegram, which he has received from his agent in charge
of the works of the Shanghai and Woosung Railway, an-
nouncing the opening of a fine, the first railway in China :
Shanghai, July b.—One hundred and fifty foreigners at
Kangwau Friday evening. Chinese travelled free all Satur-
day. Six trains each way daily. Crowded. Receipts in
proportion."
"I am told that an American has been so fortunate
as to obtain a few relics of the late lamented Sultan Abdul-
A ziz, for which he will doubtless get a good round sum at
New York from curiosity hunters. This enterprising gentle-
man has secured the fez, the slippers, and even the scissors
of the late Shadow of the Prophet! Happy American I'
Whitehall Review.

On Monday afternoon the Bishop of Lichfield
inaugurated a drinking fountain, which had been erectia
by Captain Hughes Hallett in memory of his wife, the late
Lady Selwyn, sister-in•law to the Bishop. The fountain,
which is a very handsome one, has been placed at the corner
of the Selwyn estate, Richmond.

A terrible tornado swept over S Rithern lowa on
Tuesday night in last week. Rockdale village was destroyed
and 42 persons drowned The Central Railway was washed
away near Dubuque, 29 buildings were destroyed in Burling-
ton, and three persons }ailed. Davenport, Dubuque, and
other places were seriously damaged. The tornado is de-
scribed as lasting but an instant, doing its work as quickly
as a flash of lightning.

The other day a yearling stot, the property of Mr,
Gilgam, Tarhendry, Lougside, near Aberdeen, died, and on a
post mortem examination being made the stomach was
opened, when there were found 125 pieces of stone, chiefly
flints, besides several fragments of earthenware and glass.
The heavist piece weighed 31 ounces, and the smallest piece
ounce. Toe total weight in the cow's stomach was 11i lbs.
'he contemporary to which I am indebted for this pheno-
menon very sagely asks, "Was it a C3P7'5 stomach or a metal
recess'?" We presume it was both.—Pictortal World.

The position of the cotton trade ia the north and
north-eastern districts of Lancashire has been considered at
a large meeting of spinners and manufacturers held in Man-
chester, and it was resolved "that the time has arrived when
a reduction of 10 per cent. should be made in the wages of
the operatives employed in the cotton districts." The
resolution will be considered at meetings of the local asso-
ciations. IS will affect at least 50,000 operatives.

As a significant illustration of the foreign competi•
tiou with which British ironfounders have now to contend,
the Leeds Mercury mentions that both in Leeds and neigh-
bouring towns wrought-iron girders are being delivered from
Belgium for use in the erection and extension of warehouses.
The Belgian iron can, it seems, be supplied there cheaper
than that of local manufacture, owing mainly to the fact that
Belgian workmen work longer hours for less wages than are
paid in England,

At the fancy fair at Ootacamund, a short time ago,
a small boy, grandson of a well•known and gallant Madras
GAneral, was seen sauntering about, hands in pocket, quietly
taking in the spectacle around him. To him came Lady
Bountiful. "Well, dear, are you going to buy anything ?"
"No" "Is your grandpa coming ?" "No." 'Coming pre-
sently ?" "No." "Id he not coming at all ?" "No.'
"Why not?" "He says he won't come, because you're all a
set of robbers ! '—Court Journal.

- ---
Preparations are stated to be in progress at Black-
burn for a great conflict in the cotton trade The manufac-
turers avow a fixed determination t.) carry short time and
reduction of wages The latter step is, they say, absolutely
necessary to enable them to meet foreign competitors on
equal grounds, and they ought not to be the sole sufferers,
as a long period has elapsed since operatives' wages were
reduced On the other hand the operatives have held
strike meetings, and are resolved to cease work rather than
submit.

The .New York Herald speaks very doubtingly as to
the success of the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia
Tire things (the Herald sass) are evident, as we predicted
from the beginning—there will be no increase in travel to this
country, and no diminution in the travel to Europe, on
account of the CentenniaL Foreigners will hardly care to
cross the stormy seas to see a show which is only what they
have seen over and over again in Landon, and Paris, and
Vienna.

The St. Petersburg Golos, in an article on the
present phase of the Eastern Question, says that Servia and
Montenegro have accrdred the sympathy of Russia, which
has never attempted to conceal the intentions with which it
is animated in favour of the unfortunate victims of Alumna
-
man misrule. The policy openly avowed by Russia the
Gobs adds, authorises the Government amongst other things,
to watch events closely, and to see that the cruelties in-
flicted upon Christian populations are not renewed.

