The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-02-21 00:00:00

HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

A Cuntous FAcr.--During the present month thefts
will be no full moon. This curious fact happens °nl/
every nineteen years, and hence will not take Pl&ce

again till 1904. -
unc of
AN Arraoß PRlNCE.—Prince Arisugawa,
the Mikado of Japan, who recently came to Europe to
represent his nephew at the coronation of the Coif
has.p9bliehed in Japan a diary of his travels in Europe
le

_
cod America. •
SCULPTURED ANGELS.—The following little stol
draws an interesting light on the spirit in which seree.
ot the so-called sculpture in connection with ecclesi:
Rh' ical architecture is carried out by the carving firni,' .
who supply statues of the proper saints at SO 11111c0.! ,
heed. A dignitary of the church, looking on at tne
work of a carver os a restored church front wished b?
infoim himself of the cost of such work. "Why, that
depends," was the reply; you see they are so different
now, one like that David there runs into a heal,
money—'arps and that like makes 'em ever so deal"_
The questioner tried again with "Well, then, what on: ,
11u .
Nou suppose those angels would come to ?" "011,
I don't think nothing of angels; we turn them out by the
, 4 .zen."—" Builder."
'v,,r ,
INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION—The " Lcndon Garei_s,
announces that the Lords of the Committee of Council'
on Education have received information, through ber
Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs, that an industrial exhibition will be held frail' ,
July to November next in the Palais de l'lndustrier
I'aris. The exhibition will embrace three foreignd
, si ctions, devoted respectively to England,Belgiure, an
I Italy.
f
CENSUS STATISTICS.—Of the 3,515,000 inhabiL:s an-sao-
the Kingdom of Bavaria about 2,100,000 are subject to
the Bavarian Code, 648,000 to the Code Napele°u
(which is the law of the Palatinate), 450,000 to the
Code of the Bishopric of Wurzburg, 321,000 to the Cede
of the Principality of Beyreuth, 2600 to the Austrian
Code (which is in force at Redwitz), 200 to the Soin* -
Statutes, and 100 to the Code of Coburg.
liEacuLEs.—A fine bronze statue of Hercules, in 1
perfect state of preservation except a clean fracture
across the legs, has been discovered in the course of the • .
,Nnlks connected with the building of a new theatre in
the Via Nazionale, immediately adjoining the Garden! -
of the Colonna Palace, Rome. It is therefore,
able that it belonged either to the Baths of Constantine .
or to Hadrian's Temple of the Sue, which stood lie° .
each other at the corner of the Quirinal Hill. Tile
statue measures upwards of six feet in height. '
ch
PLANTS.—To the number of curious plarats, su es'
the carnivorous and fly-catching plant, a new specimen
has lately been added, which is described as the travel' .
ling plant. It is said to be one of the lily of til! '
valley species (Convallaria polyganatum) and has a reel' ,
formed of knots, by which it annually advances ahjnyt
an inch distant from the place where the plant N./astir°
rooted. Every year another knot is added, which &se'
the plant further on, so that in twenty years' time the -.
'plant has travelled about twenty inches from its origin,'" -
place _ L.:
_ _
TAIT SCHOLARSHIPS.—ShortIy after the death Or ',
Archbishop Tait a sum of about £2OOO, subscribed- bl ,
his Rugby pupils, was handed to the governing hocil
~f Rugby School, with the request that it might be
applied to the foundation of one or more scholar:
ships or prizes, to be awarded annually, under Boer
conditions as might from time to time be deterrahrr
provided that they should always be associated vothi;
the name of the Archbishop. At a recent meeting °
the soverning body it was resolved to found two
" Archbishop Tait Scholarships," one of £35 for the.
sixth form, the other of £25 for the rest of the school,'
each tenable for one year, and not more than once b , -
, the same boy, to be awarded after examinations in
Divinity, (b) Greek. The examination is to include (gt.
the English bible, especially the historical parts, with
specified portions of the Greek Testament, and for the
junior scholarship only, portions of Milton's pnein97;
and (b) translation from and into Greek prose.
OLD RECORDS.—The old records of the countY 0f .
Middlesex, preserved at the Sessions House, Clerk
well, had until about two years ago been packed swi‘r '
in a very inadequate space, and were generally in a con-
dition which made any examination of them impessz'
:s1
ble. Application was recently made to the Historicz'
Manuscript Commissioners, who directed Mr. Cordi
Jealtreson to inspect and to report upon the records-
The documents have now been arranged, labelled, sn::"
indexed, and deposited in a newly-constructed ninnir
merit room, where the full extent and value of the
,00'-
lection can for the first time be seen. The record beglll'„.
in the third year of Edward VI. The sessions ror,
form a series covering the successive years from 1-s°` •
and
complete except as to a few in the earlier
Mr. Jeaffreson says that they are of unusual
owing to the practice of the clerks of the Middiesefr .
justices;, who used to append at the foot of each recer
nisance a note of the matter to which it referred. 1 ...
TUB PRESS.—There are now published in the rrn''''';' '
Kingdom 2052 newspapers, distributed as follor: i
England—London, 405; provinces, 1-5.02. Wales,.
Scotland, 184; Ireland, 161 ; Isles, 21. Of these tn_ere'
are 132 daily pipers published in England, 5 in Wax':
20 in Scotland, 15 in Ireland, and one in the Brigs" ,
Isles. On reference to the first edition of the" New°.
paper Press Directory," for the year 1846, we find the ,
following interesting facts—namely, that in that yeal,,,
there were published in the United Kingdom
iournals; of these 14 were issued daily—namely, 12 '"'" '
-England and 2 in Ireland; but in 1885 there are no(
established ana circulated 2052 papers, of which °O,,
fewer than 173 are issued daily, showing that the Pre,_7,
of the country has nearly quadrupled during the in
30 years. The increase in daily papers has been
more remarkable, the daily issues standing 173
14 in in 1846. The magazines now in course of ptibliesi :
tion, including the quarterly reviews, number 1298,49
which 335 are of a decidedly religious character, re9re.
senting the Church of England, Wesleyans, Method-O°Y,
Baptists, Independents, Roman Catholics, and other ,
Christian communities.
NEW PAPER.—A Vermont newspaper, the " illist;
-
land Daily Herald," is entirely printed on paper
from sawdust, the product of Mr. Pond's roller ntura: '
ma thine, by which sawdust, shavings, ohips, and pie°ei ''
of wood can be made with great rapidity into a pelPv-
clear, fine fibre. This machine will also manipulate PP; :
stalks of cotton, sugar cane, wild hemp, &e., st tbe '
rate of from two to three tons of &lir pulp per dienii- '
The resulting pulp is far superior to any other
wood pulp, because the fibre is preserved intact, err
the cellulo...e is left with it, giving it great strengw,....'
softness, and pliability. The tensile strength Frt.'',
square inch of newspaper, which contains from 52„7
70 per cent, of ground wood pulp, is from 81b. to 1.„...'"..4.
and stands a test of 171 b. to the square inch, showl","*.
that it is much stronger than paper made from One-
third rags. As all kinds of paper can be made fronl -
this pulp without the addition of rags, cotton, or intl6: '
it can be marufactured at a reduction of from 30
per cent. of the present cost. The unbleached puljr°
also u3elul for wrapping paper, and is equal in cell '
and strength to the best manilla. The woods nng,,'
adapted to the process are the soft woods, surii,`;
spruce, fir, pine, poplar, and hemlock, the latter maii_A,l°'•
the strongest fibre being quite equal to jute in strengr
Besides the manufacture of paper, the pulp can also
utilised for wood ware, such as pails, barrels, and rlionly-'
ings.
..