The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-03-22 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

A telegram from Youghal says: The German barque
Lucie, from Liverpool to San Francisco, was sunk on
Saturday night by the ship Annie Johnson. Six of the
crew were drowned. The captain and eight men were
landed at Youghal.
Most of the Russian Exchange Commit ine have
forwarded memorials to the Minister of Finance, ad-
vocating an import duty on unmanufactured iron of not
less than than 15 copecs gold per pood, and a propor-
tionate increase in the duty on manufactured cast iron
and machinery.
A butcher named John Haig, of Leith, was found
lying dead on Saturday morning in Market-street,
Edinburgh, and it is believed that he had been fatally
assaulted.

It appears from a letter dated Auckland, Feb. 4, that
Tawhido, the Maori King, expresses his intention to
visit England shortly, and has invited several of his
leading chiefs.
The total number of beasts entered for consumption
at the Metropolitan Cattle Market for the week ending
Saturday last was 2870; the corresponding period of
1883, 2390; 1882, 3,100; 1881, 2750; 1880, 3520; 1879,
42G0; 1878, 3540; 1877, 3590; 1876, 4490; and 1875,
3740 head.

A new Factory Bill has been introduced into the
Canadian Parliament, reducing the hours of labour in
the week from sixty to fifty-four.
The number of places infected with foot-and-mouth
disease in England has been reduced to 166, and the
number of diseased animals to 2742.
Monday (17th) being St. Patrick's Day most of the
Irish members in the House of Commons wore shamrock
leaves either in their hats or their button-holes.
The ship Bann, of 1650 tons, Captain J. T. Cutting,
chartered by Sir Saul Samuel, 8.C.M.G., Agent-General
for New South Wales, sailed from the Clyde for Sydney
on Saturday with 448 emigrants.
The tricycle is ousting the "beast of burden" with a
vengeance, and the three-wheeler is now used in many
of the suburbs of London for delivering milk.
Negotiations are in progress between the Nizam's
Ministers and Mr. Wilfrid Blunt for the establishment
of a Great Mahomedan University at Hyderabad. Mr.
Blunt has offered to contribute 30,000 rupees towards
the endowment of a first Professorship at the Uni-
versity.
The "New York World " is alarmed at the invest-
ments of British capitalists in American soil, which
now amount, it is said, to twenty million acres. Among
the holders are the Duke of Sutherland, the Duke of
Manchester, Lord Houghton, the Earl of Dunmore, and
Sir Edward Reed.

The Sunday School Union of London are circulating
15500 petitions in favour of Mr. Stevenson's Sunday
Closing Bill for England.
At Marlborough House on Monday, the Prince of
Wales received his Royal Highness the Prince Sona-
pandit, brother of the Bing of Siam, and his Royal
Highness thei,Prince Nares, the Siamese Minister.
A Paris correspondent says Arcole, the historical
steed which Napoleon 111. rode at Sedan, has been
finally turned out to grass by its present owner, Mr.
Robert Lumley, in consequence of a fall in the Bois,
where until now he has kept up a distinguished appear-
ance among his race.
An explosion of gas occurred on Monday at the house
occupied by a man named Mostein, in Moreton-street,
Strangeway, Manchester, by which much damage was
done, and Mostein himself injured.
In a football match played at Reading on Saturday,
between South Reading and Marlow, one of the home
team, named Miles, had one of his legs fractured, the
result of a kick. Lustly, the Reading goal-keeper, was
also injured.
The Duchess of Connaught has contributed a beauti-
ful altar cloth, with the Greek cross and lilies em-
broidered by hand, to the new parish church at Bagshot,
Surrey. The Duke of Connaught has also presehted a
cross and candlesticks.

On Saturday an address was presented to Sir
Richard Owen at the British Museum (Natural His-
tory), South Kensington, on the occasion of his retire-
ment from the post of director-general of the natural
history departments of the British Museum. The
address was presented on behalf of the Geologists'
Association, and was made by the president of that
body, Dr. Henry Hicks. Sir Richard Owen made an
appropriate reply, in the course of which he gracefully
referred to the honours recently bestowed upon him.
The value of the exports of domestic breadstuffs from
the United States last month amounted to 10,103,000
dols.

