The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-12-26 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

The Duke of Devonshire, replying to a memorial of
his Irish tenantry praying for a reduction of 40 ye 4.
cent. off their rents, states that after careful considera-
tion he does not consider himself called upon to give
such a reduction.
A woman brought her little boy before the magis-
trate at Worship-street, and said that he had been
bitten by a ferocious dog. She asked if the owner
could be punished for not muzzling the dog, or whether
she could get coropeLsation. Mr. Bushby told her
that nothing could be done against the owners of such
animals unless it could be shown that the dogs had
bitten other' persons besides the person complainiug.
Early on Friday afternoon a young man, apparently
about 20 years of age, was seen to jump from the at t
part of one of the London steamboats between Temple
and Tilackfriars piers. A great deal of excitement
ensued, but he was eventually rescued. The only
reason he gave for the deed is that be is tired of I,fe.
Mr. Gladstone has forwarded a Latin inscription f, ,r
the Edinburgh Market Cross. The translation is: "This
ancient monument, the Oros of Edinburgh, which of
old was set apart for public ceremonies, hut having been
utterly destroyed by misguided handa in 175•6, was
nobly and manfully avenged and lamented in song by
Walter Scott, has now, by the favour of the Edinliur•li
Magistracy, been restored by William Ewart
stone, who claims from both parents a purely Sccttisq
descent."

The" Jewish Chronicle ":mentions as a remarlcahlg
fact that in the United States, with an estiimotil
Jewish population of nearly half a million, there is not
a single Jewish Member of Congress, whereas in Eng-
land, with a tetal Jewish population much less thsa
that of New York alone, no lees than seven Jews have
been ele2ted members of the House of Commons.

The " Angel " of the Catholic Apostolic Church
Appealed to the Appeal Court from sl decision of Mr.
Justict, North, and claimed that the court 5h0,1141
execute the trust of the Sustenation Fund, so as to
satisfy his claims as well as decisions in his favour on
other points. The Lord Chancellor, in giving judgmen r,
said there was no such trust as that alleged by thu
plaint4fi, and the appeal must be dismissed.
At Gravesend Police-court Frederick Turner, col-
lector of rates for the Gravesend parish, was summon, d
for having failed to comply with all order for the p3.‘
meat of .0475, being the amount of the deficiency in
his accounts. The defendant was committed to gaol
far three months.

Lord Londesborongh's gamekeeper hag been exceed-
ing his duty He knocked down ono of his lordship's
tenant farmers, and tried to take a couple of rabbits
from him; and he had, therefore, to pay a substantial
fine.

