The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-09-23 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS,

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

The policemen and scavengers of Dundee have peti-
tioned the Pollee Comndssioners for an increase of wages.
A bust of the late Mr. Grote is to be placed in Poets
Corner, West 11l i l utter Abbey.
• The 11r-t tramway was opened in Leeds on Saturday,
and the working gave general satisfaction.
General Changarnkr has written to contradict the
reports as to his health which he says is .'parfoi,e."
Tourists have tins season been in greater numbers in
the North of Scotland than on almost any former year.
An international medical congress is to take place at
Rome in May next.
A branch of the Anti-Compulsory Vaccination
League has been formed in Glasgow.
Victor Hugo is sutfoing from an attack of pleurisy,
which causes some unewsinesa to his family.
The Mayor of Bolton suggests the revival of th
stocks in that toes as a fitting punishment for drunkards.
The New York papers report a lacge and enthusi-
astic meeting of the calm's in the 4th la reference to the
frauds which have been lately exposed.
The Empress Eug,lnie has reached the palace of her
mother, the Countess do Moutijo, where she will receive a
visit from Queen Marie Its.
The Prince of Trek and the Princess Mary have
arrived in Paris to visit (as the Fren,lt paper puts it) " les
rubies de uotre pauvre capitate."
A journal of Zurich states that Professor V's-gelli
has discovered In the library of that town a decoration for a
ceiling painted by Holbe,n, and which was mpposed to have
been lost. This work will be sent to the exhibition of paint-
ings by that master, now open at Mimich.
At a meeting of the Central Nonconformist Com-
mittee. held at Birmingham, the schemes which have been
issued by the Endowed school Commissioners were con.
denoted as ignoring the principles of religion equality ;
aml it was resolved to support an agitation against them.
The death is 'worded at Norwich, ,d an old soldier
named Isaac Plunkett. The deceased served under the Duke
of York in Holland, in the campaign of 1795
Some attention has been excited by a pamphlet just
Published at Brussels with the title of " The Plebian Et:vo-
lution—Letters to Junius." The subject is the position of
France shim the Communist defeat.
The question relative to the statue to be placed en
the Vend.",me minion has been definitively solved. NI. Thiers
has decided that NarOleoll f, in his little cocked bat and grey
coat, shall lie replaced there.
The foot-and-mouth disease has made its appearance
In an alarming form in the county Armagh. Several cattle
shows in Cavan and Dots have bees postponed or aban-
doned in consequence of the disease.
The ROyal Speech delivered at the opening of the
States General of Holland, on Nlionday, congratulated the
people upon the excellence of their foreign relations, and
announced reforms in the army and financial system if the
'Veriremark of a contemporary "that ninny of our
successful lawyers commenced life as preachers," is grace-
fully corrected by one of the legal gentlemen referred to,
who begs leave to state that he began life wan infant.
Sergeant Henry Lane, a Bristol Volunteer, winner
of the Queens Prise at Wimbledon in 1667, and one of the
best shots In the West of England, died Ink Saturday night
of gastric fever, after a shirt illness, aged 46.
Bridal ears are proposed for horse railways in
chicago. The lioneynamis are so short there that new ly-
married couples can't spare the time tel a tour out of the
city.

' ;The great Prussian excuse for stealing the clocks
from French mantlepicces has been the carrying off by the
Great Napoleon of the timepiece which adorned the study of
Frederic the Great at Potsdam.
Of the 9,000 officers in the volunteer force, nearly
3,000 have up to the present time passed the examination re-
quired by the Secretary of State for War, and received certi-
ficates of proficiency in their duties.
Forty-four young gentlemen have been admitted this
term to the Royal Nlilitary Academy at Woolwich Among
. .

them is valet," -who it-s-;illowed to enter without
payment, this being the tirst time that the royal prerogative
of free m1,016:4.11 has been exercised for many years past.
iri,hotooe says it Icei received a letter from
irponovan kossa, miaowing the union of the two Fenian
organisations in the United Statis. and it ,preriSrli a hope
tied the onion will be lasting, and that it will he productive
of good results in Ireland.
The King of Spain arrived at Barcelona on Sunday,
anal met with a most entimiiastie reception. Ills Majesty,
who frequently walks or drives about the streets in plain
dress, and without an escort, has, it is said, completely won
the popular symmithies.

