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

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

T4O expenses of the candidates at the late Worcester
election were as follows : Mr. .J. D. Allcrott, M.P.,
£3,645 12s. id.; Sir F. Lycett, £3,437 16s. 3d.
As an interesting coincidence, it is stated that the last
official act of the Emperor of Germany previous to the at-
tempt on his life was the sanction given by his Majesty to the
assembling of the Congress at Berlin.
On Monday afternoon, in Hyde Park, the attention
of a policeman was called to a well-dressed baby, about
seven months old, which was lying on the grass. flaying
waited for some time in the expectation that the mother or
relatives would appear, he ultimately conveyed the infant,
which is a boy of fair complexion, to Paddington Work-
house.

The Crown Prince of Germany has comm;osfonecl
Dr. Lewin, the prison physician who treatpa woolling, to ex-
press to the parents of the assassin 6he regret and sympathy
felt by his Imperial Highn.o.. tor their family misfortune.
"I am told that the question of the indemnity to be
paid by Turkey to Russia has not yet been arranged, and is
likely to prove one of the most difficult of solution in the
approaching congress."—The World.
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- - - -
Probably the smallest paper in the country, if not
in the world, is published at Orlando, Florida. Its size is
two and a half by three inches, and it claims a circulation
of 1,200. It is printed monthly, and its name is the Florida
Mite.

Whit-Monday brought its usual shoals of visitors to
the various metropolitan places of amusement. The total
number present at the Crystal Palace was 54,154 ; at the
Zoological Gardens, 31,963; at the Tower, 2,528; at Ilamp•
stead-heath about 40000; and at the Aleitaudra Palace the
number may be estimated at between 30,000 and 40,000.

-
The Chancellor of the Exchequer acknowledges in
The Times (as "Conscience M oney ") the receipt ot the second
half of a £2O-note from "B. L." on account of income-tax.

The Ven. Archdeacon Hugh Morgan, M.A., died
at St. Asaph, on Sunday, after a long and painful illness.
The deceased was formerly vicar of Rhyl, where he spent the
greater portion of his life, until some fifteen months ago,
when he was preferred to the archdeaconry of St. Asaph.
The canonry which the archdeacon held is worth £250 a
year.
A whistle to be used on occasions when troops are
Is extended order has been approved for officers of Infantry,
and is intended to be carried in a pocket in the officers'
dress. This does not apply to officers of rifle regiments, who
already wear a whistle in accordance with the dress
regulations.
Dr. David Middleton, LL.D., her Majesty's In.
spector of Schools in the South-west of Scotland, died on
Tuesday from an attack of paralysis.
Referring to the execution of Chantrelle, the British
Medical Journal says :—This cast is the only one in which a
person of education has been executed in Edinburgh during
the last fifty years for a crime committed iu the city.
kritchard was tried and condemned in Edinburgh for
murder committed in Glasgow, but his sentence was carried
out in the latter city. Another notable fact, which is stated
on good authority, is that in no trial for murder by poison-
ing was there ever before in EclinbUrgh an unanimous ver-
dict of guilty,

Lake dwellings have been discovered at Letten,
Switzerland, at the junction of the Rivers Limmat and SihL
It is said that a number of gentlemen have com-
bined in order to raise a sum of not less than £,0,000 to
build and endow a suitable place of worship in London in
connection with the Church of Scotland. A site has already
been secured.
-

According to the official accounts, the value of coal,
&c., exported in the five months ended the 31st ult. was
£2,890,812, and in the like period of the preceding year
£3,024,463.
A telegram from Washington says that the United
States Cabinet has had under consideration the subject of
Americans supplying ships and munitions of war to Russia,
while England and Russia were engaged in a controversy
which might develope into belligerency. No decision was
arrived at, and the question will again be discussed at the
next meeting of the Ministers.
Galignani states that more than 2,000 photographic
studios exist in France. That number would certainly be
more than double if were included those belonging to pri-
vate individuals, public administrations, and those which
perambulate the various fetes and fairs. The annual amount
of business transacted exceeds 30,000,000 fr. The number of
persons employed in the trade is estimated at from 15,000
to 18,000, distributed very unequally in the various galleries.

The Vienna medical journal mentions that typhus
fever has broken out in Berlin, and that the last sanitary
report states that 58,persons are suffering from it.
The Scotsman records the death of the Rev. Robert
Stirling, D D , minister of the parish of Galston, Ayrshire,
who has been for several years the oldest minister in the
thurch of Scotland.

The Rev. Thomas Ashcroft, Methodist Free Church
minister, preaching on Sunday night at Accrington on the
strike, urged the operatives' to yield to the masters' terms,
as the wisest men of theirown class acknowledged they were
beaten, and to prolong the struggte only made bad worse.

The Mayor of Manchester has received a letter from
Mr. John Bright, acknowledging a resolution of condolence,
passed by the Council,i n which he says—" I can say very
little of what I have felt and now feel of the sympathy
which has been expressed towards my family and myself.
So far as sympathy can in any degree lessen the burden of
affliction, we have had the solace to its widest extent, and I
am specially grateful to the Town C,ouncil over which you
preside for their remembrance of s ie in this time of trial."
The funeral of Corporal Falke. of the Grosser
KurfUrst, took place at Folkestone on Monday afternoon.
The procession consisted of the baud of the 45th Begiment,
a gun carriage bearing the coffin covered with mor Union
Jack; Colonel Cameron, C.B , Commanding shorncliff
Camp: Captain Usborne, Inspecting Commander of Coast-
guard; the captain of the lionig Wilhelm, and a firing party
of coastguard. Thousands of people lined the route to the
cemetery.

"Tobacconists are puzzled. So are their wives;
and if young ladies will go in veiled early in the morning,
very empressees in manner, and pay unheard-of sums for
Broseleys, perhaps it is strange, But they do not wish to
smoke them, only it is now pronounced that the best way of
crimping your hair is to creper it with a warm pipe stem.
Pencillings of the Week" in Land and Water.
The importation of hams increases. Numbers come
from Canada. In the last five months the value was £857,534,
against £553,967 in the corresponding period of the previous
year. _

The ship Rodell Bay sailed from the Tail of the
Bank, Greenock, on Thursday in last week, bound for Bris-
bane, and having on board the following number of emi-
grants—viz., 47 married women, 123 single men, 57 single
women, 70 children between the ages of 1 and 12, and 16
infants, making a total of 360 souls.

The Imperial title of Kaiser-i-Hind, so much dis-
cussed and criticised last year, does not seem to have made
much impression upon the native army. During the recent
embarkation of native troops at Bombay, according to the
Indian Stategman, loyal cries were plentiful amongst the
soldiers, and the most common were " Hurrah ! Maharanee-
ki-jey (Victory to the Queen), "Victoria 31aharanee," and
" Angrez Sicar Bahedoor," alternating with the usual Sepoy
war-cry, "Ham Raja-ki-jey," but " Kaiser-i-Hind" was unac-
countably absent.
On the subject of spurious diamonds, The Times
publishes the following letter :—" [here is a most simple
method—apparently net sufficiently well known—of dis-
criminating between real and spurious diamonds. If the
specimen is immersed in w;iter, should it be a diamond it
will sparkle with almost undiminished light and brilliancy
of colour; but if it be spurious, whether paste or rock crystal,
the " fire " of the jewel will be completely quenched.—
Your obedient servant, J. PARNELL, 1, Clapton-common."
One hundred and forty thousand seven hundred and
nine persons visited the Paris Exhibition on Sunday, being
the highest number yet reached, although the weather was
unsettled.

Mr. B. Samuelson, M.P., in reply to a deputation
that waited upon him at Banbury, said he would not vote fo
the Permissive Bill, but he was in favour of the permissive
principle being applied to Sunday closing. If a town wished
to have the public-houses closed on Sunday he would give it
power to do so.

_
It is remarkable that at the present moment there
is no person living, except Lord Beaconsfield and Mr. Glad-
stone, who can boast that he has been entrusted by Her
Majesty with the post of First Lord of the Treasury. The
fact is almost unparalleled. When Lold Melbourne was in
power forty years ago, at all events, Lord Grey, Lord Ripon,
the Duke of Wellington, and Sir Robert Peel were living;
and when Lord Palmerston took office in 1855, he had Lord
John Russell, Lord Aberdeen, and Lord Derby to consult, in
case he was at a loss (which was not often the case) as to
the traditions of Downing-street.—Court Journal.

In Lisbon and its vicinity last Saturday night, there
was a violent shock of earthquake, accompanied by a storm
of wind; the duration was about six seconds. Much alarm
was caused.

The Edinburgh joiners, like those in Dundee, have
submitted to a reduction of a halfpenny per hour in their
wages, but have resolved to cease working if a further re-
duction is insisted upon.) _ - - -

- -
The London (gazette of Tuesday night contains the
official announcement of Mr. Layard s appointment to be a
Knight Grand Cross of the Bath.
'--- - - • -

The Shah arrived in Paris on Monday and paid a
visit to the Persian section of the Exhitition. In order to
remain incognito he went in European costume, and thus
escaped observation. His personal appearance has little
changed since he was the great lion of Paris five years ago.
He still has a thin, waxed moustache, but, in a Parisian
frock coat and with blue eye-glasses, the public took no
notice of him. The Shah is staying at the Grand Hotel,
where he and his suite occupy 31 chambers on the first
floor.

Rumours are current that the Queen will pay a
visit in state to Malta to inspect the Indian troops
Empress of India.— Whitehall Review.
At the first meeting of the newly-formed Chamber
of Agriculture for Derbyshire, it was agreed to petition in
favour of the Cattle Diseases Bill being passed in its entirety.
A memorial is to be drawn up to show that, as Derbyshire is
a large grazing county, it is of the greatest importance that
protection should be given to the farmer against the cattle
disease.

As, at a wedding the other evening, they were
gathered around the happy couple (the bride was a widow)
congratulating them, an over-sensitive friend bursts into
tears and sobbed, "flow glad I am her poor dear Arthur is
not alive to see this day! It would have broken his heart to
see this—his wife married to some one else." Then she
went into hysterics and was removed, having east a gloom
all over the community.—Court Journal.

During last week thousands of men employed at the
Welsh slate quarries at Penrhyn refused to work on Ascension
Thursday. This refusal arose from an old and wide-spread
superstition, which- has lingered in that district for years,
that if work is continued on Ascension Thursday an accident
will certainly follow A few years ago the agents persuaded
the men to break through the superstitious observance, and
there were accidents each year, a not unlikely occurrence
seeing the extent of the works carried on and the dangerous
occupation of the men. This year, however, the men one
and all refused to work.
The Parliamentary death-roll for the first five
months of the current year nearly equals that for the whole
of 1877. The falling out of the ranks of Mr. Russell Gurney
and Wykeham-Martin brings up the vacancies caused by
death to seven, as against eight for the whole of last year.
—Mayfair.
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The annual gathering of the agricultural labourers
of the West of England took place on Monday near Bridge-
water. After speeches by Mr. J. Arch and others, resolu
tions were passed setting forth certain grievances which are
sought to be remedied.
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A meeting of the Dundee joiners was held the other
night to consider a notice from the employers intimating
that an immediate reduction of wages from Bd. to 7id. per
hour would be made. After a long deliberation, and having
regard to the depressed state of trade in Dundee, it waS
agreed that the reduction should be submitted to.
The village of Comrie and the upper valley of the
Earn was (says the Glasgow News) visited by a shock of
earthquake early on Sunday morning.

-
The gas supply of Leeds is in the hands of the town
council, and that body have decided to reduce the price
from 2s. 9d. to 2s. 6d. per 1,000 cubic feet.

Galignani states that a train from Dieppe on Mon-
day brought to the Western railway station, Paris, 2,050
English excursionists.
On Monday afternoon a private in the 2nd Royal
Surrey Militia was being marched through the streets of Guild-
ford, as a prisoner, towards the barracks, when he sud-
denly broke away from the escort, and ran and jumped into
the River Wey at Guildford bridge Before assistance could
be rendered, he sank and was drowned.
The question of how little food is sufficient to sup-
port life has been studied by an Indian doctor in the most
practical manner, the doctor having subjected himself to a
diet experiment for six weeks. In support of his theory that
a man's daily food should only cost him sixpence, the doctor
lived for the first seven days on bread, milk, fruit, and vege-
tables, costing only 3s. Id., and having an average daily
weight of little over half a pound. Ills health remained
perfect and his weight did not diminish, so for the second
week he took prepared farinaceous food, milk and fruit,
consuming daily a little over 9i oz., and then felt so strong
that he gave up milk and lived on 3d, a day. In the fourth
week he took half a pound of food daily, at a cost of 2d., and
tried soup, puddings, and eggs, but this did not answer, and
for the fifth and six weeks he lived on Si oz. to 9 oz. daily.
lie carefully avoided stimulants and tobacco, and finally
declared that he experienced a constant increase of physical
strength and power of work.—Graphic.

Two young men, named William Carrick and John
Darker Nicholson, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, were bathing at
Tynemouth on Monday afternoon, when they were carried
out by the current and drowned. They had gone out in a
bathing machine. Both bodies were recovered.
The latest news from India states that famine pro-
spects are improving in Cashmere territory. Nearly all the
famine immigrants have left Sealkote. His Highness the
Maharaja is eumloying 5,000 men on the Muree road. Ills
stat.a from Sholapore, Bombay Presidency, that three-
fqlsrths of the people have exhausted their stocks of grain,
and being without money or credit, are subsisting on "grass
seeds." Inquiry is said to be urgently needed as to the
condition of the ryots in the famine districts. The latest
reports on the state of the season and crops mention that in
Madras the general prospects are somewhat improved, and
that prices show a alight tendency to fall.
Mr. Benett-Stanford has written to The Times
to say that the £,lOO prize publicly offered by him some twelve
months since (and to which we called attention at the time)
is not only for the best essay (in English) on the prevention
and cure of rabies in dogs, but also on the otigin of hydro-
phobia in man and the best mode of dealing with and
curing it (if possible) when developed in the human anP.ic.
Recruiting for the army, which has bcen remark-
ably active during the past three ...utile, has become un-
usually slack, a circumstanee attributed to the increase of
labour in the agricultural di strkts as well as to the natural
ebb after a sudden flow. Most cf the regiments are, how-
ever full, and recruiting for the Rifle Brigade and other
corps has been suspended' but there are still some twenty
regiments of Cavalry and infantry open to receive recruits,
and gunners, not drivers, are acceptable for the Royal
Artillery. •
The Cologne Gazette gives the arrangements for the
lodging of the members of the Congress of Berlin as follows :
—Prince Gortchakoff at the Russian Embassy; Count
Schouvsloff, and his whole suite in the Hotel Royal ; Lord
Beaconsfield and his suite in the Hotel Kaiserhof ; the
Marquis of Salisbury at the English Embassy; M, Wadding-
ton at the French Embassy; Count Andrassy at the Austrian
Embassy; Count Corti and his company at the Hotel Royal;
and the Turkish Plenipotentiaries at the Turkish Embassy,
The prospects of an early and abundant harvest in
Ireland are of a most encouraging character; indeed, for
many years past the potato crop has not been anything
like so promising, and new ones are fully expected to be
plentiful in the course of the present month. Wheat and
corn are very good crops, and grass is all that could be
desired. The present weather is most favourable, and
farmers on all sides are highly sanguine that autumn will
bring with it one of the best yields they have had for many

years.
Notwithstanding the stormy character of the weather
the usual Whit-Monday procession of teachers and children
belonging to the Church of England Sunday schools took
place at Manchester on Monday morning There were
nearly 16,000 present, and they fulfilled the programme in
spite of the drenching showers which fell at short intervals
during the day.

