The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-08-03 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOLEIGN.

The Special Correspondent of the Standard says
that. in his opinion, Cyprus will prove a had field for English
emigration, owit,g to the differences of climate aim language.

The cost of the Special Embassy to Berlin in con-
nection with the recent Congress will be a little over £7,000.
The Calcutta Correspondent of The Times stt a that
considerable anxiety is felt by the Madras Government in
consequence of the destruction caused by locusts.
A gentleman who saw N“hilii.g a few days ago at
Berlin. states that all the wounds in toe would-be regicide's
head, with the exception ot the largest, have healed. He
is only permitted to converse with one attendant, and at
present pretends to be insane. An attempt will be made to
determine whether he is really out of his mind or not.—
Daily Telegraph.
On Sunday the 94th body recovered from the wreck
of the Grosser Kuritirst was brought ashore at 14 dd, and was
burled on Monday in Folkestone Cemetery.

On Tuesday Lord Salisbury was invested by ti
Queen with the Order of the Garter. Her Majesty also held
an investiture of the Order of the Bath.

The barque Aiercia, Captain Gibson, which left
Madras five months since, bound for the United Kingdom,
safely arrived at Plymouth on ruesdAy evening, short of pro-
visions. It was feared from the length of time she had been
out that she had met with sonic accident, and the rates for
reiniurauces on her went up on Tuesday at Lloyd's to 40
guineas per cent

Last Saturday afternoon John Wright, permanent-
way manager, and Henry ScArgill. engineer for Captain
Ingham, coal proprietor, of Thornhill, near Dewsbury, were
killed in consequence of an engine °riven by Bcargill miming
down an embankment iS bards deep They were following
three runaway waggons which had broken loose on a steep
Incline, and the driver was unable to stop his engine.

An "Old Paper" Society exists in the Netherlands,
the members of which devote to the Pope the proceeds of
the waste psper told annually by the 1,200,000 Roman
Catholics. Last year the sum thus obtained amounted to
£l.OOO.

"The Odessa papers state that having in view the
advancement in the value of property consequent on the
occupation of Batoum by tbe Russians, a party of English
speculators are making extensive purchases of buildings
and lands inside the town and in the suburns "—Mayfair.

A sad case of drowning has occurred on the Thames
at Staines. Mr Leader an amateur oarsman and member of
the tiousley Boat Club, while fishing from the towing path
between the Pack Horse and Penton Hoek, was seised with
a fit and falling into the stream was drowned in about five
feet of water. This is the third death by drowning within
the last week or so at Staines.

A bronze statue to the memory of the late Rev. Dr.
Chalmers, the eminent leader of the Free Church of Scot
land, was unveiled in Edinburgh on Saturday in the presence
of a large assemblage. The execution of the statue was
Intrusted to Sir John Steel, R. S.A., who has produced an
excellent work of art and an admirable likeness. The statue,
which is 12ft. in height, represents the reverend doctor In
the dress of a Moderator of the General Assembly, with an
(Ten Bible in his hand as if giving an exposition. The
pedestal is of Peterhead granite and about 15ft. high. The
site is at the intersection of Castle-street and George-street.

The Southampton Corporation have resolved to
present an address of welcome to the Prince and Princess of
Wales on their visit to the town on the 12th of August for
the purpose of laying the foundation stone of the Wilber-
force memorial church.

Sir Charles Dilke's Bill, which has passed into law,
extends the hours of polling at metropolitan elections to
eight o'clock p in. A gallant but unsuccessful effort to
secure the same boon for large towns throughout the
country was made in the Select Committee onyarliamentary
and Municipal Elections.

By an Order in Council it is directed that for the
future the number of Greenwich Hospital age pensions In
force at any one time shall not exceed 7,600. The pension is
to be awarded at the ages of 55 and 65, as at present,
provided it does not, together with any other pension
or pensions which a man may have from public funds,
cause the combined pensions to exceed 23. Bd. a day.

A missionary conference was opened at Leamington
on Monday, under the presidency of the Bishop of Worcester,
and was attended by the Bishops of Louisiana, North Caro-
lina, and Wisconsin, Lord Leigh, and a large number of
the clergy. Several addresses were delivered on subjects
connected with missionary work. The Bishop of Wisconsin,
referring to the Anglo-Turkish Convention, said it had cast
upon the Church of England a vast responsibility, which
would faithfully be fulfilled. The Greek Church, with its
earnestness and devotion, would share that responsibility.