fie- I lot-el de Ville, in Paris, is now completely
clear .f rubbish, and people can walk all about the ruins
ithout rbik of fallina into a hole. There is no difficulty IU
finding the places which served as the chief points of the
eimilitaratiou. Visitors are numerous, lint have to be pro-
ciacd scut, e:o4 frota the pref....t ..1
. . . •

From April let to Sept: Pith the Exchequer receipts
v .:re £29,0n5,784, being an increase of 01.13,6:15 received in
Ow same period last year. The expenditure has been
~73,213. The balance in the Bank of England on Saturday
last was and in the bank of Ireland £1,310,243.
A notice appeared in the London Caulte of Tuesday
evening, stating that as the cholera now prevailing in Russia
may be introduced into the ports f Europe, the masters and
owners of vessels despatched from English tants niust he pro-
vided with a bill id health, vised by the French consul, if
they a ish to avoid being subject to a quarantine of observa-
tion
Several strikes arereporteil to be imminent in Berlin,
and those already in existence are being strenuously kept up
by contributiona from other trades. The coopers are ex-
pected to turn out next month, and the case-makers have
followed the joiners in demanding an increase 01 25 per cent.
in their wages as well as a reduction •if hours.
The crate-makers' strike in the Staffordshire Pot-
teries In at all end. The masters insisted on proper notice,
and the men, convinced by a deputatb al that they were wildly,
have returned to their work. The rate of pay for the future
will, it is thought, be easily settled by each individual master
with his own men.
The Sporting Ga:etto regrets to announce the death
of Mr. J. Moffat, the well-known Australian breeder, which
took place very recently 4,11 his return journey to Melbourne.
Mr. Moffat will be remembered as a large purchaser of blood
stock during his recent visit to England, at Count de Lag-
range's and other sales.
The Postmaster-General has issued new regulations,
stating the mode in which a Post-ollice life policy may, after
live years' premiums have been paid, be assigned t4l another
person. The form of assigunient is prescribed, ion] the as-
signment , duly stampol, must Ice registered at the Post-office,
and a fee of 2s. 641. paid for registration. No trust, iucuin-
brume, or condition can be noticed.
The New Yin* TeThioic of the 2nd instant publishes
the following items of university and ecclesiastical intelli-
gence :—Miss Anienia Watt, of Choi tttt atti, has recently ac-
cepted a professorship in Monmonth .III.)College. Miss Celia
1/111.10101 has accepted a call to the imstorate of the Unitarian
chumli in Brooklyn, Conn., of which the late Rev. Samuel
J. May was once the minister.
An English chemist, who has made munerous ex.
periments, conies to the conclusion that it requires 251munds
of milk, 100 of turnips, 50 of potatoes. t,O of carrots, n of
oatmeal, 74 of barley nand, or 34 of beans to wake a pound
of human flesh. Beaus, it would seem, furnish the most
nutritious matter, at least it takes less of them to make a
pound of flesh. And it looks as if is man could starve Inc the
niiffst of a turnip field.
" The world " is really very wonderful in its COM•
billation9 Of sin and sanctity. The latest illustration conies
from the Berman gambling places. A correspondent coin.
pares and contrasts !limber; and Baden. Which, lie asks,
is the niost wicked ? In If ttttt burg play is not permitted on
Sundays ; in Baden it is—" after Divine service." liii the
, other hand, Homburg has 110 book-stall opposite the hall,
for special sale of the Bible, and Baden has.
Several journals have announced the death at
Calmurg of Millie. 'Ehlers, second sister of the President of
the French Republic. The Figaro. however, denies that
! 31. Tilers ever had more than one sister, Mine. Ripert, who
kept a table &hide in 1010 in the Rue Besse du Reinhart,
and made herself notorious by her advertisements, un which
she endeavoured to turn to account her relationship to the
then minister. . . . .

