The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-01-15 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

"We have reason to believe that Her Majesty the
Queen proposes to open the approaching Session of Parlia.
ment in person, and that Her Majesty will be accompanied
by her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales."—The Tones.
The veteran statesman, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe,
has found time to produce an original play—Alfred the Great
in Athelnay. Only a limited number of copies will be
printed. Mr. Quartrich will be the publisher.—Athencoum.
Prince Albert Victor, eldest son of the Prince of
Wales, attained his twelfth year on Saturday (the Still inst.),
and received the congratulations of the Royal family of
Denmark on the event.

The Crystal Palace is now opened to the public on
Monday at sixpence a-head. Such cheap amusement should
command success. If puns were allowed in this journal we
should remark—at tanner rate it ought —Fun.
Arrangements are being made at the Cape of Good
Hope for the importation of Coolie labour, and the Govern-
ment will allow £7 per bead for every Chinaman delivered
in the colony up to+ 1,000.
The Bishop of Ely ha l issued a pastoral letter to
• the clergy of his diocese respecting the diocesan fund for
the anvancement of various kinds of Church work. His
Lirdship suggests th it in every parish one Sunday in each
year should be set apart for bringing before the congregp.-
1 tions the requirements of the church, and that offertortts
and collections be given to the diocesan fund. For this
year his loTdship names March 12 for that purpose.
What would be said in England if the members of
the bar Should sign a round-robin requesting a judge to
resign on account of his incompetency and corruption?
Such a round-robin an American judge recently received;
his reply was :—" I have tried to perform my duty faith-
fully and impartially, and, inasmuch as the signers of this
paper did not vote for me at the last election. I shall con-
Mune to administer the functions of my office until my con-
stituents cfpipon, me to resign."
The taris Correspondent of the Standard says :
" Delmonico, the non tamer, had a narrow escape last night
(Monday). He puts his wild beasts through their facings at
the Folies Bergere. One of his lionesses got him into a corner
and somewhat mangled his hand. The curtain was let down,
The excitement of the spectators became intense when the
report of a musket was heard. The lion tamer subsequently
reappeared before the curtain, apparently not much the
worse. The police have prohibited a repetition of this Wild.
beast play."

--Her Majesty the Queen has sent twenty brace of
pheasants for the patients in the Uniiersity Hospital,
London.

Why is Speculative Stock like Pride ?—Because it
must have a fall —Fun.

The Birmingham Daily Mail announces that the
board of Queen's llotpital, in that town, have resolved to
admit female students.

Over £l,OOO has been subscribed towards the fund
for placing a memorial of the late Dean Hook in Chichester
Cathedral, over which he presided.
In the House of Representatives at Washington,
the Amnesty Bill removing all political diAbilities from
the adherents of the Southern Confederacy has been de-
feated.

• London is estimated by the Registrar-General to
contain now nearly three millions and a half of people, or
rather more than the aggregate population of 19 of the
largest povineial towns.

The Hon. Arthur Macalister, Prime Minister of
Queensland, was entertained at a banquet on Tuesday even-
ing at Glugow, the Lord Provost presiding. The hon.
gentleman, in acknowledging the toast of his health, referred
at length to the prosperity of the colony and its importance
Its a field for emigration.

-
A fatal railway accident occurred near Odessa on
Saturday. A train carrying 420 military recruits ran down
an embankment, in consequence of which the whola of the
twenty-seven carriages composing it were set on fire and
destroyed 68 persons were killed and 64 injured.

Lord Napier of Magdala, the Commander-in-Chief
in India, while at a parade of the troops at Delhi last Satur-
day was thrown from his horse and had his collar bone
broken by the falL His lordship is now doing well, and his
condition gives no cause for uneasiness.

From statistics prepared by Mr. Whitelaw, M. P.,
the chairinan of the Glasgow School Board, it appears that
the number of children on the school rolls has been increased
since 1873 by nearly 13,000, and the average attendance by
10,000, and that accommodation has been provided for about
12,000 extra scholars.

A. man named Brown has met his death in the Manor
Colliery, Sheffield, under very shocking circumstances. He
wait standing at the bottom of the pit shan, when a small
bolt became detached from the cage, which was 200 feet
from the bottom, and, falling, penetrated his head, causing
death shortly afterwards.