"A book may be as great as a battle," wrote Lord
Beaconsfield years ago ; and his speech in the Lords the
other night went tar to prove that a Congress may do more
than a campaign.— Whitehall Review.

The chapel so well known to tourists in Switzerland,
which bears the name of William Tell, on the lake of the
Four Cantons, is about to be pulled down to give place to a
new edifice.

The Paris Omnibus Company has built some new
stables in which horses are lodged up to the third story. The
floors are composed of solid iron rafters covered with
asphalte. A balcony, three metros wide, permits of the
abilnals being groomed in the open air, and they descend to
the ground floor by means of an inclintd plane. Considering
the enormous price of land in Paris, the system inaugurated
at the Boulevard Bourdon ought to meet with success.

The arbitrator ha the wages dispute in the cotton
trade at Ashton-under-Lyne has given his award. He has
decided upon a 5 per cent. reduction in the spinning and 2i
per cent. in the weaving trade.

The result of the Caxton celebration this year has
been a gain of upwards of eleven hundred pounds to the
funds of the Printers Pension Corporation.

A. physician recommends the use of a "Dyspepsia
Machine." He speak s of it thus :—Dyspepsia is cured by
muscular exercise, voluntary or ihvolu,tary, and cannot be
cured in any other way, because nothing can create or
collect gastric juice except exerese It is a product of the
human body. A "D>spepsia Machine" can be made by any
one who has the energy. It is inexpensive to manufacture,
and cheap to keep in order, as high living and gluttony,
therefore dear living, spoil it.

- In charging the grand jury at Chester Assizes, Lord
Chief Justice Coleridge referred to the practice which exists
among under-sheriffs of separating jurors into two classes—
special and common—with the result that special jurors
hardly ever serve in criminal cases, lie said that by this
practice, which was contrary to ens constitutioil and to law
and was totally indefensible, parties to the most trumpery
civil disputes could pick out from the panel twelve men of
first-class intellect and position to try their cases, whereas
the highest person in the land might be on trial for his life
and would not be allowed that privilege. Lord Coleridge
announced that he and Lora Justice Bramwell, who sat in
the Nisi Prins Court, had both resolved that if they found
on inquiry that "a pave and indefensible abuse of the
law" was persisted in by under-sheriffs they would each of
them fine heavily the sheriff, who WAS the only pert on
the law could reach, in the hope that this would have the
effect of bringing about a proper administration of the
statute.

"Like his predecessor, General Trepoff, the new
Prefect of St. Petersburg is evidently desirous of distin-
guishing himself. Ilia first ukase, just issued is to the effect
that nobody is to be allowed to be in the streets of the
capital, and nobody with parcels or dirty clothing to be per.
twitted to walk on the path I Especial reference is made tc
painters with pots of paint' who, as Colonel Koziolf very
truly remarks, are 'apt to be careless in a crowd.' The path-
way, the Prefect adds. is intended for 'respec:abhl people"
' sweeps, bakers. and mechanics are not respectable people,
and must therefore walk in the road.' As the streets of the
Russian capital are extremely wide, there will be no dir
culty in earning this order into effect."—Nayfair.
Osman Paella has ordered the discontinuance of all
fortification works around Constantinople.

Several thousands of Austrian subjects residing in
Servia and belonging to the first, second, and third-class
reserves of the Austrian army have been per. mptorily sum-
moned to join their rePpective battalions ilueatiness has
been created at Belgrade by this measure, which is regarded
as indicating a far greater army mobilisation on the frontier
than that intended merely for the occupation of Bosnia.

A memorial hail been presented to the Earl of
Beacon/int-hi by a number of g.iitlemen profeesionaily into-
restt.d in the promotion of higher education in London and
is vicinity, reprebenthig their strong conviction of the im-
portance of giving increased prominenc,e to the study of
ancient art as a branch of clasical training.

Mandalay, the King of Burmah's capital, has been
threatened with destruction, and, perhaps, may now be des-
troyed. On June 3rd 2000. houses had been burned to the
ground. The city is walled in, and, like most Eastern towns,
the streets are narrow and the houses crowded together. It
is quite probable, as his Majesty is unprovided with fire en-
gines and brigades, that the greater portion of the city by
this time is in ruins.

