The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-11-24 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.
A journal announces that the King of the Belgians
has purchased large tracts of land in Morocco 21 d
Tunis, with the intention of causing thew to bi cu;ti-
vated.

The report of the Maneluster Free Library for the
year 1882-3 rtates tviat daring the year t'le enormous
number of 2,300,0L0 visite have been made by the
publig to the various libraries' and news rooms, and
that 1,191,588 volumes have been used either for
keruss.l at home or in the rooms.
Four notorious Birmingham pugiliets have ju-t
quitted the town to carry out a tour in the United
States, where they will give exhibitions of boxing. All
their expenses are gusranteed, and in addition they are
to receive 2) dole. a week each.

On Monday night an unusual performance touk
place at the Court Opera House, at Vienna, where nil
the members Lf the Imperial family and met cf the
aristocracy a.-embled mit.ll?°B & LEW l-cllet
" rne written ny .he Aloodus.e Johann,
who rectntly delivertd a lecture on drill.
Intenigence from Galway says that,* vat containing
neatly 3,000 gallons of water hurst in Perm Distillery
the other night, &lug a considerable amoont of
damage. Two men were washed down a cellar, and
two others against a wall 1./ft, distant, being serionsly
jured. Another man saved himselt

Last week's receipts of cotton at all United States
ports were 240,000 bales ; since Ist September,
1,065,000 balm Wetk's exports to Great Bran.
119,000 .bales ;to the Continent, 87,e00 baltP. Total
siflos, let September, 977,000 bales; stock at all p(Ati,
849,000 bales.
Mr. Mundells, speaking at l's_L.:erborouglt on Monday
night, referred to the past Session, and expressed his
surprise that so much had been done. As to the
future, he said that the reforms needed were so
numerous that the only difficulty WAH choice, but he
thought that the County Franchise and the Municipal
Reform of Loudon were inevitable.

Some surprise has been caused by the fact
which has just transpired that the Electrical Exliihi•
tion at Vienna instead of realising a profit, has a
deficit to contend with. The deficit is supposed to
exceed 30,C0J florins.
In Lendon, at the Central Criminal Curt, John
Underhill, 25, a Post-office letter carrier and sorter,
pleaded guilty to four inuictments charging him with
stealing letteis containing stamps and other articles,
and he was sentenced to five years' penal servitude.
Mary Anne Johnson, 22, was convicted of forging an
order for the withdrawal of a Post-office Savings' Bank
account, and she was sentenced to twialve months'
hard labour.

Tuesday night's London Gazette contained a notifica-
tion to the effect that the Lords of the Council, under
the Metropolis (Foot•and-Muth Disease) No, 2 Order
of 1181 had granted a license for holding, under the
direction of the Swithfield Ciub, the cattle show at tbe
Agricultural Hall on the 10th, 11th, 121 h, 13th, and
14th days of l'ecenther.

In London, on Tuesday evening, a banquet was
given at the Cannomatreet H t 4 to Alderman Hadley
by the Rail aav Office,* and Strvanta' Association.
The chair was taken by Lord Alfred Spencer Churchill,
ho, in connecqon with the toast d the evening,
presented to the worthy alderman a silver cup sub•
scribed for by 5,000 railway servants, members of the
association.

The traffic receipts of the railways; in the United
Timedem for the week ending Nov. 16, upon a m,l. age
of 16,(127i. amount to £1,282,;486, belng equal to £773.
per mile. For the corresponding week or last year the
receipts were £1,251,517, the number of miles open
16,422 i, or £75 4e. per mile. A comparison of the two
weeks shows an increase in the total receipts of
£30,869, and an increase in the number of miles open
of 204.
Mr. William Isaac Palmer, a member of the well-
km.wn b'scuit firm of Huntley and Palmer, Reaiinv,
has made the mun'tient contribution of £15,00
towards the cost of the new Town-hall and connected
buildioes at Reading. This ie if t is in addition to Mr.
Palmer's former donat'on a £5,000 and to the contd.
bution of 3:5,000 riven by his firm, repre.enting
togetiwr the sum of 225,C00.

A horsPkeener. named Edwin Daviß. employei at
the Nunnery Colliery, Sheffield, met with his death in
a frightful manner on Monday. Fraying finished his
work he was in the act of getting into the ca4e wben
from some unexplained cause the ropes were stt in
motion, and Davis was cut to pieces between the cage
and the conductors. The deceased leaves a widow
and seven children.

Mail advice s received from Lima state that a column
of Chilian troops on ite way to Aylencho encountered
a body of 4,000 Indians, of uhum 700 were kill4d in
the engagement which ensued,
iheße-tv 'ferny' ilutral Railway freight sheds In
Jersey C•ty, New York Harbour, have been partly
deetroyed by fire, the lo•ii being eetimAted at 100,000
dole,

'lntelligence from Bojln, in the Bukowins, an.
nounces that the cavalry barrack' at that Lilac bavA beau
de%stroyed by tire. F rty horses perished in the flames,
and twent, others were seriously injured. The soldiers
escaped unhurt.
The American exports of maize .in October were
4,845,371 bushels, against 1,C05.775 in October, 1882; •
wtei,t exports were 6,587,728 bushels, against '
10,043,247. .
Major H. Platt, the firBt May of Batigor under •
the new charter of incorporatibn, has 'presented the '
Town Council with the Mayoral chain Iwnd two silver
maces.

