The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-12-01 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

According to the Postal, Tekgraphic, and Telephonic
Gazette, the tax on the united telephone system in
London yields to the General Post Office £6,186 per
annum.

An encounter has occurred between the Turkish
police and some brigands at Nevrocop, near Salonica.
One brigand was killed and another taken prisoner.
The rest took to flight.
Fears are entettained that thirty•five-steamers, laden
with corn for abroad, and a number of lighters will be
forced to winter at the mouth of the Don, on account
of the severe frost which has set in.

During October 5,886 head of cattle and 12.653 sheep
were shipped from Canada to the United Kingdom.
The shipments were entirely free from any scheduled
disease.

A fight has occurred between two opposing parties
at Murraysville, Pennsylvania, concerning the posses-
sion of an oil well, in which arms were used. One
person was killed, and three others received injuries
which will probably prove fatal. Besides these marl,
were slightly wounded.
Whilst the crew of her Majesty's ship Belidale were
practising outside Kingstown Harbour on Tuesday
night a loaded torpedo MI overboard, and could not
be recovered. A reward of £5 has been offered for its
safe capture.

On Monday, at RamPgate, a pony attached to a
butcher's trap took fright at a tricycle, and bolted
along the road until it came to the cliff, over which it
fell a distance of 60ft, on to the sea wall. The animal
was instantaneously killed. The driver luckily was
not in the cart.

Subject to the consent of the trustees of the Duke
of Newcastle, an obelisk is about to be erected in the
grounds of the Castle Museum, at Nottingham, by the
officers and men of the 59th (late Nottinghamshire)
Regiment, in memory of their comrades who fell in the
last Afghan war.

Great difficulty is, it is said, being experienced just
now in Nova Scotia, in the securing of female labour
though the wages of girls expert in knitting range from
21 ta 21 ss. per week, and proportionately in other
trades employing such labour. Reports from Halifax
declare it to be almost impossible to obtain a capable
servant girl.
A St. Petersburg telegram to the Cologne Gazette
states that three young ladies of the Imperial Court,
one of whom is a Countess, have been arrested in con.
naction a ith the revolutionary party.

Speaking at Nottingham the other evening Mr.
Samuel Morley, M.P,, said that before we laid our
hands upon the people's habitations we should lay
hold of their habits. There r.hould he a better ac-
quaintance with the poor on the part of the xich, who
should do what they could to help the poor against the
temptations to drink. He objected to the granting of
licenses being made a municipal question, and con-
sidered the ratepayers ought to have an independent
board for that purpose,
On Monday nearly three hundred mechanics em-
ployed at Sheerness Dockyard in refitting her Majesty's
ships Ready and Turquoize were ordered to work extra
hours, a telegram having been received from the
Admiralty directing these vessels to be completed for
sea with all possible despatch, No overtime has been
worked at Sheerness since the Egyptian war grant
was expended.
In the number of post-offices that have been esta-
blisbed Canada ranks fourth, being only exceeded by
the United States Great Britain and Germany ; the
latter having 11,000, while Canada has nearly 7,000.
France ranks fifth with 6,168. The United States
have one poet office to every 1,200 of her population ;
Canada has one to every 600 of her population.
A report published at Madrid states that in October
la-tt a conspiracy was discovered in the Philippine
Islands, the object of which appears to have been to
surp,iee the garrisons of Mania and Cl,v;fr,. Nire•
teen of the ringleaders wre alteeteri, kical ) a I Ihing
natives, including to or three ,dicers. Little im-
portance is, tio.vever, attached to the
oi, Match), Pigl.t the Slavc.nic ellnrch in the cly ot
Pesth was broken ilto 117 horg4rs, who, ho,v,
not EllMied in wary ing ritf much I)mi:city. Toe
which they previou4y polluted, and the organ were
shatter( d to piece-, and toe church pe.}..era

