The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-11-18 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.
BRITISH AND FOREIGN;

Several English officers of the Royal Corps of Engi-
neers are reported to have arrived in Constantinople.
A motion wpg made in the French Senate on Satur-
day to abolish the Embassy at the Vatican, but it was rejeoted
by 350 votes to 93.
Great scarcity of water contmues at Saint-Etienne
(Loire), and the Mayor has just decided on suspending the
supply to private houses, in order to assure the service of
the public fountains.
A movement is being started at Kidderminster to
raise a statue to Sir Rowland 11111, K.C.8.;, the introducer of
the penny poatape system.. A meeting has been held in that
loan, in the neighbourhood where Sir Rowland Rill was born
on December 2, 1795.

In Paris on Monday morning a man committed
suicide by throwing himseli from the top of the Column
of the Bastilo. lite mutilated body was conveyed to the
Morgue.
The divute in the railway spring trade at Sheffield
Is assuming a very serious aspect. All the men are locked out.
The men have decided to accept no reduction in their wages.
Sir Thomas Western, Bart., has presented a hand
somo turret clock to the parishioners of Keivedon. He also
p:oposes placing a stained glass windmill the parish chtuich
An outbreak of smallpox has occurred in Burnley.
Three deaths have already taken place from it—two female
adults and a boy.

Daring last week 2 810 births and 1,635 deaths
were registered in London. Allowing for increase of
population, the births exceeded by 839, and the deaths by 77,
the average numbers in the corresponding week of the last
ten years. The annual death-rate from all causes, which in
the three previous weeks had been equal to 18'3, 19 1, and
21 0 per 1,000, further rose to 24 4.
It is pointed out by the Registrar• General that the
deaths from small pox in London, which had been 16 and 21
in the two previous weeks, further rose Ile 43 last week, the
highest weekly number since May, 1672: 21 were certified as
unvaccinated cases, 15 (all of adults) ac vaceinated, and In 12
cases the medical certificates did nos furnish any illiOralatioll
as to vaccination. Of the 43 fatal cases, 22 occurred in the
two hospitals at Hotherton ant Stockwell, Sin the Highgate
Hospital, and no fewer than 23 in privd.te dwellings.
The Marquis 'of Waterford met with a severe acci-
dent while hunting last E.tiday. He was well up to the
hounds, galloping in the open, when his horse put his foot
In a hole and fell heavily on the marquis, whose head struck
a large stone, which cut it from the top of the nose up-
Varela vary severely. His lordship lay quiet_for some time;
but showed great couraged adaillsMupiaitt‘tpfpalli horse,
he rode to Mullinaral, Virbicl. Pace Ms _carrgh was
waiting, and drove to Curragiunore, where he received
medical assistance. His lordship, though greeUy shaken,
and cut on the head, has not reoetyed any atructural

---
Richard Jones, a Waterloo veteran, died at Dover
on Sunday, at the age of eighty-one. He served in the Ist
Battalion Rifle Brigade at Waterlop and in many other
battles.

A fortnight ago the ex-Mayor of Dtvlley wE.e pre-
sented with a silver cradle and knife and f.,rk oy the c,rp ,ra-
tton, on the occasion of the birth of a daugllter. Darl,,g
Sunday night, or early on Mond ty morning. top hone of
ex• Mayor was entated by thieves, and the cradle an). °tiler
things taken away.

A serious forest fire has ravaged all that p,rt of the
Alps which surrounds the town of Cannes. For many years
there has been a periodical fire in this Vicinity, and it is
believed to be the wink of incendiaries.

Sir Tollemache Sinclair, M.P., has offered £lO to
the School Board of each parish in Caithness, provided the
residents in the respective parishes raise £2O, for the esta-
blishment of free libraries.

At Liverpool three parents who had neglected to
have their children vaccinated, have been ordered to pay a
flue of 20s. and costs each, with the alternative ot one
month's imprisonment.

In a single district in Japan seventy-one Buddhist
temples have been converted into dwelling houses or used
for other purpose since 1873, and darlng the last six years
upwards ot six hundred have been diverted from their
original object.

