The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-06-15 00:00:00

Review.

The annual road race from Bath—a hundred miles
on the road—to London was won on Monday by Appleyard,
In ihrs 18m1ns 55secs, being the quickest time on record;
Thorn was second, and his time was ihrs 24m1ns 57secs;
Coleman came in third in Mrs 37mins 25secs. The following
also won medals for riding the distance in the specified
time: Dalton, Walmsley, Garvey, Neville, O'Reilly, Mer-
chant, Williams, and Cleaver. Thirty-two started.

The London Fishmongers' Company condemned
90i tons of the fish arriving at Billingsgate Market last
month.

The King of Dahomey, it is rumoured, intends to
refuse payment of the balance of the fine imposed by the
English. Her Majesty's ship Pioneer has accordingly gone
up to Fernando Po, to bring Consul Hopkins to palaver with
the King. It is rumoured that the French are treating with
the King and Chiefs of Dahomey with a view of bringing not
only Porto Nova, but the whole of the coast of Dahomey,
under French protectorate.

Another and more murderous Gatling gun has been
patented. At its trial at Sealand Range, near Chester, it
seems to have fulfilled the most sanguine expectations of its
manufacturers. Here is what was done. The mitrailleuses
were first fired at the 1,000 yards range, Mr. Ackers working
the machine. When everything had been arranged the
signal was given, and the weapon poured out a shower of
bullets, the majority of which struck the target and tore it
to shreds, besides penetrating quite through the stout two-
inch oak supporting poles. Accurate time was kept by
Captain Rogers, and it waa ascertained that the mitradlense
fired 1,000 rounds a minute, which is 300 or 400 faster than
any other Gatling gun. The weapon was then tried at the
800 and GOO yards ranges with equal results.

In acaordance with the decision recently arrived at
by the Corporation of Maidstone the town museum and
library were opened to the public on Sunday afternoon.
Upwards of a thousand visitors passed through the various
MOMS.

Seventeen American volunteers at the South Moun-
tains, Idaho, have hail an engagement with 100 Indians. The
volunteers were compelled to retreat with a loss of seven
men.

What shall we do with the girls? is a question often
anxiously asked by the Paterfamilias with a large family and
small means. Judging from the statements of the chairman
of the National School of Cookery at South Kensington,
Paterfamilias might do worse than bring his girls up as
Instructors in Cookery. Alluding to the recent vote of the
London School Board to pay salaries of £6O a year to cookery,
instructors, the chairman of the institution at South Ken-
sington says :—" Our certificated teachers readily obtain
salaries varying from £lOO to £3OO a year, and there is little
chance, until there is a greater supply of teachers, that for
ZOO a year an efficient teacher can be obta ined."—Echo.

A diver went down to the wreck of the Grosser
Kurftirst again last Friday, and made a further inspection.
lie is of opinion that the ship is in two separate halves, and
reports that there is a hole in her side from eighteen to
twenty feet long, but not more than four feet deep in the
widest part. He saw nothing of any bodies.

'.Three boys were drowned whilst bathing at Rhyl on
Friday evening in last week. They appear to have gone
straight from school to the beach, and evidently got out of
their depth. One was thirteen years old, and the other two,
aged respectively ten and twelve years, were brothers.
It is stated that the Government have directed Mr.
Frank Buckland to make an inquiry into whitebait. His in-
vestigations will not be confined to the Thames, but will
extend to Cornwall and Ireland.

It is stated that the War Office is taking steps for
the immediate formation of two militia torpedo companies
at Portsmouth, preparatory to the raising of a similar force
at all the principal ports around the coasts.

It appears from the American papers just received
that Mr. William Cullen Bryant met with a serious accident
on the 30th ult. Ile had been assisting at the unveiling of a
monument erected in honour of 3lazzini. During the pro-
ceeding, which occupied some time, he remained uncovered,
and it is thought the sun affected his head. In the evening,
while aclompanying lieneral Wilson to his residence, Mr.
Bryant fell on the steps unconscious, and according to the
latest accounts he was suffering from concussion of the
brain.
I am in a position positively to confirm the state-
ment in the Globe that a e shall enter Congress with an entire
understanding respecting the points upon which England
and Russia are agreed. The understanding is the result of
the lengthy conferences Count Schouvaloff had with the
Foreign Secretary after his return from Russia, and as it has
been thtown into the shape of an official agreement, signed
by Count Shouvaloff and the Marquis of Salisbury on the part
of their respective Governments, it virtually has the charac-
ter of a regular treaty, waiting to be ratified in Congress by
the representatives of other Powers.—Mayfair.

The Japanese Government, which is making such
rapid strides towards modern civilization, has just awakened
to the necessity of preserving its forests, and stringent re-
gulations have been passed, which shall not only hinder the
too rapid destruction of the forests, but increase the area
covered by woodlands.—Nature.

