The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-02-19 00:00:00

isallantavS
HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

• f
ME Ns AT WHICH MEN TAKE THE LONGEST
SPELL.—Bacea, Backing, Bacchus.—Fun.
DEATH FROM AN OYERDOSE OF MORPHIA.
In London on Monday, Dr. Hardosicke held an in-
quest at 26, Lyme-street, Camden-town, on the body
of George Locke, aged 52, a gentleman in an extensive
way of business as an art decorator and upholsterer,
at 'Wigmore-street, Marylebone. Deceased had been
suffering from a nervous affection and sleeplessness,
and had been in the habit.of taking morphia to procure
sleep. On Thursday evening, in last week, he went to
bed in good health and spirits, and at five &clock in
the morning he got out of bed and took a dose ot the I
drug, and hating done so said, "-Oh, dear me, I have
taken too much of the stuff." He returned to bed, but
soon began to make a strange noise, and it was found
oorftnsenoesinabielitwy.iihHae
inmevpeorssisbpleokteo him of aAsintastwe
stomach-pump, which could not, however, be used.
An antidote was administered without' effect. Deceased
died about two o'clock on Friday afternoon. Dr.
Ainsworth 'stated that the cause of death was the over-
dose of 'morphia. The jury returned a verdict of
"Death from misadventure."
OUR FOREIGN TRADE. —The 13oard of Trade
&tarns show that the decrease of 16 millions in the
declared value of the British and Irish produce and
manufactures exported in the year 1875; as compared
with the amount in the preceding year, occurred
chiefly in the exports to foreign countriea. These
amounted to £152,415,850, or less by £14,862,179 that
in the preceding year. The exports to British Posses-
sions abroad were of the value of £71,078,720, a
decrease of only £1,201,372. The increase in the value
of our imports, on the other hand, was chiefly in our
trade with British Possessions. Our imports from
foreign countries in 1875 were of the value of
£289,144,196, showing an increase of £1,224,334 over
the amount in the preceding year; but there was
nearly double that increase in our imports from British
Possessions, which reached the value of £84,486221,
or more by £2,323,382 than in the preceding year.
The total imports of merchandise into the Unifed
Kingdom in 1875 reached the value of £37,3,630,417,
the largest value ever attained.
A MISS-CALCULATION.—How many valentines
she should get on the 14th.—Fun.
OLD AND NEW GUNS.—Let us look for a
moment at our implements of warfare—our monster
iron-clads, "Woolwich infants," and ten-mile pro-
jectiles—and compare them with the stone axes, the
bows and arrows, of our early ancestors. Can we
imagine what would have been said by even the ,last
generation, of these aids to the comfort and longevity
of our race? Men, who in the early part of this
century, were content to blaze away at an enemy
when his eyes became visible at sixty or a hundred
yards, and were satisfied if one bullet in a hnndred
"found its billet," would have stood amazed at these
costly and cruel engines of destruction. But the more
powerful the weapon and the wider its death-dealing
radius, the greater the respeot that is paid thereto in
point of distance; so that if we go on improving our
guns and increasing their range, may we not hope
eventually to arrive at that point where our enemies
will stand off so far as to be invisible? As a natural
consequence, it may then be said that our science has
annihilated our chances of indulgence in war.—
Tinsley's Mdgazine.

A DEFlNlTlON.—Flirtation: a Spoon with
nothing in it--Punch.
PARIS AND LONDON.—A French journal gives
satistics of food in Paris, as compared with London.
According to these the Londoner's nourishment is
more substantial and invigorating than that of the
Parisian. The consumption of bread is about equal in
the two cities, but in London a large quantity et flour
is used in family kitchens, in addition to baker's bread.
Of butcher's meat twenty per cent. more is eaten in
London than in Paris—the difference of population, of
course, being taken into account in all these estimates.
Twice as much fish is used in London as in Paris. The
consumption of butter, milk, poultry, and _ frpit, is
larger, however, in Paris than in London.
A PLOT NEVER CARRIED OllT.—vne cannot
' but wonder whether William the Fourth Of England
ever learned that a plot was laid for his abduction
during his visit to 'New York in the spring of 1782
(says Scribner). The Prince was a young and reckless
midshipman, given to flirtation, and to the inebriation
which found vent in wrenching off door-knobs; and it
probably never occurred to him that in his personthe
rebels " would find a hostage worth having. The
project originated with Colonel Matthias Ogden of the
Jersey line, and the intention was to surprise the
Prince and his commissioned guardian, Admiral Digby,
at their quarters in the city mansion of G-erardus
Beekman on Hanover-square. Two officers and thirty-
nine men went to aid Colonel Ogden in his enterprise.
Embarking on a rainy night in whale-boats, they
were to land in New York near the Beekman mansion,
' force the doors of the house capture the Admiral and
Prince, and convey them to their boats. The plan
was approved of by Washington, but it does not ap-
pear that any decided attempt was made to carry it
out. In some manner' the apprehensions of the British
leaders were excited for the safety of the Prince, and
every precaution was taken against a surprise. Had it
not been for this warning, the boldness of the plan
appears likely to have insured its success.