Tne following appears in a Manchester (Maas.)
newspaper. "Notice —Has the Lord Jesus Christ, in this
city, a friend who has to spare, cheerfully, fir la:4 work,
3.50, dols. to 500 dole.? information desired this week. The
interested only need address or apply at this office."
The trade year of the Staffordshire Potteries, which
closed last Saturday, has been less prosperous than was an-
ticipated in January, when large orders were received from
Russia, ttuntralia, and New Z -Aland, and hopes were enter
tamed of an early revival of trade with America.
Sunday last was observed at Dover as "School Sun-
day," cone Alons being made in the places of worship in aid
of the expenses of elementary education, to avoid the
necessity of forming a school board.

A statement made by the Cape Times that the King
of the 13 Agians contemplated establishing a penal colony in
South Africa kas keen denied, his Majesty's only desire being,
it is declared, to aid the exploration of the country and to
assist in abolishing the slave trade.

Galig manes Messenger states that a few mornings ago
the dead bodies of two women were found in the Lake of
Geneva. they had evldeutiy been killed by blows on the
head dhripg their sleep and brought In a cart to the Qttal de
Fraidalgue, and thrown into the water from that place.
An Incl'an invasion, numi-ering 3,000 men, has
occurred on tae River Plate, but the enemy retreated before
the troops, and 7,000 head of cattle, lt is said, were re-
covered.

Hedneeford Station, on the London and North-
Western Railway, near Walsall, was destroyed by tire on
Monday morning, the whole contents of the banding, includ-
ing books and papers, being consumed.

A fatal accident occurred on Saturday at Cooke's
slate gierry, Ilanbarts, near Carnarvon. Several workmen
were about to remove a large piece of rock by blasting' when
the fuse unexpectedly exploded. There was a sudden tall of
rock, and a young man was struck on the head and lulled.
The secretary to the British Iron Trade Association
has received a letter from the Foreign Office stating that
there is good reason to b.;lleve that the existing duties
on iron entering Gamany will cease from the end of this
year.
A Times' telegram says that the work of dismantling
the Philadelphia Exhibition and removing the goods is
going on extensively. The British paintings are packed. The
German Government has presented the German pavilion at
the grounds to Philadelphia.
- -

On Friday in last week a man named Calloway, one
of the hands employed on board the Formby lightship, cif
the port of Liverpool, was sUcat dead by the accidental dis-
charge of a gun which one 1111Uthe other men on board had
been using shooting wild fowl. The coroner's inquest has
terminated in a verdict of "Accidental death."

The Mayor of Portsmouth, Mr. W. Pink, has re-
ceived a letter from the ex-Mayor of London, Enclosing a
check for £1,674 Is 101, being the amount (after payment
of £62 7s, 6d. for advertising and £1 Bs. 3d for postage and
stationery) collected at the Mansion-house In all of the suf-
ferers by the disaster on beard the 2 hunderer.

The gale on Saturday nieht was severely felt all
round the British coast, although the accounts received so
far describe the chief disasters as happening on the east
coast and in the Channel. The services of the life-boats
were called in requisition, and they were successful in saving
a number of lives and much property.
The Sussex Advertiser states that a project for the
construction of a direct line of railway between Lewes and
East Calnistead, including a contemplated extension to
Croydon, has been warmly taken up by the landowners along
the line, and that the promoters have rrceived the cordial
co-operation of the Loudon, Brighton, and South Coast Corn.
piny, by whom the new line will be worked as a part of their
system

Nearly tbree thouland peuons attended a meeting
of the United Ktngdom Alliance, 11,1 d on Inesday night at
Bristol, at which the principal zpealicrs were Sir Wilfrid
Lawson and Mr. Samuel Morley, M P. The latter gentleman,
amid great applause, announced hinuelf as a convert to the
principles of the Permissive Bill
The Archdeacon of Stowe has offered to give £5OO
towards the creation of a new See, comprising Nottingham.
shire, to be carved out of the diocese of Lincoln. Mr. J. L.
Ftytche and a frfeAl of the church in Nottingham have
each ( ffered £,500 With a similar obj-ct o'.h:..r sub4crip-
tions and legacies to the amount of £i,7o have been also
promised.

The present number of sheep in the United States is
stated at 27,000,000, yielding an aunusi clip of wool of
50,000,0001 h. The number of sheep slaughtered for mutton
yearly is about 7,000,000 The cap:tal invested in sheep and
sheep husbandry in the United Statea is over 260,000,000 d,ls.
The annual product of these sheep is 90,000,000 dols.

