The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-08-16 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

In consequence of the great agricultural depression,
Sir Humphrey De Trafford has announced his intention of
remitting 25 per cent. of the rents of the farmers and others
occupying his land in the neighbourhood of Stretford and
Barton.

About 200 fishing craft discharged herrings at
Whitby on Tuesday. The average take of each boat was
about 6 001 fish, and the selling price was an average of a
little over 2s. per hundred. Codfish arrived in enormous
quantities, and sold at extremely low prices.

The accounts relating to the trade and navigation of
the United Kingdom for the month of July show a further
large decrease in the value of our imports but a slight in-
crease in the value of exports of British and Irish producce
as compared with the corresponding month last year.
"There can be no greater mistake than that of being
frightened by a few exceptionally bad seasons out of a course
of farming that has previously proved profitable. Recent
experience teaches farmers nothing new • it simply enforces
the old adage, that "no one can farm against bad seasons
—Mark Lane Express.
The arrival of the Chinese Ambassador and his suite
in Paris has thrown a good deal of animation into the ap-
pearance of the boulevards, where the Celestials seem to be
highly amused by the contemplation of the beautiful exhibi-
tions displayed in the shops, especially those situated be-
tween the Madeleine and the Port Saint-Denis.

American tourists to Europe are more numerous
than ever this year. One Saturday in July alone live ocean
steamers left New York, carrying 800 visitors to the Old
Country.

Excellent reports have (Galignani says) been re-
ceived at the Ministry of Agriculture concerning the har-
vest. Owing to the fine weather the crops that have been
cut are mostly housed in the south-west and north of France,
and if the temperature continues high the harvest will pro-
bably be a good average one. Large purchases having been
made of foreign corn, the price of bread is certain to be low.
The Cincinnati Enquirer of July 27 publishes re-
ports respecting the crc ps in Ohio Indium, and Kentucky,
from which it appears that although some crops have fallen
short of the yield of last year, the deJciency is generally
made up in quality.

Mr. C. S. Read, M.P., writing to the secretary of
the South Essex Conservative Association, cautions farmers
upon the question of Free Trade, and suggests to them the
inexpediency of the agricultural interest being the first to
suggest a return to protective duties. "However just such
a demand may be," he says, "if the farmers ask for it the
whole manufacturing and mining interests will be arrayed
against them, whereas if the cry for Reciprocity should come
from the towns the country districts could then take up the
demand with a much better prospect of success."

Lord Hartington, replying to an invitation to attend
a public meeting on the subject of the use of the lash,
writes that he should be unable to attend the meeting, but
"that he should be sorry to see the question of the lath
made a party question at the general election."

A Times' telegram says that the steamer Algeria
landed at New York the other day, 22 families, numbering
102 persons, all cutlers from Sheffield. They have been
brought out to work in the Frary Cutlery Factory, Bridge.
port, Connecticut, where they now are in comfortable
quarters. Five hundred more cutlers are expected to come
on In the autumn from Sheffield and also from Germany for
these works.

The Danish papers report that a terrific thunder-
storm passed over the country on the night of the 3rd instant
and the morning of the 4th. More than a hundred farms
and houses were destroyed, and about fifty persons were
killed; and the damage done to the hay crops and the grow-
ing corn by the torrents of rain which fell is stated to be in-
calculable.

A frightful accident has occurred to a man named
Hamer, at Crewe Railway Works. He was engaged with a
number of others in erecting a roller about 16 feet high and a
foot thick, when the rope snapped, and the ponderous weight
fell upon the poor man across the middle of the body. Death
was instantaneous.

A party of riggers were employed on Monday in
removing some working anchors on the anchor wharf of the
Devonport Dockyard, when the lashing of the slings parted,
and an anchor weighiog nearly live tons fell on August
Vanleberg, rigger, a native of Heligoland. He was at once
conveyed to the Royal Naval Hospital, where life was found
to be extinct.

