The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-01-12 00:00:00

HORIF, kOREIGN, AND COLONIAL

USELESS BENEVOLENCE.— An old lady somewhere
out of town is reported to have given alms to. a
wooden legged beggar. Why didn't she give him
legs ?—.Tudy.
AN ICE PALACE FOR MONTREAL.—The Electrician
says :—Some of our readers may remember that
Montreal possessed an ice palace last year—that is, a
large building entirely built of blocks of ice. It was
devoted to all kinds of gaieties and amusements, and,
to enhance its beauty, was lighted by arc lamps. It
was a great attraction during it brief existence, and,
we presume, paid as well as its builders could wieh,
for wz see that another and Familiar palace is to be
erected again this winter by a company promoted for
the purpose. We are not told whether it is again to
be lighted by electric lamps, but we may very naturally
conclude that such will be the case. Gas and ice do
not seem to have much in harmony, whereas are lamps
and ice enhance one another's beauty. By the way,
we wonder that our theatrical managers do not make
moxe use of imitation snow and ice in combica-
tion with an arc light or two. The effect would,
we venture to think, be very pretty, and the expense
small.

BIRTHS AND DEATHS IN FRANCE.—According to
the returns of vitnl statistics for 1882, recently pub.
Balled, it would seem that France is rap;dly reaching
the condition in which the births are only just suffi-
cient to supply the waste caused by death. In 1882,
as compared with 1881, there were 10,000 more deaths
and 1,500 fewer marriages. Sixty years ago, under
the Restoration, France would have doubled its popu.
lation in 112 years; at the present rate the doubling
would occupy 267 years, but for the steady immigra-
tion of an enormous body of foreigners into the
country every year.
A COUNTRY CATTLE SHOW. —Liberal Farmer:
"Blessed if I knows what this country's coming to.
Jiggered if a 'Conservative Bull' ain't won the
prize I "—Moonshine.
AVERAGE PRICES OF BRITISH COBN.—The following
are the average prices of British corn for last week,
as received from the inspectors and officers of Excise :
—Wheat, 395. ; barley, 325. ; oats, 19s. 3d. per
imperial qr. Corresponding week last year :—Wheat,
40s. 7d.; barley, 325. 4d.; oats, 21e.—The average
prices of British corn for the year ending Christmas
last were :—Wheat (per imperial bushel), ss. 2d.;
barley, 3s. lid.; oats, 2s. Bd. The average prices for
the seven years ending on Thursday before Christmas
were :—Wheat (per imperial bushel), ss. 9id.; barley
4s. 3d. ; oats, 2s. 141
A VERY REASONABLE EXCUSE. —E Lnpl oy er. —H ow
is it you've not been to business since Boxing Day,
Mr. O'Flanigan ? Your condition, I must say, is—
O'Flanigan.—Well, son., ye see, I've been holiday
kaping. I went to see the Monumint, and, bad luck
to it. sorr, I fell up the stairs I—Funny Folks,

THE CLEVELAND IRON TRADE —The stock returns
of the Cleveland Ironmasters' Association just inued
give the make and disposal of iron for the year. The
production of pig iron was the largest ever known,
being 2,760,740 tone, an increase of 72,000 tons upon
the previous year. Of this large quantity 905,232 tons
are hematite, or other classes of iron than Cleveland.
Stock &creased for the year 13,070 tons. There were
shipped 1,349,194 tons, 102,000 tons in excess of the
previous year, 992,815 tons being pig iron, and the
remainder manufactured iron and steel. Germany was
the leading oreign pig iron customer with 170,000
tons, 25,000 tons more than in the previous year.
France took less, and Belgium and Russia consider-
ably more. Scotland absorbed 299,832 tons, 53,000
tons above 1882, There was an increase of stock for
December of 32,817 tons.

PARADOXICAL PLAYFULNESS.—One does not wish to
have a bald head, but when one does have one, one
does not wish to lose it. A bad toothache is some-
times so playfully paradoxical as to make you pass a
ni:iht of mourrtim. Love, we all know, is always
blind, yet the "awful consequence of love—i.e., matri-
mony—is frequently an eye-opener. —Judy.