A football match between teams representing Eng-
land and Scotland was played at Glasgow on Saturday,
and resulted in the success of the Scotchmen by a goal
to "nil."

The representative of a large financial company in
France has offered to pay to the State eighteen
millions of francs for the privilege of manufacture and
sale of matches.

A painful sensation was created at Kidderminster
Parish Church on Sunday night, by the sudden death
of Major Wentworth Dawes during the service. Heart
disease is assigned as the cause of death.
A letter has been sent to the Under Secretary of
State for War protesting in the name of 200 Highland-
men of the London Inverness-shire Association against
the proposed alteration in the Highland bonnet.
• Four men and a woman were committed for trial by
the Menai-bridge magistrates on Saturday on charges
of sheep-stealing. In one case, in which two prisoners
were implicated, one of them said he and his companion
took the sheep because they had no work and were in
want of food.

On Sunday a fire broke out in the farm premises of
Mr. John Brooks, Wootton Grange, near Ulceby, by
which four large wheat stacks and several reaping
machines and other valuable implements of agriculture
were destroyed. The engine from Barton played upon
the fire. The water had to be conveyed in carts from
Wootton dam, nearly two miles distant. The damage
is estimated at from £lOOO to £l5OO.

A sum of £l5OO is offered as prizes in the special
classes for British live stock at the International Agri-
cultural Exhibition, to be held in Holland in August
and September next

An extraordinary case of murder has just been tried
at Sylhet, in India, which resulted in the conviction of
thirty-five persons, one of whom was sentenced to death,
thirty-three to transportation for life' and the other
man to eighteen months' imprisonment.
In accordance with the arrangement come to at the
recent meeting of the Conservative party, Lord Ran-
dolph Churchill, Mr. Chaplin, and Lord Claud Hamilton
have removed from the notice paper of the House of
Commons their amendments to the second readincr of
the Franchise Bill, thus leaving the field clear for the
amendment of Lord John Manners.

At Trieste, on Monday night, a bomb was exploded
in front of the official residence of the Governor-
GeneraL The perpetrator of the outrage succeeded in
escaping.
It is announced that on and after the Ist of April a
new series of stamps, available for postal and tele-
graphic, and, up to the value of 2s. 6d. for Inland
revenue purposes will be sold at all post-offices through-
out the United purposes,
Stamps of the old issue will
still be available, and may be purchased as long as the
existing supplies shall last.
. _

The steamer Pennsylvania, arrived at Liverpool from
Philadelphia reports having passed an immense iceberg
on the lOtli inst. in lat. 10 N., long. 42.09 W., about
two miles long and 75 feet high, very dangerous to
navigation, being so far east.
Edwin Wales, one of the Ordnance Survey party, was
killed by a passenger train near Gainsborough on the
Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway on
Tuesday afternoon. Seeing the train advancing he
became confused, ran in front of the engine, and wee
cut to pieces.
In London 2761 births and 1660 deaths were regis-
tered last week. Allowing for increase of population,
the births were 100, and the deaths 158, below the
average numbers in the corresponding weeks of the
last ten years. The annual death-rate from all causes,
which had been 19-3 and 21-3 per 1000 in the two pre-
ceding weeks, further rose to 21-6.
On Tuesday a mural tablet, placed in the Church of
St. Olave, Hart-street, London, and surmounted by a
bust of Samuel Pepys, secretary to the Admiralty in the
days of Charles 11., was unveiled in the presence of a
numerous and representative company. The American
Minister, in a graceful, though brief, address, spoke of
the character of Pepys and of the remarkably enter-
taining diary which he had left of his times.

