The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-05-24 00:00:00

WILD FIRING.

"Ignoramus' writes to The Times :

Sir,—l am surprised that so little notice has been
taken of the comparatively small results obtained by
our much vaunted arms of precision.
At Ginghilova the loss of the enemy has been esti-
mated at from 500 to 1,000. Taking the higher num-
ber, and reckoning our own troops at 5 000, it took
five men filing away for an hour and a half to kill one
Zulu. Even at Rorke's Drift, in a twelve hours'
combat, most of it at close quarters, 110 Englishmen
slew 500 of the enemy, or about four a-piece 1
What an amount of wild firing and enormous waste
of ammunition does this suggest ! ,
- The British solctleilic a costly and valuable machine,
and no pains should be spired to make him a cool awl
skilful marksman.

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN,

Mr. Gladstone will contribute an article on the
Greek question to the June number of the Nineteenth
Century.

Complete returns of the result of the popular vote in
Switzerland show that the proposal to re-establish capital
punishment has been approved by 191,197 agahnit 177,263
votes.

The latest news from Valparaiso shows that the
war fever is fast spreading. All Chiliana have been ordered
by a e Peruvian Government to leave Peru at once, and the
alliance of Ecuador has been solicited against Chili.

A public lecturer fell on the stage in Indiana the
other day and the audience hissed him, believing him to be
intoxicated ; but when it was announced that the man was
dead the audience repented its hasty censure, and then the
applause was deafening.

The -Prince of Wales has notified to his Cornish
tenantry his intention to remit 20 per cent. of their rents for
three years from Michaelmas last, on account of the present
depression.

The post of public executioner in France, lately
vacated by the death of M. Both, appears to be greatly
sought after. Five hundred and saty-elght persons applied
for the nonour, the Parisian says' and amongst the appli-
cants were eighty-seven doctors and twenty-one cabmen.

On Saturday night William Gale, of Cardiff,
champion endurance walker of the world, oompleted at
Bradford his task of walking 2,500 miles in 1,000 consecutive
hours. During the whole of the day there was a large
attendance, and Gale walked apparently in great pain, having
during the early part of tv.‘e week, injured his tcot wii.h a
nail, the result being that the heel became festered.

A very interesting diecovery of a specimen of mural
painting has just been made In the large hall of Eastbridge
Hospital In Canterbury, founded by Thorns&a-Beckett.
Some workmen were cleaning the walls, when on the north.
end, they came upon some ornamental work, which was
found to be a representation of the murder of Thomas-a.
Beckett.

The annual May conference of the Vegeterian
Society of England was held in the Temperance Hall,
Leicester, on Tuesday afterncon. There was a large attend-
ance of delegates and others. Professor F. W. Newman pre-
sided, and in tile course of his introductory remarks
regarded the meeting as a happy indication that vegetarian-
ism was beginning to move throughout England. Several
addresses were delivered by delegates, showing the growth
of the society, and tbe conference term! ated.
The Priuce and Princess of Wales and the Crown
Prince of Denmark attended divine service in the Chapel
Royal, St James's, on Sunday. The Rev. Canon Cook
preached.

The Journal Officiel of France announces that the
Italian Government has forwarded to the French Govern-
ment the sum of 427,448 L, representing in capttal and in-
terest the share falling to the French army in a subscrip-
tion opened in 1859 in Milan for she aid of the wounded and
the families of the Sardinians and French who perished in
the war, a subscription the scttlement of which had been
delayed by various circumstances down to the present.
Orders have been received at Aldershot to invite
volunteers from all the infantry regiments there .excepting
the 26th. 61st, 98th and Ist Battalion Rifle Brigade to join
regiments in South Africa, in order to make up the losses
which the forces there have sustained from all causes.

There are 2,000 miners again on strike at St.
Quentin (in France.) Fourteen factories in the same district
have also Struck for higher wages, and it is reported that
both movements are spreading. •

There were 17 British and foreign wrecks reported
during the past week, making the total for the present year
680, or an increase of 114 as compared with the corresponding
period of last year. The approximate value of property lost
was £300,000, including British £200,000..

A mass . meeting of the numerous Temperance
Societies of the metropolis was held in Hyde Park on
Sunday. In spite of the threatening condition of the
weather, about eight thousatid persons were present. Re-
solutions condemnatory of the liquor traffic were paned,
and the proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to the
chairman.

