The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-05-12 00:00:00

THE ROYAL ACADEMY BANQUET.

In London, on Saturday evening, the annual dinner
of the Royal Academy was held in the great room of
the Academy, Burlington-house, when the President,
Sir Frederick Leighton, and council, entertained a
large and distinguished company. The chair was
taken by the President, and on his right were the
Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, Prince
Edward of Saxe-Weimar, and the Duke ,of Teck ; on
his left the Duke of Edinburgh, the Turkish Arabes.
sador, the German Ambassador, the Russian Arnim-
sador, and the Swedish and Norwegian Minister.
In the course of the evening Earl Granville in
responding to the toast of " The health of Her
Majesty's Ministers," said :—The great diplomatist,
Prince Talleyrand, speaking enthusiastically of his
dinner, which was always very good, said, "Talk to
me of a pleasure which lasts an hour and comes back
every day." The dinner of the Royal Academy does
not come back every day, but once a year it does give
a great ir.tellectual pleasure to eminent representatives
of the brains and culture of this great Metropolis.
There are, however, drawbacks, and it does not require
the genius of a Shakspeare to teach an indifferent
performer that it is anything but a privilege to
replace the well-graced actor who for excellent
reasons is obliged to be absent from the scene.
It is always pleasant in this world to have a griev.
ance, and it appears to me that we political officials
have a grievance. It is the duty of a Royal Acade-
mician as a painter to paint, as a sculptor to model,
and as an architect to construct. It is the duty of an
pr, at all events, it is supposed to be his duty,
to legislate—more or less (laughter)—to administer,
and to speak in public. Now, however hard an
Academician may work during the rest of the year,
there are certain hours—say from six to eleven—
on the first Saturday evening in May when
no one expects him to paint, or to model,
or to construct. (Laughter) lt would
hardly be convenient that I should take this par-
ticular occasion to explain and defend the general
policy of Her Majesty's Government. It might
lead, Mr. President, to a severe reply, possibly to two
severe replies, from the other side of the chair. Now
I am aware that Mr. Herkomer, with more than his
usual skill, has made a most attractive picture of
"Natural Enemies" fighting over their cups. But I
am afraid that until age has given an artistic tinge to
our present evening dress, a real fight over their cups
between natural enemies in white neckcloths would
hardly be picturesque. There is, however, one
political principle of which I may say that I am
a warm supporter—public economy, But this does
not make it necessary that we should out-Hume the
late Joseph Hume, the steadfast and successful
guardian of the public purse, and I entirely agree
with the doctrine that he held, that it is not only gene.
rally right, but that it is in the interest of the tax-
payer himself that, within reasonable and well-consi-
dered limits, the State should be liberal for the pro-
motion of education, of science, and of art. (Hear
hear.) I am, therefore, glad that the estimates for these
purpoees are greater than they ever were before;
indeed, they are between three and four times higher
than they were thirteen years ago. Her Majesty's
. Government, although unable to comply with all
demands, have not turned a deaf ear to proposals to
make valuable additions to the great art treasures of
the public. They have promised additional building
accommodation to the galleries in Trafalgar-square,
and I was glad to pass through the House of Lords
a Bill to enable the National Gallery to lend super.
fluous works to institutions in the country. I
gathered last year that the Royal Academy had
two wishes, and two wishes only, with respect to
the action of the Government, First, they desired
to be left alone by the Government, and, secondly,
they pressed us to take immediate measures to move
' down the statue of a great man from a ridiculous position,
unpleasing to the testhethic eye, and jarring on the
feelings of gratitude and respect entertained by the
nation for the memory of the Duke of Wellington,
With regard to your first desire, I may boast that the
attitude of the Government towards the Royal
Academy has been one of masterly and friendly in-
activity. With regard to the second, my right hon.
friend, Mr. Shaw-Lefevre, acting for the Government,
has, among other improvements at Hyde Park.
corner, not only successfully brought the statue to
the ground, but I am credibly informed that, with
the help of Royal Academicians and other competent
advisers, he has actually got a notion what to do with
it, now that it is down. (Latighter.) After some
further observations, the noble earl concluded
by saying :—I have now, on behalf of Mr. Glad-
stone and my colleagues, to thank you for the
honour you have done them, to congratulate you
that in this exhibition there are mixed with some
charming foreign contributions works by men whose
names jump to our lips, which will add to the reputa-
tion of the British School, and that the general
standard of merit has not only been maintained, but
I raised. I beg to assure you respectfully of the gym-
pathy we feel with art and with those who nobly profess
it. No one can influence or lead men who does not
possess that quality, and has not the power to excite i
it in others, and that Government s not worth its salt
• which does not understand .the feelings which make
you desire by art to elevate, to refine, and to please
-mankind. (Loud applause.)

