The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-02-28 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

The French Senate has agreed to all the estimates of
the Minister of Finance.

The Chamber of Deputies adopted a credit of
3,000,000 f. for subsides to the merchant navy.
Mr. H. M. Stanley has been appointed Governor-
General of the Congo State.
The Argentine Republic has decreed forced currency
for the notes of the Salta Bank. Premium on gold coin
has risen 31 per cent.

All the officers and 300 men of the 3rd Devon Rifle
Volunteers have volunteered for garrison duty should
their services be required.
The whole of the colliers working on the thin coal seam
at the Pindar Oaks Colliery, South Yorkshire, have
struck wcrk against the revised wages list.
The Salvation Army announce a new scheme of cam-
paign for use in country towns and villages where there
are no public buildings. A number of waggons are
being built. They are to be called forts, and manned
by cadets and officers, who will perambulate the country
in them.
There is now reason to believe that the recent dis-
astrous fire at a pauper lunatic asylum in Philadelphia,
which resulted in so serious a loss of life, was wilfully
caused, a negro lad having confessed that he set fire
to the building at the instigation of one of the attend-
ants.

Sheriff Black, at Stornoway, on Saturday, brought to
a close tho examination of the eight crofters and a
gamekeeper from Valtos and tug charged with assault-
ing and deforcing a messenger-at-arms whilst he was
serving writs at Valtos. One of the crofters was
acquitted, but the others were sentenced to terms of
imprisonment varying from fifty to seven days, and
the gamekeeper was sent to gaol for ten days.
An explosion of natural gas has occurred at Wells-
burg in West Virginia, by which several houses were
destroyed. Six persons were killed and several injured.
There is no foundation for the statement contained
in a telegram from St. Petersburg, recently published in
London, that the Russian Government were sending
200 Krupp guns to Central Asia.

The Board of Trade have awarded a piece of plate to
Captain C. Hollaar of the Dutch fishing smack Zee-en.
Sandboard, in acknowledgment of his humanity and
kindness to the shipwrecked crews of the British fish.
ing vessels Clara and Elizabeth, of Hull, and the
Tarlair, of Peterhead, which were abandoned at sea last
year.
The brigantine Camellia, of Cork, has been driven
into Tranmere Bay during a heavy storm, and has
become a total wreck. The Tranmore lifeboat made
four attempts to reach the vessel, but was unable to do
so, and all hands on board the Camellia (nine in
number) perished.
Mr. Charles Bradlaugh,M.P., in addressing a meeting
in Edinburgh on army mismanagement in the Egyptian
campaign of 1882, said the Commisariat officers had
high and powerful friends, while the men had none to
speak for them in Parliament. He had reason to
believe that men were dying in the present campaign
from the same mischief. In a few months, in the tri-
bunal which was bound to listen, and had power of
punishment, he would impeach those whom he re-
garded as criminals.
The Board of Trade has been informed by the
Foreign Office that vessels trading to those territories
on the West Coast of Africa which are now under
Germaa protection, will be required to merely follow
the customs which have hitherto regulated trade in
those territories. Vessels, however, arriving at the
Cameroons, will, in consequence of the recent events
which have occurred there, be subject, together with
their cargoes, to any regulations which may be made
by the German Admiral at that place, but they need
not at present obtain clearances from the German Con-
suls in the United Kingdom.

