The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-07-01 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

The harvest in Spain is nearly over. The vines are
unusually promising.

A dispute has arisen at the mills of Messrs. Salt at
Saltaire, which has led to the closing of the works, and about
3,030 hands are thrown idle.

A statue of William Tyndale, the first translator o
the Bible lot) English, is to be placed in one of the gardens
on the Thames Embankment.

" Ah, doctor, bow is my wife to•day ?" The doctor
shook his head and said, "You must prepare for the worst."
" What!" exclaimed the husbAud, "is she 'ikely to
recover ?"

At the anniversary festival of the Licensed Vic.
tnallers' School, which took place on Tuesday at the
Alexandra Palace, subscriptions were announcad amounting
to £6,500.

Captain Webb bola announced that at the latter end
of August next he will attempt to swim from the North of
Scotland to Ireland, under the same conditions as he crossed
the channel.

Inspector Guy, of the Harwich 'rpolice force, has
received a letter from Count lifinster, the German ambas-
sador, thanking him in the name of the Imperial Govern-
ment for the valuable services rendered by him in connection
with the lc as of the steamer DeutBchland.

A return issued by the Education Department
shows that there are in England and Wales 1,642 school dis-
tricts (161 in boroughs and 1,331 in civil parishes) in which a
rate of 31. in the pound on the rateable value still not pro-
duce fis. per head of one-sixth of the population.
A candidate for the nomination for governor of
North Carolina thus puts himself in the field: " I will hears
announce myself as candidate for the guvenent election next
foil, 45 I will give Equel right to all, yours respectfully, Rev.
James Anderson coloured.
The foreign papers in Japan have been commenting
very unfavourably on the law said to exist in that country
for excluding reporters from criminal trials. Recently a
foreigner refused to give evidence in the Judicial Court of
Kanagawa•kan upon the reporters being ordered to with•
draw, and the Court broke up without going into the case.
Three brothers named Alexander, James, and John
chell, aged respectively 16, 12, and 10 years, were bathing
in the River Islay, Perthshire, on Monday afternoon, when
the current carried the younger one out of his depth. Ills
brother James plunged iu to save him, but was swept away
and drowned Alexander then dived after John, who was
fhatieg on the rurface of the water, and after a desperate
snuggle succeeded in bringing him ashore in a state of utter
exhaustion. The body of James was afterwards recovered.
Messrs. Thomas Cook and Son have received a tele-
gram from the conductor of their party to the North Cape,
dattd Ilammerfest, 280 p.m. June 27, to the effect that the
tour to the North Cape had been successfully accomplished
in beautiful weather, the sun at midnight being high in the
heavens, and of sufficient power at that hour to ignite &cigar
by the aid of a burning glass. The party is now on its return
journey.
The silver market is (says the Financier) becoming
on
ming
more and snore disorganited. Transactions occurred
Monday at the low price of 6011. per oz. Large
eamounts,
xicQ, the
both in dollars and bars, being expected from M
United States, and elsewhere, a few days hencethet want
quotation
may perhaps be no higher than bOd. India does n
more silver; China, to which shipments have recentlyn
made direct from San Francisco, is likely to become an
exporter ; and the queLti,n I.,—who is to become h
ebuyer
at all? - - -

••• •••• •
The Leeds School Board have resolved tomemorialise
Parliament on the Education 13(11. The Bard disapproves of
the commitment of truant and neglected children to industrial
schools, and is in favour of the establishment of special
truant schools for the correction of such children. it con.
sliders that Clause 7 weakens the feeling of parental obligation
with respect to school attendance ; that Clause 13 fails to dis•
criminate between neeely and non-needy schools; and that
Clause 14 is not calculated to ensure the continued attend-
anCe Of poor children.,
-
aamislia ei 14.1`4.1.L.k4 ; 40,11

The value of hops imported this year was £473,320;
In the corresponding five months of 1875, £128,813.

A Dnnmow flitch celebration is to take place this
year on July 17.

There are now from ten to fifteen thousand unem-
ployed mechanics in San Francisco.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer acknowledges in
The Times, as "Conscience sioney," the receipt of the first
halves of Bank notes for ZllO from "C. D." for Income-tax.
From Hongkong we learn that a silver mine is
being successfully worked with foreign appliances, some
thousands of miners being employed in it.

- -
A mail train on the Saragossa and Baroelona Rail-
way ran off the line on Saturday, when 17 persons were killed
and 37 injured.

Six lives were lost on Monday morning by an explo•
sion in a remote part of the workings at Burley Colliery, near
Sheffield, belongiug to the Sheffield Coal Company.
Prince Hassein Pasha dined with the Prince and
Princess of Wales at Marlborough House on Monday.
A Renter's telegram from Marseilles reports that
Ibrahim and Fuad Pashas, sons of the Khedive, and Ibrahim
Bey, nephew of his Highness, have arrived there.