Mr. 0. S. Read, M.P., in addressing a gathering of
the Norfolk Chamber of Agriculture on Saturday, aeclared
that corn-growing in England noes not pay, and that the
cultivation of wheat this year has been a dead loss to
farmers. He recommended paying for harvesting by the
sere, and commencing harvest earlier, so as to utilise favour-
able weather, and prepare for autumn cultivation,

The Rw. Mr. G. G. Dennis, rector of Maldon, was
trAug driven by his coachman down the Market-hill on
glif
Tuesday afternoon, when a timber carr e, heavily laden,
dashed into the waggonette, containin . Dennis and his
two children, c, mpletely overturning it. he occupants were
thrown out, and one of the timber-car wheels went over
the rev, gentleman's body, causing his death in a few
minutes.

r It is said that Queen Isabella of Spain possesses a
collectien of old lace which cannot be equalled in Europe,
and which is worth several millions. Productions of all
countries, kind, and ages are there, all perfect in work and
of infinite rfc' nf-ps. One dress of Point- d'Alene mis worth
more than 100,000 f. Some full sets of trimmings in old
point, belonging to her Majesty, are in themselves a fortune.
Divine service was conducted in Balmoral Castle on
Sunday by the Rev. James Barclay, of Canonbie, Dumfries-
shire, before her Majesty and Princess Beatrice. Iler Ma-
jesty's return journey to Balmoral from the Glassalt Shiel on
Friday night was made, it is stated, in a severe snowstorm,
and the roads were nearly impassable from snow. It is ex-
pected that the Qteen and Court will leave Balmoral for
Windsor on Wednesday, the 22nd inst.
Replying to a toast at the mayor's banquet at Fal-
mouth Mr. D. J. Jenkins, M P., who has just returned from
Egypt, sailhe did not take a gloomy view of Of sirs in the
Bat. He believed the result would be pacific, and that the
Powers would succeed in averting war. The question, how-
ever, was how it could be done without the occupation of
Turkish territory. All that was required was Oat such
, htrocities as those which had occurred should not be re-
peated.

Paris has been extremely inventive this year; unless
than 11,000 patents had been taken out. We hear that rink
skates and tramways, have the privilege of filling the patent
Widget. I chemist also pretends to have discovered the
means of restoring adulterated food to its primitive purity!
Perpetual movement, also, still occupies Paris inventors,
together with aerial locomotion. The list of the year's patents
is amusing to read ; one is for the frigorifuge boots, whose
soles are so constructed that they may contain lighted coals
without burbing.
Cardinal Antonelli was a Knight of the Prussian
Order of the Black Eagle, an order reserved only for very
distinguished perscnages, and conferred upon ten who are
not members of or closely allied to reigning families. The
order was presented to him eleven years ago, when the Pope
still enjoyed his temporal sovereignty, and while the negotla-
tions between Berlin and Rome were in progress which
ended in the appointment of a Roman Catholic chaplain.
general to the Prussian forces, with the rank of a bishop.
It is officially announced at Rome that Cardinal
Slmeoni, pro-Apostolic Nuncio of Madrid, succeeds Cardinal
Antonelli as Pontifical Secretary of State. Some years ago
Simeont came under tee favourable notice of Plus IX.,
through being employed at the Vatican in drawing up Latin
letters and briefs. lie has since filled an important
diplcmatic post, with satifaction to His Holiness, and he was
a
protégé of Cardinal Franchl, who would probably have
succeeded Antonelli had be not, as is generally thought,
other views than that of terminating his career as Pontifical
Secretary et State. The appointment of Simeon! will be
calculated to have an iefinence on the decision of the.next
Conclave.
Several ancient coins were found recently near
Jerusalem among which were silver shekels and half shekels
of Judea. They are considered to be some of the most in-
teresting of anolent coins, and belong to the time of the
Great...nigh Priest Simon Maccabens. On one side is the
buddllig•rod, with legends in Hebrew, also Hebrew date in
the year 1• on the reverse the cup of manna. They are said
to be in fine state of preservation, in spite of their great
age.
Personally, a Dutchman, like a Scot, is an eminently
hospitable I..nd indeed charitable and helpful individual.
But he has a rooted otj.ction to help people who will not
help themselves; and as he has a kind of crochety belief that
all paupers come under this cat,- go; y, he entertains notions
about relief, which our aofter manners lead us to stigmatise
as barbarous. In• Holland it would appear that the theory
of the law to this day is that no pauper has any claim on
public relief; that the care of the poor is "a moral aria not
a civil duty, the performance of which does not appertain to
the State."