The storm on Saturday afternoon was felt very
, severely at the observatory on Ben Nevis. The baro-
meter fell rapidly in irregular jerks, and the wind blew
a strong gale from the southward. During the night
the wind rose, and the usual hourly observations could
not be continued, as the lanterns were blown out and
the air was full of snow drift and pieces of ice. At
' daybreak on Sunday observations were resumed, the
wind having veered to the south-west and moderated a
little. On Monday, however, a second but much less
intense storm passed over the mountain, the wind back-
ing to south-west and then falling for a short time.
Failing to obtain a vote of confidence from the
Chamber of Deputies, M. Tricoupis read a Royal decree
dissolving the Greek Chamber.
At the London Mansion House, on Monday, William
Roberts, aged 42, who was stated to have undergone
sentences of six, eight, and ten years' penal servitude,
was charged on remand with being on enclosed premises
for an unlawful purpose. Alderman Sir R. Carden, the
case having been proved, sentenced him to one year's
hard labour.
The "Moscow Gazette" states that the Council of
the Empire has fixed the import duty on agricultural
machine, without regard to the material of which they
may be constructed, at 50 kopecks (gold) per pood.
A murder was committed at Kilfaudeen, near Leap,
co. Cork, about half-past eleven o'clock on Monday
morning. A dispute arose between Michael Hurley and
his nephew, Timothy Hurley, as to the ownership of
certain land. The nephew attacked his uncle, who is
60 years of age, and inflicted such injuries upon him by
- kicking him on the body that he died almost immedi-
ately.
At a meeting at Liverpool, the Mayor presiding, it
has been resolved to hold in that city next year an ex-
hibition illustrative of navigation, travelling, and com-
merce. The central feature is to be ship construetion
and shipping industries; but it will also include exhibits
illustrative of all modes of travelling—ancient and
modern—by land, sea, and air, in our own and foreign
countries.
The Cutlers' Company of Sheffield on Monday ap-
proved a scheme for holding an Industrial F.shibition
illustrative of Sheffield manufactures during the coming
summer. The Duke of Norfolk has promised a hand-
some subscription, and over glow has been contributed
to a guarantee fund.
This disabled transport Poonah, homeward bound
from the Mediterranean with military drafts, has broken
adrift from two tugs near the Longships.
In the Queen's Bench Division, on Monday, before
Baron Pollock and a special jury, Mr. Ivemy, a Strat-
ford musicseller, was awarded £5O damages against Mr.
Sims Reeves for breach of engagement.
According to intelligence received in Hamburg from
the Gold Coast, the natives have revolted against the
English at Quitta, and in the fighting which ensued the
Governor was shot through the lungs, the forty
coloured soldiers who were with him having been pre-
viously overpowered. Sixty men, under the command
of a young British officer, still held the town and fort,
which they hoped to be able to defend against a fresh
attack threatened by the natives.
The nlunicipal Council of Naples have conferred the
freedom of the city upon Signor Depretis, the Premier,
in acknowledgment of his services in obtaining State
aid for Naples after the cholera epidemic last year.
On Saturday evening Ancrum House, the seat of Sir
William Scott, Bart. five miles from Jedburgh, was
destroyed by fire. The furniture and other valuables
were saved. The loss is estimated at about £25,000.
During the fire Mr. Painter, the butler, fell down dead
in the house, in consequence, it is believed, of the
excitement.
At Ashton-under-Lyne, on Saturday, a coroner's jury
returned al verdict of wilful murder against Ann
Sullivan for causing the death of Mary Fowler by strik-
ing her on the head with a poker during a quarrel on
the 9th inst.
At Hammersmith, on Saturday, one of the partners
in Messrs. Thornycroft, torpedo-boat manufacturers,
applied to Mr. Paget to order an apprentice who had
enlisted in the army to be given up to him. Mr. Paget,
having looked into the Act, said the applicant must
prepare an affidavit to take to the commanding officer
with the indentures.
Sir R. A. Cross, M.P., distributed on Saturday even-
ing the prizes and certificates gained by the students of
the Birkbeck Institution. He referred to the great loss
which this and kindred institutions had sustained in the
loss of the Duke of Albany, who had taken great
interest in all educational movements. He congratu-
lated his hearers on the success of the Birkbeck
Institution, the students in which had increased in
numbers during the past year from 3500 to 5000.
A violent tempest, ace Dmpanied by storms of snow-
and hail, visited the West of Scotland on Saturday
evening. On the Highland Railway a train was im-
bedded in the drift for the night. Considerable injury
was done to shipping, and several accidents are
reported.
A serious accident has happened at Bournemouth..
A partition wall on the third story of a house in courser
of erection suddenly fell in and precipitated several
workmen to the ground, one of them being severely
injured.
At Salisbury, Mr. C. J. Kennard, M.P., referring to
Free Trade, asserted that the protectionist's magnet in
other countries was extracting from this country its
capital, energy, and labour. What was the explanation.
of Free Traders to the fact that capitalists, bag and.
baggage, were abandoning free trade shores for pro-
tectionist countries?
A. fire broke out soon after twelve, on Saturday, in
a tenement in Huish-court, close to the " Times " office,.
Queen Victoria-street, London. Great excitement
prevailed when it was known that some of the occu-
pants were inside the burning house. A crowd col-
lected, and loudly cheered a fireman who entered and
rescued two children.
A lad about twelve years old, whilst playing with
some other boys on the banks of the Ouse, at York, fell
