The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-07-23 00:00:00

alliszellantons

NOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL

PASSPORTS FOR TUE CONTIVENT.—The follow-
ing notice has been issued from the Foreign Office,
dated July 16, 1870:—" War having been announced
between France and Prussia, British subjects proceed-
ing to any part of the continent are recommended to
provide themselves with passports before stetting out on
their journey, and to have them duly vise for the coun-
tries they propose to visit. [Chen follow the regula-
tions under which passports are issued by the Foreign
Offiate.]
AN AMERICAN EXAMPLE.—An American Cor-
respondent of The Times rays that " the Income-tax is
domed," the Senate haring "stricken by a decided
vote all the sections providing for its collection out of
the Tax- Bill." The provisions for the collection of the
Laconic-tax lathe United States must have been very
cleverly contrived if they in any measure answered
their purpose. Fancy a Yankee confessing the amount
of hie income in order to have it taxed. Tue machinery
required to make him do that must, ooe would think
be of a material nature. How much conscience
money, ant an average, is the American finance Minister
accustomed to receive in the course of a year ?—Punch.
A HARE- RUNT AT WISIBLEDON.—Between two
and three o'clock last Sunday afternoon, the camp at
Wimbledon, was treated to a veritable game of hare
and hounds. A real hare had found its way from
the Duke of Cambridge's preserves at Combe Wood,
and was observed not far from the Windmill and in the
open. To chase the startled creature poll mell pant
tents and through brushwood was the work of a few
secends, anal furnished employment for more able-
bodied men in aid out of uniform than could be counted
easily. The whole of the portion of the camp nearest
to where pour puss was seen was in a hurly burly on
the instant. The chase was fruitless, however, and
the bare succeeded in making its way to the Cora-
msnaler-in-Chief's groves, doubtless with the conviction
that it preferred the treatment it had Lithe, t received
hoot the regular army to the hot welcome accorded it
by Volunteers.
Dr SPECTFOLLY, BUT FIRMLY DECLINED ! —SOFRO
American entrepeneura wrote the other day to Mr.
Spurgeon to ask him to go to America sad lecture. His
reply was iharacteristic
Glentlemen,-1 am much obliged by your very courteous
letter, but yon are under a &stake lam not a lecturer.
now and then give a lecture for some good object. but I do
not do It well, and, moreover, have no ambition In that line.
I am very glad to preach, but not if there is any charge at
the door. Moreover, I have no kind of idea of tinting the

NEW INVENTION.—The ingenious application of
paper to various useful purposes, has been largely de-
veloped sines the duty was taken off that article of
commerce, and now we have got to "paper boys."
They may be seen, and heard in every street in Lon-
don. • - Punch.
FOREWARNED ! FOREARMED " Reserve"
writes :—" In soite of the wonderful shooting now
being made at Wimbledon, the Volunteer riflemen, as
at present arni.d. are practically useless. If the present
war leads to a vast European complication, and England
is drawn into it, any enemy to whom we may be opposed
will bs armed with breechloader.. The Volunteers
might, for all practical purposes. be almost as well
armed with papgans as with Enfield's when opposed to
breechloaders. Flame are now tOO,OOO Snider's in store;
the month of July should not ran out before every
effective Militiaman, and every efficient Volunteer
is armed with a Snider. Then, if Enfield,
Birmingham. and London set to work with a
will, all the Enfield!' worth anything could be converted
into Snidest during the next six weeks, and the number
of half a million Solders would be found in store again
before we begin to shoot partridges."
Trig FENIAN ()DEVICE Tuoteratur.—The exhu-
mation, on Thnraday in last week, of the body of Thump.
eon, the Fenian convict who died at Portland Yrisou,
crested a considerable stir among the islanders of
Portland. At the disinterment Cantsin Salter, the
deputy governor of the prissn ; Dr. Blaker, medical
officer ;and Mr. Hogan a friend of the deceased, were
present. The identification was c inducted in private,
some sailcloths being fastened to the entrance of the
stores, no as to exclude the gags of the public. The
body was transferred from its prison oerrments to a
wooden shell coffin with a piece of glass let into the
cover, so as to render the face if the corpse visible.
The shell was enclosed in a leaden coffia, which was
placed in an oaken coffin covered with blank cloth,
bearing this inscription on a black shield i—
t. William P. Thompton, died June 28, 1970 ; eyed 3?.
'ears"

- - -
The lid was adorned with a black cross and an urn.
The coffin was placed in a strong desl tics and con.
veyed by the Lot train from Portlacd en routs for
1301 f sat.

