The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-02-01 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

According to a Silesian paper, there wee a rain of
very fine sand some days ago in several parts of Lower
Silesia and Lower Lusatia.

Whilst a flock of sheep wai being driven np High-
street, Exeter, one of the animals jumped through the
window of a draper's shop, and was followed by two
'others.

The number of visiting, or rather non-visiting, cards
delivered in Paris this new year was 7,45%000, as compared
with 5,680,000 last year. Tnese cards are transmitted in
unsealed envelopes for a halfpenny.

The Emperor of Germany has sanctioned the publi-
cation of the political correspondence of Frederick the
Great. It is expected to comprise about thirty volumes, of
which one or two will appear every year.

Two Englishmen wintering at Cairo have sent a
miesion to distribute relief td the sufferers in a serious
famine in Upper Egypt, news of which had reached the
Egyptian Government.
The income of the Bible Society, owing principally
to new and extraordinary demands upon its resources, falls
short of the expenditure by £15,000, and it is, therefore
making a special appeal for assistance;
The German and Austro-Hungarian Governments
continue to adopt precautions against the spread of the
" black death" to their territories.

The Dundee masters joiners have intimated to their
workmen that on and after the 3rd February they intend to
reduce their wages to 61. per hour. This is the third reduc-
don within the past few months. A meeting of the workmen
has been called to consider the proposed reduction.

It le computed that abut 7,000 pitmen are out of
employment in the county of Durham A large pumber ot
those at work are only receiving three days per week. So
much poverty kas not prevailed since the great strike in
1844, when many thousands of families had to keep them-
selves from starvation by begging.

From St. Petersburg it is anntinced that consider-
able alarm has been caused at Moscow by the arrival of a
number of recruits from the districts infected by the plague.
They were disinfected, isolated, and their clothes burnt,
and it was thought that all danger had thus been averted.

A large number of German members of Parliament,
manufacturers, and professol,s have just founded" an as-
sociation of friends of the working classes," which proposes,
by lectures and publications and any other possible means,
to raise the social condition and industrial knowledge of the
working man.
Mr. Gladstone has promised to lecture on
.the "Life
and Libours of Dr. Hook," in the Ilawarden Schools, on
Monday, February 10.
- - -

_
A telegram from Geneva says that on Friday night
In last week, the Gothard mail sledge was struck by an
avalanche on the south side of the mountain, between the
Hospice and the first refuge-house. rhe horses were killed,
but the driver and passengers escaped unhurt, and returned
to the Hospice.

Mr. Starkey, ALP., speaking at Rotherham on
Monday night, expressed the opinion that the increasing
cultivation of art in the country would have a beneficial
effect on our manufactures. At present there was a superiority
of design in the goods manufactured on the continent, but
he believed that the tide had turned 'with regard to the
artistic position of this country, and if this were so, depend
upon it we should soon regain the loss of business we had
sustained.

It is no,fjced as a curious fact that neither of the
public schWls of Eton, Westminster, Winchester, Harrow,
Itugby, or Shrewsbury has contributed to the education of
any of the first fourteen wranglers in the list of the Cam-
bridge Mathematical Tripes
Among the latest wonders talked about is the
Noteuspiel, which though to the eye a toy, is guaranteed to
teach a child to sing and play at sight. Dy this ambitious
plaything the child is said to be made thoroughly acquainted
with the mmical system. Ue is enabled by it to get a whole
chord, and even a musical phrase, and thus learns uncon-
scloutly as it were, to sing and play at sight. The inventor
Is a Viennese.

The electric light has been successfully applied to
the illumination of the Alexandra Docks, Newport, Mon-
mouthshire The first experiment was made on Monday
night, and is said to have been most satisfactory.
Despite the prolonged distress in Sheffield, the
Hospital Sunday collections of last Sunday were almost as
good as they were in 1878, reaching the sum of £1,878. There
are a few accounts yet to come in, which, it is expected, will
bring the total to within a few pounds of the £1,940 subscribed
last year.

The Dean of Llandaff died on Tuesday afternoon, at
the Deanery, from bronchitis; he was only appointed 18
months ago.—The Very Rev. Dr. McNelle, late Dean of
Ripon, also expired on Tuesday afternoon at Bmrnemouth,
after a long illness, in the eighty-fourth year of his age.

