The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-06-21 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Commencing on the let of July next, the charge for
patterns or samples of merchandise, as well as for commer-
cial papers, addressed to any of the countries or British
Colonies comprised in the Postal Union will be the same as
the charge for printed papers, but with the proviso that the
lowest charge for a pattern or sample packet will be id,
and that the lowest cage for a packet of commercial
papers will be 20.
Dutch bulbs, exported within the last sixteen
years, have brought Holland an income of over £1,600,000
The demand for bulbs is yearly increasing, and in 1876
alone the Dutch exported bulbs to the value of £140,000.

An accident occurred early on Tuesday morning at
the Longford Station of the London and North-Western
Railway.- Excursion trains from London and Liverpool
were entering the station simultaneously from opposite
directions when Police-constable Capons, of the Warwick-
shire Constabulary, was knocked down by the Liverpool
train and frightfully injured, a leg and a linger being cut off.
He was removed to the Coventry Hospital in a most pre-
carious condition.

The marble statue of Burns, intended to form the
central feature of the Kilmarnock monument to the poet,
has been finished by Mr. Stevenson, of Edinburgh. The in-
auguration, with full masonic honours, will take place on
the 9th of August, Colonel Alexander, M.P., taking the
leading part in the proceedings. The entire work will cost
£3,000, of which the statue will cost £BOO.
At the concluding sitting of the International
Literary Congress, held in London on Saturday afternoon at
the Society of Arts, under the presidency of the Comte
Ferdinand de Lesseps, the chairman announced that he had
jest received a fetter from his son stating that the whole of
the 2,00,000 francs required for the preliminary expenses of
the canal through the Isthmus of Panama had been already
obtained, and that, consequently, the works might be com-
menced immediately. He trusted that general support
would be given to this great enterprise.

Mr. Fisher, the arbitrator in the trade dispute at
Bristol between the master builders and the painters as to a
reduction of wages, having given his decision in favour oT
the men, the employers, at a meeting on Saturday night,
accepted the decision, and unanimously resolved to offer
arbitration to the stonemasons and carpenters.

The telephone is rapidly coming into extensive use
in the United States. In factories and offices Ills employed
to put the inmates in communication with each other, and
they now talk from their de%ks instead of interrupting the
business to seek each other out. It is suggested, in addition,
that friends residing at a suitable distance should use the
telephone for social intercourse, and there seems to be no
serious obstacles in its employment for that purpose.—
Iron.

The number of militia regiments called out for train
lug this year is 157—viz , 97 in England and Wales, 18 in
Scotland, and 44 in Ireland. Of this number, 74 have already
completed, or nearly completed, their training in England
and Wales; 25 in Ireland, and seven in Scotland. The re-
mainder will complete their training between now, and
the 20th of September. The establishment, according to the
recent order issued from the War Office, is 137,582 of all
ranks.

The volunteers of Northampton are about to lead
the way to a further use for the electric light. Arrange-
tnenta have been concluded with the British Electric Light
Company to light the camp of the 3rd Northamptonshire Rifle
Voluhteers at the end of the present month during a week's
camping in the neighbourhood of Northampton For thip
purpose the Gramme machines will be used in conjunction
with powerful electric lamps. Tuere is no doubt that the
substitutioa of the electric light for the old oil lamps will
be much appreciated.

On Monday afternoon immense crowds of persona
flocked to the banks of the Tyne at Newcastle, to witness
the sculling match between William Elliott, of Blyth, and
Edward Banlan, of Toronto, for the Championship of Eng-
land, a challenge cup, and a sum of four hundred pounds.
For a long time before the race the betting had been greatly
in favour of the Canadian, who in the race quickly took the
lead and maintained it throughout the distance of over
three miles, coming in the winner by ten lengtks, in but one
second over twenty-one minutes.

