The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-01-05 00:00:00

EPITOME Ot NEAVS.

BRITISR AND FOREIGN.

It is reported from Alexandria that up to the pre.
sent 7,358 claims, amounting inothe aggregate to
£1,900,000, have been allowed by the International
Indemnity Comntission.

During the Christmas week 31,344 persons visited
the South Kensington Museum Collections, a number
which was very considerably below the average of
former years.
Tbe losses by fire in the United States aid Canada
during the year 1883 have been the heaviest ever
known. They are estimated to amount to 105,000,000
dole., the insurance upon the property destroyed
amounting to 54,000,000 dols.
The schooner Christian, of Holbeck, arrived a
Leith on Sunday from Landscrona, in charge of the
captain and a l'oy, the remainder of the crew, three in
number, having been washed overboard in the North
Sea on the 16th inst. during a gale.
Intelligence received from Warsaw states that a
N ihilist printing press was discovered by the police on
Saturday last in a house situated in an unfrequented
part of the city. All the compositors made their
escape.

The Prince of Wales, as President of the Society of
Arts, has transmitted to Lady Siemens the resolution
passed after the death of Sir William Siemens, by the
Council of that Society, and in doing so has expressed
his own appreciation of Sir William Siemens' labours.

The Nizam (P. and a steamer) during the voyage
from London to Malta experienced very heavy
weather, and was struck by a sea off Galeta, the chief
officer and four seamen being seriously injured, and
the commander and fourth officer badly bruised.
A death from lock-jaw occurred at Dover on
Saturday. A man named Smallwood being unable
a few nights ago to effect an entrance to his house
took one of the ladders from the public fire•escape,
with which he attempted to get into his bed room
window. He fell from the ladder and broke his
smile. Lockjaw supervened, and proved fatal.
Messrs. Elder and Co., shipbuilders, Glasgow, dis
missed 400 men on Saturday, making 800 for the week.
They stated to a deputation of engineers their wil-
lingness to limit the reduction of wages of four months
of id. per hour.

A Brisbane telegram says that a mutiny has occurred
on board the schooner Natal, hound from Boston to
that place. The captain and first mate were wounded
and the second mate killed. The captain shot two of
the mutineers, and the remainder of them, three in
number, are now in prison.
A telegram from New York states that the tota
emigration to the United States for 1883 was about
558,000, or 154,000 less than in the previous yea'.
Germany leads with nearly a third of all arrivals, her
number being 180,000, or nearly 50,000 less than in
1282.

The emigrants who have arrived at New York this
year number 409,447 against 445,430 last year, At
present the arrivals are few. A decided decline is ex-
pected nor% year.
For some time past an ostler, of very eccentric
habits, has been accustomed to sleep in a public-house
hay loft at Gosty Hill, near Halesowen, and it being
well known that he possessed a considerable sum of
money, thieves broke into the loft on Sunday night
and cut a pocket front his trousers, which contained
upwards of £35 wrapp6d up in rags, the savings of
many years.

It is stated that the Board of Trade have intimated
to the promoters of the South• Eastern and Channel
Tunnel Railways Bill and of the Channel Tunnel
Railway Bill that if the bills which have been deposited
are persevered with it will be the duty of the Govern.
ment to oppose them in Parliament.

On Monday evening a porter named Austin, in the
service of the South-Western Railway, while assisting
in shunting some goods trucks at Staines Station, acci-
dentally fell, it is supposed, frcat one of the vehicles,
and was run over by the train and killed.

At the Edinburgh police-court the other day, a
woman named Kirk, some forty years old, was sent
to prison for disorderly conduct for the thirty-fourth
time last year. Kirk has spent seven years four
months and sixteen days in prison since 1871, and she
has been altogether convicted 203 times for petty
offences.