A great fire occurred on Saturday night at the ware-
house of Messrs. Bancroft and Co., oil refiners, in Edmund
street, Liverpool. Tile inflammable nature of the contents of
the blinding caused the flames to spread with um )ntrollable
rapidity and several shops on the opposite side of the
street were soon on fire and damaged more or leas seriously.
Thn oil warehouse was totally destro3ed, and the loss is
estimated at £53,000. The fire was attended by some very
alarming incidents, among them being a flaw of burning oil
down the gutters and the fall of a large portion of a wall.
No lives were lost. A singular circumstance is the occur-
rence of no fewer then tour other small fires within a few
hours of the first outbreak.

Lord George Hamilton, ALP., Under Secretary of
State for India. maddressing a meeting of Middlesex Conser-
vatives at the WestminAer Palace Hotel, on Monday, referred
to the Conference which is about to assemble at Constanti-
nople, and spoke in high terms of the selection of Lord Salis-
bury as Special Inib_assador. The Indian Secretary was going
t o
out to represent a Govemment whose policy might be included
under three heads ;—First, they intended to do all in their
power to preserve s4e peace of Europe' second,y,
protect, as far as possible, the national interes. I'
entrusteds they
would
their care ; and thirdly, their object was to endeavour to
ameliorate as much as lay in their power the condition of
Christians in European and Asiatic Turkey.
"The Bavarian Court has long endeavoured to hoe p
been secret a matter which was patent to all the world b
be a public secret. Prince
Otto, which may be said to have esides,
rk ofrelievedt he from
Otto, brother of the King, and heir presumptive h
eto throne
in case King Ludwig should die wi L leaving ors
of his
d tl
body, has become insane. No official announcement has
revealed this fact, but in irey it has received ‘
to b e
tion. The Prince's h Y
his duties, and has been replaced by Drs. Paull and Salbrig,
the chief physicians of s
Pitheci an
publicha has asked
lunatic
asylum
t tained of th
dis-
trict. Little hope is 611 br , e Prince's recovery
from his mental derangement ' —The Whitehall Review.
Crowdg of people continue to visit the Arctic ships
and the Arctic Esnibition at Portsmouth daily, while hun-
dreds charter boats and take a trip round the Pandora steam
yacht, Captain Allen Young, whieh lies at the 401 h buoy in
the harbour stream. On board the Pandora there is an Ent
lists rose tree (in full and healthy bloom) which has been in
the yacht ever since she left England. While in the Arctio
regions the tree drooped and, to all appearance, died ;- but as '
soon as a w-irmer climate was reached it revived, and would'
now do credit to any conservatory.
The Lords of the Adwiralt by . ave sent a letter to
Admiral E Hot, commander-ln-chiet at Portsmouth, which its
to be communicated to Captain Nam. Their lordships ex-
press their admiration of the conduct of all concerned in
the Arctic Expedition, praise the endurance of the officers
and men engaged In the sledging operations, and state' their
°Pintail tli4t, but for She great difficulties which ar -se, the
object ot the expedition in getting much nearer the Pole
ve,91114 have •beeni.ttained. Their lordships especially corn-
Prittelit. Captain Nares for the judgment shown by hirfrin
Meath g -t0 England ..wtten: he did The, tzomptions of
0 cers whfch have appeared in the London Gazette are set
forth, and their lordships state that upon the receipt of
Captain Nara's report of the conduct of petty officers and
men further marks of that lOrdships' approval will be
InstQwed,

--
Advices from Jamaica state this year's sugar crop to
be enormour.

Silk umbrellas, made to be fastened to the back
Instead of to b 3 carried in the hand, are a mild New York
sensation.
Further survivors of the Rehri og Straits whaling
I.lLet, to the number of 190, have arrivLd at HAlLoialu.
An ( ffic'al return ehows that the number of dogs
tak n char-e of hy the Glasgow police during the recent "t•
• crasad.J" was 1,26, and that of Maass 1.155 were killed.