The number of candidates just examined at the
College of Precentors exceed that of any previous year,
as many as 9000 having presented themselves at 300
centres, in England and Wales, Ireland, the Channel
Islands' and the Isle of Man.
The Earl of Shaftesbury the other day unveiled a
monument and bust of his late father in the King
Edward Ragged Schools, Spitaltields, of which the 'ate
noble earl was for thirty-nine years the President. The
inscription contained the following sentence :—" He
was a good man and friend of the poor."
Louisa Ann Goodfellow and her husband were charged
at Windsor with ill-treating their child, a little blind
boy, two and a-half years old, who had been left for
hours without food or attention. The husband was
discharged, and the woman was mut to prison for
fourteen days.
At Aston three' men were sentenced to thrt e
months' imprisonment each for a savage assault on tavo
merchants of Birmingham, named Kaepper. Late on
Sunday night the prosecutors were proceeding to thcir
residence at Gravelly,-hall, near Birmingham, when the
prisoners set upon them in a lonely part of the road
and brutally beat and kicked them. They then de-
ca;nped, leaving the Messrs. ICaepper insensible upon
the ground, where they were discovered by the police.
On Friday, at the Stockport County-courr, Jiniee
Hughes decided in an extraordinary manner a claim
',Mich had been put in by a professional pedestriaa
!aimed Peter St. Leger, of Macclesfield. for the recovery,
from Daniel Ward, of Handtortb, of a gold watch. Plain-
tiff's and defendant's sou had competed in a walking
match, of which disfendant was judge. Defendant de-
cidcd in favour of his own son, but plaintiff alleged that
his son had walked one lap too little. The judge
decided to have the match walked over again in his
own presence next month, and chose a gentlemen in
court to assist him in judging.
Speaking at a prize distribution at the British
Schools, Derby, on Friday night, Sir William Harcourt
said that there could be no greater contrast than was
afforded by the education of the present day to that of
50 or 60 years ago. They had brought millicns within
the reach of education. There were still some outlying
ili the byways and the lanes, but they would compel
them to come in. It was pleasin4 not only to the
individual, but to the State and to the whole corn-
niunity that we would have an understanding and
well-educated people. It was not, however, merely
that the children of the present age were receiving a
eqoal privilege; they roust remember that there were '
no great privileges which were not accompanied by
equal responsibilities. In former days the children had
their one talent, they now had their ten talents for
which they would all be held responsible. Sir William
afterwards referred to the efforts of Lancaster in
founding these schools, and said that whereas educa-
tion was formerly the peculiar privilege of the rich it
was now within the reach of all, without reference to
political or religious cpinions.
It is madness for a man without capital, and without
experience in agricultural labour, to think of going to
Canada. Such men have become owners of property.
The pamphlets of the Canadian Pacific Railway mention
cases in which labourers who started without a penny
are now Owners of farms worth from 0000 to £4OOO.
But such cases are rare, and gradually decreasing in
number; and if the poor man who goes to Canada should
ever get beyond the overstocked towns of the Eastern
provinces, which is doubtful, he would be faced by
hardships that would effectually bar married :nen at
any rate, from further progress. There is still
prosperity in the North-West Territories, as the
European trip of eight hundred Scandinavian residents
will testify, but it is not to be gained without capital
to start with, and infinite labour to follow.
Sir Charles Dilke, addressing the Chelsea Liberal
Association, said he did not desire to see the present
Goternment removed from office just now, but there
were many matters which could not be dealt with whilst
a weak Conservative Ministry held office.
Mr. E. Clarke, M.P., speaking at Rotherhithe, re-
ferred to the announcement recently made on the sub-
ject of Mr. Gladstone's views on-Home Rule. Assuming
the authenticity of this announcement, he said more
gross and palpable act of dishonesty had never been
wrought upon the English people.
Signor Baldi, a Genoese gentleman, is, says thp
" Cittadino " of Genoa, in possession of the chains,
with which, by order of Bobadilla, the Minister of Ferdi-
nand of Spain, Christopher Columbus was bound, when
deprived of the governorship of the country he had
discovered. Signor Baldi, who undertook a journey to
America to obtain these chains 20 years ago, and has
kept possession of them secret ever since, has decided
to reveal the fact because of the approaching 400th
anniversary of the discovery of America.
Mr. Bernard, Chief Commissioner of British Burmah,
has taken up his post as Provisional Administrator in
the Queen's name.

Mr. Michael Devitt has been no.ninated as a member
of the Dublin Corporation.
The United States Senate have passed the bill con-
ferring on Mrs. Grants& pension of 5000 dols.
The Czar proposes to visit his Central Asian
Dominions next spring, when he will, it is supposed,
be proclaimed Emperor of' Central Asia.
Serious Imes have occurred among lambs in East
Kent, from a disease known as" straugulus filaria," or
worm in the throat, a parasitic bronchitis.
It is stated the Vienna police, with regard to the
recent extensive jewel robbery from the shop of Herr
Granichstaedten, suspect it to have been committed by
Anarchists, although no positive clue seems to have
been obtained.
A petition has been forwarded to the United States
Senate by the New England fishermen protesting
against any arrangement with England whereby Cana-
dian fish would be admitted free of duty.
A telegram from Brisbane states that the cholera
among the immigrants on board the Queensland Line
steamer Dorunda is decreasing. Since the outbreak of
the epidemic there have been altcgether 81 cases and
15 deaths.
Dr. Augustus Einwald, the American explorer, who
has recently been engaged in prosecuting scientific and
geographical investigations in various parts of Zululand,
including St. Lucia Bay, has arrived iv Lcndon.
At a meeting held in Limerick the Mayor denounced
the enrages recently committed in Kerry, Clare, and
Limerick, and said they were more to be deplored now,
when Mr. Parnell and the leaders of the people had
called upon them to be peaceful and law-abiding.
The annual return of the Clyde shipbuilding hale
for the yesr 1835 states that 241 vessels of a total ton-
nage of 193,458 were launched, as compared with a ton-
nage of 296,854 last year. The return shows a decrease
on the output of 1884—the big year—of 226,206 tons,
and of 198,476 on the total for 1882.
The Executive Committee of the Scottish Farmers'
Alliance have agreed to add to the objects of the
alliance a new clause ta obtain, during the coming
session of Parliament, the introduction of a measure
providing for tenants under lease the option of quitting
after one year's notice or a revaluation by arbiters.
In the Danish Rigsdag the Prime Minister brought in
a bill in the Folkething for the revision of the Consti-
tution. Its object is to appoint a special committee,
consisting of 10 members from each Hence, which, in
case the two Houses cannot agree upon the Budget,
shall decide the question by a majority.
Advices have reached Hamburg from Sydney that
the Imperial war vessel Albatross had hoisted the
German flag on most of the Caroline Islands after the
occupation of Yap, though it will now have to be hauled
down again in conformity with the agreement by which
Germany has meanwhile recognised the severeignits of
Spain over the whole island group.
With regard to the recent subsidence of the Pont.
Neuf, Paris, it has been found to have occurred at tho
foundations of the pier, the iron fastenings whereof had
been carried away by the flood on the river, which has
been very high of late.
Mr. Maxim, the inventor of the automatic machine-
gun, hexing suggested a novel application of electricity
to the training of heavy ordnance, trials have recently
been made at Shoeburyness with a 43-ton gun with
satisfactory results. The system is said to be so simple
that every movement is completely under the control
of one individual.

