The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-02-19 00:00:00

§ATIMAIY, FEB. 19, 1876,

party, they make any inquiries of those engaged in it.
No doubt the high rate of duty for a licence
which may only be required for a day or two
lri the muse of the year furnishes a great
temptation to disregrird the law. The supposed
neca3sity for maintaining the praseitt rate in order
to prevent poaching is, the Conimissionets point
out, hot very apparent, inasmuch as the sato efidence
which is sufficient to obtain a conviction for Revenue
offence is concllisiD under the statute which im-
poses a penalty fortrespass in pursuit of game. In
the meantime it is difficultrtd understand why people
shoua regard it as a greater insult when shooting to
be &sled to allow a licence than when travelling in
A railway carriage to be requested to iv:kluge It ticket.—
Pat/ Matt Gazette. -
_

--
TRADE WITH FRANCE.--FrOM an official clocu-
melt just issued it is shown that the imports inte the
United itiucfclom in the course of last year were valued
at £46,828,574, whil,- ()lir exports of British and Irish
produce were £15,339,897.
THE SUEZ CANAL PURCTIAFSE. —An estimate
of till° stun n-guired in order to pay the purchase
money of the Icsnedive's shares in the Suez Canal has
just been issued in n parl;amentary paper. The sum
asked for is bi 4,080,000, and the following explanation
is appended His Highness the Khedive having
proposed to sell his shares in the Suez Canal Company
to Her Majesty's Government for £4,000,060, her Ma-
jesty's Government accepted the proposal, supposing
that his Highness was still in possession of the full
number (117,642), formerly belonging to him; but his
Highness subsequently informed them that he had
parted With some shares, and that the number in his
possession actually amounted to only 176,602. A re-
duction ;corresprding to the reduced number was Ac-
cordingly made in the purchase-money, which amounts'
to £g,976,582 2s. 61 Messrs, N. de Rothschild under-
took to pay the itbove-mentioned sum to the Khedive
in anticipation of the vote of Parliament; and, in
consideration of their trouble and risk, it was agreed
that her Majesty's Government should pay to them a
• reomMission—of n-pereent. on the varchase-money, or
£99,414 lie. ld. The balance necessary to make up a
round sum is added for the purpose of wasting any
inciarit%l expenses which may be incurred.';

POWER 0? SEA BREAKERS.—tepnenson, the
builder of the Eddystone lighthouse, found, by exp,grl.
ment at the Bell Rock and Skerryvore lighthouses's;
that while the force-of the breakers on the'side of the
German Ocean may be taken at about one ton and a
half upon every square foot of surface exposed to them.
the Atlantic breakers fall with about double that
weight, or three tons to the square foot; and thus we
reckon . that a surface of only two square yards would
sustain- ift blovt from a helm • Atlantio--breaker equal to
habealyt tye -bf rw
at onnas
Et.
oWthirrna,tin Nthebeovgiemnnbinerg,
01f8214,
829:
blocks of limestone and granite, from two to three tons
in Weight, were washed about ilk% pebbles at the Ply-
mouth breakwater, About 300 tons of such blocks
were borne tip a distance of 200 feet, and up the in-
clined plane of the breakwater ;and they were carried
, over it, and scattered in various directions. A block of
limestone, seven tons in weight, was in one place
washed a distance of 150 feet Rocks of two oe three
tons weight were torn away by a single blow of the
breaker, and hurled over into the harbour; ancLone of
:nearly two tons, strongly trensiled down upon & jetty,
was torn away, and tossed upwards by an overpower.
ing breaker.
A SPELLING B-EAUTY.—" Now, can you spell
ecstasy 2"—" Yes. V-a-l-e-n-t-i-n-e I "—Fun.
EMIGRATION FROM LIVERPOO'L.—It appears
from the returns of emigration during the past month
that of vessels "under the Emigration Act," there
eailed to the United States seven ships with 588
passengers, of whom 458 were English, 4 Scotch, 80
foreigners, and 46 Irish. Of vessels not "under the
Act, there sailed to the United States 27, with 1,174
passengers, of whom 847 were English, 4 Scotch, 27
Irish, 195 foreigners, and 151 whose nationality was
not described. There also sailed to Nova Scotia two
ships, with 34 passengers; Victoria, 2, with 24; West
Indies, 6. with 72; East Indies, 6, with 38; Africa,
4, with 32; and South America, 6, with 127, making
a total of 60 ships and 2,089 emigrants. The number
in the corresponding month of last year was 2,900.
A HYMM UPON COUNT BISMARCS.—A prima
patriottpbra z
ychaecmobnave
Ipsstrirss.e‘
"Hymn
competedfollowingupn wB fsuom.rkar cu the,o kn
csame.oNm
was some time ago offered by a generous German;
leTeshe haveri
they
posers :—Joachim, Hiller, Abt, Raff, Lachner, and
Reinck. After long deliberation the judges have do-
s eitiOd upon their award, and their decision is to be
I shortlY lalatle public.

