The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-08-09 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

On Tuesday morning Lewis Stewart, an old man
employed as a labourer on the Caledonian Railway, while
walking on the line near Arbroath, was knocked down and
killed by a passing engine.

That was a-pretty compliment, equivocally ex.
pressed, paid by a member of the Chinese Embassy, the other
night, to a young lady, Gazing down at her really pretty
shoes, the Oriental remarked "1 love your English large
feets.—Court Journal.

A telegram received from Madeira, dated Anguat 3,
states that a letter of condolence has been addressed to the
Empress Eugenie by the colonists of Natal, and has been
sent to England per Edinburgh Castle, with the request that
it should be presented to the Empress by Mr. Donald Currie,
C.M.G.

An asylum for aged domesticated animals has just
been opened by an inhabitant of Gonesse (says the Paris
Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph). There are already a
cow thirty-six years of age, a pig aged twenty-five, and an
eighteen-year old goat. The senior member of this happy
family is, however, a mule. He is forty years of age. Next
comes a sparrow whose summers numbers. thirty-one.
Twenty-eight years of life have been granted to a goldfinch;
whilst a guinea-fowl and a goose have respectively reached
the age of twelve and thirty-seven years.

In consequence of the threatened general extension
of tne hours of labour in the iron trade, the Bradford
Ermineers' Committee° are now engaged in establishing a
"Nine Hours' League," the object of which will be the
preservation of the nine hours' system. The committee in-
tend to throw it open to all trades. It is in no way to be a
Trades' Union; but all workmen, whether Unionists or non.
Unionists, will be asked to join its ranks—the main object
of the league being to oppose an extension of the hours of
labour.

• The Geneva Correspondent of The Times writes :
'A recent Federal law makes all adult male Swiss citizens
who do not render military service In person liable to a
special tax, the incidence ot which varies according to their
fortunes and incomes. Those of them who reside abroad,
however, may claim exemption from this burden if in the
countries of their solo= they are compelled to bear arms or
pay an analogous tax, and several Switzers settled in London
have addressed lately a request to the Government to be
held free of the impost, on the plea that an English income-
tax Is essf ntially a military tax, and that its proceeds are
devoted chiefly to military purposes. This claim the Federal
Council have disallowed, on the ground that the Swiss mili-
tary tax is the alternative of personal service, while the Eng-
lish tax on incomes is not."

A boy has died at Cupar-Fife under a very singular
cause. When playing about barefooted he got one of his
feet ctlt with a piece of glass. Every effort was applied in
order to stanch the bleeding from the wound, but without
effect, and he died bn the third day after the accident.

A point of great del;cacy is involved in a lawsuit
which has been commenced In the Supreme Court of tLe
District of Columbia in the United States. It seems that
the applicant for the writ was some time ago seized with a
malignant malady which rendered the amputation of his
legs necessary to save his life. The surgeon who attended
the afflicted plaintiff took the amputated limbs to the
Medical Museum, where they were placed in a jar of
alcohol. Their owner imagined that they had been buried,
but lately, to his disgust, learned that they were on exhibi-
tion at the Army Museum, with his name written on a card
placed at the top of a jar. Ile at once put the matter in the
hands of his legal advisers, who recommended him to re-
cover postession of his limbs. Ills expected that, in the
event of his succeeding in obtaining his legs again, other
actions will be brought by various persons having ampu-
tated limbs in the museum.—PaU Mall Gazette.

At the half-yearly meeting of the shareholders of the
Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway, the chair-
man (Sir E. W. Watkin, MA'), said he was sorry that, in
common with the directors of undertakings of a similar cha-
racter, the board had to lay before the shareholders an ac-
count which was not to any of them satisfactory. Ile feared
that until the "kindly fruits of the earth " were given in
abundance, not in one part of the world only but every-
where, in return for the labour of the husbandman, they
could not expect more cheerful and more prosperous times.
The only way to meet the existing depression was to econo-
mise all in their power. The tendency of traffic all Eng-
land at present was downwards. Everybody was trying to
travel or send his merchandise at the cheapest possible rate,
and to meet the descending scale of remuneration railway
directors would have to exercise severe economy. Replying
to some criticism with regard to the works at Grimsby and
other expenditure incurred by the board, Sir Edward
pointed out that those undertakings would be abundantly
reproductive when trade revived. We should have to do
more work, better work, and spend less, and this :country
would beat all in the world, as she had done before.

An inquest has been held at the Royal Mews,
Windsor Castle, by the coroner to the Queen's Household, on
the body ot Henry Either, son of oLe of her Majesty's
grooms. Deceased was fishing in the river Thames on Satur-
day, and fell in the river while in a fainting fit. Verdict,
Accidental Death.

An inquiry has been held at the Eagle Tavern, Pop.
far, as to the death of Ferdinand Freese Tupper, 28, a lieu-
tenant in Her Majesty's Navy, who was found dying in the
hold of the ship Chimborazo, of the Orient Line, in the South
West India Docks, on the 2ist uit. From the evidence of
the brother-In-law of the deceased, Rear-Admiral G. A. C.
Brooker, C 8., and other witnesses, given at the last inquiry,
it appeared that the deceased held the position of third
officer on board the Chimborazo and was a great favourite
with the crew. On Saturday, the 19th ult., he was seen alive
about three o'clock in the afternoon, when he was assitting
in squaring the foreyards. At this time it was sworn to by
several witnesses that all the hatches were on. Nothingmore
was seen of him until seven o'clock on the morning of Mon-
day, when out, of the ship's crew found him lying at the
bottom of the hold in the foie part of the ship. He was quite
unconscious, and on being removed to the Poplar Hospital it
was found that the base of his skull was fractured, his jaw
dislocated, and the right wrist also fractured. He never re-
coverei consciousness, but gradually sank and died from
exhaustion a few hours after his admission. lotiszt, was no
evidence to show how he got into the bola, The jury re-
turned a verdict that the deceased met with his death by
falling down the hatchway, but from what cause there wss
not suflicient evidence to show.

1

A ho a 1 of eighty whales were driven aehore by the
fishermen on Tuesday morning In one of the" voes " or inlets
of the Shetland coast, near Nesting.
While a wherry was out sailing at Spithead on
Theßd ty afternoon, her mainsail was blown away and she
drifted ful of the Ryde Steam Ytcket Company's steamer
Alexandra and capsized. There were four men in the wherry,
three of whom were saved and one was drowned.

At Berwick, on Tuesday night, a man named
Cotton, One of the crew of a Coldinghsme herring boat, was
drowned through overbalancing himself while drawing up a
bucket of water.

An inquest has been held at Blackpool on the body
of Alfred Crompton, aged 22, of Farnworth, near Bolton.
Deceased, who could not swim, was bathing with a friend
when a wave washed him beyond his depth. A boatman
entered the water, and, after diving several times, brought
the body out, but life was extinct.

The Siameee Envoy Extraordinary and two of his
attaches were present in the Ambassadors Gallery of the
House of Commons the other evening during the debates in
Committee of Ways and Means.

It is proposed to run a cable ALTON the American
falls at Niagara, and suspend a car from it, from which one
may be lowered perpendicularly up and down directly in front
of the middle of the cataract and close to it.
"Major Serpa Pinto, the enterprising Portuguese
traveller who, emulous of our Cameron, traversed the African
continent from the western to the eastern coast, is at this
moment at Brussels He was introduced to the King on
Wednesday (in last week) by the Portuguese Minister, Comte
de Thomar. His Majesty, who, as the creator of the Inter-
national Association for African Discovery, takes such a
lively interest in everything connected with that grand
scheme, gave the gallant traveller a most gracious reception
and honoured him with an invitation to dine at the Royal
table.—Brussels Correspondent of The Timm.

A return of the inhabitants of Malta, based upon
the last census, has been issued, showing that the total
population was 141,775, there being 2,133 nobles and land-
owners, 2,29apersons in prolesstons, 1,210 clergymen, 16,910
persons emplo) ed in avriculture, 9,332 in commerce and
trade, 59,198 artificers and labourers, 6,297 In other employ-
ments, and 45,405 persons having no occupation.

