The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-12-02 00:00:00

ti,
man:

absence of labels, to have referred to the invoice; that
the plaintiff did /sustain loss and damage by the deten-
tion of the trucks at Reading, and the cattle were de-
teriorated in value by reason of what happened to the
extent of £4O, and that the loss and damage, o sing to
the breach of duty which had so occurred at Bristol
and Reading., had not been caused by the wilful znis-
conduct of the defendants' servants.

Upon this finding, his Lordship directed a verdict
to be entered for the plaintiff—damages £4O, with leave
to the defendants to move to set the verdict aside and
enter a verdict for them upon the pdintsK

'RANCk.
letter.

SUNDAY IN Fi,
A French translation of the following is.. , with a copy
of the French edition of Mr. C Hill's prize essay entitled
"Sunday," cont lining an introdnctsory letter by Mr. Glad-
stone had been sent to each memberef the French Senate and
Chamber of Deputies :
Working Men's Lnrd Day Rest Association,
13, Bedford Row, London.
Sir,—Will you do the Committee of this Association
the honour of accepting the accompanying little book
entitled "Sunday: its Influence on Health and
National Prosperity"? The observance of tae S3l-
- has been an incalculable blessing to Great
Britain, and it is the desire of the working men and
ahem connected with this Assoctatil

on to see theillitire

brethren and eisters in France enabled like themselves
'to enjoy the Sabbath as a day of rest from labour. We
regret to learn that in France, and other continental
countries, labour of every kind is parried otzto great
extent during-the- I:6rd'ii. Day, and we feel that if
practical measures could be devised for promoting the
observance of the Sabbath, and reducing the amount of
Sunday labour to that which is necessary, a great
blessing would descend on tte French nation That
:,,ace and prosperity may ever rest on your great
country is the sincere desire . of your English neigh.
bours and friends,—We have the honoar to be, Sir,
your most ob4dient servants, SHAFTE.SBURY, President;
CHARLES HILL, Secretary. •
MR. FORSTER ON RUSSIA.

On Monday Mr. W. E. Forster was presented with the
freedom of the city of Aberdeen. In acknowledging
the honour, he spoke at considerable length upon the
Eastern Question. He said he wished to remove the
impreaelon,which appeared to have been created by
his speech at Bradford that he gave a general approval
to all the Government bad done. He had not ap-
proved a great deal that was done. It was, he thought,
absolutely essential In order to avoid war that there
should be an agreement between Russia and England.
The difficulty in the way of such an agreement arese
from an unfounded suspicion of. Russia, Mr. Forster
at some length defended Russia's action and policy as
perfectly fair ; and said he waisiure that if we were in the
position of the Russians, and if our Government was
in the position of the Russian Government, they would
take the same line and say, "if we cannot get this ques-
tion settled by peaceful means; if we cannot get these
people a good Government by peaceful means, we shall
do it by warlike means." Mr. Ferster said he,
did not share in the alarm regarding the failure of
efforts at peace on the ground that Russia intends that
they should fail. He did
.not think the danger came
from Russia; but, there was danger, and the danger
cime from Turkey. The chief danger of the failure of
the Conference was the dartger of the refu,al oZ Turkey
to give the guarantees to the Christian Powers
which are necessary, to use the Czar's words, to im-
prove the condition of her Christian subjects. It was
very unfortunate that Lord Beaconsfield, in speaking
of the independence of Turkey, had said nothing of the
, guarantees that would be requieed from her. Curkey-
ought not to be misled en this matter. It ought to be
made clear to her that if she refuses to give guarantees
she will have no help from us to save her from the con-
sequences of that refusal, if they come by way of attack
from Russia. Mr. Forster asked his hearers, however,
liot- to 00 away with the impression that he belonged to
the ultrcepeace party, or that he was a peace.at-any-
lVioti man. He said
',X believe war to be the most terrible evil that can afflict a
eiisountry. I believe an tinjtist, uniaecesiary war is a %Wm'
war, and I believe no wicaedness equal to It; but there are
itiuesrions in which a country must fight For instance, not-
withstanding all the evils and all the horrors of war, I should
lay that is we could not preserve our communications with
India without going to war, we are bound in duty to India
and to ourselves to go to war for that purpose. But I will
say this—that if it comes to a que,ation of war or campaigns
for the purpose of preserving the power of Turkey over her
Christian subjects to misgovern them, there are no constt-
. Zutional means which I and those who thirl with me will
not resort to to prevent the country committing what I
believe to be a crime greater almost than any that has been
committed by us or any other nation.
_
Mr. Vozeter concluded by saying that he was hopeful
of the success of the Conference. He believed that
Turkey would give guarantees if Lord Salisbury took
the position which is due to Etnland of not mer ly
agreeing with Russia and asking for them, but our-
selves teking the lead in asking for them; and, above
all, if the marquis would join with Russia in telling the
Turkish Government that the time has now come when
she must give to the Christian Powers not merely pro-
mises but guarantees that she will no longer misgovern
them, he believed that war would be averted, and that
the objects of the Christian Powers would be gained
by peaceful means.