TWO A. 1.1•1•3 ITOft Rousts. —The Augusta Chro-
nicle. anti &Wind learns that a planter neat- Midway,
in South about seventy miles from Augusta,
has cultivated his entire farm this year. at far at least
as plou.diing is concerned, with an alligator. The
animal is an unusually large one—weighs 350 pounds—
and is perbctly docile and demmiticated. He is said
to work splendidly in plough harness, and is far
superior to mules or horses. He is also very service-
able no rice plantatiote, tut bas a penchant for eating
for his dinner usually a little nigger, and consequently
the introduction of the alligator for farming purposes
is not general where the imcial element is of the
coloured persuasion. _

Tnx SUN D al' TRADING BILL. —" Sunday
Tyranny and Foul Bigotry" was the heading of a
placard, posted all over London, inviting working men
to attend an openmir meeting in Hyde Park last Sun-
day, and protest against Lord Chelmsford's Sunday
Trading Bill, but whatever that class may feel upon
the subject their feeling was very little manifested on
Sunday, for the working men, whose cause the speakers
advocated, were rendered "conspicuous by their
absence." The demonstration took the form of three
meetings, which collectively commanded an adlience
of some 200 persons, who lustily cheered each speaker,
and agreed with everything submitted with an en-
thudasm peculiar to each gatherings. That which to
all appearance was the principal meeting was addressed
by several speakers, from the trunk of what was knuwn
amongst the reform leaguers as the "Reformer's Tree."
The Sunday Trading Bill was characterised by them
as an interference with the privileges of the working
people generally, and especially of those who had as it
were to exist by accident, many of whom, it was urged,
worked up to the latest hour on Saturday night, and
could only make their purchases on Sunday.; and if
leguilatore who knew little or nothing of the habito and
necessities of the class for whom they were legislating
were to pace such shill, it would inflmt a cruel hardship.
The resolutions adopted by each of the meetings were
as follow :
That this meeting Indignantly protests against Lord
Chelmsford's 'Sunday Trading Bill,' now lettere Parliament,
as snhvereive of all the social linerty of the eubjnet, tyran-
nical in the extreme, and °weed to morality. Justice, and
the personal rights of • free people; and authorises the
chairman to sign a petition to that effect." That in the
opinion of this meedeg the obsolete and tyrannical act of
Charles IL relating to Sunday tra.liog ought to he expunged
from the statute hook and authorities the chairman to sign
a petition to that effort."
AN INDEPENDA DONESTIC.—At the Foam.
Sheriff Court, on Friday, a farmer named DalgettT,
sued a girl named Mary Mare, for £2 damages, caused,
she having deserted his service, after being engaged as
a dotnestic servant for six months. The girl being
under age, her father was also summoned. The fol-
lowing conversation twit place in the course of the
haring :
Defender (sharply:- I never got good milk. More nor
thus, i never got peace to work my work, and I slid not get
sufficient meat flora Laughter. ) William Starr
Vitae iden's tatheC: I think, tnysel', farmers sad be lookit
after t' see that they meat their foulk. They've inspectors
for look te after diseased lieu', but I'm sure there's as
muukle need for them to look att'r the farmers ta see that
they meat their I. Mr —(Laaghter I Purees,:they're no
that 11l at Makin' after themselves.— Itvuewed laughter.) The
Sheriff: What have you to emit to this, Mary? What was
yotir bargain? Defender: I "greed "to bile sut months for
g 5 55 I "greed" to work on and In, and do everything I
was bidden—(laughtee—Vlii "greed" tor sufficient meat,
and with a look at the pursuer) I didn't get In The She, iff
What did you get? Pursuer: I gat a Wattle' o' tail aod
two or three bits o' pork who'll a; dinner time, and I got
milk to my porridge, anti it was " bleased."—(Laughter.)

