The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-05-10 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

A stray fish torpedo was found floating off Ryde on
Monday, and was secured and conveyed to Portsmouth.
The torpedo is believed to have belonged to the Excellent
gunnery ship, and had been floating about for a considerable
time.

Rdler polo has been introduced at Baltimore, the
game being played in the rink by gentlemen on skates,
equipped with a bandy stick. The game consists in putting
a bail through goals at the end of the rink marked by flags,
each party defepding its own goal. There are seven players
in each party, the ball being placed in the centre of the rink
and started by a player from each side.
Dr. William Chambers has made an offer to the
Edinburgh rown Coupon to complete, at his OWD cost, the
restoration of Si. Giles's Cathedral.

The Austrian Lieutenant Zubowicz, famous for his
ride from 'Vienna to Paris, who was recently injured by the
falling of some ratters at the Szegedin floods, has recovered
and is now in Paris.

His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales has
signified his intention of honouring Lcrd Beaconsfield with
his company at dinner, ) celebrate Ear Majesty's birth-
day.

Lord Salisbury's statement in the House of Lords
on Monday night, in regard to the execution of the Treaty
of Brln. has (says the Vienna Correspondent of the Daily
Telegraph), produced a very favourable impression at
Austrian head•quarters.

The Nottingham Town Council have resolved to
purchase the works of the local water company. They
guarantee a dividend in perpetuity of 7 per cent, to the
shareholders, and pay down a bonus of £30,000.

According to the official repart just issued, Holland
had attained, on January the 14 of th,i present year, a
populailon of 3,978,901 souls, of whom 1,970,607 were males.
The population has thus increased by 1,364,614 since the
separation of Belgium from the Netherlandish Crown, being
an average of about 28,000 in the year.

According to the Imperial statistics, the number of
registered sea-going vessels in Germany on the Ist of
Jarmary, 1878, was 4,806, of which 4,469 were sailers and 336
steamers.

"Naturalist " writes to The Times May 1 :—" In
your article on the past winter it is stated that gardeners ap-
prove severity of weather on account of the disastrous effect
it has on the larvte of insects hybernating beyond the reach
of ordinary frost. As far as my observation extends very
little irjnry has been done in this respect. The destructive
larva, Mamestra Brasstece, which burrows about a couple of
Inches, I have found recently in plenty. It is a very common
species, and a great enemy to vegetation. It is the opinion
that the approaching entomological season will be a good
one."

The fund for the erection of a statue to the poet
Burns in Kilmarnock has reached nearly £2,400.
The Correspondent of The Tines at Peshavrur
writes :—" While I write the impressive notes of the Dead
March speak of the removal to his last resting-place of an
esteemed officer of the Rifle Brigade— Captain Preston a
victim to fever. There is a very sacred spot at Jell,'latiad
where rest some of the victims of the late sad disaster in the
Cabot river, and especially the remains of Wigram Bettye, a
hero whose praises fill every mouth. I lately overtook a
Sepoy of the Guides proceeding to the grave to water the
flowers with which the affection of his devoted comrades and
soldiers has embellished it 'The whole regiment,' said he
In his simple Punjab language, ' weeps for Bettye; the regi-
ment would have died to a man rather than that harm should
befall Bettye.'"

There may be an idea in this for some of our shoe.
manufacturers. There is a gentleman in Pesth who
advertises In a local newspaper that, having been blessed by
nature with a pair of convenient feet, ne Is prepared to
stretch gentlemen's boots and shoes by the simple process
of wearwg them—and to guarantee a good fit I—Court
Journal.

The dangers of Thuggee in India are by no means
past gt the present time, according to the Time: of India,
which states that toe druggtng of travellers and others by
professional poisoners is just now so prevalen tin Oudh and
the North-west Provinces that official instructions have
been issued to magistrates and police authorities to secure
the suppression of the crime. The detection and conviction
of the offenders is, however, exceedingly difficult, for the
poisoners traveller alone, and carry out their plan without
witnesses by drugging the food or drink of unsuspecting
travellers with whom they have managed to strike up ac-
quamtance.