According to a private telegram from Warsaw, the
police of that place made numerous domiciliary visits
during the night of the 14th inst., and arrested some
fifty persons. The hotel proprietors in the Polish
capital have received strict injunctions to communicate
the names of all strangers arriving at their establish-
ments to the police.
_ _ _ _

Tuesday was the 36th anniversary of the birth of her
Royal Highness the Princess Louise (Marchioness of
Lorne), who was born at Buckingham Palace on March
18, 1848. The Princess Louise was married, on March
21, 1871, at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, to the Mar-
quis of Lornez eldest son of the Duke of Argyll, K.G.
On her marriage she was granted an allowance of
£6OOO a year, and a dower of £30,000 by Act of Parlia-
ment.

The death of a retired watchmaker, whose age was
stated to be 101 years, was officially recorded last week
as having occurred at Mile-end Old Town.
The revenue received from the Ist of April last to the
15th inst. amounts to £83,494,560, or £777,430 less than
the £84,271,990 received in the corresponding period
ending the 17th of March, 1883. The expenditure up
to the 15th inst. was £78,507,670, being £3,316,795
less than the expenditure for the similar period of
1882-3. The balannes on the 15th inst. amounted to
£11,330,675, and on the 17th of March, 1883, were
£9,236,774.
An alarming explosion folk place on Monday night
at a magic-lantern entertainment at Farnworth, near
Bolton. Soon after the commencement of the enter-
tainment the apparatus went wrong, and a loud ex-
plosion occurred, and a large . (Aurae of flame appeared
behind the screen. Several persons near the lantern
were slightly burnt, but the exhibitor escaped un-
hurt. panic ensued, and the audience rushed out
of the building Several persons were crushed end
bruised

SATURDAY, MAICH 227 1.834

The representatives of the Russian railways at their
late conference offered prizes of 3000, 2000, and 500
roubles for the best constructed goods trucks for use in
transporting grain in bulk. The prizes will be given on
the Ist October of this year.
The Industrial Association of Lower Austria has
arranged for an Exhibition, at Vienna, of engines, &c.,
for the smaller industries, such exhibition to be open
from July 24 to October 12.

A portrait of the late Lord Melbourne, which is to be
presented to the city of Melbourne by Sir William
Clarke, has been submitted to her Majesty's inspection.
A grotto has just been discovered in the Commune of
Cerdon, Canton of Poncin (Mn), France, about 20
yards from the high road from Lyons to Geneva. It is
some 500 yards beg, and full of stalagmites and very
fine stalactites; there are also stones in fantastic shapes.
Skeletons of animals have been found, but have not yet
been submitted to antiquarians.
The members of the Paris City Council will shortly
have before them a proposal by M. Laine, member of
the Society for the Protection of Animals. It is
nothing less than the creation of a cemetery for domes-
tic animals, such as dogs, cats, birds, &c. Owners of
pets, if the measure is accepted, will have the right to
raise monuments to their memory, recording their
names, virtues, and qualities.
Subscriptions amounting to £26,000 has been pro-
mised for the erection of churches at Bristol.
The statue to be erected to the late General dhanzy,
at Le Mans, France, is nearly finished. It represents
him in campaigning uniform, with his left hand resting
on his sword hilt. It will be cast in bronze, and be 9ft.
in height. Upon two sides of the pedestal, groups of
soldiers, mobiles, sailors, and troopers will represent
respectively "the defence of the flag," and " the
attack."
Mr. Charles Frere, the Examiner of Private Bills, and
Taxing Master of the House of Commons, has just died
at his residence, 11, Porchester-place, London, after a
short illness. The deceased gentleman has been
officially connected with the House of Commons over
fifty years.
The City of Hamburg offers various prizes for the
plans of a new Natural History Museum. The total
cost of the construction of the building must not exceed
£45,000. Five prizes of £5O each will be awarded for
the five best plans; further prizes of £2OO will be dis-
tributed amongst the victors for further work in con-
nection with the scheme.
Gardner, the master of the Guayna who was brought
home from Ascension for killing his chief officer and a
coloured seaman, has been brought before the South-
ampton magistrates, and, being evidently insane, was
remitted to an asylum.
A workman at Scremerston, in Berwickshire, on
breaking a lump of limestone discovered a live toad
within it. The toad was secured and handed over to
Captain F. N. Norman R.N., President of the Berwick-
shire Naturalists' Club.
Miss Hastings, of Malvern, a relative of hiff arren
Hastings, completed her 103rd year last week. She
was thus ten years old at the time of the acquittal of
her illustriqus relative.
A Government Bill has been introduced in the
Belgian Chamber of Representatives, forbidding non-
commissioned officers and soldiers to vote at elections
while tlkey are serving with the colours, and providing
that cler,y shall only be permitted to vote at the place
where the 3 lived before they took orders.
The monthly statistics of the foreign commerce of
France, just published, show that during the first two
months of the current year the imports amounted to
717,053,000 f., as compared with 752,232,000 f. in 1883.
The exports for the same period were 395,668,000 f., as
against 461,641,0001. last year.
The police have made a general raid on the Anarchist
haunts in Pesth, and have arrested thirty-six persons.
A New York telegram says that the visible supply of
wheat on March 14 was 30,500,000 bushels, as against
31,100,000 bushels the previous week. Visible supply
of Indian corn 16,200,000 bushels, as against 15,400,C00
bushels the previous week. The export clearances of
when for Europe daring the last week amounted to
640,000 bushels. The export clearances of Indian corn
for Europe during the week amounted to 840,000
bushels.

