The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-05-05 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

On ApriA 27th the navigation of the Neva was
formally opened by the Commander of the Peter and
Paul fortress who crossed over in his state barge,
under a salute of cannon, to the Winter Palace, and
notified the Emperor of the fact.
A man, unknown, has been found near Shakespeare
Cliff (Dover) much crushed and quite dead. It is sup-
posed he had fallen over the cliff.

Salmon have been coming up the Dee in large num-
bers owing to the fine weather, and on Tuesday morn-
ing there was a magnificent display in Chester.
Amongst a number of other fish was a clean and ex-
ceedingly fine specimen of over 311 b. in weight.
A boat belonging to the French ironclad Ocean, and
manned by 17 sailors, were overtaken by a squall at
Toulon on Saturday and sank. Seven of the crew
were drowned.

In one of the clubs of San Francisco the other even-
ing, a unique dish was served at the close of a dinner
to ten gentlemen. It was an ostrich omelet. The omelet
was made of one egg, and there was more than a suffi-
ciency for all. The flavour was not unpleasant, being
but littlestronger than that of an hen's egg. The dish
was a very costly onc—ostrich's eggs being valuable.
On Saturday the fund opened at the London
Mansion House for the relief of distress in the
Western Isles and Highlands of Scotland amounted
to £4,500.
The Queen has now definitely abandoned the hope
of being able to open the Fisheries Exhibition, and an
intimation to that effect has been conveyed to the
Committee. The Prince of Wales will represent her
Majesty on the occasion, and it is expected that he will
be accompanied by the Princess of Wales.

The library of the Historical Society of Wisconsin,
which now numbers more than 100,000 volumes and
pamphlets, obtained last year twi valuable sets of
autographs—oneo of the 56 signers of the Declaration
of Indepmdence ; the other, of the 39 signers of the
Constitution of the United States.
There were 2,514 births and 1,635 deaths registered
in London last week. Allowing for increase of popu•
lationt the births were 268 and the deaths were two
below the average numbers in the corresponding weeks
of the last ten years. The annual rate of mortality
from all causes, which had declined from 28 3 to 23.2.
in the four preceding weeks, further fell to 21.6. Only
one fatal case of small•pox was recorded throughout the
whole of the metropolis, the corrected average weekly
number being 29.

The -Swiss National Exhibition was opened at
Zurich on Tuesday amid great festivities.
The Rev. C. H. Spurgeon had not sufficiently re.
covered from his recent attack of rheumatic gout to
officiate en Sunday at the Metropolitan Tabernacle.
His health, however, is much improved, and it is ex-
pected that he will be in the pulpit on Sunday next.
The Earl of Shaftesbury on Saturday last completed
his 82nd birthday, having been born on April 28, 1801.
Notwithstanding his lordship's advanced age, be will
as usual take a prominent part in the forthcoming May
Meetings with which his name has been so long asso-
ciated.

The Times is informed on the best authority that a
meeting of the leading steamship owners has been
called for May 10 with the definite object of taking
steps to form a company for the purpose of raising
the capital required for the construction of a new
Suez Canal.
Considerable activityprevails in the yacht•bnilding
yards at Cowes, Lymington, Southampton, and
Gosport. A number of yachts are fitting out, and a
good yachting season is anticipated.

The Citizen, states that the Corporation of the City
of London have received an anonymous letter
declaring that on the 6th of May-,-;the anniversary of
the assassination of Lord Frederick Cavendish and
Mr. Burke—an attempt would be made to blow up
the Guildhall. The building is now protected by a
special body of policemen.
It has been decided to light up Port Said by means
of compressed gas upon Pintsch's system, and in-
structions have been given by the Suez Canal Com-
'Any for the erection of a small gasworks at that port.

The combined anthracite coal interests in the
United States have agreed that work shall only be
carried on during three days of each of the first two
weeks in May, the men to work full time during the
remainder of the month.
The Court Circider states that the Queen has
decidedly improved since her arrival at Osborne, and
although not yet able to take walking exercise out of
doors, her Majesty can move about her apartments
with support.
The Queen has been graciously pleased to con-
tribute the sum of £lOO to the fund which Is being
raised for the purpose of securing the preservation of
the tombstones and other memorials of our country-
men who fell in the Crimea.
It is now definitely settled that Midshipman his
Royal Highness Prince George will be appointed to
the Canada steel and iron corvette, which was corn
missioned last week at Portsmouth by Captain Dun,
rant.