_iii*„.tha

AN EX-QUEEN OF SPAIN.
The Madrid Correspondent of , The Times writes,
Ider date November Ttie following authentic
.ter is o4practeristic.• Writing from Lisbon to Don
°Fe Olozaga, of Madrid, the late Duchess of Aosta
said—; r it_ t.
"-RUA! IV 'February 24, 1873.

'I gratefully thank the several members of the Provincial
Deputation for all that they did for me, but truly I deserved
nothing at their hands. I never did more than my simple
duty, nor did I at all times succe.d in doing that. .51,f aims
were high; my purpthe uptight; /wither than that I coal.'
not always reach. I am so thankful that the Piovlncial
Diputation will keep up my R•fuges (A silos) for the children
of the poor cigar factory womeo arra wasnerwo:nen of the
Mauz Alarm Far away 1 wilt still pray God that he will
give to Spain, under „other rule, that happin, as which I
-and King Amadep could no: succeed 1u giv.ilg.--711ARIA.
"It will be seen that the letter from whic% the above
Is an extract is alluding to courtesy shown to Her late
Royal Highness and King Amadeo by the Madrid Pco-
vincial Deputation when, abdicating, the Royal couple,
who had deserved so well of the country, set out on
their ill-starred journey to Lisbon; the Queen having
but just risen from her accouchemene. No words can
give an idea of the sweetness at.d loftincsii of disposi—
tion that could inspire such a letter at such a moment.'

then brought out, and, attired in appropriate garb,
grins in fearful and fantastic mockery at those
surviving relatives who are allowed to make an annual
visit. A Sicilian gentleman was paying a morning
of this kind during our brief Boinirn in the vaults,
and we saw him unlocking the coffin containing the
object of his solicitude and thereby disclosing what
was left of his friend, who was attired in full evening
costume with white gloves, which hung but loosely on
their late owner's bony fingers. To make this parody
of life in death, if possible, more disgusting, photo-
graphs representing the living features of these
preserved monstrodtiebtere occasionally appended to
the relics, and we sat-one portraying a handsome
man of—as we learn by his label-37 years• of age, the
original of which grinned at us ritth a 'ilat of white
teeth so perfect as to attract my attention towards
them.
A NEW RAILWAY BRAKE.

The Northern of France Railway claims to be in
possession of an apparatus, invented by an American
engineer, which will enable any one of the passengers
to Stop in .twenty-five ileconde a train travelling at the
rate of fifty miles an hour. In order to accomplish this
so many carriages, in proportion to the length of the
train, are fitted with a brake to which .is,attachtif.,
of bellows, shaped like a cylinder. These bellows,
in appearance resembling a Vonetian lantern, contract
undor atmospheric pressure as soon as a vacuum is
produced, and force the shoe of the brake agp.;--' "

-ia Alta
g 4644-116.- tand

'lowing manner :—The bellows iattci ta?Aiach wheel I
are connected with one another 11- a "gutta-percha I
tube, which runs from the engine to the last carriage
lin the train, Lind which is fed from the boiler. By
,pulling a string the passenger lets: the iteam•into the
tube, and from the tube it will make Its, way into the
bellows. The vapour will expel the air, and, as it
condenses, create a vacuum, which will cause the bel-
lows to contract and set theThiskea. in action. It is
stated that the experiments already made show that
this apparatus works in such away that a train can
be brought to a standstill withot4 causing the slightest
shock. . •.. • .
.. ,
. .
.r• • .‘, v 1111 i 5.14,1 larrsis

I m,
nnse

:e againfst the I
eed in tfiilel.• 1-?Pruieh the co,

GOOD ADVICE.— It is a bad plan to get filled
with emotion— you may not have room for your dinner.
—Judy.