"I have it from an eve-witness that the funeral of
Queen Mereeles was ineffably solemn and magnificent. The
king wished her remains to rest in the li,curoal ; but the
number of celebrities anxious to attend the ee re molly rendered
this impossible, and the church of SAII Francisco el Grande
was selected, and no effort was spared to render the effect
thrilling."— Whitehall Beview.
Some time before his decease, it is said, the late Sir
Francis Gonismid had purchased a very considerable quantity
of land at the western end of Brighton, towards Hove and
Clintonville This land, purchased by the late baronet, has
risen very greatly in value, to more, in fact, than ten times
Its former value, and is estimated to be worth at the present
time not much less than £1,000,000.
The death is recorded of John Hutton, "the May-
livid centenarian." lie was born in Glasgow, on the 18th
August, 1777. and was within a few weeks of completing his
101st year. He has been uninterruptedly in the pay of one
firm In Manchester for nearly eighty years, and has lived all
the3e years within a stonethrow of tne river Medlock He
had a son a soldier at Waterloo, and his great great grandson,
a boy of five years, visited him eleven months ago, on the
celebration of John's 100th birthday, when there were five
generations represented, of whom four were John Buttons.
A gentleman named Pearce, who was spending a
holiday, was drowned in the river Wry, near Guildford, on
Monday afternoon, under very distressing circumstances Me
took his wife and two children for a row in a pleasure boat,
and in opening a lock he was struck by tho winch, hurled
into the water, and drowned in sight of his family.
The Maid4tone Journal says the hop plantations,
since the thunderstorms, have looked much cleaner and
brighter ; the burr also progretses well. Everthing at present
indicates that the crop this year will be a good one, provided
that there is nothing to blight or injure the rapid develop-
ment of the burr into hops. The hop growers expect a good
crop, and many of them have sent orders for hundreds of
pockets ready-made, to be forwarded as soon as possible;
consequently the bop pocket making business is in full swing.
A total eclipse of the sun took place on Monday,
but it was v:sible only, as such, along a track extending
from Eastern Siberia across Behring*s Straits, athwart
Alaska, British Columbia, and the Western Straits of
America. Tile only convenient region tor observing the
eclipse was in the neighbourhood of Denver City, Cols,rado
To this spot many of the leading astronomers of America
betook themselves, while Messrs. Itanyard, Luckyer, Penrose,
and others went thither from England.—A telegram from
America says that the eclipse was successfully observed at
all points of total obscuratiou in the United States. Many
photographs of the corona were taken.
Lord Randolph Churchill, M.P., speaking at a
Foresters' dinner at Woodatock, said it must be a source of
unmixed satisfaction and intesse relief to all that we had
been spared the horrors of a foreign war. The peace which
our Plenipotentiaries had been so active in bringing about
had been justly called a "peace with honour."
Reports from the fruit districts in the central and
northern counties of Scotland concur with singular unani-
tnity in stating that the fruit season will be one of the most
unfavourable on record. The only exceptions are straw-
berries and raspberries, which are an abundant crop and of
splendid quality.
Troops, provisions, and money continue to arrive in
Cyprus. A large number of Turkish refagees in Constan-
tinople demand to be sent to the island.
Somebody writes to inquire why tapping the faoe of
the barometer makes the hand move If anyone were to ta
his face, wouldn't his hand move.—Fun.

A twenty-six hours' walking match for the champion
belt and £l6O was brought tu a c,onclusiou in London on
Saturday evening at the Agricultural Hall, when H.
Vaughan, of Chester, proved victorious, having traversed
114 miles 8 laps, while Arthur Hancock walked 92/ miles,
and William Howes 91 miles. •

At the last weekly meeting of the Committee of the
Shipwrecked Marinei s' Society, at Hibernia-chambers,
Louden, the sum of £8,685 was awarded in relief •'to 1,24
widowa, with 1,697 orphans of deceased seamen and fisher-
men in annual grants, a similar sum being also given in
January each y tar to about au equal number.
of the funded property which are set apart for this purpose
are not sufficient by nearly £3,000, The dividends
and the ecretary reported
that it would be necessary to sell out £2,500 to meet the re
quilted amount. These little persions are I,oked forward to
with great tageriarp,s by the poor widows, who in niany cases
depend upon them for their rent. Last year there were very
Ile. EY ootLs the funds in o'rcler, to ailuyt4l4,er Fel!i4 to
ersot I
1 2 WICLOWII and *pilaus and 4,576 ahipwreaed p I.

.e,saesib 6111)311 141 U 107?

The ship La Eogne, 1,331 tone, Captain Wazataff,
chartered by the Agent• General for New South Wales,
sailed from Plymouth for Sydney on Thursday in last week
with 462 emigrants.

