The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-05-06 00:00:00

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HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL

RAPID Trtavirmao.—The science of aerosta-
tion is farther advaneed than is commonly suppoked
but at present, the expenses attending this ',lode ot
transit are no great, as to make it available only for
Royal personages. This will explain the announce-
ment that "The Duke of Genoa in paying flying visits
to the most interesting English towns previous to his
return to Italy."—Punch.

A NICE QCEETION.—The came of the trustees
of the late Duke of Newcastle v. Padwick has been
before the Gina of Exchequer on an interpleader
iesue. About ten minutes to six on Wednesday, May
19, 180, the Luke executed a bill of sale in favour
Mr. Gladstone and Lord de Tabley, the executors
under his father's will. About two hours previouely,
however, the beiliff4, set in motion by Mr. Padwiolc,
had arrived at Clumber, the Duke's seat Lear Nottmg.
ham, and seized a large quantity of goods competed d in
the bill of sale. The question was whether, before the
execution of that instrument, there had been an to ual
seizure of the goods by Mr. Padwick. The court decided
in the affirmative, and gave judgment for the defend.
ant.

MAY-DAY AT OXI )RD.—The ancient custom of
chanting a hymn on the top of Magdalen College
tower, Oxford, was duly observed ou Monday morting
at five o'clock by the choir, under the direction of the
organist, Dr. Stainer. For this service the sum of ,ClO
is received out 4,f the rectory of Slymbridge, in Glocea-
tershire. Tradition informs us that previously to the
It a rcquiem Maas was ce'ebrsted at the tod
of this tower every May•day morning, at an early
hour, for the repose of the soul of Henry VII.

GIRMAN BEIITIMENT.—A Hamburg butcher
gent the German Emperor as a birthday present a fins
sucking pig. It weighed forty pounds, and Wall in.
chsed in a mahogany box ornamented with fl .wers.
The present was accompanied by a letter from the
donor, in which he gave a warm express'on to Ins
feelings of veneration for the glorious leader of the
destinies of Germany, and solicited a graciousacceptancs
of hi, well-meant gift. The letter wound up with the
following po-t-mript :—" I dare to expresa one other
request- -that when it is brought to table, his Encellencr
Count Bismarck may get a bite." his Majesty cause i
an answer to be sent to the worthy butcher thankin ;
him for his present, and informing him that the rjet
pig had been served up at the Royal t side.

I.lOelM WI/IMB. —On the first of May the fol-
lowing scale, for the issue of Inlaid Money Orders
came into operation :—For Fume under 103., 14. com
Illilibi011; of 10i. and under £l. ; of £1 and undi r
£2, 3d.; of £2 and under £3, 41.; of aud under £1
5.; of £4 and nnier IA 61. ; of £5 an under dai, 7d.;
of £G and under £7, it].; of and under £B, 9 ;of
£a and under 1:9 101. • of £9 and under £lO. lid. • a
1:10, Is. The above soale doe 3 rot apply to orders
koten on the colonies and foreign countries, the
charges on which will remain unaltered. Thee-
are se follows :—For orders payable in Releinm LOA
Swi'zerland, not exceodiug £2, ; excre_dcg £2
and not exceeding £5, 61. ; exceeding £5 and not
exceeding £7, 91 ; exceeding 1.7 and not excel n •
£lO, Is. For orders payable in North Germany, o.•
Alexandria, Cairo, Constantinople, Gibraltar, Molta,
er Sni z not exceeding £2, 91 ; exceedia g £2 and rat
exceeihn4 £5, Is. 6 I. ; ex.:eeding £5 and not e din'i;
2i. 31; exceeding £7 and not ex :eedie.; £lO, Sc.
For orders payable at all other places abroad with
widen money-order booluees is transacted, not en teed-
ins £2 1.. ; exceedicg £2 and not exceeding 15, 24. ;
exceeding £5 and not exceeding £7, 3s. ; excee,:iing £7
and not exceeding £lO, 41.
TIM EmPcnon N Arowcov.—TLe MorniPl Poet
inakeo the following statement regarding the Eiripen,r
Niop,.leon :—"The Emperor is otill suffer-Inv, at
Comlen•house, from sovere rheumatin pains, and
Dr. Gall has been ountmonel to the conoulta:i ins if
his M .jesty'e medical advieers. The Emper r, we
learn, ie much annoyed that his indisp, talon has of
late rendered it impossible for him to reply, as he hii
wished, to the many kind and syinpathetic c
cation. which he has not ceased to receive bin, Li'
arrival in England."
W11.1....85L1; DZI,IRTION.—In the cruise rcin
the world of the Flying Squadron, deserti 0 seemi t•i
lace been the order of tne day at every place at which
the squadron anchored. At Bahia tile desertions stern
to have commenced, and one deserter was left behird
on the 4th of Autust At Rio de Janeiro the eqthair mm
loot eleven men by Insertion; at Monte Video twelve
men deeerted from the squadron by breaking 111‘x..
from boats and out of ships. At the Cape of Goojt
Hope twelve deserters were left behind. At Melbourne,
it is stated, in face of such temptatione tin desertions as
were here yre3ented by the proximity of the gold-fiel
it could not but be expected that many men woutl
take the opportunity of leaving the service. Ni one
was therefore surptised that ore liondrel ant fifty.
right men were absent on the scow-iron leaving f• r
Sydney, and only eil..ht of them ever returned. On
leaving Sydney there were twenty-seven amentces a'
that place, none of whom were afterwards recover, d
to the squodron. At klobart Town, owing to tie
excellence of the poke arrangement., only two de-
serters were lost to the sqnwiron. At Lyttleton only
one wan deoerted, at Wellington four, at Auckland
forty-one men were loot by desertion, at Yokohama
nine men daerted, at Vancouver Island twenty-four,
at Honolulu one, aud Valparaiso five, niakins the
total loss by delertions during the cruise 300 men.

-
FRENCH 111Pe.S.IAL YAWS.— We (0/aeriTT) have
roc tved the f &lowing at stement of the views of the
French Imperialists
Tee vathy of the provinces aid the determired opposi-
tion of Parts, In the opinion of the Impeitallets, ludic de
the Assembly does not repreeent the will of the nation. Vilo,n
tho present ,trio Is smiled It will be ueees•ary 11 consult the
peop'e on the gooselo, if government. lhis may be elle,led
by the eleelon of a C otstiroient Assembly, it amore direct
method Is to take a vote on the yrimary g.e.thr, 'EnnAn,
or Ilunarthy, or lt,public I' The form told nsture of the
government being settled by the suffr.lges of the shtion, a
Conslltoent Assembly might then be elected to ,'cch:a upon
the personnel and constita lon of the gore-nment Toe I in•
periali,rs are willing to appeal to the nation, and to abide by
the result.
_ _

Tug LOVE OF DRINIC.—At the Thames Police-
court, is London, Itohert Smith, aged 36, the stews,' d
of the steamship rietka, was charged with broaching a
cask of rum on board, end setting tire V. the ship. It
appeared from the evidence of Captain William Stauni-
laud, the mister of the Vtatka, that on Tuesday night
last the ship was in the river at Wapping, and that he
was suddenly startled by a cry of " Fire ! fire! the
ship is on fire!" and he saw the prisoner rush from
the sp'rit mem in a blaze. Captain S...nniland went
into the spiriteroom, which was in flames, and with ti.e
assietaucc of his mate and others smothered th, fire,
which was soon subdued. A cask of rum was turning
and the captain and his people tad seine trouhle in
putting out the flames. A pan, c intaining rum, a
gimlet, andother instruments in the spirit-roomshowed
very plainly that the steward had been stealing the
rum, sad, in broaching a cask of the liquor, had held
a light too close to the spill-hole. He was severely
burnt, and was put into the dock with his face, head,
and cover. d with cotton and oil, and suffering
acutely from the burns. The evidence of Copan
Sianniland was c infirmed in every particalar by his
ma'e end other witnesses. Fortunately the fire
was FOM extinguished, and little injury was done to
the ship. The yrieoner expressed hie great regret for
what he had done, and said .t would be a warning to
him for the rest of his life. Tne magistrate salt that
althoukh the prisoner had suffered great pain be csolj
not pmis over the case without puniehment. Ile sem
teneed him to one month's hard labour.

MARTIAL PPOPERSITY OF SCOTCHMEN.—
itic Scot, disgusted with a prevailing err ir ti tho
dispir.igement of Scotchnien of the pres n . century al
beim; devoid of mi,rtial [Tint, has L..kea the trou Ic
to c imnile the statistics of the true Scottish
from 180 S to 1661. From this it a? pears that Scrii.let..l
has Lever ceased to contribute to t 1,,. national forces in
a larger proportim than either England or Ireland, laid
notwithstanding the heavy drain xi, on the yonittl
canoed by the Chimean and Indian wars, and by .111,
gr ,tine, recruits are even now obtained with a. t inlet -
in .; lac lity. Thus, In sir years and nine tomths,
terminating with the last day of 1859, England fur-
nished 151.942 recruits, iadependsitly of 2 395 from
Walss, or 8,421 per million; Ireland, 71,557, or 10,736
per million ; and Scotland, 33,019, or 11,614 le r
million. The little Island of Skye, which is only 45
miles long and 15 broad, seems to be remarkable above
all other parts of the kingdom for the martial ten-
denciee oi its inhabitants. In the first forty years of
the present century it sent forth, pro patria men, 21
li,nt,n ants and major-generals, 45 lieutenant-colonels,
cOO majors, captains, and subalterns, 10,0)0 privates,
and 120 pipers.