........... .
A sad calm of drowning has occurred at Richmond.
Two youths, the sous .1' a gentleman named Andrews, re-
siding at that town, went out boating, when sue of then. un-
dressed for a swim. After a little while his brother, who re-
mained in the boat, lost sight of him, but being short-
sighted thought he had wished out for the shore. It is sup-
posed, however, that he had been seized with cramp, and It
errs some time before the body was found. The jury re-
turned a verdict " Accidentally drowned."
On Saturday. a group if labourers at work reaping
and harvesting corn floats a field near Kt:Stoll, in Kent, were
set mein by a swarm ,if insects, which they at first considered
were harvest bugs ; but their continued stinging at length
alarmed the men, and form' them to stop work. The flies
swarmed the ground, and recourse was had to gunpowderto
dispel the invaders, many of which were destroyed and the
rest dispersed.
On Saturday morning Major Augustus Spiller, of
the 7th Royal }millers committed suicide at Gosport in a
rely shocking manner. %thin sitting at breakfast with his
wife mid COUSiII, he seized a table knife and nearly severed
his head front his body. Death was almost instantaneous.
The deceased officer had been ailing for some time since the
return of the regiment from India, and hail only recently re-
sumed his duties after three months' sick leave. On the
evening before the suicide he was Ma more than usually de-
pressed state if
A private meeting of clergy, medical men, and Aber
gentlemen, convened for the purpose of extending coned
Information on the nature and scope of the Contag.
Iris...mess Acts, was hen' on the lith inst. in tile n'omncil room,
lien:ford. The mayor presided, and Mr. Deakin briefly ex-
plained the mode of (mend' .... of the Ants, their effects inn
diminishing disease awl vice, and in promoting the refor-
mation of vicious women. Alter consinkrable discussion, in
widch earnest desire was expressed that the present Acta
should trace a full god complete trial, the meeting separated
With a vote of thanks to the mayor.
At the Guernsey police-court Hirzel Lebreton and
wife, fanners, were charged with :mainlining Mrs. Palob. It
, was stated inn evidence that the complainant owed defendants
CA., and that on going Di pay it she was tunted out of the
house by the latter, wino refused to accept the money The
defendants circulated a report that "she had bewitched
them became they were unsucceasful in making butter."
The accused appeared to be ashamed Di admit this, and the
court, bound all parties over to keep the peace.
On the '2nd of October next, &II tbenceforwarl,
money orders may be obtained at any money order office in
the United Kingdom, payable at any place in the tnitvd
States of Amerla. The commission changeable will be uni-
form with that charged on money orders tuned on Canada
and the colonies generally, via :—On sun. not exceeding £2,
it ; above £2 and not exceeding £5, 2s. : above £5, and not
exceeding £7, as ; above C, and not exceeding Lid, 44. o
single money order will be issued for more than £lO The
issue of money orders in the United States, payable at money
order offices in this country, will also commence on the 2nd
of October next.
Last week the aggregate mortality in London and 16
other large towns of the lofted Kingdom was at the rate of
28 deaths annually to every 1,000 pers.. !Ding. In London,
2,"11 births and 1,422 deaths were remstered, the births
being 68, and the deaths 55 shove the average. The deaths
in London included 57 from small-pox, the average of six
been ls 4. ltk. .g.i.t
The deathfron:o4ll7s4l. 8.4
and
the e -Ins' itic class were 460 last w
184 in the three preceding weeks. The mean temperature
during the six weeks ending Saturday land warts deg. a min.,
showirigan average daily (-XCe3l i dtg. folfa. upon the
celTeapoudiug pelled lAN Yoare.

The death fa announced, at Palermo, of a man named
Tuommieno, at the age of 105 years.
- • • . . . .

Don Franciaeo tir Asia tie Bourbon is aad to h."
sinwribed tor 7uiLenet. of the new Spanieh Loan in raris.
The French War Minister has .ndereil thirty.eix
Gatlin, tuitntilletnet
'

------
The A rolir LPArtt, states that the capital sentence
on Colonel Itobsel had bcen commuted into one of detention
in a fortress. _ . .