Twelvo special jiirors failed to answer to their
names in the Crown Court of the Chester Assizes on Satur-
day, and Lord Chief justioe Coleridge stated that he would
fine the absentees £2O each.

There were 24 British and foreign wrecks reported
during the past week, making a total of 883 for the present
year, or a decrease of 172 as compared with corresponding
period of last year. The approximate value of property lost
was £122,000, including British, £47,600.

The following cable message has been received at the
Lndon ifflee of the New York Herald from New York :
" Extensive depres•ion with rain., will probab'y resch British
and Norwegian coasts, attended by strong south-east to
south-west winds, about August 1; disturbance will probably
develope increased energy east of Ir,ngitude SO."

Galignani's Messenger of Monday presented a curious
appearance, the eoo d page being entirely blank, save the
following notice at the corner :—" At the moment of going
to press an accident occurred to the second page of our
Journal, which was entirely smashed. We count on the in-
dulgence of our subscribers in presence of so serious an
accident."
At Chelmsford Church, on Sunday morning, a bank
note for £L,OOO was placed in the offertory bag, with direc-
tions for one-half the amount to be devoted to the Chelms-
ford Infirmary, and the other half to the Chelmsford Dis-
pensary.

- -
The total number of " recompenses " of all sorts to
be accorded to the exhibitors in the Paris Exhib tion is
dant, ively Axed at 29.600 They will comprise 2,600 gold
medals, 6,400 silver, 10 000 bronze, and 10 600 honourable
mentions. The tot.l number of exhibitors is 53,005.
Great excitement has been caused in Inverary by
the news of Lord L,Tne's appolntment as Governor-General
ottanada. There is general satisfaction at the selection of
the young chief for so honourable and responsible a position,
and the utmost confidence is expressed that he will justify
the choice.

"The condition of the barley crop in the East of
England is pitiful. On hundreds of acres of heavy land,
where from ten to twelve sacks of good malting barley are
commonly grown, I have lately seen crops that cannot yield
more than five or six sacks The earliest sown crof s are the
best, and some of these are very fine; but they de not
amount to more than ten per cent of the whole, the rest
being indifferent or bad."—Mark Lane Express.

On Monday Lord Chief Justice Cockburn nad to
leave the Bench at Liverpool Assizes, owing to slight indis-
position. His place was taken by Mr. Arpinall, Q C., the
Recorder of Liverpool.

"Canada claims to have sent us last year 7,665
head of live stock How many of these were brought from
the United States by Canadian dealers? The fact is, that
Canada has no cattle of any consequence to spare."—Mark
Lane Express.

"Several farmers in Essex, who commenced wheat-
rotting early last week, had to give up for a few (jays, because
the grain was not as ripe as the appearance of the straw led
them to suppose. To-day, however, cutting in many in-
stances has been resumed; but on back wArd farms in the
county harvest will not commence till Alosulay next."—Mark
Lane Express.

The Austrian troops hare entered Bosnia, and the
Archduke John Salvator has sent a telegram to the Emperor
stating that he was the first to tvuen Bosnian soil, where
he planted the Austrian flag.
Major Borrowes, a landowner in Kildare, stated at
the meeting of the frith Royal Agricultural Society, that a
green insect has appeared in the turnip fields of that
cowity, about a quarter of an inch long, which in a very
short time destroys the tops of the plants in fields of con-
siderable size.

"Prince Bismarck's daily letters from Kissingen to
Kaiser Wilhelm are of a most affectionate and, at the same
time, amusing character. The Iron Chancellor is a first-
rate descriptive writer, and his private correspondence as a
rule teems with true poetry and feeling. I have seen some
of them, and I can vouch for their being all this. Ills letters
written to his 'little pet' sister, liialwine, and to his wife
are simply charming, and unrivalled in point of affection and
graphic description."—Whitehall Review.

In presenting the prizes on Saturday to the
successful candidates of the lia.stlngs centre, in the Cam-
bridge University Local Examinations, Mr. G. B. Gregory,
M.P , expressed a wish that greater facilities were offered by
the Universities to young men of the middle classes. Under
the existing system, no one could obtain a degree within
three years residence, and it being difficult for a young man
to come up to the standard of matriculation under 18, taking
that time in connection with the preparation for his pro-
fession, the man was nearly 26 years old before he was in a
position to earn a shilling.

At the Petty Sessiors at Christchurch a number of
persons were fined in mitt ated penalties for allowing dogs
to run at large without being under proper control, contrary
to the regulations of An order issued by the magistrates a
short time ago The Chairrmui of the Bench stated that
stray dogs were beciming a great nuisance, and they were
determined to stringently enforce the order they had issued
to keep dogs under proper control.