Antelopes hare recently been so plentiful between
Green River and Granger, in Wyoming, on the Union
Pacific Railway, as to impedo the passage of trains at
times, a train recently being obliged to come to a full
stop.
A band of Korani brigands has been exterminated by
the Turkish troops near Monastir.
A tablet commemorating the national pilgrimage in
January last to the tomb of Victor Emmanuel has been
inaugurated on the Capitol, Rome.
Dr. Beveridge, Chairman of the Aberdeen Public
Health Committee, stated, at a recent meeting, Ciat in a
certain lane-in the granite city thirty persons lived in
one room.

According to the " Annales de Statistique " there
were on the Ist of January, 1883, 1378 newspapers and
periodicals published in Italy. Rome publishes 200,
Milan 141, and Naples 120. There are 159 daily papers,
539 weekly ones, 258 monthly maganes, and no less
than 267 scientific periodicals.
It appears, from the annual message of the Mayor of
New York, that the net bonded debt of the city is
92,516,025 dols., which is a decrease for the year of
3,595,922 dols. Receipts from all sources were 56,908,219
dols., and payments 54,262,086 dols. The total assessed
valuation for 1883 were 1,276,677,164 dols., against
1,233,476,398 dols. in 1882, the increase in property
value being upwards of 43,000,000 dols. The amount of
money to be raised by taxation for educational pur-
poses in 1884 is 5,977,938 dols.
According to the Report of Public Instruction in
Bengal for 1882-3, just issued, the number of schools
in the province was 68,838, and of pupils 1,311,092.
These figures show an increase of 10,889 schools, aud
204,447 pupils compared with the previous year.
The traffic receipts of the six great French Railways
from the 19th to the 25th ult. show a decrease of
244,005 francs as compared with the corresponding
period of last year.
A special supplement to the" Dublin Gazette," issued
on the 14th inst., proclaims the counties Armagh, Louth,
Derr 3 , Fermanagh, and Tyrone, under the Bth Section
of the Prevention of Crimes (Ireland) Act. The same
section is declared in force in the city of Derry.

