The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-03-10 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Exceptionally high tides are expected in the Thames
on and about March 11.
In the debate on the Addreflp no fewer than 172
speeches were clelived. The Conservatives delivered
66 set speeches, the Irish members delivered 54, and
the Liberals 52.

The Prince of Wales, with the Crown Prince and
Crown Princess of Germany, attended Divine service
at the English chapel in gerlf,n o;i Sunday last.

Lord Toilemache has decided to construct four silos
:at Peckforton Castle for preserviog ensilage.
New York is now happy. For years she has been
trying to pay in 1,000,000 dole, to the Custom House
in a single day, but did not succeed until the other
day, when the sum received was 1,107,336 dole.

The Dunlap Grain Elevator, at 'New York, with
150,000 buBh3lB of corn, waa burnt on Saturday. The
falling walls killed three persons and injured eight,
chiefly in an aloining buildingt which they crushed.
Dr. Cameron will take an early opportunity of re-
peating his motion of last session That the time
has arrived when the minimum charge for inland
postal telegrams should be reduced to sixpence."
At the next May meeting of the Baptist community
a motion will, it is stated, be made calling upon all
members of that denomination who hold Excise
licences to give them up and abandon the liquor
traffic.

The number of students now attending thp conser-
vatory of Music at Stuttgart is ttBi. Of these, 164—p
of the male and 114 of the female sez---intend making
music their profeosion, During the winter half, 732
lessons were given every week by 38 male and 4 female
teachers.

The Grocers' Company of London have contributed
£5OO for the restoration of Peterborough Cathedral.
The fund has now reached £12,000.
"The Goose with the Golchn Eggs?" said Mrs.
Ramsbotham. " Ah, I suppose that was one of the
geese that saved the capital—a thing very few zeNe
do in the present day."—Punch.

In answer to the rec,tuest oi their servants at Bristol
for an iroace`'.oi pay, the Great Western Railway
directors have intimated that an advance will be
granted to the younger men of is.. per week. A more
substantial increase will be given to the older servants.
The question of shorter hours is being further c.on-
sidered by the directors.
Arrangements rjra sated by the itindoo Patriot to
be !nal:in:Ai the Indus Valley State Railway for iria
proving the third•class accommodation by introducing
carriages "fitted with bathroom appliances." This,
it is observed, will prove a great convenience to
passengers, and may fitly be adopted for all otl.;:c
lines.
The French Ministry of LjazLia are having no fewer
than 46 vogs.s c.c::.stritotad at the present moment, 31
in the Government dockyards and 15 by private firms.
Fourteen of these vessels are ironclath, representing a
value of 126,00%000 francs (25,040,000). Two, the
Admiral Baudin and the Formidable, will cost
11,500,000 francs (2406,000) each. Eight others wlll
cost each more than three•quarters of that sum.
„ .

A marble tablet erected by the Municipality of
Rome on the house at one time occupied by Mr.
Samuel Morse, the telegraph inventor, was unwvered
on Monday in presence of the authorities.
The President of the Belgian Ecclesiastical
Academy presented the Pope on Sumoky with the sum
of 125,0001. for Peter's Pence, sent b 7 the diocese of
Mechlin.

"Kindness to animals is not always thrown away
A couple of months' attention to a promising chick
has resulted before this in a fine fat bird."—Fun.

Bradford merchants and manufacturers express
great disappointment at the new American tariff. On
low worsted goods there is an addition of twopence
per yard, and on all wool stuffs there is an addition
equal to about twopence halfpenny. The new tariff
will come into force on the Ist July.
The total exports from Melbourne, Adelaide,
Sydney and Queensland to Great Britain for the past
month were :—Wcol, 72,000 hales; tallow, 3,600
casks; copper, 400 tons; copper ore, 300 tons; wheat,
29,000 quarters; flour, 700 tons; tin, 15,000 ingots.
The ship Nagpore, Captain Phillips, left Plymouth
on the 2nd inst. for Brisbane, having on board 179
single men, 75 single women, 46 married couples, 64
children, and 19 infants, making a total of 429 souls,
equal to 378 statute adults.
Mr. Augustus Craven, who has been engaged for
two years on a French version of the Prince Consort's
Life, has completed his task. Mr. Craven has (the
Times says) done his utmost, with the author's
sanction, to condense Sir Theodore Martin's five
volumes into two, without omitting a single letter
written by the Queen, or one of those thoughtful
memoranda made by Prince Albert, which will show
French readers what a remarkable man he was.