Smith has a good opinion of himself. He has never
done a stroke of work, but lives on his hard•working father.
Nevertheless be fancies that some credit is due to him for
the fortune he enjoys. The other day leaning against the
mantleplece, he said—" I was born the son of a poor man,
but before I was thirty years old, I was the son of one of the
richest men in the country."
' - -

The Mark Lane Express of Monday night Bays :
Although the weather during the past week has been by no
means settled, nor the temperature such as we are wont to
experience during the second week in Auguet, some pleasant
intervals of sunshine have occurred, which have been bene-
ficial to the growing crops and serviceable t 3 farmers in
those districts whore bay•making has been delayed Cold
nights have, however, militated much against the matura-
tion of cereals, and it only in the southern counties that the
wheat is beginning to change colour. . . . The commence-
went of harvest will depend entirely upon the weather, but
even under the most favourable conditions it is improbable
that that any quantity of home.grown wheat will be seen at
Mark-lane before the first week in September.. . . It may be
mentioned that this day last year the first sample of new
English wheat was exhibited on the London market."

An Order in Council appears in the London Gazette
of Tuesday containing special provisions for the treatment of
swine infected with contagious disease. It gives authority
to the local inspectors to seize and have slain all swine, not
in places in the possession or under the control of the
Owner, which are found to be suffering from swine fever, and
also makes several regulations for the removal of swine so
affected to the slaughterhouse.

An inquest has been held at Ince near Wigan on the
body of Isaac I3amber,2who was drowned in his boat whilst
trying to rescue his child. The pool where the boat was
lying ran dry, one of the paddles of the lock below having
been left open. Whilst the family were asleep the water
ran into the pool again, the paddle having been shut, and
the boat having fallen on its side, the water entered the
cabin. The deceased seized hold of his wife, who also got
hold of the daughter, and they got on deck in s.fety. lhe
woman shouted out, "Oh, my child, Isaac,'' and the deceased
jumped into the cabin, which was rapidly filling with water.
Ihe daughter had, however, brought out the child with her,
and learning this the wife shouted to the deceated tc come
on deck, but at that moment a wave came towards them and
the boat gave a lurch, and was instantly submerged. The
cries of the woman attracted the attention of Police-con-
stable Lyon, who rescued the mother and two children, they
being then about two feet in water. Lyon also plunged into
the cabin, but failed to save the deceased, whose body was
recovered a short time afterwards. A verdict of found
drowned was returned, the jury complimenting the constable
for his effort to save the We of the deceased.

A statement of the receipts from the direct and in-
direct taxes has now been published for Austria as well as
Hungary. In both countries and under both heads there is
an increase.

-- ---- ----
The Emperors of Austria and Germany have met at
Gastein, and parted. The greeting was very cordial, and
German politicians express themselves most certain that the
interview indicates the best possible relations existing be-
tween the two Empires.

The Vienna Correspondent of the Standard says :
"It is stated that the ex-Empress Eugenie has now really
purchased the splendid Castle of Wasserburg, Upper Styria.
The front of the Castle contains one hundred and twenty-
two windows, and the building is over four hundred years
old."

Lord and Lady Derby are making a tour in Switzer-
land. They are not expected to return home until towards
the end of next month.

A parrot has died of a broken heart in the town of
Ballston Spa, Z,T.Y. It hail been in the familyof a good man
for a quarter of a century and never had been known to
swear. About a fortnight ago the head of the household
went to Minnesota. The parrot would not be comforted.
It ate nothirg. it did nothing but moan and screech
"Where is Joe ?"

According to official reports, the fire at Cbatenois,
In Al4ace, has destroyed 120 houses, 80 barns, and 117 stables.
Nearly 2,000 persms are homeless, and of this number 739
have not yet found any shelter. The total loss amounts to
2,000,0001.

The Prince of Wales, who used often when a boy to
be separated by court etiquette from his father and mother,
insists as an imperative rule of his household, when his boys
are at home, that whenever they wish to go to their parents
they shall be allowed to do so. The lads run in to see their
father at times when they are least expected, as at semi-
official and business audiences in Marlborough House. He
permits them to linger about him in the way affectionate
boys will about a father, without regard to royal precedent.
—Court Journal.