Pleuro-pneumonia has appeared among some cattle
which have Just arrived at Liverpool from the United States.
The local veterinary inspector of the Privy Council having
satisfied himself of the fict. the Privy Council have ordered
that the cargo shall be handed over to the authorities for
the immediate slaughter of the animals it deemed necessary.
A fishing-boat from Berok (Pas-de-Calais) recently
encountered another fishing-boat driven about helplessly
by the winds. On boarding it the crew found eight corpses
stiffened with cold—Paris Correspondent of The Times.
It is said that Prince Bismarck was defeated in the
Prussian Cabinet on the question of the State monopoly of
tobacco. The Finance Minister opposed the scheme.
Lloyd's agent at Maderia telegraphs under date of
Janu‘try 27, that the Diadem (British barque) bound from
Swansea fur Cape Town, had been in collision with the
United States mas-of-war Supply, and was abandoned. All
the crew were saved and lauded at Maderia by the Supply.

Trichinte having been discovered in Barcelona in a
pig from Navarre, an investigation has shown that the
disease appeared in that province two or three years ago and
has been greatly extending.

An ossuary, containing the remains of the soldiers
who tell at Novara in 1849, is to be unveiled on the 23rd of
March, the anniversary ot the battle. Tne Emperor of
Austria, remembering that many of his subjects lost their
lives in winning the victory, has forwarded a handsome con-
tribution.

The Liverpool master ship-painters have notified to
the men a reduction of 4s. per week in wages, and one hour's
work per day increade.

- -
The Admiralty has, according to the Standard, de-
clded to express the satisfaction of the Bo srd at the conduct of
the officers and men of the Tiaunderer when the explosion of
the 38-ton gun occurred Those below were suddenly left
in darkness by the extinguishing of all the lights, but there
was entire absence of confusion, and the men found their
way to their stations at fire-quarters and rigged the purops
with alacrity, it being believed that the ship had taken fire
with the explosion. The discipline displayed was admirable
and deserving of praise.

- -
Europe, the Gobs ear, is on the eve of a great
economic struggle, and the Protectionist system is again to
hold sway. The prime mover of this economic reaction, the
Gotos asserts, is Prince Blenvack. The whole world, how-
ever, will inevitably be a sufferer by the change, and it is
impossible to predict how far the evil may spread.
An inquest has .been held at Winsford, near
Ifiddlewich, 9n Saturday, on the bodies _of three boys, aged
seven, eight, and eleven years, who were drowned on the
previous day in a large sheet of water known as the Flash.
The deceased were skating when the ice suddenly gave way.
A verdict of accidental death was returned.

Mr. Bret Harte, the American poet and humorist
experienced a favourable reception on making his first ap
pearance in England as a public lecturer in the Opera House
of the Cr, stal Palace on Tuesday evening. His lecture was
a written essay, entitled "The Argonauts of '49," relating
to California and the pilgrims who repaired thither in quest
of gold. thirty years ago.
- - - -

Mr. John B. Gough, the American temperance
orator, has entered into an engagement with the National
Temperance League for the delivery of 50 lectures during the
coming season. Most of these will be given in the larger.
provincial towns, and a few in Loudon.
According to a letter from Canada, one very curious
result has already followed the residence of the Princess
Louise in Canada :—Already all the vacant homes in Ottawa
are occupied, not by Canadians, but Americans, who have
Boson across the border to settle close to the Princess. Up.
wards of a hundred .Yankee favourites have arrived for this
purpose, and tents are rising daily. I hear that some of the
Ameiican ladies have actually come from San Francisoo, and
brought all their jewels with them. They are very anxious
to show the Prinaess how muchthey possess.

In an American•paper, the •San Francisco Joarnal
of Commerce, I noticed an announcement over a market
report that I have not yet seen in any English paper. It is
this :—" Corrected per telephone to the moment of going to
press '
—Mark Lane Exprebs.
At a meeting of the West of England Bank share-
holders held at Exeter on Saturday, it was decided to make
an appeal to all creditors of the bank to rednce the amount
of their claims, with the object of lessening the amount of
call to be made on the Aareholder3. It was pointed out
that if all creditors would accept 16s. Bd. in the pound no
call need be made, as the assets of the bank now realise that
sum.