At a recent meeting of the Edinburgh Royal
Society, Professor Tait read a paper by Mr. W. F.
Petrie, on the old English mile. The old mile was
longer than the present, and consisted of 5,000 feet of
13 inches. It seemed to be identical with the old
French mile. The furlong had no connection originally
with the mile, which was modified to suit the former.
The Statistician to the Department of Agriculture,
in his preliminary estimates of the crops of 1883,
which will be printed as a special report fsa• December,
makes the eorn crop 1,551,066,835 bushels, ragardless
of quality. The wheat crop is placed at alie.:tly over
400,000,000, and the cotton crop is estimated at about
6,000,000 bushels.
A sum of iOO francs has been subscribed by M. de
Lesseps, on behalf of the Suez Canal Company,
towards the fund for the erection at Chatham of a
statue tl Lieutirrent Waghorn, the pioneer of the
overland route to India.

It is shown by the ParliatnEntary reg;<ter f,.r the
county divisions of Laricastdre jcist completei that
there are in North Lancashire 18,900 voters ; North-
East, 13 SOO ; South-East, 28,700; South. West, 30,6'0
—total, 92,000, an increase on bet year of 2,800.
A telegram dated Brunn, Jan. 1, says that Butt, the
public executiorer, waA tourid dead in his bed on the
29th ult. His death was at first attriboted to a strotre
of apoplexy, but subsequently it was rumoured thathe
had fallen a victim to revenge. The judicial post-
mortem examination of the body showed that two ribs
were broken. The Public Prosecutor has instituted
an inquiry into the affair.
The revenue returns for the year, as well as for the
quarter ended 31st December, have been published.
The national income for the past three months has
amounted to £81,423,174, a net increase of £425,026
upon the corresponding period of 1882. The revenue
for the twelve months was £90,035,522, a net increase
of £3,690,664. In the first nine months of the financial
year the net increase was £1,031,066.
According to a published report, 2,877,591 tons of
coal have been carried by the Midland and Great
Northern Railways from the Yorkshire coal-fields
during eleven months of this year. The total shows
an ircrease of nearly 300,000 tens over last year.
Ti,e tonnage to Hull reached, for the same period,
1,225,654, which is a decrease of 12,000 tons as com-
pared with last year.
A New York telegram says that the visible supply
of wheat on Dec. 28 was 35,400,000 bushels, as against
35,700,000 bushels the previous week. Visible supply
of Indian corn 9,200,000 bushel., as against 8,800,000
bushels the previous week. The export clearances of
wheat for Europe during last week amounted to
690,000 bushels. The export clearances of Indian
corn for Europe during the week amounted to 640,000
bushels.

The Publiihrr's Civet Jew states that of the 4,73'3
books published in 1883, works of theology numbered
794 ; juvenile literatute, 741. ; educational books, 556 ;
history and biography, 404 ; art and science, 351 ;
works of fiction, 349 ; year hooks, 315 ; essay,
; travel, 210 ; the remainder were pamphlets and
medical and legal works.
New Year's Eve was kept up with the usual
festivity in the camp at Aldershot, especially among
the Highland regiments. The Saottish Rifles gave a
dance, at which every corps iu the camp was repre-
sented.

The Hope nee. Hewerden Highway Board have given
Mr. Gle_dltone a month's notice to remove certain
trees vihich be has placed on waßte plots of land on
the roseleicie between ChiAter rind Hawarden Castle in
order to b,e-ntify the Istutenay., on the ground that it
is an infringeiceet of the liberties of the people to the
land, and have further intimated that, if Mr. Glad-
stone will not remove the trees, the Board's surveyor
has instructions to do the necessary work.
A fire broke out on Tuesday morning in the Glasgow
Public Fever Hospital, at Belvedere, the roof of the
laundry, which is attached to the main building, being
burned off. A fire steamer attended, and the flames
were soon extineuished. The alarm amongst the
patients and officials of the hospital was very great,
but happily it was not found necessary to remove any
of the patients.
- - • - - -

-- -
On Friday in !art week a shocking accident
occurred at Longton, North Staffordshire. Frederick
Webb, a batty collier at the Meir Hay Colliery, was
out shooting near the pit, when he fired at a pikeon
that had alighted on the engine-house. The contentsi
of the gun caught a boy named David Rogers, son of
the engme•man, and lodged in his face and side. The
injured boy was taken to the Cottage Hospital, where
he died shortly after his admission.