Oa Sunday a dense black fog de,eeetled on Miler'
such as none ef the it,hebitents hare e, itneseed hefcre.
The mun'cip.lity was oyiniaditd tc. suspend the readie
of to ditterat teem lieee in the cit; and i•ubotbs.
Carti4,-;cii and carte were cGrnixiLd to cm ry b:11N.
SCVCI al accidents are reported.
A Parsee merchant in London has coateliveted ?CO
guireea to the Mansion House wok nix in com-
memoration of the fact that a con of the Qaeen has
laid the foundation-stone of a new hospital at
Bombay, to which the donor's father had contributed
212,000,
The 24th annual Smithfield Show at Leeds, which
lasts three days, was opened on Tuesday. The prizes
amount to nearly £6OO, and the entries number cicss
upon 1,000. Among the priea-takers were the Prince
of Wales, the Earl of iZetland, and Mr. Loder, M.P.
This is the fieat time that the Prince of Wales has
exhihited at Leeds.
The Minister of the Interior in Italy, after consulta-
tion with the Sanitary Council, has decided on the
following rules with respect to the cremation of human
bodies and the societiee formed for the purpose :—lst.
The societies will he considered responsible corpora-
Cone aa soon as their economical conditions givee
sufficient guarantee for their permanent existence.
2nd. The cremation of human bodiee will be sub-
ordinate to a permit from the political ant'eoritiee, to
obtain which the consent te.l tke !airily of the deceased
must be produced
"Poet:eery," lathe City Press, says :—I regret to
learn that there are thirteen vacancies for "poor
brothers of the Charterhouse," which the governors
are unable to fill up, in consequence of the great
reduction in the incono of the foundation, owing to
the depreciation in the rents of farms from which its
frindJ are derived.
At Halesowen, on Tuesday, Benjamin and- Telrnest
Smith, farmers, Frankley, were eaeh fined £3 for
tang a gun on their own farms for the purpose of
killing game withont the requisite certificates. The
magiatt,tatee stated that the tarmers had no right to
kill game on their OWD lands without certificatee, •
A shocking affair has occurred at Heewail, Oheehire.
An old man named Fres. Lawton lived alone with his
son at a small farm, and t4ey ever' looked upon by
the neiehbeurs Qccioutrio. On Monday the father
found 4ie ewe lying in the kitchen shot dead, with a
gun beside him.
An extraordinary escape from drowning. was re-
ported on Monday by the brigaatias Ca/c/crbank,
which returned to Greeaoek dlsma,tcd, after ha, ire
sailed on the arcl :net. for Newfoundland. On the 19th
eh° caceuntered a fearful gaie, in the courre of which
Oaptain Lebuff and a seaman were carried overhoard.
The captain um drowned, hut a seeond &Pa washed
the sceman on board ageing and he was saved.
From the folk:wine nearest it will be reen that last
weele'e aerivals at Liverpool of live sloek and fresh
meac from the United States and Canada show sy fArt.
ieg off ef live etuck ; but an immense incrtage in frteh
meat when compared with the arrival's of the preceding
week. The total sup'ply amounted to 1,726 cattle, 514
sheep, 10,473 ouarters of beef, and 1,257 carcases of
mutton, against a total of 3,106 cattle, mos sheep,
8,834 quarters of beef, and 768 carcases of mutton for
the previous week. The conveying steamers were
eigl4 in number

As a result of the recent exposure of squalor and
misery in certain parts of Liverpool, it is proposed to
seek Parliamentary powers to exoend not less than
£250,000 on insanitary property in Liverpool,

The Right Rev. Wm. Fitzgerald, Protestant Bishop
of KilWoe, died on Saturday morning at the Palace,
ClarlEford, after a brief illness.

A serious ac?.ident occurred at Llan•lane, Atherton,
rear Leigh, on Monday morning. A house was en-
tirely demolished, and one person was killed. The
mice is thought to be due to colliery subsidences, the
whole of the district being underlain with coal mines.
The Mayor of Southport, Dr. Wood, having
attended recently a meeting of the Chester branch of
the Salvation Army, was so satisfiei with the work
accomplished that he has forwarded 'General" Booth
a cheque for £l,OOO.
For about sixty appointment; as receivers in bank-
ruPtcy in the various districts of England it is stated
that there have been above 250.000 applications,
Within a abort period the Clyde shipbuilders have
discharged over 4,000 workmen. Another firm stopped
on Saturday and discharged over 1,000 men.
There were 2,482 births and 1,670 deaths registered
in London last week. Allowing for increase of popu-
lation, the births were 163, and the deaths 106, below
the average numbers in the corresponding weeks of the
last ten years. The annual rate of mortality from all
causes which in the two previous weeks had been 20,5
and 22 2 per 1,000, was 220;
Three bodies have been washed ashore near Wiar•
ton, Ontasio, with life-buoys Marked Eclipse attached
to them. It is believed that the steamer Eclipse, bound
from Algoma for Portsarnia, has been lost, with al
bands.

