The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-12-06 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

The Bavarian papers report a typhus fever epidemic
at llildenschwinben, in the Ithon, where, of 200 inhabitants,
68 on the 28th of last month were attacked by the disease.
Insufficient nourishment and clothing are believed to have
been the cause of the outbreak.

There were 31 British and foreign wrecks reported
during the last week, making a total of 1,483 for the present
year, or an increase of 63 as compared with the correspond-
ing period of lett year. The approximate value of property
lost was £510,1303, including British £260,000.
Mr. St. George Lane-Fox is said to have invented
an electric candle which is, for all practical purposes, per-
manent. By its means the electric light can be applied at a
cost less than one-fourth that of gas.—Court Journal.
Politics are matters of scant interest in the small
town of Matignan, In the department of Bouches-du-RhOne.
At a recent election only one voter out of 700 electors came
to the poll at all, and he handed In a blank bulletin.

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During last month there were imported into
Liverpool from the Dominion and the United States 1,612
cattle, 1,206 sheep, 225 pigs, and 32 horses. The losses
en route consisted of 24 cattle, 26 sheep, live pigs, and two
horses.

The Countess d'Andign6 died on her estate at Fon-
tainebleu, on Sunday, at the age of 82 years. One of her
sons, a general, was wounded at the siege of Sedan, and is
now a senator.

The ratepayers in Rugby have declared emphati-
cally against the Free Library movement. The result of the
poll showed that of about 1,000 papers issued only 152 were
in favour of the adoption of the Act, and large numbers were
not tilled in at all.

The committee of the Dutch Arctic Expedition have
made known their determination to fit out, for the third
time, their little sailing schooner Willem Barents. The
cost of the new expedition is estimated at a little over
£l,OlO.

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The Geneva Correspondent of The Times writes:—
"A short time ago the Canadian Government placed at the
disposal of the Federal Council 1,500 dols. to defray the
expenses of any experts whom they might recommend to
report on the suitableness of the Dominion for Swiss emi-
grants. The Grutli Verein, an important trades' union,
now offer to send a deputation of workmen, and the pro-
posal will probably be referred by the Federal Council to
the Government of the Dominion."
-

---•
Mr. John Bright was present on Monday at the
funeral of Mr. Henry Rawson at Kersal Moor Church,

Manchester.

Jonathan Geydon, the Chingford murderer, whose
sentence has been commuted to penal servitude for life,
has been removed from Chelmsford Gaol to Bentonville
Prison.

The application recently sent in by a lady to the
Incorporated Law Society to be examined at the Preliminary
Examination for Solicitors in Yebruary next, is, says the
Women's Suffrage Journal, the first made by a woman.
- •

The National Gladstone Banquet Committee have
resolved to abandon the proposed dinner to the ex-Premier
on the 70h anniversary of his birthday, the right hon.
gentleman not considering himself in a position to accept
the compliment. A deputation, however, was appointed
to attend the banquet at Liverpool.

Dover Pier is to be fortified by placing upon it an
armoured turret carrying two 80 ton guns, an armament
which would probably prove even more effective against a
naval attack than that of the huge castle upon the adjoining
heights.

The Bureau nritas report for October, states that of
115 sailing vessels reported lost and missing. 29 were
British, 15 German, 14 Norwegian, and 12 American. Eight
British steamers were reported lost.
- - -

Viscount Dillon died on Sunday afternoon at hie.
residence, Dytchley, Charlbury, Oxfordshire. On Saturday
week he fell down a flight of stairs and broke his leg in two
places. He went on well until Friday, when serious symp-
toms were seen, and from that time he gradually sunk until
one o'clock on Sunday, when he expired. The deceased, who
was the fifteenth viscount in the Irish peerage, was born in
1811.

Some idea of the enormous wheat trade of the
United States may be gathered from the following figures.
Suppose the annual export loaded into cars, each carrying
400 bushels, no fewer than 256,452 cars would be required.
If loaded in ships, each of 3,000 tone, a fleet of 825 would be
needed to transport the wheat across the ocean. The export
is approximately valued at 100,000,000 dole., which in gold or
its equivalent has been paid to the United States.
Mr. Delane, the late editor of The Times, was buried
on Saturday, in East Hampstead Churchyard. At his own
request, the outward formalities and observances were as
simple as possible, and the invitations to attend were limited
to members of the family and the staff of The Times.
Last year the Americans did an extensive trade in
the export of poultry at this season, and will, during the
present month, send to the English and Continental markets
a large supply of turkeys, prairie hens, and other kinds of
poultry. An early Allan steamer is expected to bring 10,009
turkeys, many of them being intended for Paris.
Colonel Arbuthnot, M.P., spoke on various ques-
tions on Monday night at Hereford, including the army. He
said tlure were many weak points in the constitution of the
army; and it was admitted all round by Liberal and Con-,
servative that it was in as weak a state as it could be. No
doubt in a short time the mistakes would be remedied. The
Royal Commbsion would do good, but without that they
had the experience of two wars which showed England the
weak points. He held that a different quality of soldier
than that we had must be found for European wars.