RARA AVIB. —Apropos of the New River
Company, we stated a few weeks ago that the only
company ia the world to be compared to that under-
taking was the Anz n Colliery in France (says the
Whitehall Review). We now complete our statement
by the following intelligenco on this year's dividend,
which, although not as high as that of 1875, is,
however, very satisfactory. The board of directors has
decided to pay a dividend of £520 per denier, or £5 4s.
per hundredth part, for the first half year of 1876.
The dividend on the first six months of 1875 was £BOO.

THE PROGRESS OF Q GEENSLA.ND. —The popu-
lation of this colony, according to the census of May
last, was 1733180. The live dock numbered last ye ar
7,209,313 sheep, 1,805,210 horned cattle, 120,761
horses, and 46.167 swine. The quantity of wool shipped
was 20,145,9141 b., valued at £1,366,030. The land
under crop was 77,347 acres; when reaped for grain
the yield was nearly 23 bushels to the acre. There
were 13,459 acres under sugar-cane. The imports
amounted to £3,194,342, and the exports to £3,008,331.
The revenue for the year 1875 6 was £1,263,268,
and She expenditure, ineapective of loan account,
£1,314,931. Queensland has 282 miles of railway open,
atinut 150 miles in course of construction. At pre-
sent telegraph lines extend 4,609 A miles, the mileage of
the -wires being 6,058. The aggregate attendance of
-children in the State primary schools is 33,643, for
;achich the country pays £83,180, or £2 9s. sd. per
head. The Chinese have adopted a petition to
!Governor Whale, asking hint to refuse his assent to
the Goldfields Act Amendment Bill. They have also
forwarded a petition to the Emperor of China, calling
attention to the breach of the Treaty with Great
niritain. A powerful shock of earthquake was felt in
:the interior recently.
e.EIR THING TO THROW LIGHT ON SPIRITUAL.
ITSTIC SEANCES.—A Spirit-Lamp.—Punch.
' SHOOTING AN ALLIGATOR ! The Times of
-India says that the following curious tale reaches their
-Alleshabad contemporary from Rajpootana :—A few
days "since Captain —, Assistant Commissioner,
was staying in the dak bungalow at the Lake of Posh-
kar or Poknr. The bungalow is built at the edge of
the lake, which swarms with alligators, much venerated
by idle inhabitants. In the course of the night one of
the alligators, about ten feet in length, found his way
up a narrow and steep flight of steps leading from the
water to the courtyard of the bungalow. A police
sentry gave the alarm, and the animal, terrified at the
noise, attempted to take refuge in a room occupied by
sleeping servants. This, as may readily be -supposed,
he was unable to effect without disturbing their
slumbers, and he was speedily left in sole possession of
various razis, among which he was shot by Captain
. The reverend guardians of the sacred waters
are furious at the destruction of the alligator, and are
loudly Clamouring for vengeance on Captain --.
It is even rumoured that if the offended god or goddess
is not appeased by the immediate dismissal and degra-
dation of the Assistant Commissioner, the holy men,
regardless of political geography, will petition the
highest authority that Ajmere may he placed at once
under the Government of Madras.
AN OPTICAL DELUSION.—The Caurt Journal
tella the following which it characterises as an odd
story : .
A regiment quartered at a certain city in Scotland had
among them an expert gymnast, who taught his brother
subalterns how to walk across the barrack-room on their
hands. While thus engaged the other evening the door
opened, and the colonel, a stern disciplinarian, entered the
room, looked attentively at the inverted company, shook hill
head gravely, and departed without uteering a word. An
order to be on parade next morning was the least ptinish•
ment expected for this breach of discipline. Some days passed, ,)
however, and no notice being taken, it was thought an apologl4
and explanation should bordered by the prime instigator
these unsoldierlike movements. A reference being made to
the memorable night, the colonel amazed the intended spoke."
gist by exclaiming, "Hush, sergeant, I would not have
body know it for the world. The fact is, I had been dining--
out with an old brother officer, who had served with me in
India, and 'pots my life, I had no idea the wine would have
such an effect open me, but when I came to see if you were
all right in your quarters I could have sworn that I saw yang
all upside down" The old colonel was as ready as a diplo-
, matist, and kindness was the consideration which caused him
to attribute to himself the upside down. - ,•
INFANT LIFE IN BENGAL.— Dr. Payne, the,,,,
Officer of Bengal, in his last quarterly report, give
some statistics of infant mortality in that province,
which are truly appalling. He finds, on averaging the
•deaths among infants under twelve months old for the
Aid five years, the proportion per one thousand to be
:among the non-Asiatic inhabitants 221, mixed races,
389, Hindoos L 93, and Mahometans 735. While, there-
fore, less than a quarter of the non-Ailiaticinfants die,
nearly three-foot the of the Mahometan children are
-carried off before they are a year old. Dr. Payne
alleges as the cause of this excessive mortality "the
stifling atmosphere and the want of eh culation of air
in which native childr- n are born and brought no."
But this does not account for the great disparity of in-
fant mortality between Mahometans mid Hindoos.
Out of every one thousand Mahometans 735 die, while
,the average mortality among the Hindoos is but 598.
It is to be hoped the Indian government authorities
--will investigate this imporiant subject, and adopt
tdeasures which shall at least lessen this awful waste
of human life,—Medical Examiner.
A POLITE R &ILWAY OFFICIAL.—A Boston
paper has the following :—" How the railroad cow
ductor adapts himself to people he meets was
illustrated to a party recently visiting the Hoosan
Tunnel. Judging from their appearance and con-
versation that they were worthy of attention, the
polite offiAal said: If your party would like to vieW
the opening of 'the tunnel before we enter I will stoß
the train and 'give you an opportunity.' A grateful
assent was given, and at the next station one of the
party walking forward on the platform heard the con-
ductor address the engineer as follows: Stop her jest
afore you go in, Bd.( ; there is a crowd of big bugs here
that want to see the hole.'"

