The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-03-31 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

In 1882 the number of persons of all grades employed
on the railways of Saxony was 23,828, more than one.
third of whom, or 8,375, were officers.
At the Chester Cheese Fair held last week some 30
tons only were offered for sale, and prices were about
2s. per cwt. in advance of the prices of a month pre.
vioua. Good Cheshire cheese made from 675. to 71s.
per cwt. of 1201 b. •
A new saddle for Jumbo is almost completed, which
will enable him next season to carry thirty children at
one time.

--- ---
A telegram from Berlin says that the Emperor
William is now gradually recovering from his late
illness, which seems to have been much severer than
was generally known. The physicians are, however,
confident that with several days of complete rest he
will be entirely restored.
"One Volunteer is worth six Pressed Men," as a
flattened gentleman remarked in an overcrowded first-
class carriage, going down to Brighton on Easter
Monday."—Punch.
Between noon and nine p.m. on Easter Monday a
dozen children, lost on and about Hampstead-heath
were taken care of by the police at Hampstead Police-
stacion. The ages of the children varied from three
years up to fourteen. All were claimed before mid-
night.
Sir William Harcourt has contributed the sum of
£5O to the fund nor beinq raised by the Lord Mayor
of London, at the Mansion-house, for the relief of
distress in the western isles and highlands of Scot-
land. _ .

On Tuesday evening Edwin Birch, property man at
the Theatre Royal, Rochdale, fell from the " flies" to
a door 201 t. below, sustaining such frightful injuries
that he was taken to the infirmary in a hopeless con-
dition.
In London, on Tuesday, the Rev. E. White delivered
the last of the ancient merchants' lectures which have
been given for 210 years in the Weigh House Chaple.
The chapel will be pulled down to make room for the
completion of the Inner Circle Railway.
Philadelphia kills her superfluous dogs, not by
drowning them in a cage, but by introducing carbonic.
oxide gas into an apartment which, after the dogs had
been driven into it, is made air-tight. One hundred
i
can be despatched n this manner at once, and their
death is quick and painless.
The court of directors of the British North Borneo
Company have received from Sir Walter Medhurst a
telegram reporting the death of their scientific ex-
plorer, Mr. -Frank Hatton, F.C.S., &c., son of Mr.
Joseph Hatton. It appears that while Mr. Hatton
was elephant shooting his rifle caught in the bushes
and exploded. He was shot through the lungs and
died instantly. Mr. Hatton had successfully endured
the hardships of travel in North Borneo, exploring the
greater part of the company's territory. He had con-
ducted his various expeditions with great tact,
courage, and discretion, and was arranging a return to
England for a well•earned vacation. Mr. Hatton was
only in his 22nd year.
•
A sad accident occurred on the evening of the 218 t
in the Firtb of Forth, owing to the prevalence of
stormy weather. A large number of vessels were
lying windbound in the Firth, off Queeneferry, and
four captains, all known to each other, arranged to go
ashore in a small boat. Since then nothing was known
as to their movements, and the surprise felt thereat
was set at rest on Friday afternoon by the discovery of
the body of one of their number on the beach at South
Qaeensferry. It was identified as that of Captain
Massie, of the schooner Victoria, of Aberdeen. The
others drowned were Captain Wilkie, Captain Coull,
and Captain Ferrier, all commanders of vessels hailiug
from-Montrose. There- Were "alio .an baud wiliiim
Coull, son of Captain Coull, and Joseph Crow, both
of whom were drowned, making a total loss of six
lives. All the captains Ilan left widow, apj families,

-..0 uaptain Ferrie
t from- Montrose.
•

Leprosy is said to be increasing in the Sandwich
Islands.

According to a telegram from Professor Silvestri,
of the Metrological Station in Catania, the eruption
of Mount Etna will probably assume vast proportions.

At the Guildhall School of Music, London, a Cor.
poration Exhibition has been awarded to Adela
Duckham, a child of eight years, who has shown re.
markable proficiency for one of her age in her studies
of the pianoforte and violin.

