The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-09-09 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

It is stated from India that salicylic acid has been
proved to be an effectual remedy in cases of cholera.

-
Last year the net produce from the Land Tax was
£1,090,177 155 41d.
The individual who called tight boots comfortable
defended his position by saying they made a man forget all
his other miseries. .

The value of coffee im.ported was this year £5,111,434
against £5,410,840 last year.
The deposition of Sultan Murad and the proclama-
tion of a successor created no special interest in the various
European capitals, where both events were daily expected.
A boy in Tennessee committed suicide the other day
because his mother sent him to the woods for a hickory stick
with which he was to be punished for "taking sugar out
the sugar bowl." _ _

There has been a decrease in the exportation of
hardware and cutlery in the present year as comparel with
the corresponding period of seven months. The figures show
£2,089,797 this year, and £2,492,374 last year.

Daring the present year to the 31st of July the value
of rum imported was £669 277 against £637,854 in the previous
year, and of brandy £1,679 885 against £1,004,412.

_
The tonnage of the British- Empire alone is, it ap-
pears, two-thirds the tonnage of all the other maritime
countries of the ,world takm together. That must certainly
be pronounced an extremely satisfactory account of Eogland's
position at sea.

For the convenience of persons corresponding with
India and Australia, via' BrindiLi, postage stamps of the value
of 81 will be issued. they can be obtained at post-offices
throughout the country on and after the 11th instant.

One of the large topes (or British sharks) in the
Brighton Aquarium has given birth to eleven healthy young
ones. We believe this is the only instance on record of a
tope breeding when in confinement. The mother and young
ones are doing well.

Ou Monday morning the body of Alfred Baldoclr,
aged 20, was recovered irom the Yale of Health Pond, at
Hampstead Heath. Nine youths hired a boat on the pond
on Sunday afternoon, and the boat was rowed against a post
and sank. The bystanders rescued efght of.thoe who were
thrown into the water, but Baidock was drowned.

Seventeen very fine carriage horses arrived by the
Dominion steamer Mississippi at Liverpool on Saturday, and
were sent to London for sate, together with 20 others shipped
direct from Quebec.
It is stated that recruiting is now going on more
briskly for the corps of Royal Engineers than it has been for
years past A large number of men are still required to
bring up the force to its full strength. Men who are to serve
in this corp must be of Berne trade or profession.
In New York it is estimated that there are 101,400
workmen of different kinds, out of whom 37,300 are now tin •
employed. This number is made up of unskilled lab3urers,
carpenters, cabinetmakers, stonemasons, bricklayers, plas-
terers, painters, compositors and pressmen, cigar-makers,
and so forth.

The inauguration has just taken place of the canal
from Amsterrlima to the North Sea. It is sufficiently wide
and deep to admit vessels of the greatest tonnage, and Is one
of the most gigantic works executed since the cutting through
of =8 Isthmus of Sniff.

A conference of librarians has been called to meet at
Philadelphia on October 4 Several Bnglish librarians have
been invited, but the committee wish it to be understood
that "all librarians will be cordially welcome,"

Herr Krupp calculates that his latest gun will pene-
trate the 24-inch armour of th'e English ironclad Inflexible
at a distaule of 1,800 metres, or will go through 14-inch
armour five or six miles off, and throw a projectile weighing
620 kilogrammes completely over London.

- -
Mr. Frith, one of the Becretaries of the South York-
shire Miners' Association, has made a calculation that during
the recent strike of colliers in South Yorkshire the employers
lost 4501,000, and the workmen £250,000. This, added to the
loss sustained by the railway companies, makes a total loss
of £872,000 during the 14 weeks.

On Saturday three gentlemen, one of them the Rev.
Mr. Morton, of London, were walking by the side of the
Spey, near Aviemore. -MT. Morton resolved to have a bathe
In the river, but had no been long in the water when he
called for help. His two fr.:nds, who were brothers, named
Gibb. went to his assistance. One of them could not swim,
and was, together with Mr. Morton, drowned. The bodies
were recovered.