The largest steel gun made by Herr Krupp is
shortly to be tried at Mt-ppen in Germany. This gun (says
Engineering) is the largest specimen of steel ordnance yet
mane. It welghs 72 tons with a calibre of 151 in., is 32 ft.
8 in. long with a bore of 28 ft. 6 in. ; whereas the English
80-ton gun has a calibre of 16 in., a total length of 271 t., and
a bore 24 ft. long. the charge for the gun will be 35 lbs of
prismatic pow dtr, the projectile being a chilled iron shot of
1,660 lbs., and it is calculated that the gun can throw its
projectile a distance of 15 miles. The forthcoming trials
will take place on a range 11 miles long, and the targets are
to be placed at such a aistance that the gun will have to be
directed by other means than the visibility of the object to
be struck.

The clothing of the Volunteers in scarlet, instead of
screen or grey, would involve an immediate cost of Z 350,000.
It is, besides, more expensive to keep up so staring a uni-
form. If to thSse objections be added the very decided
opinions of the officers who are opposed to the charge, it
will not be surprlsiug to hear that the project of clothing the
Volunteers in red will be adjourned.—Echo.

A lev6e was held on Saturday afternoon, at St
James's Palace, by the Prince of Wales on behalf of her
Majesty. The presentations were nearly 250 in number.
A Lloyd's despatch says :—The hurricane which
passed over the Island of Reunion on the 20th and 21st of
March was one of the most disastrous that has visited the
colony for many years; and the reduction in the sugar crop
consequent on the hurricane is estimated by competent
authorities at 35 per cent.
A telegram from Canada says that a disastrous
explosion of dynamite has occurred at Stratford, Toronto.
A considerable quantity of this explosive was placed in a
railway waggon ready for rem3val, when, from some un-
explained cause, it blew up, Milne two persons and wound-
ing several others. The goods lying in the depOt and
surrounding buildings and a large number of cars were
demolished by the explosion.
The deaths are announced of two well-known mem-
hers of the native India community—the Maharajah of
Virianagram and the Rsjah Digumber Slitter. The former
was the owner of vast estates in Madras, was for many
years member of the Supreme Legislative Council, and a
liberal contributor to all schemes of charity. His gift of a
fountain to Hyde Park has made him better known at home
than most Indian noblemen. Digumber Mater was an
entirely self-made man, and was generally accepted as one
of the leaders of the Bengalese eommunity. He was the first
native to occupy the po.ition of high sheriff of Calcutta, and
received the title of Rajah on the 'occasion of the Delhi
assemblage.

On Saturday, whilst the sth Lancashire Volunteers
were practising at Altcar Rifle Range, a boy employed as
range marker, was shot dead. The boy had dropped a diso
after the signal to fire was given, and was picking it np. The
inquiry into the death of the boy has ended in a verdict of
accidental death. The jury sail that they could not find
that blame attached to any one ; but they recommended that
no person under the age of seventeen years should be em-
floyed as a marker at these ranges.
The Calcutta correspondent of The Times tele-
Rraphs that the gr At Kboomb, or duodecennial festival, at
Rurdwar threatens to he as disastrous in its consequences
as was that of 1867. From 760,000 to ISOO,OOO pilgrims as-
sembled, and, despite the precautttns taken by the authori-
ties, cholera, in a severe form, broke out a few days before
the close of the fair. The streams of returning pilgrims
are now carrying the disease in various directions towards
their homes, and outbreaks are already reported from
pelhi. Umrittmr, Itawnt Pindee, and other places of
Northern India. At the last-mentioned station some cases
have appeared among the European troops. It is asserted
that of 80,000 persons who went to the fair from a single
district of Kumaon one-fouri.h are missing.

A sect of cave•dwellers ha l appeared in Russia.
The members, 'who are chi( fly found in the district of
Saratov, in the south-east of the Empire, live in caves in
order more surely to work out their salvation, and to escape
from the clutches ot Antichrist.

A very prevailiag impression exists in military
circles that if Cetewavo does not speedily make his submis-
sion, and the war in South Africa has to be prosecuted in
earnest, a very substantial addition will have to be made to
our forces. The latest estimate in official quarters at the
Cape as to the cost of this war, supposing it to be concluded
within two months, amounts to £6,000,000 sterling. Tkis is
chiefly owing to the enormous cost of transport, and to the
heavy sums which are being paid in the shape of pay and
bounty to the local volunteers.
The people of Sicily have presented Garibaldi with
a shield, in memory of his snorts to secure their inde-
pendence. The shield bears designs of all the general's
battles, and is to be deposited in the museum of the Capital
of Rome.

A naval gentleman and his daughter staying at
X—, having received an invitatita to a party a short
distance off, sent to the railway atatitm and ordered a fly to
be at their residence at 8 p.m. the next day. The fnLowing
morning, at 8 o'clock, a fly arrived. When asked his busi-
ness, he said he had come by order of biq honour at 8 pm.
"Well, and what do you suppose ' 8 means then ?"
"Why eight, punctual mind," was the reply.—Court
Journal.

There were twenty-three British and foreign wrecks
reported during the past week, making a total of 648 for the
present year, or an increase of 117 as ciropued with the
corresponding period of last year. The approtimate value
o property lost was £530,000, including British 020,000.

An English publisher (says the Court Journal) has
sent a cable message to Baltimore to secure, if possible, the
right of puolishing on this side of the Atlantic the autobio-
graphical ABS. which Madame Paterson-Bonaparie is known
to have left behind her, and which she has bequeatheti to her
son. It is understood that she has accumulated an immense
number of letters from distinguished people with whom she
has been more or less closely associated throughout her long
life. There is also a curious MS., of which there was a good
deal of talk in the last generation. It is entitled "A Dialogue
of the Dead," anal purports to be a conversation whioh
Madame's father had with her husband, King Jerome. many
attempts have been made by enterprising American pub
ushers to obtain this MS., but it has always been refused.
In London, last Saturday evening, the annual
banquet given by the President and Council of the Royal
Acaaemy took place on Saturday evening at Burlington
Hauge, the president, Sir F. Leighton, in the chair. The
Prince of Wales responded for the members of the Royal
family, the Duke of Cambridge for the army, the First Lord
r
of the Admiralty for the navy, the Earl of Beaconsfh-id f
her Majesty's Ministers, Professor Henry Smith forsclen,
Mr. Fronde for literature, the Lord Mayor for the corpoore
tion ; and the Lord Chief Justice, in acknowleodfgine presidentn
g the test
t -
in
o the guests, proposed n
oyail Anroeetduerno,
yt 1.1
and success to Lord hredalßtheacontheileid
I ticularly that of the Wars of the Roses, o nspiTe
, speech, said he saw no reason why thehistoeryhoouf England, par-
' our &Mats as well as the legends of a religion or a church.

Hie Royal Highness the Prince of Wales will hold
a inee at St. James's Palace on her Majesty's behall on
Monday, May 26.

expedition
p.tdicotimonpinanisoeart orehf
of
i eFur
at e nn
kJ
la
inn t,
ceilßellptaoint inbrathye,lsinresorthdieciPoloet
Paris. He, after his miraculous escape, had the honour in
reoeiving a medal from the hands of Queen Victcria. He
commanded a battalion of marines during the siege of Paris.
A memorial to the Queen has been drawn up by the
colonists of Natal, in which they defend themselves from
the charge made against them of neglecting their own de-
fence, and state their views with regard to confederation.
In conclusion, they ask for the appointment of 'll Commis-
sion, to visit the colony and obtain information on the
various subjects referred to in the memorial.
Among the exports from Philadelphia to Liverpool
by the steamers leaving Philadelphia on May 3 were 302
live cattle, 120 sheep, and 982 quarters of fresh meat.
A rumour is current that the Duchess of Mont-
pensier is so deeply affected by the death of the Infanta
Christina that she has resolved on retiring into the Convent
of Huelgaa, near Burgos.
Monday was the 53th anniversary of the death of
Napoleon I, the gre.at French EMpt3TOT, founder of the
Napoleonic dynasty, who expired in the island of St. Helena,
whego he was kept a prisoner by the British Government, on
Ms 8, 1821, having been born on August 16, 1769, or nearly
110 years ago, in the same year that his great rival and
eventual vanquisher, Arthur, Duke of Wellington, was
ushered into the world, the date of the latter's birth being
May 1, 1769 —On Monday, in Paris, a funeral service, to
which the public were not admitted, was held in the Chapelle
du Dome, at the Invalldes in remembrance of the death of
Napoleon.

