The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-02-18 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND reLF,Pm.

There are said to be five hundred persons in New
York whose fortunes are over 5e0,000 dollars.

It is etated that the new halfpenny postal cards
are new dtetributed at the rate of two mlillous a week

Wilen trill Bismarck become a great landscape
painter? When he's Claude Lorraine.

S tbnon has recently been sold at Worcester at
per lb.

It id understood that in the corning financial year a
considerable aim will be taken In the estimates to provide
Harvey's torpedoes.

_
At a large New York dinner party the other evening
the tablecloth was of heavy white silk, edged with point lace.
All the other appointments were equally distinguished.
The New York Tribune statew that Father Hyacinthe
contemplates another visit to the Fulled States next autumn,
convinced that he did not see hell enough of the country
when he was there before.

The library and galleries in the Vatican have been
declared to be nstmiai property by the Italian Parliimeht,
notivithstanding blinisterial efforts to secure • different
result.

On Saturday evening & meeting of working men was
held at Preston, when • resolution was pasied approving of
the pfoposed dowry for the Princess Louise, and urging
Parhament to vote it unanimously.

A judge recently etated—almoet complaited—that
there Ls no getting Juries to end a young and Interesting
female guilty of anything, even when guilt is brought home
to her without the possibility of a doubt.

Copies if the treaties which were signed in August
last, between her Majesty and the Emperor of the French
ani her Majegy and the King of Prosela, relative to the In.
dep.odence end neutrality of Belgium, have been published.

The London correspondent of the Irish Times says
the means to be adopted by the Chancellor of the Ex.
Chequer for raising the necessary additional taxation will
be simply the increase of the income tax from 4d. to Bd.
The North Britiah holly Mall has the best authority
for stating that It is not the Intention of her Majesty's
Government to make any part of the forthcoming Licensing
Bill applicable to Scotland.

On-Saturday morning, at Mr.Rumney's, Printworks,
near Itaxsbottom, a dyer, named Chadwick, was fixing a
str.p on a pulley, when 0110 cud of the woollen muffler he
was wearing round his neck at the time was caught by the
revolting shaft, and in an Insta.,t the portion of the molter
that hung loose was svuund round the shaft, the other por-
thm of the muffler retaining Its hold upon Chadwick's neck.
Ills position was observed and the machinery stopped, but
the revolving gibbet had completed its work, Chadwick being
quite dead from strangulation and a I rotten nsck.
In the lute rxsmination of &county grammar school,
• clergyman said the boys were often so excited when under-
going an examination as to spoil many good paper, by the
most curious blunders. For Instance, a boy after giving a
very good descriptlon of the ii [ding of the ark, spoiled it by
describing Moses as the builder; another, In answer to the
question, "Suppose Q leen Victoria had died In chiblhood,
who would have succeeded to the English throne ?' wrote,
" her eldest son." (The questioner who spoke of Queen
Victoria In her childhood also spoiled his paper

- - -
Mr. Brian Dillon, one of the Fenian prisoners, who
was too in to LTOIIII the Atlantic, and had, therefore, refused
the pardon conditional on his not returning to Ireland, has
been liberated under permission to live In Ireland, under •
licence quite different in form from that given to the ordinary
thieves and criminals. The licence is withdrawable at the
Queen's pleasure, and make. It a condition that Mr. Dillon
snail present himself on the Ist of January In every year at
the time and place to be named by the Home Secretary or the
Lord Lieutenant.

Lad week the aggregate mortality in London and
19 other large towns of the United Kingdom was 80 deaths
annnally to erery 1,000 of the population. In the metropolis
2,438 births mad 1,749 dentin, were reentered, the former
Oaring been 18, sod the latter 133, above the eellmaree
average. Zymotle &seem named 434 deaths, Inelodlog 111
from small.yox, 0 from meal's, 46 from marled fever, 10 from
htherls,ll from wbooplogeough,l3 from typhus, 14 from
coterie (or tySonl)farer, 16 from simple motioned fever,
and 0 :root nbota ; tllllll tO)be ho principal dimmest

-
of this Ohm 384 des were est week against 330
stri act; ha ts,e two preceding weeks. The largest Increase
"he ahnwn S. '.'he Wei cases of whooping-cough end small.
t. In t5..3 king upon the fact that the mortality Ircm
',tilt Unease varies with age, the Registrar-General points oil.
st the danger of dying from small-pox diminishes rapid)
ge advances, which could not be the case if the effect o
vAination were out with tines The facts of the km years
1801•60 over all &WNW bear oat dedsolloo.