William Malcolm, son of a crofter residing near
Lybster; Caithness, whilst engaged in tending sheep
on Sunday, went to turn back one of the flock which
was in danger of falling over a precipitous cliff into
the sea. In doing so he trod upon a portion of the
bank which was undermined. It gave way, and he
fell from a great height to the rooks below, and wae
killed,

On Saturday the first stone was laid of a memorial
to Mr. Burke in Glasnevin Cemetery, beside the
grave where he lies buried with his father. It will
consist of a cross surmounting a pillar about 25ft. high,
with the inscription: "To the memory of Thomas
Henry Burke, Under-Secretary -to the Lord-Lieu-
tenant of Ireland, assassinated in the Phcenil Park,
Dublin, on May 6, 1882, to whom this monument is
erected by many of his friends among the Irish resi-
dent magistrates as a mark of their appreciation of
his high character and eminent public services." On
Sunday morning a floral cross' sent by his sister, Miss
Burke, from England, was laid on the grave, together
with wreaths of freshly cut flowers sent by Lady
Power. During the day a policeman was stationed
beside the grave, which was visited by large numbers
of persons.

-
ANNIVERSARY OF THE FEUENIX PARK EPITOME
MURDERS. OF NEWS
• ;*
Sunday (6th) being the first anniversary of the BRITISH AND FOREIGN,
Phcenix Park murders, prayers were offered up in all
the Roman Catholic chapels in Dublin for the repose
of the soul of Mr. Burke, and the scene of the assas-
sinations was visited by large numbers of people. The
day wls fine—just such as that upon which the
terrible crimes were committed. Opposite the Vice-
regal Lodge two crosses of ivy leaves and wallflowers
denoted the places on the slope and the footpath where
Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke fell. These
simple mementoes were placed there by unknown
hands, and were the objects of sympathetic contem-
plation by the visitors.

Lord Carlingford has made a remission of a per
cent. on last half-year's rental to his tenantry on the
Chewton Mendip Estate
The claims allowed by the Egyptian Indemnity
Commission up to the sth of May reached a total of
about £BOO,OOO.

The demand for Mr. Gladatone's speech on the
Affirmation Bill is stated to be so great that the
Liberal Central Association will issue an edition of a
hundred thousand copies.

It is stated that Dr. Profeit, the Queen's Commis:
sioner at Balmoral, has been appointed executor for
the late Mr. John Brown. The estate is expected to
value more than £20,000.
We (Court Journal) are glad to know that the
arranging of judicial rents privately between landlords
and tenants is being extensively pursued throughout
Ireland.

A petition indicating the growth of the feeling in
favour of curtailing the sale of liquor was presented to
the House of Commons on Tuesday. It is from Kirk-
caldy, and prays that public•houses may be closed at
nine o'clock in the evening.
An American lady, Mrs. Louisa Stephens, widow of
Mr. R. D. Stephens, has just been elected president
of the First National Bank of Marion, lowa. She
is the first woman who has ever occupied such a
position.

' Cardinal Manning has so far recovered from his in-
disposition as to be able to resume his daily man in
his private chapel at Archbishop's House, West-
minster.

A spark from a locomotive set fire to some lumber
piles at Union City, Indiana, the other night. The
high wind rapidly extended the flames, ac that the
best part of the business section of the town was de-
stroyed, the loss amounting to 250,000 dola.

A New York telegram says that Mrs. Langtry's
farewell engagement has been surprisingly successful,
with full houses all the time. The total receipts for
the two weeks were nearly 19,000 dollars.

A telegram from Halifax (Nova Scotia) says that
six persons have been killed and several others injured,
some fatally, by the breaking of a windlass rope in the
Vale Mine at New Glasgow.