At Nottingham, on Monday night, Sir P. Cunliffe
Owen delivered the pr zea to the successful students of
Nottingham Shool of Art. This school has taken more
prizes in the natural art competition during the past year
than any other school, not excepting even South Kensington
Sir Cunlitle remarked that while ofticiating•at the Paris
Exhibition he discovered that the French people 'made
conies of our art designs, without which the French con-
fessed they should be nowhere in art progress.
On Saturday, at the meeting of the Metropolitan .
Asylums Board, a report was presented in reference to the
state of the small-pox and fever hospitals. At Hampstead
the nudiber under treatment was 19, with 2.90 vacalab beds •,
at Fulham Hospital 47, number of beds available 193; at
Deptford Hospital 247 patiebts, and 53 beds available. The
total for the fortnight ending 24th January Was 313 patients,
leaving 567 beds evadable. ins total patients for the pre-,
Ceding two weeks were 2GO, showing an increase of small-Pox
patients of 53.
The competition of American manufacturers of
cotton goods in the East:Tit market appears to be assist.
tamed. During tbe course of last week the National com-
pany's steamers Greece and Italy arrived in the Thames
with 1,550 bales of manufactured cotton cloth, intended ;or
Is die end China, and 500 bales more are engaged to be
shipped by the following steamer.

• Fresh outbreaks of the rirderpest Rite the 16th
hat. are reported in various parts of Prassia. Since the ap-
pearance of the plague the number of an,rnals which have
bled or been slauotered is somewhat formidable. In the
Government dlstrictbf Gnmbinnen, for example, 206 head of
cattle ; in Frankfurt-on-the-Oder, 1,003 heal of cattle, 4178
sheep, and 362 goats; in Potsdam, 113 cattle, 13 sheep, and
Otis goat ; in Sierrebwg, b 3 head of cattle, and two goats.
Fifteen pl4ces in the above district are still alfect.eti.
-

Lord Beaconsfield recently received an address from
the North America St. George's Union, congratulating him
"on the fact 'that by the signing of the Treaty of Berlin an
honourable pesce has been secured for Europe and the safety
ot the British Empire assured, a hile the crcss and bawler of
St. George have become thl symbols of greater glory add
wider renown." Lord Beaconsfield replied on the 23rd inst.
as follows :—" Sir,—l feel greatly honours,: by the receipt
of the address which ,alr, l'u'eston has
plsced in my bands
from the president and officers of the Sort!? America St.
George's Ultion, and I wish to express through you as the._h
representative in this country my sincere thanks f9.r_thetri
congratulation.. • The gocid adobes of a body of i:liititsPlFficial _eC_C
50 iarge and inauenti%l. pursutng a ParPO,;i ."
that hich has knit together the St. George societies of rne
United States and Csnacie, &Qt Wit° I+o I=4 Srat4l4ll
had igcoptablo to me.'

A sharp young fellow sold forty-eight bibles in
Chicago by having printed on the covers, "One thousand
recipes for making handsome women."
The report published by several German newspapers
that her Majesty Queen Victoria proposes to visit Heue
Darmstadt mei Coburg next spring has been contradicted.
A Bill bearing the names of Mr. Rodwell, Sir
Baldwyn Leighton, and Mr. Bristowe, to provide for the
estiblishment of county infirmaries for the reception and
relief of the infirm poor chargeable to unions and parishes in
England and Wales other than in the metropolis, and for
other purposes relating thereto, has been printed.
At , the New Year's-day reception, the Marquis of
Lorne shook hands with 1,500 people.

A hurricane visited Cadiz on the 21st, damaging the
Cathedral and houses and teatiogup Veils&
The distress at Cardiff is becoming more and more
prominent. The mayor has received no further subscrip-
tion. and the committees are compelled reluctantly to with-
hold relief from many who manifestly need help.

The Arctic Expedition suggested by Commander
Cheyne, in which balloons should be used as a means for
reaching the Pole' is now being considered by the Executive
Committee of the Royal Geographical Society.
Every man is a miserable sinner in church, but out
of church it is unsafe to say mach aboet it, except to a small
man.—A merican Paper.
A female help in Chicago with admirable candour
informed a lady that she was looking for a place where thpe
was an "old couple with property, but without children,
who would look upon me as a daughter."

There were 49 British and foreign wrecks reported
during the past week, making a total for the present year
187, or an increase of 72 as compared with the corresponding
period of last year. The approximate value of property lost
was £630,000, including British £530,000. The tonnage
aggregated about 20,000 tons.

The Duke of Cleaveland has forwarded a cheque
for £5O for the relief of the distressed poor of Wolver-
hampton, and has offered to provide employment for de-
serving workmen by engaging them to level the pit banks of
the Old Heath and Cockshutt's Colleries.

A man wanted to commit suicide the other day, and
learning that acidum aceticum impurum was very poison-
ous, went into an up-town drug store and called for three
scruples of it. He swallowed it entire and told the drug
clerk of his determination to die. When he recovered from
the effects of a Fpoonful of common vinegar he found life
sweeter than before.— Amtrican Papsr.

Following the example of Liverpool and Manchester, .
the master coachbuilders of Preston have given notice to
their workpeople that the working hours per week would be
Increased from 5i to 543 i, without any commensurateincrease
oX wages. The men have resolved to resist the proposal.

A turkey hunter on the Leon river, Tex., discovered
one roost containing SOO turkeys.

Colonel Stanley, the Secretary for War, in present-
ing the prizes at the annual gathering of the 26th Middlesex
Rifles, referred to the operations of the volunteer force
since it came into existence twenty years ago. He remarked
that the volunteer movement had reached a period of which
those who belonged to it from the beginning may well be
proud. They felt that it had passed out of the period of
uncertainty and infancy, and that it had fully attained the
growth of a recognised force of the country.
Just as Lord Beaconsfield has disposed of the
Bishopric of Durham another piece of patronage has fallen
to his disposal. The Deanery of L'andaff, however, is but a
small crumb, its value being only £7OO per annum.

The rumour is again in circulation that Erince
Bismarck will this year pay his long-deferred visit to Eng-
land. The Prince, gossip says, will not reside with Lord
Salisbury, nor with any of the statesmen who have offered
him hospitality, but take apartments at Brighton or Scar-
borough. .
A new method ot charity, sadly trying to feminine
vanity, has been inaueurated by a Transatlantic belle. The
lady possessed splendid hair, a yard and six inches long, s o
she cut it off, sold it, and sent the proceeds to the yellow
fever sufferers.
The peerage comprises at the present time no less
580 members, including 5 royal dukes, 28 dukes, 33 mar-
quises, 205 earls, 67 viscounts, and 252 barons.
- - '

- -
A new mineral has lately been discovered in a silver
mine on the shores of Lake Superior, EiOineering tells us.
The mineral has been named " Huntitite," after Dr. Reny
Hunt, of Montreal, and contains large quantities of silver
and arsenic mixed with iron, zinc, cobalt, and sulphur.

One day last week 82,000 notes were paid into the
Bank of England, the largtat number ever received in one
day. Assuming that each note was of no larger amount than
£.5 the aggregate sum of the notes was nearly half a minion.
American farmers, or rather some of them, were
talking about a year ago of the necessity of "limiting their
out-put.- After the experience of the past season they
might; ,but for one consideration, be more than ever disposed
to take such a course. That consideration is that, according
to accounts of the condition of the winter wheat in the
States generally, Nature is likely to do it for them for this
year at least.—Mark Lane Express.
The wire drawers of Warrington have decided to
return to work, and the strike in the other seats of the trade
as well as in that town, is regarded as at an end.
- -

The butehers of Leeds met on Monday evening in
the Philosophical Hall to discuss the proposal of the corpo-
ration to erect a public slaughter-house. A resolution was
adopted expressing disapproval of the proposal, and calling
upon the butchers "to unite as one man' to resist any in-
fringement of their rlglita.
Sir John Drummond Hay was attacked by a boar
and received a severe wound in the calf of his left leg when
boar-hunting on the 16th inst. at the lake of Avara, some
miles from Tangier. Sir John reached Tangier the same
night, and an examination proved that the wound was not
so serious as was at first feared.