By an Imperial Order, issued on Saturday last at
Si. Petersburg, all authorised District Commandants are per-
mitted, should they consider it necessary, to instruct their
sentinels to carry rifles, and in some cases repeaters, which
are to be loaded and kept half-cocked, in order that they may
have more certain means of defence and protection at their
posts. Sentinels thus armed are enjoined to be cautions
wita their weapons, and not to present arms, but to stand at
attention, when saluting. The Governor of Moscow has in-
stituted watchmen in all villages of the Moscow District.

In reply to a deputation which urged objections to
the Government Banking Bill, the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer has promised to consider the representaticins made,
observing that that part of the measure having regard
especially to the Scotch banks might require amendment,
but he did not think the alarm which bad been expressed re-
specting the proposal that a change in the liability should
be notified in the name of the bank was well founded.

An inquest has been held before the Liverpoo
coroner on the bodies of Charles and W. David Angel, eight
and eleven years of age, who were drowned while bathing in
a pit in a brickfield. The younger child, Charles, went into
the water first, and wading out of his depth, called to his
brother for help. The elder went in to try to save his
brother, and be also got out of his depth. There were some
companions with them, but none could swim. A labourer
named Patrick Carey, hearing what had happened, ran to
the pit and plunged into the water and recovered both
bodies, but life was extinct. Coffey himself was nearly
exhausted by his exertions. The coroner remarked on
Coffey's bravery, and the jury said the matter should be
reported to the Itlye' Humane Society. A verdict of
"Accidentally drowned while bathing" was returned.
The London Gazette states that the Queen has been
pleased to confer the decoration of the Imperial Order of
the Crown of India on Mary, Baroness Napier of Magda& ;
Frances Eliz sbeth, Lady Canynghame (commonly called
the Vonourable Lady Cunynghame) ; and Susanna Marla,
Dowager Lady Pottinger.

There were 2 414 births and 1,351 deaths registered
in London last week. Allowing for increase of population,
the births exceeded by 116, and the deaths (which corres-
ponded with the number in the preceding week) were one
below the average numbers In tne corresponding week of the
last ten years. The annual death-rate from all causes, which
in the twelve preceding weeks bad declined from 300 to
195 per 1,000, was again equal to 79 5. The deaths inaluded
11 from small-pox, 99 from measles, 36 from scarlet-fever, 10
from diphtheria, 42 from whooping-cough, 12 from different
forms of fever, and 18 from diarrlicei.
The Ist Hants Artillery Volunteers attended a
special service at Trinity Church, Southampton, on Sunday
morning by way of thanksgiving for the preservation of the
members of the corps from fatal injury during the bursting
of a 21-pOunder when at shot practice the other day.
The Paris Mint has commenced the coinage of
11,800,000 f. in gold, silver, and bronze pieces for the Servian
Government. I his sum is divided Into 10,000,000 f. in gold.
3,000,000 f. in silver, and the rest in copper. the die adopted
Is that of the Latin Unljn. Servia has no national money
yet, and business has hitherto been transacted in the coins
of the adjoining countries.

-
Subsidies to the following amounts are granted by
the principal cities of Europe to their lyric theatres :
Berlin, 700,0001.; Stuttgard, 625,00 W. ; Dresden, 400,0001. ;
Naples, San Carlos, 300,0001. ; Vienna, Impeiial l'heatre,
300 00°f.; Rome, Apollo, 290,0001.; Copenhagen, 250,0001.•
Carlsruhe and Weimar Theatres, 250,0001. ; Munich'
195,000 f. ; La Scala, 175,0001.; Stockholm, 150,0001. ;
Palermo, Belltul, 120,0001. ; Turin, 60,0001.; Florence,
Pergola, 40,0001. ; Genoa, Carlo Felice, 10,0001.