The Cams Theatre in Madrid has been destroyed by
fire. Two lives were lost.

"Favourite Pastime of the Arctic Explorers--
Pohl ampbag."--Judy.

- -
An Imperial order has been promulgated at St.
Petersburg, prohibiting the export of horses from Western
and Southern Russia.

Orders have been issued for the Court's going into
mourning t,n Wednesday for her late Royal Highness the
Dnahers of Aorta. The Court will go out of mourning on the
25th inst.

There is happily no truth in a story of the loss of
the Tamir troopship now on her way to Bermuda from Ports- 'h
mouth.— Globe.

The presence of leeches in the corporation baths has
been reported to the Derby Town Council. Mr. Conncillor
OAley produced at the recent meeting a bottle containing -;*
three specimens which he had obtained from the baths.

New York has a musical association that is over 4
Alt), years Old One or two young ladies have belonged to it
ever since it was organized.

It is said that an admirer has lately bequeathed to
M. Gambetta a fortune of between three and four milli,ona
of franca.

"Where One might expect to find the 'Ancient
Mariner '—On the Se s of Ancient Ice, o! course."—Judy.

The Lyons journals state that M. Maczaski, a well-
known chess•player, has jut played at the Cate Madernt In
that city six game n at the same time, withodS seeing the
boards. Be won five out of that number.

As it is deemed inadvisible to withdraw the British
fliet from B:sika Bay a large supply of warm clothing is to
be forwarded for the use a the seamen during the approach-
ing winter, the anchorage being very ble-klt and exposed.
A candidate for admission to the Civil Service spelled
Juicy •• gousy." It was on the 2241 September, and wail con-
sidered by the examiners a good quarter-day Joke, and he
passed.— Court Jou rnut.

On Tuesday night the Hough Bad Cotton Mills, at
Bram'ey, near Leda, were entirely destroyed by fire,
supoosed to have been canted by frictton. The damage is
estim'tted at £20,000. Several hundred hands will be thjown
out of employment.

A deputation from the Birmingham Labour Associa.
Hon waited upon Mr. Chamberlain on Saturday afternoon to
ask him to introduce a bill into Parlilment next session to
extend the hours of polling at elections.
A modern ethnographer calculates that no fewer than
800 languigra or dialects are used by the four large distinc-
tive races of Indians and their varieties and crossings who
lva on the American continent, from the Straits of Magellan
o the E:quimanx.
Amongst the curiosities in the Philadelphia Exhibi-
tion there is an exquisite bust in butter, the work of a
Canadian farmer's daughter, which has excited such admira-
tion that funds are being raised to send the young lady to
study in Italy.

A box containing a thousand pistolea (abont ten
franc each) of the time of Louis XIV. war, says Galignani,
found on Friday during the demolitions of the Butte des
Moulins at Paris. The coins are remarkably well preserved.

The New York papers contain a telegram dated
yok ,hama, Oct. 11, which reports that the British barque
Theseus, of London, from Menai.) for San Francisco, was
wrecked on September 1.1 on ore of the Loochoo Islands, and
that the captain, first mate, and eight men were drowned.
Advices from Paris state that it has been decided to
fix the opening ot the International Fxhibition for the lst.of
April, 1878 Contracts have been entered into to have the
main building completed by the end of next year.
The city of Lisbon and its environs have been visited
by a violent storm, accompanied by heavy rains, causing
great damage in the country as well as to the telegraph and
railway lines and among the shipping in the Tagus.

Tha annual ceremony of " pricking " for Sheriffs in
the counties of England and Wales took place in the Court of
Each° tiler ( n Monday, in tue presence of the Lord Chan-
cellor, the Home Secretary, the First Lord of the Admiralty,
the Postmaster-General, and several of the judges.

The barque Speculation, of Townsbery, was on
Wednesday morning driven on the rocks at the Haugh of
B,nholm, south of Bervie, and the whole of her crew, sup-
posed to consist of nine hands, were drowned. Two of the
bodies have been removed. The vessel is a complete wreck,
and is rapidly breaking up.