An inquest has been held on the bodies-of two boys,
Samuel Edmondson, aged twelve, and James Cnrwen, aged
twelve. The lads and some others were sliding on a frozen
brick pand at Morecambe, when the ice gave way. Curwen
sank, and in attempting to rescue him Edmondson also lost
his life. The jury found a verdict of accidentally drowned.

A verdict of accidental death was arrived at by a
London jury on Monday, after inquiring into the circum-
stances of the death of a woman sixty years of age, who had
set fire to the bedclothes whilst smoking. The deceaLed
was well known to the reddents in the vicinity of All Souls'
Church, Portland-place, where for some years she had swept
a crossing.

The Scotch Education Department has decided that
a second general election of school boards for Scotland shall
take place this year, and has ordered that the dates shall be
fixed net earlier than ten days before or twenty days after the
date of the first election. The new board elections will take
place in March.

In consequence of the destruction of the Goliath,
through the upsetting of a paraffin lamp, the managers of
the Humber training ship, at Southampton, have made
arrangements to guard against a similar crita‘troph,.. The
lamp-room has been lined throughout with cement, aid it is
ordered that all lamps are to be trimmed in daylight, and on
no account be lighted in the room.

The provisional committee of the Metropolitan
and Brighton Railway, after closing the subscriptica list,
decided the amount applied for by the general public was
not sufficient to induce them to proceed Rather vikh the
prosecution of the undertaking, and ordered the depolits to
be returned.
Sir W. Harcourt, MX., was present at a dinner of
the Oxford Liberal Association on Monday evening, and in
response to the toast of his health spoke at sbme length.
Dwelling at great length and with much minuteness on the
past and present of the great Liberal party, he referred to
the passing time as being a critical period for the existing
Government, About which, he said, he felt a good deal more
afraid that its demise should occur too soon than too late.
Tne French papers report a melancholy disaster as
having occurred off Douarnenez (Finister. The fiettng
sloop Saint Anne of that place was returning to the port,
and had arrived within a short &Stance of land, when it was
capsized by a heavy wave. The ten men on board were seen
clinging to the vessel or struggling In the water, but before
assistance could reach them they had disappeared ane after
the other, until only one remained, who was saved.

A Sp3cldl service has been held at the convict esta-
blishment at Chatham, by the Bishop of Rochester, when
about eighty of those under sentence were confirmed. The
conduct and demeanour of the prisoners who took part in
the ceremorry were very devout. An impressive address was
delivered on the occasion by the Bishop.

Mr. J. Holm, M. P., addressing a meeting at Man-
chester, protested against the mobilisation scheme of the
Government having any claim to be called an army corps
system. He contended that it was ribthing of the sort, and
that the scheme was no more than a delusion and a snare.

At the Kent General Sessions, it has been resolved
that instructions be given to the police to caution all em-
ployers of labour and parents of children who may evade the
provisions of the Agricultural Children Act that it is to be
enforced after the 25th March next, and that the ehief
constable report the result to the next and subsequent
meetings of the Court.

A conferenoe was held on Saturday evening at
Cambridge, at which the educational wants of that town
were oiscussed. Several speakers were of opinion that it
was the duty of the Education Department to give compul-
sory powers of attendance to local authorities where School
Boards did not exist, and that by not doing so the inference
was that the authorities were secretly opposed to voluntary
effort, and in favour of forcing School Boards on the public,
Speaking on Monday evening at a meeting of the
Chichester Conservative Association, Lord Henry Lennox,
M.P., referred to the state of the navy, and the criticisms
which had been lately made umin it and the First Lord,
condemning the acrimonious spirit in which the subject had
been dealt with. Mr. Morgan's Burials Bill he characterised
as "senseless, crude, and stupid ;" but he hoped something
might be done which would be satisfaotory both to Church-
men and Dissenters.

On Saturday afternoon an accident of a serious
nature befel Lord Inverurie, eldest UM of the Earl of Kin.
tore. Ills lordship was leaving Inglismaidie House, Kincar-
dineshire, in a trap drawn by a young and spirited horse,
when the animal ran off at a furious speed Ills lordship
losing control of the reins, leaped from the vehicle, and, un-
fortunately, broke his right le 4 beneath the knee, and sus-
tained other injuries. Medical assistance was at once sent
for, and the sufferer is progressing as well as could be ex-
pected under the circumstances.