While the steamer Pelican, belonging to the
I3oycotted Cork Steam Packet Company, was being
discharged of a cargo of coal, a large and excited crowd
intimidated the coal porters engaged on the steamer,
and they struck work. The Steam Packet Company
recently reduced the price of coals 4s. a ton, owing to
other merchants having consented to take 5000 tons
weekly from the cattle dealers' vessels.
The new German war ship Oldenburg, which is
nearly ready for launching, is a broadside ship with
ten 10-inch guns—five on each side, two above, and
three below deck, but the whole five can be
concentrated on the same point with sufficient force,
it is estimated, to disable even the strongest ironclad.
The 'displacement of the Oldenburg is 5200 tons, and
her engines 3900-horse power, enabling her to steam
14 English miles an hour.
The Attorney-General presided at a meeting of the
National Temperance League, held at the London
Institution. He said that he had been a total abstainer
for 10 or 12 years, and declared that the example of a
large and increasing number of people who were
endeavouring to spread the principles in which they
believed would do more to promote the temperance of
the country than any number of Acts of Parliament.
Mr. S. i. Guion, principal owner of the Guion line of
Atlantic steamers, died at. Liverpool on Saturday. He
had been in illy-health for some time.
A bill has been introduced ir to the French Chamber
of Deputies to tax foreigners in France. It is pro-
posed that each foreign resident shall pay either 18 or
6 francs a year, according to the class to which he
belongs. Non-registration within two months after
arrival will involve double taxation.
The waters of a stream broke into a coal mine in
Pennsylvania on Friday, bringing with them a large
amount of quicksand and rolling along a number of
boulders. The miners ran for their lives, and the
fleetest reached the shaft; others, caught by the
water, were rescued by ropes lowered down the air.
shaft, some of them after the water had reached their
necks.
The Duke of Edinburgh presided on Saturday at the
anniversary dinner of the National Orphan-Home, and
mentioned that he would shortly leave this country to
assnme a command on the Mediterranean Station,
which would gratify one of the greatest aspirations of
his life.

---1:1;4 Granville on Saturday laid the foundation.
stone of the new Art Treasurers Exhibition at Folke-
stork,. At a subsequent b,nenet, his lordship pointed
out, among the advantages wl.ich Folkestone possessed,
that it stood in a county in which could be ftund many
memorials of past ages.
After a trial extending over the whole of last week,
the first jury having disagreed, William Sheehan was
found guilty at the Cork Assizes on Saturday of mur-
dering his mother, brother, and sister near Castletown-
roche in 1877 and was sentenced to death.
Al. gentleman named Kimberly, who lives in St:
Johh's Wood, was fined 10s. at the Marylebone Police..
court on Saturday, for allowing his dog to be at large.
The defendant said the dog was kept in the stable,
and on the day in qnestion, when the stable door was
opened, the dog strayed away a few yards. The police.
man who attempted to seize the animal was bitten, an I
was off duty in consequence for a week.
At Horsham Petty Sessions on Saturday, Christopher
Watson, of Salts Farm, Lancing, was charged with
assaulting Mrs. Woodridge and her son and daughter.
The three were driving home on the previous Sunday
evening, when they were overtaken by the defendant
and • his coachman, in a dogcart. The defendant
insulted Mrs. Woodridge and her daughter, and when
her son, a mere boy, asked for their names, the
defendant horsewhipped him. The defendant, who
did not appear, was sentenced to a month's imprison,
ment, without the option of a fine; the magistrate
characterising his conduct as digraceful in the extreme.
Eighty men of the Edinburgh 'Police Force were
sworn in on Saturday before Bailie Cranston for special
duty at the General Post Office as letter sorters, in view
of the excessive work caused by thu Christmas card
traffic, on the 23rd, 24th, and 25th inst. One-half of
the 'men to be so employed are taken from the day
staff, and the other half from the night staff, and they
are to work at the Post Office dining the time they
are off their ordinary duties. This ia the first occasion
on wh:ch Edinburgh policemen have Neu so employed
in the Post Offica