AN APOLOGY FoR ARMING.—The .Tourned de
St. 1 ettrsbourg tenders the subjoined apology for the
armaments of Russia :
The armaments of Russia are Instilled by the militsrl,
situation on the theatre of war. It at the expiration of the, '
armistice Turkey knew she would only encounter the en-
feelated forces of Sarvia and Montenegro she would dcubtleas -
do an In her power to prolcug the negotiations, and cause
them ultimately to fall through in crder to crush the troope •
of the Principalities at the mmaent that appeared most snit.
able to her. Mere diplomatic pressure on the part of Enroll'
would not suffice to obtain concessions from her which woning
her pride. ,
PATIENCE RECOMMENDED.—" A wife's harm
lot" is orte of the Presidential Election anecdotes
from America :—D unbar's wife (says M. Quad) listened
to a long political discussion while riding down tows
yesterday morning, and at dinner she remarked to her
iusband—" Well, a few days more will decide this iett:
election." "In a measure, was his guarded rectife
"I'm awful glad," the continued. "You commenced .41
going out nights about the first of March, and you'Ve.-7;
kept it up ever since. I'll be one happy woman about
the 8.1 of November. We'll have cheerful fires,'
games, comfort, and —." " Charlotte," solemnly'
interrupted the husband, "can't you understand this
thing? The election will occur on the 7th prox,, of
courae. After that date I must help count up the
returns, verify them, put our clubs ia training for the,
next campaign, examine the lines of the opposition,
and so forth, and it may be next April before I get
through. You must have patience, for everything 15
working all right." What could she do but burst into
tears?
A COMMON COMPLAlNT.—Extremely genteel .
wife: Oh, Charlie ! would you believe it, Ethel an&
Bertie are playing with that Farmer Wurzel's children, .
who are so coarse and so common !"—Charlie (who will
bare his little joke) : "Well, darliog, it doesn't matter
much, so long a's it lent infectious. Besides, they've
both been vaccinated, you know I "—Fun.
APOCRYPHAL SORIPIIIRES.—" A Rustic" writes
to The Times :—" Mr. Mundella, M. P., presiding at a
neetiug held at Exeter Hall for the purpose of promotill:
ansectarian education, is reported in The Times 0 "
November 23 as saying, Ciesinlinese was next to god
liness, said the apostle.' Would Mr. Mundell& kind!"
iaform your readers and at the same time promote the
cause of unsectariae s-ducation by stating which spool!:
he referred to at d vw.b,re the quotation may be found!
'ii rt ply to the above, the Rev. Moncnre D. ConwaY
veritee to ilte Times ;—' The saying 'Cleanliness Doi
next to godliness,' for attributing which to an Apostle '•
Mi. Muudella hoe been qaestioneel by 'A Rustic.' iSi
not of Scriptural but yet of Hebrew origin. It first
appears in Beraitha, as the last Mlshng of Sata, chap.
ix, It is often repeated in Rabhieical books; e. 9.0
Phinehae ben Yeir says Tne doctrines of reiigien
are revolved into carefuinas, carefulnese into vigorous'
vigorousness into guiltlessness ; guddeseliess into,
