The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-11-17 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Four workmen have been killed and several severely
injured by the falling in of the roof of an extension
to the Capitol Building at Madison, Wisconsin,
A third Chinese ironclad has been launched by
German builders, but the builders will not take the
risk of sending them to China, so long as the Franco.
Chinese troubles last.

As a consequence of the Vienna Electric Exhibition,
a number of new words have been invented, among
which may be mentioned the word, " tidograph " for
clock, " billetophor " fcr postman, and " barkophon "
for dog.
A Renter's telegram from New York reports that a
fire, attended by fatal consequences, has occurred at
Charleston, South Carolina. Two persons were burned
to death, and two more died from injuries they sus-
tained in jumping from a window, Some other
inmates of the house were hurt.

At Warwick Assizes, on Wednesday, William
George Linwell, a clerk at the Leamington eost Office,
pleaded guilty to stealing certain Poet-office letters,
containing the sum of £l,soo.—He was sentenced to
ten years' penal servitude.
At the Royal Observatory Greenwich, the mean
temperature recorded last week was 441 deg., being
6 deg. below the average in the corresponding week of
twenty years.

The Building and Engineering Times states: The
number of failures among handers and dealers in
building material, in England and Wales last week
was 19, as against 32 in the corresponding week of last
year, and 31 during the similar period of 1381.
The Town Council of Galashielda has unanimously
resolved to entertain Mr. Trevelyan, M.P., at luncheon
on the occasion of his visit to his constituents early
next month. The working men in the town, acting in
conjunction with the Liberal Committee, have resolved
to invite Mr. Trevelyan to a public soirée.
The death of Mary Gardiner, at the remarkable age
of 101 years, is reported from North Yell, one of the
most northerly of the Shetland Dllandp, She was born
on Nov. 22nd, 1782, and had always been remarkab:e
for the enjoyment of good health.
On Wednesday there was a complete glut of Lb at
the London Central Fish Market, consequent upon
very large takes on the south•east coast. Solos could
be obtained aq low as 6d. per lb. ; very fine cod fish at
3d. to 4d. per lb.; plaice, 2d. to 3d. ; mackerel, six and
eight for a shilling; and fresh herrings at 9d. a dozen.
From Alexandria it is reported that 223 steamers
paned through the Suez Canal in the month of
October, an average of seven per day. Only three of
these passed in ballast. _ _

The Council of the Russian Empire has sanctioned
in pinciple the important Russo• American scheme
of erecting grain-elevators and storehouses throughout
dee Empire, which it is hoped will in thnl revive ir e
tnclining grain export trade of Russia.
Several wealthy inhalAants of Boston (U.S) have
subscribed the sum of 50,000 dole. as a permanent
endowment for their well-known Institute of Techno-
logy. It is to be called the William Barton Rogers
Fund.

During the celebration of a Moorish festival at
Tangier, a stone thrown by a Moor struck the French
Charg4 d'Affairs. The latter has made a formal
demand to the Government for the prompt punishment
of the offender, and for a sum of 1,000 dollars to be
distributed among the p or,
Advice R from Adelaide state that the Postmaster.
General of New South Wales is taking measures
in order to secure a reduction in the cost of cable
messages between the Australian colonies and
Europe.
A partly.finished building in Buffalo was wrecked
during a gale on Friday afternflon in last week, and
twelve workmen were buried beneath the ruins, five
being killed outright, and the remainder seriously
injured.

In London, on Tuesday, the Duke of Cambridge
opened a soup kitchen in Great Windmill-street,
Leicester square, and in the course of his remarks said
that the Prince Conbort had taken a great interest in
tbia institution, which had been 37 years in existence,
and of which the new building was now inaugurated
on an extended basis.
The schooner Two Friends, of Jersey, which left Rio
Grande at the end of June with a cargo of hides for
Southampton, ha i not since been heard of, and it is
feared that she has been lost. She had on board a crew
of eight hands.

