The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-03-11 00:00:00

SATURDAY, MAR. 11, 1876.

removal of the market, insomuch that a place lately
let for £7BO would now only let for £lOO or less. Tney
had presented a memorial to the Common Council
claiming the distribution of the surplus. But the
council of the Corporation had given an opinion that
the fund was only applicable to the owniors or occupiers
of slaughterhouse, shambles, or places of a similar chit.
raeter, and that the places of the applicants were not
so. being places only for the sale of meat, not for the
killing of cattle. In other words, the council fur the
Corporation considered that shambles meant slaughter-
homes, not places used only for the sale of meat.
Under these circumstances

Mr. Wills, Q.C. (with Mr. F. AL White), moved on
behalf of the applicants, the memorialists, for a man-
dqmus to the Corporation to distribute the surplus in
their bands among them.
The Lord Chief Justice: The Corporation have pro-
ceeded on an opinion of counsel that the term
"shambles and other buildings" must be construed as
(jusdent generis with slaughterhouses, and surely the
term " shambles " means the same as slaughterhouses

Mr. Wills said such certainly had been his own im-
pression at first, and Shakespeare used the term in t hat
sense in the play of Henry IV., when he made one of
his characters say that he would not have the Parlia-
ment House made a shambles. But, upon referring to
the dictionaries and other authorities, he found that
the word was described as also used in the sense of
places for the sale of meat, and in the New Testament
it was so used, as in the passage in the authorised
version in which the Apostle spoke of eating anything
sold in the shambles.

The Lord Chief Justice: What is the derivation of
the word?

Mr. Wills, as to this, cited the following authori-
ties : Latham's "Johnson's Dictionary," 1870.
Shambles—(A.S. scamel—dresser, table) place where
butchers kill or sell their meat; butchery. "Richard-
son's Dictionary," 1837. Shambles.—A.S. Scamol—
a bench, a form, a footstool. Hence our modern
word of shambles, used as for the formes stalles, or
benches whereupon butchers expose their meat
(Somner). " Wedgewood's Dictionary of English
Etymology " Shambles Lat. Scamillus, dim, of
scamnum, a bench. It. scabello, old Fr. aschame,
eschamee, a stool. A.S. sceamol, a bench. Du.
schabelle, schaemel, a support, trivet, stool.
"Webster." Shamble (pl.) The place where
butcher's meat is sold; a flesh market. "As sum-
mer flies are in the shambles." Shakeveare.
"Richardson" quotes " Dampier's Voyages" an. 1688
—" As for horseflesh, I know not whether they kill
any purposely for the shambles, or whether they only
do it when they are not likely to live."
The Court granted a rule nisi.

skill.

THE DEANERY OF RipoN.—The Dean of
Ripon requests the Leeds Mercury to publish the fol-
lowing letter :
"Dear Sir,—l shall be obliged by your allowing me to,
state in your columns, in reply to the many kind inquiries,
which have been addressed to me on the subject, that I have
formally placed my resignation of the Deanery of Ripon in
the hands of the Bishop, and only await his acceptance of
the same to finally retire from the office. I have not taken
this step without both hesitation and regret. It is no slight
sacrifice to give up a position which so honourably recog-
nised past services and opened the way to so much future
usefulness. But the illness I have suffered from during the
last three months proves to be of such a nature as can only
be alleviated and retarded by the avoidance of bodily exertion
and public excitement, and as would disable me from fulfill-
ing some of the most important of the duties which such a
deanery as Ripon entails. These are not times when the
high places of the Church should be filled by men who are
incompetent to the work which they involve, and I have felt
that as I could not hope to do the duty I could not justly
retain the dignity and emolument of the position.—l re-
main, dear Sir, your faithful servant. SYDNEY TURNER.
Hempsted Rectory, Glocester, March 2, 1876."_ _ _ .

PENNY STAMPS.—In the year ended the 31st
of March lust the net revenue derived from penny
stamps sys. £747,301, being an increase of £14,143 on
the previous year.
-

