The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-03-15 00:00:00

SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 1884,

Sir Lyon Playrair, the member for the Universities
of Edinburgh and St. Andrew's, has been chosen Presi-
dent of the British Association for the year 1885. The
place of meeting is to be Aberdeen.
Last week's receipts of cotton at all United States
ports were 69 000 bales; since Ist September, 4,365,000
bales. Week ;s exports to Great Britain, 57,000 bales;
to the Continent, 49,000 bales. Total since Ist Septem-
ber, 3,010,000 bales; stock at all ports, 901,000 bales.
The New York Chamber of Commerce has asked
Congress, in view of the excessive supply of Bland
silver dollars, to suspend their coinage for two years.

At a recent meet of the Southdown foxhounds at
Portslade a singular incident occurred. A fox which
was found went straight for Poynings, ran into the
church and took refuge in the pulpit. He was quickly
brought out of the sacred edifice and turned loose, when
he was immediately run into by the ho=ds at the foot
of the hill.

At a meeting in Glasgow it has been unanimously
resolved to erect upon the field of Langside, near Glas-
gow, a monument commemorative of the defeat of Mary
Queen of Scots. Mr. Guild, who presided, said he had
collected 1300 books bearing on Mary's life, and 315,
different engravings of her.

The United Sates Treasury is considering the pro-
priety of prohibiting the importation into the United.
States of cattle from Great Britain.

The new trial before the Provincial Tribunal of
Konitz of the four Jews who were charged with setting
fire to the synagogue at New Stettin has been con—
cluded. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty in.
the case of all the accused.

The French Post Office is about to expend 450,000 f.
on its railway service. To prevent, or attenuate as far
as possible the effects of accidents, each of the 320 post;
office carriages will be fitted up with a buffer-lining,.
and provided with the best-known brake.
The Queen has just purchased a panel of tapestry
wrought at the Royal Tapestry Works by English,
apprentices, representing "Balmoral Castle."

The petition signed by 10,000 Scotchmen against
the abolition of the feather bonnet is to be pres2nted,
very shortly, when the members of the Highland
Society will approach the Marquis of Hartington on the-
subject.

A donation of £2O from the Queen has recently been
received for the Victoria Soldiers' Library at the
-
Aldershot Camp. During the Crimean War, the Queen
sent £2,112 volumes to the army in the East. A great
proportion of the books in the library are the identical.
ones which were sent out to the Crimea, and although,
much worn are generally entire.
Mr. Gladstone has given to the leading supporters of
the Irish Sunday Closing Bill an assurance that it
shall be proceeded with "as soon as possible after the
second reading of the Representation of the People
Bill."

An accident of a somewhat unusual nature occurred.
on Saturday at the Meadows Pits, Twistsll, owned by
Messrs. Peake and Co. Durity,' some sinking opera-
tions a shot was placed, and the men ascended,
awaiting the result. Sometime afterwards, however,
no explosion being heard, they again descended the
shaft, when the shot went off with terrific effect,.
killing three of their number.
On Friday night in last week a fire broke out at the
extensive flour mill of Messrs. Ryder and Son, Sunder-
land, and was not extinguished until three o'clock next
morning. The mill was completely gutted, and the
contents of the adjoining granary, a large building,
wcre destroyed. The damage is estimated at about
£50,000. This is the third time the mill has beep-
burnt.

A dynamite plot has been discovered at Pesth. The
police have seized some explosive material, which had
reached certain Anarchists by parcels post.
It is stated that Russian partridges are being largely
imported into England.
An exhibition of works of art manufacture designed.
and executed by students of schools of art since 1862
is to be held at South Kensington in April. The
objects will consist of carvings, furniture, decorations,
metal-working, jewellery, goldsmiths' work, pottery,
glass, woven and printed fabrics, &c.
It was stated at a recent meeting of the London City
Mission that fifteen missionaries are now working
among 5700 of the public-houses of London; but at
least wenty more are wanted to cover the 11,340 con-
tained in the metropolis.
Mr. E. A. Freeman and the Marquis of Bath have
just been elected members of the Servian Academy of
Belgrade, in recognition of their services to the new •
kingdom.
The celebrated regiment called the Black Bruns-
wickers, raised in 1809 by the unfortunate Duke of
Brunswick, which fought under the English flag in the
Peninsular War and at Waterloo, is now quartered at
Metz' and will there celebrate its 75th anniversary on
April 1.
The Board of Trade have awarded their silver medal.
to Captain John Kilgallan, master of the ship Eurydice,
of St. John, N. 8., in recognition of his humane and
praiseworthy services in rescuing, with great difficulty
and risk, the sole survivor of the wreck of the schooner
Little Racer, of Padstow, which foundered in a heavy
gale off Lundy Island on the 10th of February last.
A New York telegram says that the visible supply of
wheat on March 8 was 31,000,000 bushels, as against
31,500,000 bushels the previous week. Visible supply
of Indian corn 15,400,000 bushels, as against 14,400,000
bushels the previous week. The export clearances of
wheat far Europe during the last week amounted to
310,000, bushels. The export clearances of Indian corn
for Europe during the week amounted to 520,0(X)
bushels.

Twenty-five actual shipwrecks, thirteen being British
owned, wore reported during last week, against 35 for
the corresponding week of last year. The total
number for the year is now 426, against 566 in 1883. A.
British steamer was lost with all hands, and an Austrian
vessel was burnt at sea.

