The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-05-29 00:00:00

WHOSE "SUBJECT" SHOULD "KING
LANNEY" BE!

The death of Lariney, the last male aboriginal id
Tasmania, has already been announced. The colonial
newspapers call him 'King Lanney," although he
has for some time had no subjects; but the most
extraordinary part of his history has been the fight
over his remains.

Dr. Crowther applied to the Colonial Secretary for
the body, in order that he might send the skeleton to
the London College of Surgeons. The Colonial Sec-
retary had previously promised it to the Tasmanian
Royal Society, but Dr. Crowther was determined not
to be baffled by a mere official refusal. lie invited
the hospital suigeon, Dr. Stokell, to take tea at his
house. Dr. Stokell went, was kept in conversation
by Mrs. Crowther for a considerable time, but did not
see Dr. Crowther. Suspecting that he had been de-
ceived, he went to the hospital where he hail left the
body of Lanney, and found that sonic one had been
there, that Lanney's head had been cut elf, that
another body had been similarly treated, and that head
nomber two had been attached to Litany's body, and
covered with Lanney's scalp. Dr. Stokell thereutsin
cut off the hands and feet, and retained them for the
Royal Society, so that the burial service was read over
Lanney's trunk, footless and handless, and furnished
with another man's head. The mutilated remains were
subsequently removed from the grave, it is said, by
Dr. Stokell's orders.

—••---
But now comes what English people unversed in
colonial ways will consider the most curious part of the
story. Just at this time Crowther was a candidato
for the Upper House. He accused the Ministry of
getting up the tale against him tor political purposes.
He won his election, and at the declaration made a de-
fiant speech against the Government, which had sum-
moned him to appear before a commision appointed to
inquire into the facts, and acknowledged the capture
of the skull. His partisans took the horses out of the
cab in which he gat and drew him in triumph through
the streets. On the box sat a black man, while another
went through the pantomime of cutting off his head.

THE AGRICULTURAL CROPS OF 1869.

The following letter, from Mr. IL J. Turner, Rich-
mond, Yorkshire, appeared in The Times, of Tuer-
day :
• •

-
The seed of all our grain having been sown we Ate now
In a position to glance at our prospects for the coming har-
vest.
The weather lest autumn was favourable for farm culture.
and • greater breadth of hind than usual was eown with
wheat in • very satisfactory manner. The winter pre., I
mild, and where the ground had been 1., • ily eultir,te I
who it got good hob!, tittered well, WO i,t ftc crlo
April looked generally very promising. May brought us cold
north and east winds, and although upon first-el iss land
whem still maintains a vigorous appearance, yet upon mid-
dling and strong undrained clays the cold weather has 5.1,1
very injurbusly, and changed the colour of the plant from s
pleasant healthy green into a sickly yellow.
It is, of course, too early to form a precise opinion about
the wheat harvest; but two points may be reg aided as toler-
ably certain--there cannot be an early harvest, and the crop
on the average cannot be a great one.
Land worked tolerably well for the seeding of spring crops;
; though in sonic districts it was damp and sour, those crops
! have all brairded fairly.
Upon good old grass land there is plenty of food, and after
such a dry summer as last we may confidently look for
capital pastures if the season is at all favourable.
Potatoes have been largely planted. Swedes have been
extensively sown in the northern counties, but twe land wants
sunshine to make the seed braird strongly.
Some yearn ago, 1,10 The Times, ventured the opinion that
wheat would never again be dear, and beef would never
again be cheap.
The deplorable Civil War in America, by withdrawing the
labouring population from the cultivation of the sod; cut off
one of the chief foreign sources of our whe..t supply, and
our own crop proving a deficient one we raw w heat at a high
rate. There is no reason to expect a return of such circum-
stances. The great extension of railways in America and
Buena has rendered available the wheat grown in remote
districts whence it was previously impossible to get it con-
veyed to seaports; and, taking into consideration the
enormous quantity of grain which those and other countr,es
can now send us, it is safe to predict the ruling of low prices
for wheat, at any rate so long as peace prevail,
Beef cannot be increased in quantity like gram. Our own
supply of it is, and will always be, far below our 'ratite. The
population goes on rapidly increasing, and the tastes of the
working class, with better earnings, have changed into a
much greater desire for butcher's meat than torinerly, and
I see no probability of such food becoming lower in price,
though it might be slightly affected by the importation
of Australian mutton if it can be sent here ill lirge • luau-
titles, at a moderate price, and really fit for human beings
to eat.