The applications to compete for the 50 scholarships
in the Royal College of Music divide themselves as
follows :—Pianoforte, 922; singing, 386; violin, 119;
composition, 77; organ, 67; violoncello, 8 ; viola, 1;
flute, 3; oboe, 1; cornet, 1; clarionet, 1; harp, 2.
On Easter Monday the meet of her Majesty's stag.
hounds, in accordance with long established practice,
was at Maidenhead-thicket. The weather was bright
but cold, and, as usual, an immense concourse of
spectators assembled to witness the turn out.
Mr. T. Howe, Postmaster-General of the United
States of America, died suddenly at his house in Wis-
consin cn Sunday. He had been suffering for several
days from pneumonia.
Sharles-street, Westminster—the scene of the
recent dynamite explosion—was on Monday visited by
thousands of holiday folk. There was little, how-
ever, to be seen except the white deal boards which
shut off the breach in the Government offioe on the
one side, and those which have replaced the demolished
hoarding on the other,

Monday was the 64th anniversary of the birth of the
Duke of Cambridge, K.G. the Field-Marshal Com-
mander-in-Ohief, who was born at Hanover on March
26, 1819. His Royal Highness has held the supreme
command of the British Army since July 15,1556, and
was created a field-marshal on Nov. 9, 1862.

The work of pumping the water out of the Diamond
Coal Mine at Braidwood, Illinois, which was flooded
on yebruary 17 last, has been completed. Nine bodies
have already been recovered. It is believed that 65
corpses are still in the mine.
In Germany there are 205 inhabitants to the square
mile,. and in the United States 17.29. When the
density of population is equal to that of Germany,
the United States will have 595,534,840 inhabitants,
not including the Indian territory and some tracts
now unoccupied.
Mr. Gladstone occupied himself on Monday in
felling a cherry tree on the estate of the Hon. E. F.
Leveson-Gower, at Holmbury. The right hon.
gentleman borrowed an axe from the gardener and
completed the task in half an hour, a heavy snow-
storm prevailing during the time. A detective.
sergeant from Scotland-yard is in constant attendance
on the Prime Minister.

A purchase has been made by the Salvation Army
of the Theatre Royal, Rochester, which will be con.
verted into a building for the carrying on of the work
of [hi Salvation Army. The army has a considerable
body of followers in Chatham and Rochester, in which
towns it is energetically carrying on its operations.

Mr. Joseph Cowen, M.P., speaking at a meeting of
bicyclists at Newcastle on Monday, remarked that the
modern bicycle was the model of lightness and
strength, and though at present used only for recrea.
tion it would doubtless in a few years be utilised for
the practical purposes of life.
According to intelligence received at Winnipeg, a
British circumpolar expedition was wrecked at the
end. of August last while crossing the Great Slave
Lake, None of the crew was lost, all of them having
reached Fort Rae on the 2nd of September. They had
taken two observations.

Land atsd Water says there appears to be a disease
in yellow crocuses this yeat. They blossom, but it
falls over and dies. Some people say it is the birds,
others the slugs, but it can be neither, as those in pots
In the house are just as bad, or perhaps worse than
those that are out. The purple, white, &c., appear
to have blossomed all right, but everywhere there is a
cry against tho yellow.

The Melbourne Argus of Feb. 15 says :—The grain
harvest is over, and has been very varied. The yields
in the worst cases have ranged from twelve to ten
bushels per acre down to nil., while from the favoured
localities come reports showing a range of yields up to
fifty bushels, oats in the same parts going in some
instances as high as eighty bushels per acre.

Speaking at Hulders6eld on Monday in regard to
the new Education Code, the Bishop of Manchester
said he was inclined to say with Lord Bacon, "Don't
learn many things, but learn much." He preferred
children to go in for learning a few things, and those
thoroughly, to going in for a number, so ai to produce
what he might term hodge-podge.

A Times' telegram says that William K. Vander-
bilt, son of William H. Vanderbilt opened his new

openea --
mansion in Fifth Avenue, New York, on Monday
night, with a fancy dress ball. Several thousands of
guests attended during the night. 100,000 dole, were
spent on the magnificent preparations for this enter-
tainment, and the newspapers next day were filled
with descriptions of it.