The arrivals of dead meat and live stock at Liverpool
during last week from American and Canadian ports
show an increase in cattle, but a slight decrease in fresh
meat when compared with the preceding week's supply.
The collective arrivals amounted to 1595 cattle, 340
sheep, 7976 quarters of beef, and 1326 carcases of
mutton.

Mr. James White, 'of Overtown, who was one of 4
the wealthiest men in Glasgow, died on Saturday
morning at his residence at Dumbartonshire. He was
probably the most munificent contributor to charities
iii Scotland. He was chairman of the Glasgow Royal
Exchange, the City of Glasgow Bank Relief Fund, the
" Daphne " Fund, and of many public institutions.
Advices received at New York state that during
disturbance in the village of Princetown, Trinidad,
the police fired upon the rioters, killing two -and
wounding many.
The Mayor of Vienna has published a second warning
to the inhabitants to economise water in every way, as
the reservoirs are nearly dry, and if rainfalls do not
take place shortly the storage will be exhausted.
A Convention summoned by the Manitoba and North-
West Farmers' Union has had under consideration a
motion in favour of an appeal to England to allow
Manitoba to withdraw from the Canadian Federation,
and to become a British colony.
The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease at Neosho-
falls, Texas, is reported to be confined to a small area,-
and the utmost precautions have been taken to prevent
it spreading.
The work in the construction of the main building of
the World's Exhibition at New Orleans is making rapid
progress. It is estimated that the edifice will be com-
pleted in four months' time, and the exhibits will be
received on the Ist August.
A heavy goods train slipped at a steep gradient at the
Tay Bridge tunnel on Saturday morning, and ran back
until the locomotive in rear went off the rails at the-
points. Two platelayers walking through the tunnel
to the scene of the accident were overtaken by an.
express train, and one of them named Robert John-
stone was knocked down and killed.
A strange case was investigated by a coroner's jury
at Penycae, Denbighshire, on Saturday. About a fort-
night since a youth named Hughes, aged 15, threw a
small poker at Elizabeth Jones, aged eight, who was
teasing and laughing at him. The sharp end of the -
poker entered the child's head, partly penetrating the
temporal bone, and she died last Tuesday. The jury
found that "Death was due to the wound thus inflicted,
but considered the occurrence accidental, and that
Hughes had no intention of injuring the child."
There are to be three classes of implements in com-
petition for prizes at the Shrewsbury meeting of the
Royal Agricultural Society, of England. Two prizes of
£lOO and £5O are offered for sheaf-binding reapers, and
£25 is offered for a separate sheaf-binder, the binding
material, in each case, to be other than wire.
Potatoes in Maine, U.S., are so plentiful that the
farmers are in many instances feeding them to stock.
Many of the farmers have from 100 to 500 bushels in
their cellars, for which they are offered only twenty--
1 five cents.

A- small insect, closely resembling a fly, has mado-
its appearance in portions of Southern Oregon,
destroying the wheat sown in the autumn, eating the down level with the ground. Wheat so sown is
said to be greatly injured by frost in some parts or
Eastern Oregon.
At the Tercentenary Commemmoration of the
Foundation of Edinburgh University in April next the-
honorary degree of Doctor of Laws will be conferred on
Sir Bartle Frere, who, being Chancellor of the Univer-
sity of the Cape of Good Hope, has been unanimously-
elected by that University to be their representative
delegate on the occasion.
In London, on Saturday, at the Mansion House
Police-court, a traveller named Thomas Hole and
William Frampton, found guilty, the former of theft,
and the latter of receiving the stolen goods, were
sentenced each to three months' imprisonment Hole
had been twenty years in the service of the firm he had
robbed.

Mr. Spurgeon, though slowly recovering from the
severe attack of rheumatic gout which seized him about
a fortnight ago, is still in a very weak state, so much
so that he could barely stand up on Sunday morning.
His place at the Metropolitan Tabernacle was occupied
by his son.
The steamship Belgravia, of 3275 tons, Captain
Boothy, chartered by Sir Samuel, K.C.M.G., Agent-
General for New South Wales, sailed from Plymouth
for Sydney on the 7th inst. with 872 emigrants.
The town of Hamburg is to have a new Natural His-
tory Museum, the cost of the building to be about
£45,000. Prizes of £5O are offered for the five best
plans, and a further prize of £2OO will be assigned to
the best of the five. - -

. _
During a strong gale of south-east wind on Saturday
a fishing boat with three men belonging to Stromness,
on the west coast of Orkney, was driven to sea. The
lifeboat went in search of the craft, but returned on
Sunday afternoon without finding any trace of it. The
lifeboat had a fearful night at sea.
The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens,
Regent's Park, London, last week included a grey
ichneumon from India, presented by Mr. J. B. Drew;
an Arabian gazelle from Arabia, presented by Lieu-
tenant Brown; RN.; two herring gulls, European,
presented by Mr. G. D. Macgregor; a ring-necked
parrakeet from India, presented by Mr. J. Biehl ; a
black-headed gull, European, presented by Miss Disci
Cooper•, eight hoary snakes from South Africa, pre-
sented by Mr. C. B. Pillans ; a RobbEn Island snake
from South Africa, presented by Mr. R. N. Robertson
a common heron, a cirl bunting (British), a banded
parakeet from India, presented; three mute swans,
European, received in exchange; eight brown-tailed
gerbilles, born in the Gardens.

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