Friday (the 10th Met. was the thirty-Bret ,anni-
v•nary of the Queen's marriage.
The contagious disease, commissioners have been
holding three meetings a week. The medical evidence is mid
to be very conflicting.
" It is thought that there will he • grand muster
this sultmer of all the military force in the kingdom, and
that at least half a million men will be got together. Thie
spot will be Ctnnock Chase."—Cour iJournel.
The Middlesex Hospital has received a donation of
£1,001.1 from "P. 1.0.," being the third suns o.i a similar
amount for which the funds of that institution are Indebted
to their anonymous benefactor.
An action for libel is pending against an American
newspaper, the Rocheettr Union, for haring stated that
Melba. Christine Nilsson is not coal as a singer to Jenny
Lind. Mr. Max Strakosch, Miss Nasson's entrepreneur, le
the plaintiff.
Martha Tarpey ham been committed for trial, witbon
ball, for the jewel robbery in lierkei,y.street, London. The
principal witnesses examined were the house agent and ser-
vant connected with the home when the robbery was com-
mitted.

------•
The Tomintoul correspondent of the /neer-nem
Courixr states that rece,tly tour sheep were taken out alive
from bet ,sr a bank of .no In that district, after having
been imprisoned for fifteen days. The animals were bud.
died together among the heather In a small open spaoe under
the snow.
--- - - •

A lamentable accident has occurred by the upsetting
of • boat beloneing to her Majesty's ship ID/1911m, on the
7th Dec , In Yokohama Bay, whereby Commander Brooks,
and John Walsh, ordinary seaman, of the Itingaove, and Mr.
Bowies, asalstan4paymaster additional of the Ocean, for
I Manilla, who were on a shooting expedition, have lost Oar
lives.
Ann When, a girl twenty-one years of age, residing
In London, recently committed SUlCidd through disappointed
, love. She loved to "distraction" William Taylor, • boy,
10 years of age, The boy's father disapproved, and the boy
consented to break (It the match, ..hereupon the girl
swallowed vitriol.
The floating iron dock built in England and towed
out to Bermuda last summer, at a total expense of about
£300,000, is a great success. It can dock the largest and
heaviest ship in the world, can readily be used. I s bottom
can be conveniently cleaned, and it Is calculated to Ws half

• century.
It is a fact, usioniehing as it may seem, that the
primrose is unknown In the Coiled States, An English
botanist at present residing at Boston Is the authority for
this aasertion, and he has directed the " omission" te be
made good by the forwarding to him of a basket of roots et
that humble and homely plant.
The Court of Exchequer Chamber has decided that
It is negligence on the part of a railway company if they so
construct their Une that any comiliderable space is left between
the carriages and the edge of the platform. leacme where-
in the plaintiff recovered £1,500, they ordered the verdict et
the jury to stand.
'We are glad to be able to say that Mr. Lowe has
consented to relinquish the duty which the late Act imposed
on foreign securities, and that the law on this subject will
now be reduced to a rational, simple, and satisfactory state.
—Econom
" A curious bit of news comes to no by way of
Berlin. in that city there is a wide-spread belief that the
goddess Cl Fashion is to take up her abode there, and quit
for ever her former home in Parts. You may kill the people
that have taste, but you can't take it from them and ap-
propriate it with the other spoil. The Prussians have Very
good taste—for beer. —Court Journal.
From April 1 to February 11 the total receipts into
the Exchequer amounted to C. 57,370,508. as compared with
£63,112,4773 in the corresponding period of the previous
twelve months The expenditure has been £30,430,957. The
balance in the Bank of England on Saturday last exceeded
four millions sterling.
At the het two finance meetings of the National
Society for promoting the Education of the Poor in the
Principal of the established Churoh, grants to the amount
of £5,140 were voted to two huidred places These grants
assist in providing accommodation for 27,867 children. The
total amount voted since August 1870, is £58,000.
Her Majesty the Queen will, it is expected, leave
Windsor next week for Buckingham Palace, and, under
these circumstances, will probably reside in the metropolis
Ice three or four days. Her Majesty, It is understood, will
very likely pay a visit to Claremont about the end of the
month.
A singular accident occurred on Sunday last on the
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, between 'lepton and
Rosegivve. White. pauenger train, on route from Coln. to
Manchester, was travelling, the snow, which had fallen very
heavily, became so thick under the footboards that three Of
the carriages were thrown off the line. None of the passengers
were hsjured.
Dr. Stenhouee, than whom few men (says the
th en.rurn) have done mere in chemical investigation, and In
the practical application of discoveries, physical and chemi-
cal, to the useful purposesuf life has, by her ),iajesty's direc-
tion, been granted a pension on the Civil List of £lOO, "in
consideration of his scientific attainments."
The general committee appointed by the Clan
Campbell met last week at the Caledonian Hotel, E linbtirgh,
for the purpose of choosing the present to be given to Ilea
no) at Highness the Princess Louise After inspecting •
number of designs and ornaments by some of the best
jewellers In the kingdom, they fixed upon four to be sent to
her Royal Highness, from which she will be invited to make
her own selection.