Intelligence from Texas reports that destructive
storms have occurred in various parts of that State by
which several persons were killed.

On Tuesday the thirty-third anniversary of the birth
of the Duke of Connaught was celebrated at WindBor
with the usual honours, the bells of the town ringing
merrily,

Thirty-two British and foreign actual shipwrecks,
of which 20 were British.° cvned, we e reported during
last week, making a total of 771 for the present year,
or an increase of 230 as compared with the corres-
ponding period of last year. Four wrecks were
British-owned steamers, with an aggregate tonnage of
2,977 tons. Total tonnage lost for the week 12,964
tons. Total number of lives lost and missing, 133.
The difficulty of compressing the debate on the
Affirmation Bill within the assigned limits may be
judged from the fact that when the Debate was re-
sumed in the House of Commons on Tuesday night the
number of members on the Conservative benches who
were down to speak was not less than forty.
There are at the present time, it is stated, 20 gentle-
men on the Commission of Peace in England and
Wales who are also newspaper proprietors. Nine of
these have been appointed by Lord gelborne, the pre-
sent Lord Chancellor.

Sir William Armstrong has made another gift of
land to the town of Newcastle for the purpose of
public recreation. The plot consists of about fourteen
acres, and is in the neighbourhood of the extensive
park which Sir William presented to the town.
The Archbishop of York has consented to address
a great open-air meeting of workmen, drovers, and
others, employed in connection with the Royal Agri-
cultural Show at York, on Sunday, July 15, the day
preceding the opening of the Show.

It is said that Barnum, besides the six elephants
purchased three weeks ago at Hamburg, has bought
six more in Bengal. He will, when these all arrive
in America, have a herd of elephants that has never
been rivalled out of India. He has had two baby
additions to his elephant family since the beginning of
the year.

Like other Temperance advocates, the Bishop of
Exeter is greatly cheered by last Friday night's divi-
sion. Speaking at a large and enthusiastic meeting
held at Exeter on Monday evening, the Bishop said
that the movement had now passed through a very
critical epoch, and had reached a point from which its
friends might clearly see that ere long they would make
a definite mark upon legislation.

The American evangelists, Messrs. Moody and
Sankey, who have just concluded a four weeks'
mission in Liverpool, sailed for New York on Saturday
in the Alazka. They think of revisiting England in
October to open a mission in London. The services in
Liverpool have been attended by enormous numbers
of persons, acd the Bishop of Liverpool and very
many clergy have given the mission their countenance
and support,

The "Saturday Hospital" collections took place at
Birmingham last Saturday, and the amount paid into
the Joint-Stock Bank up to nine o'clock was £4,220,
as against £3,774 last year. There are several other
amounts to come in, and it is expected that this year's
total will reach £5,000.

A New York telegram says that the visible supply
of wheat on April 27 was 21,200,000 bushels, as
against 21,700,11.0 bushels the previous week. Visible
supply of Indian corn, 17,700,000 bushels, as against
18,100,000 bushels the previous week. The export
clearances of wheat for Europe during last week
amounted to 800,000 bushels ; the export clearances of
Indian corn for Europe during last week amounted to
950,000 bushels.
The Agent-General for the Cape sent out by the
Danube, which sailed from Southampton on April 28,
139 emigrants, men, women, and children. These
consisted of 104 artisans, domestic servants, and
families, 25 recruits for the Cape Mounted Infantry,
and ten recruits for the Cape Mounted Riflemen,
"On the 19th April at 13, Lock-park, Rock Ferry,
Cheshire, Mary Hesketh Hartley, aged four years,
third daughter ; also, Dora Isabell Hartley, aged six
years, second daughter; also, April 27th, Mary
Hesketh, the beloved wife of Stephen Hartley Watson,
of Liverpool."—Obituary of The Tines, May 1.
The arrivals of live stock and fresh meat at Liver-
pool during last week from the United States and
Canada were unusually small, there being only one
steamer with live stock on board; and although five
steamers conveyed fresh beef to Liverpool, the
arrivals were nevertheless considerably below those of
the previous. The supply of mutton was a slight
increase of the previous week.. The totals were 196
cattle, 4,887 quarters of beef, and 1,685 carcases of
mutton.