"43

A railway train proceeding from Barcelona to
Perpignan was stopped and robbed the other day near the
former town.

Australian papers report discoveries of tin at Mount
Heemskirk, on the west coast. The wash-dirt at 6ft. was not
bottomed. Nuggets of splendid tin were obtained, weighing
21b. The discoverers expect to trace the lode in the moun-
tain. It is anticipated that this discovery will rival that at
Mount Bischoff.

An elderly lady of independent means, who resided
with her two sisters in Brighton, has committed suicide by
throwing herself from a window on the top floor. Death was
instantaneous. The deceased lady had suffered from nervons
debility for some time past, but had not exhibited any
tendency of suicidal mania.

Intelligence derived from various sources in Russia
asserts that the Shah has brought with him a million and a
half sterling to cover his expenses and pay for the numerous
purchases he intends to make during his travels.— Whitehall
Review.

Some one once advocated portable hen-houses,
which might be taken to all parts of a, farm to enable the
poultry to eat grubs and Insects in the fields. lam not fona
of seeing hens 'busking" in field, or garden: but, judging
front the accounts of the ravages of slugs this year that have

come from all parts of the country, it appears that portable
ducks' courts are sometimes desirable.—Mark-Lane Express.

A Correspondent at Malta, speaking of the Indian
troops, says :—" The Sikhs have chummed with the 42nd,
and dance as lively to a Scotch piper as a 42nd man to the
Sikh improvement upon the extraordinary instrument."

The Corporation of Ottawa presented a farewell
address to the Earl of Dutferin on the occasion of his ap-
proaching return to England, at the expiration of his term
of office as Governor-Gineral of Canada.

The use of horseflesh is being slowly but surely de-
veloped at Marseilles. Thus, whilst there was only a con-
sumption of 1,031 horses in 1875, it amounted in the following

year to 1,066, 'and In 1877 to 1442.

The "pomp and circumstance" attaching to General
and Staff Officers are to be further increased by the introduc-
.. . . . . . .

tton of gold-laced pantaloons to be worn with knee-boots In
review order. On all other occasions the scarlet-striped
pantaloons are to be worn.—Whitehall Review.

"The newest thing in fashions is the mouchoirnf the
same hue as the dress, and trimmed to matcb it. It is odd,
however, to see a pretty woman flourlshing a cerise band-
anna, or a brunette veiling her nose in maize."—Whitehall
.Rev

Sir John Lubbock, M.P., in speaking at Maidstone,
alluded to the enormous expenditure going on throughout
the world on military objects. The constant danger of war
—for we never seemed to have a true peace, but only a series
of truces—and the gradual alienation of one nation from
. .

another, were very -discreditable to the common sense of
Europe. They might hope that the Congress would be the
beginning of better things, and he was sure they would be
deeply indebted to the eminent statesmen who would repre-
sent this country if their efforts led to a general reduction
of armaments.

"From St. Petersburg a report reaches me that the
Russian Government has lately given private instructions to
the postal authorities to adopt all means in their power to
prevent the transmission to England of letters or despatches
containing information of naval or military preparations, or
foreshadowing any intentions of Government with regard to
the political questions now disturbing the minds of European
statesmen. I cannot compliment the St. Petersburg officials
on the display of any special acuteness; for by nearly every
post I receive political communications which have passed
through their hands unsuspected. Of course there is a way
of managing these things; but I have no idea of letting my
Russian friends into the secret 'how it's done.' "—Whitehall