The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-02-22 00:00:00

A "carnival of authors" was held recently in
Roston. Celebrated authors and the chief characters In
their works were represented in oostume and scenes and
tableaux illustrative of their writings were given with great
success.

During the past week the importation of dead meat
from America amounted to 6,294 quarters of beef, 1,903
sheep,. and 369 pigs. The arrivabs of live cattle were but
sniall,-amounting only to 923 animals.
The Finnish Historical Society, which was estab•
'tithed four ago to collect information respecting the origin
and history of the Finnish people, has just received an
anonymous gift from a person at lielsingfors of 15,000
roubles.

A committee of the chief citizens of New York has
been appointed to organise a great public meeting to be
held on April 30 next in order to formally initiate the
movement for the International Exhibition which it is pro-
posed to hold in New York in 1888.
"I am told that if the plague breaks out afresh in
Russia in the spring, the Isle of Wight will be flooded with
fugitives. Many of the Russian nobles are already making
preparations for quitting the country at a moment's notice,
and feeling insecure so long as they remain on the Continent,
fancy that perfect safety would be found upen our healthy
little island. '—Vanity Fair.

The latest accounts from Mr. Spurgeon show that
an improvement in the rev, gentleman's health has take*
place.
The result of the Cork election was made known on
Monday, when it was officially announced that Colonel
Colthurst, the Home Rule candidate, was returned by 8,167
votes, as against 2,027 given to Sir George Colthurst, who
ht.d come forward in the Conservative interest. This was
the first test of the ballot in the county of Cork, and no con-
tested election ever paaPed over with so little excitement and
trouble There were 227 spoilt papers.
The data fixed for the opening of the camp at
Wimbledon this year is July 14. Although this date is
unusually late, it is probable that, owing to the increase
In the number of prizes and also In the number of com-
petitors, the meeting will extend beyond the usual fort-
night

"We are informed that Pope Leo XIII. has imti-
mated his desire to raise Dr. Newman to the rank of
Cardinal, and that, with expressions of deep respect for the
Holy See, Dr. Newman has excused himself from accepting
the sacred purple. It is understood that some years ago
the late Pope offered the Prelacy to Dr. Newman, who de-
clined it in the same spirit which has caused him now to
shrink from the higher diguity."—Tuethlay's Times.

A very extraordinary fact is just now the talk of one
of our West-end hotels. A lady who has lately arrived from
Australia had a drekam abou six weeks ago that her hall-
sister, who was still in the colonies, had been accidentally
killed. The dream impressed itself upon her so strongly
that she made a note of it in her 6Ziary, telling her husband
about it at the time. A day or two since she received the
sad intelligence that the lady in question had been accident-
ally killed by being thrown from a carriage, and on consult-
ing her diary found that, allowing for the difference of time
between London and the colony, her sister had been killed
about the time of the dream ibis story is not fiction. It
reveals a very strange coincidence, if nothing more.—Court
Journal.

At Stockport milky out-door workers have found
emploiment since the favourable change in the weather,
but no improvement has taken place in the condition and
prospects of the cotton operatives, and after this week many
famnies will be compelled to seek relief from the Board of
Guardians.

From France we are informed that fifteen hundred
workmen employed in the factories at Cornimont, in the
Vosges, struck work on Monday.

Some curious incidents happen in the New York
Post-office. A short time ago a letter came from Ireland ad-
dressed to "My Mother, New York, America." Of course it
was supp.scd it !mist be sent to the dead letter office ; but
on the oay of its arrival a woman Liquired at the general-
delivery window for a letter from "her sou." The coinci-
dence attracted the attention of the official in charge of the
deciphering bureau. Inquiry showed that the son of the
woman lived in the town who,e name was postmarked on
the letter. After various inquiries, the letter was given to
the woman, with the proviso that she should open it there;
and it was found to be from her son, and designed for
her.
The Sheffield Trades Council has been making in-
quiries as to the amount of relief afforded by the Unions
in that town during the last four years. Twenty-eight
trades, numbering 6,309 members, have replied with the
following result :—Payed to unemployed members £40,390.
The payments to sick and superanuated members, and for
funerals, bring the total up to £55,097.