-
German newspapers state that an Engiish joint-
stock company selling butchers' meat has opened business at
Munich on a large scale. The company propose to kill 200
beeves and 2,000 sheep a week. They have already esta-
blished sixteen shops in different parts of the town, and
entered into contracts for the supply of meat with several
regiments stationed at Munich and elsewhere in Bavaria.

" C " was named, according to Brewer's
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, from the punishment
having been first inflicted on board ship where ropes would
be handy. In naval and maritime parlance, several of the
ropes belonging to a ship's rigging are called "cats,' as
",cat harpings" for bracing the shrouds, " cat-falls," which
pass over the "cat-head," and communicate with the "cat-
block," &c.

A bazaar was opened on Monday. at Hawarden
Castle, the residence of the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, in
aid of the funds of eight parochial schools in Hawarden
parish. In anticipation that Mr. Gladstone would open the
bazaar, there was a large attendance, including a party of
several hundred Liberals from Birkenhead. Mr. Gladstone,
however, declined to make any speech, thougu he was a
liberal purchaser at the bazaar, which was most successful.
Mrs. Gladstone, Mrs. W. H. Gladstone, and the Misses
Gladstone were among the stall holders.

The annual Legislative Council of the British
United Oddfellows opened its sittings at Sunderland on
Tuesday. Mr. Henry Smith, the Grand Master, in his ad-
dress, said that during the past year twenty dispensations
for the formation of new branches had been presented. The
sick payments had amounted to over £,6,000, and the pay
ments on deaths to £2,600.

The Emperor ot Germany has ennobled the only son
of Dr. Falk, late Minister of Public Worship, who is a second
lleutenaht in the Fusiliers of the Guard. Dr. Falk, on his
retirement recently, was offered this distinction in considera-
tion of his &xceptlonally great services to the Prussian
State, but declined it in favour of his son.

On Saturday evening Mr. Daniel Guerien, a young
dentist, resident at NI:41;bn11, was retort log home after a
visit to Liverpool, when, in passing through Aintree, be
walked with the wagoner of a neighbouring farmer, and
tried to jump on the shaft of the cart. In doing so he slipped
isi,cl tell on the roads and the wheels passed over his head,
killing him instantly.

Notices have been posted at all the workyards and
stations on the Taff Vale Railway, announcing that In con-
sequence of the depressett state of trade, on and after
Monday next a general reduction of 6 per cent, will be made
in the existing rate of wages. Train men, guards, and
porters would not be reduced at present. The reduction
will affect about 2,000 men.

Within the last week unmistakable signs of the
potato blight have made their appearance in and around
Drogheda and the surrounding district. All the early
potatoes are affected. The leaves are at first covered with
dark spots, which become perfectly black. On removing
the skin a dark greenish watery substance is discovered,
which in a short time covers the entire potato.
The following letter has been sent by Lord Derby
to Captain Cheyne, commander of the new Arctic Expedi-
tion :—" 23, St James's-square, London.—Dear Sir,—Having
heard your scheme of a new Arctic Expedition fullyi t-
plained in our conversation to-day. I have pleasure If
promising a contribution of £lOO in aid of it should you su..-
ceed, as I hope you may, in obtaining support to justify you
In going on with it —I remain, faithfully yours, lARBY."

A park of twenty acres was opened at Heywood,
near Bury, on Saturday. The property is the gift of the
Queen. Six years ago, Mr. Newhouse, a manufacturer, was
killed in a railway accident, and, as he died intestate, the
property in question passed to the Queen, as Duchess of
Lancaster. The park was opened with much ceremony, with
a procession three miles long. There was a banquet in the
evening.
Nine fine salmon, caught personally by the Princess
Louise, were landed at Liverpool on Monday, from the
Allan steamer Sarmatian, and forwarded by an early train
t. Her Her Majesty the Queen, at Osborne; the Prince of Wales,
the Duke of Edinburgh, and the Duke of Connaught, Prince
Christian, Lady Suffield, Lady Mitford, the Hon. Mrs.
M.Namara, and Mrs. Ralli. Each of the fishes was packed
in ice in a separate case, and the whole were specially at-
tended to by Messrs Allan Brothers and Co. and Messrs.
Carver and Co., the agents of the railway company.