The body of a young man was discovered on Tues-
day at Frodsham Station, near Chester, almost cut to
pieces. The remains were discovered by Mr. Potts,
stationmaster, only a few yards from the office door.
Both legs were cut from the body, one arm severed,
and the head so terribly injured as to make identifies.
tion impossible. The only article found upon him
was a handkerchief.

Daring the first two months of the present year
there was an increase amounting to more than
£1,000,000 in the imports into Italy, and an increase
to about the same extent in the exports from the
country as compared with the figures for the same
period last year. The increase in the exports has
been principally in wine and oil.
It is the boast of New York that any charity that
can prove itself to be practical and well administered
is never allowed to languish for want of funds in that
city. The Fresh Air Fund of the New York Tribune
was an instance. The .Triiune had only to show that
for every three dollars contributed a poor child could
have a fortnight's vacation in the country, and means
were supplied for the holidays of 5,600 children.

A German paper had an advertisement which runs,
"Wanted a man without encumbrance, of middle age,
willing to travel; must be a misanthrope, with bitter
experiences of the wickedness of mankind. Pay and
position good. Everything found." It is stated that
such were the number of replies received, that a
secretary had to be specially engaged to deal with
them.

Lord Alcester has presented the Earl of Northbrook
with the 9.pounder brass cannon which was taken
from the Egyptians at the battle of Tel•el-liCebir.
The gun which is handsomely mounted, weighs
nearly 3 cwts. Considerable curiosity was manifested
on the arrival of the cannon at the Admiralty, in
London.

The ship Nairnshire. Captain Pettrie, left Glasgow
on the 22nd Inst. for Bundaberg, Queensland, having
on board 127 single men, 45 single women, 40 married
couples, 41 male children, 32 female children, six male
infants, ten female infants, making a total of 341.
souls, equal to 288 i statute adults. Dr. G. H. Russell
acted as surgeon superintendent and Mrs. M'Keddie as
matron,

An apple in perfect
i preservation, although ninety-
six years old, is n possession of a gentleman in Ulster
county, Pennsylvania. As it rounded up from the
blossom of the parent stem in the early summer of
1787 a bottle was drawn over it and attached to the
branch, and after the apple had,ripened the stem was
severed and the bottle sealed tightly. It looks as
fresh as when first plucked.
Speaking at a meeting of the Liberation Society at
Newcastle, Mr. Joseph Cowen, M.P., said Disestab-
lishment ought now to be made a Parliamentary
question. The educational phase had concluded, and
downright Parliamentary agitation should commence,
irrespective of party convenience. The more they
forced the question to the front the sooner it would be
taken in hand by the Government, who, owing to the
overburdened state of business in the House of
Commons, could only select for leeislation those mea-
sures which were pressed forward by the people. All
they bad to do was to make the Disestablishment and
Disendowment question one of those pressing measures
to be first adopted.

Wednesday (the 21st) was the anniversary of the
Battle of Alexandria, which was fought in 1801, when
the British under General Abercromby, defeated the
French under Menou. AbercroMby was mortally
wounded, and died on March 28, seven days after the
engagement. Menou and about 10,000 French sue.
rendered to General Hutchinson on September 2, in
the same year, and Alexandria was afterwards taken
by the English.
The American papers announce the death, at
Boston, of Miss Margaret Emmett, daughter of
Thomas Addis Emmet, and niece of Robert Emmet.
She was born in Dublin in 1792, where Robert Emmet
was executed in 1803, while his i3l:l,er brother, Thomas,
was in confinement in Scotland for political offences.
Thomas, on.being liberated, went to France, znd sub-
sequently to America, where he practised the pr&-
fession of the law, was made Attorney• General of the
State of New York in 1812, and died in 1827.