REMARKABLE STORM IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.
—The River Plate papers just received give particu-
lars of a most destructive storm which visited the city
of Cordoba on the 25th of November. It is stated
that the storm swept everything before it ; the roofs
began to give way, the window-panes were broken,
the trees were torn up by the roots, and even the
crosses on the churches were crookened. No objeat
could be distinguished at ten yards distance, owing t
the murky mist which arose from the falling hail-
stones. The streets became rivers, and the hailstones
formed into large piles in front of the doors and gate-
ways. After 45 minutes the hailstorm changed to
rain, which fell in such torrents that the inundation of
the city for a time was imminent.
THE "OIL SPOT" IN THE GULF OF MEXICO.—The
oil spot is situated about ten miles south of Sabine
Pass, into which flows the Sabine River to the Gulf of
Mexico, and it extends two miles along shore and sea-
ward about three•quarters of a mile. There is nothing
remarkable about its appearance during calm weather,
but in a gale, when riled, it assumes a reddish hue and
is thick and muddy. The greatest depth, where com-
parative quietude reigns while the elements are at
war, is twelve feet, so none but vessels of moderate
draft can enter. A storm from the north•east, by
way of east to south-east, has a rake of from 300
to 700 miles across the Gulf of Mexico into this
mystic haven, During a gale the spot is wonder-
fully defined. Looking seaward the scene is grand.
An acre of towering foam marks the abrupt
dissolution of the lashing seas as they thune.er towards
the shore. This occurs in about three fathoms, or
eighteen feet of water, from which the storm-driven
craft, creaking and straining in every timber, emerges
and suddenly finds herself reposing like a child rocked
in its mother's arms, hemmed in by a wall of wrath
where the weary mariner can be lulled to rest by the
roar of the winds. The mud from this spot is soapy,
and its cleansing properties are remarkable. There
are no streams in the locality emptying into the Gulf,
and the mud of the Sabine River to the northward
contains none of the properties here found. If there
Is oil, it comes from the bottom surface. The place is
termed the "oil spot," not from any known analysis
of its nature, but simply from its condition • it has no
troubled water. During three-fourths of the year the
neighbourhood of the oil spot is the Olympus of the
mosquito—Oil and Colourman's Journal.
SERIOUS ASSAULT BY A WOMAN.—On Monday,
Sarah Nye, a married woman, was charged before the
Birmingham magistrates with assaulting her brother,
Joseph Thay, with a chopper and fracturing his
skull. An altercation had occurred between them on
Saturday night, and it ended in prisoner picking up a
chopper and striking her brother a heavy blow on the
head with it, inflicting injuries whin compelled his
removal to the hospital. Prisoner took her clothes off
and went to bed in order to avoid arrest, and as she
would not dress herself the police had to pin a quilt
about her and carry her off by force. She was re-
manded for a week.

EXPORTS AND IMPORTS.—According to the Board
of Trade returns for December, the total declared
value of the exports for the month was £18,971,102,
against £18,171,551 in December, 1882. The total 'e
dared value of the exports in the year was £239,829,744,
against £241,467,162 in 1882. The total value of the
imports last month was £33,871,131, as compared with
£35,369,131 in December, 1882. The total value of the
imports in the year was £425,603,932, as contrasted
with £412,001,683 in the previous year.
AGRICULTURE' IN ONTARIO, —The Ontario Bureau of
IndustiiEs has published a summary cf its report for
1883 in regard to agriculture. It seems that the crop
of hay and clover exceeded that of 1882 by more than
2,000,000 tons, and there is still a large surplus in the
country. Referring to horses and cattle, the report
states that the settlement of the North-West has
opened to Ontario farmers a new market for horses,
and the efforts they are making to supply the demand
are indicated by a large increase of horses under every
head, amounting to something like 10 per cent.
Again, the returns for cattle show an increase over
those for 1882 of nearly 17 per cant., chiefly in the
number of store and young cattle. A large surplus
of hogs, espechilly in the western counties, is also
reported. Fall ploughing during the last autumn was
not begun till a later period than usual, but the
farmers apparently made a determined effort to regain
the time lost through the lateness of the harvest, and
in this they were assisted by a long period of good
weather. In spite of the want of rain in several
counties, the report states that a large area has been
finished.

BURNT TO DEATII.—In London, on Monday, a
coroner's inquest was held at Lower Norwood on the
bodies of Jessie Mary Rowe and Daisy Kate Rowe,
aged respectively eleven and kix years, the daughters
of a jeweller whose premises were burnt out on the
previous Thurk day morning. The father of the children
gave evidence of the efforts made to save them, and
testimony having been given by a neighbour and by a
member of the fire brigade, a verdict of "Accidental
death " was returned.