Messrs. Heaton and Sons, of Birmingham, have,
says the Birmingham Post, received from the Government
another contract for bronze coinage, pence and halfpence.
Among the passengers by the Allan Royal Mail
Line steamer Polynesian, which left St. John's on Saturday
(24th), were the Canadian team for the Wimbledon Rifle
Meeting.

Pearl fishing continues to be prosecuted with con-
siderable success on several Perthshire rivers, particularly
the Eirn. The value of some of the pearls range from £1 to
each.
Mr. Robert Napier, of West Shannon, the well.
known shipbuilder and engineer, died on Friday morning in
last week. He was one of the originators of the Cunard
CompaLy.

The fact, which just transpires, that PhiladQlphia
has^a surplus of 20,000 females, suggest the gloomy reflection
that the Quaker city had motives aside from patriotism in
getting up the Ceutennial Exhibition.

Weston, who has been trying to walk 500 miles in
six days at Edinburgh, retired at ten o'clock on Saturday
night, having accomplished 435 miles His friends presente4
him with a chronograph, value 25 guineas, but Weston
declined to take possession of the gift until he had accomp-
lished his feat.

There will be a very great number of English
visitors to the Belgian capital this autumn, to see the Exhi-
bition, which is really a very interesting one, and the Prince
of Wales has promised to give it the eclat of his presence
later on.

New Caledonia must he a Derange. There is a
dearth of females there, and the French Government has
undertaken to supply the convicts with at least one a piece.
Widows or young girls are sent to them with a trousseau, but
without a mother-in-law.

The Duke of Connaught arrived at Liverpool on
Monday, and Joined the detachment of his regiment—the 7th
Hussars—stationed at Rupert-lane Barracks.
A young lady in Ontario has recovered 700 dols.
damages from a lover, who forsook her after an engagement
of twenty-six years. A little over half a dollar a month,
which is cheap courting, as he always took tea and supper
with her.

The following are the average prices of British corn
for the week ending June 24, as received from the inspectors
and cancers of Eicise :—Wheat, 48s. 41. ; tarley, 325. 6d. ;
oats, 283. 11& per imperial qr. Corresponding week last
year :—Wheat, 42s 11d. ; barley, 425. 3d. ; oats, 31s. 10d.

On Monday night, when passing Low Fell, the fast
fish train leaviug Newcastle f )r York, ran over and killed two
boys who were at play on the line. The train was pulled up
and delayed a considerable time.

Four pits are being closed in the Bileton district,
owing partly to the dull state of trade, and partly to the
expectation that the new mines drainage rate to be fixed next
August may be for the maximum 6J. per ton. Notices to
leave have been served upon their colliers by five firms of
'colliery owners in the district.

A statistical return of the compensation paid by
railway companies in the United Kingdom, for accidents in
1875 shows that £640,388 was so expended, £364,E09 being for
injuries to passengers, and £275,697 for goods claims.
The supposed infernal machine which recently
exploded in one of the streets of Liverpool has been bn a-
lysed by the borough analyst. lie states that the " machine "
is a species of signal light, which emits a brilliant light when
thrown into the sea.

Down to Tuesday evening (27th) the result of the
collection on Hospital Sunday in London exceeded £23,000,
and it has been noticeable throughout that in almost
every instance the .ffertory at each of the various places
of worship has exceeded that sent in last year.

Revised regulations for the conveyance of gun.
powder, guncotton, and explosives generally have been
issued to the Army. Specific orders are given against
smoking and against the possession of Inciter matches by
any one employed In the conveyance of explosives.

The Liverpool Alsion says that the movement for the
establiPhment of " cocoa-rooms " in Liverpool, to afford re-
freshment and accommodation for working men other than
that of the public-house, continues to extend, and the great
success achieved by the first-formed company has induced
rivals to enter the field.

At a mass meetiag or Durham colliers held on
Saturday the question whether they should submit to a
reduc;.ion of wages or strike was decided by ballot. Twenty
thousand miners voted in favour of arbitration, and sixteen
thousand in favour of a strike.

A deputation of anti-vaccinators have waited upon
Mr. Belater-Booth, ALP., and asked for the appointment of a
Royal fkmmistion to inquire into the expediency of repeal-
ing the compulsory clauses of the Vaccination Act. The
President of the Local Government Board doubted whether
the question was of such large proportions as the depatation
had repretented ; but he promised to lay the matter before
his colleagues.

No quality of the ocean is more conspicuous than its
saltness. Were all the salts of the sea precipitated, and
spread out equally over the land, they would, it has been
computed, cover the ground one mile deep over. an area of
7,000,000 square miles, or nearly twice the area of Europe.
After Great Britain, the next in importance, as well
as in square feet occupied, at the Philadelphia Exhibition, is
Fran' - Great Britain with her colonies included, occupies
are feet on the iber of the main builuing, which is
representative of the Exhibition taken as a whole.