Tuesday being May Day, the usual carnivals
indulged in by the chimney-sweeping fraternity of the
metropolis duly took place. The "shows" which are
known as "Jack-in-the-Green " were abroad at an
early hour. In some cases, in addition to the usual
adjuncts, several of the more wealthy sweeps engaged
a Harlequin and Columbine.
At the fifty-fourth anniversary meeting of the
Zoological Society of London, it was reported that the
visitors to the society's gardens in 1882 had been
E 49,776, against 648,694 in 1881, the number having
been unusually augmented by the excitement caused
at the removal of the large African elephant, Jumbo,
in the beginning of the year. The number of animals
in the society's collection on the 31st December last
was 2.355, of which 750 were mammals, 1,364 birds,
and 241 reptiles.
On Sunday the band of the National Sunday
League gave its first performance of the season in
Regent's Park, London, and the first of a proposed
series of excursions was run to Box•hill and Dorking.
Considering the unsettled state of the weather the
band was well patronised, and some hundreds assem•
bled at London Bridge f r the trip into Surrey.
In London, on Tuesday morning, shortly after
seven o'clock, the mutilated remains of a man were
found about 300 yards from the Waterloo Termini by
some of the officials in the employ of the London and
South-Western Railway Company. Deceased was
subsequently identified as a points cleaner. It is con-
jectured that whilst he was at work near the Waterloo
Signal-box he was knocked down by an engine. There
were traces along the line of the deceased having been
dragged for some considerable distance.
The new sweep of road at Hyde Park-corner, from
Hamilton-place to Halkin-street, Grosvenor-place, was
opened for traffic on the Ist of May. No ceremonial
display marked the event. The barriers having been
removed, there was a rush of vehicles from either
end. The first to enter from the Piccadilly side was a
hansom cab, the horse wearing rosettes on his head
and the harness bedecked with bunches of blue and
white and yellow ribbons. At the other end the first
vehicle to enter was a
,private dog cart. Crowds quickly
gathered along the slues.
It is said that the force of secret police to be
employed in Moscow during the coronation will
consist of 540 members. There are wheels within
wheels, however, and there is to be a still more secret
police, composed of ten picked detectives. This will
be an international body, so to speak, comprising one
Russian, three Italians, one Belgian, one Dane, one
EnOshman, one Frenchman, one German, and one
Swiss,

The Pioneer states that a member of the Alpine
Club, attended by an experienced Swiss guide, has
left Darjeeling, for the purpose of attempting the
higheA possible ascent of the Kinchinjunger. The
task will be a hard one, especially as the difficulties
to be overcome are in many respects altogether dif-
ferent from those encountered in Switzerland. But
there is in the Himalayas a great field open for a
dis-
play of the qualities of mountain climbers; and this
first venture will be watched with interest.

An inquest has been held at Bristol on the body of
Frank Howard Tripp, aged thirteen. The deceased was
on a visit to an uncle in the neighbourhood of Shortwcod
Colliery, Mangotefield, and being anxious to see the
workings of the mine, with his father's sanction he an 4
a companion were taken down the pit by two miners...
A headit g stone, weighing seven hundred-weight,i
suddenly fell from the roof, and killed him. The Go:
vernment inspector said no one was to blame. A'
verdict WA3 returned of "Accidental death."
A report recently issued by the flax-seed inspector,
to the Chicago Board of Trade for the year 1882,'
showed that the total inspected receipts of flax.seed at
Chicago during the year =bunted to 10,243 carloads,
or 5,040,023 bushels. The total inspected shipments
during the same period amounted to 4,203,545 bushels.
The total flax-seed crop of 1882 in the Western and
North-Western States has been estimated at about
7,500,000 bushels, and about 2,000,000 bushels have
found their way to the St. Louis oil mills and other
points,

