The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-05-20 00:00:00

An octopus, or devil fish, was captured in the Dee a
few days ago. The fish was about as large as a hand, and the
eight tentacles measured each about six inches.
Upwards of £4,000 were collected last year for
stamp fees in divorce and matrimonial causes, being an in
crease of about LOO on the year before.
The total number of Army pensioners residing in
India is 819, of whom 297 are non-commiaaioned officers and
540 privates.
The Liverpool Mail states that it is the intention of
the Government Lo bring in a Bill for the establishment of a

--Th-e game licences dctring last year yielded to the
public purse the handlioniseperrmisite of upwards of Z 206,000,
to which the dealers, contributed about £6.000.
Owing to the drought, the Liverpool Mercury says
wire worm has made such havoc with the young wheat in
Anglesea that many of the farmers have thLsaveek been com-
pelled to sow fresh grain.
The Glasgow News referring to the steady increase
In the number of church organs erected in Scotland, remarks
that the supply of players is so scarce that organists have to
I be imported.
I According'. to the lateSi arrangements, her Majesty
the Queen is expected to reside in Scotland till about the
iniddie of June, and will probably again visit Balmoral in
A.URu.st. .
There were 171 fatal eases of small-pox recorded in
Manchester and Salford between the Ist of January and
the Bth of May, exclusive of those occurring in the Monsen
Hospital.
At a little gathering the other evening, somebody
aaked a man if he was fond of the opera. He said he was,
passionately. He always liked that part where the lady rides
around and jumps through the hoops.—Court Journal.
A parts' of working men from the different clubs in
London visited St. Paul's Cathedral on Saturday, and were
shewu over the building by the Rev. Canon Gregory,
"Blue Teas" and " Samivars" are the latestterms -
for five o'clock tea-parties across the Atlantic, "Kettle
drums" having gone out of fashion. "Pudding lunches"
are the rage in Baltimore—puddings of all kinds forming the
staple portion of thesmettlaaftWe "Apple Butter Parties"
and "Myrtle Germ Vis" are the similar titles of other social
a._ -
gatherings. .
At a recentldinner in, New York city the maw'
were attached- to toy balloons which were tethered by fine
threads to moll weights near each guest's plate. When it
was necessary to consult the 112.0114 the balloon was pulled
down by the 'thread. During the entire dinner they re-
mained floating above the diner's heads, bobbing hither and
thither in the adverse currents of air.
His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales arrived at
Windsor on Wednesday mOrning, and was received by the
Mayor and corporation. Great crowds of inhabitants assern-
bled in the streets, which were profusely desorated with
flags. The Prince, who received a most cordial welcome,
drove through the town and Long Walk to Cumberland
Lodge, to visit the Prince and Princess Christian.
A. conference of the representatives of the Anti-
Income Tax Associations has been held in London at the
Westminster Palace Hotel A deputation to the Chancellor
of the Exchequer was agreed to. It was also resolved that
all local associations be requested to urge upon their repre-
sentatives in Parliament the importance of increased activity
and vigilance in support of the entire abolition of the tax,
special objection being taken to the proposed increase of 50
per cent, in the amount.
It appears from the report of the House of Commons
Select Committee on Public Petitions just issued that up to
the 12th inst. 490 petitions, bearing 52 lai signatures, were
presented egainst the proposed vote of censure upon the
Government with respect to the Royal Titles Act Proclama-
tion, aud 3 petitions, with 1,053 signatures, in favour of the
vote if censure. In favour of the Sale of Intoxicating Liquors
on Sunday (Ireland) B.ili, there were 1,876 petitions, with
292,317 signatures ;.arid against it Si petitions, signed by
62,212 persons. In favour of the Women's Disabilities
Removal Bill, 1,087 petitions, with 865,117 signatures ; and
only one petitiou against it.
4. correspondent, writing to the Manchester Guardian
from Cape Cesst Castle with the date of April 24, says :
There is no doubt whatever that the King of Dahomey has
sent Commodtore Hewitt an imeertinent and defiant reply to
the! letter which Weaned this savage monarch of the fine
Imposed upon him for the ill-treatment of an English subject
at Whydah. He has told the Commodore that he was sur-
prised that he, a mere chief of the Queen's, should ventureto
address him in the way he did, and has advised him to go
home and tzade andaeud out goods to Dehomey as an occu-
pa,:ion much more erased to him. The King is also reported
to have sent a defiant reply to the letter at Governor Straiten
reinons.tra'ing against his annual raids upon A.bbeokuti and
the.s4rrounding coinitry. Notwithstanding all this tali talk,
massy expict, the tine wid ho p.tid, but that it will be to paid
as nue toupee= to be paid by the King.
An American paper says that the stories told of Mr.
Stewart's poverty in early life are groundless. He was
never otherwise than comfortably off. Having lost his
father at an early age, his grandfather, a man of much
shrewdness and sagacity, proposed to make a scholar of him.
He first attended a school in Belfast, and afterwards Trinity
colleite, Dublin. At twenty years of age he became the
head of the family, and at that period ha had an income
comfortable enough re support him. Upon coming to
America he had no definite aim, end having brought good
letters of iutroduction heesecured at once a creditable posi-
tion. He was a student more than anything else, and but
for the recommendation of Mr. Chambers, from whose
family Chambers-street takes its name, he never would have
entered into trade at all ilia first investment was £l,OOO
north of insertion and scollop trimmings in Belfast.
The death is announced of Dr. Andrew Wynter,
well known as a frequent contributor to periodical litera-
tare. He was born at Bristol in 1819, took his degree of
MD. in 1853, and became member of the College of Physi-
cians in 186 L His first publications, which were issued
anonymously, were two volumes of sketches, entitled "Pic-
tures of Town from my Mental Camera," and "Pictures of
Town and Country Life; or, Odds and Ends from an Old
Drawer ;" some of these were afterwards reprinted in
"Oar Social Bees." From 1845 to 1851 he acted as editor of
the British Medical Journal ; he was a constant contributor
to Once a Fleck when first established by Messrs. Bradbury
and Evans, under the editorship of the late Mr. Samuel
Lucas ; and he also wrote several articles for the QuarZerly
and the EdinbuTh Review. Most of these have been re-
pablished in a conected shape under the titles of "Curiosities
ot Civilization," "Our Social Bees "(two series), "Subtle 07,
Brains and Lissom Fingers," and "Curiosities of Toil."—Pall
Mall Gazette. , . - ;