The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-02-12 00:00:00

LOSS OF LIFE AT SEA.

The Registrar-General gives, in his annual report
recently issued, an official return, which shows that in
the 22 years, 18273, the annual rate of mortality of
merchant seamen at sea averaged as high as 21'4 per
1,000 of the strength. It is remarkable that in the
first eight years of the series the death rate never
reached 20 per 1,000, except in one year, but in the
14 years there were only two in which it was below
that rate. In the first 11 years the rate of mortality
never reached 22 per 1,000, but it exceeded that rate
in most of the last 11 years. The loss of life, there-
fore' was increasing. The majority of the deaths are
by drowning. The average annual mortality of
marines in the merchant service by drowning
in the seven years, 1866-72, was 133 per 1,000
strength. Above a third of these deaths, 5.4 per
1,000, are returned as accidental, an amount surely
showing great carelessness of precautionary measures
on the part of owners, masters, or men; the mortality
by wreck averaged nearly 8 per 1,000, and even this
high rate was exceeded in the year 1373, when 2,231
lives were lost by wreck alone, or 11 per 1,000 strength.
In 1873 the strength was 202,239 exclusive of masters,
and the loss by drowning was 3,263, or 16-1 per 1,000
namely, 2,231, or 11 per cent, per wreck, and 1,032, or
5.1 per cent, by accident. In the whole eight years,
186613 no less than 21,748 mariners were drowned,
13,244 by wreck and 8,504 by accident The average
annual rate of mortality by drowning in the Royal
Navy in the same period is returned at less than three
per 1,000 strength, so that the risk of death by drown-
ng in the merchant service is more than four times as
great as it is in the Royal Navy.

AN UNREGENERATE YOUTH.—The New G -
verneso (impressively). "0, Tommy, when I was a
little Girl, and made a blot on my copy-book, I used
to cry." Tommy (earnestly). " WhA ! Really?"
New Governess (still more Impressively).
really cry I" Tommy (still more earnestly), "What
an awful little Duffer you must have been I"—P unch.

THE VOLUNTEERS-THE PROPOSED
SHOOTING CONTEST.

The challenge addressed from New York a few
months since to England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany,
France, Austria, the Dominion of Canada, the South
American States, and all countris having rile associa-
tions or clubs, has now been taken up with cvasiaer-
able spirit by Great Britain, and both Sir H. lialford,
Ow Captain, and Major Drake, the Adjutant of the
British team, are using their utmost endeavours to get
together an eight that will worthily represent the
"United Kingdom," for it is now understood that the
competitors will be selected from England, Ireland,
and Scotland, and not an eight from each country as
originally proposed (says The Times). From the three
countries a formidable team can be got together, and there
is little doubt whatever that the match will resolve
itself into one between Great Britain and America, as
it is doubtful if the other countries named can organise
a team to compete with them at the extreme distance
of 1,000 yards. Sir Henry Halford has been selected
by the National Rifle Association of Great Britain to
act as Captain, and carry out the arrangements. The
first competition for the selection of representatives
will be held this Spring, and a final one about the
time of, or soon after, the National Rifle Association
meeting at Wimbledon. Both competitions will be
of the severest possible test, lasting two days each,
on each of which fifteen shots will have to be fired at
800, 900,, and 1,000 yards. The rifles to be used
will be the same as in "Any Rifle" competitions
at Wimbledon, and " position" the same. No
sighting shots will be allowed, nor any previous
practice on the range within two clear days of
the competition. Besides the eight, there will be
four waiting men, the selection being made as
follows :—The three best total scores out of the
four made by each competitor will be taken as his
aggregate; the 16 competitors having the highest
aggregates will select the two first members of the
team, and these two will select a third, the three a
fourth, and so on; the Captain (if not in the 16) and
the Adjutant will be ex officio members of each of
these committees of selection. The 12 men selected
will have to be prepared to shoot together for two days
after the competition for accurate comparison and
register of rifles, &c. Each competitor binds himself
down to proceed to America at the time and in the
vessel selected by the Captain of the team; to conform
to all regulations laid down by him, and in the event
of not doing so to forfeit all right to shoot in the team;
to defray his own expenses throughout, and to make
no engagements in America, for business or pleasure,
without the consent of the Captain until after the
- shall have been shot.