A telegram from Aden conveys intelligence of tie
arrival there on the 15th lost. of the British Indian Steam
Navigation Company'. steamer Chinsura, from Bombay en
route for Z inzAar, having on board four Indian elephants,
the property of the King of the Belgians. These elephants
will be employed for the purpose of ascertaining wnether
such animal can be made a means of tranapprc in Africa.

It is stated that the 42nd Highlanders. (the "Black
Watch') are about to be recalled from Gibraltar and again
stationed at Portsmouth. This famous regiment has been
very severely visited by the malarious fever at Cyprus.

Mr. Baxter proposes to move on the House of
Commons vit g into Committee of Supply, on Friday, the
13th of June, "That, in the opinion of this House, it is now
the duty of the Government to take such measures as may be
necessary to secure, within a fixed an reasonable time, the
application to all railway passenpr vehicles in the United
Kingdom of continuous brakes which comply with the con-
ditions laid down by the Board of Trade as essential to
public safety.''

• A Parliamentary return which has been issued
giving a comparative statement of the number of paupers of
all classes (.-xcept lunatic paupers in asylums and vagrants)
in receipt of relief on the last day of each week in the month
of March, 1878 arid 1879, respr.ctively, shows that the num-
bers in the first week were 707,379 in 1878 as compared with
77-1,493 in 1879, or an Increase of 9 1 per cent.; in the second
week 705,042, as against 763,474, the increase being 8 3 per
cent. •, in the third week 704,b94 in 1878, as against 757,894 in
1879, the increase being 7.6 per cent ; and in the fourth week
In 1878 702,825 in 1878, and 752,870 in 1879, the increase being
7•1 per cent.

Mr. Thorley, M.P., in speaking at the dinner on
Saturday evening in connection with the opening of the new
Grammer School, said the old system of seven years
apDrentice-ship of boys when fourteen years of age was
lbecoming a thing of the past. London business houses were
refusing to take youths under eighteen years of age thus
leaving longer pen i ,ds of increased intellectual training.
He impressed upon the trading classes the advantages to De
gained from keeping their children longer at school.

- -
An Inland Revenue return shows that in the year
1878 39 205.606 gallons of proof spirits were distilled in the
United Kingdom—viz., 9,835 476 gallons In England,
17,607,046 in Scotland, and 11,763 084 in Ireland. Of this
quantity 34,743,888 gallons were put into bond. Duty was
paid on 80,198,348 gallons, amounting to a total sum of
Z 15,099,168.

• Major-General E. Wodehonse, writing from Bram-
dean, Alresford, asks us (says The Times) to publish the fol-
lowing, which he has received from the Maharajah of Burd-
wan :—" The Maharajah of Burdwau presents his compli-
ments to General Wodehouse, and has the honour to enclose
a draft for £2O for the relief of the widows and orphans of
the soldiers killed at itandlana. The Maharajah feels the
deepest sympathy for those who have been left destitute by
the lots of their brave relatives, and regrets that the nume-
rous cdlls upon him in this country prevent him from sending
a larger tnm.—The Palace, Bardwan, India, April 16."
The Japanese Government has presented the Swiss
Consulate at Yokohama with a collection of seeds of trees
and bu.hes suitable for growth in Switzerland.

The Americans are known to be breeders of pigs on
a truly enormous scale. Tens of thousands of persons are
engaged as swineherds, salesmen, and in other occupations
connected with the conversion of pigs into pork, and the
utbsequent sale of the pork to all parts of the world, in-
cluding England.

With reference to the Raying quoted in our last issue
(sa)s the Graphic), "A cold day and windy, makes a fat
barn and a findy,' a correspondent, R. L 8., observes: "
have often heard It in Staffordshire as, ' A cold May and
windy, a full barn will lind ye.' This may explain the
origin of 'licitly."

"The Temps states that Mr. Higginson, an English.
man, has art ived in New Caledonia for tie purpose of work-
ing the nickel mines there, and with that object has engaged
a number of men. A memorial has been addressed from
Noumea to the French Government urging the use of nickel
for small change, instead of copper, a measure which would
benefit the colony and furnish employment for the convicts
discharged on parole."— Paris Correspondent of The Times.
The Prince of Bulgaria, Alexander of Battenberg,
gave a curious presage of his destiny a year ago, the Paris
Globe says. Last winter the chief New Year's toys were in-
genious puzzles, such as "Find the Cat," and the" Bulgarian
Question." The latter was being looked at in a diplomatic
assemblage one evening, and no one could find out the
puzzle, when Prince Alesander arrived, and on scanning the
"Bulgarian Question" for a minute or two speedily gave the
solution to the mystery.

