The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-11-11 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

The fashion dictators pronounce that " lo3ketssop,
le so Itturp-the place of broaches, and are wortreven
morning t.lisis

Toe lareeetset of scales in the worn has been built
at Ashley, Pa. The platform is 150 feet long, of the width of
a railroad track, and can weigh 100 Lona.

The new rule on the subject enjoins upon all the
builders of houses in Parts to so arrange the number of each
that at night it may be made visible.
An advertisement in the Record announces the
formation of a society "for united prayer for the protection
of animals from cruelty."

Recruiting, it is said, is going on much more actively
than has been the CMG for some time past.
The Odessa Nressenaer reports the fortification works
at Sebastopol to be maktlig r.,p1,1 progress. New guns for
mounting the batteries arrive daily from tit. Petersburg.
"The Great Doke asserted that an army fought on
Its stomach. The Servians evidently have no stomach to
fight on."—Punch

In Paris white horses are used at children's or young
unmarried people's !antral*.

The deaths from sm%ll pox in London, which had
been 16, 22 and 15 in the three preceding weeks, rose ag tin
to 21 last week. Four adult cases were certified as vacci-
nated, and 11 as unvaccinated. The two Metroplitan
Asylum District Small-pox Hospitals contained 231 patients
on Saturday last, 101 fresh cases having been admitted during
the week.

The Manchester Chsordian's _London correspondent
ha* information that her Al 4 tsty has bean plasused to confer
a peerage on General Sir it Atrey on Ws retirement from
active tervice, It is believed that he will take the title of
Lord Airey of Killingworth

A dispute in the hat trade as to the ratio in which
masters shall have apprentices has led to a strike. Upwards
of a thousand men are out at Denton and Stockport, and the
strike is said to be extending.

"General Tchernaieff appears to be now undergoing
the common fate cf the unsuccersfut commander. The Rus-
sian journals are loud intheir condemnation of him, though
it is not always easy to see on what grounds—save, of course.
the very good and sufficient one that he has failed."—Pall
Mali Gazette.

The cost of collecting the revenue (C 72,544,091 for
the year 1876-76 was £7,755.587, and of that sum £6,029,733
was expended in connection with the Post Office. Last year
the revenue of £70,974,515 was collected at a cost of
£7,699,306.

Although several tenders are known to have been
sent in to the Admiralty for the purchase of the Vanguard
Ironclad ship as she now Iles on the Kish Bank, It is doubtful
whether any attempts will be made to raise her bodily.

It was reported to the Kidderminster Council on
Monday that scarlatina of a malignant type was very preva-
lent In the town, and that elghteeu deaths had occurred in
the past month. The medical officer said that many of the
courts in the town were in a shocking state.

The Q,cePn and Princess Beatrice attended divine
service on Sunday in the parish church of Crathie. The Holy
Communion was administered. The Rev. A.. Campbell,
minister of Crathie, offiAated.

Prince Bismarck's health is said to have improved,
alth, u.,,h he still suffers from sleeplesness. He is expected
at Berlin about the middle of the present month.

Tee R-v. C. 11. Spurgeon was anuouneel to take
part in the special prayer services at the Mission Chapel,
Little Wild-street, Drury-lane, on Tuesday night, but it was
stated at the commencement of the service that he was ill in
bed and unable to be present, and his pNce as president was
taken by his father, the Rev. John Spurgeon.
Mr. F. S. Dutton, tbe Agent-General for South
Australia, has received the followlag telegram from the
Government at Adelaide, dat.d the 25ti October :—" Fine
rains have fallen, and the harvest prospects are much im-
proved."

The Liverpool post-master has notified that in future
lettcrs addressed to the post-office to initials or fictitious
names will not be retained for delivery, blt will he at once
returned to the writers through the Dead LetterOffize.
The great scarcity of copper money in Jersey is
seriously inconveniercing tradespeople. The diffbulty is
increased by the steady refusal of some shopkeepers to
accept French or Guernsey c,ppEr coins, which hitherto
have had equal currency with Jersey and Eoglish coppers.

- -
The Regiatrar General, in his quarterly return of
births, marriages, and deaths, states that during the quarter
ended September 30 the population of England and Wales
increased by 98,`255, by the excess of births over deaths. The
net number is, however, somewhat altered by emigration.
B-er drinking iu India is going rapidly out of
fashion, and only one person in six now takes ale at Wan and
dinner. Twenty or thirty years ago half-a-dozan of beer at
Ulla was no unusual allowance for a man.