A toy-maker has turned out a little penny toy which
represents the late Premier as a woodcutter. The toy,
which teems to et.loy much popularity with the young, is
called "Gladstone's Overtime."—Echo.

The Agent-General for New South Wales has been
Informed by telegram of the arrival in Syduey of the ship
&-muel Plimsoll, which sailed from Plymouth with emi-
grants in May last.

A further general reduction of wages appears to be
threatening the miners in South Yorkshire. The colliery-
owners complain that they are working the pits at a loss,
and a reduction of 7i per cent is spoken of The men erince
a strong disposition to resist the proposed decrease, and
should a disagreement on the subject take place, there will
be deep and widespread distress in the district. The
Sheffield Telegraph's correspondents report that emigration
has al,eddj, in some instances, been resorted to, and a more
general exodus is apprehended.

The Leeds Ahrcury reports a narrow escape front
drowning at Scarborough. Two women who were bathing
were being carried away from thetr machine by an under-
current, when Mr. Baritborough, a risitor, rushed into the
water and with great difficulty rescued them.

The Bishop of Manchester presided on Tuesday at a
meeting held in the Manchester T.iwn Hall for the purpose
of raising funds to relieve the sufferers from the famine in
China. Sir rhomas Wade having addressed the meetingl
resolutions were passed in support of the object in view.

A singular and Fad accident, resulting in the death
of a little boy, occurred at Newhaven on Saturday, while his
parents were at dinner. ins cowl cinuueu tow a
wheeled market cart, containiug several sacks of potatoes
that had been left on the road outside his father's house, and
in getting up the back of the vehicle the cart tilted up,
throwing the potatoes with great force on to the boy, who
was subsequently found quite dead. At the inquest held on
Tuesdav, the medical man we," of opinion that death bad
erpmed through accidental suffocation, and a verdict was re-
corded to that effect.

" The philoaophy of the corn market is peculiar.
For several weeks the country has been languishing for
rain; yet w e are told that on account of the ' brilliant
weather' prices have gone tiown. Now, twenty-four hours'
rain three weeks ago would have probably given us twenty
per cent. more bar.ey and ten per cent. more wheat; but
If we had been blessed with such a dedrable down-fall
markets would have gone up."--Mark Lane Express.
A successful trial of a flying machine bas been made
at Hartford, Connecticut, According to a Transatlantic
paper, the Methodist .Recorder, it went up the height of fully
250 feet, past the spire of the Colt Memorial Church, and
sailed until over the Connecticut river, the operator mean-
while exhibiting his power to change its altitude and direc-
tion at will When he ascended there was but little wind
blowing, and the machine appeared to be under perfect
control; but gradually a breeze sprang up, and it was
deemed Welt to make a speedy return, as there were indica-
tions in the sky of a gathering storm. The machine turned
and made its way back in the te,th of the wind, until
directly over the base-ball ground, whence it had ascended,
and then alighted within a few feet of the point from which
it had started.

C,nsequent upon the extensive forgery of French
Bank notes, the Bank of France has resolved to issue a new
description of note, thought to be impossible to forge. The
old notes are to be withdrawn from circulation.

It appears from a retort' just issued that 106,111
cattle, of the value .1 £1.982,140, 390,507 sheep and lambs,
of the value of £8459,983. and 19 332 seine, of the value
of £71,255, were imported into the United Kitn:dom
in the six months ended the 30.11 June, 1878 ; ag inst
85,990 cattle, of the value of £1,517.324, 411,743 sheep
and lamns, of the value of £952,164. and 5,453 swine, of the
value oi £22,145, in the same period last year. In the first
half of the present year the quantity of dead meat, fresh and
salted (exclusive of bacon and hams), imported into the
United Kingdom was 924,712 cwts.,auil the value £22,221,928.
Last year the quantity for the same period was 931,315
cwts., and the value £2,393,291.

A sad accident occurred on Monday at Den Finella,
a romantic spot near Montrose, Forfarshtre. ileury Milne,
19 years of age, while playing with some companions in the
Den, appro.ched too near a precipice, and fell over, a
descent of 100 feet. His body was rec,,vered by means of
ropes. He had sustained a severe fracture of the skull, and
life was extinct. A man who attempted the lad's rescue also
fell over, and was caught between two rocks, where he stuck
and was rescued by ropes.