The Times correspondent at Philadelphia telegraphs
that the pony mail from Dakota to Sidney, Nebraska, was
attacked by Sioux Indians on Thursday. Fifteen whites were
killed, and four others ware found dead at Buff Alo Gap. A
clergyman and seven miners have been killed on the Black
Hills.
At the Albion Iron Works, Sheffield, on Monday, an
explosion of dynamite, used for the purpose of loosening iron
at furnace bottoms, occurred, hurling a quantity of metal a
distance of 600 yards across two streets and into the yard of
the Cyclops Works, where a number of men had a narrow
escape.
That insanity does not increase, pro rata, at least in
the United States is proven by the census returns for the
past twenty years. In 1850 this country had a population of
23,191,876, and a total number of insane and idiots of 31,397,
or lin 378. In 1860, with a population of 31,443 822, there
were 42,814 insane and idiots, or lin 733 And in 1870, with
a population of 38,655,983 there were 61,909 of that slass, or
lin 623. In England during the same period, there was an
average of about 1 in 450: in Scotland, 1 in 460; in Ireland,
1 in 400; in France, 1 in 600; and in Australia, 1 in 524.

A gentleman named Way, of York-street, Covent.
garden, London, was drowned whilst bathing at Div/Rah on
Monday morning. The sea was a little rough, and there was
a strong undercurrent. Deceased had not been in the
water many minutes when he called for help, and his nephew
and a gentleman named Pldgley, immediately went to his
assistance and brought him ashore. Medical assistance was
soon procured, but was of no avail Deceased and his
nephew went to Dawlish by the bathing train from Exeter,
where the deseased was on a visit with his wife and family.

On Saturday, (September 2,) the anniversary of the
battle of Sedan was celebrated throughout Germany by
festivities of various characters. The newspapers had leaders
in honour of the day, most of them pointing out that the
Germans celebrate not so much a victory over the French
army, but rather the restoration of the German Empire, which
dates from that day. Atone of conciliation to wards France
was remarkable in almost all these articles.

Collections for the benefit of the .London hospitals
were made on Saturday (2ad) in the metropolis, in work-
shops, in the streets, on steamboats, and in other ways.
From an official return it appears that the total amount re•
ceived up to ten o'clock on Monday evening was £1,400, of
which £775 is from street collections.

Mr. Macdonlld, M.P., president of the Miners'
National Union, who has gone to America, has written to a
friend that he hopes all the sons of toil will look to their
position during the coming season, there being every indi-
cation of an attempt to lengthen the hours of labour in all
branches of Industry where shorter hours have been secured.
He urt es that any attempt in this direetion should be strongly
and generally resisted.
Advices from the Weil Coast of Africa bring
farther intelligence of the course which is being followed by
the King of Dahomey. All the Europeans at Whydah had
been summoned to Azanll, and informed that they were
prisoners, and would not be allowed to leave the country.
No communication is allowed Nv ith any of the vessels in the
roads, and all trade is stopped. The King declares that if
10,000 Englishmen be sent out to light him, not one will
return to tell the tale.

On Saturday, at the Lillie Bridge Grounds, West
Brompton, the long talkgd-of international match between D.
Stanton, of London, and Camille Thnillet, of Paris, took place.
The distance was 511 miles, and the amount of stakes £2l a side.
Stanton was the winner by twenty yards—two seconds in
time; and the time occupied by the race was 3 hours 14
minutes and 8 seconds.

An inquest has been held at Watrington on the body
of a girl ii years of age. She was gabbing some sand out of
an excavation adjoining the Cheshire Lines Railway, lii
Batherby-lane, and when scraping up sand, one side of the
cavity fell in upon her, completely burying her. Other
children who were near had a narrow escape, one being im-
mersed up to the neck. When the poor girl was extricated
she was quite dead. The jury returned& verdict of Accidental
Death.

---
The great annual Barnett cattle fair was held on
Monday, and brought together a large assemblage of farmers
and others from various parts of the country. The supply of
Welsh cattle was below the usual average, tkat of Hereford
fair Devons made a good show, and there was a large field
of shorthorns. The Scotch cattle fair was represented by a
few herds of polled Soots and Highland steers. The animals
were in a healthy state, and the dealers stood out for high
prices. There was a large supply of horses.
In London, on Monday afternoon, as several children
were playing un the abutments of the Temple Stairs, a cry
was raised that a child was in the water. As no one at-
tempted to rescue the little boy, Mr. A. Austin, of the
Vaudeville Theatre, threw off his coat and hat and imme-
diately leaped into the Thames, but owing to the strong
spring ebb tide, the boy was oarried towards the Temple
Pier, and rescued with a boat-hook, just as be was sinking,
by the pierman. Mr. Austin, beihg a strong swimmer,
managed to reach the Temple Steps, although in an exhausted
stata. He was heartily cheered by the lookers on.
There is a good deal of drunkenness here and there,
says a writer on Iceland in Good Words, but statistically, the
Icelanders are behind the ticotch in their consumption of
alcohol drinking something less than two gallons per head,
and they are not helped by the women. But with the excel).
Hon of a few veteran and known topers, it is rarely that a
man is drunk on duty; it is at supper that the drinking be-
gins, as in the old times, or when friends start on a journey,
or at a wedding or funeral feast.
The receipts of this year's Birmingham Musical
Festival amounted to £15,160 This represents a decrease of
£5OO when contrasted with the returns of the last meeting,
and an increase over those of any other. No lees than 15,030
people, in the aggregate, attended the several performances,
being an average of nearly 1,900 at each concert. The Bir-
mtnghant Poet considers the results, both financial and
artistic, are so much above the average, and so much beyond
what could have been reasonably anticipated, as to afford
abundant cause for congratulation.