Gamekeepers report that the prevalent severe
weather is proving most detrimental to breeding grouse
on the Yorkshire moorlands. Many of the birds had
begun pairing and nesting previous to the setting in of
the late frosts and snow, but they may now be noticed
moving about singly, and apparently half frozen.
The snow in some places has drifted to a great depth,
and sheep, as well as grouse, are suffering great pri-
vations. The herbage, which had begun to grow in
February, has now been to a large extent killed, and
there is very little for either grouse or sheep to feed
upon.

The House of Lords has not appointed any business
for Tuesday, the 3rd of next month, to which day it
stands adjourned. Their lordships will not, of course,
sit on Wednesday, the 4th, but on Thursday, the sth,
Lord Stanley of Alderley will call attention to the
proclamation of the 3rd of May, 1882, respecting the
currency of the island of Cyprus and to the exporta-
tion of silver coin, notwithstanding the deficiency of
itlin the country.

During last week three steamers landed live stock
and eight fresh meat, at the Port of Liverpool. from
the United States and Canada and the shipments of
live stock last week were considerably below those of
the previous week. Although the same number of
steamers arrived with fresh meat on board as the pre-
vious week, the quantity landed was slightly below
the former week. The totals were 712 cattle, 201
sheep, 11,180 quarters of beef, and 2,608 carcases of
mutton, against 1,258 cattle, 1,553 sheep, 12,292
quarters of beef, and 3,297 caresses of mutton for the
previous week.
The Times publishes the following letter from Mr
R. H. Al'nett, dated Hereford, March 26 :—" I write
amid one of the densest and heaviest falls of snow I
ever remember to have witnessed. Some of the
flakei of abnormal size, formed of loose aggregations
of crystals, were in circumference nearly as large as a
nalf.crown piece. The storm began at noon, and
lasted about a quarter of an hour, but the streets being
wet and the temperature moderate, the snow melted
as soon as it touched the ground. At 12.30 p.m. the
clouds cleared off and the sun shone, wind shifting
weet•north-west."

Wednesday (28th) was the anniversary of the de
clarstion of the war with Russia, which took place in
1854.

In view of an expected great increase in emigration
from Europe to America, yid Liverpool, there have
been some conferences between the steamship owners
of that port with the object of re-arranging freights
and passage money.
As an outcome of the meeting recently held In
Exeter Hall in support of the Sunday closing of
publichouses measure now before Parliament, a
monster demonstration" of metropolitan working
people is to be held on Whit-him:day in Hyde Park.
In Scotland there Is one locomotive to every 2,268
inhabitants, and one passenger carriage to 1,019 in-
habitants.
New York State, with about 5,000,000 inhabitants,
has in it some 8,000 or 9,000 lawyers, while in the
whole of England there are only some 11,000 or
12,000 lawyers.
There is a regular telephonic service on some of the
Austrian secondary railroads, so thia all of the station
can communicate with each other.

A Liverpool steamer, the Mentmore, reports that on
the voyage to Baltimore she fell in with icebergs off
the Flemish banks 400 feet above the level of the sea,
and for two days she was constantly in collision with
fields of ice.
The number of emigrants leaving Germany during
January was 10 per cent. less than in the same month
of the preceding year, the figures being 4,115 and 4,543
respectively.
Madame Albani received a warm welcome on her
arrival on Monday in Montrealt her birth-place, from
the city authorities, and the citizens escorted her in
a torchlight procession to her hotel. She was after.
wards presented with an address, and finally RIM
naded.
It is said that one of the dresses which Mlle. Rhea
wore in Washington when she played Beatrice in
Huai, Ado About Nothing cost twelve thousand doljare
(4400).
A return just issued relating to the deposits in the
hands of the Commissioners for the Reduction of the
National Debt by the trustees of savings banks and
friendly societies shows that the rums so held amount
to £125,537,949 belonging to savings banks, and
£7,501,358 belonging to friendly societies.
At Birmingham, the other day, a young man named
Robert Austin was killed under shocking circum-
stances. Austin, who was to be married in a few days,
was looking at some machinery at his father's stew
works, when he was caught by a woollen scarf he was
wearing, was dragged round by a cog-wheel, and killed
Instantaneously.
Letters have arrived at New York from Lima,
which state that the preliminaries of ' peace between
Chili and Peru have been signed. The details have
not been made known ; but the basis of the arrange-
ment is believed to be the surrender
_l3y Peru of
three provinces—one to Chili and two to Bolivia,