At Rubinstein's last recital at St. James's Hall he
was accosted by an old lady in the entrance-halt, Just before
three o'clock, and thus addressed :—" Oh, Mr. Rubinstein, I
am so glad to see you: I have tried in vain to purchase a
ticket Have you a seat you could let me have?"
"Madame," said the great pianist, "there is but one seat at
my disposal, and that you are welcome to, it you think fit to
take it." "Oh, yes and a thousand thanks; where is it?"
was the excited reply. "At the piano,' smilingly replied
Ilubinstein.—Court Journal:
A deputation from the Irish National School
Teachers has waited upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer
and, through Mr. John Traynor, called his attention to the
three grievances under which they considered they laboured
—namely, inadequacy of salary, want of residences, and the
absence of a pension scheme. Sir Stafford Northcote, while
promising that these questions should have the consideration
of Government, said he thought the salaries of teachers
should be fixed at an amount which would enable them to
make provision for old age.

"Dethroned intellects" is the polite term for insane
persons in California. Anent madness, a soldier afflicted
with a curious mania has lately died at the BicOtre Asylum.
Duhamel had been wounded in the head during the war of
1870, and on his recovery was possessed with the idea that
he was dead and an automaton had been put' in his place. He
was insensible to pain, and never spoke of himself as "I "
or "me," but as " this, ' and would say, "This is not
Duhamel ;he was killed at Buzenval. This is a machine
made to resemble him; but it is very badly done."

The Sultana Valide, to whom, says report, many of
the horrors of misrule in Constantinople are owing, has been
subject to a conspiracy by the other of the "fitly-three boat-
loads of women" that formed the harem of Abdul Az,z, who
plotted to destroy her by making a looking-glass fall on her
head. She is not the only lady who has been nearly perish-
ing by a looking-glass, only it is seldom unless a miroirface
et nuque directed against the top of the head. Perhap. the
Sultana was thinning at the top" The weakest
point
of
attaacsitinnwoowmn aens
theistnfenofreoltpoifctial World.aorhead celerally, covered by
n ink k
Asoantlanrgset a dff eo Iredgs an ti
ree manedetiEn,fstrewproersceensttetghirteh,ehwelhaole
of at
Dudley on Monday ii
extent,
presentwoldstrike state o flotrrafidvee.
proposal to the ful
it was decided
eight t
ho ruersai sbt
etihn es masters'thought
"
Soonerciue sufficientthan
A similar resolution was passed t , a a mass meeting
woirnk tmh eo r ckeo
„torts The
years.
of miners held at Oldbury, the miners' agent pointing out
that the men's wages were 44 per cent . than in 1871,
whil the price of coal wail per cent. higher.
The Home Secretary received a numerous deputa-
tion from the British Medical Association, and in reply to
their representations against the cruelty to Animals Bill
stated that the Government had taken no action in the mat-
ter until it had been inquired pato and reported upon by a
comm lesion. The bill now objected to was framed practi-
ully on the report of that commission, end it was for those
the deputation represented, and for Parliament, to say
whether that bill was to pass this session or whether the
question should be postponed for a year. What action the
Government would take in such a contingency as the failure
of the present bill would be declared at another time.
An inquest has been held in London at King's
College Hospital upon the body of a'young woman known by
the name of Agnes Courteney, who was found drowned in
the Thames. Mr. Hough, chaplain of the House of Deten-
tion, Tothill.ilelds, said he had known the deceased since
1371 as a prisoner under his care for short terms of Imprison-
ment for being drunk and disorderly. She was a woman of
superior education, and never spoke of her previous history
beyond stating that she had been seduced under promise of
marriage and abandoned. On Wednesday in last week she
was released from the prison, on the expiration of a term of
one month's imprisonment. The same day, it appeared, she
jumped over the parapet of Waterloo bridge. Before she
reached the water her body came in contact with one of the
buttresses of the bridge and her legs were fractured. She
was got out of the water alive, but died within an hour of
her admission to the hospitaL Her last words were,
"Since my disgrace I have no wish to see the snn:any more."
Verdict„" Suicide while in a state of temporary insanity."

The United State's Government is concentrating
troops to chastise the Indians.

Owing to dulness of trade, a very largo number of
the factories in Leeds are closed for the week. Almost all
the iron and tool shops will not open till Monday next.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer acknowledges in
The Times, as " Conscience Money. the.receipt ot 418 es. Bd.
for unpaid Income-tax from " M. M. Y."
A terrible explosion of firedamp has taken place in a
coal mine at St. Avoid, near Metz. Forty-two men were
killed and forty-seven injured.

