The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-02-14 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND roREIGN.

During the first nine months of 1884, 24 horses, 25
beasts and cows, 107 sheep, and 5 donkeys were run
over and killed on our railways..
Particulars from St. Petersburg regarding the recent
burning of the Greek Orthodox Church at Jacobstadt
(Courland) state that the edifice was blown up by dyna-
mite.
Lord Coleridge, in charging the Grand Jury at Hert-
ford Assizes, said there nad been a most gratif3ing
annual decrease in the prison population of England.
for the last twelve or fourteen years. The decrease had
been so well maintained and so steady that it was diffi-
cult to suppose it was mere chance, or attributable to,
merely passing conditions. Increased temperance,,
improved education, and more efficient administration.
of 3ustice, were among the reasons he suggested for the
improvement.
During the past week five Americans' who have.
accepted service as officers in the Chinese Army, have,
it is said, arrived in this country. They are all stated-
to be mr:n of military experience, and they have come
to England as experts- to settle certain contracts for the.
supply, of warlike stores. After a brief stay here they
will go on to China by way of the Suez Canal, and,
will ultimately join the Clhin.sse forces on the Tonquin.
frontier.
Peinsdorft and. Kuechler' who were sentenced to
death for complicity in the Niederwald attempt upon
the Emperor's life, have been executed.
Disturbances have taken place at gnettah, ano
Captain Campbell, of the Houssas, has been dangerously
wounded.

A despatch received in Paris from Admiral Courbet
at Kelung, states that a Chinese force numbering
between 1,000 and 2,000 men was repulsed en the 31st
ult., with a loss of 200 dead, including one European
officer. The French loss is stated to have been one
killed and one wounded. General Briere de Lisle, tele-
graphing from Doug Song, states that the whole
entrenched Chinese camp there has fallen into the
bands of the French troops. In thB attack on the
redoubts commanding the camp the French losses were
80 killed and wounded.

At the Mary lebone Police-court, London, on Saturday,
Wellboro St. Clair Baddeley, of 5, Albert Hall Mansions,
South Kensington, appeared on an adjourned summons,
charging him with assaulting Frederick Cleaver, of 12,
Maida-hill, on the 21st ult. There was a cross summons.
The magistrate ordered both Mr. Baddeley and Mr.
Cleaver to enter into their own recognisances in the
sum of £lOO, and each to find on surety in £5O to keep
the peace.
According to the Board of Trade returns for January,
the total value of the exports was £18,109,525, against
09,352,541 in January last year, showing a decrease of
£1,243,016. The total imports for the month amount
to £36,049,005, as compared with £35,645,221 for the
same month in 1884, an increase of £403,784.
Sir T. J. Nelson, who during nearly a quarter of a
.century had filled the office of City Solicitor, died on
Saturday after a few hours' illness. He was 59 years
of age.
M. Waddington, the French Ambassador, presided on
Saturday night at the annual dinner in aid of the French
Hospital and Dispensary, Leicester-place, London.
Subscriptions amounting to £l2OO were announced.
Dr. Temple, the Bishop-designate of London, de-
livered an address on Saturday in Westminster Abbey
to the missionaries and other workers in the West
London Mission.
Lord Ripon, speaking on Saturday respecting the
Khartoum disaster, pointed out that the public were
bound to wait before passing hostile criticism upon the
Government until they knew what was the course which
had been adopted and what were the explanations to be
offered. One thing was certain—it was simply im-
possible to conduct military operations in Central
Africa in hot weather. The news of the investment
of Khartoum reached this country in April last, and it
would have been a great advantage could we have
taken steps at once for its relict. He discussed the
subject at the time with men of great experience, and
all agreed that it was not practicable for Eutile,a4
troops then to undertone such operations.

At a Chapter of St. Patricir held at butiln o.astle;
Lord's' hnnaly and Monteagle have been appointed
Knights Of the Order.
Before 16. Justice Denman, at the Nottingham
Assizes, Mari Greaves, the danghter of an Oxton
butcher, sued William H. Bonner, described as the
second whip to the Duke of Rut/end, for breach of
promise of marriage. The jury found for the plaintiff,
"nth £lOO damages.
A deliberate atterot to wreck a train is reported
from Arbroath. It appnrs that no less than eight rail-
way chairs and a crowbar were placed on the Dundee
;..nd Arbroath line, and that a passenger train from the
former place passed over them. Five of the obstacles
were crushed, but no further damage was done.
A conference called by the London Municipal Reform
League has been held at the Memorial Hall, Farring-
don-street, London. Mr. J. F. B. Firth, M.P., presided.
A resolutien calling upon the Government to proceed
immediately with legislation with respect to the muni-
cipal govermnent of London was passed, and ordered to
be forwarded to each of her Majesty's Ministers, and
the conference was adjourned until after the reply of
the Government should have been received.
The Brightom magistrates have inflicted a fine on Mr.
Hardy, head master of one of the Board schools, for
assaulting one of the scholars named Trower, by caning
him and wringing his ears. The boy's body bore marks
of the whipping he had received. It was argued that
the punishment bad not been excessive, the boy having
been very inattentive and careless, but the magistrates
held that it went beyond what school teachers were
kastified in inflicting, remarking further that, whilst
not disputing that schoolmasters had power to ad-
minister corporal punishment, they do so at the risk of
incurring a penalty if the treatment were unduly severe.
The case excited considerable interest, as the defendant
had been in the Board's service for eleven years, and
enjoyed a high character for kindness.
The Sheriff of Devon has fixed the 23rd inst. for the
execution of John Lee, who was convicted last week
for the murder of Miss Keyse at Babbacombe. The
prisoner is stated to maintain in the prison the
hardened demeanour which has characterised him from
the first.