The Ballot Act Continuanoe and Amendment BM
is to be the first Government measure taken up after
the reassembling of Parliament. Mr. Warton pro-
poses to move that the second reading be postponed
for six months. Mr. Onslow will ask the House to
declare that it is inexpedient to give to the local
authorities the power to extend -the bonze of polling.
Mr. Beresford•Hope also will ask the House to reject
the measure.
It is stated that the fund raised for the restoration
of Peterborough cathedral has now reached a total of
£13,000. Of this sum £5,000 has been subscribed in
Peterborough and the immediate neighbourhood.
The infant daughter of their Royal Highnesses the
Duke and Duchess of Albany was christened at
Windsor Castle on Monday, the Archbishop of Canter-
bury officiating. Her Majesty the Queen and the
Princesof Wales were two of the sponsors.

Thirty-six British and foreign actual shipwrealre
were reported during last week, making a total of 604
for the present year, or an increase of 194 as compared
with the corresponding period of last year, the Increase
for the week being three. British-owned vessels
numbered eleven; only two were steamers, with an
aggregate tonnage of 997 tons: Total tonnage lost for
the week, 12,647 tons. Total number orlives lost and
missing, 74.
Mr. Dodson addressed his Constituents at Soar.
borough on Tuesday. He said, while resolved to do
justice to Ireland, the Government felt that it was
time to devote some legislation to other parts of the
kingdom. The means of facilitating legislation might
be found in an increase of the number of Grand Com-
mittees, should the forthcoming experiment
_pr_crve
satisfactory. The right hon. gentleman alluded to
several of the principal measures which the Govern.
ment hope to pass this session.
The Anglo Brazilian Times of the 2nd of March
states that the Angers, from New York, had arrived
at Rio Janeiro with eleven survivors of the crew of the
British ship Arrilla, taken on the 15th of February
from the Hindostan, which vessel had received them on
the 15th of January, when the Arrillct was on the point
of sinking. The rest were drowned by the upsetting
of their boat alongside the Hinclostan.
On Tuesday night, at the annual meeting of the
Edinburgh Philosophical Institution, Bernie Clarke
proposed the re-election of Mr. Gladstone as president.
He said that there was no political significance in the
election to the office. It was, however, required that
the man who filled the position should be of European
reputation, and that he should be possessed of the
highest literary culture and the pprest moral character.
All these high qualities were united in the person of
Mr. Gladstone. The motion was unanimously agreed
to.

A telegram from Vienna says that on the 10th inst.
the arsenal of Cettinje was struck by lightning. The
building is of a very primitive construction, and con-
tained considerable stores of ammunition and gun.
powder. The central portion was blown up. Some
brave men, however, at the risk of instantaneous
destruction, threw out the chests of powder and
ammunition into the snow, when the men and women
who had collected carried them to a safe distance. It
Is believed that had it not been for these exertions the
town would have suffered considerably,
The Tweed salmon fishings during last week were
very good, and better than those at the corresponding
period last year. Very few fish affected %ith disease
were seen. The fish average from 101 b. to 121 b. in
weight. Prices keep high, and at present are 2e, id.
per lb. for salmon, and Is. 10d, per lb. for trout. In
the corresponding period last year the prices were :
Salmon, 2s, id,, and trout, Is. 10d. per lb.
The population dwelling near Mount Etna are
panic-stricken. Great cold prevails, and the sky is
cloudy. The hills in the vicinity of the volcano give
token of approaching landslips. There is a great
eruption of cinder and sand from Mount 'Etna, and
It is thought that a fresh crater has opened, but
nothing can be distinguished on account of the
thickness of the atmosphere. Several houses have
fallen in the immediate neighbourhood, and earth.
quakes continue to be felt.
The discussion as to the best name for teetotallers
has crossed the Atlantic. The Independent says :
There is a better word than "hydropot" to designate
a total abstainer. The Union Signal has caught it
when it says :—" The idea of calling such a man a
miso3ni3t, a 'hydropot,' or even a ' nephalist l' He
is a jewel. We will dub him 'amethyst." The
word "amethyst" literally means "anti-intoxicant,"