Mr. Gladstone has replied as follows to a Wick
gentleman who wrote to him in reference to a currency re-
form :—I take a cordial interest in the subject of your letter,
and I am very sensible of the advantages which might arise
from further measures towards the completion of our cur-
rency system. The present Chancellor of the Exchequer
understands the subject, and with a House of Commons
like the present one be would have exceptional facilities for
Introducing and pressing such a measure.

A new Free Trade organisation has been formed in
Paris, and has held its first public meeting in the theatre of tlio
Chateau d'Eau. lhe principal speaker was M. Jules Simon, whb
Made an eloquext address, in which he demonstrated the
juty that a Protectionist policy would inflict upon Fra.
At the close of the meeting a resolution was passed carting
upon the Government to adopt as a minimum the Tariff of
1560, and to put an end to the existing paralysis of trade by
the speedy conclusion of commercial treaties.
Fashionable transatlantic winter fans are used to
contain some useful toilet acceFsories. Thus a knob on the
handle contains powder and puff, in one of the outside sticks
are concealed a miniature scent tube and pocket•comb, and
the other outside stick hides a mirror.
There were 26 British and foreign wrecks reported
during the past week, making the total for the present year ' • 't
291. or an increase of 79 as compared with the corresponding
period of last year. The approximate value of property lost
was £520,000, including British £300,000, and the aggregate
tonnage about 10,000 tons.

There are two or three interesting items from India
this week. In the first place a famine is raging at Hattywar,
and large numbers of the population are flocking into
Bombay. There is much distress among the lower anti
middle classes of Bombay —At Dakka Roberts and Cook, the
celebrated billiardists, have just played a match of a thou-
sand up. The former won by MO points, his principal
breaks being 210 and 202.—The Scotchmen of Ceylon have
contributed R 17,016 to the City of Glasgow Bank Share-
holders' Relief Fund.

The 'Exeter School board have resolved that all
pupil teachers desirous of remaining in their employ must
make themselves proficient in religious knowledge.
The Queen will not return to the Isle of Wight
after Easter, as usual, her Majesty it is stated, having
decided to visit the Continent early in the spring. It is
added that she will leave England on March 28, and landing
at Cherbourg, will proceed to Italy, where she will probably
be visited by the Duke of Connaught and his bride, who will
arrive at an Italian port in the Osborne, the Prince of Wales's
yacht, early in April. From Italy her Majesty is to go to
Ilesse-Darmstadt, there to visit the tomb of the Princess
Alice, and will travel incognito.

A report by Mr. Douglas respecting the progress
of the new Eddystone Lighthouse, of which he has charge,
states that should the work continue during the present year
as during the past six months the base of the tower would
be above the high water of the tides by January next, and
the main difficulties would be over.
At the Liverpool Assizes, Mr. F. W. Sears, artistic
printer. Liverpool, recovered £1.,000 from the London and
North-Western Railway Company as compensation for in-
juries he sustained while travelling on the defendant's line.

On Saturday a numeronsly-attended meeting of the
men employed in the London engineering trade was held on
Blackheath, to protest against the course which had been
taken by the masters. Resolutions were passed appealing
with confidence to public opinion, and pledging the gather-
ing to use its best endeavours to support the men.
A London barber has a sign in his window which
reads :—Haircutting on Phrenological and Physiognomical
prihciples."

The Houses of Convocation met on Tuesday for the
despatch of business. In the Upper House an address of
condolence to her Majesty on the death of the Princess
Alice was passed, on the motion of the Bishop of London,
seconded by the Bishop of Winchester. The Archbishop of
Canterbury ikcidentaliy mentioned that the letter he re-
ceived from the Princess on the death of Mrs. Tait wstsi,
he believed, the last she wrote. In the Lower House, Pre-
bendary Ainslie presented a report on the relations between
Church and state, and a report on the institution and induc-
tion of beneficed clergy was also considered.

