The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-08-10 00:00:00

A POWDER MAGAZINE BLOWN UP BY
LIGHTNING.

The Leeds Mercury states that during a thunder-
storm which passed over Morley on Tuesday after-
noon, a very vivid flash of lightning struck a powder
magazine containing one ton of powder, belonging to
M hn Haigh and Sons, Victoria Colliery,
Breustsirtsclifft: The magazine was situate in the middle
of a field, four hundred yards from the colliery.
The shock was something terrific, and but for the
incessant rain which preceded the explosion, and
had the effect of stopping all traffic in the vicinity,
many lives, it is thought, must have been.
lost. As it is, the effects of the disaster may he
briefly stated as follows :—A field of oats is completely
destroyed, being laid to the ground as well as scorched.
At the pit a man was struck with a brick and hurled
into an adjoining coal screen. The man in the engine-
house was fearfully frightened by the engine-house
window, squares being blown in. At`that momenthe had
drawn four men up. They had just risen in sight
when the explosion took place. The engine-man shut
the steam off, and ran out of the engine-house. The
four men managed to escape alive, but the cage :was
fearfully damaged among the head-gear. Two girls,
injured.
The were playing about, were dreadfully
The great bulk of the property in the vicinity,
although 400 yards away, had most of the windows
smashed and otherwise injured. N o lives were re-
ported to be lost,

THE BISHOP OF MANCHESTER ON
CHURCH PATRONAGE.

In a sermon at Didsbury Pariah Church on Sunday, the
Bishop of Manchester spoke at consideraUle length on the
question of purchase in the Church, with special references
to the parish of Didsbury. The following is an extract from
the Bishop's speech :
" Don't let UB make the matter worse than it is.
Let us acknowledge it to be a scandal and let us try to
remove it, but a the same time let us thank God that
the evil is much less than the people would have us
suppose it to be. There may be said to be four courses
Feasible in this matter of ecclesiastical patronage.
There may be the public patron, the individual
public patron, the Crown, which exercised the
patronage either by the Prime Minister or
the chancellor, or the bishop; or there may
be patronage by trustees. Many churches in this
diocese are in the patronage of trustees, and they
cannot sell; or there is the patronage of private per-
sons, who can sell. There is also another kind of
patronage; at least there are about four or five cases
in the Church of England, and X am thankful to

say there are no more, in which the parishioners
have the right of appointing their own clergy. I
have been asked, 'Why not adopt the congrega-
tional principle?' But the Church of England does
not recognise the principle of congregations, and I
should he sorry if it did. It recognises parishes, and
choice by congregations would be impossible in the
Church of England unless its constitution were
utterly changed from what it now is. Clever writers,
no doubt, can bring objections against every and all
of these forms of patronage. If it is in the patronage
of the Lord Chancellor or the Premier it is said to be
political. If it is in the patronage of the bishop, Oh,
it is nepotism.' If it is by trustees, they say it is par-
tisan, and that the trustees put in men of their own was
of thinking So you see objections can be raised
to almost every concaivable form of patronage. It is
not much better amongst the Nonconformists, as far as
lam informed. I only heard yesterday of an instance
in a town nut many miles from Manchester where there
was a very eminent minister, an admirable preacher,
and a very able man in all respects. He died about
three years -1.70, and the appointment was left. racant.
It has only just been filled up, because there were two
parties in the congregation—the rich party and the
poor party. The rich wanted one man and the poor
wanted another. The rich people had the power of
the purse, and so they won their way, hut for three
years there was no settled minister of the congrega-
tion. So he begged to assure 'Promotion by merit,'
and those people who thought with him, that the
exercise of patronage was by no means any easy or
matter- of-fact thing."