Prince Louis Jerome Bonaparte, second son of
Prince Napoleon, has been entered at Cheltenham
College, and will commence his studies there this
1111onth.

An earthquake occurred at Tabreez just after mid-
night on Wednesday in last week. Many houses and
bazaars were destroyed, and there was considerable
loss of life. Many buildings were damaged. A large
number of people are now living in tents.
During last week the Tweed salmon fishings were
very productive, salmon and trout being got in large
numbers. Grilse are being caught daily. Three were
got on Thursday, and two on Friday. Prices on
Saturday were—Salmon, is. sd. ; trout, is. 4d. per lb.
For the corresponding day last year the prices were—
Salmon, is. Bd.; trout, is. 6d. per lb. ,

The late Due de Perigord has bequeathed to the
poor of Chalais his chateau at that place and his
estates in the Charantes and Dordogne, together with
the sum of £4,000. The chi:eau is git his express wish
to be converted into an asylum for old men and
women.

On Monday afternoon a deputation of North
Staffordshire miners waited upon the employers at
Hanley and requested a modification of the proposed
reduction of 15 per cent. in wages. After an inte-
view the masters consented to a 10 per cent, reduc-
tion, and it is expezted that the miners will acquiesce
in the decision.

The London and South:Western Railway Company
have at the present time 1,026 total abstainers in their
'employ. A Temperance Society has been started on
the Great Northern Railway, with one of the directors
as its president, and six of the chief officers of the
Company as v;ce•presidents.
The official reports on the state of the crow in the
Governments of Samara, Simbindr, and Astrakan,
which are often collectively called the granary of
Russia, report that the winter sowings have all been
lost, and the crops a total failure. Great distress is
anticipated throughout the districts in question.

The monuments to William and Alexander von
Humboldt, which have been erected in the garden in
frout of the Berlin University, will be formally un-
veiled on the 22nd of May. Poth monuments are ex-
tremely well executed, and form a noble addition to
the embellishments of the Opera-square, which is
already well adorned with monuments.
On Tuesday morning a dense fog hung over the
cent-al pasts of London for some hours, necessitating
the use of artificial light. By midday the fog had
cleared away, and was succeeded by a drizzling rain.
The curious fresh-water Medusse, which were first.
noticed three years ago in the Victoria Regina tank at
the Botanical Gardens, suddenly re-appeared in their
old haunt on Saturday morning. These jelly-fish—
Limnocodium Sowerbit—vanished in 1880 as myste-
riously as they came, and have never been seen again
until now, two months earlier in the season than their
former appearance. Hundreds of full-grown medusse
are now swimming about in the tsnk.
The various magnitude of the interests to which the II
House of Commons devotes its time was well illustrated
on Tuesday night (remarks the St. James's Gaatte).
About half the evetaing was spent over a debate (in a
very thin house) on matters involving the affairs of
perhaps one-fifth of the human race; the remainder
was chiefly Jccupied with discussions, which provoked
apparently a good deal more sustained interest, on a
burial-ground in the Hampstead-road and a foreshore
of a Lancashire town.

A New York telegram says that the visible supply
of wheat on May 4, was 20,800,000 bushels, as against
21,200,000 bushels the previous week. Visible
supply of Indian corn, 16,900,000 bushels, as against
17,700,000 bushels the previous week. The exports
clearances of wheat for Europe during the last week
amounted to 1,020,000 bushels ; the export clearances
of Indian corn for Europe durhig last week amounted
to 1,240,000 bushels.
There were 2,545 births and 1,504 deaths registered
in London last week. Allowing for increase of popu-
lation, the births were 249, and the deaths 92, below
the average numbers in the corresponding weeks of
of the last ten years. The annual rate of mortality
from all causes which in the five preceding weeks had
declined from 283 to 216, further fell last week to
19 8. Only two deaths from small-pox were recorded
throughout the whole of the metropolii.
A telegram from New York says that the Governor
of Massachussetts has written to Mr. Folger protesting
against the landing of pauper immigrants at Boston,
and expressing his opinion that it is within the scope
of the diplomatic power of the American Government
to make such iepresentations to England as will pre-
vent paupers being sent to the United States. The
Governor concludes by asking that the matter should
be referred to President Arthur.