Alter some further evidence, the Sheriff held the
pnrsuPr's case proven, and gave the decree asked for
witU expenses.

nut;cc LEOPOLD.—The Prom of Vienna gives
some informstion from a "well-informed and impar-
tial" source about Prince Leopold. He is, it says, an
amiable, unassuming man, without the slightest pride
of race. He ALIA his brothers, Charles and Anthony,
were brought up very strictly by their father. They
chose the military career; Leopold hip:risen to the rank
of colonel in the Prussian regiment of guards. but he
never showed much liking for the army. His great
hobby is science, and his philosophical and historical
studies at Diisiteldorf, Berlin, and Potsdam PO aboorbA
his attention that he abatained almost entirely from
the diversions and pleasures of his comrades. He has
always been very popular with his subordinates on
account of his considerate and unassuming disposition;
and though extremely gallant to lsdies, he has never
been PO att tched to any one as tit his mother. The
great wrath of their father enabled the princes to
satisfy every voi,,h, cotwithetandieg which tatty live in
the simplest manner. Prince Leopold, like his father,
isa liberal in politico.
. . . . .

6LionT,.v it,sar !—A gentleman visiting the
Ukraine writes home to a friend the following iotereat-
log fact suggestive of a new method of popping the
question 1--
noineiimee the lord of a village in the lAralue giyesthepes
slots a Miner, before his dricir, and he arid his fa thy join in
It. Althi ugh the peasants ere serfs, they hove possessed
from very early times the right of carrying MY any young
woman they like from tie dances not sven macput g the
daughters of their lord, nod if they do this with sufficient
dexterity, and are able to conc-4d themselves for four,and
twenty hours In the thick woods around the village, they
are at liberty to marry the young woman but It within
Shot period they are discovered, the young man le beheaded
without InUch ceremony. This la rather a dangerous game,
but my hif Iniant tells me that many run the_rlsk.."

_
Tau Curiae& MURDYAER.— On Friday aftei -
noon Alderman Sir J. Coniston and Mr. Patereon, the
sheriffi of London, went to the cell of the prisoner
Miller, who WM et ntencEd to death ior the murder of
the Rev. Mr. Rental, ev.nmpanied by the Rev. Mr.
J..11,e, the ordinary, and Mr. Jonas, the governor of
Negate, ana notified io bun that the orntence passed
upm him would be carried into effect or Monday
morning, the let August, at eight o'clock. He did not
appear to be at all affected by the information, and
went MO C rambling statement, the effect of which
was that he wto p.f cily innocent of the murder of
Mr. Lttuin or h, hous.-0.-rper, and he declared that
he had been convicted upon what he called perjured

testimony. He appeared to be desirous o! acting in
the same way as Tropmann the murderer of the Kinck
family at Pantin, and to feed it to be inferred that
some other person had committed the crime, and that
he had acted under the instructione of that person.
The sheriffs of course did not put any questions to the
prisoner, or do anything to induce him to make a
statement, and they merely explained to him that it
was their duty to inform him when the execution
would take place. The prisoner again asserted his
innocence, and eAid that Jesus Christ was convicted
upon perjured testimony, and so was he. He went so
far as to name the person whom he accused of employ-
ing him, and coolly arserted that he employed him to
get the man Piper to carry away the box, and that he
was ignorant of what it contained. The prisoner has
not been visited by any one since his conviction. He
is. of count., never left alone, a warder of the prison
being with him both day and night.
SUICIDE IN A RAILWAY CARRIAGE.—On Satur-
day sight, a man, dressed in entirely new clothes,
having in his poem-salon a ticket from Stroud, cut his ,
throat in a third-class carriage as the train was enter-
ing the Worcester railway station. There were five
women in the carriage. When the train stopped two
'porters seized him, and after a severe struggle threw
him on the platform. He had lost &quantity of blood,
but being a muscular man, the fight was terrible. A
surgeon WM in the train, but his aid was of no avail,
and the man died in about twenty minutes. Upwards
of £4O was found on his person, and a gold watch, en.
graved "John Pearse, 1870," but no papers by which
he can he identified. His hat bears the maker's
name, " :ardner and Son, Stroud."
BOY CLEF:KW:IIPS, &C., IN THE POST-OFFICE.—
The conditions are published on which applications for
boy clerkships in the savings bank and circulation de.
Partments, and far situationa am boy newspaper sorters
and boy telegraph messengers in the General Post.
office, may be made. They mast he by candidates
personally at the office of the Civil Service Commis.
nioners, Cannon-row, on any week-day except Satur-
day. between eleven and four o'clock. The limits of
age for the situations are from thirteen to sixteen.
Candidates at the time of their application will be re-
quired to give certain proofs of their qualifications, and
if these should be satisfactory to the Civil Service
Commissioners, and the candidate appears to be
within the limits of age, be will have to attend at the
General Post-offics to be examined an to his physical
qualifications. Upon general approval his name
! will be sent to the Commissioners to be put upon
, the list for the next competitive examination.
! The latter examinations will be held about every
two months. In the case of the Savings Bank Depart-
ment the salary is £BO a year, rising £5 annually to
£5O ; in the Circulation Department £45, rising to £80;
newspaper sorters Os. to Vs. a week, and telegraph
messengers ss. a week. One of the conditions of all
the appointments is that the employment will not give
any claim to superannuation, gratuity, or other allow-
ance under the Superannuation Actg.