BARNUM'S WHITE ELEPHANT.—A telegram just re-
ceived from Malta state -4 that Barnum's white elephant,
recently purchased in Burrnah from King Theebaw,
has left that port on board the Glasgow steamship
Tennasserim, all well. The animal, it is said, has
behaved exceedingly well on board, and is in splendid
condition. It is reported to be a magnificent specimen
of its kind, of a pale ash colour, with livid markings.
It may be as well to state that there is no such thing
as a "white elephant" pure and simple. The present
specimen is as Lear an approach to the colour as has
yet been met with, and even King Theebaw had some
reluctance in parting with his sacred treasure, despite
the amount of money paid for it. The Tennasserim is
expected at Liverpool on the 14th, and the elephant
will thence be conveyed in a specially-constructed
, waggon over the London and North-Western line to
London. It is intended that the huge animal shall
remain at the Zoological Gardens for a few weeks, in
order that scientific authorities may have an oppor-
tunity of pronouncing upon its merits.
A MOORISH MARKET PLACE —All the different
trades have separate ground allotted to them, the
butchers, corn-dealers, pottery-sellers, shoemakers, all
being numerously represented. I think the latter are
about the busiest, as Moorish slippers take a lot of
patching up, and the cobbler generally makes good on
the market day the wear and tear of the preceding
week. The brea.daellers were all of the gentler sex,
chiefly young girls; and as I had to buy a day's supply
for my men, I went round with the chief inspecting
their wares, much to their amusement. some of them
had on the pretty Moorish brooches, joined together by
a silver chain ; and though I made my attendant offer
considerably over the value for several of them, it was
of no use. I bought a good deal mote bread than was
required, hut had the satisfaction of di-tributing it,
together with a lot of oranges, to the starving people
woo at ways hover around these assemblies. As I was
leaving the place a very handsome man, but des-
perately thin, and with recent marks of fetters on his
legs, followed me, gesticulating wildly. I could tict
conceive what he wanted, but found he had been im-
prisoned for many months at the instence of a French
or Italian protected Jew. The Governor of the
district had at last let him out, and he was on his
way to Fez to try to get redress. Ile had had no food
for some days, and I shall never forget his famished
appearance and look of gratitude when I gave him
money to buy some. The soldier, who knew who he
was, vouched for the truth of his story,—Blackwood,

SOMEWHAT MIXED.—The following history of the
life of Moses was presented by a Board school boy at
a recent examination :—" H 3 was an Egyptian. He
lived in a ark made of bullrushers, and he kept a
golden calf and worshipped braizen snakes, and et
nothing but k wales and manna for forty years. He
was caught by the hair of his head while riding under
the bough of a tree, and he was killed by his son
Absalom a% he was hanging from the bough. His end
was pease."

NEW WORK BY THE QUEEN.—The Athenmum states
that the volume which created so much interest 15
years ago, "Leaves from a Journal of our Life in the
Highlands," is to have a successor in a volume called
"More Leaves from a Journal of a Life in the High-
lands, from 1862 to 1882." Copies have already been
presented as gifts to a privileged few. An edition is
now being prepared for the public, and will shortly
appear, enriched with numerous portraits and other
illustrations.

A BRAVE WOMAN AND THE MOITSE —A Georgia
lady, while engaged in the pnnuit of her domestic
duties, encountered a mouse in the flour barrel. Most
ladies, under similar circumstances, would have uttered
a few genuine shrieks and then sought safety in the
garret; but this one possessed more than the ordinary
genuine courage. She summoned the man servant
and told him to get the gun, call the dog, and station
himself at a convenient distance. Then she clambered
up stairs and commenced to punch the flour barrel
with a pole. Presently the mouse made his appear-
ance and started acmes the floor. The d 0,.; started at
once in pursuit. The man fired and the dog dropped
dead. The lady fainted, fell down stairs, and the
man, thinking she was killed, and fearing he would be
arrested for murder, disappeared, and has not been
seen since. The mouse escaped.—American Paper.
DEATH OF A CENTENARIAN.—David Jenkins, an in-
mate of St. Pancras Workhouse, London, died on
Sunday evening, rather suddenly, at the advanced age
of 101 years. The deceased was born in Swansea on
the 29th of September, 1782, and he worked there as a
cabinetmaker. He afterwards came to London, and
has been an inmate of St, Pancras Workhouse for
several years. lip to the day of his death the old man's
eyesight was good, his intellect clear, and be was able
to walk with the aid of two sticks, On Sunday
morning he was preparing to go out on leave with his
son, a "lad" of seventy summers, when he suddenly
became speechless and lost his eyesight. He died
Vwelve hours afterwards.
FINANCE IN THE AUSTRALASIAN COLONIEk.x.—The
Pall Mall Gazette says that the Australasian colonies
are gradually building up a huge national debt which
promises to rival in the course of years that of the
nations of the old world. At the end of 1882 the
public debt of the whole of Australasia amounted to
no less a total than £99,219,682, or an indebtedness of
£33 15s. 9d. per head of the population, and equal to
4,53 years' revenue. New Zealand has the largest
debt, both relatively and absolutely, amounting to
£30.235,711, being £5B Bs. ld. per head of the popu-
lation, and equivalent to 712 years' revenue. Western
Australia, on the other hand, stands lowest, being
slightly over half a million in debt, which is equal to
two years' revenue.