On Wednesday morning the locked-out Kentish
labourers and their families, numbering between 400 and
500, left Maidstone by special train on the London, Chatham,
and Dover Railway for London, on their way to Plymouth,
where they embark for New Zealand. The emigrants who
were lodged and boarded in the Skating Rink on Tuesday
night, were attended to the railway station by an immense
crowd of friends and a large number of sympathizers with
the movement. Mr. Simmons, the founder of the Union,
stated that every effort had been made to settle the dispute
with the farmers amicably, but without avail, and no less
than .CB,OOO had been spent in supporting locked-out men
for twelve weeks. Ilk principal object would be the intro-
duction of the hop-plant to New Zealand.

- -
"I am sorry to see that one agricultural paper is
hinting at the advantage of Protection. After a statement
of the value of the imports of corn and flour for 1878, there
comes this statement :—' A tax of only five per cent. on
these imports would more than compensate the revenue for
2d. reduction in the Income-tax, or would permit of the
Malt-tax hting reduced by one-hall' In the name of all
that is sensible let us have no attempt to lead farmers on
this wild goose chase."—Mark Lane Express.

An appeal is being made to the officers of the ar-
tillery in India and at home for votes to secure the admission
of Captain Kelso's two daughters into the Koval School at
Bath. Captain Kelso fell at the taking of the reiwar Kotul
on the 2nd.

There are several stories "going the rounds" with
reference to Mr. Irving (the eminent tragedian), which bear
testimony to his kindness of heart. One of the stories is as
follows (says the Court Journal) :—A brother actor—out of
an engagement, and consequently out at elbows somewhat—
met the tragedian at a well-known rendezvous, and told him
that an acquaintance of his had come up from the country
for a week, and wanted to see Hamlet. Would Irving give
him some "paper," or his card, to pass them both in ?
Irving was very sorry, but he had neither paper nor card
about him. If, however, his friend would call at the theatre
in an hour's time, he would have some fOrhim. The actor
did so, and on opening the envelope addreesed to him
found anotder for two stalls enclosed in some " paper "—a
£.5 note. '
The statue of Jenner, the discoverer of vaccination,
which was one of the most witiceable'pleces of statuary in
the Paris Exhibition, is to be placed in the Hospital at Genoa
as a gilt from the Duchesse de Galliera.
- - -

The proposal to give "certificates of posting" to
the senders of letters who wish to have some evidence to
show that they have entrusted their letters to the custody
of the post-office—a plan which has long had some strenuous
advocates—it appears, has been already tried for a short time
In Liverpool aril some other great towns: buf, according to
the Postmaster-General, the results of the experiment have
not been sattsfactory.—Court Journal.
The receipts on account of revenue from the let
April, 1878, when there was a balance of £6,243,339, to
January 28, 1879; were .C 61,578,835 against 4,10,554,942 in the
corresponding period of the preceding financial year, which
began with a balance of £5,988.650. The net expenditure
was £.69,282,793, against .£65,358,811 to the same date in the
previous year. The Treasury balances on January 25
amounted to 1,296,813, and at the same date in 1878 to
£1,153,242.
At the meeting of the Royal Geographical Snciety on
Monday evening a paper was read by Sir Henry Rawlinson
on "The Road to Merv." The lecturer, avoiding all politi-
cal matters, dwelt solely with the physical features of the
road to Merv, not from India, "but 'rem the po3sessions of
another Power," and said that, in the event of a Russian
army marching from the Caspian to Merv, she could do so
successfully if Persia were indifferent or neutral, but that if
Persia were hostile and opposed the advance success would
be impossible. This view was confirmed by Captain Gill
from his knowledge of the country.

The Paris Correspondent of the Standard says :
"The papers are indulging in some curious weather
statistics: here is one of them. It is estimated that the
snow which fell in PAris during the past week amounted to
an average of about eight inches in depth. The nuperficips
of Paris is, in round numbers, nineteen thousand acres; the
tots! snowfall therefore represents a volume of fifteen
millions of cubic metres. To melt this volume of snow the
heat required would consume fourteen thousand tons of
coal. The train of wsggons containing the coal, reckoning
ten tons per waggon, would be seven miles in length."