The ancient ceremony of crowning the May Queen
was carried out on Tuesday amiist large crowds of
holiday folks from all parts of Cheshire, at Knuts•
ford. •

According to the Philadelphia papers, the latest
folly of fashion in that city is the introduction of
engraved visiting cards for pet lap-dogs.
The shipments of iron from Middlesborough for the
month of April amounted to 87,830 tons, as compared
wi,h 68,909 tons and 78,894 tons in the corresponding
periods of 1882 and 1881 respectively.
The report of the death of Suleiman Pacha, the
defender of the Shipka Pass, is contradicted.
A telegram from Ottowa says the Princess Louise
pays daily visits to charitable and other institutions,
and it is assumed that her Royal Highness is fully
restored to health.

A Berlin telegram says that the small town of Geisa,
between Eisenach and Fulda, has been nearly half
destroyed by a great fire which raged there for several
days. Out. of 326 houses more than one hundred were
burned to the ground, with their outbuildings and
some public edifices, including the Catholic schools.
It has been decided by the Secretary of State for
War that officers and soldiers are exempt from pay-
ment of messing contribution
.or ration stoppage for
any period they are under medical treatment on board i
any sort of 'vessel for wounds received n action or
disease coLtracted on active service.

In a letter to the Reverend Canon Argles, Sir Henry
Ponsonby states that he is commanded by the Queen
to say that Her. Majesty will be happy to give £2OO
towards the fund for the restoration of Peterborough
Cathedral.

A rich landed proprietor has just died at Iss ndun
In France, leaving the sum of two millions!of francs as
a fund of which the interest is to be given every year to
the "three most upright and most virtuous fathers of
fumilies that can be found in Issoudun."

Writing to Councillor Gray, of Glasgow, Mr.
Gladstone states that he fears that he sees no present
prospect of legislation this session on the subject of
local taxation in towns.

Sword scabbards for the Russian army are hence.
forth to be made of papier-mache, and an order has
just been given at Eusheim for the manufacture of
500,000 of these articles,

From returns which have reached the Secretary:of
the Congregational Total Abstinence Society it ap-
pears that of those who entered the Congregational
ministry last year upwards of 80 per cent. are known
to be total abstainers.

In Germany great preparations are already being
made to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Luther's
birth, in next November, when, among other things,
tableaux vivant.% representing the chief events in the
great Reformer's life, will be exhibited at Erfurt.
Dr. Lyons M.P., has received an offer through the
editor of tCe Horticultural Journal of 50,000 trees
from Messrs. Bruce and Cumin, of Salteris, Loir
Cher (France), towards the project of reafforeating in
Ireland.

The public park in Dover which has been laid out
by a number of ladies and gentlemen at a cost of
several thousand pounds was formally presented to
the town on Tuesday. The park occupies a site of
some twenty acres oir more in one of the most promi-
nent and beautiful .situations in the town. The land
Is G-overnment property, but has been granted the
lessees at a nominal rent.

The Times of Tuesday aaid—" A letter containing
explosive material and addressed to Mr. Forster has
been stopped in passing through the Post Office. The
letter seems to have been posted in the West•end of
London, and its bulky appearance at first attracted
notice. It was afterwards examined and detained."

The annual meeting of the National Temperance
League was held in Exeter Hall on Monday evening.
It was stated in the report that there are now 11,000
total abstainers in the navy, and that 2,300 pledges
had been registered in the army during the past year.
On Monday night the Archbishop of Canterbury
visited the House of Commons for the first time since
his elevation. He occupied a seat in tbe Peers'
Gallery, which, during Lord Randolph Churchill's
speech was very crowded, among its occupants being
the Duke of Teck. Mr. Bradlaugh again listened to
the debate from below the bar.

Last weeks receipts of cotton at all United States
ports were 59,000 bales; since let September,
5,594,000 bales. Week's exports to Great Britain,
49,000 bales; week's exports to the Continent, 38,000
bales. Total since Ist September, 4,045,030 bales.
Stock at all ports, 694,000 bales.