The Duchess of bonnam;ht, who was accompanied
by the Duke, presented the new colours to the second bat.
talion of the 12th Regiment at Portsmouth on Saturday in
the presence of 30,000 spectators. Amongst those present
were the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince L mis of Battenburgh,
Prince and Princess Edward of Saxe Weimar, the Duke of
Manchester, &c. The old colours were ilret trooped, and
after the new ones had been consecrated by Bishop Claugh-
ton, unapiato•Uouentl to the Purclest, the Daohosse =ado tho
presentation.

The Lads Mercury publishes long reports from
several of the shooting districts in Yorkshire on grouse pro-
spects for the Twelfth. The reports from the northern part
of the county seem to concur in the statement that the long
and severe winter and the ungenial spring have had their
natural effect' in the destruction of large quantities of birds.
Similar information comes from the Melton district. From
Craven and the Wharfedale Moors reports are not so un-
favourable, the birds being plentiful and strong, and free
from disease. The same remarks appears to apply to the
South Yorkshire Moors.

Mr. Joseph Severn. the friend of tbe poet Keats,
died at Rome on Sunaay night (3rd), at an advanced age.
Mr. Severn was British Consul at 11 /me from 1861 to 1872,
when he retired on a compensation peusion.—The Times, in
a leader remarking upon the event, says :—" In the first
quarter of the present century a chorus of poets from our
shores made Europe re-echo. Among them all, though three
r ars bounded his career of poet, none have left a deeper
Impression of native sweetness than Keats. It is as the
friend of Keats, one who nursed and consoled his last sad
days, and in whose arms he died, that Englishmen have
always cherished a sentiment of tenderness and gratitude
for Joseph Severn."

The National Eisteddfod commenced at Bangor on
Tuesday. The proceedings were marred by a heavy down-
pour of rain, and the pavilion erected for an audience of
6,0C0 was almost empty. The High Sheriff of Cartiarvonshire
presided The chief prize of the day, a choral competition
tor twenty guineas and silver medal, was won by the choir
from Lord renrnyn's slate quarries at Bethesda.

In view of the approaching shooting season the
police master of Odessa has forbidden gunpowder to be sold
to any person who has not a permission from the
Governor to purchase it. The flue ranges from five to 25
roubles for a vendor's first infringement; from 25 to a 100
for a second; and from 100 to 300, with closing of premises,
for a third. Sportsmen wishing to shoot must also be pro-
vided with an untransferable certificate for the purpose
from the Governor.

A New York telegram says that the death is an-
nounced of Mr. Charles Fechter, the celebrated actor. Mr.
Fechter was born in London about the year 1823 of mixed
parentage, his father being a German and his mother an
Englishwomen. Re was educated In France, and at first
applied himself to sculpture. but the stage had greater
attractions for him, and he became an actor.
An inquest has been held at, the Lynn hospital on
the body of Robert Mallet, eged 65, yardman, employed on
the Prince of Wales's estate, who was gored to death by a
stalled bull on which he was attending. The jury returned
a verdict that the deceased died from Imputes received from
being attacked by a bull at Wolferton, that no blame
attached to any one. The hull was killed by telegraphic
orders from the Prince of Waes.

At Keyharrt Dockyard, William Adams, a rigger, in
assiving to undcck the Carew, corvette, was knocked into
the deep dry dock, a distance of 501 f., and, coming in con-
tact with the granite steps of the dock, was killed instan-
taneously.
A coffee tavern was opened at Newbury on Satur-
day by the Countess of Carnarvon, in the presence of A
numerous and dpsiinguished company. The Etta of Car-
narvou spoke at considerable length on the importanca, both
from an educational aud social point of view, of the move-
ment now on foot for providing places which would corre-
spond amongst working men to the clubs of the wealthy.
A somewhat serious accident has occurred to Colonel
Rtpley, of the Bradford Artillery Volunteers, at Scarborough.
While driving clown ItAms-hill from the South Clitt the reins
broke, and the horse set off at full speed, being only brought
up by the wall or the liquor um, at the foot of the bill. The
horse was killed at once, and had to be carted away, Colonel
Ripley was conveyed to his lodgings, where it was found he
was very severely bruised and shaken, but that no bones
were broken.

