The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-06-13 00:00:00

pisictialTrOltS

LIGHTNING AcciDENTs.—Lightning has killed 4609
persons in France since 1835. An equal number have
been seriously, though not fatally, wounded, and fire
times as many struck. The hot years were the most
fatal, and these are remarkable as having been the best
wine seasons. There has not been a single death from
lightning in Paris or the Department of the Seine
since 1864, though there have been many violent storms
there duriug that time.
HEINE ON Aar AND ITATITRE,.-TWellty-fOlir letters
from Heine to his friend Detmold have recently been
published in Germany, In one of them, which is dated
from Ramsgate, he describes himself as sitting on a
high balcony, "looking down on the beautiful Wide
ocean, whose waves climb up the rock and regale my
heart with their musical roar." In another, which was
written at a place where there was no theatre, he says:
"The theatre I am no longer obliged to visit, but in
place of it I have to walk about in spring weather.
Green trees produce ennui ' quite as much as vaude-
villes. Neat to art there is nothing more dreadful than
nature."

STATISTICS OF UNEMPLoYED.—According to a Ger-
man illustrated paper these are 76,000 persons in New
York without means of earning their daily bread.
Divided according to the various branches of trade,
there are out of work, persons engaged in manufac-
turing industries, 10,000; cigar makers, 6000; smiths,
5000; bricklayers, 4500; cabinet-makers, 3000; iron-
workers, 3000; stonemasons, 2000; carpenters, 1400;
bookbinders, 1500; makers ot artificial flowers, 1500;
joiners, 1500; plumbers, 1250; printers, 1000; waiters,
1000; bakers, 800; shoemakers, 500; plasterers, 400;
various other branches, 2500. The statement further
says that beside 30,000 women, 3000 dock labourers and
6060 Italians are unable to find employment.
FOREIGN LIVE STOCK AND FRESH MEAT The
airivals of live stock and fresh meat at Liverpool during
the past week from American and Canadian ports
amounted to 3402 cattle, 166 sheen, 10,122 qrs. of beef,
and 750 carcases of mutton; whilst the imports of the
preceding week amounted to 2026 catle, 9644 qrs. of
beef, and 1350 carcases of mutton, showing an increase
in the importations of live stock and fresh beef, but a
decrease in mutton. The conveying steamers last week
were as follows: Virginian, 620 cattle, and 1310 qrs. of
beef; St. Ronans, 620 cattle; Lake Wianepeg, 462
cattle and 928 qrs. of beef; Lake Huron, 583 cattle and
919 qrs. of beef ; Missouri, 464 cattle and 996 qrs. of beef;
England, 432 cattle, 2520 qrs. of beef and 400 carcases
of mutton; Polynesian, 221 cattle and 166 sheep;
British Princess, 1020 qrs. of beef; Scj thia, 809 qrs. of
beef; City of Richmond, 000 qrs. of beef and carcases
of mutton; and Adriatic, 720 qrs. of beef and 150 car-
cases of mutton.
THE ZOOLOGICAL Gennmes.—The additions to the
Zoological Gardens during the past week includg two
Javan cats, a marbled cat, from Malacca, presented by
Mr. Frank Swettenham ; a common marmoset from
Brazil presented by Dr. L. Morgan; a slender-billed
cockatoo from Australia, presented by Mrs. E. H.
Watson; two Tuatera lizards from New Zealand, pre-
sented by Professor T. J. Parker ; a smooth snake, a
common viper, British, presented by Mr. W. H. B.
Pain; a slender-billed cockatoo from Australia, 13
Tuatera lizards from New Zealand, deposited; an
osprey, caught in the North Sea, purchased; a Darwin's
Rhea from Patagonia, received in exchange; a Log
deer, two four-horned antelope., two prairie marmots,
and two long-fronted gerbilles, born in the gardens.
WORKMEN'S WAGES.—A report on the wages paid to
workmen in various trades throughout Europe, com-
piled by order of their Government, by the United
States Consuls, has just been published. From it we
find that the Germans are the worst paid workmen in
Europe, while the American artisan earns monetarily
nearly double that of the Englishman. For instance, a
German stonemason works for 19s, 3d. per week, an
Englishman for 12e 6d., and an American for £5.
Again, in the plumbing trade, a German's weekly
average is 17s. 91., an Englishman 12s. 6d., and an
American £4 13s, Dd. In the bookbinding trade a
German's weekly wage is El is. 9d., an Englishman's
12s. 4d., and an American's £3 48. 9d. These three
trades are selected as being representative, but a similar
ratio exists in all others.