His Royal Highness Prince Leopold paid a visit on
Monday to the Westminster industrial Exhibition, Victoria-
street, London. Oa his arrival, the Prince was met by the
Right lion. the Speaker, the Rev. Canon Farrar, the Rev.
Mr. Diorthcote, Mr. Fox (the chairman), and several members
of the exhibition committee, by whom he was escorted around
the tent. His Royal Highness was struck with several of
the exhibits, and asked many questions about them, one
particularly, viz., the model of a full-rigged ship, by Quarter-
master ()well, attracting his lively attention. On leaving,
the Prince expresse 1 the satisfaction it had afforded him to
inspect the exhibits.
Charitable ladies in New Orleans give amateur
entertainments every spring to provide funds for the main-
tenance of the poor of the city during the coming winter,
and this year they intend to get up a pantomime, a loan
exhibition, tableaux vivant& by children, and a children's
minstrel show, for this laudable purpoEe. English ladies
with nothing to do might take the hint, and, by the way,
might also copy the recent fashion of children's parties In
New York, where the little ones have been entertained at
simple calico parties, and the dresses worn have afterwards
been given to childish waifs and strays.—Graphic.

The Registrar General's return for the eight prin-
cipal towns of Scotland shows that the 2,451 deaths
registered in May were 401 below the May average for the
last ten years, allowing for increase of population. The 474
marriages were above the 'limber in May, 1878, but were 68
below the month's average for the last ten years. The 3,873
births were fewer than in May in any of the last three years
The deaths include that of a widow, which was registered as
occurring at the age of 104 years.

The Daily News publishes a letter from its special
correspondent who is accompanying the Russian Expedition
into Central Aria. The Russian commander had formerly
notified to the Turcomans that he was about to annex their
territory, but they had made no reply. They are evidently
concentrating their forces, and the correspondent believes
the Russians will meet with a vigorous resistance. The
troops may have to winter in the heart of Turkestan. Every
preparation was being made for a lengthened stay. The
entire column is about 30,000 strong of all arras. Should the
possession of Mery be thoUght necessary for the safety of
the army, it would be occupied.

A consignment of. foreign cattle, which is said to
have been the largest ever received in Dnblin, consisting of
200 Spanish bullocks, arrived from Oporto on Tuesday. It
is intended, should the experiment prove successful, to
establish a rivalry with the supply from America.
The City Press says the authorities of the Post-office
have it in -contemplation to issue some new and important
regulations. Amongst the changes which it is intended to
make is included toe establishment of telegrams Et a six-
penny rate within the London radius, and to be extended to
the country in time; a half-penny postal rate for London and
the suburbs ; and an arrangement whereby invoices and all
written or printed matters not in the actual form of a letter
may be sent throughout the kingdom, in specially prepared
envelopes, at the cost of a halfpenny.
The Times' Correspondent writes :—" The lament-
able accident which occurred in Naples during the proces-
sion of the Corpus Domini has resulted in the death of
Isabella del Medial. Duchess di Sargro (not Sancri, as tele-
graphed). The patty, consisting of the Duke di Martina, the
Duchess di Sangro, her four daughters, the eldest of whom is
married to the Duke di Bagnoll, and a little boy, were
watching the procession from a balcony of the piano nobile,
of their palace, when the fastenings gave way, and, the
balcony falling on that of the piano beneath, the people in
both were precipitated among the crowd below. For-
tunately, all escaped worse injury than that of severe con-
tusions excepting the Duchess, who, striking first on tp:
railing of the lower balcony and thence rebounding into„ua
street, fractured her spine and only survived two hours.

The Duke of Edinburgh, who represented the Qneen
at the celebration of the " Golden Wedo tug" of the
Emperor and Empress of Germany, arrived in Londott on
Tuezay evening.
A dramatic poem, 800 lines long, believed to have
been written by the unfortunate poet Chatterton, has been
found among a lot of old newspapers sold as waste in
London.
A doctor in New York proposes a new field of
usefulness to the medical profession. Ho thinks doctors
have too much leisure, and proposes that they extend their
studies and include the diseases of the lower animals.
Seven bridges on the Warsaw and Vienna Railway
between the lifxsznow and Zawercy stations, have been
carried away by viotot rains, and the traffic is in conse-
quence interrapteil for about a mile along the line.

-
A cairn to commemorate the marriage of the Duke
of Connaught is in course of erection, by the Queen's com-
mand, on Craig Gorman, near Balmoral Castle.

Mr. Donald Mackenzie, the African explorer, sailed
on Monday in the steamer Corsair, bound for Cape -Toby, on
the north-west coast of Africa, where he is about to establish
a trading station.
- _ _

On Sunday morning an awfully sudden death
occurred in St George's-road Congregational Church, Bolton.
Mr. Henry Webster, aged sixty-four, and who had been for
sixteen years a deacon of the church, entered his pew with
his wife live minutes before the service commenced.
He fell back in his pew, was carried to the vestry, and died
almost immediately.
-

-
Her Majesty has approved of the Victoria Cross
being oonferrea upon Lieutenant W. K. P. Hamilton,
Bengal Staff Corps, in recognition of his gallantry whilst
employed on active service is Afghanistan. This makes
the third cross which has been given for the Afghan
campaign.
In the first week of June the Berlin Mint coined
30,058 gold pieces of 20 marks. The Empire now possesses
1,698,320,095 marks in gold.

There are, it is reported, to be field mancenvres on a
large scale In Rustle this summer, in which no leas than
260,000 men, with 830 guns, will take part.

At the Primitive Methodist Conferenoe at Leeds on
Monday, a letter was read from the Right Hon. John Bright,
in which he expressed his willingness to present a petition,
now in course of signature amohgst the connexion, for the
Sunday closing of public-houses.

A telegram from Shanghai reports that the steamer
conveying Sir Thomas Wade, the British minister to Pekin,
has been wrecked south of Shantung. The passengers and
crew were saved, and after lan4ing, received every assist-
ance from the mandarins of the locality.

Returns issued by the American Department of
Agriculture indicate an increase in the area planted with
cotton to be somewhat over 2 per cent., as compared with
that of 1878 The average condition of the crop is ninety-
six, while last year it was ninety-nine.

The total exports from Melbourne, Adelaide, and
Sydney for the past month to Great Britain have been :
Wool, 4,000 hales; tallow, 1,700 casks; copper, 800 tons;
ditto, ore, 1,300 tons; wheat, 40,000 quarters flour, 6,000
tons; tin, 9,000 ingots.

Mr. Joseph Cowen, the hon. member for Newcastle,
will move in the House of Commons at an early date the
following resolution: "That the law respecting the taxes
on railway travelling is ill defined, incapable of being
equally enforced, and requires the immediate attention of
Parliament."

"According to M. Tresca, speaking at the recent
conference at La Sorbonne, 1,100,000 horse-power is utilised
in France alone. This power represents that of 14,000,000 of
men—that is to say, of a population much greater than the
number of working men in the country. The manual labour
accomplished by machinery must have the effect, said the
speaker, of enabling men to devote themselves to intelligent
work."—Electrician.

The seventeenth weekly balanze•sheets of the
Central Executive Committee of the London Engineers on
strike, issued last Saturday, exhibits a diminution in num-
bers, and consequent reduction in expenditure. It refers to
the payment of only 580 men and 950 children, which is a
near approach to one-half the number of engineers and their
children who had to be paid when the men first struck
work over four months ago.

There are some complaints as to the discoloration
of wheat, and the continuance of wet cloudy weather is etill
causing apprehension as to the fate of the cereals, but grass
and clover have made wonderful growth, especially in scot-
land, where good hay crops are urgently needed.

- -
Rumour credits the late Baron Lionel Rothschild
with having amassed a fortune of £13,000,000, seven millions
more than the personalty of Baron Meyer Rothschild, and
seven millions less than that of Baron James, who died
worth £2o,ooo,ooo.—Court Journal.

A medal struck by order of the Czar, displaying a
red cross surrounded by a silver wreath, has lust been pre-
sented to 18 members of the German central committee of
the societies for tendbig the wounded in the field, in recogni-
tion of special services rendered during the Russo-Turkish
war.