Telegraphic orders from Washington have been
received at the torpedo station at Newport, US, to stop
all work, and Aischarga all hands. Only two men are re-
tained as watchmen. _

The Emperor and Empress of Brazil, according to a
Renter's telegram, attended on Saturday a concert given in
their honour in New York. About 6,000 persons were
present.
The quantity of coal, &c., exported in the six months
ended the 30th ult. was 7,491,077 tons, against 6,197.209 in
the corresponding period of 1875. The value in the last six
months was £4,221,865, and in the previous year £4,348,290.
A telegram from Nqv York announces that the St.
Clair steamer has been liarned on Lake Superior. Twenty-
seven lives were losr
The value of steam engines exported in the last six
months was £930,990, against £1,363,376 in 1875 in the
same period.
The annual value of the rateable property in the
City of Manchester amounts to £2,550,910. 38.
It has been determined to construct a target on
which to test the penetrative power of the 81-ton gun, at a
coat of £'3,000.
The Times obituary of Tnesday contains an an-
nouncement of the death of Mr. George Bradford, formerly
of 99, Minories, at the age of 103 years.
The miners all over the Black Country are very much
agitated on the subject of the proposed increase of hours.
Meetings are being held daily, and at every meeting it has
been unanimously resolved to resist to the uttermost every
or any encroachment upon their working time.
The New York Mail tells young ladies how to
arrange their hair in a fashionable style; "Let it all down
and comb it out. Then go up on the roof and stand still
while the wind plays (whatever is appropriate) with it. Then
catch up the ballt with a bow of ribbon, and allow the front
to stay as it is"
On the farm of Mr. M'Combie, the breeder of
Aberdeenshire cattle, James Rhynie, oattleman. 40 years of
age, had a three•year-old prise bull out for exercise, led by a
rope, when the animal turned upon him and butted him to
death against a stone wall.
"What would be your notion of absent-mindedness?"
asked Rufus Choate of a witness whom be was cross-
examining. "Wail," said the witness with a strongiYankee
accent, "1 should say that a man who left his watch at hum,
and took it out'ns pocket to see if he'd time to go hum and
get it, was a leetle absent-minded." _

_ .
The Agricultural Gazette does not recollect a season
In which the clover hay, and also much of the meadow hay,
has been so well made in so little time as during the month
just ended. In many districts in the West of England,
within about a fortnight, the bulk of the crop, both of
"seeds " and meadow hay, has been secured without a drop
of rain.

A General Conference of chemists and druggists;
from all parts of the kingdom, was held in Birmingham on
Tuesday. It was resolved to form a chemiets' and druggists'
association for the protection of trade interests, and the
defence of registered chemists and druggists from illegal and
vexations application of the Adulteration Act.
_ _

- -
At Llanypwll, near Wrexham, Mr. Thomas Edwards,
manufacturer of agricultural implements, has met with his
death in a shocking manner. He was in his smith's shop
when a steam boiler exploded, making a wreck of the premises,
and so Injuring Illr. Edwards that he died in a few minutes.
His body was fearfully mangled, some of the limbs being
dismembered.

Tho ship Bencleugh, 1,349 tons, with 443 emigrants
on board, sailed on Tuesday morning from Plymouth, for
Port Adelaide, having been chartered by the Agent-General
for South Australia. Dr. Boase is surgeon superintendent.
and Miss Bradford matron The latter has charge of seventy-
four single women domestic servants.

A Paris paper furnishes the following advertisemept
in English :—" Madame X. X. permits herself to say that she
has the skin white to pearls, full health, the check of roses,
face of sweet expression, blue eyes,, and black hair, and a
coquette; therefore is full of health. She will be vaocinated
next Tuesday, and in as short a time as possible the lymph of
her arm will be ready for the vaccination of any one desiring
to possess a purely healthful vaccination. For terms, apply,
d:o."

The late Misses Agnes and Elizabeth Fergnson, of
Lennox-street, Edinburgh, have left £5,010 to the National
Lifeboat Institution, and £5,000 to the Edinburgh Gentle-
women's Fund; £7,000 is to be distribated among other
E linburgh charities, and £2OO is left for the benefit of Si.
George's Established Church, Edinburgh; and £l,OOO to the
Endowment scheme of the Church of Scatland.
A clever device for saving life from fire was tried at
Eng Men on Saturday (says the Paris correspondent of the
Daily Telegraph). The inventor has worked on the principle
by which an acrobat slides down a cord by winding it about
his legs Here the rope is passed round an iron tube in such
a way that it can )13 unrolled only very gradually. One and
is tied to a window or a piece of furniture, and the other
fastened tonna the waist, and the Individual descends as
gently as he would step off a stool.

Surgeon Major W. Collis, of the 3rd Buffs, has pre-
sented a very interesting collection of weapons and projec-
tiles, from the late seat of war in the Malay Peninsula, Co the
Museum at Netley. The weapons consist of Malay spears,
swords, kreases, and knives of various forms. The spears
are generally about 6ft, in length, with blades 15in. in length,
of highly tempered steel, and with very sharp points and
edges. The shafts are in some instances finished with orna-
mented silver ferrules. The Malay sword Is peculiar in being
broader at the eUremity, where European swords are always
pointed, than at any otter part of the blade. It is two inches
and a quarter broad at the end, but only three quarters of an
Inch broad near the handle. All the weapons and knives
were taken in action at Kota Lama, on the right bank of the
Perak river on the 4th of January last.