We (Court Journal) have cut the following adver-
tisement from A Low Church contemporary it is too good to
be lost. 141811101021 of expression is often allowable in
religious matters, bet there should be a limit beyond which
even "preachers and lovers of souls" ought not to go—
'A preacher and lover of souls Is open for engagements to
preach the Gospel. Ile expecte souls only for his hire."
The special committee on the Martini-Henry rifle
submitted their report last week. The report, together with
the evidence as to the mechanical soundness of the breech
action and the acconnt of the prolonged trials to which the
arm has been subjected by the troops, and the reports of the
troops thereupon, In in type, and will be laid before Parlia-
ment.
The Earl of Miltown is lying in a dangerous state
at his seat, Russborough House. Rix lord.hip is suffering
from a severe attack of congestion of the tangs, caught
through a cold from hunting with the Kildare hounds. ifir
D C origan and Dr. Stokes are in attendance, and repOrt
slightly favourable symptoms.
An application WAS made on Friday to the Divorce
Court for a discharge from custody of Mn. Glacommettl
Prodgers, that lady having recently been sent to Horse-
monger-lane Gaol for contempt of court It wee now stated
that terms of separation had been agreed to between Mrs.
Prodgers and her husband. Lord Penzance greeted the order.
A lirust.ele correspondent writes : - Three and a half
millions have again bees voted by the handier for extra-
' ordinary military eXpenditure. The Belgian taxpayers will
I have to remember torn good many years Napoleon Di., the
Duke ef Gramont, and all those who wished to execute the
military promenade "to BerlM
The Court Newsman describes the dresses worn by
the Princesses Louise and Beatrice at the opening of Parlia-
ment. The Princess Louise wore a dress cinch white ponit-
de-sole, trimmed with band, of crimson velvet. Ileed.drese
—diamonds, feathery, sad veil: ornaments—tablet and
diamonds ; orders—Victorta and Albert, St. Isabel, and the
Coburg and Gotha gamily order. The Princes* Beatrice
word a white silk drim, similarly trimmed with crimson
velvet. ilead-dress—velvdt, white feathers, and diamonds
ornaments—pearls and diamonin.
Dix Excellency the Turkish Ambassador has. by.
command of his Majesty the Sultan, conferred upon Mr E .L.
Reed, C it, the Imperial order of the Medildie of a very
high grade the second,. The alai. and ribbon of the order
were accompanied by a valuable diamond snuffdsor. as *
further mark of the Sultan's favour. Of all the navel officers
decorated by the Sultan after the Russian war only one or
two received a higher grade of the Medildie than the third.
A theatrical advertisement in the columns of a con-
tempornry runs as follows.—" Wanted, an entire company
Cr a circuit of theatre. In the North. None need apply but
those who intend keeping their engagement. None need
apply but those that dress well, both on and off the doge.
None need apply that smoke short pipes in the public streets.
None need apply that don't believe in writing out and study-
ing their parts. None need apply that are not sober, and
cannot keep their own interests and the manager's in vtew."
Sir J. Y. Scsrlett, in addressing a volunteer gather.
lag in London, on Saturday evening, expressed his tannin,
rence in the views of Sir W. Mansfield respecting the ultimata
necessity of the ballot for raising the militia. AA AO the
demand for the ebolition of the purchase system, what, he
meant