TasNIIIB of 1871.—The bill to provide for
taking the Census of 1871 has been published. After
providing that every reciatrar's subdistiict shall be
formed into enumerators' divisions according to in-
structions to be furnished to the local registrant and for
the appointment of fit and proper persona as enume-
rators in each district, it goes on to provide that papers
shall be left at every dwelling house to be filled up by
the occupier, "with particulars of the name, sex, age,
rank, profession or occupation, condition, relation to
the head of the family, and birthplace of every person
who abode in the house on the night of Sunday, the
let of April, 1871. stating whether any were deaf,
dumb, or blind." The papers will be collected during
the week. The Secretary of State is to obtain, "by
such ways and means as shall appear to him best
adapted for the purpose," returns of portions travelling,
or on shipboard, or not in houses. Those who refuse
information or make false returns will be subjected to
pecalties varying from one to five pounds.
Soon Up AND Down !—The Lill in Consols last
week was by no meacs so great as the depression which
has taken place on some previous occasions when ex-
traordinary intelligence has come to hand. When the
news of the French Revolution arrived on February
23,1848, the funds, which had opened at 89, fell to 881
and at the intelligence of the Ring's flight to 85}. On
the following Monday thee opened at 811 to 811, but
afterwards fell to 795, the lowest Point reached during
the exctement. At the news of the coup d'Ogat, 2nd
December, 1851, Consols fell from 98/ to 961 ; after-
wards rising to 99. During the month of 1854, the
declaration of war with Rnasia caused the funds to
fluctuate between 911 to 851. In the first week in
November, 1857, in the height of the monetary crisis,
Consols fell from 891 to 87/. On the resignation of the
Palmerston Ministry. in February, 1858, the funds
dropped from 971 to 96, but speedily recovered. On
April 28, 1859, on the intelligence that war was in-
evitable between France and Austria, the funds
fell from 93:: to 881, and within twenty-four hours the
depreciation in the value of stocks and shares was
estimated at £50,000,000 sttrling.

NOT MORE FREE THAN WELCOME.—" A free
breakfast table" sighed Mr. Punch as he laid down
his newspaper and chipped his second egg, " Ah, that
will be when one is free to eat one's breakfast without
having to wade through a Parliamentary debate "
Punch.

THE DICKF24B FAIIILT.—With respect to Mr.
Dickens' family it may be news to many (eays the
Court Journal) to hear that he had ten children' (eight
of whom are living,) namely, two daughters and eight
eons. Of the eons one is in the Royal Navy, and now
stationed at Valparaieo ; one in India, and two eheep-
farming in Australia, near Melbsurne. Toe youngest
of the eomi is at college, and the eldest is now the con-
ductor of Al! the Year Bound. Of the daughtors, one
is married to Chsxles Collins. brother of Wilkie Collins.
She is the heroine of Millale famous painting of the
"Black Bruns vicker." The unmarried daughter, like
Miss Thmkeray, is a novelist of more than average
talent, her hest known works being "Aunt Margaret's
Trouble,'" Mabei's Progress," and "Veronica." The
beit and largest photographs of Dickens were taken in
America, and a large supply of them is daily expected
in England.