The Bishop of London has addressed a letter to the s
Lord Mayor of London, thankingtis lordship for his
resolution not to attend Sunday services in state, and
expressing his belief that there is no advantage in the
custom to justify its observance.

All the Bronghty Ferry fishing fleet were lately":
provided with cans of oil, and at a meeting on Satur-
day several fishermen said that it had been of great
service. A large steamer in course of aonstruCtipn at •
Dundee is being fitted with a tank to ciontilln.l2o
gallons of oil, to be used when passingthrongt a heavy
sea, lowering a lifeboat, or other eznergeiicies.

A 'terrible crime is reported from Glencove, Long
Island. Two women, a mother and daughter, aged'
respectively 76 and 36, have been found dead, havbig
been strangled, it is supposed, by thieves.
A steamer has been destroyed by fire on the Missis-
sippi River, with 3,564 bales of cottein on board. It
feared that several deck passengers perished. The loss
is estimated at 250,004.) dole.
At Sioux City, lowa, the police have cut down the
telegraph poles and wires because the telegraph oom-
panies did not do it in obedience to a corporation ordi-
nance.

Sir Saul Samuel, K.C.M.G., Agent• General for
New South Wales, has been informed by telegram
of the saris, in Sydney of the ship Star of India,
which sailed from Plymouth with emigrants in August
last,

Mr. Gladstone has arranged to receive a deputation
of working men from Derby at Hawarden Castle in
the third week of December, when a presentation will
be made to the Prmi.r of a costly dessert service, sub-
eoribed for by the Liberal working men of Derby.
Tile American railways have begun using the new
standard time ; setting their clocks by the 75th, 90th,
and 105 h meridians west of Greenwich, so that the
variation will baby hours only.
The London Schced Board have given notice to pur-
chase the nece•,,ary houses and lands as sites for 39
new schools to he erected in the several divisions in
Middlesex and Siirrey, and 33 enlargements, being in
all 72 new school buildings, for which upwards of 500
houses and other tenements, and nearly 2,000,000 feet
of land, or upwards of 42 acres, will be required.
Of every 100,000 inhabitants of Scotland, 395 are
engaged in the production of books (as printers, pub-
lishers, bookbinders, ), 41 in the production of
prints and mays (including lithographers and plate-
printers), and 335 in the manufacture of paper.
The Queen has now in flower at the Royal Gardens,
Windsor, one of the finest and largest collections of
chrysanthemums that has ever been grown there, com-
prising over 400 varieties. The plants are arranged in
a newly-built conservatory, in which there are over
2,000 plants of the old and new varieties.
•
A telegram, dated Douarnenezf Brittany, Nov. 20,
say. ;—Last evening a boat used for conveying women
home from the factories capsized, and seventeen of
them, together with a boatman, were drowned.
A telegram from New York states that the first
bard frost has just set in. The thermcmeter has
registered from fifteen to forty degrees below zero
throughout the North-West.
During the Queen's stay at Balmoral her Majesty's
health has improved considerably ; the walking powers
are in a great measure restored; but the Queen cannot
yet take long walks, or stand long, or go up steep
stairs, which has prevented her Majesty from attend-
ing Divine service at all at the Parish Church of
Crathie this year.

Tbe City Council of Toronto has decided by a
majnity of three-foutths to petition the Legislature
in favour of granting municipal and Parliamentary
franchise to wotnen.

Paris a:lvices state that, notwithstanding that pun.
chasers have maintained an attitude of considerable
reserve, wheqt quotations have been supported at
nearly their former level. There has been a slight
improvement in flour at Paris. In the ..?rench ports
business has remained extremely quiet.

Another attempt is being made in France to intro-
duce the payment of poital orders at the house of the
receiver, instf,ad of obliging the public to go to the
post-office for money sent by post,

The total number of beasts entered at the Metro-
politan Cattle Market for consumption for the week
ending Saturday last was 3 540; in the correspond.
ing week of 18R2. 3,710; 1881, 2,940; 1880. 4,100;
1879. 4,460; 1878, 5.620; 1877, 3,670 ; 1876, 6,760;1875,
6,360; and 1874, 6,790.
Intelligence has been received at Kirkwall that
several fatal accidents have occurred at the Faroe
Islands, lying between the North of Scotland and
Iceland, by which no fewer than ten lives have been
lost. One boat lost one man, another lost two, and a
third seven men. The boats were all of the class that
prosecute the cod fishing on the coast, and as several
of the men were married and leave widows and fami-
lies the loes has been keenly felt on the islands.
At Nottingham on Saturday an inquest was held on
the body of a lady named Simpson, whose death had
resulted from injuries caused by the ignition of her
dress by a benzoline lamp, which had been placed on
the kitchen table. The deceased, finding her clothing
on fire, rolled herself on the dining•room rug, and
then ran into the street, where a man extit guished the
flames with his overcoat. A verdict of accidental
death was returned.

