The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-03-01 00:00:00

medals
coaeudntcihrl gold
o(ltdo
three sliver medals for tArhetabesotffsenrgthertione
be sent to the soeiety's office by April 26) for dividing Eng-
land Into watershed districts, for the supply of pare water
to the towns and villages in each district.
There are seventy-six sheep-raisers in Webb comity,
Texas, owning from 1,000 to 80,000 head each.
It is stated to be intended by the Dominion Govern-
ment to urge the British authorities to allow the shipment,
through Canadian ports of cattte from the Western States
of America, where
no A —lse", exists. Provided the Dominion
Government take the necessary steps to guard against con-
tagion from he East.
The Duke of Norfolk has, on behalf of the Catholic
Union of
nGgrreaattußrittnagin sent a Latin telegram to Pope Leo
oo lat him on the first anniversary of his
accession to the Pontificate.

•
The result of the last recruitment for the Russian
army is as follows :—Seven hundred and fifty-nine thousand
young men, artivtd at the age rendering them liable to con-
scription, but of these 190,000 were returned as enjoying
various privileges of exemption; 218,000 rf crults were
actually summoned to join the colours, and of these 3n.
or about 3i per cent —absconded. All the truants belong to
the present Polish provinces or to the districts bordering
thereon, with a very few exceptions,-who are natives of the
Tartar provinces of the South.
The Paris Municipality has taken charge of the
Aquarium constructekin the grounds of the Trocaddro for
the Universal Exhibition. Portions of the rockwork, which
had given way when the snow melted, are being rebuilt, and
the whole place has been warmed by means of hotrair tubes.
It has been remarked that since this has been effected the
thousands of little trout have grown considerably in size,
and those who fast on excellent fish will be glad to learn
that the appetites of the 'eleven hundred salmon, which are
now rather more than an inch long, have much increased.
French breeders have bean invited to take part in
the; laternational Cattle Show to be held at Kilburn, under
the patronage of the Prince of Wales, on June 30.
At the half-yearly meeting of the London and
North Wtstern Railway, the Chairman, whilst regretting
that one passenger had been killed during the six months,
mentioned that 25,000,000 persons had been carried over the
line in that period.
It is expected that the evacuation by the Russian
troops of their poaitions round Adrianople, which com-
menced on the /Bth inst., will be completed by the .Bth of
March. The passage of the military train is impeded by the
conditiohof the roads aid the overffow of the rivert.
It is stated that. it was necessary to obtain fifty•two
men to make up the stall strength of the 17th Lancers, ordered
for active service innululand. Apiolication was made to the
E.th Lancers, now stationed at Brighton, and Immediately no
less th,da 170 of the gallant fellows stepped forward and
volunteered I

A French enthusiast in aaostation has announced
to the Geographical Society of Paris his intention to explore
the globe in a new form of Montgoliler balloon, *He asserts
that he can store the means of keeping the requiriid heat and
maintain a sufficient altitude for several weeks together.
The iron barque Scottish Lassie, 852 tons, Captain
Le Couteur, sailed from Gravesend on the 21st that., bound
for Rockhampton, and had on board 31 married men, 32
married women, 145 single men, 72 single -women, le
children and 9 infants, making a total of 305 son's, eqnalt)
288 statute adults. The single women are under the care of
Miss Macallister, Dr. M. J. O'Sullivan acting as Surgeon-
Superintendent
London hansoms are beirg sent to Paris. Whois
to drive them 2 Tha Paris Jehu cannot; will the English
c•tbby know the way about Paris streets, and if he does, how
will he understand the language? We shall soon be seeing
an advertisement somewhat after this fashion : "Wanted,
a few accomplished cabmen, who can speak French, and
drive to an inch. Apply, ikc." For not only speaking
French, but driving to an inch will be positively required to
avoid the extraordinary movements of the ordinary Paris
voitures —Court Journal. •
The decline in the whale fishery is brought forward
by Captain Howuate as an inducement for the Unite 4 States
Government to found an Arctic Colony at Lady Franklin Bay.
Whether it is owing to a diminution in their numbers, or
whether the whales have learnt to appreciate the meaning
of the periodical visits of ships, it is certain they are not met
with so frequently in the old fishing ground. Probably
Agassiz and others were correct in their belief that the
whales had taken refuge in the great Polar basin, and if so
the establishment of a colony at the head of Smith Sound
' would enable the whalers to reach higher latitudes—Court
Journal. •

A relic of Luther will shortly be seen at a London
bookseller's. It is a bible formerly belonging to him, and
containing sixteen antoeraph lines, with his signature and
the date 1542.