NEW RAILWAY BRIDGE OVER THE THAMEEL—In
London, on Sattird.ay, the foundation stone of the new
railway bridge at Illackfriars was laid by Mrs. Woolfe
Barry. Among the company were Mr. Woolfe Barry
and Mr. Brunel,
,
le architects ; Mr. Ellis, of the firm
of Messrs. Lucas and Aird
the contractors ; Mr. Henry
Turner, superinten
dent of works; and Mr. Oruttawell,
resident engineer.
The stone was laid by means of a
steam crane, and placed above 21 feet of concrete
already laid down. The usual coins and newspapers
were placed beneath the stone. The estimated coat of
the bridge and stltion is over £300,000.
THE AMERICA..N IRON TRADE. —The American Iron
and Steel Association reports that the American pro-
duction of pig iron was last year 4,623,323 tons,
equalling that of 1882. The imports amounted to
345,000 tons, and the consumption to 4,968,323 tens.
The American production of steel rails in 1833 was
1,200,000 tons, against 1,304,392 in 1882; and of iron
rails 100,000 tons, against 203,495 in the previous
year. The total production of rails was 1,300,000
tons, against 1,507,887 in 1882. There were 100,000
tens of rails imported, against 200,000 in the previous
year. The American consumption of rails was
300,000 tons, or less in 1883 than in 1882,

OUTRAGES BY PERUVIAN INDlANS.—Letters and
papers received from Lima contain details of terrible
outrages committed on the white populations by
Peruvian Indians during the war between Chili and
Peru. Fifteen hundred of these people were slaughtered
by the Chilians in lees than two months. Exasperated
by this and other sufferings arising from forced mili-
tary service and excessive taxation, the Indians had
entered upon a war of revenge. Near Huancayo, in
the interior, the most barbarous outrages have been
committed by the Indians against the unoffending
whites. Fire and the lance have been indiscriminately
employed. Flourishing haciendas are reduced to
ashes. Children are led off into captivity. Men are
butchered in cold blood, and their heads stuck on high
poles. The women, besides being subjected to horrible
treatment, are compelled to discard their own costume
and adopt a species of dress which the whites regard
as a mark of reproach and sign of inferiority. A
strong force has been sent by General Iglesias to put
down what seems to be a general uprising among the
Indians.
COMTE DE BRAZZA'S VIOLET.—Those who have to
maintain a supply of violets during the winter should
not fail to obtain the double white Neapolitan recently
introduced under the name of Comte de Brazza. It is
to my mind one of the most valuable introductions of
the year. It blooms quite as freely as Marie Louise,
of which we gather thousands of flowers every season.
One or two growers say it is even more free than the
famous variety mentioned. It may be so, but I con-
sider we have good grounds for being well satisfied
with it if we can obtain the same quantity of bloom
from a given number of plants. The flowers are quite
as large and double as those of Marie Louise, and they
are of the purest white and powerfully fragrant. To
say more in its praise is not necessary, for what has
been stated is quite sufficient to show that those who
are interested in the cultivation of violets that Comte
de Brazza is a great acquisition. As the plants can be
obtained at a comparatively cheap rate, I anticipate
its being widely distributed in private gardens within
a very short period, and I shall not be surprised to
hear of the market men growing it largely.—" W.," in
The Gardeners' Magazint
FATAL ACCIDENT TO A CARMAN.—In London last
"Saturday night, about half-past eight o'clock, while a
carman named David English, in the employ of Mr.
T. Goddard, of Shirley Hills, Surrey, was driving a
pair-horsed van laden with grains over Vauxhall
Bridge he fell from the top of the van to the ground
and both the near side wheels went over his body. The
unfortunate man was picked up and conveyed by a
Police-coustable to St. Thomas's Hospital, where he
was examined by one of the house surgeons, who pro-
nounced him to be dead. The deceased was married
and has a young family.