From April Ist to -the 17th iroitant the Exchequer
receipts amounted to £50,443,092, as compared with
£49,845,137 in the corresponding period of last year.
The expenditure has been £52,007,225. On Saturday
last the balance in the Bank of England was
£3,470,345, and in the Bank of Ireland £1,233,41.2,
On Saturday night an engine and tender fell over
the embankment of the Loi.don and North-Western
Railway, Oldham. The driver, finding the signals
right, went ahead along the siding, and the copse.
quence was the end of the siding was knocked down.
The driver and stoker jumped off without sustaining
serious injury.

Dilly on Sunday morning much alarm was created
at the Vitoria Dock, Hartlepool, owing to the dis-
covery that the Echo on er Anapira was on fire. She
wts boarded by the police, and they roused the cap-
tain and the mate, who were sleeping in the cabin ;
Toe tire, which had broken out in the forecastle, was
extinguished, and, on descending, the only one of the
cr.w sleeping therein, Alexander Henderson, a mar-
riei man, belonging to Wick, was found dead from
suffocation.

A singular scene was witnessed at Nuneaton on
Saturday right. The brooks had been largely swollen
by heavy raine, when suddenly large volumes of water
from the direction of a place known as Wagh-lane,
poured into the market place. Numbers of stalls
were converted into islands, and there was consider-
able excitement and inconvenience, not only amtng
the stall keepers, but also among those who were at-
tending the market. The flood subsided In the oeurse
of a short time.

A. New York telegram says that the visible supply
of wheat on Nov. 16 was 30,800,000 bushels, as against
31,10 I,COO bushels the previous week. Visible supply
of Indian corn 9,600,000 bushel', as against 10,300,000
bushels the previous week. The export clearances of
wheat for Europe during last week amounted to
1,250,000 bushels. The export clearances of Indian
corn for Europe during last week amounted to 660,000
bushels.

At the Liverpool as4zes on Saturday, before Mr.
Justice Denman, two men, named John Hines sod
Tnomas Arlingh, were charged with stopping a
woman as she wa4 leaving assrailway station at War-
rington, ar,d, after taking her money from her,
throwing her into a pond, whence she was rescued by
some passers by shortly after the robbery. His lord-
ship, wh^ des. ribed the offence as a cruel and savage
robbery, sentenced M'Hugh to seven years' penal
servitude and two floggings of 25 lashes each, and
Hines to five years and 30 lashes.

There were 2,633 births and 1,681 deaths registered
In London last week. Allowing for increase of popu-
latior, the births were 102, and the deaths 77, below
the average numbers in the corresponding weeks of
the last ten years. The annual rate of mortality from
all causes, which had been 19.0 and 205 per 1,000 in
the two preceding weeks, further rose to 22 2, a higher
rate than any other week since the middle of July„
The collective imports of live stock and fresh meat
landed at Liverpool during last week from the 'United
States and Canada amounted to 3,106 cattle, 3,008
sheep, 8,831 quarters of beef, and 768 carcases of
mutton, against a total of 1,689 cattle, 2,201 sheep,
9,753 quarters of beef, and 1,375 carcases of mutton for
the preceding week; showing an increase in the
arrivals of live stock, but a slight decrease in that of
fresh meat during last week.
Game is now being reared on the Claremont estate,
the residence of the Duke of Albany. Pheasants have
been closely preserved, and a good stock got up ;
partridges are plentiful, and bares have rapidly In-
creased in number. There is an abundance of teal,
moorhen, and water-fowl; and in winter flocks of
wild-fowl occasionally alight.

- -
A meeting of the Executive Committee for pro.
moting the holding of the Royal Agricultural Show at
Chester in 1885 WWI held in th.t city on Saturday,
when it was announced 'hat the subscriptions already
promised smounted to £4,140.

The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens,
Regent's Park, London, during last week included a
bonnet monkey from India, presented by Mr. C. R.
Browne; two red-tailed gnarls from Tobago, West
Indies, presented by Mr. Alfred C. Priestly ; two gold
pheasants from China, presented by Mr. H. W.
Tyler ; two bar-breasted finches from Java, presented
by Mr. J. Abrahams ; a kestrel, British, presented by
Mr, John Colebrook, F,Z S. ; two long-eared owls,
European, presented by Mr. C. Purnchard ; a masked
parrakeet from the Fiji Islands, presented by 11the J.
U Smith ; two 14114; Ators from the Missieeippi, pre..
sentest r spectiyely by Mr. Roland Bridgett and Mrs.
M. E. Symons ; a pert-grive falcon, Europe-m, a
Goffin's cockst-,o from Queensland, deposited ; a
Bentiet'.'s wallaby from Tasmania, two black wallabys
from New South Wake, a yellow-footed rock
kangaroo from South Australia, A Mexican eared
owl from Mexico, a downy owl from South America,
an annulated worm snake from Western Australia,
purchased.