On Saturday morning Ellen Wallace was found
burnt to death in her house at Shell-lane, Galway.
It is conjectured that while in ajahating fit she must
have fallen into the fire. She vicas.t.lae only occupant
of the house,
Mrs. Martha J, Lamb, the editor of the Magazine of
American Histotu, him beeft.eleetad..adF6ll6*-of the
Clarendon Historical Society of Edinburgh. She is
now a member of eight historical societies.
The magistrates of Berlin have just concluded an
agreement wii h the German Edison Company for the
lighting of the city by the electric light, within a
radius, to begin with, of about 800 metres from a
centre.

Mr. R. T. Booth, the founder of the Blue Ribbon
movement, states that since he came to England he
has persuadei 700,000 persons to take the pledge, and
that over a million persons wear the bluo ribbon.

Adamascobits is the local name of a mineral which
is said to be found in only one place in the world—
and that is the State of Missouri. The stone is very
peculiar in its structure and properties. Its cutting
power is diamond•lika, cutting away steel very rapidly,
and still retaining an exceedingly fine edge.

A school of medicine for women was opened on the _
2nd instant. in Kingston, Canada, when Dr. Lowell
addressed the students. Three scholarships have been
founded, and the prospects of the school as a separate
institution are good. A guarantee fund of 7,000 dole.
has been raised.
On Saturday evening the Doke and Duchess of
Edinburgh, Mr. Gladstone, and Sir William Jenner
qtrived at Windsor Castle on a visit to her M.ljesty.
A New York telegram says that the visible supply
of wheat on Nov. 23 was 31,400,000 bushels, as against
30,800,000 bushels the previous week. Visible supply
of Indian cnn, 9,200,000 bushels, as against 9,600,000
bushels the previous week. The export clearances of
wheat for Europe during last week amounted to
760,000 bushels; the export clearances of Indian corn
for Europe during last week amounted to 470,000
bushels.
Manganese has been found in large quantities near
Batesville, Arkansas, 'United States. It is the largest
depo4it known, being, it is said, a belt fifteen miles
long by six miles broad, and is of the finest quality.

An order has been issued by Cardinal Manning
that a branch of the Catholic Total Abstinence League
of the Cross shall be formed in every Catholic school
in the Archdiocese of Westminster; and that the
manager of each school shall be the president of
each branch ; and temperance literature is to be
supplied to the pupils at weekly meetings of the
branches.
A gardener, named John Hawkins, aged 56, was
found upon the Great Western Railway, near Bourton
Station, late on Monday. He stated that he had
been thrown from the train by some card-sbarpere,
with whom he refused to play. He was taken to the
BritiA General Hospita‘, where it was found neces-
sary to amputate his left arm.
Last week's receipts of ootton at all United States
pmts were 220,000 bales; since Ist September, 2,185,000
bales. Week's exports to Great Britain, 67,600 hales;
week's exports to the Continent, 34,000 bales. Total
since Ist September, 1,078,000 bales. Stock at all ports,
939,000 bales.
It is stated that in Belgium the annual consumption
of spirits is now 12 and that of beer 254 litres per in-
habitant. The sum spent annually in the pnblichouses
is estimated at 475,000,000 f. The retail liquor trade
is perfectly free in Belgium, and anybody can open a
publichouse where he pleases.
The traffic receipts of railways in the United King-
dom for the week ending Nov. 17 (the latest published)
amounted on 17,201 i miles to £1,268,127, and for the
cnrresponding week in IEB2 on 17.026 i miles to
£1.230.201, showing an increase of 174 i miles and of
£32926. The receipts averaged £73 Bs. Bd. per mile,
against £72 ss. id. in the corresponding week last
year.

Paris advices state that the offers of wheat bronght
forward upon the French markets have rather in-
creased during the last few days, as well on -the part
of farmers as on the part of merchants. Wheat
quotations have, however, been firmly sustained,
especially in the north-east, the centre, and the south-
east of France.

The French Chamber has cut down the salary of the
Archhiihop of Paris from 45,000 francs to 15,000 francs,
the Pal ary of all the other French bishops. This was
done in opposition to the Ministry. The Chamber
carried the reduction by 291 to 199.
On Friday in last week a terrible boiler explosion
occurred at Bristol at the saw mills of Messrs. Milsom.
A large number of hands ere employed, and just after
work had been commenced the boiler exploded with
terrific force. Six men and boys were severely in-
jured mid taken to the infirmary. The engine•man
was dreadfully scalded and cut, and his dog was killed
on the spot. The front of the premises was com-
pletely. shattered.

