The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-08-19 00:00:00

r ,
EPITOME OF I.'.ILIWS.
BRITISH AND FOREIGN.
A skating rink has been successfully opened in Cal-

cntta. - - -
On account of the extreme heat, Rhode Island
farmers are mowing their grass by torchlight.
The iron trade of the North of Eogland continues
very dull. A cautlous tone is still shown by buyers and
sellers.

In London, last week, 2,276 births and 1,572 deaths
were reported, the fornaer beirg 23 and the latter 133 below
the corrected average. The deaths Included 42 cases of
scarlet fever and 291 of diarrhoos.

Confitmatary acconnts have been received of the
report brought by the Sioux squaw to Box an, Montana, of
the defeat of the Sioux by General Crook. It is stated, in
addition, that the chief, Sitting Bull, was wounded.
On Monday morning a salute of one hundred guns
was fired at Belgrade, to announce that the Princess
Nathalle, the wife of Prince Milan of Servia, had given birth
to a son.

On Saturday afternoon some children were playing
with some lights in the Fellows•road, E iton-park South,
Hampstead, when the trunk of an oak-tree caught fire, and
was pulled down and destroyed to prevent the fire spreading.
The French papers report the finding at ',molar°,
near Cremona, of 5,000 or 6,000 Roman Consular medals, of
silver, in perfect preservation and of fine execution. yearly
8,000 of these relies are said to be of rare types.

_
Mr. Barran, the Liberal candidate for Leeds, has
:been returned by a large mai -rity. Tile official declaration
of the polling showed that 16,672 votes had been given for
Mr. Barra; against 13,776 for Air. Jackson, his Calservative
oinolleut.

- -
Owing to the contirmeri d preasion in the iron trade
the ircn mine owners ot Farness have served notice on their
men of reductions in wages varying from 15 to 20 per cent.
The men, having realised the necentity, quietly accepted the
reduction.

Her Majesty held a Council at Osborne on Satur-
day, at which the seal of offi?,e of Lord Privy Seal, which
had bren delivered up on the part of the Earl of dialnits-
bury on his resignation, was handed to Mr. Disraeli, who
took the oath and kissed hands on his appointment.
Last Saturday afternoon, during the Windsor
regatta, a sad accident occurred on the Thames, at Upper
Dope, near Eton. Several young men, excursionists from
London. were bathing, whets one of them, named Charles
Lewis, got out of his depth, and was drowned.

According to the half-yearly report of the Midland
13.9.11 way CJmpany, the colliery disputes lu South Yorkshire
and North Derbyshire, which lasted fourteen weeks, caused
a loss to the company of £72,0(0. The results of the
working of the new line to Scotland are stated to be satis-
factory.

There are 10,000 lunatics in and about Paris. The
number of patients is greatest between the ages of thirty and
Jody, and bachelors are more numerous than married men.
The workitig classes supply one-third of the total lunatics,
the agricultural profession none at all. Drink is the grand
predisposing came of insanity.

Five hundred grouse—consigned as salmon to the
Fish Market at Billingsgate—found their way into the two
London poultry Markets on Saturday (the 12th), the price
put upon them being from ss. to 12s. each. On Monday there
were 10,000 grouse in the two markets, and they sold at 2s.
to ss. each.
A letter hag been received at Portsmouth from the
Admiralty, conveying to the men who rushed below in the
scalding and blinding steam civised by the boiler explosion on
board the Thunderer in tbe hope of saving life, their lord.
ships high appreciation of their gallant and meritorious
behaviour under such trying circumstances.

Thunderstorms occurred on Tuesday in several parts
of the country. At Birmingham the lightning was very
vivid. There was a slight thunderstorm in London, accom-
panied by a hemy shower of rain, but it was confined to the
north-eastern and eastern districts. The thermometer
registered 90 degrees in the shade in Central England
generally
On the Scotch, Derbyshire, and Yorkshire moors,
the shooting season opened on Saturday with plendid sport.
Notwithstanding the intense heat that prevailed during the
greater part of the day, excellent bags were made, 20 to 30
beace of grouse being not an uncommon score for a single
gun. The coveys were, as a rule, large, and the birds strong
on the wing, and without any indication of disease.
Late on Sunday night a considerable length of the
north wail of a new and very large dock at Avenmouth,
near Bristol, fell in, and the fall caused the destruction of a
warehouse which had just been erected' on *the dockside It
was intended to let the water into the dock next week. A
delay of A year will now take place, and a further expenditure
of £lOO,OOO will be required.
Monuments have just been c)mpleted to the memory
of four of the victims of the Abbot's Ripton railway collision
who are intetred at Huntingdon Cemetery. Mr. Boucicault
has enclosed a small plat of ground, which is elaborately laid
out as afi wet garden. A large stone vase bears the name el
his deceased son. Two handsome marble monuments are
erected over the remains of Mr. Saundersou and those of his
two daughters.