Writing on the Bth, the Odessa correspondent of the
Daily News says :—" Owing to the extensive specula-
tive operations of ship brokers in this and other Black
Sea ports, freights have decreased to an unusually
low figure. The highest pr'ca obtainable this week
between Nicolaieff and L sr:don was 19:t. 9d. per ton."
There were 2,497 births and 1,556 deaths registered
in London last week. Allowing for increase nf popu-
lation, the births were 290, and the deaths 175, below
the ave.age numbers in the corresponding week of the
last ten ytars. The annual rate of mo-tality from all
causes, which had been 191 and 190 per 1,000 in the
two preceding weeks, rose to 20'5.

Lieut..Greneral Philip H. Sheridan, the new corn.
mander in-chief of the United States army, is of Irish
parentage, and was born in America in the state of
Ohio. He is the fourteenth chief the army has pos.
sessed since it was originally car stitnted in 1789. In
that year it numbered only one lieutene.nt•colonel
commandant, three majors, one surgeon, five surgeons'
mates, 12 captains, 16 lieutenants, eight ensigns. 48
serge.mts, 48 corporals, 34 musicians, and 720 privates.
Steps are being tlken to hold an Int?rnational
Mining Ex hihition in London next year. The arrange.
toents are in the hands of Mr. A. Zeeha.ndelaar, who
was awarded a diploma of honour at the Amsterdam
Exhibiiion for his display of minerals from over 400
mines in Utah, Montana, and Idaho, and it is
intended as far as possible to bring together every.
thing appeqvining t ) mines and minerals in the
world.

At the Yorkshire Assizes on Monday, eight • prt-
sonms were sentenced for felonious assaults upon
women and children, three to terms of penal servi-
tude varying from seven to five years, and the re-
mainder to two years' imprisonment, with hard
labour. Mr. Justice Day, in sentencing two of the
latter, expressed regret that he had not power to order
them to be flogged. Wm. Taylor, convicted of man-
slaughter, at Bradford, was sentenced to twelve years'
penal servitude.
Great consterration was caused at Goodnestone, a
village near Dover. on Saturday, on its being dis
covered that a mad dog was at large. The dog ran
about two miles before it waii destroyed, and on its
way it bit no less than two men, six children, twelve
sheep, and one cow, besides several dogs. The men
and the children were immediately attended to by
medical meu, and the animal destroyed.
The anchor strikers in the employ of Messrs. Wood
and Co., large ship anchor manufActurera at Saltney,
near Cheater, have gone out on strike for an increase
of wages. The foremen cf the smiths and strikers
take work on piece, and under pressing regulations.
The smiths receive a proportion of 3s. 6d., and the
strikers, 24. 81. The strikers now demand the intro-
duction of the Staffordshire rules, which would award
t`tem a greater propmtion.
- - - . _ _

A letter has been received at the Foreign Office
from Mr. Thomas Wilkinson, dated at Antananarivo,
the 24th July. The writer requests that it may be
made known through the press that the foreign resi-
dents at the capital were sufe up to that date. He
states they were 86 in number, consisting of English,
Norwegians, and Americans, and that they were con-
fident of the protection of the Prime Minister.
William Elliott, banksman at the Plumbley Col
liery, near Sheffield, was killed on the 9th inst. He
took from a bucket of water 51b. weight of dynamite
and plitecd it in front of the fire on the pit hank to
dry. Presently it exploded with a terrific report, and
Elliott was so injured that he died soon 'afterwards.
Another man was injured. Considerable damage was
dune in the neighbourhood of the oit bank.

The steamer Wisconsin has landed 358 Mormon emi-
grants at New York, coming from England and Scan-
dinavia,
The Archbishop of Canterbury walked out on
Saturday for the first time since his indisposition.
His Grace is progressing satisfactorily. •