Orders have been given at Portsmouth Dockyard
for the construction of two'corvettes of steel arid iron, cased
with wood. They will be of 2,383 tons and 2,200.h0r5e
power, carrying 14 guns. Their names will be Cordelts and
Cinada.

It haa been estimated upon data insuring substantial
accuracy that there are at large in England about 40,000 in-
dtviduals who are either "known thieves" or under the sus-
picion of the police. Nearly 3,000 are liberated from the
convict prisons alone every year. a large proportion of
whom, notwithstanding police and other precautions, are
lost in the crowd until they find themselves back in prison
again.
It tEi estimated that the number of persons em-
ployed by the American railway Companies is from 350,000
to 400,000, and that nearly two millions of the people of
that country depend upon the wages and salaries paid by
railway Companies for support.
The rabbits are likely to become as great a nuisance in
Victoria as they already are in South Australia. The Leader
speaks thus upon the subject: "The rabbit plague is
rapidly becoming so serious as so threaten the existence of
settlement in some part of the colony. Originally confined
to a small area immediately north of the township of
Donald, and the Lower Richardson, the pelts are extending
their ravages to the large blocks of new settlement, extend-
ing from Donald towards St. Arnaud on the one hand, and
Horsham on the other. Other centres of propagation are
also breaking out, notably in ,the Upper portion of the
Western district."

The cord system of communicating in trains has
failed Bo often that is now rightly regarded as utterly un-
trustworthy; but a plan tried recently on the Manchester,
Sheffield, and Lincoln line promises to provide a means of
calling attention that will be really effective. It consists
simply in the use of the well-known fog-signals, two of which
are so attached to each carriage that they can be readily ex-
ploded when necessary by a small lever handle in each com-
partment. The movement of this lever explodes the signals,
and at the same time causes a red disc to project, so that the
guard can at once detect the part of the train from which
the warning was given.

According to the Gobs, the plague of locusts in the
Caucasus, of which we have before heard, is assuming
lug proportions. The locusts, we are told, are devouring
whole districts, and the price of bread in consequence has
doubled. At the same time, with the setting-in of warm
weather, fears of the plague assurning a more virulent form
are entertained.

The Queen has been graciottsly pleased to approve
of the ward " Busaco " being added to the regimental badge
of the 60th Regiment (King's Royal Rifle Corps) in recognitioe
of the services render,d by the 6th battalion of the regiment .
which formed part of the 3rd division of the force engaged at
the battle of Busaco.

Some hundreds of seamen met at Liverpool on Tues.
dsy to consider the wages question, and it was resolved to
resist the terms offered by the employers.
Belgian industry and art will take a larger part than
might have been expected in the forthcoming International
Exhibition at Sydney. Already 224 firms have subscribed
their names to the list of exhibitors.
The Sslect Committee of the House of Commons
appointed to inquire into the question of hall-marking,
have decided upon their report. It is understood that they
will recommend the continuance of the hall mark in its
present form, without any material alterations.

The death is announced of General Robert
Alexander, late of the Madras Army," at the age of eighty.
He entered the Indian Army in 1819, bat before that time
had served for eight years in the Royal Navy. He was pre-
sent in some engagements with the French Toulon fleet and
in other desultory affairs on the coasts of France and Spain
in 1811.12; was engaged in the operations at the Col de
Bslaguer alter the siege of Tarragona in 1812; at the cap-
ture of Port d'Auzlo and at the capitulation of Port Maurice
in 1818; and at the siege and surrender of Genoa in 1814.
He was also employed with the troops that took possession
of Fort St. Elmo at the surrender of Naples In 1815. In 1817
he served in an attack on some prahos in the Straits of
Malacca. He attained the rank of major-general in
November, 1854; lieutenantgeneral in August, 1865; and
genera fin June, 1870
"The report for 1879 of Miss Rye's Emigration
Home for destitute little girls' has just been published, and
Is worth the attention of all who may be dispose to be ser-
viceable in a mcst real, lasting, and cheap means of doing
good to their fellow-creatures : cheap we say, because for a
few hundred pounds—less than a thousand, at any rate—
nearly fifty wretched little female creatures,Fere rescued.
last year:from- actual misery "and too p7ssible vice, and
placed out in ;plod homes in Canada; the cost of mainten-
ance, clothing, trabsport all Included; down to rent, rates,
printing, steam:lm, postage—the whole machlnery in fact.
...Pall M4l Gazette.

yere
Me vice. .^"