A deputation appointed by the Leicestershire and
Derbyshire colliers having waited upon some of the Leicester-
shire employers, the latter intimated that a reduction of 10
per cent. was absolutely necessary in the present state of
trade. It was; however, stated that if the colliers would
assent to a reduction to that extent the masters would
agree to an advance similar In amount in the first pay week
in November, by which time it is hoped trade will revive.
The men, at a meeting after wards held, declified to submit to
the employers' terms. •

1 The Biihop of London has addressed a letter to the
beneficed clergy of his diocese, In which he draws special
, attention to the section of the act of parliament (37 and 38
Vic., C. 77) respecting the penalty incurred for allowing
clergymen ordained by bishops, not being bishops of &diocese
in the Church of England or Ireland, to officiate in any
church in this country without the consent in writing of the
bishop of the diocese in which such church is situated.
The anniversary of the relief of D,rry was cele-
brated in Londonderry on Saturday, when there were about
16,000 present. The procession to the cathedral took place
shortly after eleven. After service the procession, which
had 26 colours and 15 bands, was again formed and paraded
the principal streets. The Belfast brethren followed, wear-
ing orange sashes. A number of addresses were delivered,
expressive of loyalty and attachment to the throne.
The Vienna Correspondent of The Times says :
"At a request from Constantinople, the Director of the
Lunatic Asylum here, Dr. EtseLdarf, an authority in his
branch, has gone there to give his advice about the Saltan's
illness. He reports, on first inspection, that he considers
the illness of the Sultan as very serious, but by no means in-
curable He does not approve the mode of treatment
hitherto followed, and considers it absolutely necessary that
he should be kept far from all S rate affairs."
A decree has been framed, and will shortly be issued,
to enable the families of the French soldiers who disappeared
in the course of the war, and of whom nothing has since been
bead, to obtain the penal ,n granted by the State to the wives
and children of those killed in battle.
At the late San' Francisco baby show, print; were
given for the handsomest baby, the handsomest twins, the
one having the heaviest head of hair, the one with the
smallest feet and hands, the fattest dark-eyed baby, the
fattest blue-eyed baby, the smallest, the best dressed, the
sweetest smiling, and the loudest bawler. Then prizes were
given to the youngest moth r, the oldest mother, and the
handsomest mother.
It is announced that The trustees of the late Mr.
James Baird, of Carbbasdoon, have agreed to make payments
amounting to £,14,150 from the awns left at their disposal for
charitable and benevolent purposes to the Glasgow Royal
and Western Infirmaries. Sums of £2,t00 and £2,150 respect-
ively have been voted, and a number of amounts veiling
from Zl,OOO to £5O have ban voted to other charitable insti-
tutions in Glasgow and Ayrshire.
The Boston Globe recently made some comments upon
the inconveniently long names of V) many societies, and
suggested whether jocosely or otherwise that they be
abbreviated by making a word out of their initial letters For
example, the "Boston Young Men's Christian Association"
should be cut down to " Bymca." Whereupon another
Massachusetts paper retorts, that on this principle, the Daily
and Weekly Globe should be made to read the " Dawg.'

