The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-03-21 00:00:00

SATURD&Y, MARCH 21, 18b5

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L a
THE FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN IRELAND.-411 157,nr0.,
printing press. with a fount of Irish tYPe, was
vided at the expense of Queen Elizabeth and sent
Dublin; and the first book printed in Ireland in ea'
character was a catechism.
COLOSSAL LIBRARY.—The Berlin Royal LibrarT,..is.9
about to be considerably enlarged. Not only does lu'd
institution receive gratis a copy of every book allw
pamphlet printed in Prussia, but it expends no less e
sum than 96,000 marks annually in the purchase
_

books.
COMICAL Eunon.—ln a fashionable novel the author
says: "Lady Emma trembled, grew pale, and b 31,131
diately fainted." The printer, putting "p" insteau °
“1,,, rendered it, "The lady grew pale, and immediatey
painted."
EXTRAORDINARY PRICB.—It is stated that the bait
length portrait by Gainsborough of Mrs. Hibbert,
'
Chalfcnt, shown in the Exhibition of Old blasters a
Burlington House recently, has been sold at the extra"
ordinney price of 10,000 guineas.
ENVELOPE MANUFACTURERS.—The number of ercfr
lopes manufactured yearly in the United Kingdom
estimated at 700 million,while in the United Statea ttel
amen/It to 2503 million. If hand-labour were el?.
pelled to do the work now done by machines in sile_LY
making envelopes, taking no,accoinst of the
done hv cnme of them, the services would be reg4l-
- 275,n( 0 workpeople.
TEF ZOOLOGICAL SocirrY.—The additions to elf e
Zoological Society's Gardens during the past wee ,10,,u;
elude a dwarf common ass from Tripoli, present'
Mr. J. Skelding ; a bonnet monkey, a Macaque rnonkei
from India, presented by Mrs. M. Strachan Carne.„...gie ;
an Alexandrine parakeet from India, presented by Dr,
Abbott; two common gulls, two black-headed gur„,
British, presented by Mr. F. Mosley, F.Z.S. ; a r
kangaroo from South Australia, three coal tits, Brim"'
purchased-
a
PARIS WAIFS AND STRAYS.—At the fifth --- nn f
meeting of the Paris Society for the Protection ef
Abandoned Children, it was stated that the ntunber °
cases undertaken by the society were greatly on the.
increase, the numbers of 1883 being 700, while those 0f
1884 were 1745, and they were now at 2228. M. Bcal.:
jean the president, stated that there were at let"
10,060 little little strays of both sexes who stood
need of the good offices of the society. Fortunate,
the latter is in a most prosperous condition, possessirlhg.
at the present time a member list of 12,648, with a saw
scription of 171,000 f., while in 1881 the members onlf
amounted to 2040, and the annual subscriptions t°

56,811 f.
LAST WEEK'S WnEcxs.—The number of actual shirt
wrecks reported last week was 36, making a total s'
227 for the year. Fifteen were British vessels, 6c6
being steamers. Eight British vessels were lost off the
British Isles and one Dutch. By collision six vessel°
went down, of which five were British, off the Britl
coasts. Lives lost 38. Corresponding week of Is°
year: Wrecks, 23; total for the year, 449; off British
Isles, nine; collision, two.
THE LATE GENERAL EARLI.—In sending a donstl°Li
to the Liverpool fund for a memorial to the Is,'
General Earle, the Prince of Wales wrote that "it Iv'
most unusual for him to subscribe to any local rclera°:
rial, but he, however, made an exception in this case
account of his former connexion with the GrenakoeS
Guards when the late General Earl was adjutant, 5!,1
also in respect to the great admiration which he bs'
for the late General's qualities."
A TEMPLE OF JUNO.—The ruins of a Temple of JO°
have been recently laid bare at Civita Lavinia, not far
from Rome. Fragnmnts of sculpture have been La!'
covered which formed part of a square block of raw"'
The fine character of the work leads to the suPpositioa
that if not actually Greek, they were executed aide:
Greek influence. There have also been found under
the head of a goddess and six torsos of warriors clad
armour, also a head of Jupiter in a very good presetc-.
tion. The excavations are still in progress.
DISCOVERY OF A MISSING QUARTET.-A
string quartet in G, by the late Sir Sterndale Bennet r
has just been discovered at Brighton by his pupil, 14. b
Thomas Wingham, of the Royal Academy of Ideslici;
The quartet, which is in Sterndale Bennett's autogrs,llo
is in parts, an viola part, which was evidently writ'sit
last, bearing s te Oct. 15, 1831. At that time Benne t
was only 15, and he had been for five years a etude:,
at the Royal Academy of Music. The quartet w
rehearsed at the Academy in 1831, but it was 11°e
performed. Bennett handed the parts to his fellose
student, Mr. John Gledhill, of Brighton, in whose P°°-
session they have since remained.
;n the.
AMERICAN MARRIAGES.—Last year there were .-
City of New York 11,805 marriages. Of these 10
of coloured men to white women, and one of a colourf,..
woman to a white man. Two men were married ithj.,
the fifth time, 3 men and 2 women for the fourth/ 1;79
men and 41 women for the third, and 1545 widocce`o
and 1210 widows of the first power remarried Elece
elf*
bridegrooms and 1 bride were between 70 and 801 a
of age, 16 bridegrooms and two brides between 65,1°635,
70, and 59 bridegrooms and 6 brides between 60 anci,,iB;.
The Dumber of men who married under 20 was b:ed
that of women 2919. The number of m-n who MOD
between 20 and 25 years of age was 4173; of Wolly
6031; 3795 men and 2170 women married between