match
DREADFUL COLLIERY EXPLOSION IN
FRANCE.
An explosion of fire damp, resulting in the death of
200 persons, took place near St. Etienne on Friday
afternoon in last week, of which the following par-
ticulars are given by the Daily Telegraph:—
At the time when the explosion took plaee there were 218
persons in the pit, the entire day shift, and nobody had any
indication of the presence of the gas until the fatal moment.
Immediately after the accident aid was procured, but those
who descended into the pit found nothing but the bodies ef
men, boys, and horses strewed about, either dead or dan-
gerously wounded.
A short time after the noise of the explosion was heard
the scene at the mouth of the pit was most distressing. The
corpses of those killed and the bodies of dying and wounded
men were brought up in batches, while crowds of relations
of the unfortunate victims came to search for their friends.
All the authorities of the districts, military, civil, and reli-
gious, were promptlw on the spot, and at the pit's mouth a
priest stood, with bare head, praying with the wounded, and
administering the last rites to the dying.

_
The sad work of recovering the bodies was pursued during
the whole of the night. The sight which presented itself in
the pit Is described as harrowing Groups of poor workmen
were found in corners, their bodies quite carbonised, and in
some places the bodies were found attached in one mass.

The Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, under
date St. Etienne, Feb. 7, also gives the following
additional particulars of the dreadful accident :-
1 As yet only one-third of the bodies buried in the coal-pit
have been brought out. This morning, at eleven o'clock,
seventy carbonised corpses, placed upon roughly constructed
litters, were conveyed by the companions and relatives of the
deceased into the church, in some cases fathers and mothers
being obliged, through lack of assistance, to carry their own
children. This ghastly funeral cortege was-conducted by the
doctor and engineers of the mine, the members of the Ad-
ministrative Ceuncil ; General d'Abzac, representing the
Marshal: M. de Meaux, the Minister of commerce; the
Procureur-General of Lyons; Bishop Thibandier, and a
number of officials, magistrates, and commercial notabili-
ties.

The little church known as the Eglise du Soleil was com-
pletely filled by the bodies, and the persons present had to
stand between the improvised coffins. The scene at the
cemetery was neartrending. Five hundred relatives, com-
posed chiefly of women and children, wept aloud, and
threw themselves on the bodies of their fathers, husbands,
brothers, and sons. The snow, driven by a bitterly cold
wind, was falling heavily, and it soon covered this
scene of anguish and despair with a white shroud.
Everybody present was deeply impressed, and the thought
that twice the number of bodies lying before them had yet
to be brought to the mouth of the fatal pit, made the sight
still more distressing. Energetic efferts are at this moment
being made to clear away the rubbish thrown up by the ex-
plosion, and, to put out the fire which is still burning,
moist eartiLis being let down into the mine.
The number of victims is even greater than was at fist I
stated. Two hundred and sixteen men were tilled, but the
bodies which have been recovered are in many cases so much
disfigured that they cannot be recognised. Day and night
crowds of poor women and children are to be seen at the pit
waiting anxiously to receive the corpses of those who were
once their breadwinners. Priehts move about the crowd
advising resignation and promising substantial assistance
from the subscribers and sympathisers at Lyons.
All classes of the population are greatly moved by this
terrible catastrophe, and large sums have already been col-
lected for the relief of the widows and orphans. Marshal
AfacMahon has subscribed 5,000 franc!; Madame MacMahon
has given 500 francs; M. Buffet has sent 3,000 francs to the
Prefect 0/ the LAre to be distributed among the survivors;
and M. Ratan:der, director of the Opera, has announced
that he will give a special performance for the benefit of the
distressed families.
NEW RHYME FOR THE NURSERY.
t There was an old woman, and what do you think?
She paid one and sixpence to skate at a Rink;
A cropper she came, when she ventured to try it
Oh, couldn't this foolish old woman keep quiet
, •4. - - —Punch.