The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-02-07 00:00:00

nlistellantous linttittgtnce.
HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONLAIk

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A 4LAND BILL FOR GREAT BRITAIN.—A Joint Con-
ftrence of members of the Scottish and English
Farmer's Alliances has been held in Aberdeen, when a
draft Land Bill for Great Britain was discussed and
adopted. Its main objects are to provide compenselc°
to tenants for unexhausted improvements, to set UPsa
Court to decide differences between landlords an
tenants, and to provide allotments of land for labourers.
.ANDIALS PoisoNED.—Several fresh cases of aninuds
being poisoned by arsenic and strychnine have occurred
in Kent. The poison is believed to have been laid for
foxes, but sheep and pigs have also been killed by it.
BOER AGGRESSION.—The" Daily News" learns frog;
correspondence received from the Transvaal that tbp
Boers have been for nearly a year planning an exPe.cl.l.,:
tion into Bechuanaland, north of the districts vall'':,
have lately been the scene of the freebooters' raids.
~.iti,'
is said that the intention is to organise a force of *.'"
or 1000 marksmen, who will, if possible, act with natic"
allies, in order to secure possession of some of the tea°
tories occupied by the BeehtlallbaribeS.
INDIAN POLICY.—Lord Dufferin (an Indian telegral
states), speaking the other night in Calcutta, said
the principles by which the policy of the li'
Government would be guided in the future, were these
ancient principles by which the British Empire had heen
founded and which had been successfully vindicated bY.
his predecessors, namely, that impartiality between all
classes and races which refuses to be irritated bi
criticism or cajoled by flattery, and the desi.e to 510!,,
among all the I-dian subjects of the Queen prospetl`.s.P
peace, contentment, health, and education. Free seen
would be given for municipal development, as well Pt;
every other privilege compatible with the effectiv,
government of the country. Lord Dufferin declate°
that he would sacrifice everything in order to binii
abcut these results.
EXCESSIVE BATRING.—The Japanese bathe to an
excess, using such hot water that fatal syncope is an:
occasional consequence, With the Japs the bath is "
sensuous luxury. On the other hand, their neighbsart
the Chinese, are never seen in the streams in whicl
their country abounds. The Malays and the natives 0,
Aden are many of them scarcely less than hurl°
ducks. The Ilindoos and Brahmins bathe--esPecislly
in the Ganges—as a religious exercise, smearing tile
body with oil first, if they can afford it.
LAST WEEK'S WRECKS.—Nineteen British and -15
foreign-owned vessels were reported as actual oil
wrecks last week, making the total for the year 19 '
Off the British Isles 16 (14 British-owned, one Italiai!•
and one Norwegian) were wrecked, five being Britiso
steamers of a total tonnage together of 1636 tons.
Four British sunk by collision off Great Britain; tbte°
(two British and one German) destroyed by fire at sell':
Ifive lives were lost. Corresponding week of last yeard
Wrecks, 128: total for the year, 277; British-0103U
86; off
.British coasts, SO; vessels with all hands, v '

