The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-07-26 00:00:00

EUROPEAN STATISTICS OF OLD
AGE.

An officer of the Austrian statistical department
has been collecting some curious facts purporting to
show the comparative longevity of several parts of
Europe. Among other statements, we find it as-
serted that of persons over 90 years of age there are
12,831 throughout Europe, 6,203 being women. In
Italy women seem to wear better than men, there
being in. that country 241 women over 100 years of
age, while of men who have attained centenarian
honours there are only 161. Some allowance must be
made for rather an embarrassing preponderance of
women in the population generally, but when this
has been done, the female sex will still show the best
average of long life if those figures are accurate. In
Hungary, on the contrary, there are more old men
than old women, notwithstanding that here also the
females preponderate, though not to the same extent
as in Italy. Austria, according to this account, has
100 women who are over a century old, while only 86
men come under the same heading. There are 41
women and 37 men who are 101, and of persons over
that venerable age 88 are women and only 60 are
men. Figures given seem to demonstrate that Ger-
mans are considerably longer lived than Sclays.
Among the Germans of Upper Austria and Salzburg
there are 11i per cent. of this population who come
under the category of old people, while among the
Solava of Galicia the percentage is but 4. If this
statement is correct, as it probably may be taken to be,
it is a fact worth a little careful investigation.—Globe.

The fatal caeca of small•pox in London which had
been 11 and 4 in the two preceding weeks, were 6 last week,
of which 4 occurred in the Metropolitan Asylum Hospitals
at FuMain, Homerton, and Stockwell, and 2 in private
dwelling•housea
Mr. William Sloane, the Great New York carpet
manufacturer, who died recently, has bequeathed 100,000
dollars to various charities, principally connected with the
Presbyterian Church. The Rev. J. Hall, D.D., Minister of the
Church be attended, also falls in for a legacy of 20,000 dol-
lara,—,Scho,

THE QUEEN'S JOURNEY TO OSBORNE.

EXTRAORDINARY PRECAUTIONS.

The Times of Monday said :—" The Queen and
Princess Beatrice, attended by Colonel Du Plat,
Colonel Liddell, and the Ladies-in-Waiting, left
Windsor Castle at ten o'clock on Saturday morning en
route for Osborne. Extraordinary precautions were
taken to insure the safety of the Sovereign during her
railway journey. Information had, it is understood,
been received by the Home Office authorities that
some evil-disposed persons intended either to make a
rash attempt upon the life of the Queen, or wreck
the Royal special train during its progress south-
wards, and the affair was deemed sufficiently
grave to warrant the authorities in taking every
possible measure to secure her Majesty and the
Princess from harm. The authorities of the Great
Western and South-Western Railways were, there-
fore, duly warned of what might possibly happen, and
accordingly the chief officials of these lines made such
arrangements as would render any design of the kind
well-nigh impracticable. Precisely fifteen minutes
before the time fixed for the Queen's departure a pilot
engine was despatched from the Windsor station. In
addition to a trustworthy engineman and fireman it con-
veyed Mr. A. Higgins, the divisional superintendent
of the London district, Mr. Durdle, chief inspector of
the company's police, and an assistant. Passing over
the Windsor branch and through the 'west curve'
to the main line of the Great Western, the pilot
steamed rapidly away, a strict watch being kept upon
the metals over whish the Queen's train was to pass,
and the thickets being searched and every bridge and
cutting eagerly scanned by the officials. Maidenhead,
Reading, and Mortimer were thus passed quickly
without a single obstacle presenting itself or anything
of a suspicious nature occurring, the engine reaching
Basingstoke shortly before eleven, whence another
'pilot' was sent on immediately to 'clear 'the line be-
tween the latter junction and Gosport. This engine con-
veyed an inspector of the South-Western Railway Com-
pany's police, and other officers, every bridge, tunnel,
fence, and copse being examined as the locomotive
rushed swiftly upon its errand. Her Majesty and
Princess Beatrice leit Windsor at 10.5 a.m., the Royal
train being under the immediate control of Mr. Tyr-
rell, traffic superintendent, Mr. H. Kirtley, locomo-
tive superintendent, Messrs. Spagnoletti and
Robinson, It followed the route taken by the pilot, and,
as an additional precaution, was hand-signalled on its pro-
gress by platelayers placed at intervals, while the divi-
sional superintendents and stationmasters were also on
duty to see it pass safely. Her Majesty arrived
safely at Gosport at twenty minutes past 12, and, on
quitting the train, was received by Prince Edward of
Saxe-Weimar, Admiral Fanshawe, and Captain Car-
penter. The Royal travellers embarked at once on
board the Alberta, Captain Thompson, steaming
across the Solent to Osborne. The Queen, according
to present arrangements, is expected to reside for about
three weeks in the Isle of Wight, and will then pro-
ceed from Osborne direct to Balmoral."