AMALGAMATION OF RAILWAYS. —The Railway
Amalgamation Bills of the present Session propose the
absorption by a few of the larger railway systems of
about 640 miles of railway. The three principal Bills
are for the amalgamation of the Bristol and Exeter
Railway Company, whose line is 195 miles long, with
the Great Western Railway Company; the tamalga,
mation of the North Staffordshire Railway Company-
their line being 183 miles long, with the Manchester,
Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway Company; and a
lease for 999 years of the Somerset and Dorset Railway,
80 miles in length, to the Midland and the London and
Soutis-Westeran Railway Companies jointly.
A REMARKABLE GALE. —The gale of Feb-
ruary and, which swept over New York, was, accord-
ing to the United States signal officer, the heaviest on
record at that city, the velocity of the wind being 66
miles per hour. The change of temperature was also
remarkable, falling in a few hours from 43 down to
zero. The telegraph wires suffered badly, the Western
Union breaking as fast as they were repaired. Four
schooners were driven ashore at the entrance of the
Delaware, aed disastrous collisions occurred at other
points. At West Brooklyn and New York Teveral
buildings were blown down including a public school,
and numerous casualties to limb, and in a few eases to
' life, were recorded.
G traks' CUSTOMS.— One of their most curious
customs is to leave patteran, or trai!, such as a handful
of grass or leaves cast on the roads, a cross tracqd in
the dust, a cleft stick planted at cross roads, in order
that the tribes may know each other's whereabouts.
This custom .is common to gipeies of every land.
Their ethical code is very simple. "Be true to your
husband," says the gipsy mother to her child, "and
pay all your debts." Norwegian gipsies are wild .and
warlike, and apt to carry knives and loaded bludgeons.
The quick blood which stirs in the veins of the Rom-
many chal stirs-even quicker in the female veins. In
Scotland (says Simpsqn) et fight once came off between
the Sbaws and the Fees (1677) after Haddington fair,
when sundry deaths were the result, and Robin Faa
and his three eons were hanged for killing another Fan
and his wife. The "Battle of the Irridge," too, is
still remembered by English gipsies, fought about
1772 between the (titular) " Earl of Hell," the Taits,
and Ruthvene, at • Hawick, when many heads 'were
broken, and the Women freely assisted, but not in the
quality of peacemakers.—The Churchman's Shilling
Magazine.
•SLIVERY IN ZAN ZIB The Treaty between
Her Majesty and the Seyyid of Zanzibar, etipplemen-
taxy to the Treaty for the Suppression of the Slave
Trade of the sth of June, 1873, was i,Fned among the
Parliamentary t'apers of Thursdey. It lime signed in
London on the 14th of July, 1875, and contains the
following articles, among others :—" 1. The presence
on board of a vessel of domestic slaves in attendance
on or in discharge of the legitimate business of their
masters, or of slaves bond fide' employed in the naviga-
tion of the vessel, shall in no case of itself justify the
seizure and condemnation of the vessel, provided that
such slaves are not detained on board against their
will. If any such slaves are detained on board against
their will they shall be freed, but the vessel shall, never-
• theless, not on that account alone be condemned. 2.
All vessels found conveying.slaves (other than domestic
slaves in attendance on or in the discharge of the legi-
timate buainees of their masters, or slaves bond, fide
employed in the navigation of the vessels to or from
any part of his Highness's dominions, or of any foreign
country, whether such slaves be destined for sale or not,
shall be deemed guilty of carrying on the slave trade,
and may be seined by any of Her Majesty's shies of
NvAr and condemned by any British Court exercising
Admiralty jurisdiction."