The Soir says that the short stay of the l'rinee of
Wales in Paris, on his way to England, was chiefly occupied
in visiting the monuments burned by the tbnimunists.
- -- • -

The sum of 1:4,S00 has been sin den from the Bank of
Ireland. A clerk left his desk for a few minutes, awl on his
return the money was missed.
Abd-el-Kader has written that in his opinion the
Communal imurrection is owing to the practice so general
during the siege of eating horsetlesh.
The Richmowt Whiq wants the Government to pay
the Southern rlanters 3;000,000,000 ibis. forthe slaves ennui-
eipated by the late war.
According to the Canada Bookseller, Prof. Coldwin
Smith has taken the eilitonship of is new magazine that will,
before long, he started in the Dominion.
In India the ladies and gentlemen are having "fox
hums" with jackals for foxes, and the ladies, in good old
English fashion, riding with the hounds.
The St. PeterAurl _Wallow declares that cholera
has not al sited in Russia during the last week. At hicil thero
are Es) deaths daily,
It is stated that every oarsman on the Tyne attended
Me funeral of dames Renforth, and that about 70,000 perSOUS
were present on the occasion.
In a French paper there is the following obituary
announcement :-- M. Richard li.ecesky, editeur de Beadey
et Magazbw steal de mourir."
. _

- -
The Mayor of Cork has had the Cross of the Legion
.4 Honour conferred upon him in recognition of his services
in connection with the succour of the French wounded in
the late war. . .

A Paris correspontient states that the Prussians. ws
they inarcheA out from St. Denis, were greeted with shouts
of "Au revoir," a!"
- • • • • •• •

_
A red-hot Pat and house ruler, looking, at the 46-
pliant recently presented to Ireland by the Duke of Edw.
burgh, remarked sourly and loudly to the bystanders, " we
don't want any more English sent to Dublin."
The Prince and Princess Louise of Hesse, with their
five ehildren are at Balmoral on a visit to the Queen. lice
Majesty has been able to resume her drives, and her health
appears to be improving.

- - - -
M. Charles Lamle, a rising asivocate of the PAFIA
far, aged 33, who sins principal secretary 05 the Minister of
Commerce during the siege, has been accidentally latted by
a friend with whom he was shooting near Itouem
On the conclusion of the autumn maineuvrts;
Prince of Wales will leave Marlborough House for Abergeldin
Castle, Scotland, where his Royal Highness will remain for
several weeks during the shooting season The princess of
Wales is not expected to visit Abergeldic this season.
The Patric states that the reorganisation of the
French army is proceeding in a very satisfactory manner.
Frame now possesses 130 regimenta of infantry of the line,
of which only 51. are provisional. All are at their full regu-
lation strength.
• —•

The wate-lunaking business at Menne- -in the valley
of it. linter—the mountains of Neuchatel and other centres
of manufacture is, at present, is full activity. Workmen
are in great request, and the supply of them, it is said, does
not nearly inert the demand.
_ . . .

From a return moved for in the House of Commons
by Lord Robert Itontagn, n.e learn that in the various
borough and county lunatic asylums in England anti Wales,
on the lit day of July last, there were 31,474 inmates, of
whom 19,905 were members of the Church of England, 2,e35
Roman Catholics, 7,099 belonging to other denominativus,
and 1,030 whow denomination was unknown.
At the Accrington Petty Seasions, a young man has
been charged with profane swearing on minday evening.
Tlie information was laid under the Act 19 lleorge 11., exp.
71. see. 1, aml the police -sergeant proved that the defendant
" took thid's name in vain:' and swore time profane oaths.
The magistrates third the defendant 35.. being a shilling for
each oath, ordered him to pay costs, and intimated that they
had instructed the police to bring before them other offenders
under this act.
- •

"The German Fat nm's Association, formed a year
ago, met at No. 1511, Allen-street, when a committee was
appointed to make arrangements for the second annual pic-
nic. The association numbers about 70 members, 11010. lif
IV !loin weigh km than 2oolbs, and according to the rules
of the association none but those who by their weight are
able to turn the scale at 20tilbs. are eligible to he admitted to
wendiership.--NeT leek Ti meo, August 26.