Mr. Hannam, the horse breeder and trainer, met
with a shocking sudden death on Friday in the Sheffield-
lane paddocks, which he had long managed on behalf of
noblemen and gentlemen in al parts of the country. Mr.
Ilannam, who was middle•aged, was going round the breed-
ing stable, when a young foal suddenly kicked out and hit
him in the stomach with such violence that he died within
live minutes of the occurrence.
The Bishop of Manchester preached at Hasligden
Parish Church on Sunday in aid of the fund for defraying the
cost of improving and beautifying that edifice. Ile said the
only true motive of serving God was to serve film because It
was our duty to do so, irrespective of any future, irrespec-
tive of any consequenues, any reward. Ile had no doubt
that God would remember men's service ; but he did not
believe that anyone would ever receive the reward who
merely served God for that as hie primary motive.
The new iron ship Scottish Hero took her departure
from Gravesend on Saturday evening, 1 iving on board emi-
grants for Rockhamptoe' Queensland-133 unmarried men,
40 unmarried women, 70 married couples, 60 c,ildren be..
tween the ages of 12 and one, and 10 infants ; miking a total
of 303 souls, equal to 238 statute adults. The single girls are
In cha,ge of is rAllister, Dr. S. U. Newell
geon superintenden acting as
An amusing event occurred in on
8 Oflattillis, as a rule,
eofrceoCenrnset
t. anr-
y
.
Parliamentary reports of a leading ..Dail-.,.
known that reporters take their work in turns n
the reporter, on leaving writes on hiacrop
my ,
o
reporter who follows him, as thus:—"
Bnthe name of the
t leir°rwe da 'I
to:, ets.h.
ae'
I d o
Thtiesnidse, of
for
ptih
n rse
tc, merely
latlea; h a matter
in otfh e refe
case eraice and in nowise
re.;
report of a grave and important speech was followed by the
announcement, wholly unimportant to the world at large,
that "Brown follows Jonet."--Court Journal.
A horrible discovery was made on Monday night at
the station of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire
'taws'', at Sheffield. A pfrightened. The mother w, and
she returned very much
one of the retiring rooms passenger sent her little girl into
a child. went and Inland wrapped in &shawl
the remains of
l and it Was otherwise mutilated.
i
The body was also mucy
The I,gs and arms had been
severed from the body,
,dhs deceolnip s
o .see ti d. apparently that
of a child about ter meta clue has a
as been ma
as to who left it there.

According to a return just issued the total amount
paid for maintenance from the foundation of the British
Museum In 173 to 31st of March, 1875, £3,621,730 14s. 6d.
The amonnt expended in purchase was £1.070:93a 33. 4d. ;
total, £4,692,664 17s 10,1. Of the above am,,nuts there was
paid from parliamentary funds (inclusive of about £112,394
received as dividends on £30,000 Consols, the museum in-
vested fund, £4 896,852 14a. 6d. Between October, 1804, and
the close of /ast year, IOSS than 29,721,855 persons visited
the mum".

ter- . Lie; ,

Amts. _

The passenger duty in the year ending on the 31401
March amounted to £736,369 61. 2id.

The stamp duty on patent Medicines in the year end-
ing on the Slat of March last amounted to £123,136 95. 100.
A telegram from Athens says that a severe Amok of
earthquake has occurred at ratras. Several houses were
much injured.
The Prince of Wales has presented a young tiger
and a young leopard to the British Zoological Gardens from
his Indian collection.

The valuation of rateable property in the metropo-
litan district, just cmpleted, shows an increase of 101 per
cent. in twenty years.

The revenue derived from penny stamps in the year
ending on the 31st of March last amounted to £809,886
be. 4d.
From an official document just issued it is .shown
that in the year ended March 31 the Excise duty on spirits
amounted to £15,625,834 12s. id.
-

An exchange ponders on the Eastern troubles, and.
luctaly remarks—". Turkey is redeemed. At least, the Sul-
tan took it from his Uncle."
A Javanese native illustrated comic paper—the
Isliphyn Ysche—has come out in Yeddo, and displays con-
siderable humour in caricatures of British manners and.
ctutoms.—Graphic

At Lady fytton's future Drawing•rooms in Calcutta,
ladies will be expected to wear fall dress, with trains. Timely)
notice is given Co that the dresses may be ordered and sent
out to India is time.
A lady residing in the vicinity of Birmingham hats
siguified her intention of giving the sum ot £lO,OOO for the
purpose of founding an art scholarship in connection with
the free libraries at Sheffield.

A new fruit is reported from Queensland—the
mousteria deliciosa. It combines tho flavour of the pine-
apple and the pear, is of Mexican origin, and ripens in dry
sunny spots.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer acknowledges n
The Times) the receipt of £3OO in notes for conscience sake
from "S. 8. S., 'and of £l5 in notes and £1 in stamps from
an anonymous correspondent on account of shooting licenses.
The directors of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Rail-
way report that the interest on capital expended on thc
block and interlocking system, with the expense of main-
tenance and working, now costa the company at least
£lO,OOO per annum.