The School Board is responsible for the diffusion of
much useless knowledge. A board examiner performing his
functions in a purely agricultural parish reoently asked a
mixed class, "What is a husbandman?" No answer was
given for some time, till at lust a little girl ventured,
"Please, sir, a man as has got a wife" The examiner be-
came thoughtful, and sorrowfully took his way to a parish
owned by a duke, and overawed by ducal establishment*.
Ilere he said, "Tell me what is meant by a nobleman r
There was silence for a time ; at last one smart little boy
replied, "Please, sir, it's a gentleman as.gains his livelihood
by riotous living I' "

The latest idea of an eminent London hairdresser, is
to engage a Germain compatriot, who used to shave Bismarck,
and an English assistant, who was formerly valet to Lord
Beaconsfield. Now, when a new client presents himself at
the establishment Of this ingenious " Figaro," he is asked if
he desires the "Bismarck scrape" or the "Beaconsfield
cut." During the operation of shaving or haircutting, as the,
case may be, the artists regale the patrons with anecdotes
and personal recollections of their former masters, so that
one enjlys the inestimable advantage of having one's per-
sonal appearance improved and one's mind edified and en-
lightened at the same moment. —Court Journal.
At a conference in Manchester of members of the.
Church of England Temperance Society, on the subject of
Sir Wilfred Lawson's local option resolution, which will
shortly be brought before the House of Commons, a motion
was passed approving of the hon. baronet's action, and
another resolution was agreed to calfing upon the members
of the society to promote a Sunday Closing Bill for Eng-
land
On Thursday evening, in last week, Mr. Kingsley,
tutor to the family of Mr. Tarret, Ellary-house, Knapdale,
Argyleshire, went out in a small boat with Mr. Dillon, an
Irish gentleman visiting at Ellary, to fish. When a con-
siderable distance from the shore the boat upset, throning
both gentlemen into the water. Dillon was an excellent
swimmer, and kept Kingsley afloat till exhausted, when
Kingsley sank and was drowned. Dillon was reamed by IL
boat from the shore Kingsley was a relative of the late,
Charles Kingsley. The body was not recovered till Saturday
night.
A new patent light, called the albo-carbon, vas
tried at the Westminster Aquarium on Saturday. The prin-
ciple consists in the application of naphtha-line to the enrich-
ment of ordinary gas by means of a simple apparatus
attached to the burner. The invention thus places within
the reach of every eonsumer the means of raising the light-
ing power of his gas, the cost of tffecting this improvement
being so moderate that he will be largely the gainer by the
result. Thus it is claimed that 1,000 cubic feet of common
gas will, by the albo-carbon appliances, give fully as much
light as 3,000 cubic feet without it, while the cost of the
material to produce this result will not exceed eighteenpence.
While thus giving improved light, it is said it will reduce the
cost. The experiments on Saturday night are said to have
been very successfuL
The committee appointed by the Secretary of State
for War to inquire into the financial state and internal
organization of the Volunteer Force in Great Britain report
that, with reference to the proposed scheme for raising an
active service legion available for employment abroad in
times of emergency, the difficulties in the way of its being
carried out are far beyond anything ever contemplated by
the proposer of the scheme; and the committee therefore
strongly deprecate any attembt to raise a body of troops
under a distinct and separate organization.
"
mount realized of
annual sale there was an increase in the a
the AcutstMomr.
tlVlet
td
theße e C
pewshees b church h
auction,t treh a New
sad e Yorka tthe it t
last
a pew-rile arrangement."—Fune caumdesmtananccle for
seats this popular preacher regards
tihsenoart
On Saturday afternoon twom
Society, named David
Parish Church Schools Recreation embers of the Leeds
Aire. Hildyard was standing on
the ball fell into the river
tin
he river attemp gto recover the ball, when
Hildyard, aged fifteen, and ntedaFrheedledrisctkKTeeeaslter,eagpieduseedvee.elstellsentt,
were practising football
the bank of t
the ground undeintohi. feet gave way, and he fell into the
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166 Page
photographs and lithographs. Fvery page it beautifully
clear, though so very email that the microscope will be
necessary for most readers. We have seen nothing so com-
vete and distinct since the amazing reproductions for-
balloon post during the siege of Paris.-- Daily News.
In London, the other evening, the Baroness Burdett-
Coutts entertained a large company of costermongers and
their wives at dinner, at Brown's-lane House. Spitalfields,
and presided as hostess. The *len Ivere all members of a
club which is now on the point of being enrolled as a
frie, dly society. Loans from Weir own land hage been '
made to the amount of £1,500; and they have at the present
time £lB2 in the bank.

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