M. Albert Gr4vy on taking possession of his post as
Governor-General of Algt rla has issued a proclamation; o
the inhabitant's, in which he says that the system which may
have been suitable on the morrow of conquest, runs the
risk, if prolonged, of compromising the development of the
colony. The Government will, therefore, be essentially
civil. Important reforms will shortly be carried out, and
great works undertaken. "As a long tried Republican," he
says in conclusion, "a defender of liberty in all its forms,
and a thorough partisan of a civil r6gime, I bring you, with
sentiments which are yours, an unlimited de'botion to your
interests. On the result of our common efforts the future of
Algeria may depend."

_
A. French duel resulted fatally the other day. The
horse of one of the duellists ran away, as he was returning
from the frontier, and killed him.—Court Journal.

Aluminum is now being manufactured on a large
scale in pans in Berlin: it is coming into extensive use in
the German navy on account of its lightness and permanence
under the influence of the atmosphere and dampness. The
German navy has recently been supplied throughout with
aluminum sextants, compasses, du:.
The Barrow Town Council have determined to
petition the Prime Minister to consider the claims of that
town to Parliamentary representation when the vact
seats are filled up. It is urged that Barrow is one of the
largest boroughs at present without representation in the
House of Commons, having a population of from 40,000 to
42,000 at the present time, although in the census of 1871 it
only contained lb,ooo. Its net rateable value is £187,000.
The masons of Huddersfield have declined to work
54 hours per week, instead of 49i. as heretofore, and having
also refused to consent to arbitration, have been locked out
by their employers. They had offered to accept a reduction
of 2s. per week rather than work increased hours.

At Laroin, near Pau, a hill on which a set of farm-
buildings had been erected, has suddenly fallen in. The
inmates had barely time to escape, the furniture, imple-
ments, and corn being speedily engulfed, and a lake of three
hectares area now cJvers the site.

Thirty persons have been killed and an equal num-
ber wounded at Panama on April 17, in an attempted revolu-
tion by the Colombian guards.

A great demonstration of the Liberals of Leeds was
held on Saturdy. Resolutions were passed condemnatory
of the policy of the Government, and expressing the hope
that Mr. Gladstone, who had been chosen as second Liberal
candidate by the four hundred would be returned for Leeds
as well as Midlothian.

The fortnightly epidemic returns from the various
hospitals embraced in the Metropolitan Asylums District,
presented at a meeting of the managers last Satvrday,
showed a still further decrease in the number of patients
now under treatment—viz, 217 smallpox patients, against
241 in the previous fortnight; and in those of fever 158,
against 162.
A Pennsylvania judge has decided that a woman
Is not an old maid -until she had reached her thirty-fifth
birth-day.
The death is announced of General Sir Francis
Wards, K.C.8., an old Peninsular and Waterloo officer, and
one of the oldest wtillery officers fn the service. He
entered the army in March, 1809, and was present at the
defence of Cadiz and at the battle of Waterino. He attained
the rank of major-general in March, 1860, lieutenant-
general in August, 1866, and general in Ap,rll, 1866, and
general in April, 1877. Re was appointed a colonel.com-
mandant of the Royal Artillery in May, 1866, and was
placed en the Retired List in 1871. Re was appointed a
K.C.B. in 1873. Sir Francis Weide was eighty-eight years
of age.