A five-chan.beled rovolver, two of the chambers
being loaded, ha been discovered in a bale of cotton
consigned to a mill at Oldnam.
In America about 2,490 Southerners have been
converted to Mornianism this year.
The immigration into Canada daring the first ten
months of 1883 was 175.933, being 22,878 over the
' same period in 182; 61,091. came vid the States.
The manufacture of firearms at Llige is largely de-
veloping. The Government has ordered there 30,000
Comblitin breecbloadere'for arming the Civil Guards.
The Kilmallaek Board of Gmaydians las decided to
.prect 289 labourins' cottages, at a cost of £28,900, or
alt the rate of £lOO each. ;
t.
The
other day at Pranzo, in thedistrict of Riva di
Trento, a priest, Don Donato Malossini, celebrated
.his 100th birthday. He went to the church and
-itfiiinted the mass. He was ordained a priest on the
20tb. April, 1806, and has seen no less than seven
POntiffs assume the throne of St.: Peter.
. •
The enttire number of beasts comprising the week's
supply entered at the Metropolitan Cattle Market for
cOnsumption to the 1031 inst. was 3,570 head; the
?corresponding week nif._ 1882, 3,580; 1881, 3.080;
4880, 4460; 1879, 5,2i0f; 187.8, 5,020; 1877, 3,350;
1876, 8,670; 1875, 6,270; and 1874, 7,020.

The Swiss Government Agricultural Committee re-
commends the granting of subventions for improving
the breed of horses and cattle, and that every en-
couragement should be given to the milk ani cheese
industries.

The expenies of Mr. Lowther, who was recently
elected for Rutlandshire, in the Conservative interest,
are officially returned at £1,016. The expenses of Mr.
Davenport Handley, the unsuccessful Liberal candi-
date, are returned at £391.
Last week's receipts of cotton at all United States
ports were 267,000 bales; since Ist September, 1,725,000
bales. Week's exports to Great Britain, 89,000 bales;
week's exports to the Continent, 50,000 bales. Total
since Ist September, 771,000 bales. Stock at all ports,
852,000 bales.

A telegram from Toronto says that fears are enter-
tained that the steamer Francis Smith, bound from
Collingwood to that port with 100 passengers
foundered on Sunday last, and that all on board
perished.
The Great North of Scotland Railway Company
have decided to apply for powers to construct three
new lines connecting Deeside, Inverness, and the
highlands generally.
In addition to the Queen and the Prince of Wales,
the Duke of Edinburgh, who has, since his residence
at Eaatwell, evinced great interest in farming matters,
will, it is expected, have several valuable animals for
exhibition an 3 competition at the forthcoming cattle
shows.

New York City consumes annually over 300,000,000
eggs, the value at average New York prices being
8,000,000 dole. The number of eggs produced yearly
in the whole of tha 'United States is upwards of
9,000,000,00 valued at 240 000,000 dols.
On Tuesday Mrs. Flannagan and Mrs. Higgins, the
two women charged with poisoning, were brought up
on remand at the Liverpool police-court, and were
again remanded for a week. It was intimated that
next week the prosecution will be prepared with evi-
dence.

At the openfnz of the Queensland Parliament, the
Governor, Sir Anthony Musgrove, expressed the belief,
in his speech, that a firm and united expression of
opinion on the pad of the Australian Colonies would
lead to the annexation of New Guinea being carried
out.

On Saturday the body of John Hynes, who was
drowned on the night of Oct. 24, was found floating
in the waters of the dock at Galway. Two days after
the accident the news was received that an uncle in
Australia had bequeathed him £2,000.
During last week 29 actual shipwrecks, including 19
British vessels, were reported, making a total for the
present year of 1587, the increase against last year
being 304. Seventy•nine lives were lost in five vessels,
of which three were British owned;
A despatch from Ottawa says that Lord and Lady
Lansdowne are in the habit of walking in the streets
of the city quite unattended, and are clearly without
fear of any misadventure.