A Renter's telegram from New York, dated August
5, says .--A despatch received here from liavannah states
that 137 deaths from yellow fever occurred there during
the past week, being twenty more than in the week previous.
During July there were 537 fatal cases.

On Monday forenoon, a singular phenomenon was
observed on the east coast of Scotland. When the tide was
about the first quarter of the flood it suddenly rushed up the
beach until it almost reached high water mark. It remained
at this point a short time, and then ebbed with as much
velocity as it had flooded. Some salmon fishermen at Ar-
broath hid a narrow escape, having to run shorewards toget
away from the advancing tide.
A Lloyd'o telegram received from Ushant, dated
August b, reports that the steamer Louis David, Captain
Brock, which sailed fir Naples on the lit inst., was totally
lost on Monday night, at 9.40, during a fog. Part of the
crew were saved. They are—De Pauw, mate; Emerson and
Beulev, engineers: with two stokers and two sailors. The
remateeer of the crew—twenty-seven men—are reported
drowned. The steamer's hull is insured in Paris for
560,000 francs, and the cargo, rails, railway material, and
sundry goeds, are insured at Antwerp for £125,000 sterling.

Doggett's coat and badge were on Friday in last
week, rowed for, from Loudon Bridge to Chelsea, to accord-
ance with the will of the founder of the race, who instituted
it in celebration of George First's accession to the throne.
The winner was Henry Curdery, of Putney, by a length over
Joseph J. Banks, of Ratlierhlthe.

Tuesday night's London Gazette announces that the
Queen haa been Vetoed to make the following appointments
to the Moat Distinguithed Order of Saint Michael and Saint
George: To be an Honorary Member of the Second Class,
or Knights Commanders of the said Order—His Excellency
Riaz Pasha, late Egyptian Minister of the Interior. To be
Honorary Members of the Third Class, or Companions of the
said Order—Count Alexander Bartholomew Stephen Pisani,
ate of Ler Majesty's Embassy at Constantinople; his Excel-
ency Samih Pasha, late Governor of the Island of Cyprus.

- -
Some statistics, shlwing, the variation in the returns
from different classes of railway carriages' are printed in the
official balance-sheet of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lin-
coloshire Railway. That company owns 133 first-class, 113
second-class, and 271 third•class carriages. In addition there
are half a dozen composite carriages, but these must be
sunk in the calculation; and the season-ticket holders, who
travel by all three classes, cannot b included—details of the
exact number by each clamor of the exact receipts from each
class being unattainable, But the earnings from the ordinary
passengers are obtainable in the three classes; and it
appears that every first-class carriage on the line named
earned in tne first six months of the present 'ear 4113;
every second-class carriage £117: and every third-clases
carriage £433. And though there is a variation in_the-
tails so far as other companies are concerned. jq, toireB,
prin-
ciple on all our chief lines remains good—that
e the
it is evi-
class of carriages are the most productive; h
dent that, as tne original outlay on them is very
the return on the capital vested in them is proportionately
greater.—Pali MaU ()agate' vw much less,
in

A milk eure institution, first started by Dr, Grub
at Stuttgart, and since imitated at Frankfort, Berlin,
Strasburg, Munich, Cologne, Vienna, Basle, and Zurich, is
to be erected at Berne for the benefit of infants and invalids.
The Belgian MiriAtry has proposed to increase the
pensions of retired military officers by /20 per cent .on an
average. The officers of the infezior.crades are to profit
most by the increase.

The Eniperor William is expected in Metz on the
24`11 of September. ins Majesty will there review the
troops ol the 16th D.vision, which during the Izr.perial
mat.oeuvres will form the garrison of the town.