"Fun thinks our troops in Zululand must be having
an awfully /oily time of it, it h.oring been stated that they
were principally engaged in blttak
The Italians proposed to celebrate next November
the 1,800t5j anniversary of the destruction of Pompeii and
Herculaneum. The most eminent archseologists have been
invited to attend.—Academy.
Baby to Baby.—Friday. Do try to find some way
for me to write once early next week.- If a chalice should
come for us to meet this month do send, and I will come at
once anywhere. Is pet better? I am very anxious about
her.—Advertisement In The Times.
Earl Chicheater and Viscount Gage, both large
landowders in Sussex, have allowed their tenants a reduction
of 10 per cent, on their half-yearly rents, Just payable. .
The French Anti. Tobacco Society has petitioned
the Chambers to pr.hibtt smoking in the streets and cafes
by youths under sixteen.
The ship Northbrook, cba,,ratileerdedfrciz
pt!ayernoAughenfot;
'with 534 etnigrants.• -
Gs
ye
dn
ne re ayl
ofno rFriNdeawy
iSno
lastt h
wWe ale
ke, s
The British Museum was visited last year hy 448 510
persons, exclusive of readers—a smaller number ta.o has
been recorded since 1873 Readers, on the other hand, were
more numerous than during any of the previous five years,
yavvoelruagees daily.beings92, and each
readernumbe oni lag ullsgl6abotuhe daily
t eleven m

In the Portuguese Chamber the Minister for Foreign
Affairs, speaking of the Colonial policy of the kingdom,
urged the advantages of co-operating. :lath England in-order
to promote civilization among barbarous pe3ples. Refer-
ring to Delagoa Bay. the Minister called it one of the gates
of Africa. Portugal did not close but open it to European
dvilization.
Theatre tickets in olden times were in some in-
stances of very odd design. In Rome a visitor purchased at
the office a slender little cane that he carried in his hand and
delivered to the doorkeeper. For the highest price seats,
this stick was of ivory for the cheapest, of bronze. Many
of these bronze canes have been found in Pompeii, and
there are some in the Museum at Naples. They are very
slender and gracefully made, having at the top a little dome
on which a pigeon Is perched. Even now in Italy they call
the highest seats " piccionerio," or clove-c.otes.

The Chinese Theatre, at Sacramento, Cal., has on
the stage a piece which requires thirty representations to
give it complete. It follows a drama which lasted ten
days.

The weather having become warmer (Monday's
Magnet Pays) vegetation has improved in consequence; bat
evi rything is still very backward. Some warm rains and
bright sunshine would, however, soon materially alter the
position of affairs for the better. From the continent and
from America advices are much to the same effect as those
previously received.

There were 2,266 births and 1,532 deaths registered
in London last week. Allowing for increase of population,
the births were 100 below, whereas the deaths exceeded by
82, the average numbers in the corresponding week of the
last ten years. The annual death-rate from all causes,
which in the eight preceding weeks had declined from 80'0 to
22 8, further fell to 221, a lower we thanlas prevailed in
the metropolis in any week since the beginning or November
last. The deaths included 6 from small-pox, 53 from measles,
from scarlet fever, 10 from diphtheria, 69 from whooping.
couch, 16 from different forms of fever, and 13 from
diarrhce a.

It has been erroneously stated that the lion of
Waterloo is near tumbling down. The truth Is that the
top of the mound suffers every year at the end of winter
some damage, which is immediately repaired. The lion i s
quite safe. .

The great fleet of Grimsby fishing smacks is now
waited on by steam cutters, which take out baskets, boxes,
and ice, pack the fish at sea, and run with it to the nearest
port of debarkation. So successful have these steam tenders
been that their number is to be increased as soon as
possible.

The Cardinal Newman Presentation Fund, the
object of which is to present a pecuniary offering to Cardinal
Newman as a tribute of affection and respect and thereby
make provision for the expenses attendant upon the re-
ception and maintenance of his dignity, has now reached a
sum exceeding £3,000, but it is expected a much larger sum
will be subscribed. The fund, however, is to be closed
before the Cardinal returns to England.