A correspondent calls my attention to the number
of flies which have survived the summer. "Might not this
be taken as a sign," he asks "that the winter, in spite of
this brief interval of severity, may yet prove a mild one I "
I think not. My inference is that the flies have been
deceived by the prophets, and have lived on in the hope of a
mild winter. They will be wiser next year, and perish by
the almanack without reference to the forecasts.—Mayfair.
Prince Bismarck, in the name of the Emperor, has
requested the Federal Council to assent to the sending of an
Imperial Commissioner to the Melbourne Exhibition, and
to the insertion of an item of 300,000 marks in the next
Budget towards defraying the expenses incurred by Germany
in participating in the same.
The Master of the Rolls has had before him an
action brought by Lord Portman against the Home Hos-
pitals Association for infringing the terms of a lease
granted to them of Berkeley House, Manchester•square,
London, by establishing a hospital in it. The defendants
contended that the agreement had not been violated, inas-
much as the hospital was not carried on for profit. Judgment
was given for the plaintiff.
Lord Wrottesley, Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire,
opened a coffee house at Burslem on Monday, and spoke of
these establishments as calculated to have a beneficial in-
fluence on the habits of the people.
Professor Klinkerfils, of GOttingen, ridicules the
notion, to which he assigns an English origin, of the danger
to the earth of the present position of Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, and Neptune. He scouts the idea of the epidemics
of the 6th and 16th centuries being caused by a similar
phenomenon, declaring that such a phenomenon did not
then occur, and can only occur even excluding a Neptune,
but once in 420 years.
A distressing and fatal accident has occured at Port-
land. A little boy, seven years of age, was playing with
other lads near the edge of the cliffs at Weston, when one of
the children's hats blew over. The deceased went down
part of the cliff to try ard get it, but, slipping, he fell over
a perpendicular piece of rock, falling a depth of fifty feet,
and afterwards rolled thirty or forty feet more. Singular to
say, the boy was not killed outright, but was picked up in-
sensible, and died a few hours afterwards, the cause of
death being fracture of the skull. An inquest was held,
when a verdict of accidental death was returned.
Thg Queen held a Council at Windsor Castle on
Saturday afternoon, when the Earl of Seafield and the Duke
of Montrose were knighted and invested with the Order of
the Thistle.
Mr. Bright has accepted an invitation to take part
in the proceedings at the opening of the new Liberal club in
Birmingham, of which he is president, on the 20th of
January. Sir William Harcourt and Messrs. Muntz and
Chamberlain will also be present.
In the French Chamber a motion has been brought
for ward proposing the abrogation of the law which pro-
hibits work on Sundays. The motion was opposed by a
member ot the Right, who cited the example set by Eng-
land, Switzerland, and America, but was ultimately carried
by a large majority.
Speaking at the Newmarket Agricultural Dinner on
Tuesday night, Mr, Hunter Rod well, M.P , dwelt upon the
existing depression, and strongly urged the farmers not to
think of going back to Protection or reciprocity. As a
partial relief, he advocated a reduction of the burdens
which pressed upon agriculture. Mr. Thornhill, M.P., held
that some security must be given for growing wheat with
profit They ought to have a Sr. duty when wheat was
below 60s. per qr
There were 2 530 births and 1,802 deaths registered
in London last week. Allowing for increase of population,
the births exceeded by 69, and the deaths by 45, the average
numbers in the corresponding week of the last ten years.
The annual death-rate from all causes was 2613. Daring the
past nine weeks of the current qnarter the death-rate has
averaged 22 3 per 1,000. against 21 3 and 21.7 in the corre-
sponding periods of 1877 and 1878. The deaths included 3
from small-pox, 78 from measles, 102 from scarlet fever, El
from diphtheria, 49 from whooping cough, and 28 from (lit-
ferent forms of fever.
The Paris Corrzspcndent of the Daily Telcgrarh
writes A funeral service was held this morning (Tues-
day) In the church of Champigny, in commemoration of the
terrible battlea that were fought there during the Franco-
German war, when the army saved once more the honour of
France, and lost in the effort 6,000 men and 600 artillery
horses. Those present at the church service afterwards
visited the monument and the crypt in which the bodies of
the dead were placed This evening, by a natural transition
from grave to gay, those of the survivors of the battle who
think fit to do so will take part in a banquet in a restaurant
in the Palais Royal."
French sculptors are invited to compete for a memo-
rial to be erected on the spot where the National Assembly
met in 1789 Ills to consist of a statue of the Republic
with statues of Bailly, Mirabeau, Sleyes, and Lafayette at
the base.
The Debats, commenting on Mr. Gladstone'd argu-
ment that England should earn the gratitude of the Turkish
provinces by securing self-government for them, says :
"On the eve of the Crimean war Lord Palmerston sketched
a similar programme, but without more than momentarily
standing by it. Ills not uninteresting to reflect that the
same solution eff•red itself to the sceptical and implacable
mind of Lerd Palmerston and to the generous and nearly
always sentimental imagination of Mr. Gladstone."
M. Michel Chevalier died on Friday in last week
at his country house, Montplaisir, near Lodeve, at the age
of 74. He was the son of a shopkeeper at Limoges, who
found means to send him to the Polytechnic School, which
he quitted for the Ecole des Mines, where he earned an ap-
pointment as civil engineer in the department of the Nord.
H. Chevalier's great claim to be remembered by posterity is
that he negotiated with Mr. Cobden the liberal commercial
treaty between France and Eugland.
If four grains make a carat, how much sand would
grow a potato 2—Fun.
The shipments of 'wheat from America to Europe
during the past week amounted to 360,000 quarters, of
which 240,000 quarters were for the United Kingdom; and
of maize to 164,000 quarters, of which 84,000 q tartars were
for the United Kingdom. The visible supply of wheat is
stated to be the same as last week-29,760,000 bushels; but
it is generally believed that this is an under estimate, and
that the true figures are about 36,000,000 bushels.
Balloons, as instruments of importance in warfare,
are beginning to assert themselves in our army- At presemt
their use is confined to purposes of reconnoitring, but the
time is probably not far off when they will be furnished with
heavy guns, wherewith to pepper the enemy. Between
ballooning (says the Coure:Journal), the electric light, the
heliograph, and the new helmet, the Duke of Wellington,
could he be permitted to revisit the glimpses of the moon,
would feel himself as much out of his element as Julius
Clear.