The spoil found in Cetywayo's hut in Ulundi kraal
was not great. All that his majesty left behind him were
some empty gin, champagne, and beer bottles.
The Landrath of Uri (Switzerland) has revived
capital punishment for murder and arson attended with loss
of life, but this provisional law requires ratification by a
plebiscite.
The Times says it has reason to believe that Lieu-
tenant-General Valentine Baker Pasha is likely to be
nominated by the Ottoman Government to an important
civil and military post in Kurdistan.
A legal opinion has recently been given that no per-
son with only a gun license may kill hares on another per-
son's land, even with a written authority, unless it be
registered with the Clerk of the Peace; and the owner of
such land can only authorise one person in a parish. We
fancy that this will be news to a good many sportsmen, says
the Graphic.
Colonel Stanley, M.P.' in opening the New Town
Hall at Chorley, in alluding to tie Zulu War, remarked that
although Sir Garnet Wolseley had arrived too late to share
In the laurels recently gained by his predecessor, he had
before him an arduous tank in settling the future relations,
military and civil, of the colonists towards the mothez
country.

A lad, nine years old, while fishing in Dandee
harbour along with other boys, overbalanced himself and,
falling into the water, was carried away by the tide and
drowned.

Thomas Nicholas Barnewall, Llrd Trimleston, died
on Monday morning at his residence In Fark-lane, London.
Th 3 late Baron, an Irish peer, was born in Dublin in 1796, con-
sequently he was In his 83rd year. The barony, which was
created in 1461, becomes extinct by his death.

The forty-pecond annual exhibition of the Yorkshire
Agricultural Sh,iw was opened at Leeds on Tuesday. The
weather was most uupropitious rain falling in a steady
downpour the whole of the morning. The entries in cattle
show a considerable falling off, but in other departments
they compare favourably with previous years.

The Earl of Derby has written to the Liverpool
Conservative Working Men's Association intimating that in
consequence of the change which has taken place in the re-
lations of his lordship with the Conservative party generally
he relinquishes the position of President of the Liverpool
Working Men's Conservative Association. Lord Darby has
been asked to reconsider his decision.

The following telegrams from Panama, dated Aug.
4, were received at the Peruvian Legation yesterday morn-
ing :—" Iquique again bombarded by Chilian fleet; only two
persons killed, and small damage. Huascar captured the
Chilian transport Rimac, whick was carrying a cavalry
regiment fully equipped, and also three Chßian ships loaded
with coals and copper., '

In answer to an application from the Provost and
some of the leading inhabitants of Glasgow, the Royal School
of Art Needlework has consented to establish a branch school
In that city, which will be opened in September next with an
exhibition of ancient embroideries and of embroideries
worked in the Royal School of Art Needlework.

A strange service was held the other day at a West.
end church in London (says the Court Journal). Fifty-nine
deaf mutes were confirmed by Bishop Clanghton, the service
being held for their especial behalf. The chaplain of one of
our largest asylums acted as interpreter, and the Bishop's
address, the hymns, and the prayers were all interpreted to
the deaf and dumb candidates for confirmation This is the
first instance of a special confirmation being held for those
deprived of the power to hear and speak.
Two more deaths from yellow fever and twelve fresh
cases occurred at Memphis on Sunday. Sixty-five volunteer
nurses are in the hospitals tending the sick. The mortality
from the epidemic is stated to be 33 1-3 per cent. of the num-
ber of persons attacked.

Replying to a toast given at a banquet at Nancy on
Sunday, on the occasion of the unveiling of the statute
erected in honour of the late M. Thiers, the Mayor of Belfort
said: "We all desire peace, but if ever we were attacked we
should all come forward and give proof of the vitality of our
great French Fatherland."
At a meeting of the Walsall Town Council it was
incidentally mentioned that the profits of the gas depart-
ment last year amounted to £t,139, and the portion of the
profits for the year ensuing to come into the funds of the
corporation was set down in the estimates at £4,000, which
will reduce the rates to the extent of 10d. in the pound.

Fourteen persors have been killed by the explosion
of a powder magazine at Durango.

The Shah of Persia's cavalry, it is stated, is being
traiLeci y Basilan cavalry (Aiken.