Sporting bas begun in earnest in France ! A Parra
correspondent says It would seem that all the tradesmen
of the city have gone, with guns and dogs, to shoot s •
thing in the suburbs. One Winkle had a fowling-piece the
other day in the left hand—held in leash two pointers—and
carried a 80Wilig-1111101iIIC "II his shoulder to a customer. Tho
list of ic.-cidents is already frightful - not counting dogs shot
with no spotlit:mos of hyolropholola to explain the act • them
are few loonies loot isle if the members cannot boast of rm.
ceiling a few friendly pellets.
A report has just been icoceil as the funds mtbscribeil
for the relief of sufferers by Colliery EY1)108i0116 111 South
Lancashire from November, loos, to September, le7o. It
shows that hi barely two years nine catastrophes of this kind
have occurred, by which 312 lives have been bit, 140 mires
have limn made Will.l"^, mid 340 children orphans. Five of
these explosions took place In what is called the nine-feet
seam a Wigan, the scene of the accident of last week lout
on, The total amount of subscriptions received was £0,5051.
and the expenditure tufts balance, lost not enough, by dims
to meet the necessities arising out of the last shocking acci-
dent. .

A melancholy incident occurred at a ball given at
the Southern Askmbly fhionis, on Friday evening, by the
officers of the Exedir n,. Among the company was Captain
Weigall, of the 77th Regiment. avid abut two on Saturday
morning he was suddenly taken ill. lie 4'Arri,ql out,hh,
the hall-room hut almost immediately died from disease of
the heart. The deeeased officer, who was only thirty-four
years of age, but had been sixteen years In the army, was
president of the mess, and was much respected in the regi-
ment.

According to a return publishes' by the Statistical
Department of the Board of Trade the land under cultivation
during the present year may be divided as follows ,—Wheat,
3.373.996 acres ; barley, 2,397,719 ; oats, 2,71,299 ; potatoes,
0i2,,287 ; hops, 60,1r211. This shows, as compared with last
Ve3l% all increase of 75,433 acres upon wheat, 13,99911110 a
barley, and 40,1126 Upgril potatoes ; Una a decrease 41 43,932
Upon oats, and TAR; upon hops. According to the same retuni
the number of live stock in Great Britain on the titli June
last was 5,339,332 ; sheep, 27,132.090, and pigs,
2,499,899. Compared with last year, there was a decrease of
63.955 on cattle, and 1,201,691 on sheep; and an increase of
320,751 on pigs.

Mr. P. J. Symth, M.P., writes to The Times res-
peeting his speech hi the Mentz Park. He declares that he
said nothing which he is not prepared, if permitted, to re-
peat to the House of Commons. •• The killing of Sergeant
Brett was a deplorable incident of the Manchester rescue,
but it was not moister. lie so stigmatizing it all history no
against you. These Manchester Men went forth ill open day
not with the malicious intent of taking the life of Sergeant
Brett, but for the purpose—a laudable one in their estima-
tion—of rescuing their chief. A battle ensues, aim' the life
of the brave,oineer is taken, as I believe, accidentally—certain
it is that it was not taken premeditatedly, nor in cold
blood, nor with base motive. Every circumstance necessary,
even in the eye id the law, to constitute the crime of murder
was absent.- Mr. Smyth concludes by 1141thig that en-
lightened public opinion in England will not brand as mur-
derers men whom the Irish people regard as heroes.

- -
A fatal accident happened to a clergyman at Woking
station, on the London anti South-Western Railway, on
Thursday itight in last week. The Rev. Henry Monad, son
of Mr. Si. Monad, of Stoke College, Clare, Suffolk, arrived
at Woking by the 5 pm. up Exeter train, due at MIS, and
asked a porter whether there was time to have sonic refresh-
ment. The porter replied that there was mot, but Mr. Morant
jumped out of his carriage, and while drinking a glass of
ale, seeing his train moving I It he rushed towards the car-
riage he bad occupied. At the end of the platform about a
quarter of a Yard if the paving is removed to make r.sni for
a hose which supplies the engine with water from a tank ad-
Hiring. Here Mr. Morant tripped, and fell below the train,
the consequence being that his skull was fractured RIO his
right leg below the knee reduced to a pulp. Immediato
assistance was rendered, awl a IlleSSVng, was despatched fur
a surgeon; hut before he arrived Mr. Morant had aspired.