. -
THE TERRIM EXPLOSION IN FRANcz!--The
correspondent of the DaAiy Telegraph telegraphs from
St. Etienne, on Monday:—
The men who had lost the we Of their speech imme-
diately after the explosion have all, with the exception of
three, recolered so far as to be able to communicate their
impressions at the Enoment the disaster took place. One of
them relates that he saw three of his comrades horning as if
they had been clothed in pitch only a few yards off where he
was working, whilst another one states that he felt himself
whirled up in the air against the real of the gallery. One
hundred thousand francs have been received here for the
relief of the families which have been left penniless.

To LOVERS of ETIQUETTE.—The coolies who
have the task of breezening the Prince of Wales,
when Hindoors, are the most punkahtilious in India.
—Fun.
EcshEinelsNe
inCtoALijaioßifigorinAi.a—jaal,ie mlI
na;
affected the labour market in that State, and a reso-
raTtilionE ofelnil the
reso-
lution has accordingly been introduced into Congress
umr a
g
by Mr. Piper, of California, having for its -object a
modification Of treaties with China so as to prevent the
further initnigration of the Chinese into the' United
States. The preamble of the resolution recites that
the large immigration into the Pacific States and terri-
tories of the United States of Mongolians, whvre
nature, disposition, and habits incapable of assimilat-
ing with American laws and customs, tende to esta-
blish a foreign colony in the Republic and directly
brings American free labour in competition with that
which is " semi•servile," disturbing the harmony of
the political system of the United States, and is detri-
mental to the spirit of manly independence which
should be its highest result and beat security. The
resolution has been reported favourably by the Foreign
Relations Committee' and the question is likely to
give rise to animated discussion in Congress.—Fall
Mall Gazette.

THE COLD IN INDIA.—The special .-corre-
spondent of the Echo writes :
People who have never been in India would be not a little
astonished at the cold weather we have experienced a 0
Delhi, and still more here at Lahore. I am writing in a
tent, with a very heavy Ulster coat on, and yet the cold is
so groat I can hardly hold my pen. From eleven a. m. to about
five p.m. the temperature is not only warm, but exceedinglY
hot, the thermometer often standing at 76. But no sooner
has the sun set than the cold is bitter, the glass falling ne
low as 35. Last night there was ice the eighth of an incl 3
thick in the gardens hero; but in the day that followed the
man who ventured out with anything but a pith hat would,
in all probability, have had a sunstroke. Travelling at night
—as all trains seem to do in India—it is simply impossible
to.keep oneself warm. I hear that the Prince quite laments
the hotter climate of Bombay and Southern India. Bat he

io-o-ks—e-iceeaingly well.

- -
A WALKING FEAT.—" G. R. F." writes tO
the Standard In your impression of the 11th inst.
I see you have inserted a letter from T. 'F.,'" record-
ing 'the attempt by Mr. Forster Powell of walking
from the 'Talbot' Inn, Canterbury, to St. George's
Church, Southwark, and back again in 24 hours, for
wager of sixty guineas, and "which, as your corres-
pondent correctly states, was a failure. Will you
kindly give me a few lines to quote from the same
atithority (Gentleman's lgagazine,l7B7), a performance
of Mr. Forster Powell's which was a suedes% In
September, 1787:Mr. Powell bffered a wager of 25
guineas that he walked from the Falstaff' Inn, at
Canterbury, to London-bridge and back again; which
is 112 miles, in 24 hours, which being accepted, he set
out on the 27th of that.month at four o'clock in the
afternoon, reached London-bridge at half-past two
the next morning, and was again at Canterbury at
ten minutes before four in the afternoon, thus accom-
plishing the journey there and back in 23 hours 40
minutes."
ARTISTIC DIFFICULTY.—Drawing a cheque.--
Fan.