THE FISH SUPPLY OF Russu.—That there is an
abundance of fish in the Rupsian rivers and lakes is
notorious to all who observe the well•atocked fish
markets and fishmongers' shops in St. Petersburg,
where fish may be had in great variety all the year
through at prices which enable even the very poorest
to number the national ookha (a kind of fish soup)
among his daily food. But how enormous the quantity
of fish is which iogs caught annually in Russia no one
would suspect. From the Moscow Gazette, however,
we learn that during the past year 9,000,000 cwt. of
fish were caught in the Caspian Sea; in the Sea of
Azof, together with those from the river Don and
Kuban, more than 4,000,000 cwt.; in the Black Sea
about 800,000 cwt. ; in the White Sea and the Frozen
Ocean 500,000 cwt. In the Baltic not less than
2,000,000 cwt. of fish were caught, the total of these
numbers being 800,000 tons of fish.
BIRDS OF A DIFFERENT FEATHER. —Elderly gent
(who wants to go to Cheapside). "I beg pardon, but
can you tell me the best way to get to the Poultry P'
—Mrs. Goodolesort (who has just purchased a chicken
from adjacent shop). "Lor a•mussy ! Me tell you !
I'll put the police on you, you shopliftin' old willin !"
—Fun.

THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS.—It is a curioue
act that aunt ugh tee button trade of New York is
estimetsd at from 8000,000 dolls. to 10,000,000 dole.
per annum, at the American rate of wages, many of
the imported buttons could not be put upon their
cards for the price they sell for. Europe is still the
great seat of the button manufacture. Glass buttons
are chiefly made in Bohemia, where children are
largely employed. The children get 100. a day,
women from 30c. to 40c., and men from 40c. to 50e,
Pearl buttons are almost exclusively a Vienna pre.
duct; but shirt buttons are made chiefly in Birming-
ham, which is also the seat of the metal button trade.
But the most extensive of all the button manufae.
turing is that of the Parisian and Berlin novelties.
In one manufacturing village near Paris, containing
from 5,600 to 6,000 inhabitant., all the working peep%
are engaged in making agate buttons, which, even
with 0 per cent. duty added to the cost, sell, when
imported into America, about 31c. per great gross. It
is stated that the material alone could not be produced
in the States for double that amount. Yet while
American manufacturers make no attempt to compete
with European producers employing hand processes,
they excel in making bone, compolition, brass, ivory,
and gold buttons by machinery, and are able to export
tee lerable quantities of these goods. For example,
i',•ovidence, Rhode Island, sleeve buttons and
jewellery buttons are largely manufactured for ex-
portation.
FATAL RAILWAY COLLISION. —An inquest was held
on Saturday at Rufford, near Preston, on the body of
Amos Wolsteaholme, goods guard, Kirkdale, who was
killed in a railway collision on the Lancashire and
Yorkshire Railway at Raiford. Joshua Rowe, the
driver of one of the trains, was present in custody.
The train of which deceased was guard had been
shunted tO make way for the express from Liverpool,
when the express had passed, deceased's train was
signalled to proceed on the up line. The pointsman
at this moment had the trainsi,gintalilsedaflrleogmedC, rdoaasthoend,
arid he blocked the line.- Rowe,
on, contrary to beth the home and the distance sig-
nals, and struck the rear of the deceased's train which
was crossing to the up line. Deceased's van was
mutilated
d aovenrd
killed,and c
arr ieGde
o somerge to
distanceat, and he was
la
grakesman of
the prisoner's train, said that the signals were at
danger, and he applied his brake. A verdict of "Man-
slaughter " was returned against Rowe.
THE FATE OF AN AUSTRALIAN RELIEF PART/rt.—A
report was received some time ago from Southern Aus-
tralia that an exploring party had heen massacred by
the natives near Attack °reek. The party had, it
was stated, repulsed the first assault, but were subse-
Quently overtaken as they were journeying along by a
larger number of the enemy, who massacred the ex-
plorers. When the news of the murders was received
a relief party of police was cent ut to discover if there
was eny with in the rer ort., and to ( ffer assistance if
By the ilst tt:ll,ing mail details were re-
ceived of the sad fate of most of the relief party. The
company numbered five officers and a black boy, and
according' to the particulars received it seems that four
of the officer perished through want of water. The
surviving officer telegraphed particulars of the trying
experience the party had undergone, and asked for
assistance to be sent him in order that he might bury
his deceased comrades. The party had got to within
35 miles of Attack Creek,