A German resident at Singapore, in a letter to the
Cologne Gazette, endeavours to prove that German interests
demand the acquisition of colonies, ad observes that by
the want thereof German Commerce would have been in
a sad plight, but for the liberality of England's economical
principles.
Telegrams from New York report that the cotton in
Northern Texas is maturing earlier than usual, owing to the
prevalence of drought in that district.

During the last financial year the number of copies
of Bibles, Testaments, &c., issued by the British and Foreign
Bible Society amounted to 3,340,995, making a gross total
since the foundation of the society of 85,388,057. In the
work of translating. revising, printing, and publishing these
copies more than £8,500,000 was expended. The Bible is
now issued from the Society's depot in about 225 languages.
A young man from Lucerne, while gathering edel-
weiss on Pilatus on Sunday, was killed by a fall down the
precipitous side of the mountain Abore Alpnacti.
Two cows have recently died from eating some
prunings of the yew. The tree is very poisonous In its
effects on all animals, and care should be taken to prevent
horses nibblinc the lower branches, or cattle touching heaps
of cuttings. The instinct of animals keeps them from eat-
ing many injurious substances, but it seems to fail in the
case of yew, aconite, and one or two other plants.

The Deborah, which is owned by a party of emi-
grants who intend to isttle on the Aldabra Islands, 30 miles
north of Madagascar, sailed from Bergen on July 19. The
party consists of 27 adults and 13 children. The cargo is
principally composed of bricks and timber.
We understand that the grave of Robert Devereux,
Earl of .E.sex, the Captain-General of the forces ot the Par-
liament under Oliver Cromwell, who commanded the
Roundheads" at the defeat of the Royalists at Newbury,
has lately been dizcovered in Westminster Abbey and iden-
tified. The Dean and Chapter, we are informed, are about
to have some suitable mark or memorial erected in the
Abbey in order to commemorate so distinguished a warrior.
The Earl resided at Cnartley Castle, near Tamwortb, now one
of the seats of Lord Ferrers, and died in 1646. two years be-
fore his Royal masters against whom he took up arms.—The
Times.

"In a few days the Russian troops will have com-
pletely evacuated the provinces southtof the Danube which
they invaded two years ago. As we yesterday stated, they
have already departed from Eastern Roumelia ; only three
cavalry reglments remain in Bulgaria, and the Russian
Government has officially assured the Cabinet of Vienna that
they will leave by the stipulated date. Another act in the
drama of the recent war is thin; brought to a close."—Leader
in Saturday's Times.

"My Aunt" in Paris transacts 2.400,000 loan opera.
lions in the course of the year. Of these 1,8C0.000 are loans
of from three to fourteen francs on petty household effects,
such as mattresses, ace., and are effected at a loss from a
centime to fourteen sous, while this loss is compensated by
the gain which the remaining 600,000 transactions in
diamonds and jewellery brings in. The surplus profits "My
Aunt" always applies to the funds of the general hospitals.
We may say that "My Aunt" is the Mont de Pled or the
Paris Pawnbroking organisation, which is there conducted
under State management.—Graphic.

At the usual -rent dinner of the Sutton Scarsdale
Estate, held at Chesterfield, it was announced that the land-
lord, Mr W. Arkwright, had decided to return his tenants
lo per cent. upon thcir rentals. A similar deduction was
made last rent day. Mr. Ark wright only recently came into
possession on attaining his majority, and his first act was to
have all the holdings valued. With the exception of six
farms, all were reduced considerably below the previous
rental.

The produce of the Tweed salmon fishery during the
past week has been much below the average. There is yet a
greater proportion of trout and grilse than salmon taken.
The Stay lebridge Town Council at their meeting on
Monday night passed a resolution by fifteen votes againgt
seven to petition the Education Department to dissolve the
Stayiebridge School Board on the expiration of its term of
office.

It is officially announced from Berlin that, in con-
sideratton et the services rendered by Dr. Falk to the State
in the pint he has just telloquished, his only son has been
raised to the rank of a noole in order to perpetuate the re-
membrance of those services In the family.