Sir Lyon Playfair, has been nominated and
has accepted the Presidency of the British Association
for the meeting to be held in Aberdeen next year.
Intelligence from Sofia states that in spite of the ex-
press wish of Prince Alexander that forty-eight, or one-
half, of the officers commanding companies in the Bul-
garian Army should be Bulgarians, only eight such
officers have been appointed.
A railway is to be constructed between the Russian
island fortress of Cronstadt and Oranienbaum, on the
mainland. The cost of the undertaking is estimated at
16,000,000 roubles. The bridge will be on arches rest-
ing on iron caissons, the bridge part being of cemented
granite, and 71. wersts in length. It will have two lines
of rails and two covered footways. It will be lighted by
the electric light.
Twelve British and eleven foreign owned vessels were
reported wrecked during last week, four being British
steamers and three foreign. Two (one German and one
British) were lost with all hands. Nine, of whiCh eight
were British owned, went down off Great Britain. Of"
the British wrecks, four wore over forty years of age, • -
one being fifty-one years old. Total wrecks to date for
present year, 449.
On the estate of Lord Wrottesley, near Wolverhamp-
ton, numbers of remarkably fine leverets are to be seen
playing about, and, judging from their size, many of
them must have been brought forth in the early part of -
January.
The supporters of Female Suffrage have received the
promise of the votes of the great majority of the Irish -
members. They entertain, we believe, strong hopes
that they will be able to carry in committee on the
Franchise Bill an amendment extending the bill to
women householders.
Acting under the advice of counsel, Mr. Bradlaugh
has pleaded not guilty by statute to each count of the
Attorney-General's information for having sat and.
voted on February 11.
There is much activity am ang the Temperance Party
in the House of Commons in view of the second reading.
of the Sunday Closing Bill, which is the first Order for
Wedneslay, April 2.
A yo ng factory labourer named Jens Nielsen, who
ha 1 been tried at Copenhagen on the charge of •
having committed several acts of incendiarism, con-
fessed to having been the author of the fire at the
Victoria Docks, London, in 1881. The prisoner was
found guilty, and sentenced to penal servitude for
life.
An important capture has been made at Argos,
Andalusia' of seven Socalists, members of the secret
society of La Mano Negra, or the Black Hand.
Last week's receipts of cotton at all United States
ports were 48,000 bales; since Ist September, 4,413,000'
bales. Week's exports to Great Britain 62,000 bales;
week's exports to the Continent, 32,000 bales. Total
since Ist September, 3,104,000 bales. Stock at all
ports, 847,000 bales.
On Saturday morning, at Dublin, a blacksmith named
Finlay made a desperate attack with a hammer on the
wife of a man whom he called an informer, and said
had worked in the informer, James Carey's, shop. He
struck her senseless to the ground, and she is now in
the hospital in a critical state. The man was arrested
and brought up at the police court, where he was re-
manded.

. A shocking fatal accident was reported to the Den-
bighshire coroner on Saturday morning. An engineer
Timed John Pattison, employed at the Bersham Col-
hery, rear Wrexham, became entangled in the
machinery, and was so seriously injured that he died:
The deceased was twenty-nine years of age. About
three years since his father, who was manager of the
colliery, was killed by an explosion of gas in the . ame
part.
Over fifty members of the House of Commons have
promised their support to a bill, which will, in all pro- •
bability, be introduced into Parliament this session, for
the purpose of revising the Book of Common Prayer.
Advices from Constantinople announce that the
German General Hobe has obtained leave to organise a
model regiment of cavalry for the Turkish Army, and
has already commenced its formation.
A merchant named Marass has been arrested charged
with smuggling bombs and petards into Pirano, in
Istria, by concealing them in sacks of flour. The dis-
covery was made by the Custom-house guards.
A fatal accident occurred at Clitheroe on Saturday.
A paper mill hand named Sarah Kendall, aged about
thirty-five, was putting out a paraffin lamp when the
lamp broke and the oil ran on to her clothes, which
became ignited, and in a few moments she was a mass
of flames. She screamed loudly for help, and ulti-
mately a man who was passing her house threw water
on her and extinguished the. flames, but the woman
was so badly burnt that she died m a few hours in great
agony.
The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens,
Regent's Park, London, during last week included a
bonnet monkey from India, a pig-tailed monkey from
Java, presented by Mr. G. 11. Lee; two herring gulls,
European, presented by Madam Fridaich; a kagu from
New Caledonia, presented by Mons. J. M. Cornelyt
C.M.Z.S. ; four blue titmice, British, presented by Mr-
Ffanaeur ; a barn owl, British, presented by Mrs. W.
Gittens ; a Rhesus monkey from India, deposited;
Eosman's potto from West Africa, purchased; a yellow-
billed duck from South Africa, received in exchange; a
Bengalese cat from India, received on approval; a zebu,
a collared fruit bat, an emu. bred in the Gardens. -