At the Hertford Assizes en Saturday William Goole
was indicted for engaging in a prize fight with another
man not in custody near Cheshunt on New Year's Day.
Maurice Murphy, one of the seconds, and James Goode,
father of the prisoner of the same name were charged
with aiding and abetting. They all pleaded guilty, and
were sentenced to one week's imprisonment without
hard labour.

Lords RoseFery and Carrington were the chief
speakers at a Liberal meeting at Epsom on Monday
night. The former urged that the nation should
strengthen the hands of the Government to enable
them to deal with the crisis- in the Soudan, and the
latter stated his belief that Mr. Chamberlain's recent
declarations on the land question had been misunder-
stood or misrepresented.

At the Wolverhampton Town Council meeting, it haa
been resolved to forward a petition to Parliament in
opposition to the bills about to beintroduced by certain
of the railway companies-for the purpose of increasing
the rate of the transit of goods from this district. It
was stated that if the companies- sucreeded in getting
their measures passed into law, the. rates for pig iron
alone could be advanced 50 per cent. Then the rates
for hardware, which affected this borough, would be
materially advanced—wire and hardware about ss. per
ton; and there would also be an increase on the rates
for the carriage of fish, which was a most important
article of diet.
The Sultan has conferred the Grand, Cordon of the
Osmanie Order on Prince Albert 'Victor of Wales.
Prince George of Wales is to complete his gunnery
and torpedo education on board her Majesty's ship
Excellent, at Portsmouth.
Lord Randolph Churchill has arrived in Calcutta, and
Is the guest of the Viceroy.
„

The'- Western Daily Press" states that the Marquis
of Lorne has been suggested by a member of the
Goverment as candidate for the Clifton division of
Bristol.

Lord Alington has written to the Dorset aunty
Conservative Association stating that his son, the Hon.
Humphrey Sturt, will stand for the northern or Shaftes-
bury division of the county, and not for the Poole,
Wareham, and Wimborne division, as originally in-
tended. Mr. G. 11. Bond, of Creech Grange, will there-
fore receive the united vote of the Conservative party
in. that division.

The Dominion Government of Canada have an-
nounced their intention to prepare special legislation,
with a view to preventing Canada from being made a
base for dynamite operations against England and other
countries.

The Duke of Connaught has accepted the presidency
of the Essex Agricultural Society for the present year.
The society will hold its summer exhibition at Waltham
in June, and the Lord Mayor of London will probably
attend.

At Sedgley on Tuesday, three men, named Robins,
Jones, and Roberts were charged by an old man,
named Joseph Turley, with highway robbery with.
violence. Turley stated that he was accosted by the
three men who made him drink four glasses of ale
through a straw. He afterwards became unconscious,
and for ten hours was exposed in a lane. Three pounds
ten • shillings were taken from him. The prisoners
denied that they were the perpetrators, and were dis-
charged.
Joseph Hart was indicted at the Worcester Assizes
on Tuesday for wounding his wife with a knife with a.
felonious intent. The prisitner rend his wife had been
married for 23 years, and on Hart getting into diffi-
czdties his goods were sold, and his wife went to live
with her children, apart from her husband, at Oldbury.
On December 16 the prisoner asked his wife to go oz..t
with him, and she refused, on which he threatened
her. Next day he came again, and as she again re-
fused he struck her several times, inflicting serious
wounds on the arm and other parts of the body. He
was convicted, and sentenced to seven years' penal ser-
vitude. The prosecutrix was for some time in danger
of her life.