into the river. A companion attempted to rescue him,
but failed. Both lads sank. Mr. Adamson, litho-
grapher, saw the occurrence, and plunging into the
stream managed to seize one of the lads, but could non-
hold him in consequence of having become benumbed.
Adamson was rescued, but both boys were drowned.
The ship joiners and ship smiths employed in the
ship building yards on the Wear have come out on
strike, having declined to accept a reduction of 28.
per week in their wages and an alteration in their work-
ing hours, so as to make them the same as on the Tyne,
notice of which was given by the employers. The
number of men laid off is computed to be about 600.
The employers had offered to extend the term of
notice until March 4, but this arrangement the men
would not accept.
On Tuesday the governor, deputy-governor, ana
members of the Honourable Irish Society were sworn
in before the Lord Mayor of London at the Mansion
House. ;The society is the body to whom is entrusted
the management of the extensive and prosperous
estates of the Corporation of London in the province
of Ulster. The governor is Alderman Sir J. Whittaker.
Ellis, M.P., and the deputy-governor Mr. Benjamin.
Biggs.
At the Sheffield Police-court, on Tuesday morning, a.
cutler, named John Walton Smith, was sentenced to
two months' hard labour for cruelty to a child aged ten
months, the son of a woman with whom he lived. The
prisoner held the child out at arm's length and beat it
unmercifully about the face with his fist. For months
the child had been subject to gross ill-treatment.
A memorial having been forwarded by one of the
Poole borough magistrates praying for the release of a
private inquiry agent named *Williams, who is under-
going a term of seven years' penal servitude for perjury
in connection with the Poole licensing prosecutions,
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The poorhouse at Wohlen, Aargau, has been des-
troyed by fire. Eighty inmates were in the building at
the time, of whom six perished in the flames. The fire
is attributed to incendiarism.
Thomas Smith, treasurer of the Burial Fund of the
Manchester and Salford District Order of Druids' was
charged at Manchester on Tuesday with making false
entries in the society's books to conceal embezzlements
by him amounting to £267. The prisoner altered a
bank voucher from £5 to £45, and in other ways
falsified documents. He pleaded to be dealt with
summarily, and was sentenced to six months' hard
labour.
Admiral Courbet has received instructions to treat
rice as contraband of war. The Admiral has accord-
ingly taken the necessary measures to prevent towns in
Northern China frolic( being revictualled by sea.
The President of the French Republic was officially
represented at the unveiling of a statue of the late
Ledru Rollin. Some members of the Government and
the President of the Chamber were also present.
The Duke of Cambridge, presiding at the meeting of
the National Rifle Association on Tuesday, said as the
evening was found to be the most favourable time for
firing, the council had instituted evening prizes. There
would be competitors at Wimbledon this year from
Australia and Calcutta. The illustrious duke alluded
to the recent offers of help from the Colonies, and
denied that impediments had been thrown in the war
of the movement by the military authorities.
At the twenty-fifth annual meeting of the Associated
Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday the President, Mr.
Norwood, M.P., stated that three new Chambers,
making a total of sixty-two, had joined the association
within the year. Resolutions were adopted with
reference to railway rates, canals, and the extension of
the railway system in India.
A meeting, at which Sir Charles Mills,
M.P., presided
was held on Tuesday in the City, at which a resolution
,
was unanimously passed in favour of a closer commercial
and political relationship between the Mother Country
and the Colonies.
At a meeting of Convocation of the London Univer-
sity held on Tuesday a resolution was passed, on the
of the scheme
motion of Lord Justice Fry, approving
for establishing a Teaching University
for London.
The receipts on account of Revenue from the Ist of
April, 1884, when there was a balance of £5,632,569, to
February 21,1885, were £76,624,842, against £77,843,363-
in the corresponding period of the preceding financial
year, which began with a balance of £6,972,730. The
the
et esaxpiredidtaurtee was
the previous as
h7s'°id, against £74,672,812 to
year. The Treasury
balances on February 21 amounted to £7,621,361, and
at the same date in 1884 to £9,534,421.
Mr. F. La Farque, on Tuesday, applied to Mr. Justice
Chitty to restraia Mr. Tod neatly from resuming
possession of Her Majesty's Theatre The plaintiff had
hired the theatre for eight weeks from I3oxing-day,with
a right to continue the tenancy for a month longer on
paying the rent in advance or giving a guaranty. His
lordship said the offer of a guaranty should have been
made in writing, and the motion must be refused.
The trial of Mr. Hasker's action against his brother-
in-law, Mr. Nightingale, to 'recover thirty thousand
pounds damages for the part he took in placing him in
Bethlehem Lunatic Asylum, was concluded on Tues-
day. In cross-examination, the plaintiff admitted that
he sometimes carried a knuckleduster and a life pre-
server about him; also that on the 3rd of this month he-
bought a revolver for the purpose, he explained, of
Protecting himself whilst conveying. a patient from
Broadmoor Asylum to the Isle of Wight. Dr. W. E.
R. Wood, of Bethlehem Hospital, said he considered
the plaintiff, when brought to that asylum was suffering
from homicidal mania, and Mr. J. Fley stated that Mr.
Hasker wrote to him saying he should commit suicide_
Without hearing the defence, the jury intimated that
they considered that the defendant was justified in
what he did, and they gave a verdict in his favour.