At a meeting of delegates of the Amalgamated
Society of Engineers in Glasgow, it has been resAved
to make a demand for an increase of a halfpenny per
hour, the reason being that the state of trade warrants
such a demand.
The districts which furnished the greatest number
of recruits for the Foot Guards during 1882 were the
17th Leicester and 45th Derby, each with 25 men; 6th
Warwick and 9th Norfolk, each with 20; and the 14th
Buckingham, with 19.

The very Rev. George H. Connor, Dean of Windsor,
died at a quarter to six o'clock on Tuesday morning
at the Deanery. The late Dean was educated at
Trinity College, Dublin, where ha graduated B.A. in
1845 and M.A. in 1851. He was ordained deacon by
the Bishop of Down and Connor in 1846 and priest in
1847 by the Bishop of Lincoln. He was appointed
vicar of Newport, Isle of Wight, in 1852, and chaplain
in ordinary to the Queen in 1874. In October last he
was appointed Dean of Windsor and domestic chaplain
to her Majesty. The late Dean was an honorary canon
of Winchester.

One of the most startling toys perhaps ever invented
has lately been brought from Madras. It is a de-
velopment of the familiar guttapercha snake which
has long been a favourite in the nursery. On pulling
outwards the sliding lid of a small rectangular box, a
snake emerges with surprising veloalty, and snaps at
the hand of the opener. Apart from its intrinsic .
merits, it is interestisg as being probably the first
mechanical toy ever brought from India.

Prince Thomas, of Genoa, the brother of the Queen
of Italy, arrived wit): his bride at Rome on Saturday
afternoon. All the local authorities assembled at the
station to do honour to the bridal party; the route tc
the Quirinal was decorated and crowded by an enthu-
siastic throng. From the balcony of the Palace the
Royal family, in response to the hearty welcome of
the people, repeatedly bowed their thanks.

The correspondent of the Daily News at Alexandria
telegraphs that the possibility of a second Suez Canal,
under English direction, is exciting much interest
there, and accounts of the deputation to Lord Gran.
vile have been printed and circulated. An English
canal from Alexandria to Suez would, he adds, be an
immense boon to Egypt.

In a report upon the sea-weed, upon which many of
the poor in the distressed districts in Ireland are at
prE sent dependent for life, Dr. Cruise says that it " is
wholly unfit to be a staple article of diet for children,
or even for adults, and that it will very soon run down
the unhappy consumers by diseases of a wasting
nature."

Trout fishing in the waters of the Newbury mei
District Angling ! Association, which cover several
miles along the Kennett valley, began on Tuesday.
There were excellent takes, including many brace of
fine trout in capital condition. The Kennett and
Lamborne etreams are well stocked with fish, and
first-class sport may be looked for throughout the
season.

The Amsterdam Exhibition was opened on Tuesday
by the King of the Netherlands, the Queen being also
present at the ceremony. An address was delivered•
by the President of the Executive Committee, who
referred to the contributions sent by the Prinoe of
Wales and the South Kensington Museum. The
King and Queen then inspected the various depart-
ments, and displayed great interest in what they saw.
In the evening a grand banquet was given by the
Municipality.

The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens,
Regent's Park, London, during last week included a
leopard from India, presented by Mr. A. P. Marsden;
an ocelot from South America, presented by Mr. C. G.
Leith ; a ring•tailed coati from South America, pre-
sented by Mr. E. Dance; two Porto Rico pigeons,
from the West Indies, a common boa from Brazil,
presented by Mr. C. A. Craven, C.M.Z.S. ; an osprey
from Australia, presented by Dr. Plummer ; a white.
bellied sea eagle from Australia, presented by Mr. E.
P. Ramsay, C.M.Z.S. •' three common rheas from
Monte Video, presented by Mr. John Fair; a green
turtle from the West Indies, presented by Mr. Fleet-
wood Sandeman ; a leopard from India, a small hill
mynah from Southern India, a greater sulphur-crasted
cockatoo from Australia, a gannet, British, deposited;
an Iceland falcon from Iceland purchased.