asked, should be substituted hir it?-----
favouritism, and seniority stagnation. Although he wee not
prepared to defend it to the ntlemost, it bad, upon the
' whole, worked well. He deprecated the idea of applying the
Prussian military system to this country.
On Monday evening one of the Cunard Company's
Mediterranean fieet, fine screw steamer, 1,200 tons burden,
called the Morocco, had just left one of the Liverpool docks,
and was steaming down the Mersey, when she came into
c Ilislon with another steamer, the Wyoming, 2 200 60111
burden. The result was that the Morocco. which wee heavily
laden, filled 40 rapidly that she could not be beached, and
sank In four fathoms water. The goods on board, valued at
£120,00d, were greatly damaged, and the passengers were
unable to save any of their luggage.
A charge of libel preferred against Mr. E. W. Pogin,
Mrs. Jane Welby Pugin his stepmother, and Mr. Whelan, a
clerk in his employ, by Mr Hodgson, the rostmaator of
Ramsgate, and Miss Hale, his niece, came again before the
Harnsgate magistrates on riaturday. Mr. Pugin's counsel
withdrew, on his client's behalf, all imputations on the
character of Mr. Hodgson and his niece, and stated that ail
the matters in dbpute between the parties had been referred
to the arbitration of Mr. Macuamars- The summonses were
therefore dismissed

lip to Tuesday, the fund now being raised at the
M•usionhouse, London, by the Lord Mayor and an in-
fluential committee, amounted to close upon £88,025, of
which about £10,12.5 had been received since Saturday morn-
ing (it We amount £660 wae contributed by the inhabitants
of Manchester, through Mr. Grave, the Mayor; £2OO by
those of Newry, £lO5 by Portsmouth : £l6O by Northampton,
£lO2 by buster, and £4OO by Tunbridge Wells. The Lord
Mayor contradicted the statement that the good/ of the com-
mittee had been sold to the poor of Paris.
I The King of Burmah, having taken to western
Is now menacing us after another fashion.
Having set,up his own newspaper, he is suspected of circa-
listing It with incendiary design. among our own Burmese sub-
jects. lie has net up a telegraph, which it le to be hoped he
• ill not similarly employ. The Burmese alphabet haa been
adapted to a telegraphic code, llaere is a drag en him,
however, in his astrologers, whom he still commits on do
mastic events.
Additional correspondence respecting the war be.
tween France and Germany in continuation of that Issued 013
July 29, 11170, has just bees laid before Parliament. The
IJorreepondence,forms a goodly volume of 269 pages, and,
commencing in date at the bf ginning of Anguat, is drought
down to the day on which the armistice was signed at Ver-
sailles; the text of that document being included among the
paper. published. Many of the deapatches have already
ben given to the world. Many, however, appear for the
first time, and plum in a clear light the policy which has
bean pursued by the British Governmennt throughout the
war.
I A German clergy man tells the story of s. heavy
' countryman who was accustomed to enter the church with
regularity, compose himself in a comfortable seat, and go
to leep for the whole of the service. In order to break the
I countryman of this ilimatmered habit, he gave a lad • penny
to sit beside the slumberer, and, by continually twitching
at his garment., keep him awake. The plan for the first
Sunday answered so admirably that on the nest he offered
a similar bribe for a Bee service. The conscientiona lad
refused the offer, Paying that the man had already given
him twice the sum to allow him a quiet rest.
In London, on Monday, the Society for the Preemie.
tion of Cruelty to Animals-prosecuted • plgeomdealer on a
charge of ill•trcating and torturing a number of pigeons by
overcrowding them in baskets The birds were brought to
this country from Fiance, and were packed so closely that
neither food nor breathing-room was possible during the
period of transit, which averaged 86 hours. Amongst the
witnesses was My. Pritchard, one of the professors at the
B.oyal b sterinary College, who was of opinion that the
pigeons were cruelly ',sad in bebig so closely packed. The
defendant waa remanded.
Lord Justice James, while sitting as Vice-Chancellor,
made an order for winding up the Bank ef London and
National Provincial Assurance Company, one of the many
undertakings which had been amalgamated with the Albert.
An appeal against this decision has been made to the Lord
Chancellor, audit was oubmitted that the o ompany, not having
been registered, did not fall within the meaning of the
Winding. up Acta. The Lord Clialmellor held a =Ana
opinion, and dismissed the aimed with oaall.
At tbs Maass Police-court, la London, a Frew:Amax
was Merged with being In Illegal possession els Urge quantity
of gunpowder. It was shown that there was a outage
manufactory In the Mile-cud-road, and that suldedent gun.
powder was stored there to destroy the neighbourhood.
the police seized four barrels containing 1141 b, seek, anosher
barrel containing 60lb, ' and 20,000 cartridges. When the
1 .inner entered the prisoner was smoking a pipe, a fire wan
burning in an open stove, and gunpowder and oartridc
were strewed shoot in a most careless mamma
prisoner, who pleaded that he was merely a leerunt, win
deed 1, and the gunpowder VIM fOrletled,