The Kingston annual cattle fair commenced on
Monday, there being upwards of 6,000 beasts on the ground.
Herons and Herefords realised from £lB to £2O; shorthorn
steers, £l4 to £2O ; heifers, £l2 to £18; yearlings and two-
year olds, £5 to £lO 10s. ; milch cows, £25 to £3l 103.; runts,
£l2 to £l4 Irish calves, £5. The supply of sheep was large,
wethers realising from 555. to 583. ; ewes, from 30A. to 60s. ;
and lambs from 25s to 60s.

Advices by the Indian mail to Oct. 23 bring grave
anp-e hensions as to the expected famine in the Deccan. The
Bombay Gazette states that in consequence of it the Governor
of Bombay has abandoned his intended visit to Delhi, to be
present at the Imperial assemblage there, and adds, "Ii the
dhtress in this Presidency assumes the form it now threatens
the postponement of the proclamation of the title of Empress
might be appropriately made to some more convenient season.

- - -
It will be a matter of surprise and probably of some
interest (says the Railway News); to many shareholders to
learn that In the t weive montns ending Jane last, a sum nal
less than halt a million sterling was disbursed by the railway
companies in promoting their interests before parliamentary
committees, and conducting the usual legal business or
formalities incidental to their position as public servants and
benefactors.

An American correspondent informs us that one of
principal engineering projects claiming attention at Phila-
delphia is the proposed construction of a " pipe line" for the
conveyance of oil from the oil regions to the Atlantic sea-
board, a distance of three hundred miles. The line will be
laid thirty inches under the ground, over mountains and
down to valley stations, where the distribution of the labour
of forcing is carried on. When complete the capacity of this
pipe line will suppl) Philadelphia with no less than 1,600,000
gallons of oll,per year for refining.
Mr. Tower, High Sheriff of Essex, who owns large
estates in the southern division of the county, has given his
tenants permission to destroy the rabbits on their respective
holdings from the present time till November, 1877. They
are to bo destroyed by ferretting, except in the month of
February when guns only are to be used. the concession has
given great satisfaction.

Dr. M. Bruton, house surgeon of Paisley Infirmary,
who has been ill with fever in that institution for about a
week, cscaped from his bedroom while in a state of delirium,
early on luesday morning, climbed the wall enclosing the
grounds, and was shortly afterwards found drowned in the
laver Cart, which runs close by. Deceased was appointed
house surgeon only three weeks ago. He was only 23 years
of age, and was son of Dr. William Brunton, late Rector of
the Paisley Grammar SchooL

The report of the recent teachers' competitive ex.
aminatiou conducted by the Church of England Sunday
School Institute has just been issued by the examiners. The
number of candidates who entered was 789, of whom 635
underwent the examination. There passed in the first class
246, and in the second class 229 candidates. Toe number of
metropolitan and provincial centres at which examinations
were held was 97. The general Increase in the namber of
candidates is 35 per cent., and in the number of metropolitan
candidates 150 per cent.

The new ship Glamis took her departure from
Gravesend on the 9th inst., having on board the followlug
number of emigrants bound for Brisbane, Queensland, viz.
51 married people, 92 single men, 59 single women, 40
children between the ages of 12 and 1, and 5 infants, la king
a total of 250 souls, equal to 226 adults The emigrants are
under the care of Dr. Chas. It. Roodward, ctc.,
this being his sixth voyage, and the single women are under
the charge of Mrs. Deere.
-

Eight lives have been lost in a collision in the
Cannel between the NeW Zaaland Company a emigrant ship
EU? Milli and the Greek barque Paare. The Ilurunui, after
a detention of several weeks at Plymouth, through the pre-
valence of scarlet fever on board, resumed her voyage on
Friday evening, the 10th inst., and in a few hours afterwards
came into collision with the Greek barque, eight of the crew
of which were drowned.
A Times' telegram from Berlin says that "Prince
Meshterski, in one of his famous leading articles in the
Grashdanine, the journal of the St. Petersburg or aristocratic
War Party, says that 9,00 Servian soldiers maimed them-
selves to secure dismissal from the ranks, while 10,000
deserted This moans that nearly one-sixth of the Servian
forces in the field refused to tight—a fact which throws a
glaring light upon the bellicose proclamations of Prince
Milan and his Russian patrons."
A luggage train travelling between Liverpool and
Burnley was, on Sunday moniing, found to be on fire whim
It reached Mill-hill Siding, Blackburn. As soon as the fire
was discovered, the train was brought to a standstill. It was
then found that about forty bales of cotton had been ignited
by sparks from the engine. There was a high wind blowing
at the time, and this fanned the fire. The cotton was strewn
upon the embankments, and notwithstanding every effort to
put out the fire, and though the rain fell copiously, the
cotton continued to burn all day on Monday.

