The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-10-18 00:00:00

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HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

CHESS PROBLEM SOLVED AT CAPE TOWN. —Zulu-
Kind Castled.—Punch.
THE LONG VACATION. —Next session attention will be
called in Parliament to the inconvenience and pecu-
niary loss occasioned to the public by what is known
in legal circles as the long vacation. One of the bene-
fits contemplated under the Judicature Act was the
adoption of a system by which the law's delays would
be reduced to a minimum. Instead of the entire staff
of judges suspending their labours, anew arrangement
would it was understood, be made by which a certain
number of judges would act whilst the others sought
the rest of which they were in neel But this ar-
raugernent has never been followed. The result is that
a strong movement is on foot, its object being to
shorten the long vacation by bringing the judicial
staff within the spirit of the Judicature Act. Our
present system of law hclidays is felt to be quite at
variance with the requirements of the time.
A. 1300IC ALL PEDESTRIANS OUGHT TO BUY.
Walker's Dictionary.—Judy,
THE AUSTRALIAN WOOL CLIP. Advices from
Melbourne represent the prospects of the Australian
wool clip as highly cheering. All the principal sheep
stations have finished shearing, and some of the wool
to hand is reported fully up to the beat descriptions of
last seasons. The fleeces, if anything, are somewhat
lighter, which is attributable to the dryness of the
season. The greater portion of the finer class of wools
is arriving from Riverina, and the northern and
eastern districts of the Colony.— Wool Trade Review.

AMERICAN AND CANADIAN FOOD. There was a
great decrease in the number of live stock landed at
Liverpool last week from Canada and the 'United
States when contrasted with the preceding week.
Ooly two consignmenti arrived, amounting to 378 head
of cattle, 209 sheep, and 194 pigs, against 1.938 cattle
and 2,984 sheep in the previous week. Fresh meat
was also in smaller supply. The conveying steamers
were four in number, and brousht collectively 3,014
quarters of beef, 725 carcases of mutton, and 100 pigs,
being a decrease of over 1,400 quarters of beef and 250
carcaeen of mutton. As regards live stock the numbers
were about the lowest that h.ve yet occurred since the
trade was introduced.
A SERIOUS BUSINESS. —ln a leading article on the
occupations and emploNments of Women the other
day, The Times observed that :—" A man and woman,
when they marry, constitute a firm," which we may
add, too often turns out a partnership of unlimited

AN INTRICATE PROBLEM. —The Daily Telegraph
says :—" A curious point in natural history is receiving
the attention it deserves at the hands of such men
ProfeEsiir Myatt and Mr. Pliugle. The subject which
thus agitates the scientific mud, as stated in the
'Davis Lecture,' is 'whether kangaroos use their tails
to a certain extent in their long jumps,' and it will at
once be perceived that the difficulty attending its re-
solution is by no means imaginative. Eye observation
is useless, for after the tail has actually been seen
acting as a third hind leg, the question still re-
mains whether the animal at that moment was
making a long or a short jump. S great is the
obstacle in the way of absolute determination
that one gentleman bas inazio a long mathema-
tical calculation, ending in the decision that,
'supposing the spee.l of tho kangaroo to be fifteen
miles an hour, or seven and a half yards a second, only
length of bilies and mobility of joints would permit
the feet to rest on the same spot for even the fraction
of me moment, while the tail would only touch the
earth while traversing its surface to the distance of
two feet for the. tenth part of. an instant.' Thus we
are as far from a solution of this great problem as ever.
In all probability it will join the more ancient and
ethereal question, How many angels could stand on
the point of a needle?' and, like it, remain, un-
answered iatisfactorily to the end of time."

CURIOUS FREAK OF RATS,—The following happened
last wetk at the residence of relatives of nioe, in
Morayshire :—About three dozen pears were shaken
off a tree in the garden on to the grass. They were
picked up and deposited for the night on a table in the
kitchen. This table stood about three .or four feet
from the floor. Next morning they were all gone, and
no one could imagine what had become of thorn.
Suspicion at length rested on rats, although none had
bseu seen about the premises for some considerable
time. Search was made, and a hole discovered near
the pump in the scullery adjoining the kitchen, and
diotant from the kitchen table on which the fruit was
deposited about five yards. A workman was sent for to
fill up this hole with cement, but in doing so he had to
open up the wooden framework round the base of the
pump, and there were found all the ruisoing pears
caraully stored away.—R. A. P. GRANT, In Land
and Water'