Wornis OF ART IN PARIS.—In inventory has recently
been taken of all the works of art belonging to the city
of Paris, and their total value has been appraised at
£490,266, the civil buildings being estimated at one-
third, and the religicus edifices at two-thirds of this
sum, the two churches of St. Eustacho and St. Germain
des Pres containing works of art valled at £52,000. The
depository in the Boulevard Morland contains 69
statues valued at £15,560, while the sculpture upon the
Hotel ae Ville is valued at £55,360. The works of
art placed in the parks, public gardens, and highways
are valued at £40,000, about a third of this sum being
the estimated value of the monument upon the Place
de la Republique. The collection of plans and diagrams,
the library, and museum are estimated as worth about
£120,000, and the contents of the 22 municipal libraries
£25,000.

Mn. GLADSTONE AI'ZD DISESTATILISTIMENT.—In reply
to a letter by the Rev. W. Graham, Trinity, Edinburgh,
on the quest.nn of Disestablishment, iu which he made
certain suggestions respecting Liberal unity at the
general election, along the lines of a reconstructed
National Church, the following reply has been received:
" 10, Down.ng-sti eet, Whitehall, June 2. Rev. Sir,—
Mr. Gladstone desires ma to acknowledge the receipt
of the letter with which you have favoured him on the
subject of Churat Disestablishment in Scotland. He.
can, in reply, only say he sees no possibility of dealing
with a question of this nature in the present Parlia-
ment, nor would Parliament be likely to entertain
it except upon the declaration of some strong
national feeling in its favour in Scotland.—l am, Rev.
Sir, your obedient servant, E. W. HAmivron—The Rev.
W. Graham."

METROPOLITAN PATIPERIt: .—Census of metropolitan
paupers, exclusive of lunatics in asylums and vagrants,
taken on the last day of the weeks named hereunder
(enumerated inhabitants in 1881, 3,815,000): Thud
week of May, 1885, indoor, 52,305; outdoor, 34,249;
total, 86,554 (excluding the patients in the fever and
smallpox hospitals of the Metropolitan Asylums Board;
the number of these patients on the last day of the
week was returned as 1593). Third week of May, 1884,
indoor, 52,903; outdoor. 34,188; total, 87,091. Third
week of May, 1883, indoor, 51,020; outdoor, 36,816;
total, 87,836. Third week of May, 1882, indoor,
49,080; outdoor, 38,795; total, 87,875. Vagrants
relieved in the metropolis on the last day of the third
week of May, 1885: Men, 454; women, 182; children
under 16,26—t0ta1, 662.
A " SALVATION LASS'S" 11,011ANCE.—On Saturday, at
the Guildford County Bench, a Salvation Army lass,
Emily Sutcliffe,was charged with attempting to commit
suicide by drowning. The lass, who was only 18 years
of age, jumped into a deep pond at Chilworth, near
Albany, and was with difficulty rescued by a young
man named Clarke, who was nearly drowned in the
troubles
thatw tthh the
his d
attempt. The lass had been associated with the Salva-
n
tion Army at Guildford, and regularly attended Bible-
class
t ons
eet
i lover,g s' It
l appears
irme li anti isvhie sn,gp raeffre
upon her mind, and that these were the cause of her
attempting the rash act. She told the police that she
had jumped into the water because she had been turned
out of her lodgings. The Bench handed her over to
the care of her father. The y.ilace where the girl
jumped into the water was opposite where her sweet-
heart was employed. The Bench commended the con-
duct of Clarke, and presented him with half a sovereign_
During the hearing of the case defendant fell from the
dock in a fainting fit; her sweetheart was in the court
at the time.

AUSTRALASIAN DEBTS—The Australasian debts are
in total £110,000,000; but, with the exception of a
small sum spent by New Zealand in quelling the re-
bellion of the native tribes, this has been expended
almost entirely in railways, telegraphs, and other works
of a reproductive character. In the ten years from
1872 to 1882 the united debt of the Australasian
Colonies had increased from 242,000,000 to £09,000,000;
the length of railways opened had increased from 1362
miles to 6207 miles. Thus, greatly as the debts have
grown, the increase being no less that 112 per cent., the
mileage ot railways opened for traffic has increased by
no less than 356 per cent.