THE HISTORY OF BURICS'd Pont;.—" I COL,
pose hastily," said Borne, •chatting ahoy: his poem,. to
Cr melc, "but correct laboriously ;" and that seater,
j coodenses all tom we know of the p ,et 'a haldta •
thought. A tritle set him off, aa it d.l Byron at
, Wordsworth—a broken daigy lying in the furrow of 1.
' plough, a m.nuie turned out of ita "wee hit hour*, it.
in ruin," the picture of a man asking tor work, V-.
recollection of an old banal, a line in Ramsay- •
Ferguson, or the contemplation of a sc 11, of
worehip in the cot, age of a psaaant. And when t'
idea had once stink in his mind, he bro sled over it ti
, it took form and 'haps in a poetic creati ,n. n
.7,0 .),,th....kw-%,?-afddryrkwric -
Deil," for instance, was suggest ed, Gilbe t tt lie UR, • • i
running over in his mind the many ludi .rons account-
and representations we nave, from various Trade's, o

this august personage." Reading Pergusaes" Parolees Ingle," and contemplating the scenes of domestic
worship which constitute one of the most characteristic
incidents of the cottage life of Scotland, suggested the
"Cotter's Saturday Night." Robert had frequently
remarked to him, says Gilbert, "that he thought them
was something peculiarly venerable in the phrase, 'Let
us worship God,' used by a decent, sober head of a
introducing family worship." And one Sandal
aft-moon, when they happened to be walking together,
Hurt electrined his brother by his recitation of the
" t'ottar's Saturday Night."—Gentleman's Magazine,
NEAPOLITAN INTEIJAGZNCE. Writing frOtn
Nai.ka, a sit wspaper correspondent states that Veen.
vine, "titers unusual "Itattractions.'" remaine," he
proceeds to may, " precisely es it VZ,M, sending up two
columns of ashes and smoke." But these are the tuinal attractions of Vesuvius, one would think; especially
since Vesuvius reinsios precisely as it was. A possible
misprint, howevtr, need not be set down for a bull. In
sending up only two columns of ashes and emirsVseuvius ,
litvery much more reasonable than • good
many of our cont, mporaries have ahown themselves
dosing the late War.—Puittli.
DEATH OF A DISTINGUISHLD "WELSH FIJSI-
LEER "—ln the racks of the let Battalion of the gallant
2:trd Iti-giment there is mourning. The goat is dead—
the very head and front of the regiment! Billy was a
fine specimen of :six kind. He was one of a Cashmere herd wh:cii may be seen browsing and capering is
'Windsor Park, under the very eye of Royalty. Se
exteteive and widely spread were the auimai's horns
that he couldn't be got into • railway horse-box; a
ssloon had t be specially provided tor his transport,
Billy was just two years old when he entered the
R. iyal Welsh. Ile resided for five years in ludis,
r Aurnin4 home in MO lee expired at the Newpon
Barracks somewhat euddenly, Lot having exhibited
any symptoms of disease. It is said, however, that
Billy was very fond of his beer, and that he had even
been taught to chew tobacco. I fstn] her
i •
—e
will be graciously pleased to fill up the gap in the
ranks ot the let Battalion by the presentation of
another goat.