The lady lawyers are going ahead in the United
States. In spite of the determination of the Judges of the
Supreme Court not to allow their admission, a Bill has
passed through the Senate providing that any woman who
shall have been a member of the highest Court in any
State or Territory, or of the Supreme Court of the District
of Columbia, for three years, may be admitted to the
Supreme Court.
At a meeting on Monday of the General Committee
at Birmingham, the Mayor explained that it had been in-
tended to close the relief fund at once, but the return of
severe weather had upset the calculations of the ward com-
mittees. Apart from the weather, however, he found that
there were numerous cases of special distress. The average
number of persons•relieved weekly since the opening of the
fund was 51,625, or a total of 423,000. The relief fund now
amounted to £10,223, the largest sum, he believed, which
had ben raised by any town in the country. Of the £1,248
now in hand it was decided to spend £.460 during the ensuing
week.
The New York correspondent of the Philadelphia
Publye Ledger, writing on the 13th inst., says :—"The town
seems to be going 'Pinafore' mad—so to speak. The opera
is sung this evening at no fewer than five different establish-
ments, besides which there is not an organ grinder in the
street that is not trying his hand at the same thing. A
noticeable feature of the furore is the presence of the
children from some of thepubLic institutions on free ad-
missions."
The most wonderful minera discovery yet made is
that of immense beds of mineral wax in Southern Utah and
Arizona, and in the Sierra Madre Mountains, about fifty
miles north-west of Los Angeles, California: .It is the smelts
the Zietriskisite, or the Roumanian mineral wax. It differs
from paraffin, by being insoluble in ether, and in other
respects. It is a snow-white resinous substance, softer aria
lighter than chalk, and burns with great brilliancy till con-
sumed, leaving no ashes.— In • European countries this
curious and valuable mineral is found in small quantities;
but, in America, we have here found it in beds said to be as
much as :twenty feet in thickness, and extending over many
square miles.
The ship Peterborough, 1,680 tons, Captain
Gardiner, chartered by the Agent-General for New South
Wales, sailed from Plymouth for Sydney on Saturday last,
, with 512 emigrants, under the supervision of Mr. W. H.
Goode, as Surgeon-Superintendent, with Miss Cullen, in
charge of the single women.
In order that some idea may be formed of the work
the Paris Exhibition Lottery Committee still have to per-
form, it may be stated that it took twelve waggons to trans-
port to the Pavilion de Fiore, at the Palace of the Louvre
the books from which the tickets were cut. The persons
employed at the Bureaux of the Lottery IS the Palace of In-
dustry will continue their labours at the place above named,
having bad to clear the way for the Cattle Show at the
Palace of• Industry.
A long-lost painting by Mignard, which had die-
'axed since the Revolution, has been found in an old

appear
Norman church at Ecouche. An artist, engaged there in
restoring some sacred pictures, considered one of the paint-
ings so damaged that it was sent to Parts, and here, on the
canvas being cleaned, a valuable "Sleeping Infant Jesus,"
signed by Mignard, was discovered under a thick crust of
dirt and colouring. The picture, which belongs to the
cure of the church, has been restored and replaced in the
building; but its owner Intends to bequeath it to the
Louvre.
French Prefects are to have a new and splendki uni-
form instead of the ordinary silver-embroidered co e.% at pre-
sent in use. The new costume will consist of a military
pelisse, like those worn by staff officers, adorned with em-
broidery, and frogged with black silk cords, while the army
kepi will also be adopted.
Cremation in Gotha is meeting with copsiderable
• the ,olicP lthorities consid,

opposition, many of , police au. -J e ring that
the process will defeat the ends of justice in cases of poison-
ing. The matter is to be brought before the Federal Council
and the Reichstag. Meanwhile the Crematorium has been
used for the second time, the body of a young man of thirty
being consumed in two hours.
Teplitz, the well known Styrian Bath, is in a great
state of excitement. The chief mineral spring of the little
town has suddenly ceased to tow, and it is believed that the
subterranean convulsions which lately caused the disasters in
the neighbouring coal mines have diverted the vat& into
other channels. As Teplitz depends entirely on its springs
for existence, the townspeople are in much alarm lest the
place should be altogether deserted in the coming season lot
want of its chief attraction.