With a view immensely to increase the Russian
army, the Czar has resolved upon reducing the term of
service from six years to three.
The North German Gazette of May 19 publishes in-
telligence stating that the Russian town of Risiesan, on the
occasion of the return home of the Order Regiment o f
Drsgoons—of which the Emperor Witllam is hcnorary com-
manding officer—organised a banquet in•honour of the
soldiers. A telegram was sent to the Emperor of Germany
during the banquet by the Ma , or, in the name of the muni-
cipality, and the following reply, dated April 29, waii re-
ceived: "Thank you heartily fur remembering Me on the
return of the brave Dragions, on the day, moreover, when I
myself drink to the heaith of my best friend, your Monarch.
who has passed through a trial as severe as I myself have
undergone. (Signed) WILLIAM."
The St. Petersburg correspondent of a German
paper says that the plague is ragrug furiously in the neigh-
bourhood of Tiflis. Toe whole population of one village is
almost destroyed, and so v,rulent is the disease that people
are attackedpdie. and are buried in 24 hours. In another
village named Dirby, consisting of 150 houses, 70 persons
died in a week; and 200 persons out of the 200 familles•com-
puling the population ot Medschreni have perished.
Official orders were received at Portsmouth on Tues-
day morning for the enrolment of military voluntetre from
the garrison for active service at the Cape, reinforcements
being imperatively required. They are to possess unexcep-
tionable characters, and to have passed through a course of
musketry instruction. Each volunteer will receive a guinea
gratuity. The number to be enrolled, it is intimated, is to
depend upon the exigencies of the service. There is to be
the ordinary proportion of non-oommlssioned officers to
privates.

One very curious result has come from the separa-
tion of Abaco+ and Lorraine from France. French traders
will not buy of their old manufacturers of the lost provinces.
For instance, a great quantity of looking-glass is made in
Alsace and Lorraine; but this is bought by English dealers,
who afterwards Pend it to belgium, from whence it goes to
France."—The "Tatler "in Pictorial World.

Calcutta. is threatened with a Peries of strikes among
the native workmen. Furriers set the example; tailor and
the municipal water-carriers have followed suit 'the cause
assumed in each case is the oppressive working of the new
trades licence tax

A return of the numbers and regiments of the troops
embarked for the Cape has just been issued. It shows that
of the five regiments, viz, the 2-21st, 58th, 3-654 h, 91st,
and 94th, 421 non-commissioned officers and 4,911 privates
embarked, of whom 275 officers and 1,254 privates were
24 ;ears old and upwards, and 37 privates under 18 years.
Two hundred and. forty-six non-commissioned officers had
been in ti,e service for six years and upwards, and six
offi 'ere and 909 men under 12 months. The 21st took 282
Uteri loin other regiments to complete ; the 68th, 197; the
60th, 215; the 91st, 874: and the 94th, 346. No fewer than
44 Lon-cnrornissioned officers and 1.001 men were left at
home from various physical and other causes, the reason
assigned in more than half of these cases being non-exercise
in miuketry.

A population of a great town is slow to changa its
habits, and it is slow to extend a social toleration to those
of its inhabitants who are bold enough to prefer comfort to
conventionality. There must be a deeply-felt conviction of
the utility of the block or chamber system of residence to
account for the rapid spread of this style of living in lieu of
the old-fashioned litres and penates of the dismal London
streets. One of the main features of French society is the
hotel life of a great proportion of the upper classes; the
escape from the worries of the householder at the cost of
publicity and iaoise.—Court Jour-oaf.

The French post offices now collect bills for persons;
they do more, they receive, as In Germany, subscriptions for
newspapers and periodicals in France. Another facility is
the cheap telegram-card, sent like lighting through tubes
across the city, and delivered within an hour; a ttdegram is
dearer, and apparently takes twice the time to be delivered.

Madame R—, a Parisienne, whose least defect is
to be as old as she is coquettish. arrived the other evening,
after eleven o'clock, at the house of a friend, where only a
Jew intimates had been invited. "How late you are," said
the lady of the house, in a tone of friendly reproach. "I am
very sorry," replied Madame ft--; "but the truth is, that
I have a femme de chambre who is slowness personified.
Would you believe it Y—she took more than an hour and a
halt to dress my hair !"—" You had one consolation " inter-
posed one of the ladies present; "and that was—that on
might have taken a walk during the operation 1 "
The Government has just entered into a fresh con-
tract for the supply of preserved meats to the value of
£200,000, and other victualling stores have been ordered in
proportion. The authorities have also, after investigation,
adopted for use in the Zulu campaign a species of preserved
and compressed soup, similar to the sausage ration upon
which the Germany Army was mainly fed during the Franco-
German war, but of a superior quality, and intended prin•
cipally for hospital diet. Each ration has the appearanoe ol
a small dried sausage, 4in. long and ltin. In diameter. These
are sealed up in tins, 60 together; and these tins are carried
in a wooden box, 180 rations being considered the most con- '
venient quantity for carriage and issue.