"AS to laying down land to pasture, that is only a
phase of agricultural dechne. A reversion to pastoral
forming is like a sluicing from civilisation to a nomadic
form of life. Fewer people would be erupioyed on toe land,
and less wealth would be produced from it. Besides,
foreign competition is likely to beat quite as fiercely upon
pastoral farming as upon arable cultivation. There is a
better chance I(,r a limited increase of market gardening
than for an addition to our present area of permanent
pasture."—Mark Lane Express.

An emigration association has been formed in
Sheffild for the purpose of aiding working men to obtain a
livelihood in the Western States of America. The depressed
trade has thrown large numbers out of employment, and as
there seems no immediate prospect of increased business
this plan has been adopted in order to thin the ranks of the
unemployed. Arrangements are also being made, indepen-
dently of this association, to send a number of ;joiners to New
Zealand from the South Yorkshire district, where tae rela-
tions between the coal owners and the colliers are just now
the cause of mach disquietude.

Military ballooning has been energetically experi-
mented upon at Woolwich Arsenal for some manths past
in anticipation of the science of aeronautics being brought
into use duithg the Zulu campaign, an idea now postponed.
Considerable success has attended the experiments. The
special balloonist, Captain Elsdale, E E., by using three
current s of wind arrived in half an hour at Colchester, to
which he had designedly set out from Woolwich.

Some interesting particulars given in the " Annuaire
Statistique de is France " show how great was the effect
of the late International Exhibition upon the receipts of the
Paris Theatres. In 1875 and the two following years the
aggregate annual takings of these places of amusement were
almmt stationary, increasing only from 21,309,170 franca in
1877. But in 1878 there was a tremendous bound, the re-
ceipts going up to 30,658,500 francs, an increase of 9,000,000.,
The gain appears to have been distributed with tolerable
fairness amoug the various houses, only a very few obtaining
none at all. In the case of some, however, an actual de-
crease is noted.—Daily Telegraph.

There were 21 British and foreign wrecks reported
during the past week, making ,a total of 974 for the present
year, or an increase of 85 as compared with the corresponding
period of last year. The approximate value of property lost
was £395,000, includiug British £320,000.

•
The New Testament Revieion company meeting at
Westminster have (the A thenceum says) made such progress
in their work that the New Testament is likely to be pub.
lished by the University Tresses early in 1880. It is intended
to issue in the first instance two editions, a large handsome
octavo, and a small cheaper volume for more general use.
The English and American companies are now busy with the
final revision of passages in which the same Greek words are
found, so as to bring the translation into greater harmony.
-•

The Berlin correspondent of the Cologne Gazette
says that all the rumours of a retirement of Count Moltke
from the position of chief of the staff of the German army
are unfounded. His former subdttute, General Count von
WArteidlleben, having been appointed commandrant ostchßeatinen:
aa
it is, however probable that General Bronsart _ _ 0
dont, now in command of the Ist brigade of infantr 0I y tn.
Guards, will be appointed to this post
mingthperciluim'adrPsyedlU--
tributed tho High School prizes
tafory
education, he
evening After alluding to Mr. W. S. Stanhope, M.P. faotr
BNaVrner;itaylloidninffonddiagy.
terested in the worz-. It
re-
ferred to the wouien ofwEa
d useg°tl":Pldtoaswhboe
igned. He urgethe necessity of middle
cation was first cons
ciaks schools, but deprecated School Boards, alluding par-
ticularly to London, providing a superior and
Li education out of the rates. higher class
The Bank Holiday proved more favourAble than was
expected for the denizens of London, the weather in the
afternoen being brilliantly fine. The parks and open spaces
Ilia
al
aexcur-
-000stal:
toPalKaceewwGeraerd4e3l;so,366;3,toooot;hetoAltheezandsmtdaritsa:
in and about London were densely througud,
totn the
Rion trains to the seaside were very full.
arspiararsctmet'oeontyhteserC4aroty, Windsor Castle
Aquarium, 12,950 ; the South Eensinzen
the Britian Museum between 7,000 b
. 6,824 • t the Brighton
acincie hundreds more than it
Gallery, 13,000; the .R.oyal A o
o Museum. 14,809;
una.ca d:mooo,oo;:euesNosit:osausi
cademy, 8,003 • sad the Tower
visitors.