Plague, according to recent adviccs from Ceuta, nas
broken out amongpt horned eattle at Negron, in Morocco,
and the Board of Health at Gibraltar has met to determine
the best count) to ba taken to prevent the introduction of
the diseaie into that place and the neighbourhood.

The East Anglian Daily Times publishes an extract
from a letter rzceived by an inhabitant of Ipswich, from
Mr. Gladstone, fu which he says, "I view with misgiving
all new shgressions upon private liberty, unless upon a clear
and certain proof of necessity; aud I keep my mind opeu
upon the question whether such proof has or has not been
supplied in tips matter of vaccination"

It appears by the return for October of the Agricul-
tural Department at Wa.hington, that trio tot ,1 estimated
wheat crop is 246,000,000 bushels, which, compared with
1875, shows a reduction of one-sixth. Au improvement in
quallty, however, is reported. The yield of oats is 23 per
cent. less than last year. The Indian corn crop is a fair
average.

Accounts from Bernay (Eure) state that wild boars
are so numerous and so bold in that neighbourhood that
they actually enter the town itself At FPrrires-saint-Fillaire
a herd of those animals from the forest of Broglie corn.
plefely destroyed a field of potatoes, and at Corneville
another lot was found devastating a piece of ground in the
hamlet ot La Pr6vot6. They were attacked by the Inhabitants
and two were killed. The dam, however, escaped into the
forest of Beaumont.

According to the Berlin Post the British Govern-
ment Is fortifying the Island of Heligoland by erecting a
battery on the eastern shore, consisting of two 12-pounders
and two 98 pounders. The guns destined for that purpose
are said to have been already landed. The Weer Zeitung
apprehends that the step taken by the English Government
will revive a sore feeling among the people of Germany.
A large district meeting of the South Staffordshire
miners have passed resolutions declaring that the employers
wEre in a position to raise wave without advancing the
price of coal, and also that the public were in a better posi-
tion to pay more for their coal than the miners were to do
without a rise iu wages.

In Lnadon last week 2,613 births and 1,403 deaths
were registered. Allowing for increase of pepulation, the
births exceeded by 145, whereas the deaths were 165 below,
the average numbers in the corresponding week of the last
ten years. The annual death-rate from all causes, which in
the two previous weeks had been equal to 18 3 and 191 per
1,010, farther rose last week to 2111

A woman named Smith, re3iding in North Queen-
street, Belfast, has just met with a horrible death, While
pouring some petroleum out o aj tr the vapottr of the oil
caught fire, and in a few minutes Mrs Smith was enveloped
in flumes. She died shortly afterwards.

The War Department is considering a proposal to
try an experiment with one of the 38 ton guns against .23
Inches of wrought iron arm Jur, which is four inches more
than the 109-ton gun at Sdy zzia has yet been fired at. The
trial will probably be ordered to take place at Choeburyness.
The Times of Monday says—" We are authorised to
say that the statement which has appeared in many papers,
to the effect that Cardinal Manning is about to leave England
and to reside permanently in Rome, is wholly without founda-
tion. The Cardinal is going to Rome for a few weeks, with
the intention of returning home before Christmas."
A prisoner, who was convicted at the last Middlesex
Sessions of attempting to steal a purse and 3. 6 t , was on
Monday brought up for jadgmeut and sentenced to five
years' penal servitude. On haring the !entente, he ex-
claimed, "What! five years for an attempt? It only oueht
to be two years." Subsequently he was recalled, and Mr.
Serjeant Cox told him that he had sentenced him under the
impression that he had been convicted of actually stealing,
instead of only an attempt to steal; he found, therefore,
that the highest sentence he could pass on him was two years'
imprisonment with hard labour. To which the prisoner
rejoined, "I told you so ; but that's getting off three
years."
A. telegram from Stuttgard states that Theodore
Efeuglin, the African traveller, died on Sunday. Ile was
lionrinWgur
It
jeumrboeerygs,
Ilan lABr2a4b,
taandpheturam, :gee
born at Hir socrhtal an.
tdeexnp,
several imp
White Nile district, Abyesiuia, the coasts of the Red Sea, and
Central Africa. In 1860 he undertook a journey into Central
Africa in search of Edouard Vogel, and returned to Khar-
toum in July, tBe2, after undergoing much fatigue and priva-
tion. In 1863 64 he was engaged for fourteen months in ex-
ploring the White /rile district, and, as in his former
journeye, made many discoveries of interest to geographers
and naturalists.
wei t s
he
no nthaercocowun*
ao
balance
eu from
of
f rzsmll9t h
58e l
7,
to
were £42,212,052, against £42,409,920 In iris cor-
aNpirvi.l,,tn
blB,
r76i
respondit.g period of the preceding financial )ear, which
began with a balance of 12.4,265,322 The net expenditure
wau £40,999 801. against £46,810,t29 to the same dote in the
previous )ear. Toe Treaaui y balances on November 4
monnted to 41,800,638, and at the came date lu 1875 to
£1,664,183.