On Friday, in last week, a shocking accident
occurred at Airdrie Colliery, near'Coatbridge. While
the manager was examining the winding apparatus
his clothb g was caught by the revolving machinery,
and before the engine could be stopped his body was
oul in two.
The return issued on Wednesday shows that, on the
last day of the second week of November, 53,976
indoor and 36,029 outdoor paupers were relieved in
the metropolitan district, making a total of 90,005, as
comrared with 93,023 in the corresponding week of
last year, 90,862 in 1881, and 88,987 in 1880. The
number of vagrants relieved on the same date was 518.
The receipts on account of revenue from the let of
April, 1883, to November 24, 1883, were £52,030,854,
against £51,339,314 in the corresponding period of the
preceding financial year. The net expenditure was
£52,595,225, against £55,214,888, to the same date in
the previous year. The Treamry balances on Novem-
ber 24 amounted to £5,774,809, and at the same date
in 1882 to £2,983,801.
The following emigrants embarked at Plymouth,
under the authority of the Agent General on board
the Royal mail steamer Waroonga, Captain Fyfe, for
the Qaeen.land ports, viz., 120 single men, 109 single
women, and 163 i families, making a total of 413 souls,
equal to 392 i statute adults.
On Sunday morning a collision occurred on the
West Shore Railway, at Tappan, near New York,
between a passenger and a goods train. The line was
blocked till the evening when a wrecking train left
Tappan with the disabled locomotive for the repairing
shops. A special locomotive, carrying seven men,
followed it and ran into it in the darkness, when
three men were tilled, and others were injured.

On Saturday the Lord Provost of Glasgow received
a reply from the Marqu,s of borne intimating his
acceptance to the freedom of the city. He will reach
Glasgow on the evening of the 17th December on his
way home to Inverary Castle, and the presenta( ion
will take place on the follioving day.
Mr. Henry Irving began an engagement in the
Chestnut-street Opera House, at Philadelphia, on
Monday night, in "Louis XI," Despite the heavy
rain which was falling, the house was (a Times tele-
gram says) well filled by a cultivated and fashionable
audience, and Mr. Irving's acting made a profound
impression.
The Akha raiders have not yetigiven up the two
tieo
Native Forest officers whom they carried away. The
Commissioner of oaf
itsessasmag,,h(aiesracoalaldeciategdth2eoOraftraornn-
r Chiefp %ma an
of the captives and surrender of the ringleaders, with
an apology. No reply has yet been received. The
Akha country is unsurveyed, and little is known of
the tribe, which is armed only with knives and bows
and arrows.
On Monday morning as an engineer named Clayton,
employed at the Salisbury Post-office. was engaged,
unloading telegraph poles at the South-Western
station at Salisbury one of the poles slipped off the
waggon. and being up-raised in the air, caught him
under the leg and t3fLie4 him up. He fell on his head
and received injuries which soon proved fatal.
Th 3 entries of cattle for consumption at the Metro-
politan Cattle Market for the week ending Saturday
la.t numbered 3,320; in the corresponding week of
1882, 4,180 ; 1881, 4.170 ; 1880, 4,470 ; 1879. 3,180; 1878,
4340; 177, 4,140; 1876, 6,150; 1875, 5,890; and 1874.
6,770 head.
' Thelatest steqnisitian in the department of Greek
and Roman annquities in the British Musetinas.ilaretiV'
and tall Etrnscan cylindrical nista, oce. of considera.:'
able eollection which belonged to the lace Signor
Oastellan. The bronza is of a be-utifal patina, and
the figures—of a siren holding, up a victim in each hand
and of Hercules meeting a lion—whicn adorn it are in
the finest style of Etru•can'relief work in that metal.
The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens

Regnit's Park, London, during last we included an
ourrang-nutrang from Borneo, presented by Mr.
William ()roe' s • a grey ichneumon from India, pre-
sented by Mrs. F. R. Flind4l •' a hobby, captured at
sta. presented by Mr. 0. Heat; six American box
tortoiec., a stink-pot terrapin. seven spotted lizards, a
loog-nc,sed snake, two stripei snakes from North
America, prasented by Mr. Samuel Garman, C.M.Z.S.,
a common viper, British, presented by Mr. W. It B.
Pain ; a greater sulphur-crested cockatoo, from
Australia, a cermtes viper from Egypt, deposited; a
Sykes monkey from East Africa, a negro tamarin
from Guiana, an Indian badger, from Assam, two
l'bre David's deer from Northern China, a downy owl
from South America, purchased; a &amber dee; born
in the gardens.