A party of twelve men made a raid on the house of
Thomas Murphy, of Castlegregory, co. Kerry, on
Saturday night, carrying away a double-barrelled gun
and a revolver. An arrest has been made. It is stated
that about the same time several houses were attacked in
the Bellymacelligott district, but in connection with
these cases no arrests have taken place. James Draper,
occupying an evicted farm at Clonoulty, near Cashel,
was while gavelling from Roserea to Templemore on
Friday night fired at, and received a severe sralp
wound.
The Secretary of the Shipbuilding and Boiler-makers'
Association at Middlesbrough received notice on Satur-
day of an intended reduction in wages in the Tees ship-
yards, amounting to 10 per cent, on time wages and 12.
on piece wages, tte reduction to date from the 18tfi
January. This, if effected, is about 20 per cent, lower
than wages have ever been, and from 30 to 3Th per cent.
lower than the wages of 1883.
At Windsor, on Saturday, four men were charged
with trrapassing in the Great Park in pursuit of rabbits.
Mr. Overton, the Queen's head keeper, and an assis-
tant w-re walking through the Royal demesne on
Friday, when they saw the defendants capture some
rabbits A fine was imposs,d on each of the men.
A committee has been appointed by the First Lord of
the Admiralty to report upon the arrangements neces-
sary to give effect to the recommer,dationa made by,
Admiral Graham's committee on dockyard expendi-
ture. A Director of Dockyards is to be appointed
forthwith,

William and Louisa Withey, man and wife, were tried
at the Central Criminal Court, London, on Friday, on
the charge of having murdered an illegitimate child
who had been plaled under their care. The medical
evidence was notconelusive that the child died from other
than natural causes, and by direction of the judge .the
jury acquitted the prisoners: They afterwards pleaded
guilty to a charge of neglecting to inform the
registrar of the child's death, and sentenced was de-
ferred. _
"While the itilnQlock Board of Guardians were
discussing the erection of labourers' cottages, they were
interrupted by about two hundred labourers' who took
possession of the Board-room, demanding to know who
was opposing the erection of the cottages. They were
induced to withdraw, but did not leave until the
guardians had adopted a motion for the erection of the
cottages.

It i; stated as probable that a dukedom is to be given
to the Marquis of Exeter, whose eldest son, Lord
Burghley, recently saved a seat to the Couservatives in
North Northamptonshire.
At the Dublin University Lord Rosse, as Chancellor
conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws upon
the Earl of Oarnarvon, as Viceroy of Ireland, and on
Lord 12av1oicth of Cambridge.

--
The International Demarcation Military Commis-
sioners were received on Friday at Nisch by King
Milan Obrenovieh IV. The Montenegrin Government
has completed the arming and equipment of 45,000
men. The Sublime Porte has addressed another
Circular Note to the Powers upon theY Roumelian
question. _ _

Two men named Martins and Vogt, alias Hermann,
have been arrested in Hull on the charge of having
committed a murder in Germany.
William Edwards, who bears a number of aliases, was
on Friday, at the Thames Poline-court, committed for
trial on several charges of obtaining goods by fraud
from different manufacturers at Manchester, Birming-
ham, and elsewhere. -

The Texas and Pacific Railway Company has been
adjudged bankrupt by the United States Court at New
Orleans, and receivers have been al nted.
A Royal Commission is shortly I,...lquire into the
working and results of the Education Acts, taking into
account the subject of over-pressure, and the relations
of technical teaching to the ordinary day schools of the
country.
The War Office arrangements for augmenting tl,e
British forces in India by 10,000, as requirtd by the
Indian Government, are now almost incomplete. The
firet draft leaves England on Jan. 2