Twenty•seven British and foreign actual shipwrecks
were reported during last week, making a total of 802
for the present year, or an increase of 219 as compared
with the corresponding period of last year, while for
the week there is a uecrease of 15. British-owned
vessels numbered 12. Steamers amounted to six, with
an aggregate tonnage of 4,327 tons, three being
British-owned with a tonnage of 2,215 tons. Total
tonnage lost for the week 8,900 tons, Total
number of lives lost and missing 122.

The Legislature of Maine recently passed a law for
the prevention of cruelty to animals, in one section of
which it is provided that societies for the prevention
of such cruelty may destroy old, maimed, and dis-
abled horses or other animals, while in another section
it is provided that the word "animal," as used in the
Act, "shall be held to include every living creature,"
Thus, the law of Maine gives societies for the pre-
vention of cruelty a statutory right to destroy old,
maimed, and disabled men!

American fashion is credited with having settled on
its next craze for ornamentation (says the Court
Journal). It is decreed that the correct thing for next
fall will be brass and old iron decorations of a warlike
character—hat racks made of muskets ; centre tables
with the legs made of swords; old guns cut down for
table legs ; card receivers, cabinets, brackets and
mantel ornaments to look as if they were made of old
Implements of war.
The receipts on account of Revenue from the let of
April, 1883, when there was a balance of £6,972,730,
to May 5, 1883, were £9,071,156, against £8,122,100
in the corresponding period of the preceding financial
year, which began with a balance of £5,976,585. The
net expenditure was £9,879,520, against £9,572,932 to
the same date in the previous year. The Treasury
balances on May 5 amounted to £5,898,5 88, and at the
same date in 1882 to £4,146,068.
The oldest tree on earth, so far as anyone knows,
is, says Land, the "Bo " tree in the sacred city of
Amarapoora, Burmah. It was planted in 288 8.C.,
and is accordingly 2,171 years old. Its great age is
proved by historic documents, according to Sir James
Emerson Tennent, who say! :—" To it kings have even
dedicated their dominions, in testimony of belief that
It is a branch of the identical fig tree under which
Budda reclined at Urumelya when he underwent his
apotheosis."
During the week ending May. 5, six steamers, with
live stock on board, and eight with fresh meat, arrived
at Liverpool from the United States and Canada, and
the total shipments conveyed by them show a very
large Increase both in live stock and fresh beef, but a
i
decrease n mutton in comparison with the arrivals of
the preceding week. The total arrivals were 2,374
cattle, 770 sheep, 10,684 quarters of beef, and 849 car.
cases of mutton.

In his address at the quarterly meeting held at
Manchester on Monday, the President of the Local
Chamber of Commerce said tbat the cotton trade had
not improved very much during the last three months,
but he had no misgivings as to the future. From
natural causes there would, he thought, be such a
diminution of production as would lead to a more pro-
fitable trade. The recent financial budgets both of
England and India had been pleasant surprises, and
with a favourable monsoon in India and a good har-
vest in this country he looked for a great extension of
business.
The Queen, accompanied by the Princess Beatrice
and the daughters of Prince and Princess Christian,
left Osborne House on Tuesday morning at about
eleven o'clock for Windsor Castle, with the suite in
attendance. Her Majesty, driving from Osborne to
Cowes embarked on board the Alberta for Gosport,
where's Royal train, under the charge of the officials
of the South-Western Railway was in waiting to
y
her Majesty to Windsor. The train pro.
convey
over the South-Western Railway, via Winches.
ter to Basingstoke, and thence via Reading and Slough
to Windsor, where her Majesty arrived a few minutes
before one. As on the occasion of her Majesty's de-
parture for Osborne a few weeks ago, the public were
rigidly excluded from the platform and station ap-
proaches, and, the weather being wet, comparatively
few persons assembled in the streets. Her Majesty
was carried across the platform and through the Royal
waiting•room in a chair to the carriage in waiting.

A paper yacht propelled by steam is the latest trans-
atlantic novelty in yachts.

A Paris telegram says that a report is current that
the Count de Chambord has had a slight apoplectic
attack, which although not serioustas caused uneasi-
ness to his friends.