RULES FOR THE RAIL.—The Field give 3 the
following seven points for remedying the defects of
railway travelling, which the Field thinks' if attended
to, will, to a considerable extent, mitigate the severiti
of the annual butcher's bill upon our English railroads
1, first and foremost, the adoption of the "block "
system, in its most rigorous form, should be made com-
pulsory ; 2, greater brake power should be compulsory;
3, double couplings should be compulsory for all
carriages and trucks when travelling from one station
to another, even if the use of single couplings, to save
time, should be allowed during shunting operations;
4, footboards should be continuous, and made so as to
overlap platforms; 5, locking of carriage doors on both
sides should be prohibited at any moment, even when
a train is stationary; and when it is in motion both
doors should be unlocked. 6. The consecutives hours
of duty for signalmen should be limited to six, and
the maximum for one day at such a post, even with
an interlude, should be ten; 7. Telegraphic com-
munication (whether automatic or worked by human
beings at both ends) should be enforced between signal
and signal box, else the signalman has no guarantee
that his signal has obeyed his orders.
COLLIERY ACCIDENTS IN FRANCE.—Referring
to the recent colliery accident near St. Etienne, the
Journal de,3 Debats states that it is only within the last
thirty-five years that official statistics have been forth-
coming as to the number of mining accidents in Trance.
At that time there were upon an average from five to
six parsons out of every thousand at work in mines
killed or wounded in the course of a year, an fifteen
years ago the average had risen to ten in thethoßsand.
Since then there has been a gradual decline, and in his
qiinquennial report for the five years ending in.. 1870 the
Minister of Commerce states that while in 1866 one life
Wa3 lost for every 46,000 tons of coal raised; 48,000
tons were raised in 1870 Lir each person killed t Most
of the accidents ocmrred in combustible minei, for,
lough the workers in them number but a third of the
'whole mining population (85,000 out a a 'total of
245,000), nine tenths of the catastrophes took 'phiee
there. The Ministerial report being only published
once in five years, the most recent returns.' do not
embrace the period sebsequent to 1870,- but. in that
year it is stated that more than a third of the accWents
were caused by the galleries falling in, and only fon
. per cent, by explosions of fire-damp.---Pall Mall
Gazette. .44.1:i"' • t.

I .thol

A VALLUABLE REMEDY FOR SNAKE-BITES.
Several cases of snake-bite, in which the valde•-•of
Professor Halford'i remedy, subcntanemis injection of
ammonia, - has been- demonstrated, have, says • the
Melbourne Argus, lately occurred in the colony. At
Seymour on the 14th. of December, , a young man,
twenty-six years of age, named Dwyer, was bitten by a
snake between the thumb and- the 'first finger of the
right hand. Tne wound Wall received at nine o'elock,
and no treatment was applied until half-past eleven,
when the patient was powerless and almost insensible.
Ammonia was injected into his right arm, when he re-
vived at, once. Ile suffered a,' relapse, but the ammonia
was again successfully applied; and he ultimately re-
covered. At Buugaree a young girl was bitten by a
snal_c, and k:radually sank into a state of stupor.
TwcalohourA and Fail-half • after he - was bitten
ammonia was injected. Relief was immediately
obtained, and the girl rapidly recovered. A third case
happened on the -Acheron. e!even miles from Alex-
andria, where a little girl, two years of age, the
daughter of a farmer named Doak, was bitten by A
snake just above the ankle of the left foot. Symptoms
of complete coma were setting in, when the ammoitia
injection was used with magical effect. The child sat
upright and became quite lively. A relapse occurring,
a second injection was made with as great effect se
before, and the child from that time continued to im-
prove until her recovery. Another case is mentioned
of a native woman on the Wirrega station, South Ate-
tralia, who was bitten by a snake on the ankle. Skil
becairis unconscious, and the surface of the body was
turning cold, when ammonia was injected. The woman
at ono revived and recovered.