A severe shock of earthquake was experienced at
Nicobia, Cyprus, on Monday. It was felt throughout
the island. No damage or loss of life is reported.
Prince Bismarck is gradually recovering his strength
the inflammation of the veins from which he has suf-
fered having somewhat decreased. He is now able to
resume his out-door walks.

In a Parochial Board Election at Edinburgh the
other day two lady candidates were returned, one of
them being placed at the head of the poll. This is the
first occasion in Scotland of ladies being elected to
Parochial Boards.

The sword of honctur presented by the inhabitants of
Cairo to Lord Wolseley has been forwarded to his
lordship through the Foreign Office. It is of the most
costly and magnificent workmanship.

The late Herr Wagner was haunted both in life and
death by the fatal number "thirteen." He was born
in 1813, and died on February 13th. The letters to
his name amounted to 13, his second marriage num-
bered 13 years.
On Saturday a labourer employed at the Proof
House, Birmingham, had his brains blown out.
While charging a gun-barrel for testing purposes the
charge exploded and entered his head.
The other day Mr. Jacob Bright handed in at the
House of Conamons a monster petition, bearing no
fewer than 129,907 signatures, from Manchester,
Salford, and district, praying the House to dispense
with the Standing Orders in the case of the Man-
cheater Ship Canal Bill.
Mr. John Jones, Registrar of the Swansea Caunty
Court, dropped dead in an anteroom of the court on
Monday afternoon, after trying a number of nude-
feuded cam.

A Bill to Amend the Church Discipline Act and the
Public Worship Regulation Act; and a Bill for
Closing Public-houses in England, making provision
for the sale of beer for consumption off the premises
durins certain limited hours, and for the exceptional
requirements of large towns on Sundays, have been
Issued.

From next May there will be a "lightning train"
between Paris and Vienna, the transit occupying 27
hours; and the journey from Paris to Constantinople
will be reduced from 111 to 78 hours.
Mr. John Layton, vestry clerk of Islington, died sud-
denly at his residence, 39, Canonbury-square, London,
on Sunday night last, The deceased gentleman, who
was 72 years old, having just returned from church,
complained of a pain at the heart, and expired in his
chair within a sew minutes afterwards from—it is
believed—disease of the heart. He had previously
appeared to be in his usual good health.
A. handsomc silver tea and coffee service, with silver
salver, has been presented to Mr. Blanchard Jerrold
by a few of his political and literary friends, in reccg.
nition of twenty-five years of literary and journalistic
services rendered by him to the Liberal cause.
Tbe chief veterinary surgeon of the Paris Prefecture
of Police has issued a report for the past year upon
the subject of hydrophobia, from which it appears that
ten persons died from the effects of bites as comparbd
with 23 in 1881, thus showing a diminution of more
than one-half.

Mr. Gladstone has not been adversely affected by
the cold weather of the last two days. He attended
church on Sunday, and also took walking exercise.
There were many callers at Downing•street during
the day to inquire after the health of the Premier.

Mr. Borlase, M.P., has been elected President of
the Farmers' Alliance in room of Mr. J. Howard,
M.P., who has resigned.
Notwithstanding the favourable change in the
weather, the takes of salmon fell off during last week.
The River Tweed is In good order. The fishing has
now commenced at the seaside fisheries, and at Goswick
thero bl=ve been large takes.
Sir tul Samuel, K.C.M.G., Agent-Go:lora' for
New South Wales, bas been inforr4ed by telegram
of the arrival in Sydney of the ship 'login Castle,
which sailed from Plymouth with emigrants in
November last.,
The goods and passengers guards of the Midland
Railway, who have been agitating for an increase of
wages have been informei by the directors that after
careful consideration they cannot see their way to
grant the rise asked for. The condition of the labour
market is such that alisiogt any number of trustworthy
men can be obtained.

Tne new basic process of ironmaking promises to be
of some benefit to agriculturists, for in parts of
Germany the slag is so rich in phosphoric acid that
it will pay to grind it to powder, and use it as an
autumn dressing for ploughed land, the exposure
during the winter oxidising the noxious ingredients,
and leaving the valuable constituents in the soil.