PAVING BY PIG IRON.—Twenty different kinds
of paving have been tried in Paris; wood paving has
been judged, gutta-percha paving is too dear, in bitu-
men paving there is room for improvement, and now
paving by pig iron is to be tried in a few days. A bed
of mortar is first laid down, which is covered by a
strong layer of asphalte; it is in this layer that the
iron cakes, which are about four centimetres thick, are
set. These cakes, it appears, preserve the homogenitY
of the bitumen, and prevent its depression, and render
the asphalte less slippery for horses. This pavement
will cost more, assuredly, than the compressed asphalte,
but it is estimated that this mode of paving will save
50 per cent. upon the repairing expenses, which are.
very considerable. The end desired is to avoid, by the
adoption of a kind of pavement, the depressions in
roads over which a great deal of traffic passes. To
attain this, it does not suffice to pour bitumen upon a
well-prepared ground lightly covered with a coat of
lime, the ground must be well prepared; its resistance
should equal that of an old macadamised bank, and a
very thick bed of mortar, which should be very homo-
geneous, should be laid before the asphalte is laid.
A THREATENED INDIAN WAR.—A despatch
from Omaha, Nebraska, states that the Sioux,
Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians are making the most
extensive preparations possible for an outbreak in a,
very few weeks. They have been purchasing large
quantities oi ammunition avvi "
..d get th-e,,, • rar eotzth az the Indian terri-
; for eeia vuro. it has boea :icamiLtn for .4onie
Unie piit that tltt beat tlghtincr nicTr tt-e
a-el:toles and are /Tying in the 'nig 'owciDr River
uencentrr 'mg and art-
ranging forces for this war Th-te are at the agencies
and on the reservation only those who are too infirm
or disabled to be of use, and the families of these
Indians who have left. So far as is known dye
Indians will probably strike the frontier settlements.
and, unless something is promptly done, they will
do terrible work before they can be overpowered.

LINKS WITH THE PAST. —The Rev. Charles
J. Betham, M.A., Rector of Brettenham, Suffolk.
writes to The Times :—" Your review on February 29
of 'Prince Charles Stuart' Pays the Highlanders
under Lord George Murray, 'marching by Penrith,
Shap, Kendal, and Lancaster, reached Preston on the
27th of November.' Perhaps the following brief
narrative may interest some students of history and
tradition. My grandfather, Brian Betham (son of
Christopher), of Burton, near Kendal, where he was
born in 1732, well remembered walking about four miles
to see Prince Charles Edward marching at the head of
his army, and that the night before about eighty men
(chiefly Highlanders, who took much snuff) were
quartered on his father's premises—the officers in the
house, the men in the stables. &c.—and that one of the
officers left a dirk of value, but sent back for it neat
day. Christopher Betham, whose ancestors long lived
at Burton and Betham or Beetham, near Kendal, had
a small estate, and buried the title-deeds and other
things on the approach of the Stuart party; but the.,
latter behaved very well, and did no harm beyon,i
taking quarters. Lest it should seem strange tha ;
one not much beyond middle life should have only
one generation between him and a spectator of tie
rising, in 1745, I add these dates :—Brian Betham, vixig
1732-1808, buried in Townchurch, Peterborough; his
son Eiward, my father, vixit 1777-1861, buried at
Lincoln."

CONSUMPTION OF TOBACCO.—It appears from
the report of the Inland Revenue Commissioners that
the consumption of tobacco has gone on increasing from
the year 1841. In that year 23,096,281 pounds weight
was cleared in the United Kingdom, giving 13ioz. per
head of the population, and in 1874 the weight was
16,991,5901 b., being at the rate of 111 b. 7oz. per head.

"My EASTERN SUBJECTS.—We are autho-
rised to contradict the report that her Majesty's visit
to the East is connected with her assumption of an
Eastern title. Whitechapel was uppermost in our
sovereign's mind the day she opened the new wing of
the London Hospital. The Black Chap 'll get his turn
later on.—Fun.

BALLOONS IN TIME OF WAR.—The Gernian.
Staff has just published a report on the experiments ;it
has made since 1871, on the use of balloons in time of
war. The principal results are as follows :—AI.I
attempts to direct aerostats have hitherto failed; ,
however, hopes are entertained of being able to dis-
cover, before long, a means of ascending and descend-
ing without throwing out ballast or letting gas escape.
An expectation also exists of being able to renew the
provision of gas while travelling, and to produce it by 4 j
chemical means. Aerial machines ought not to have
very large dimensions, and the envelope ought to be ,
as dense and at the same time as light as possible.
THE BEECHER CASE. —The Philadelphia Cor-
respondent of The Times writes, under date February
22:

"The Beecher business has assumed a new phase. This
everlasting trouble, which debate, and controversy, and
lawsuits cannot settle, has now got into the hands of an
• 'Advisory Council.' A council of delegates from the Con-
gregational Churches of the country is now in session at
Plymouth Church, and is endeavouring to find out what all
the trouble is about with a view to its settlement. Therei
are about 160 delegates present from the various Churches,
and the sessions attract considerable attention. It is highly
probable, however, that this Council will have no better
' success than any of the previous effort: made to probe the
scandal and settle the difficulty. It is too much under
, Plymouth Church influence, and, as its decision will no
doubt favour Beecher, the other side will not submit.
Beecher almost daily make speeches in the Council pro-
testing his innocence and challenging his accusers. In
one of them he not only challenged the people of earth but
also the angels of Heaven, if they should appear at his
accusers. Last year's lawsuit, he said, cost him over
110,000 dolls., showing that the carrying on of this great
'scandal controversy has not been without expense. It will
be some time before the proceedings of the Council are
closed."
SEAMEN. —lt is shown by a Parliamentary
Paper just issuod that by the establishment in 1867 of
Naval Savings Banks encouragement was given to pru-
dent habits inthe Navy, and that deposits can be made
on board ship at n per cent. interest per annum. The
Secretary to the Admiralty reports "these banks have
been extensively used, and the last annual return
shows an amount of over 2100,000 standing to the
credit of about 8,000 depositors." The document
further states that tile characters of the seamen have
greatly improved, and drunkenness has very largely
decreased, being almost unknown among the elder men
and petty officers.
CELESTIAL CRUELTY.—The Chinese have a
lqard of Rites called which has lately published
edict to the effect that brides of mandarins are not
to wear more than eight ornaments (it says nothing
about bridesmaids, by the way). What would become
of our brides, and their chatelaines, locket; and
bangles, under such cruel sumptuary restrictions?
Li-psi Board of Rites, indeed! Had we anything of the
kind here, English daughters-in-love and Mothers-in-
law would call them a Board of Wrongs.—Punch.

AVERAGE PRICES OF BRITISH CORN.—The
following are the average prices of British corn for the
week ending Feb. 26, as received from the 'inspectors
and officers of Excise :—Wheat, 435. 3d.; barley,
33e. 4d.; oats, 245. 7d. per imperial quarter. Corre-
sponding week last year :—Wheat, 403. 10d. barley,
425. 11d. ; oats, 295. 7d. _ _

Y Is THIS ?—" Charity begins at home," says
the proverb, and, it might add, frequently ends there.
There is mighty little abroad of any kind, more people
being noticeable, both, in giving praise and money,
rather for their chary-ty, than their charity.—Fun.

JAPANESE WOMEN AS BARBERS. —Why not
extend the occupations of women to that of barbers?
The precedent for doing so may be found among the
highly-cultivated Japanese. As in a Japanese family
the shaving of the children's heads is a regular duty,
as imperatively customary as the Saturday night's
general ablutions are among families where Sabbath
and Sunday schools are old inwitutions, so nearly all
Japanese women acquire a deftness and delicacy of
tact with the razor that rival professional touch and
They can shave a chin as neatly as a pate.

A FASHIONABLE SPELLING BEE.-011 Thurs-
T (says the Standard) the Countess Combermers
3embled a large party of leaders of fashion at her

oldon residence, When a Spelling Bee was arranged.
ie interrogators were Lord Eliot and Mr. Knox, and
:e umpires Lord Guildford and Sir W. Fraser, M.P.
veral.- prizes were adjudicated, and the principal one
as gained by the Lord Mayor, who had for final
eponents, amongst others, Viscount Halifax, the
tight Hon. Robert Lowe, M.P., and Lord Hampton •
,A POINT UNSETTLED IN HISfORY.—Lucy (to
ier elder sister, who has jost been relating a thrilling
3ppode in the life of William Tell). "Anti was the
little bo.y. allowed. to eat the apple afterwards?
PESERTIONS FROM THE NAVY. —lt is shown
by. a return to Parliament issued recently that
in the year 1874-75 there were 1,441 desertions, of
which 1,178 were seamen and 263 boys being nearly
4 per cent. The number of seamen and boys borne
into the Navy that year was 36,320.
THE HEROINE or A ROMANCE.—Madame
Gay-Lussac, who has just died at an advanced age, was
the heroine of a romance (says the Court Journal.) In
thej year 1802 a student of the Polytechnic school
entered a shop to purchase some chemises. , He was
surprised at a beautiful young girl devouring a book,
arid asking what was its title, was informed "A
Treatise on Cheodstry." The collegian did not feel
like himself at all that evening, but was better when
he eallf,d next day to increase the order for his chemises
by another half dozen. Then he lost his handkerchiefs,
and tound an occasion to return to the shop; and still
aga4i to purchase cravats. To end the matter, he
learned the young girl was the eldest of three sisters,
who had courageously opened a shop to make a living
for her father and the family—who had lost his pro-
perty by the Revolution. He proposed, and wa
accepted ; and for fortune he had only twenty-eight
years and membership of the Academy. He was not
then either a peer of Franca or a celebrity. They were
hardly married some months when he was conveyed
home, his eyes nearly burned in his head from an explo-
sion in his laboratory. For twelve months he had to
keep his room, and could support only a feeble night.
light, by which his wile react to him. She was not only
beautiful, but witty, and distinguished in society. She
was her husband's private secretary, and her writing
could not be distinguished from his, Their honeymoon
illlitirgOrtf TOM

sard
: