The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-09-23 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

A prayer meeting in behalf of newspaper reporters
has been held in Chic ig).

The sixth volume of Prkcs Bismarck's Parliamentary'
speeches, translated into French, has been published at Ber-
lin. The work extends over the years from 1E62 till 1378.

"Utility to Bangle.—Many, many thanks. It was
too good of you. My theory has thus proved right. Acknow-
ledge this."—Advertisement in The Timcs.
The total amount received up to Saturday evening
(16th) for the Hospital Saturday Fund is £3,903 103.
A young man died on Monday at Chelmsford from
hydrophobia. He was bitten in the hand by a dog to which
he was administering a dose of medicine abbut two months
ago.

The "Life of Charles Kingsley," which will appear
during the present winter season, will contain, use he-simile
of his handwriting, the manuscript of his well known " Three
iflshgera "

At the Trades Union Congress in Newcastle Mr.
Laird, the president, -sa'd he considered the present position
of trade in this country as compared with continental nations,
coming to the conclusion that the reports about a decline in
Bi Wish industries were much exaggerated, if at all true. He
thought that arbitration, as at present conducted, was not of
much service to the workman, but that the principle con-
tained the germ of future usefulness.

Delegates from the Young Men's Christian Associa-
tions in the West Midland Dietrict held a conference at
Southport on Tuesday. It was stated that there were thirty
associstions in the union, repre3enting 10,000 members.
The Army and Navy Gazette learns from private
letters that Lord Napier of Magdala was received with re-
markable consideration by the highest personages in Ger-
many on his arrival to attend the mancenvres, and that he
has formed, quite apart we need not say from his personal
feelings, a high opinion of the extraordinary efficiency of the
army in all its details, excepting, perhaps, as regards the
polish of buckles and boots.
A New York clergyman reports that he has been
called upon several times during the present year to christen
infants, both boys and girls, by the name "Centennial."
A fatal accident happened on Sunday on the Lan-
cashire and Yorkshire 11 silway, near Liverpool. The engine
of a train ran of/ the rails at a part where the line was being
repaired. The stoker was killed and the driver badly in.
'tired. The passengers escaped with a shaking.
The King of Bavaria was lately in Paris where he
went about enveloped In a large cloak, and observing the
strictest incognito, as is his custom.

Her Majesty the Queen, with Princess Beatrice and
Prince Leopold, attended Divine service on Sunday at the
parish church of Crathie. The Yery Rev, Principal TuHoch,
of St. Andrew's, officiated. The Right Ron R. A. Cross and
Principal Tuiloch dined with her Majesty and the Royal
family.

It is suggested that a more appropriate name should
be given to the Great Western kat train than Flying
Dutchman. The attempt to make a Dutchman fly must end
in a mishap; nature opposes swift locomotion in him.
The decease near Narbonne (lade) is announced of
Mdme. Girard de Grandvlgues, at the age of 105.

The old, though perhapsbootlese, queetion.—" Where
do the pins go to? 'is recalled by the statement in an American
paper that there are now eight pin factories in the United
States, which make 47,000,000 pins daily. In addition to
these, the importation of pins reaches 25,000,000 daily. As
these are sold, it is safe to say that 72,000,000 pins are lost
daily, or 50,000 every minute l

At the watering-phsess in America dancing is done
to the Moody and SAnkey tunes.

Three agricultural teachers from America are about
to be employed by the Japanese Government to give instruc-
tion at the oavernment school at Sapporo.

A number of dogs belonging to the Braes of Der.
went pack of foxhounds were observed to be ill a few days
ago, Mbj or Cowen, the master, called in a veterinary sur-
geon, who pronounced the disease to be hydrophobia, and on
Monday afternoon the whole pack, consisting of twenty-
three couples, were destrc.yed. All the cats in the neigh-
boxrhood of the kennels Lave also been destroyed, to prevent
the disease from spreading The Braes of Derwent fox-
hounds have been in existence as an organizad pack for
twenty years. and were known as the fastest pack in the
north of England.

A severe thunderstorm broke over Birmingham on
Sunday afternoon, causing tho death of ayoung man at Aston,
damaging St. Mary's Church, and destroying property at
liarbone and other places in the neighbourhood.

On Tuesday night souse practical jokers tarred And
feathered the statute of George 11., which stands In the
Royal•ignare, opposite the Court House, Jersey. As the sun
shone on it the tar melted and ran over the statue, completely
disfiguring it. Much indignation is expressed by the in-
habitants.
On Monday night a passenger train from Peniston
to Barnsley was delayed over two hours owing to a railway
accident. The turntable, on which the passenger engine
was being reversed, broke, and the passengers had to wait
until another engine was procured from 21146101 d.
In the last financial yer.r the receipts from the gun
licenses amounted to £76,297.
On Monday afternoon the CP.37 of London meeting
In connection with the Eastern Q restlon was held in the
Guildhall, under the presid dicy of the Lord Mayor. The
Hall was very crowded, an i it was found necessary b 11,1 d
an overflow meeting. The resolutions, which wore simills.r
In tone to those adopted at most of the meetings upon the
same subject, were passed, wide expressions of diestnt from
a few persons, some of whom vainly attempted to put their
views before the meeting. The proceedings were me.rked by
a good deal of enthusiasm.
A summaryof agricultural returns for 1876, just issued
by the Board of Trade. gives the following results :—Land In
Great Britain under wheat, 2,991,958 acres, a decrease of 10.4
per cent. compared with the acreage of 1575 ; under barley,
2,533,106 acres, an increase of 0.9 per cent. ; under oats,
2 789,583 acres, an increase of 4 7 per cent. ; under potat ,es,
501 913 acres, a decrease of 3 4 per cent. ; under hops
69,930 acres, an increase of 1 2 per cent. The total number
of cAttle, sheep. and pigs in Great Britain on the 25th of June
was—Cattle. b 8 i 8,214, a decrease of 2 7 per cent. on 1875 •
sheep, 28,178,950, a decrease of 34 per cent. ; pigs, 2.203,717;
an increase of 2.9 per cent.

A young graker has becra sentenced at Marseilles to
two mon:he' imprisonment for refusing to job q the reserve
forces. Lie declared it opposed to his religious principles to
bear arms, and on the preeldeut of the court-martial asking
him what he would do if he saw his father being murdered,
he replied that he should let the will of God be accomplished
rather than violate his reli„,.lon by using arm.. Ills council
stated that the French Quak.ra, though not uumerou Fa
we
5.000,000 f. for the lbera-ion of the territory after the li-t
war.

Speaking on Saturday nit at Rarnshottona, the
BLthop of Manchester alluded to Mr. Henry Irving's recent
perf6rmance of Hamlet at the Prince's Theatre, Manchester.
He had, ho said learnt with delight that 17,000 persons in
Manchester had gone to see Mr. Irving act that character,
into whieh he had thrown new life. Whether Mr. Irving's
reading was the true one or not it was not for him to say,
but he knew Mr. Irviia?. was a great actor, and it was an
ennobling thing to see Hamlet performed by him.
The Correspondent of the Standard, telegraphing
from Alexinatz, says :—" You ihould wholly distrust the Bel-
grade official telegram's. Those relating to the fighting
round Alexlnatz have been abselutely falsehoods. The 'six
days' heavy and continuous fighting' never took place.
The Turks never attacked Alexinatz at all, acd the only
heavy fighting was upon the day when the Serbs attacked
along the whole line, and were everywhere repulsed with
groat alaughter.7

By payment, 91,891 persons were admitted on
Saturday (16h), tc the Philadelphia Exhibition.
An anonymous correspondent, writing from York, has
forwarded £5OO to the Cambridge fund for the relief of the
Bulgarian sufferers.
Wbston finished at Liverpool on Saturday the feat
which he had undertaken of walking 255 miles in 75 hours.
The courageous pedestrian concluded the task within eleven
minutes of the stated time.
It hls been det,ermined by the Congress of Silk.
growers to hold its sixth session in Valls, on the occasion of
the International Exhibition in 1578.

A great meeting was beld at Glasgow on Tuesday
night to denounce the Bulgarian atrocities' at which stirring
addresses were delivered by the Duke of Argyll and the E.trl
of Shaftesbury.

At the meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute a
nvar was mid "Oa tha Gizological Features of Yorkshire."
In the discnnion which followed it was stated that a coal bed
of 15,000 acres had been discovered to the Barnsley district,

The Itegistrar-Genekal is able to state, in his
monthly return, that the 2,132 deaths registered in there t
principal towns of Szotland in August were 331 rill the
average for the corm pmding month of the lattst eft's,
allowance being made for increase of population; Eva!, in
fact, it is nine years since the number of deaths was so small
ie August.
It is stated that the French Government is greatly
alarmed for the safety of a considerable number of French
subjnts who reside in the interior of Dahomey, and that
strong representations on the subject are about to be made
to the English Foreign office.
The ship C4de, 1,140 tons, eaartered by the Ago-A-
Gt....neral for South Australia, sailed from Plymouth on the
15h inst. for Pert Adelaide with 433 emigrants, under the
care of Dr. Norman, surgeon-superintendent, and Including
83 single young female domestic servants, under the care of
Miss Wale, matron.
The German Government intend introducing a Bill
postponing the abolition of the iron duties, which was to
have come into effect on the lit of January, the Protectionist
movement being considerably strengthened by the late com-
mercial calamities. The BM is likely to be passed by the
lteiohstaZ. _ _ _

- -
On Monday night Professcr Fawcett, M.P., pre-
sided at a crowded meeting in Exeter Hall, held for the pur-
pose of "expressing horror at the diabolical outrages of the
Turks in Bulgaria, and proclaiming to the world tlleir indig-
nation that the Government of England should be found sup-
porting so foul a system." The assemblage was composed
principally of the working classes.
A monster balloon, to contain accommodation for 50
persons, is to be constructed for the Paris Universal Exhibi-
tion of 1878. The gigantic serial machine will be 31 metres
in diameter, and will be kept captive by an immense rope of
650 metres in length.

It is estimated that not le3s than 1,000 iron steam
ships are laid up in L tneashhire ports, owing to the depres-
sion in the shipping trade.

Silk nnabrellaF, made to be fastened to the back in-
stead of te be carried in the hand, are a mild New York
sensation.

Twenty-seven deaths from yellow fever occurred at
SAvannah on Friday in last week. Great distress is reported
to prevail amongst the inhabitants and more than half of the
negro population is dependent on charity reliet Meetings
have been held in various cities, and about 10,000 dols. is
daily sent to Savannah.

At a banquet given at the Seraskeriate at Constanti•
nople on Saturday the Sultan, in reply to a toast proposed in
his honour, is stated to have said, "Our intentions are always
inclined towards peace, but we must obtain this object by a
good organisation of our army."
Between two and three o'clock on Monday morning
a disastrous fire occurred on the premises of an eating-house
keeper near Hanover-square, London. Three persons—a
mother and her two daughters—were burned to death, and
a youth was terribly injured by fire and by throwing himself
out of a second.fioor window on to the pavement beneath.
News of the war between the United States and
the Indians states that Colonel Miles, of Cook's command, ors
the 7th inst., with cavalry, attacked a Sioux village, and
captured all the lodges and property, with 140 horses. Most
of the Indians escaped. Tne troops lost three killed and
nine wounded. Several Indians were killed others captured.

A statement of the expenses connected with the
arrangements for the unveiling of the Prince Consort Memo-
rial in Edinburgh by the Queen on the 17th ult, shows that
the t.tal outlay was £3,318. About one-half of that sum was
spent in the erection of barricades, &3., to ensure the safety
of the public, and will therefore bevel() be defrayed Iron'
the police rates.
M. Viotor Hugo has handed over the arrears of the
pension due to him from the Sociaty of Men of Letters for
the benefit of the wives and families of transported Commu-
nist!.

The deaths of two centenarians are announced, Mr.
Donald Sutherland, of Brough Dunnet, Caithnesa-shire,
farmer, in his 105th year; and Mn. Hendee, of Forree,
Banffshire, at the same age. As a proof of the age of the
latter, who was familarly known in the neighbourhood of
Forces as "Grannie Hendee," it is stated that she resided
as a servant with the late Mr. Grant, of Kincorth, when the
present laird, now 78 years of age, was born.
At a public meeting held at Naples on Sunday night,
to protest against the Turkish barbarities in Bulgaria' a
motion was unanimously carried instructing the President to
send to Mr. Gladestcne a despatch, expressing their remeM-
brance of the efficacious Wd obtained by the citizens of
Naples through his words and works against the tyranny of
the Bourbons; and thanking him for "the faithful manner
In which he represented Italian public opinion at the Black-
heath meeting.'

The Princees Alice reached BAHater on WedneedaY
afternoon by special train from Aberdeen. Her Royal
Highness was met a.t the station by the Queen, Princess
Beatrice, and Prince L.opold, and after a short delay the
R)yal party left for BalmoraL
Earl Wharnc.iffe, in the courie of a speech delivered
at an educational fete at Wakefield on Tneldsy, said that no
was not a statesman, and was not much given to lifting UP
his vice in Parliament; bat it was impossible for anY
educated Englishman, or any one who took an interest in
the welfare of his country, to do anything but rejoice in the
manner in which education was extending.
An alarming thunderstorm broke over the village of
Quarrington, Durham, about noon. on Sunday, the lightning
striking cottages occupied by Thomas Knox, pitman, who,
with his wife and family, was indoors. The chimney crashed
through the roof, carrying away floor joists and destroying
nearly everything upstairs and down, but, marvellous to re-
late, all six inmates escaped unhurt. The windows were
knocked out, and one erd wall was spilt, but, although the
cottage was one of 30, no further injury resulted. Ralph
Tarptn, who was standing at a neighbouring door, was
hurled ten yards into an adjlcent cottage, with cornpsrativelY
slender injury.

Mr. John Lock, one of the few survivors of the
Battle ot Waterloo, has recently died in an almshouse at
Rochester at the age of 84 At the time of the battle Sfr.
Lock was in the 6:h Dragoon Guards. Although he was
among the first cf the troops engaged, and was in the,
thickest of the conflict, neither he nor his horse :natant)?
any injury.
Mr. J. P. Hodson, the secretary of the Printers
Pension Corporation, has revived his suggestion for a celebrar
tion to commemorate the four huudredth anniversary of the
introduction of the art of printing to this country. His idea
is to hold an exhibition of antiquities and curiosities now
nected with the art at some suitable place next June, and to
arrange for the taking place of the jubilee festival of the
Printora' Corporation during the same week.
There was a violent storm in America on Sandals
which threw down the telegraph wires In many parts of the
country.
Those who denounce a woman's extravagance should
read this:— "A London shirt-maker has j wit finished a dozes
shirts for a gentleman, the price of which is £l2O. They are,
it is stated of tke finest c tmbric, and have fronts embroidered
with gold threads."—Court Journal.
A fow days ago a young girl took a room in Rue St.
Ouen, paid for it in advance, then went to bed, and poisoned
herself with a decoction of poppies, leaving nothing to ex-
plain her self-inficted death save a piece of paper on which
were written the words, " I die for her." What a romance
may not tl-,oze four words enclose I If it had been for WO
it -vould have presented no suggestion of a novelty hi
romance.—Court Journal.
The Viceroy of India has had a narrow &cape. Oh
his wart° Narkunda his horse shied at some workmen who
were repairing the narrow mountain road, and went over the
edge. At that particular point the ground fortanatell
sloped instead of being a sheer precipice on either side, se
was the case a few yards distant. Lord Lytton, too, happill
got disengaged from his horse and was stopped in his rapid
descent by a small tree, but not until he had rolled down
quite a hundred feet. Though a good deal bruised he picked
himself up and contrived to scramble back to his horror-
stricken suite looking on in terror and unable to afford the
slightest assistance. The horse also got off witl a few
scratches, but the workmen had to make a zigzag path along
the hill aide before it Could be brought up again.

-
The real cause of the backwardness of China, writeo
a traveller, is to be found in the absurd education of the
official class. To illustrate what that education leads to, b.
relates an anecdote which strikingly exhibits the trifling ot
the mandarins. He had occa.ion to send an interpreter to
Inquire the route he should follow, but his messenger
returned without an answer. The officials were too deeplY
interestsd in a disputed (Nest* of versification to attend to
such a matter, the point in dispute being whether the proper
expression was "the wind roars," or "the wind whistles."

An extraordhlary accident occurred during the
voyage of the mail steamer Cinthria, which arrived at Ply-
mouth from New York last Sunday. The Danish Vics-Cansul at
1 Dinarnarca, Panto Rico, was reading in the deckhoure, near
an open door, and as the vessel was pitching in the heavi
sea he was recommended to exchange his chair for a fixed.
bench, but he declined to do so. Almost directly af terwardi -
the vessel lurched, and he was hurlcd head foremoss
through the doorway, and pitching against the iron bulwark,
fractured his skull. He died shortly afterwards.
The Paris Acclimatization Society has received at .'
its garden in the Bois de Boulegue two Russian hares of a
peculiar species. They have the singularproperty of changing
colour with the season. In February their fur is of a reddish
hue, quite unlike that of the animal in France, and in tbe
month of November it becomes perfectly white. In for'
they differ little frtm the common hare, the change of colour
being their only rarity. .
The Philadelphia Ledger of the 2nd inst. mentions a .
circumstance whibh is not devoid of interest to persons 10 ,
the cotton manufacturing districts of this country. It OW
that, "owing to the reduction of wages, a large number of
mill operatives and their families have left Fell River.
Massachusetts, for England." Private a: vices from New.
York and Connecticut are to the same eff,?.ct with regard 0 '
taller trades in which English. operatives have been largeli '
engaged.
i -
The Maidstone Journal reports that the gathering 10
of the hop crop is fast erawing to a ch as, many of tho,,
grocers having aln-ady finished. The rest of the grower%
will flaish picking about the middle of this week. The qvi'
ti .y of this year's growth has not quite come no to expects' -
..
tin, but the quality In many respects is quite up to the ..,
average. Mtuld 13 not obdervable in the sample, and the '
growers will be enabled to command a very fair prica for I
their growths.
A wonderful microscopic watch has been presented .1
to Madame MseMshon by tha Ec,le do I'llorh grie 0
1;s1' g 'n• ii is s , small that to tell the hour a glass of high
magnuyiag power is neede I, The Die d'Aumale was present.
when t.lts fairy jewel was handed to the Marshal, and related ;
how his ahcehtor, the Disc de Penthidyre, wore w.atches
his vett lutens. Moved by this family souvenir to give 6
fillip to B ssi.can trade, his ugliness ordered a set of lila. ~
palm chronoweters for shirt and wrist studs, which will be •
ready In Lima for the P..,ris Exhioition. .

A new vAriety of street music has been introduced
In Purls A piano on a low truck is wheeled into the court-
yard of a lir,ure ; a woman takes her seat on a muslc.srool
and plbys different pircas with as much self-possession as if
she as seated in a drKwhig-room, alillo a boy and girl, pro-
b Ably her children, collect money from the bystanders, of
Dick up the sous tl4o sn from the windows. The perform-
ance over, the plgcr rites ths instrument 14 closed and
csvered with a cloth, and agtout fellow drags it cff to some
other house, where the pieces are repe4tod.

Great alarm prevails in the mountains of Allevara
and Savoy hi consequence et tbe apper.rat ea of numerous
bears in the neighbourhood of the Yil.agee This is A
phenomenon which often eceurs after a continuance of rain
inch as has prey died in the coan!ry lately. The incoar
venience iucreased.to such an extent thit +ha ichabitants of
Rochette were obiged to fonn a bind of experienced
hunters for the purpo.:e of driving back ih3 unwell:Ate
visitors. This tarty has had h series of exciting advo:Aur es. -
One of the most remara,ibla was the sudden appearance of .1
an Interesting family of bears, consisting of a large male snd
&mile arid five yonog ores, of vigorous and healthy appear.
since. A volley from the hurthmen resulted in th 3 fall 01
the dam, upon which, after a little hesitation, the other ;
decamped.
Her Majesty'n Wa, Department has preparei an.
issued a memorandum pointing out the advantages offered -
by the Army end the terms on oh!ch young men are invited
to join the British forces His lloyal Blghness the Field
-
Marshal Commanding iu•Chief has issued a general order .11
"that commanding oilic,ers /hall make it their business to .
give the memorandum the widest possible circulation, and
to take care that soldiers proceeding on furlough have the
means of making it known at their homes." The authorities
hope by these means to materially insrease the strength of
her Majesty's army, as well as Le get a better class of men,