At Sheffield, on Tuesday, at a meeting of the South
Yorkshire and North Derb3 shire coalovrners, the miners
agreed to accept arbitration in reference to the masters'
proposal of a reduction of 12i per cent, on the wages.

There were 2,641 births and I,Bl2teaths registered
in L endonjeust week. Allowing for increase of population,
the births'Exceeded by 20, and the deaths by 115, the aver-
age numbers in the corresponding week of the last ten
years. The animal death-rate from all causes, which bad
been equal to 270 and 231 per 1,000 in Oh two preceding
weeks, declined to 261. The deaths included 24 from small-
pox, 18 from measles, 46 from scarlet fever, 7 from
diphtheria, 71 from whooping-cough, 25 from different forma
of !ever, and 13 from diirrhcca.

At a meeting held in. Southwark the other evening,
Professor Rogers, in the course of his speech, raid that the
action of the Government in regard to Afghanistan might be
very well illustrated by a good story that was told him
by Mr. Bright, with whom he had lately been staying. A
gentleman left the Stock Exchange in his carriage to drive
home, when he became aware that something was wrong.
Calling to the coachman to inquire the cause, the man
answered that the horses were running away. "Pall them
in, then," said the gentleman. "Can't, sir," cried the
coechman, -"they are drasging me off the box already."
"Well, then," responded the gentleman, "drive into some-
thing cheap." (Laught.?r and cheers.) The Government
had driven into something cheap—viz , the rider of Afghani-
stan.
Erard, the Paris Secretary of the Russian
Agency, who lived for three years in Russia, has published a
letter in which he says that the disease which has re-
cently caused to many deaths in some districts of that
Empire is not plague, but alcoholism, the great increase lii
the number of cases being due this winter to the exceptional
severity of the weather.

-
A new source of electricity is reported by the
New York Herald. A lady in l's.;evada has been suffering
from neuralgia, and for six months resorted to the use of an
electrical battroy to alleviate her pain, but to no result.
When the recent cold weather set in the lady one night
entered a dark room, and on picking up a woollen coat was
startled to find a bright light surrounding her hand, wb..ll_
the electric euirPnts passed along the arm. ;I;l,7c,filemgda,"Z
severely. Next evening she let down her hair ;
was a sharp cracking sound. None of
hill% lady tonehes
occur when iron is touched, hut the instant
and on combing it sparks fle.vr in every direction,t caunidiarithteirees
dshocks
an tire
York Financial and com-
mercial to the New
fwo°llOP;re non omnant materials
int h
rapid e sbuecgclensss I on'''. fir'
Twenty-one principal
to the railways of the United Sta
year has been very favourable
~OI mtuioris sterling, which
mercial Chroniee, thdenpumastvt
numbers,
_
Litres earned, in round
mat. over the earnings of the pre-
ceding Was an increase of 5i pe
tedly great. 'lbis brought a vast
ns
to the main lines. Indirectly also
orts of raw produce have been in
ain•dh e
tthae• otixarpsnt harvests were the most abundant
via a stimulus to trade. There was,
ever
knyoewanr.
deteon westwards, to settle down upon
great, since the
ga dpv:rnvti9vgPoer:o3BfPoteihreti
htlYien lines.
The
Battle th e
theagu rig, i sme ebt
eige:utr.
tuee
art in
t4ettiot ;
classes
uoa
s 7 pb
very
e,
eg.ergi
re),
:a.
ot hill listrTeTtrlhbaainradl
ga r ohfatshebefeense
rrleuttaelrtnhie6oiminis
,awlhai 'Cie is mlikewlse to
bed by the death at,
Portsmouth, of James Mills, at the advanc,ll age of 130. The
old man joint:d the service when 14 years c 4 Bge, and
was on board the Defen;ie on the day of Nelson's memorable
victory.. At the. celebration of . every finniversary of tha
battle on board the Victary in Portsmouth, Ifarboar a
h. boat boat was regtilarly sent ashore for tile old veteran,
who used to Wear hift medal and never tiro of re 4,414141; Li&
04orlaioci ot Vio @gat a Ussigior•
_