A new fivotory law will come into operation through-
out the Russian Empire on the first of May next,
regulating the employment of minors in factories.
Children under twelve years of age are not to be em-
ployed under any pretence whatever, while from the
ages of twelve to fifteen they must not be allowed to
work during more than eight hours a day. In the
latter case, moreover, they must attend school at least
three hours a day.
She (alluding to the telegraph wires). "What
beautiful music they make as the wind strikes against
them; and how wonderful the speed with which our
thoughts are conveyed I "—He. "Speed I I don't
know about speed. I wired to Uncle Jack for ten
pounds five weeks ago, and I haven't got an answer
Yet I "—Moonshine.

Forty-four British and foreign actual shipwrecks
were reported during last week, making a total of 474
for the present year, or an increase of 150 as compared
with the corresponding period of last year. British.
owned vessels numbered 19; ten were steamers, with
an aggregate tonnage of 6,961 tons, seven being British
steamers, with a tonnage of 3,811 tons. Total tonnage
lost for the week, 16,332 tons, Total number of lives
lost and missing; 117.
The Island of Foula, about twenty miles west of
Shetland, and containing about three hundred in-
habitants, has been isolated by continuous storms
from the mainland during the whole of this year until
last Saturday, when a boat managed to reach it with
provisions. The people were found to be in a terrible
state of destitution, and many of them must have
been starved to death but for this neighbourly succour.
A County Conference on the Sunday Cloaing Ques-
tion has been held at Newcastle-con-Tyne, under the
presidency of the Biabcp, who strongly advocated the
closing of public-houses on the Sabbath, as the move-
n-4n: atone, he said, from the working classes them-
selves. Resolutions in favour of a Bill being intro-
duced into Parliament for Newcastle-on-Tyne and
Northumberland were carried, and it was decided to
request Mr. Burt to take charge of the memorial, and
other local members to support it.
(In gaturday, at a meeting of the Scottish Farmers'
Alliance, the opinion was unanimously adopted that
the landlord's fertility in the soil should be thieci at a
fair annual value in rent ; that all additional fertility
accumulated in the soil by the pital, industry, and
skill of the tenant shook! ty Act of Parliament be the
property of the t?sait ; that in valuing the fertility of
the proerty the prospective effects of unapplied pur-
chased manures upon the soil should not be taken into
account, but valued simply at its own worth, as it
stands alone; and that the act should apply to pre-
sent as well as future leases, but where tenants have
improved their holdings under present leases the
improvements should be the property of the tenants.

The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens,
Regents Park, Londoli, during last week included twO
common marmosets from Brazil, two L.razilian
caracaras from Uruguay, presented Ly Mr. D. F.
Mackenzie; a rook, a commo magpie, British, pre-
sented by Mr. C. L. Su;herland ; a lump fish, British
seas presented by Mr. WA K. Stanley n bonnet
monkey, from India, deposited; a Humlloldt's saki
from the Amazons, a squirrel monkey from Guiana,
two red-vented bulbuls from India, a crested black
eagle from Wet Africa, a cirl bunting, British, pur-
chased ; a zebu, five brown-tailed Gerbilles, born in
the Gardens.

The Lord Chief Justice, inUaddressing the grand
jury at the opening of the assizes for the county u"i
Meath, said he had to congratulate them on t 2 great
decrease of crime of every description, td especiany
of agrarian crime, which had nlmost entirely disap-
peared. He was also glza to say that that unpleasant
description of c,rline, sending threatening letters, id
al3u gatly diminished, and that a more plaasant,
more quiet, and happier state of things seemed to have
arisen In the country.

On Saturday "General" Booth and Birs. Booth
made what was termed triumphant public entry into
Sheffield, arriving by the express from London. There
was an immease crowd, numbering at least, '50,000, at
tb; station and a strong force of police under the
chief constable was present to prevsnt a repetition of
the riots which took place on the lait occasion. There
was no disturbance whatever. The procession was
headcd by four "military " bands, and it marched
through the streets to the tune of "The Golden
Slipper"

Gli4tistone, who returned to the House of
Commons on Monday afternoon, was loudly cheered
on passing through Palace-yard. Ye was accompanied
by Airs. Gladstone, who remained for a short time in
the Ladi,s' Gallery.—The completeness of Mr. Glad-
stone's recovery has surprised his friends, and they
believe that he will he able to endure the fatigues of
the Session without difficulty. He has, however,
la‘,,gp cautioned against the danger of overwork, and it
is understood that he will take the duties of the Ses-
sion as lightly and way as