.
_ „ ,

Between the years 1872 and 1882 the are a of fruit
growing land in England increased by 26,62+3 acres.
The Railway Age reports that 6,600 mites of new
American railway were built in 1.883 against 11.600 last
year. This crmstructim cast 165,000,000 ,dols.,.and
makes a total mileage of 120,000.
Sir Sul Samuel, S.C.M.G., A.gent-General for
New South Wales, has baen ir formed by talegram of
the arrival in Syduey of the ships Sydrnham and I.orth,
which sailed from Plymouth with emigrants in Sep.
tember last, also of the ship Pericles, which sailed in
October. - -

The late Vienna Electrical Exhibition, althaugh
great scientific success, proved very unremnnerative,
there being a deficit of £6,000.
A large number of additional licences for the sale of
stamps have been granted by the Inland Rovenue Da.
uartment on the recommendation of the Post Office.
In Bristol alone, upwards of 100 new licences have
been issued daring the last six months.

A boat, containing six len while sailing from,
Clare Island, on the west st of Ireland, to Kconah
Point, on the mainland, has capsized, with the result
that all the men were drowned, as well as a number
of cattle.
The Queen's hounds bad a splendid run on Tuesday,
the meet being at Farnham Royal. Although the
day was dull, there was a good field out, including the
Earl of Cork. The deer was uncarted at the One Pin,.
Hedgerley, and went away to Burnham Beeches and,
on to Be,aconsfield, being finally taken in a farm near
High Wycombe.
Sophia (to Mama, who is reading). "Ma, dear, have
you ever seen an antediluvian animal?"—Mama
(hesitatingly). Well, no, dear—not alive !"—Moon.
shine.

It has been decided to hold the 500th anniversary
commemoration services in honour of the great
Reformer John Wiclif on May 219 t next, the
day on which he and his doctrines were condemned,
by ck synod of divines assembled at Greyfriars Priory
in London.

Mr, Birch, A.R.A., has nearly completed the cast
of a colossal bronze statue to be erected. in a public
park at Toronto, to the memory of the Hon. George
Brown, a leading Liberal member of the Canadian
ParliAment, who was assassinated about two years ago
by a workman.

The great home of the jewellery trade in the United
States is Providence, Rhode Island. There are here
184 manufacturing establishments, employing about
3,500 bands, and producing goods to the value of
5,775,955 do's. annually.

The boring of the heading of the new Mersey
tunnel is completed to within 120 yards of its entire
extent. It is expected that by the third week in
January submarine communication between Liverpool
and Birkenhead will be effected.

Two young men named Batterham were boating on
Cowbit Wash, near Spalding, on Sunday aftetnoon,
when the boat capsized, and both were drowned. The
young men were cousins.
The American inland revenues for the five months
ending with November amounted to 51,279,438 dole.,
being a decrease of 11,343,971 dole, as compared with
the same period of last year. The loss was mainly in
the tobacco and bank taxes, which were reduced on
July 1.

A murder is reported from Cologne, a young watch.
maker, named Stockhausen, and his aged widow
mother being found murdered in their own house, in
one of the most frequented streets of the city, near
the theatre and the police-station, Numerous watches
are missing,

The New York bankers estimate that the Irish and
Germans this season sent small sums to the old
countries for Christmas gifbe amounting altogether to
2,000,000 dole.

American wheat is now finding its way intt
Bohemia by steamer from Hamburg. This is the firs
time wheat from the other side of the Atlantic has
been imported into the Austrian Empire, but already
100,000 cwt. have been received.
Miss Whitney's statue of Harriet Martineau has
been unveiled at Boston, U.S. The statue is of heroic
size, and cost fifteen thousand dollara, which was
contributed entirely by women. There was a large
assemblage to witness the unveiling, condisting mostly
of women.