The Sussex Advertiser announces that at a meeting
convened by the Mayor of Brighton, the proposal to
invite the Bath and West of England Agricultural
Society to hold their annual meeting at Brighton in
1885 met with a favourable reception, and a corn-
mittee was appointed to make inquiries as to a site,
&c. Preston Park was mentioned as the most suit-
able site.

It was reported, at the annual meeting of the
Trustees of Shakespeare's Birthplace, held at Straford-
on- Avon on Saturday, that the number of visitors
who had paid for admission to the poet's house and to
the museum during the past year was close upon
13.000.

A specimen of a wild potato has been discovered 011
the table land of South-Western Arizona, in alti-
tudes of 8,000 to 12,000 feet, which is spoken of as
superior in taste and flavour to the best cultivated
potatoes. Experiments in the cultivation of the plant
are being made in the State Agricultural School at
California.

A steady movement of Chinamen from San Fran-
cisco homewards is reported. The Coptk sailed en
Saturday with 103, all bearing return certificates.
6,695 certificates have been issued since the conclu-
sion of the treaty stopping immigration.

- - - -- -
At Cincinnati, within a radius of seventy•five miles,
there are 130 villages conneeted to the city by tele-
phone. Providence, R. 1., claims to be the best tele-
phoned town in the world. It has a telephone sub-
scriber in every seventy-two of the population.
We (Daily News) understand it is proposed to in-
troduce a Bill making the hours of shop-closing at
eight o'clock compulsory in Liverpool. It is stated
that there is a strong and general leeling in favour
of such a measure among the shop-keepers in that city.

A telegram from Victoria (British Columbia) states
that the steamer Grappler has been burned near Bute
Inlet. Out of a hundred parisengers at least fifty are
supposed to have been lost. The captain also perished.
Among the victims are many Chinamen, and it is
believed several Canadians also.

The Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, after a few weeks'
absence through ill-health, officiated on Sunday morn-
ing at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. Before delivering
his sermon he expressed the gratitude under wkieb he
lay to his people, both for their sympathy and for the
manner in which the work had been carried on during
his illness.

Canon Wilberforce has received five anonymous
donations of £l,OOO each towards the fund for the
completion of St. Mary's Church, Southampton, of
which he is rector.

Some of the Paris papers draw alarming accounts of
the decline of French trade and commerce owing to
the invasion of German workmen and the importation
of goods. A campaign for the establishment of pro-
tection duties is proposed.
Advices from Prague state that a large fire has
taken place at lioniginhof, where in 1817 the cele-
brated medieval chronicles were discovered. It is a
place of 6,000 inhabitants. The greater part of the
town has, it is said, been destroyed.
The other evening Mr. Henry Broadhurst, M.P.,
presented petitions to Parliament from 28 trades
unions and one friendly society, having in all 100,700
members in favour of opening the national 1211a110111118
and galleries on three weekday evenings in each week,
but not on Sundays.
An aeronautic exhibition is to be held at the
Trocadero, in Paris, from the sth to the 15th of June
in commemoration of the Montgolfier centenary.
A; plications for space are to be addressed to the
secretary by the 20th of May. The exhibits will corn-
pr-se balloon materials, books, meteorological and
e'e•-tric apparatus, gas generators, &c.
The April returns of the Cleveland Ironmasters'
Association show the following as the month's manu-
factures of pig iron—namely, 152,000 tons of Cleveland
iron; 77,000 tons of other kinds—total of 229,000 tons,
or 8,000 less than in March. There are 102 furnaces
blowing, 83 of which are making Cleveland pig Iron.
Stocks decreased 16,300 tans in April.
Captain Annesley. of H.M.S. Banterer, and Captain
Needham, of H.M.S. Orwell, met with an accident
while driving on Monday at Galway. The horse fell,
and both officers were thrown from the car. Captain
Annssley's collar-bone was broken and Captain Need-
ham was badly shaken.
In the division in the House of Lords on Tuesday
night upon the motion of the Earl of Dunraven, in
favour of the Sunday opening of Museums and Picture
Galleries, 25 Conservatives voted in the minority of
67 in favour of the proposal, and 19 Liberals in the
majority of 91 against it.
A Melbourne bicyclist, named Hazelton, the
amateur champion of Australia, compassed a mile in
2min. 43 4-ssec. This time has only been excelled by
Cortis, whose record was 2min. 41 3-ssec.
Last week's receipts of cotton at all United States
ports were 48,000 bales; since the Ist September,
5,642,000 bales. Week's exports to Great Britain,
55,000 bales; week's exports to the Continent, 43,000
bales. Total since Ist September, 4,143,000 bales.
Stock at all ports, 615,000 bales.
The Citizen states ;—Mr. Charles James Jessel
upon whom Mr. Gladstone has recommended the
Queen to confer a baronetcy, in consideration of the
eminent services of his father, the late Master of the
Rolls, is 22 years of age, and, having completed his
University career, is studying for the Bar. Mr. Jessel
was the tallest man but one at Oxford.