The British residents in the city of San Paulo,
Brazil. have sent the Lord Mayor of London (through the
Rev. G P. Quick, the resident chaplain), a sum of £4B Is.
towards alleviating the distress among their fellow-country-
men at home, with the proviso that it is not to be given to
families of men on strike or connected with any of the
movements which, in their opinion, appear to threaten the
rade and prosperity of England. The Lord Mayor has
handed over the amount to the poor-box.

In Kansas they are peremptory in their demands
upon the "clerk of the weather office." Thus we read in
the Peabody Gazette :—" This country has got to have some
rain, and btfore long, too. Our water barrels are falling to.
pieces and we are obliged to wash in hard water. We are
disgutited."—MarkLatte Express.

Her Majesty the Empress of Germany proporses
visiting Queen Victoria at Windsor on the termination of
the spring season for taking the waters at Baden-Baden.
and will return from Windsor to Berlin at the end of the
present month. •

The centenary of the complete recognition of
American Independence by England, and of the evacuation
of New York by the English troops, will be celebrated in
1883 by an International Exhibition in New York The first
stone of the building will be laid on the let of next April—
the hundred anniversary of the inauguration of Washington
as Ist President of the Republic of the United States.
At a meeting held in London of the delegates from.
the various societies connected with the building trade, it,
was resolved that a federation of the building trades of the.
tinted Kingdom was desirable and necessary.
News from Burmah represents the people as being
desirous for wat, and the Ministers as anxious for peace.
Constant drilling of troops is taking place.
A meeting of woollen manufacturers has been held
at Huddersfield, to consider the state of the trade. A reso-
lution was pulsed to the effect that, seeing the great advan-
tage whch foreign compegtors have in being able to work
machinery 72 hours per week, while the English workmen
wan restricted to 56i hours, the Government be memorialised
to biking in a Bill enabling 60 hours a week to be worked
In factories, as before the Act of 1874, these hours not having
been found hurtful to the health of the working classes in
tile manufactories of the Huddersfield districts.
In the London Corn Market on Monday, the trade
in wheat was dull, and the tendency ruled rather in favour
of the buyers. Maize and oats were 661 cheaper.
The declaration of war against Peru and Bolivia has
been received with great enthusiasm throughout Chid, and.
the Government has been authorised by the Chambers to
borrow at home and abroad 6,000,000 pesos, or issue OA
amount of paper money.
There are now no less than 962 missionaries and 2in
mission stations in connection with the American Prettby-
terian Board, while connected with the various churtthes of
these stations are 1 391 members converted from heattraniern.
In the mission-schools no less than 16,039 children cre being
educated.

We are authorised to state that the Querva has been
pleased to signify her permission to the Bishop of London to
apply for a Suffragan Bishop under the provisions of the Act
of King Henry VIII —The Times.
Of late smuggling has been not uncommon at the
Orkney Islands. Her lilajestl.'s cutter Eagle has been sta-
tioned at Kirkwall for the purpose of cruising about the
islands, and the gunboat Firm has arrived from Qaeensferry
and landed a number of coastguard men, who are to be
distributed over the islands. Depots are to be fixed at
Westray, Sauday, and Kirkwall, and a small steamboat is to
be employed for the purpose of boarding the vessels—prin-
cipally French—winch visit these islands in great numbers
at the herring fishing season, and also the fishing smacks
coming home from the Faroe and Iceland fisheries.

The Council of the Society of Arta attended on
Tuesday at Marlborough House, when the Prince of Wales,
as President of the Society, presented to Sir William George
Armstrong the Albert Medal awarded to him "because of his
distinction as an enginner and as a scientific man, and,
because, by the development of the transmission of power—
hydraulically—due to his constant effort, extending over
many years, the manufactures of this country have been
greatly aided and mechanical power beneficially substituted
for most laborious and Injurious manual labour,"