abstemiousness, abstemiousnees into cleanliness ; clean'
liness is next to gedliress.' " Mr. N. Rowe writes :---
"Others besides A Rustic' and Mr. MundeLla new/
be glad to learn that though not the teaching of au
Apostle, the words 'Cleanliness is, indeed, fiext to 3,
godliness,' occur in a sermon on dress, by John Wesley, Cs
who died in 1792."—" Clericus" writes :--e" The old '
proverb is not Cleanliness is next to godliness,' but toi.
goodlinest—viz , beauty of form, grace elegance."
HINT TO HEIRESS-SEERERS.—The very best
, belle-metal is a mixture of geld and silver, but it is not':
always easy to get hold of.—Judy.
BIG GAME IN Amtnioe.--Dr. Arnold, who ..
died more than a generation :ago,: vras often heard to
lament over the exceeding wastefulness of American '
civilisation and foretold that a continent which above ,
.141 othePtabounele.iu the rich gifts of nature would be s
.exhimsteil of its matchleee resources long before the ,
Blo7e goiog proaecs of the Sc'avonian einulre had
arrived at maturity. In confirmation of thia view, i
is t ,
but.fWe years since the President of the United
States addressed a special message to the standing con':
• inittee of the House of Representatives .upon publia
lands, conanunicatieg information respecting the,
~
raphily approaching exhaustion of trees upon the North ,
Awericm con,tliaenta and praying them to provide bY
gielative enaCl,Meriti for the cultivation of timber
aud tho preservation 'of 'ores's. Within the 'fat
qu ,rter oft a century it used to be boasted that 'estie
timber of the United Saites was practically inex- ;
hanstible' and therefore the contesaions contained ID
the report put forth in answer to the President's Ines
-
sage are tantamount to an admission that Dr. Arnold
was correct in his anticipations. Similarly it ie' -
impossible to read the books—and their name is ,
put forth by Eeglish sportsmen who have been in the,,
hahit of visiting the less frequented states and terrl. i"
toriee of the Union in pursuit of big game, without
perceiving that the day is not far distant when the
atnericanris or buffalo, the C.rvesalces or mooso4
the 0 via montane or mountain sheep, the Antilonapra
or pronghorn, and the Urals horribilis or griazly bear, d
will have disappeared from a continent of Malan ":ftley
,ere by no means the least interesting and. --„atudde
features. "Yet, on, the pity cf it t' -iad,ims the
agonised Othello, and hie heart•teptijg cry
. will be
echoed by edhytehrrayerdandieistturaliet,. whet: he reflects that the ,
be ol',lverted into one of the
hardiest hPjaste of draught in the werhie ,
strongest estm aing
and that he is as easy tamed as the wild h-oraA"'" of 'Oa
Pampas. BOte although the eleventh hour of the
'ffaloltaVcome, it is not now even too late for Soule
irlofic Americans, who love their noble native lend,
ziaake such urgent representations. at Washington
tgat fArther indifference Us to the bite of a mage_Lfi'
600 quadruped . dual henceforth be impossible.-2
_

otIaAI,BIZFON. ETX,.711A119

.s15:111;1) f 411tai..) ad VI Liu t l';" ib"'s