An inquon haa been held in Londenatthe Vestry hall,
Charing•crws, an the body of a piunz woman, name unknown,
found urowneri in the lhames ( if Waterloo-pier on Friday in
last wetk. itichard Bray, a policeman, having proved the
discovery of tte body, Mr Mills deposed that he had made
a post mortern examination and found that the cause of death
was drusvning. A. cloak was found tightly tied across the
eyes of the deceased, but whether by herself or some other
person could not be ascertained. Tile Jury returned an open
verdict.

•
Owing to an extension of the premises of the London,
Chatham, and Dover Railway at Maidstone, a large number
Of little tenements have to be pulled down, and no other
buildings are available for the tenants. In fact there Is
already much oveurowdb gtu the poorer I mantles. At this
Jim:lure Sir Sydney Waterlow, M.P., for the borough, has
come forward and generously offered to buUd eighty houses
for the working classes.

On Sunday the Dean of Westminster preached to a
large congregation in St, Andrew's, liolbsorn, taking for his
text the sixth chapter of the Prophet Micah, verses 3 to 8,
drawing a parallel between the deliverance of the people out
of Euotian bondage and the deliverance from destruction of
Janes I and his Parliament, and holding that the dangers
from which the E iglish people have escaped by this and
other ddiverances should s'i'i he litid in remembrance.
An important order with reference to the Volunteers
has been issued from the War Office. For many years the
brid appearauce in dress of a large number of the Volun•
teers attending the Wimbledon and other rifle meeatugs has
been the subject of continual comment The War 011 he
authorities now say distinctly that when Volunteers attend
the meeting of an artillery or rifle associltion they will be
careful on all occasions during each meeting to appear either
in the authorised uniform of their corps, or in purely civilian
dress."
The French Court of Appeal has just heard a curious
case. A parson named Plisson was oat shooting on the 27th
August, 1876, and when asked for his license presented one
dated the 27th August, 1875. Being summoned before the
decided bylaw
wthe conviction must
tribunal at Dreux, he was flied for shooting without being
He aPPealed, and
tphr
en vh
gi d ehde
rw
el tehu
rt
be quashed, as the Act declares that the permit is available
thehapeapneerws rde
for one year' that in suet' calculations of time the day of
Issue is not included, and that consequently the license had
not expired on the 27th AuguSt, 187 g.
The Special Correspondent of the Daily News at the
bea quarters telegraphs that a number of Russian
ofil •ers have formed themselves into a guard of honour about
G.,neral-Tehernateff, in token of respect? dan sympathy, The
General has thanked them, and obtained from 'hems promise
that they will be at their posts at the expirationof the
armistice He referred at the same time to the dtssdvan twee
under which the Servian army had labonred, and pointed out
that it had nevertheltssheltos o,vn, and bad
only succumbed
to ov6rw-nelmMg numbers. lieneefotth he hoped that not
on, of those he was addressing wou!cl speak in eepreciatlon
oilt. This speech the Correspondent says, has produced an
excellent tract

An ingneat has been held at Southall on the body ot
Charlotte Daniell, aged seventy-Cx, who died on Thursday,
the 2nd but, from the eff.cts of burns received on the pre-
vinus night The deceased was left sitting by the fire in the
back kitchen, and after she had been there alone for an hour
a lodger, ahl was awoke by her screams, found her in flames.
She was thrown to the itior, and the fire was at onee extin•
guished but dec, ased had received such injuries to her left
side bald such a shock to the system that she expired on the
folio wing afternoon. 10 Dr. Macdonald, who attended her,
she stated that the back door was open and the wind caused
a flare, which ignited her clothing. The nry returned a
Verdict of "Accidental Death."