Captain Shaw last week presented to the Metro-
politan Board of Works his annuTi report of the fires in
London during 1875. The number of calls for fires had been
3,668, of whlch•9o were false alarms, 49 proved to be only
chimney alarms, ard 1.529 were calls for tires, of which 163
resulted in serious damage, and 1 356 in slight damage. This
was exclusive of tires too unimportant for the attendance of
firemen. Compared with 1374, the above showed a decrease
of 44, and looking at the average of the last ten years there
was a decrease of 69. The proportion of slight to serious
losses was about as favourable as usual, the percentage being
11 serions to 89 slight. Life had been seriously euchuigered
In ii cases, and in 26 instances lives had been lost.

A fatal accident hap.pened at Mentone on the 3rd
inst. A young linglishman named Spiers, aceompanisd by
a friend, had made an excursion to the village of St. Agnes,
which stands on the north side of a mountain directly behind
Mentone. Above the villvge and on the very edge of a con-
siderable prec"pice there are the remains of an Arab castle,
from the summit of which there is a magnificent view over
Mentone and its surroundings. In-Vying to reishese ruins
by scrambling over the rocks, instead of folloPing the site
and ordinary path, Mr. Spiers appears to have lost his foot-
ing and fallen over the precipice. He was killed instan-
taneously.

A paper on the legal attitude of England towards
slavery in other countries was read by Professor Sheldon
Amos on Monday night at a meeting of the Association for
the Promotion of Social Science. In the course of his ad-
dress the learned Professor remarked that in the new
Admiralty circular just issued the Government had can-
celled the "erroneous opinions" intimated by the directions
oontained in the first circular published last autumn, and
had substituted a view which was not open to any objection.

The usual anniversary gasa, commemorative of the
death of Napoleon 111., was performed at St. Augustine
Church on Monday morning. The familiar Bonapartist
staff at Paris was present, and many remained outside for
want of room In the church. The Pays devoted a whole
column to a list of the mourners Among tho notabilities
enumerated by the Bonapartist organ (says the Daily News
Paris Correspondent), the one most marvellously, striking to
the eye of the English reader is "Baron Henry Everybody,"
a llama more singulat ly comprehensive than the French writer
of the Pays article is probably swam of.
An interesting statement in connexion with the pig-
iron trade of the North of England was sent on Friday by
the Secretary of the Ironmasters' Association, which exhibits
remarkable development in that branch of trade. Although
the manufactured iron trade was so depressed during last year,
thereby causing a large reduction in the local consumption
of pig-iron, the officials statement shows that more pig
metal was smelted in the North of England and more went
into consumption during 1875 than in any previous year.
- - - -

Sneaking at a large meeting, held in Liverpool, of
the kneads of the Church of England Temperance Society,
the Archbishop of York deplored the fact that notwithstand-
in& the operations of our temper-ance associations, the drink-
ing propensities of the nation had developed in a great de-
gree during the last six or seven years. Sir Harcourt John-
stone, M. P., also sp3ke, and stated that he intended to in-
troduce into Parliament a Bill to suspend Me issue of fresh
licences until the limit of one to every 509 of the population
were reached.