A Times' telegram says that a wat.rspout on Thurs-
day night in last week, engulfed an emigrant camp at Buffalo
Gap, Dakota territory, going to the Black Hills. Eleven
persons were drowned.

The last vestige of Temple-bar has now been taken
away by the contractors. Not a stone of the old historical
structure now remains, and in a few days the southern foot-
way which joins the Strand and Fleet-street will be perfectly
cleared of obstruction.

At Chelswortb, in Suffolk, on Monday, a man
named Brown was gored to death by a bull. He had gone
to fetch some cows with which the bull was grazing, when
he was savagely attacked, and when found several of his
ribs were broken, and scarcely a vestige of clothing was
left on his body. - After some difficulty the animal was shot.
- - - - - -

Oa Monday Mr. Brocklehnrst, M.P., opened the
new school of art and science erected in Macclesfield at a
cost of £5,500.

The promenade in the Broad Walk, which always
forms an important part of the proceedings of "Show Sun-
day" at Oxford Commemoration, was well attended on
Sunday evening, despite the threatening state of the
weather. The University sermons at St. Mary's were
preached by Canon Inca and Canon Liddon, the church being
crowded on each occasion.

The piercing of the St. Gothard Tunnel will pro-
bably be completed about the end of November. On the
kirolo side the workmen have reached a point 1,231 metres
from the centre of the mountain, while the works on the
Eloschenen side are only 649 metres from the centre. The
junction of the two galleries will, therefore, probably be
made some 300 metres from the centre on the southern
tide.

The Metropolitan Railway Company contemplate
introducing the electric light in all their underground rail-
way stations.
Sir Charles Rowley has announced his intention to
remit 10 per cent. of his rents —Lord ftendlesham, has
determlned, 4, consequence of the low prices of farm pro-
duce, to remit 10 per cent, of the half year's rent payable by
hid tinau s In Hertfordshire.

The steam tramway between Rome and Tivoli was
Inaugurated on June 15. The whole population of Tivoli
turned out to witness the arrival of the first train, salutini,
it with unbounded enthusiasm. The town was gaily decora-
ted with figs throughout. The guests, some 200 in number,
invited to make the trial trip, were entertained by the Syndic
and the communal authorities at Tivoli at a splendid dejeuner
al fresco in the wood overlooking the Campagna.

The comedy of Our Boys has been played 1,350
times consecntively at a London theatre, and will soon be
followed by Our Girls. It is different in our country, says
the Norristown herald. Here our girls are followed by our
boys. But perhaps it is leap year in Eugland.

-
A deputation consisting of about thirty delegates,
representing the various temperance societies of the
metropolis, headed by Cardinal Manning, presented to the
Home Secretary on Saturday a memorial requesting him to
use his influence in obtaining a pure and plentiful supply of
water for Loudon. •

An Indian paper mentions that bamboo poles for
use as telegraph posts are being sent to Natal from Madras.

The Prince and Princess of Wales and their
daughters returned to London on Monday from Cowarth
Park. In the evening the Prince of Wales went to the
Gaiety Theatre, to witness the performance of " L'Ami
Fritz" by the members of the Comddie Francaise.

Colonel J. T. Smith, in presiding at the annual
meeting of the Madras Railway Company, in referring
to the causes of increased expenditure and diminution of
profit, mentioned that the company bad suffered consider-
ably by heavy robberies during the famine, brought about by
the poor famished creatures daring the night breaking into
the company's stations, cutting open the bags, and stealing
the contents, notwithstanding the employment of additional
police. _ _ _

The ship La Hogue, 1,331 tons, chartered by the
Agent-General for New South Wales, sailed from Plymouth
for Sydney, on the 12th inst. with 475 emigrants -The
Agent-General has been informed by telegram of the arrival
in Sydney of the ship Samuel Plimsoll, which sailed from
Plymouth with emigrants in March last.