During last month the fish meters appointed by the
Court of the Fishmonger's Company seized at and near
killingsgate-market, London, and on hoard boats lying off
that place 48 tons of fish as unfit for human food. The fish
numbered 53,278, of which 26,150 arrived by water and 27,223
by rail, and the quantity was thus composed :-5I brill, four
cod, 310 crabs, 8,800 dabs, 11 domes, 7,30 aurnets, 8,926
haddocks, 228 herrings, 848 lobsters. 1500 mackerel, 39 mullets,
10,888 plaice, 13 Salmon, 125 smelts, 1,076 soles, 390 thorn-
backs, 12 trout, 60 turbot, and 18,500 whiting, and, in addition
two baskets of prawns, 452 bushels of periwinkles and 198 of
whelks, 612 gallons of shrimps, and 2801 b. of eels. The whole
maws was promptly destroyed, and its sale thus prevented.
At the half-yearly meeting dl the Great Western
Railway Company on Saturday the directors' report was
aaopted, and a dividend at the rate of 34 per cent. per
annum was declared. In the discussion on toe report com-
plaint th
was made of e excessive speed of the express trains
out that, although the receipts had lncreesed, there was
th
on the ground that it was unsafe; and a shareholder paintnedo
freedom they had enjoyed from accident _ a
addition to the dividend. In reply, the chairman
d h pointed out that the excess
with regard to the divider) epo moavner"tiwdentye
art of the
years with their fast trains was a proof of their safety and
company's system,
dividends paid to othirdr
achomsoprhaendieas,bnouowt
4ftoor,mooion.g p
the objects exhibited at Brussels after those designed to
f Ivor are apparatus for the diminution
It is significant that among the most noticeable of
mitigate the horrors o
t break-down van with trollies
for medical ot
corridorth e dangers
aorfkraahillywcaoymtravelling. There is in the eastern
ciflg
learing of the line after
tassist-
anceools,t
o
Belgian Railways by collecting
Beside it is a cage carriage for ticket collecting
apparatusthe
eaxntdi " the rapU
motion. There
tickets while
the train is in are, however,
Time is saved upon the
occasionally shocking deaths of the ticket collectors. To
prevent these officers from falling off the steps one ex-
hibitor in the Belgian Department has enchsed the carriage
with
a metal baud stretched between two coaches after tat,
train has been made up, and he•proposes to hitch the guard
to this band by a belt with a hook sliding along the
band.
On Saturday afternoon a sad accident occurred on
the Thames at Windsor. A large party of workpeople ern-
ployed at Rudkin's laundry works, Hammersmith, had
arrived at Eton for the purpose of holding their annual bean
feast at the "Crown and Cashion " Inn. Among them were
a number of women and children, and four of the former—
Mrs. Hersey, Alm Wright, Mrs. Sell, and Mrs. Bryant—
engaged a waterm an to take them out in a boat for stow up
the river. When near the sit on the Windsor side of the
Thames, two of the women rose to change places, and the
boat was capsized, and its occupants thrown into the river.
Gray, a Thames fisherman, who was near at hand in a punt,
went immediately to the rescue. At the same time two men
named Warrel and Kempister plunged into the stream and
assisted in saving the lives of three of the women and the
I boatman Hatton. Mrs. Hersey, who it is thought was
covered by the boat when It was turned over, was unfortu-
nately drowned. Drags were at once used by the members
ol the Eton and Windsor Humane Society and the body wax
recovered

Jit lit ,815 W 44ULAA