At the meeting of the Royal Geographical Society
on Monday night letters were read from Lieutenant Cameron,
commander of the Livingstone East Coast Expedition, de
scrmtive of his journey from Lake Tanganyika to the West
Coast. He speaks of the interior as mostly a magnificent
and healthy country of unspeakable richness, lie had with
him a small specimen of good coal; gold, copper, iron, and
silver ore were abundant, and he was confident that with a
wise and liberal expenditure of capital one of the greatest
systems of inland navigation in the world might be utilized.
All the productions of Southern Europe might be made pro-
fitable; and with a capital of from one to two millions
sterling to begin with a great company would have Africa
open in about three years if properly worked.
The calamity which happened last week in the great
salt mine of Bochnla, near cracow, is almost (the Easter's
Budget sari) as disastrous in its effects as that which occurred
some years ago in the neighbouring mine of Wieliczka One
of the deaths which is moat generally regretted Is that of
iCno uAnucsitnial 1 r NaVn thei diew
authori
cz, one of oo
some f theh iablest
3 miningteemed
seen engineersscientific
works. The disaster was caused by a fire, which spread so
ak
rapidly that all the outlets of the mine had to be sthrfueodduln
order to quench it; and it is considered that a mon
be allowed
to elapse before any access is permitted to the
v orbs.
A terrible disaster (says
tom train on the Paris Circular Railway as
Sunday evening
Galignani) occurred on
haviog got off the line; and after being
it was entering the station at Auteuil, a sccond class and
other carriages
ames, had her right arm horribly
mutilated in the attempt, i
dragged some distance, the former was finally overturned.
A passenger, Mdine. t is supposed, to give a signal of
alarm. A lady
from Dresden, was also much bruised about
a and right thigh; and a soldier had his right arm
trakerf. s The other passengers were but slightly injured.
Traffic was suspended for three hours, as nine carriages
blocked the line.
The Crystal Palace on Monday last presented the
same holiday Appearance as on Monday, the 3rd, which was
ftai've:Urr!Lt sixpenny Monday. Although the weather was not
favourable for holiday-making, 6,237 visitors paid far admis-
sion, and -2,60 season ticket holders passed the stiles. It
was sugg,ested that the reduction would drive away the
season ticket holders; it is satisfactory, therefore, to know
that while on the 3rd inst. there was a slight falling-off of
63 season ticket holders, on the 10th inst there was aAually
an increase of more than 300 season ticket holders on the
number of the corresponding day of last year. On all
ordinary Mondays the admission will be only 6d., or, in-
cluding third-class return ticket from the London' sta-
tions, is.
Mr. Dion Boucicault has addressed a letter to the
premier, urging the success of The Shatighraun in London
as a reason why her Majesty should pardon the Fenian pri-
soners. Mr. Boucicault calls to witness two hundred thou-
sancLof the people of London who have been present at the
performance of The Shaughraun during one hundred nightsi
and he also calls the whole world to witness the spectacle of
the Government of England authorising and approving of
the representation of a play which invites people to sym-
pathise with one who is endeavouring to elude the penalty
of a great offence. He asks, "why do they watch his pro
great' nightly, and when an announcement is made that her
Majesty's pardon has been granted to all the political pri-
soners, why are these words greeted with hearty applause? '
He adds that this question has been asked nightly one hun-
dred times to two thousand people of all classes, from the
Prince and Princess of Wales downwards, and there has not
been a dissentient voice.

The snow has been a foot dee- p in Madrid, a eirenni •
stance almost unpreoedented.

Alma Oldale, a ballet-girl, died at Sheffield on
Monday from the effects of burns received during a fire at
the Alexandra Theatre on the 28th December

-
A school of sorcery has, it is stated, been establisled
at New York, in wbich "all the infernal rites of the dark
ages are to be revived."
Statisticians calculate that tilt re are now in work
some 200,000 steam engines, with 4 total power of 12,000,000
horses, corresponding to the rauscular strength of 100,000,000
men.

Cope's Tobacco Plant states that the Board of Inlan.d
Revenue have prohibited the manufacture of a class of "in-
fants]. machines' known as explosive cigars, by means of
which cruel mischief has frequently been done by practical
jokers.
Peltier, the French sailor who spent 17-rears with
the Australian natives has just returned to his itetive place,
St. Gilles, and was enthusiastically received by his parents
and the inhabitants. -
Rioting is reported to have taken place in the streett,2l.-„a .
of Hyderabad. Fighting appears to have resulted, and one'
man is said to have been killed and two wounded. The
gaol guards were doubled. At the date of the latest tele- •
grams from Calcutta quiet has been restored. 71111
The number of pEosengers who crossed from Calais
to Dover in 1875 was 21?,500. This shows an increase of
10.700 as compared with 1874, and a higher number than left
the threeports of Boulogne, Dieppe, and Havre during the
same period.
At a meeting of representatives of eleven working
men's Conservative associations of Huddersfield and district
on Saturday, a resolution was passed in favour of the rejec-
tion, and asking the Government to oppose Mr. Osborne
Morgan's Burial Bill.