The authorit'es of Vienna have requested the Berlin
Government to permit all the collections of German
trophies to be sent thither to be shown at the his-
torical exhibition, which is to be held in the Aus-
trian capital in celebration of the second centenary
of the defeat of the Turkish Besiegers of Vienna in
1683,

Throughout Kent, and especially in the extensive
Romney Marsh pastures, the lambing season has been
most satisfactory, both as regards numbers and health,
A curious fact is the large proportion of ram lambs to
ewes that have been dropped, they being in some
places in the proportion of two to one. Prices which
fell so noticeably when the decision of her Majestywas
made known, are now rapidly recovering.

The success of the Salvation Army has given rise to
a number of similar organizations. There are already
"The Army of the King's Own," "Christian Army,"
"Gospel Temperance Blue Ribbon Army," "Holiness
Army," "Redeemed Army," " Hosannah Army,"
"Royal G-08p51 Army," and "Salvation Navy."
The engineers of Glasgow and surrounding district
have, owing to the long period of exceptional
prosperity in the engineering trade, decided to ask
their employers for an advance of halfpenny per hour.
A circular to this effect has been sent to all the
employers.
The number of members of the Hungarian Red
Cross Society, which was 21,003 in 1869, last year
increased to 45,000. Eleven sick transport columns
have been completely organised, and everything hes
been peepared for the erection of field hospitals, in case
of mobilisation. A permanent hospital was also being
built by the society.

During the construction of a large new fort at
Borstal, near Rochester, upon which work upwards
of 1,000 convicts are daily employed, a cutting ban
been made through the centre of one of the ancient
cromlechs connecting the ancient sepulchral avenue
at Addington with Kit's Cotty-house, near the village
of Aylesford. In the interior of the cromlech six
perfect skeletons were discovered in a Bitting position,
together with a number of drinking vessels and im-
plements of warfare. Several geological societies have
intimated their intention to further explore the spot,
and the authorities have signified their assent to
afford facilities and to suspend the work of moles-
tation.

The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens,
Regent's Park, London, during last week included a
Macaque monkey from India, presented by Mr. H. G.
Wainwright; a leopard from East Africa, presented
by Captain Percy Luxmore, RN., C.B. ; a brown
bear from Kamschatka, presented by Mr. C. T.
Kettlewell •' a ring-tailed caoti horn South America,
presented by Mr. Dudley Sheridan; a common
badger, British, presented by Mr. J. Snowden Henry,
F.Z.S. ; a woodcock, British, presented by Captain
Nicholls; two edible snails from Cheltenham, pre-
sented by Lient,-Colonel C. S Sturt, C.M.Z.S. ; an
ashy-black macaque from the East Indies, a Senegal
parrot from West Africa, deposited ; a great anteater
from Brazil, a common sparrow hawk, British, pur-
chased.

A Daily News telegram from Hamburg says that a
singular accident happened on Saturday. While a -
new steamer, the Polyhymnia, of 41000 tons burden, "`
belonging to the China Line was being launched, she
glided with such unexpected and tremendous force
into the water that she was not stopped by her
anchors, and dashed at full speed into the Brazilian
mail steamer Buenos Ayres, striking her full amid-
ships. The latter, which was taking in her cargo,
began to sink immediately, but two tugs succeeded in
getting her ashore just in time before foundering.
Luckily there was no loss of life, but several of the
crew of the Buenos Ayres were badly injured. Both
steamers were much damagei.