The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-09-20 00:00:00

r-,--41

The Paris Exhibition medals have not been so highly
valued as was expected, for nearly two thousand bronze
medals remain unclaimed, as well as SOO silver and 2.3 gold.
The old Arctic vessel " Resolute " has been finally
broken up, and three designs have been sent to the Ad-
miralty for a memorial composed of her timbers, and
intended for the American Government. Probably the
timber will be made into a secretaire.

Lord Napier and Ettrick, K.T., was born on Sept.
15, 1819, and accordingly completed his 60th year on
Monday.
The sanitary authorities of Tamworth, after boring
to a depth of only 170 ft., have struck upon a spring of water,
the yield of which is reckoned at more than a million gallons
a day, which is more than double the quantity requited for
the supply of the town and district.

Mr. Bright, in a latter lately written to a gentleman
in /Yew York, says he believes that the present protective
policy of the Canadian Government is inflicting a wound on
the union between the colony and England. from which, if
it be not speedily reversed, great changes must come.

Margaret Robertson, or Duncan, the oldest woman
in Scatland, died at Coupar Angus on Tuesday. She was
born in 1773, and her husband, a weaver, died fifty years ago,
anti left her with a daughter, who is still alive, and over
sixty.lsirs. Duncan was a heavy smoker, and until recently,
when she became blind, was in possession of all her faculties.
Her last illness was only of a week's duration.

The Mark. Lane Express says that a large proportion
of wheat and barley has been cut and carried in the
southern counties. With some reservation in favour of

oats, all the spring corn crops may be pronounced to a great
extent failures.

" The Duke of Hamilton has been having capital
sport in his Isle of Arran, where he is monarch of all he
surveys; 1,300 brace of grouse fell to his own and his guests'
guns between the 12th nit., and the Ist September. Net
fishing there is also excellent; as many as a hundred
salmon trout are often caught in one draught. The ladies
of the party ride Shetland ponies, who seem the most
amiable of quadrupeds."—Vanity Fair.

The phylloxera is causing serious ravages in the vine
districts of Prance, and particularly in the department of
Gironde Of the 2,000,000 hectares planted with vines through.
out the country, it is estimated that nearly 400,000 are
utterly destroyed, and 200,000 others seriously affected, and
that the total loss to the State will not be less than three

milliards. In the Gironde alone the produce of the year is
lralleved to be diminished by 50,000 tuns of wine.

Over 700 sportsmen left Paris by the Eastern Rail-
way on Saturday for the opening of the shooting season, 950
also starting from the Gare du Nord, and 050 from the
terminus of the Lyons Railway. Although the shooting
season only commenced at daybreak on Sunday, at the same
hour a large quantity of game, both furred and feathered,
entered Paris and was immediately exposed for sale in the
Central Market. As it was in great demand, the salesmen
were enabled to obtain exorbitant prices.

At Bunzlau, in Silesia, the wife of a farmer has been
confined on three successive Sedan anniversaries, giving
birth in 2877 to a girl, last year to twins, and this year to a
girl.

At the present time there are 93 rolling mills in the
United States turning out rails either of iron or steel.
Bessemer rails are rolled in five States. In 1849 the pro-
duction of rails was only 24,318 tons, but increased by 1856
to 166,000 tons, by 1870 to 620,000, and by 1872 to 1,000,000.
In 1874 the production fell to 729,413 tons; but last year it
roseagain to 882,685, and it is fully expected that 1879 will
see aturn-out equal to, it not more than, that of 1872.

The lateness of the home harvest, the unsatisfactory
reports as to its condition, the unfavourable prospects on the
Continent, and the falling-off last week in the arrivals from
the United States, all contributed to harden the Mark•lane
market on Monday. Prices rose about a shilling a quarter
all round.—Pall Mall Gazette.

A waterapmt burst over Heraiaan, in Appenzell,
Switzerland, the other night, and did much damage. The
valley of the Glattbach was Inundated; several mills and
houses on its banks were swept away and many others all but
destroyed.