lives, 240.
AVERAGE PRICES OF ERMSH CORN.••••The
are the average prices of British corn for last week,
received from the inspectors and officers of Elni_pse;
Wheat, 345. 6d.; barley, 325. id.;oats, 20s. 6d. rt,
imperial qr. Corresponding week last year.: Wl°
375. 9d.; barley, 325. 6d.; oats,l9s. 6d.
MISTAKEN IDENTITY.—The new Bishop of
was once taken for an excise spy. Dr. Temple, who 1,,
a great walker, had lost his way on a Devonshire rot
mad was very fatigued. Being overtaken by a fernier
gig, he asked for a lift, and offered to pay for it, addinf,
that he was the new Bishop of Exeter. "No 'j
said the farmer, as he gave his horse an extra RIP,
know who you be—you be an exciseman; I know 'ee
your gaiters." It ought to be explained that farraer,o
gigs pay no license when they are used for the 040erd
business. The bishop, however, trudged on,. an,,
finished his walk of about seventeen miles late in 1'
evening.
TRAGIC END OF A BRIDEGROOM.—A dramatic ail
to a wedding has just happened at Ciry-Salsogne, a
lage near Soissons. The wedding party were at breat,
fast, the bride sitting between her brother and broth
in-law, opposite her husband. Towards the close ef
repast the latter, who had drank copiously, asked lie
wife to sit by his side, which she refused to do.
thereupon threw a knife at her; she avoided tu.,
missile and ran from the room, followed by her WI",
band, and took refuge in a stable near by. Her ow;
relatives followed the couple and reached the Wt.',
time to prevent the infuriated 'bridegroom from stabbn4
his wife with a pocket-knife. Frustrated in this,
turned the weapon upon himself, and fell dead, 9ierc
with four wounds in the chest.
HEAVY PRICES FOR PlCTURES.—Rembrandt's pict4
"Le Doreur," has passed into American hands, a -I."f
York banker having purchased it of the Duke de g°.rliso
for £9OOO. The largest sum ever paid by an Americo
for a single picture was given by A. T. Stewart. 0,
Meissonier, for " 1807," one of the Napoleonic Oriel
The price paid for it was £12,000. Mr. Vanderbilt plie
the same painter still more recently £BOOO for,. It,
"Arrival at the Château," and the duty brought
cost up to about £lO,OOO. Millet's " Sower " cost obe,
Vanderbilt £5OOO, and Corot's "St. Sebastian' is uR
lieved to have cost Mr. Walters, of Baltimore, about tp
same amount. The duty on the Rembrandt wiP
nearly C3OOO. . Goa
VALUE OF PARIS SLUMS.—The city of Paris re tie
resolved to demolish a number of houses in the iltbe
des Filles-Dieu and the vicinity, situated in one a
most unhealthy neighbourhoods of Paris, inhabi7of
chiefly by rag-pickers and mendicants. The ownernsa.
the property claimed upwards of 9,000,000 f. (e36oaf,
for their inteiest. The city offered nearly 3,0°150.
(C 120,000 and the jury awarded a sum of 013,
One of the owners received as much as £15,500 as COr_...
pengation from which the "Builder" infers that tbilri
owning of unwholesome houses is not less profitable
Paris than it is in London.
COST OF AN ANCIENT MSS.—The Bill for designilg
and writing a manuscript in 1402 has just conic
light. The parchment, the writing, the
the silver nails gold-plated and enamelled, ink Agwi'e,
seventy smaller gold-plated silver-nails, a gold•Pisost,
silver aalsp, sky-blue satin, and binding, together, CO
according to present value. 932. 84c., the miniatli,er
alone costing 401 f. 85c. The missal is now no
extant, I°llP's-
extant, but it is called " pulcherrimum et elegant/
simum " in the bill."
THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.—The additions tO
—.gees
Zoological Society's Gardens during the past., wife
include a moose, from Russia, presented by Mr.
Hubbard; a goshawk, British, presented by Mr.
St. Quintin, F.Z.S. ; a pink footed goose, British/ r
sented by Mr. W. H. Fielden, C.M.Z.S. ; two yaks, fr°-
Tibet; six dunlins, British, purchased. f
AGRICULTURE AND THE TELEPHONE.—The use 0 A
telephone in agriculture is being tried in France.o•
large landowner in the Department of the Loire
established a regular circle of telephonic coinnlinbe
tion throughout the whole of his estates, using
largest trees as stations, and thus can simultane°'
direct operations in all parts of his domain.
•
AN EXPLORER'S EXPERIENCE.—Mr. E. F. lra f•
the explorer of British Guiana, has made another to
pedition to the interior of that colony with a vievible
ascend the Roraima Mountain. When he was last
to communicate with a friend in Georgetown'So
was in the early part of December, he had aseenort
slope of the mountain to a height of 5600 feet Øe
that it was a lovely spot, "a very garden of orchids
of most beautiful and strange plants." On his systicii
Roraima he passed through an Indian country in ri
he found an extraordinary state of things. ThPreof
-
no missionaries, but the Indians had built churehdor
their own, in which for six hours a day men, sc°l3loo
and childzen were engaged in perpetually repeating a
Ten Commandments and the Creed, while occasion!,,e
members of this strange congregation would iner'
the general discord by singing psalms or hymns.