EXTRAORDINARY FOX-TRAYPISO ADVENTURE.--
An •xtraordineay instance of fox-trapping has last
been brought to light in Glencallater, near Braemar
(says the Dundee (Jourier). ()a the lintel February the
gamekeeper, Mr. Aliebie, set four trap., near the open.
itg to a tenanted fox den. A short time after wards he
was surpriesd on visiting the 'mot to find that all were
gone. West,, and months tweed, and lately he had ere
tliely abandoned the hope of ever again getting possession
of his property. A few days ago our of the strepherus
wan gathering in hs fdicks on Craig•na-Goir, when his
dog returned leaving one of the sheep standing 1110110
among some rough granite boulders. He was getting
furioas at Ms caniee friend, and directing anew with
pithy vehemence the creature to bring in the forlom
animal when Mr. Midair, who had been taking his
round, j 'iced the baffled shepherd, and was also some-
what surprised at the strange conduct of the dog. A
few seconds sufficed to show the cause of the sheep
having been kit alone. It was trapped, and along
with it in another trap was a dead fox in an advanced
state of decoy. The sheep was quickly relieved, little
injured. The four traps were still fixed together, and
were little the worse though greatly meted. What is
most surprising, perhaps, is the wonderful manner in
which they were discovered, and after all Bernard's
wanderings with the whole dangling in his train that
none of them had sprung but that winch held him
self until the sheep was accidentally captured in the
other, and which led to the diamvery.
DEATHS OF AItriCHANT SLAlll2.l4.—The annual
return of deaths of seamen reported to the Board of
Trade as having died in the British merchant melee
chows 5,237 in the 3 ear 1868, 4,832 in 1869, and 4 523
in 1870. fhe re • tun includes all ratings, from mates
downwards ; it ineudes many, if not most, of the men
dying abroad after their dh•charge sick from British
ships, but not men dying under such circumstances in
the United Kiugdotn. In 1870 the bill of mortality
includes 210 deaths from yellow fever, 7 from in.
termittent fever or ague, 231 from continued fever ;
19 fr.m stnallp uc ' • 96 from dis,ase of the brain and
nervous [system ; 103 from heart disease ; 200 from
consumption and other diseases of the lungs • '299 from
diseases of the stomach, bowels, &:„ iucluling 90 from
cholera and 137 from dysentery; 30 from genital
diseases; 15 from skin diseases; 7 from rheumatic
disease; 6 from scurvy; 1,655 drowned by wreck,
and 989 drowned by other accidents; 13 deaths were
by homicide or murder, 21 by suicide, 302 by accident,

_ • -
Jr !—Aniericor j aurnalist& are peculiarly prone
to calculate on what might have happened if no and
no had done this or that, or if such an event had not
occurred. A New York scrihe has just been specu-
lating on the interesting fact that but for a certain
event Eon i de Grey might have been an American. He
todrarks that had Charles IL and ho advieers not
pnaPed the ordinance of May, 1637, " Mat on, wh p was
afterward, se.nretary to Cronawell, taint have remained
' inglorious ;' " IA Hurl de Grey, indeed of being one
of the Coraimsinner • appointed by the Government of
Great Britain t, arrange terms witn that of the United
3:emes. would, if he had existed m all, have been an
American citiPwn of ancient New England descent, aa
measure such things in our new country, awl might
to-day have been employed on the same commission,
but under the Ftars and stripes instead of the meteor
flag of Engl and." To &send from great things to
mall, we might vuggess that if this bterary Silas
S:onum had not made this itnivirtart discovery, the
prp seta generation might have survived the event.

IMPORTAI-CF. OF IRMGATIoN.— It is well known
that the land in most parts of the camintry is by artificial
Means DON thoroughly underdraineil, and the quantity
of raiiihr, which has of late y ems been much below
the average, is Enid to be affected thereby. The in.
juri us effect of lorg-continued droughts has, therefore,
leg ime a question .4 vit..' importance. With the view
of obviating tits heavy losses 1r Clll t hese dee tighta which
cc or to the ez icultura! interests in the west and
south of Englatd. it is pr,p,sed rn WPC of some
of the matural valleys of the small ttinwaries of the
e near the to vn of Ithayadir tor the construction
rage re.s mire. These reservoirs, it is said,
you! I he kept fi'l d by the surplus water during heavy
rair f AIR, and the surface of the water inthem woulibe
at to height of 590 above the level of the sea, so
hat the water would command and could he thated over
an area of more thou 2,000000 of acre. By means of a
Lend main or channel the water could be taken first
out of the resei viers and conveyed to such lands le
easy be laid out for the purpose by means of smaller
maiLa and trenches. It is estimated by Mr. llAnilton
Felon, the engineer, who was Lssuciated with the late
alr. Pleilsp Pixley, 2.1. P., in making experiments
respecting the tenefizial effects of irrigation, that the
probable coat of irr.gating the land on a large and
systematic plan wou'd not exceed an outlay of £l2 let
acre. On this basis he calculates that the present
value of the he-simple of the 2,000,000 acres averages
£4O per acre, or an annual rental of £1 15.. per acre.
Such land, after a proper system of irrigation WM
iatroduced, would be worth at least £4 per acre per
a maim or a, fee-aimple value of £lOO per acre.