The church of the Burslem cemetery was consecrated
on Tuesday by the Bishop of Lichfield, the Nonconformist
part of the Town Connell declining to take part in the cere-
mony. An appeal was made to the Bishop to allow the
Town Council to erect one mortuary chapel not to be conse-
crated, for the use of all sects, but he declined, saying that
if the Burial Laws had been carried out with laxity, it was
no reason why he should follow the same course. He added,
that the proposal to erect a mortuary without having it con-
secrated was. in his opinion, illegal, and the expense could
not be charged to the rates.
A. Poriagnese gentleman has just submitted to the
Government a scheme for embanking the Tagus twelve miles
above Abrantes' so as to raise it to a sufficient level for
being canalized and irrigating about 460,000 hectares of
land on the banks. These branch canals would be several
hundred kilometres In length, and the cost would be very
moderate considering the enhanced value of the land, which
he estimates at £24,000,000, or nearly one-third of the
National Debt. The scheme and drafts are offered as an act
of patriotism, without idea of remuneration, and the Govern-
ment, it Is thought, will refer them for full examination to
Portuguese engineers.

On Monday evening an address was given by
Cardinal Manning in the Public Hall, Warrington, on
temperance. Mr. Rylands, M.P., was on the platform, and
spoke on the same subject. In his address the Cardinal
urged that the depression in trade was principally owing to
the drinking habits of the country. Temptations to drink
were thrown in the way of people by the Legislature. If
working men had saved their money during good times, the
present depression would have been easily tided over. He
believed the remedy rested not with the Government, but
with the men themselves by abstaining.

The Netherlands Chambers were opened by the
King in person on Monday. In his Speech from the Throne
he dwelt upon the distress under which industry, commerce,
and navigation were labouring, and said the probable de-
crease of the yield from some of the imposts would render
It necessary to strengthen the resources of the Treasury.
The Government would maintain, however, the principles of
Free Trade, and propose measures for the improvement of
the means of communication. Re alluded to the relations
with all foreign Powers as very friendly.
In London last week 2,394 births and 1,262 deaths
were registered. Allowing for increase of population, the
births exceeded by 18, whereas the deaths were 104 below,
the average numbers In the corresponding week of the last
n years. The annual death-rate from all causes, which in
the two preceding weeks had been equal to 20 0 and 20 1,
doolbled last vrook to 14•0 Thck 1 WO. irlfiatial included 3 from
small-pox, 33 from measles, 38 from scarlet-lever, J,is from
diphtheria, 42 from whooping-cough, 22 from different forms
of fever, and 134 from diarrhma.
This has been a most disastrous year for the hop
plant in England, and it is said that this will be the shortest
crop gathered since 1854, and would not, if the old duty was
levied, raise more than £60,000. This would be equal to
cwt. per acre, a most dismal fact for the growers who have
done their best to cultivate them, also to drive away the
vermin and mould, by washing and sulphuring, at a gross
cost of nearly £3O per acre in many cases

- -
The Lords of the Admiralty have accepted the tender
of Sir Joseph Whitworth and 00. for the manufacture of the
armour plates for the torpedo ram Polyphemus. They will
be altogether different from any armour plates yet made,
as the material used will be chilled steel. The contract Is to
be immediately proceeded with, as the plates are wanted,
the Admiralty being anxious that the vessel shall be launched
as soon as possible.

At a mass meeting of the North Staffordshire iron-
workers held at Tunstall on Monday, at which Mr. Capper,
Organising Secretary of the Arbitration Board, was present,
a resolution was passed that the time had now arrived when
the ironworkers of South Staffordshire and East Worcester-
shire connected with the Board of Arbitration should at once
give the requisite notice for a reconsideration of the wages
question, with a view of obtaining an advance. It was ex-
plained that many local firms were fall of orders.
The lists of the parliamentary and municipal voters
voters in Glasgow, which have just been completed, give
61,069 electors in the parliamentary constituency and 60,094
municipal voters. There is a decrease of 3,473 on the parlia-
mentary and of 3 682 on the municipal registers as compared
with last year. The assessor accounts for this decrease by
the fact that there is this year an increase of 4,132 in the
number of persons who have failed to pay their poors-rates,
and so disqualified themselves for voting.
The effect of perfumes on the human character has
been tried by an Italian professor, who has educated seventy-
eight girls under the influence of various scents, at least so
says the New York Times. The rose produced unamiable
and prudish damsels, those brought up in an odour of
violets were gentle and religious; geranium produced de-
cision of character, musk amiability, languor, and a taste
for dress, and patchouli had the worst effect on the moral
character.
Captain James Fitz Maurice, R.N., of Old Derrig,
in the Queen's County, died on the 10th inst., aged 90. n
served on board the Ardent, 64 guns (Captain Thomas
Bente), at the battle of Copenhagen, April 2. 1801, obtained
a lieutenancy in the Carnation, 18 guns (Captain C. Mars
Gregory). in 1807, was severely wounded at Porto Rico in
1808, and retired on half pay, in 1809. fle obtained the rank
of captain in 1844. Cap,ain Fitz Maurice was a descendant
of the Earls of Kerry, his father having been great-grand-
nephew of the first earl.—Tima Obituary.
The Committee for promoting the presentation to
Brigadier General Sir Evelyn Wood, K C. 8., VC., have
ordered a sword of honour, of handsome design, with a
suiteble belt. The sword and belt are to be ready by the
12th October. The subscriptions up to Monday amounted
to about £l4O.
The official summary of railway casualties for 1878
show that of the 540 axles which failed, 287 were engine
axles, viz., 266 crank or driving, and 21 leading or trailing;
19 were tender axles, 3 were carriage axles, 221 were waggon
axles, and 10 were axles of salt vane; 65 waggons and the
salt vans belonged to owners other than the railway com-
panies. Of the crank or driving axles 204 were made of iron
and 61 of steel, and in one case the material was not stated.
The average mileage of 192 of the iron axles was 172.917
miles, and of 55 of the steel axles 160,763 miles.