Lord Egmont, presiding at a meeting held in connec-
tion with the Sutton Working Men's Constitutional
Association,, alluded to Lord Rosebery's remarks at
Epsom that the catastrophe at Khartoum might turn
out a blessine in disguise, and observed that if it should
be the cause of removing from power Mr. Gladstone
and his Ministry then indeed it would be a blessing in
disguise. He warned working men that if they attacked
property acme class, whether it was the large landed
proprietors, or the large capitalist, or whether it was
the house purchased by the hard-earned savings bf the
working man, they equally attacked the principles of
property whether it was land or money. It was a
most dangerous and a most disastrous game to play
at. Mr. A. Baumann, the Conservative candidate for
Deptford, Mr. If. D. Phillips, and other gentlemen
also addressed, the meeting, which was a most enthu-
siastic one.
The details-of a sad career came out in the course of
an inquest held4by the Canterbury coroner on the body
of a woman named Craze, who had been found dead in
her house. She was the wife of a fish dealer in London,
but had been separated from him for twenty years.
The woman had given way to drink, and, although well
provided for by her husband, she had neglected herself
and spent her money principally on intoxicating liquor--
A few weeks ago she met with an accident and broke,
her arm. She was attended by a surgeon, but did -not
carry out his directions. She obtained more drink and
tore the bandages off her arm. The cause of death was
certified to be apoplexy produced by excessive drinking.
Her husband stated that she had been an inmate of a
drunkards' retreat at Hammersmith, but escaped by
sealing the wall, and came back to his house. He had
not seen her for eight years, but she had frequently
written to him. The jury returned a verdict of "-Death
from excessive drinking."
A number of Welshmen residing in Liverpool have
determined to form a National Society for Wales..
The objects of the society are promoting social inter-
course of Welshmen in Liverpool, the welfare of
Welshmen generally, the advancement of literature,
science, and art immediately connected with Wales,and
the formation in Liverpool of a library of Celtic litera-
ture. In order to attain these objects it is proposed to
provide central' and convenient premises, where Welsh..
men may meet, interchange friendly intercourse, and
hold meetings for the reading, of papers bearing on
objects of the Society. The association is- to be non-
political and non-sectarian. The names of. fiftY-thhe
intending members were handed in, and a provisional
committee formed. It was stated that there is no
town in the Kingdom rossessing a larger Welsh pOpu-
laticn than Liverpool, which contained little less than
one hundred thousand Welsh residents.
At thealiddlesex Sessions on Tuesday amen named
Durrough was convicted of fraudulently obtaiffing
several small sums of mone:T on the pretext of effecting
insurances in various societies. He was senteaced to.
six months' hard labour.
Mr. John Morley, M.P., delivered his inaugural
address on Tuesday evening as President of the Glasgow
Junior Liberal Association. rfe strongly opposed. the
carrying on of a war in the Soudan, and contended that
the original instructions to Lord Wolseley should be
carried out—namely, that "no further offeneive-opera-
tions of any kind are to be undertaken" after-the
rescue of Gordon and Stewart. If those two gallant
men were dead there was an end to the object -of the
expedition.
•
The receipts on account of Revenue from the -Ist of
April, 1884, when there was a balance of £5,632,569, to
February 7, 1885, were £70,779,353, against £7305,711
in the corresponding period of the preceding financial
year, which began with a balance of £6,972,711,„,' net expenditure expenditure was £71,962,887, against
the same date to the previous yfar. The. Trcatuarli
balances on February 7 amounted to 3,229,139 =slat
the same date in 1884 to £6,719,491.
whento thot
highhe
q
Convocation of Canteibury assembled on
PrimateTuesdays-
oalitioasnodf
tsehovelartael
a resolution regretting his death was agreed to. •: 4r
The Marquis of Ripon has pßreislhaotepsobef
Lreotendostisim, Ludy
Association, wia6 -eon-
tion from the Indian Reform
ehr
i_grefbelionnefe..
that
gratulated him upon the policy
and asked his advocacy of some
his reply, the noble marquis ex
licb3e:onf vihisistmadd bmYrnam.dtreati"etau:
expressed
dhh
points at issue in respect to the Bengal Tenancy Bill
Lord Dufferin would shortly deal with the remaining
in a fair spirit to all concerned in agricultural •opera-
present method of selecting persons for the statutory
tions in that Presidency. He also observed that the
service of India required amendment.
Extreme difficulty is experienced in carrying out the,
Compulsory Vaccination Act at Leicester in con-
sequence of the large numbers of those who defy the
law. Since the order was given by the Board of
Guardians, by the direction of the Local Government
Board, to prosecute four thousand people, the number
of defaulters has largely increased, the total number
remaining to.be dealt with being now nearly five thou-
sand. Each of these defaulters has to be served- with
two notices, making ten thousand notices to be served
before a. summons can be issued. Itforeover, ses_l have
'these
are Over twelve months in arrear each parent will
to besummoned twice—first, to show cause why-an
order should not be made to have the child vaccinated,
and the second for disobeying such order when it is
made. There arethus ten thousand sturam oredsjaU be
lt,
issued, which, with the preliminary no ices o h
document
at the residences of the defaulters, esie
stated
having to be served separately, and 94 s s.
make a total cd twenty thousand documents to be served
Every day it is becoming more and more diffidultt
7,
administer the Acts.
-

. ••