- -
Many !persons of the pborer class from London and
the manufacturing towns have in the line weather and the
depression of industrial aff airs already migrated to the
country for recreation and employment combined. In some
places near London the wages paid for harvest work are in
consequence appreciably lower than they were last year.
The FT,n. William Browne, eon of the first Earl of
Kenmare, died on the 4th inst. in his eighty-fifth year. He
was one of the few survivors of Waterloo. He entered the
army at an early age, served in the 52nd Regiment at the
attack on Bergen op-Z ,om, and took part in the celebrated
charge upon the Imperial Guard at Waterloo He accom-
panied the army to Paris, and remained In France with the
army of oc znpation.

It seems really like madness to increase the rate of
speed on railways, yet there is some talk of so doing, even as
if the late calamities were quite unheeded, and contained no
warning that speed is already overdone. By-the-bye, what
Is it people want to get there"" for so quickly—for when
" there " ninety-nine out of a hundred have nothing par-
ticular to do that could not be done on the morrow, and find
time hang on their hands—though to gain that idle -condi-
tion they have risked their lives in undue speed?—Court
Journal.
A young putleman named WilPam Dyke, of Rich-
mond, Surrey, who is staying with his mother and grand-
mother at St. Michael's-terrace, Folkestone, was on Friday
afternoon climbing up the lofty and precipitous cliffs at the
east end of the town, when he slipped and fell to the bottoni,
a atstance of about 2003., his head coming violently in con-
tact with a ledge of chalk Some Coast Guardsmen found
him lying in a pool of bLol, shockingly cut about the head
and face. The surgeon who was called in found that there
was a severe fracture ct : ho stull and concussion of the brain.
two years ago a Cost G .1:-,rdsman was killed by tailing near
the same spot.
The Correspondent of The Times, visiting from Rome,
says that an important discovery has just been made at
Pompeii. It consists of a number of objects of gold and
silver, and close to them the carbonized skeletons of two
men, who would seem to have been borne down in the storm
of ashes while endeavouring to escape with their valuables
or plunder Among the things found are eight rings, six
pieces of money, two pairs of earrings, one single earring,
two large armlet?' each ornamented with thirteen pairs of
half globes, with little shells upon them, held together by
chainwork, and a necklace also of chainwork, all of gold :
a silver ring, 832 pieces of silver money, a casserole of
th. same material, broken in pieces, and three large bronze
colnx •
An inquest has been held in London on the body of
John Sonthorn. aged 43 years, a stable helper in the employ
of Dr. Einrman, of Piccadilly. The evidence showed that on
the Bth inst the deceased was engaged in grooming a horse
at the above address, when the animal was seen to rear up
and kick out, and struck the deceased full in the forehead.
He was taken to the hospital in a delirious condition, and
died on the 10th inst, from the effects of compound coin-
minuted fracture of the skull and laceration of the brain,
It was stated that the horse was a quiet one, and had
recently been purchased at Tattersall's for a large sum. The
jury returned a verdict ol "Accidental death consequent on
a kick from a horse."
A public meeting WSB held in London on Tuesday,
at Willis's Rooms, in aid of the Sick and Wounded Relief
Fund, the Es.rl of Harrowby in the chair. In the course of
the proceedings a letter was read fr.:ln Miss Florenee
Nlghtingale, in which she said :—"Good cheer to your efforts
to help the sick and wounded of both sides, and bring them
hospital and medical necessaries and comforts too, I hope,
in this heartrending war—a war for a cause as intensely in-
teresting as the cause of most wars is uninteresting; a war
which will, please God, at last bring freedom, the safety and
blessing of home, of industry, of progress, all that English
men and Eoglish women and English children 'must prize.
Let every English child give its mite to what are lac w the
Valleys of the Shadow of Death. But for this, 'to execute
righteousness and judgment to all the oppressed,' we must
help righteously the sufferers on all sides. So God speed
the Euktern War Sick and Wounded Relief Fluid, prays
" DLORENCE NIGSTINGALE, from her sick bed, Aug. 15,
1876 "—Sibss Nightingale also sent a contribution ot ten
guineas. . -