At Dundee, on Saturday afternoon, Principal Shairp
delivered the first of a series of lectures on the poetic inter-
pretation of Nature, in connection with the scheme arranged
by the St. Andrew's University. In the course of his address,
the learned principal said he was more than pleased by the
success which had attended the university lectures, and
when the Royal Commission commenced its proceeoings In
Scotland he was sanguine that they might be aide to corro-
borate and give foroe and direction to the educational work is
began in Dundee.
The inhabitants of Friburg (Switzerland) are organ-
'sing some grand fetes for the third centennial anniversary
of the famous battle of Morat, gained on the 22nd June, 1476,
by the Confederate forces over Charles the Bold. Duke of
Burgundy. A historical cortege will represent the entry into dg
the town of the victorious army. The distribution and corn- ..t)
position of the groups will be regulated in accordance with
the narration of the contemporary chronicler Diebold Schil-
ling.
On Monday night Cardinal Manning attended the
opening of a Roman Catholic " Academia" iu Manchester,
and delivered an address, in which he teuched upon the
presumed divergencies between the teachings of religion and IWO
the discoveries of science. His Eminence declared that the
Roman Catholic Church had nothing to fear from the multi-
plication of schools of science —" if, indeed, they were ,
schools of science, and not schools of perverted intellect." 3
A Bahia paper reports from Cachoeira the existence -
of two native blacks of the ages of 115 and 105. The elder
married at 40 years of age and his still living wife is SO years
of age. He was much given to athletics and even after being
100 years of age found none able ta compete with him until
old age came on with an attack of stupor that nearly killed
him. He has many sons, all of them athletes, and 40 grand-
children and a number of great grandchildren- The other
married thrice and has a son 70 years old.
The Westminster Gazette says :—" The Duke of t,
Norfolk, as president of the Catholic Union of Great Britain, '
has issued a circular inviting the Catholics of England to
come to the support of the prosecuted clergy of Germany.
Among the subscriptions already received are £l,OOO from
the Duke of Norfolk, £3O from Cardinal Manning, £250 from 1..
the Marquis of Ripon, £lOO from the Earl of Denbigh, and Aa
£lOO from Lord Petre. Besides these there are numerous
other handsome subscriptions as' a slight testimony of the O'S
deep sympathy felt by the Catholics of England for their ,r;411
persecuted brethren in Germany."
A correspondent, alluding to the brutality of the
fashion et wearing birds as ornaments, sass:—" I saw a
woman's hat this week with a kingdsher stuck on the top.
The kingfisher is fast becoming extinct, and really it is little
less than a crime to destroy him. Having spent a good part
; of the vacation this year in the country, I have been amazed
to see the activity of the birdcatchers and the dimunition in
the number of all small birds except sparrows. If the pre-
sent rate of destruction goes on, a gocel part of English
poetry will become unintelligible, and will need a scholiast.'
In reply to a protest adnlressed by certain ratepayers
to the Education Department against a resolution of the
Liverpool School Board to establish separate Protestant and
Catholic Industrial Schools, an answer has been received
stating that the proposed course is strictly in conformity
with the law, but suggesting the propriety of the Board con-
sidering whether the school might not be established on the
combined secular and separate religious instruction principle.
The Board decided to proceed with the school on the prin-
ciple already affirmed.
A fruit car is being built at San Francisco, says the
Boston Advertiser, for the transportation of fruit from that
city to Chicago. it is provided with a fan-blower, driven by
one of the car-axles, by means of which the air is driven
through ice which reduces it to a low temperature, and
then distributes it among the fruit boxes through a large
perforated pipe laid along the bottom of the car. After the
cool air has passed among the fruit it returns to the blower,
and is again forced through the apparatus. The same opera-
tion might be performed on the travellers, who could have a
hot or cold flash as the season required it.

Mr. A. Macdonald, M.P,, has written a long letter
to the delegates of the miners Of Scotland, in which he re-
views the position of the trade. While granting that it is by
no means satisfactory, he denies that it is anything like so
bad as has been represented. Re hopes the time Is not far
distant when all disputes will be settled by friendly inter-
course, and the brute force contractors and political econo-
mists will find their proper leveL Taking the prices both of
coal and iron, he sees no reason why the men should not
insist on an increase of from 18 to 20 per cent, on their
wages. It is only by unity of action that they can hope to
attain this, and thoA.ll be is williog to give his counsel and
advice when asked for, they must not expect him to wolt in
the future as he had done in the past.

did