A few days ago a telegram was handed in at the
Berlin office "Can't possibly send 5,000 daggers in one day.
Not until to-morrow." The police were no sooner warned
than they went in eager search of a Socialist plot. They
found, and cautiously opened, at a draper's house, a huge
packet with hair needles of the kind called "daggers.
Two fatal accidents of a shocking character occurred
at Durham, on Tuesday. Daring the afternoon, a drayman,
employed at Messrs. Ramshaw's Brewery, was engaged in
unloading a beer cask, when he slipped, and the cask, fall-
ing on his head, crushed it fearfully, death being instan-
taneous.—About the same time a miner, while working at
Ushaw Moor Colliery, was crushed to death by a sudden
fall of coal from the roof. Both men were married and leave
families.
"Any one glancing at recent issues of Indian papers
cannot fail to note how often and over what a wide expanse
of country deaths are recorded from cholera. From Can-
debar all down the Bolan Pass, along the shores of the
Indus, and in the fortresses of the Punjab, soldiers and
civilians alike fall under the fatal scourge. I hear, with
great regret, of the death at Lahore of a very able and
widely popular man, Surgeon Major A. Neil, professor of
anatomy and materia medics. in the Lahore Medical School.
Dr. Neil was preparing to leave for Simla on the '22nd July,
and was in perfect health on the forenoon of that day; early
next morning he was dead."—Mayfair.
In the year 1878, there were, according to a Parlia-
mentary return just issued, 109,460 houses licensed for the
sale of liquors to be consumed on the premises, in England
and Wales, being an increase on the previous year of 200.
The number of these houses having six-day licences was
3,174 (an increase of 45) ; the number having early-closing
licenses, 166 (one more than in the previous year); and the
number having both six-day and early-closing licences, 434
(an increase of three). In the counties the total number of
licences was 72,251, a decrease of 133 ; in the boroughs
37,083, an increase of 234; and in other districts 126, an in-
crease of one. 01 the six-day licences 1,945 were held in
counties, 1,225 in boroughs, and four in other districts ; and
of the early-closing licences 53 were in counties and the re-
maining 113 in boroughs There were 192 haulms having six-
day and early-closing licences in counties, 211 in boroughs,
and one in other districts.
The New York Herald publishes a letter from Tokio,
dated Aug. 12, which states that in the course of the inter-
view between General Grant and the Mikado, the ex
President of the United States referred to European policy
in the East, and said he thought British rule was for the ad-
vantage of the Indian people. He could not see what could
take the place of the British power but anarchy. There
were some things to regret, perhaps; but there was also a
great deal to admire in the manner in which India was
governed, but since he had left India he had seen things
which had made his blood boil in the way the European
Powers attempted to degrade Asiatic nations.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Sir Stafford
U. Northcote), who is Lord of the Manor of Id desieigh, North
Devon, attended the reopening of the parish church, which
of
his
has been partly restored at a cost of fifteen hundred pounds.
In connection with the ceremony there WAS a public dinner,
dn
at whtch he presided. In responding to thettopasosition of
health the right hon. gentleman referred to he
tshtaenCehinugrothhoofabEo He
he
orpoohin treadte
andt that
o th
other
t gwrietaht-
place of late
th yt e at rhea, the
urroeora
as
ei
than
g io
still
spirit of the nation survived, and
nligtlloanndo.f
changes which have taken
flapolurriitskheepdt, a:pd. wHouuldhecloinetfinwulestothflaotuitriswhasansolwonnag
ever likely that the spirit of the Church of England would
be maintained by the willing offerings of her own people.