On Tuesday night a man named Kennedy, a private
in the Carrickfergus Militia, was arrek.ted in Belfast
en a charge of having wilfully murdered an itinerant
musician near Ballymena, a fortnight ago. He 'ass
conveyed to Ballymena by a police escort.
The City Press 'states that Mr. E. Onslow Ford's
statue. of Mr. Gladstone for the City Liberal Club is
now nearly finished, and it is expected that it will be
unveiled towards the end of this month,
The Board of Trade has awarded their bronze medal
for gallantry in saving life at sea, to John H. Davis,
coastguard boatman, for bravely swimming off amidst
floating wreckage with a line, to the rescue of the crew
of the brigantine Alpha, when that vessel was
stranded near Cromer on the 4th of October.
According to the November Report of the Washington
Department of Agriculture, the average yield of corn
per acre appears to be 23 140 bushels on the acreage
reported in July, namely, 68,300,000 acres. The exact
figures of the production would thus be 1,577,730,000
bushels. In the revision of the season's returns this
result will not be materially changed. The product
therefore will be about forty million bushels short of
the previous crop, notwithstanding the increased area
of cultivation.

Orders have been given for the payment to the rail-
way companies of the United Kingdom of a sum of
£35392, being the amount earned by them during
August and September, the two first months of exist-
ence of the Parcel Post.

A desperate affair occurred on Sunday near Castle
island. Ten men, disguised, attacked the house of a
farmer named Horgan in the open day. The object
of the attack was to secure arms which it was known
Horgan had been provided with for his protection.
Horgan resisted the assault and fired upon the marau-
ders, one of whom was wounded. Five arrests were
made.

For some time past a {herd of Highland kyloes,
which had been allowed to roam on the uplands
grazings of Allanahaw's Farm, Gallashiels, had shown
such symptoms of wildness that it became dangerous
to approach them. On Monday the farmer summoned
a number of crack shots, who, with rifles, killed the
herd, seven in number. The anim%ls showed fight,
and one of them only succumbed after having been hit
six times.

Two serious accidents occurred nn the Chester and
Shrewsbury section of the Great Western Railway on
the 9th inst. A parcel porter at Gobowen Station was
cut to pieces while jumping off a train, his body being
found at one place and his legs at another. At Wrei.
ham Station a youth named Phillips, engaged as lamp
porter, while attempting to jump on to an engine,
slipped, and had portions of both legs cut off.

A Vienna telegram says that while a party were out
pheasant shooting in the preserves belonging to the
Duke of Coburg, near Wallsee, Herr Stephan, the
agent to the estate, fired at a pheasant and shot Duke
Philip of Coburg, brother-in-law to the Crown Prince
Rudolf, in the hand. The Duke continued shooting
notwithstanding that he lost much blood from the
wound.
Prin.,3 Victor, the elder son of Prince Napoleon,
has just completed his year's service in an artillery
regiment quartered at Orleans. He is reported to
have been extremely popular with hi 3 comrades, and
came out tenth of eighty•four competitors in the final
examination.
- ' -

An extensive fire occurrei on Tuesday morning at
the Old Quay Four Mills, Runcorn. The premises
are very extensive, and have been recently fitted
up with elaborate machinery. The local fire brigade
were immediately on the spot, but their efforts
were not sufficient to stay the flames, which soon
gutted the building. The damage is estimated at
230,000.
In its review of the British corn trade during last
week, the Magnet says :—The weather has been
favourable for agricultural work. Satisfactory pro.
gress has been made, and so far the general outlook is
encouraging. A rather lower range of temperature has
prevailed, but it is still rather* high for the time of
year.
Lord Devon has addressed a letter to his Limerick
tenantry offering them facilities for the purchase of
their holdings by allowing any balance of the money
not provided by the Land Commission to remain on
mortgage at four per cent, per annum.

- -
As was expected, the arrivals of live stock and fresh
meat at the port of Liverpool during last week from
the United States and Canada were in excess of the
arrivals for the preceding week, and were quite up to
the average of recent weeks. The conveying steamers
were eleven in number, and the total shipments were
1,689 cattle, 2,201 ebeep, 9,753 quarters of beef, and
1,375 carcases of mutton.
A New York telegram says that the visible supply
of wheat on Nov 11 was 31,100,060 bushels, as against
30,600,000 bushels the previous week. Visible supply
of Indian c,rn, 10.300,00 bushels, as against 10,500,000
bushels the previous week. The export clearances of
wheat for Europe during last week amounted to
780,000 bushels; the export clearances of Indian corn
for
_Earope during last week amounted to 750,000

-- -
bushels.