and 30 years c.f ar-
Sonoor, OF Musre.—The Guildhall School of
was established by the Corporation of London, and /1161.3
opened to the public in September, 1880, with
pupils; at the end of the first term, December,
there were 216 pupils on the register; to date therf;
are 2400 students on the books. The school has e
been open nearly five years, and during this time nto
amount of £50,000 has been received for fees- le•
number of persons included in the institution nlaY
Jll
summarised as follows: Students, 2400;
orchestra, 110; Guildhall choir. 200: tr,f.t, 971 n burlzl I
Corporation give the use of premises in Alderman,lit
for the temporary accommodation of the students ; the
these premises have become totally inadequate fore
purposes of the school. The building contains hil,be
class-rooms, and the rooms are separated by 1'
thinnest of partitions only, so that it is almost Jr
Bible to give or receive a lesson with any degree 05
fort. Upon these facts being reported to the Courvoo
Common Council in July last, the Court directed of
Music Committee to report as to the advisabilitt.n,
building a permanent home for the school, and the.Zi
sult has been that the Music Committee have dec,lnu.:o
to recommend that a piece of ground on the Vie;;;i;f
Embankment be secured, and that a building wesll
the Corporation and the art it has so generoaw
fostered be erected thereon at a cost not exceea 33
l
p 20,000. In the new building it is proposed to have
class rooms, a practice room, and the usual offices-
„prio(ll'
STATISTICS OF JOURNALISM.—The number of nro
cals of all sorts published in the Czar's Empirellt;vo
the Baltic to the Pacific, from the Northern Sea ueb'd
to Turkey and Persia, only equals the number publis
in New York City alone, viz., 625, and is but little Toy
than twice those issued in Philadelphia. For the 490
million population in the United States there are
periodicals; while for the hundred•and one rol,lllieg.
in [Russia there are 625, of which only 63 are daPhio
The whole of Siberia, with its four million soulS: root
only two newspapers and a bi-monthly of a geograPplbi,
society; and the city of Harkoff, with 1251000
tants and a University, has only two dailies any' •o 0
monthlies. While it takes only 4000 persons in An:lerl,ot
to support a periodical, more than 40 times that nu,:ve,e 0
of his Majesty's subjects are requisite to keep airtico
Russian publication. Recently compiled statle„
show that there are at present 45 printing.officelo
Stamboul, and 23 at Galata and Pera, from whicli
issued 21 periodicals, of which nine are daily 13%0
papers. Twenty-one provinces possess official 30er„001
dealing with local affairs; and in 19 provinces
report are printed in connection with the adccdineci
tion. Newspaper enterprise in Japan is making Ini'olat
progress, for no fewer than three of the vereacoot
journals published at Tokio and one at Robe havenf tbe
special correspondents to report the proceeding_g "nof
hostilities between France and China. In the 1° e 0
Presidency last year 1434 native publications ' tte
registered, this number being 263 more than in ~o 4
previous twelvemonth. Of these 1121 were beetots;
613 periodicals, 91 per cent. being in the
languages. The language most in favour • with ay:ego
is Marathi. Texas had but five daily papers 10
ago, and now 29 are published in that State.