A girl, three years of age, named Millar, whose '
parents live in Liverpool, and who was sent to the
Isle of Man on a visit to her uncle, has been missing..< „
since the 14th inst. Search was made for her, and on .
Sunday her body was found on the mountain side.
only three miles from her uncle's home. She had loot
boots and stockings, and her legs were much scratched
The fishing vessel Lizzie and ZAMA, arrived at Dun-
kirk, reports having seen, near the North Hinder, off
Oatend a quantity of wreckage belonging to a vessel
of large tonnage, numerous hooped bales of wool, and .
many dead bodies with lifebuoys attached to them.
The weather was too violent to admit of anything
being picked up. The crew of the fishing boat suppose
that the wreckage must have belonged to a large
steamer in the River Plate trade.

Two boy', half•brothers, named Higgins (aged 11)
and Gamblin (aged 16), were playing on Friday with
a gun in a saddle-room adjoininghe stables belonging
to Mr. Gawler, manufacturer, Yeovil, when the gun
cuddenly discharged, and Higgins was shot dead.
The gun had been used for shooting rooks, and the
boys did not know it was loaded.
A snowstorm, more or less severe, was experienced
on Monday in different parts of the country. The
snowfall would seem to have been general, not only in
the south of England, but in the midlands, in Ireland,
and In Scotland.
Great depression characterises the Cheshire salt
trade. Daring February the United States took
24,288 tons, the East Indies 10,448, North America
2,375, the West Indies and South America 2,617, and
Belgium 2,362. The total exports for February were
59,419 tons. The exports during January were 62,426.
The total is 121,845, against 146,786 for January and
February last year, showing a decrease in the exports
ami-,Tinting to 24,941 tons.
Mr. Bright left Edinburgh at noon on Monday for
Rochdale by the Midland route. A large crowd met
him at the station, and loudly cheered him on the
departure of the train.
The Freeman's Journal says there is a block ot 60,000
undisposed•of cases in the courts under the Irish Land
Act, and applications are still coming in from tenants
at the rate of 1,400 per month. Only 8,400 cases per
month can be dealt with, so that it will be two
years and a half yet before the block is worked
off. The Freeman's Journal advises the Government
to double the seventeen Sub-Commissioners now at
work under the Act. •
On Saturday evening a shocking accident occurred
on the Sittingbourne and Sheerness branch of the
London, Chatham, and Dover Railway, by which
two men, named Parker, father and sou, lost their
lives. The men were platelayers, and lived close to
the line. On Saturday evening they went to Milton.
ext-Sittingbourne to do some shopping, and on re-
turning home on foot on the railroad they imprudently
walked in the "four-foot," the result being that they
were overtaken by the train, and both were knocked
down and killed instantaneously.—An inquest has
been held, when the jury returned a verdict of "Loot.
dental death." The • father leaves seven young ohil
dren.
A singular Acene was witnessed on Monday at Holy
Trinity, Bordesley, Birmingham, on the occasion of
the election of churchwardens. On the motion to
appoint a Low Churchman as vicar's warden, there
was a tremendous uproar, which lasted several
minutes. The Rev. Mr. Enraght (the inhibited '
' vicar) moved the appointment of Dr. Taylor, aHijih ' '
Churchman, as people's warden. The new vicar '
accepted the nomination, expressing a hope that Dr. • '
Taylor would work amicably with him. 13k. Tarlorc,
on being elected, moved a resolution declirlisettlie -
new vicar's appointment illegal, and that on that
account they would never recognise him in any form.
The new vicar ruled the resolution out ot order, and
refused to put it to the meeting, which he declared
dissolved. A soene of much confusion followed, and
Mr. Enraght attempted to address the people from
the pulpit. A large force of police were present.

Srf=M=

r

:1

f