Up to the present time the German navy has pos.
sessed only 15 torpedo boats, but nine others are
being built, and 19 others have been ordered, so that
the total will be 43, se compared with upwards of
100 belonging to the English and Russian navies, 63
to the French, 50 to the Italian, and 25 to the United
States navies,

The exports of cheese from the port of Montreal
during the past season amounted to 888,131 boxes, an
increase of 173,646 over last year. The total exports
from the Dominion during the season are about
1,000,000 boxEs, which is the largest yet made in
Canada. The exports of butter were 100,179 packets,
an increase of 3,107 ia hen compared with last year..
The value of the exportable surplus of buttc, and
cheese from Canada for the seasons of 1,139.4 is esti-
mated at about £1,500,000.
The Texas Pacific Railway bridge across the Atcha.
falaya River, Louisiana, has just been completed. It
has been two years building, and cost 500,000 dole.
This bridge is of great importance to the South.
Western Railway traffic.

Them were 1,847 births and 1,503 deaths registered
in London last week. Allowing for increase of popn
lation, the births were 469, and the deaths 478, below
the average numbers in the corresponding weeks of the
last ten years. The annual rate of mortality from al
causes, which had been 22 7 and 212 per 1,000, in the
two preceding weeks, further declined to 198.

At Aldershot on Saturday Private J. Swift, of the
Second aittalicn of the Shropshire Regiment, com-
mitted suicide by cutting his throat with a razor in
the guard-room, where he was in confinement for being
"tremulous on parade," the result of drinking
too freely during the Christmas holidays. He was
within a year of securing a pension for life.
The following circular has been issued from the Post
Office :—" The Postmaster-General wishes to make
known throughout the service his high apprechtion of
the energy and zeal displayed in successfully meeting
the unprecedented pressure of Post Office business ex-
perienced throughout the United Kingdom during the
last few days."

In London, on Friday night in last week, the report
of firearms at the rear of the London Hospital induced
a police-constable to proceed to the spot, where he
found a man lying on the pavement, life being nearly
extinct. The suicide had placed the barrel of a revolver
close to the right temple. The constable procured
help and removed the body to the hospital. The
House Surgeon at once pronounced the man dead.
An irquest was held on Saturday at Sedgeley
Workhouse respecting the death of Diary Jennings,
50 years of are. When left alone in a house during
the Christmas holidays, the deceased was seized with
a fit. She fell on the fire and was found horribly
burnt. Sh 9 was removed to the workhouse infirmary,
where she died. Some years ago the deceased fell on a
fire under similar circumstances, and had since been a
cripple.—A verdict of "Accidental death" was re-
turned.

At the Birmingham Town Council, on Tuesday, on
the motion of Councillor Lawson Tait, a resolotion
was passed to prEsent a petition to Parliament next
session praying for an extension of the hours of polling
at Parliamentary and municipal elections, so as to
afford additional facilities for voters of the artisan
class to vote at such elections, and that the Town
Clerk be authorized to affix the corporate common
seal to such petition and cause the same to be pre-
sented.
The weekly return of metropolitan pauperism, issued
on Wednesday, shows that in the third week of
December there were 92,497 paupers, of whom 55,185
were indoor and 37,312 outdoor. This is a decrease of
4,626 and 2,763 as compared with 1882 and 1881 re-
spectively, but an increase of 225 as contrasted with
1880. On the last day of the third week of December
398 vagrants were relieved, of whom 308 were men, 73
women, and 17 children under sixteen years of age.
On Saturday Messrs. J. and G. Thomson, of Clyde-
bank, near Glasgow, launched a large vessel named
the America, which has been built for the National
Steamship Company. The vessel, which is expected
to be a swift sailing one, will cost £200,e00. It is
450 feet lone., 51 feet beam, 38 feet 6 inches depth of
hold, and 6,000 tons gross tonnage. She is magnifi-
cently fitted, and there is ample accommodation for
300 saloon passengers. Her motive power extends up
to 9,000 horse.