Mr. Maclver, LLP. for Birkenhead, speaking on
Monday evening at the distribution of prizos to the Birken-
head Volunteer Companies, said that a few days ago the
aspect of affairs in the East was warlike, and there was
a probability that the volunteers would. be called upon to
increase their numbers with a view to take part in the
defence of the country, but thanks to the action of the
Government of Lord Beaconsfield, that necessity seemed to
have passed by. Great Britain would be reluctant to draw
the sword, but in a righteous cause she was more able than
at y other nation to conduct a war, and win in the long run.
Sir Rutherford Alcock, president
soefssitohne
of
that
Geographical Society, opened the 47th
organization on Ilionday evening. In his address he spoke
of the Arctic Expedition, and expressed a conviction that
Sound WAS impracticable, the result had c merely a
although a further advance to the Nord been not
Pole
tby smith's
negative one. The next beet thing
to
t i reaching
nae believed,
tel
y maintained th
hero P ol
ee r e i 1 i
y w
by
to show the impracticability of such an achievement, and so
close the chapter of failures which had beeff attended with
nanch loss of life, and years of serious suspense and anxiety.
If French obi
rY
the tnoticesheory mayob
another case against
some that no human being ever lived to the age of 100 (says
the Paris Corrospondent of the Daily News). The death is
ua
announced at the Beaujon Hospital in the Faubourg St.
Honore, of Joseph Lerat, aged 105. He was an actor, and
played at the Faydeau Theatre in 1797. Afterwards he
became a shoemaker. He did not die apparently from old
are. but fr,m a violent cold brought on by exceptionally keen
north winds.

tcrhaart
else charged
and
dy
imprisoned
The Secretary of State for War has replied to the
representations from the Plymouth Town Council on a
tried
tyby
acttivoiLmalughts;
matter affecting local ratepayers everywhere. Soldiers
fraudulent
einnii2btoniragtharoer
Secretary for War was memorialised to have such cases tried
by court-martial, or that the expenses should be paid by the
War Came. Mr. [lardy has declined either alternative, and
pointed out that the fraud committed renders the offence a
civil one, which may properly be dealt with by civil tri-
bunals, and that the cost of such prosecutions should be paid
from the ordinary civil funds.
In the Court for the consideration of Crown rases
Reserved, on Monday, the Lord Chief Justice delivered j idg-
latent in the case of the captain of the Franconia, Ipon
which twelve of the other common law judges were e 4 tally
divided in opinion. Remarking that the offence was A na-
mitted on the high seas, his lordship held that whether or
not the defendant might be amenable to the laws of his own
country for the offence he had committed, he could not be
tried and punished for it by the laws of England. The right
now claimed by the Crown was utterly unknown to o ir law
and had never before been exercised. It was put f award
in 1699 by Grotius, and only rested upon the come wins of
Jurists who had written from that time downward on the
question of territonisa authority with,in the territorial zone.
The cobviction., must therefore be quashed from want of
:Jurisdiction.
Crime in Paris continues to be rather prevalent this
Selooll (says the Correspondent of the Standa"rd) To day
everybocy is talking about a " mysterious effsir which has
lust bee; discovered at St Chien. Some men at work in the
slain drain fished out of the water a stranze•looking bundle,
which on being opened was found to contain the upper half
of a young W3l/111ea body. The hands were tied together,
and the mouth stopped up with a handkerchief. The sewer
was again dragged and another packet fished up. This con-
,
tained the other half of the body; the legs were tightly
bound together with rope. B )th packets had been carefully
and loaded stones to prevent them floating.
d after mntilat on had been steeped in sawdust, pro-
bably with the object of absorbing the blood. The remains
are now exposed at the Morgue, where crowds flock from
morn till night toenjoy the sight—the b'rench have a '4ecn,
'tarty morbid taste for deadbouse spectacles. The galena
belief is that an atrocious murder has been committed, but
I should not be al:prised if it turned out to be a freak of
some hospital etudents, especially as it 111 sail the Intestines
are missing.

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