In a letter that I received the other day from the
fleet at Ismid, I was told how the weather out there is so
lovely and the country round about is so charming, that the
life aboard ship and on shore is a great deal more agreeable
than it was a month or so ago. Fern collectors will be de-
lighted to hey that many of our naval officers are collecting
specimens, with a view of bringing the seed and plants home
to England. About Ismid are some of the most exquisite
varieties of ferns that are to be found anywhere, and no
doubt we shall be able to acclimatize many that before now
were quite strangers to us."—" The Tatler," in Pictorial ,
World.

A sad accident occurred at Brest a few days ago.
The Russian frigate Pajarski, Captain Bossaroin, anchored
in the roadstead about noon, and several of the officers went
on shore. At night Lieutenant Hergoroff and Midshipman
Marazenski left the town to return on board, and in the dark
fell into the dry moat of the fortifications. The lieutenant
was killed on the spot, and the midshipman received such
injuries that little hope remains of his recovery.
The official adoption of the word "ticket" by the
authorities of the Paris Exhibition has drawn attention to.
the numerous English words which have gradually been en-
rolled in the Parisian vocabulary, and a writer in the Illus-
tration is very indignant that Frenchmen should ignore the
riches of their own language and borrow from the "poor
jargon of Great Britain." Thus when a boulevard dandy
now speaks of his cane he terms it Mon stick, his overcoat he
,tyles a coachman or a waterproof. At the restaurant he
asks for " turtle soup" or "pale ale," his fashionable
amusement is the "skating rink," while his sporting voca-
bulary is replete with Anglicisms, from Le Turf to tot
steeplechase or WI jockey. The latest means of conveyance
is termed officially a "tramway.' As regards the chief
offending term, "ticket," there is something to be said in
extenuation of the French adoption of the word, as it is
originally derived from the French word etiquette, which
etymologists tell us was embodied in op language in the
time of good Queen Bess .—Graphic.

:
The Premier has caused a reply to be sent to a
correspondent who forwarded some resolutions passed at a
meeting in Canada approving of the foreign policy of the
Government. The noble lord accepted these with sincere
gratification, and said he rejoiced to feel that one bond of
loyalty, patriotism, and affection united this country to her
colonies, and that the honour of the British Empire was as
sacred to Canada as to England.
A sad case of accidental death has occurred to a
bandsman in the 20th regiment stationed at Portland
named George Gibson, who, whilst playing with some of
his comrades, slipped off the ramparts of the Verne Fort,
and was killed. It appears he was running up the ramparts
to get out of the way, being chased by two other bandsmen
in fun, when his foot slipped, and the works being on the
slope, he rolled over the edge, and fell on the ground, a
distance of about fifty feet. When picked up he was insen-
sible, and died almost instantaneously.
A subscriber to the Pictorial World, -writing from
Tibenham, Norfolk, says "that a saw's blue titmouse has built
its nest in a letter-box attached to the garden gate, and is
there rearing a lively family of chicks, despite the letters and
papers whit.). daily disturb their repose. This is not a very
utieominon occurrence; but the same owner of the happy
family letter-box writes, that she knows of some one who
is in the habit of fastening to the trees near his house
wooden boxes with holes cut in their sides, and that out of
twelve such boxes nine have been occupied by birds nests.
This is certainly a. very good idea for any one who wishes
to go in for observing the habits of small birds, or of trying
to multiply them in any particular locality. The titmouse
above referred to gets in and out of the letter-box by the
slit through which the letters are put, which is not more
than an inch wide.'
The Empress Bridge (so named by desire of th
Queen) over the Sutlej at Adarnwohan has been opened b
member of the Council of India, and thus the Indus Val
Railway is complete for traffic.
The present spring season has had a remarkable
effect on British birds. Skylarks have suffered very much
by the rainfall, most of the first hatching being nearly all
drowned, many nests being found with young dead, and
astuenflaetses.theilwaweafintheehreasltaerrse
uth:
secondothers i
neststhe,g,glis forsaken,l
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usually plentiful. Starlings this year are very abundant, and
large nuaabers cf them are to be seen feeding in the short
grass in the various parks and "fed-off' lands.
The Ashbury Railway Carriage and Iron Company
(Limited), of Openshaw, Manchester, have just completed a
novel kind of railway waggon, specially adapted for carry-
ing meat, fish, game, fruit, or similar perishable commo-
dities. The waggon, when loaded, is hermetically closed,
except where by an ingenious and automatic arrangement,
air is taken in, and after undergoing a refrigerating and
drying process, circulates over the whole contents of the
waggon, and is then discharged through an exhaust pipe.
Waggons of this description will be principally used for the
large traffic in meat between Scotland, Liverpool, and
London. They will enable importers to store their meat
for several days should they find the markets overstocked.
The arrangements for cooling and drying the air have been
designed by Colonel W. D. Mann,