It is stated by a Paris paper that a number of lead-
ing French Legitimists will shortly proceed to some foreign
town, not yet designated, in order to meet the Comte de
Chambord.

The Schweizer Greuzpost of Basel states that eight
members of an English Velocipedist Club arrived in that
city by the Paris express with their vehicles on July the 29th,
and put up at the Three Kings. Great interest was taken in
their performances, as the English bicycle differs consider-
ably, from that in use on the Continent, particularly as to
height. It is the intention of these bicyclists, according
to the Swiss paper to make the whole journey along the
Rhine from Basil to Cologne, and possibly to Rotterdam, on
their vehicles.

Captain A. H. Bogardus and his son Eugene (aged
fourteen years), haye been entertaining the visitors at
Id.anhatten Beach with their astonishing skill in the use of
the shot gun and rifle. A variety of new and novel feats are
introduced. The patent safety fireworks discharged from
the shot-gun—Captain Bogardus' most recent invention
forms one of the chief attractions in the champion's exhibi-
tion.

It seems that on account of the late Russo-Turkish
war there were carried by railway 2,623,483 rank and file,
433,941 horses, 20,662 carts and wagons, and 3,113,590 puds
of provisions, irrespective of supplies furnished by con-
tractors.

A venerable Lancashire notability, Robert Townlf y
Parker, Esq., died on Monday evening at his residence,
Cuerden Hall, near Preston. Mr. Parker was the oldest
magistrate of the county of Lancaster and would have been
eighty-seven years old had he lived till the 24th of this
month. In 1837 Mr. Parker was elected member for Prestcn
in the Conservative interest, and was re-elected in 1852. In
1857 he retired from the representation. In 1862 he was
guild mayor of Preston.

It is stated in connection with the liquidation of the
City of Gtasgow Bank that, out of a total of 209 petitions for
rectification of register and list of contributories, 187 have
been disposed of; and that, out of a total or 81 other
actions, 54 have been disposed of. The total number of
actions, (to., dealt with is 307 of which 257 have been cleared
off.

---
Although the production of petroleum has for long
been in excess of the demand in the Pennsylvania district,
wells are still being bored by the score, and there is little
doubt that oil will soon be selling at 25 cents. a barrel. The
production is so enormous, in fact, that it exceeds the
storage capacity, and from 7,000 to 10,000 barrels are daily
allowed to run to waste.

There were 21 British and foreign wrecks reported
during the put week, making a total of 1,000 for the present
year, or an increase of 104 as compared with the correspond-
ing period of last year. The approximate value of property
was £390,000, including British £320,000.

The plague of rats in the Deccan for the second
season in succession is occasioning serious alarm. These
a,imals overspread the countiy like locusts, destroy the
crops almost as thoroughly, and are even more difficult to
keep down. So grave had become the aspect of affairs that
a "Rat Committee" was appointed to inquire into the best
means of disposing of these creatures They went thoroughly
into the question after the manner of Committees in India,
and their recommendations are carefully tabulated. The
people are to be induced to turn out en maese and face the
enemy, rewards are to be offered for dead rats, and, in fact,
the invasion is to be treated as a matter to be dealt with
vigorously by the whole community.

There were 2,327 births and 1,223 deaths registered
in London last week. Allowing for increase of population,
the births were 49, and the deaths no less than 422 below the
average numbers in the corresponding week of the last ten
years. The annual death-rate from all causes declined to
176 last week. During the past six weeks of the current
quarter the death-rate in London has averaged but 171 per
1,000, against 20 6 and 24 9 in the corresponding six weeks
of 1877 and 1878.

In the view of the Exhibition that is to be held at
Sydney next year, the Peninsular and Oriental Steamship
company are going to run vessels at reduced fares and ac-
celerated speed. Toey propose to take passengers from
London to New South Wales and back again in three months
for £,125, and this period will permit them a sufficient time
to see the colony. The low charge and rapid transit, it is
expected, will attract a large number of excursionists.
The New York papers state that Mr. Sothern has
arrived In that city from Canada. He had recently been
fishing in the Restigonche River, Quebec, in the company of
tne Duke of Beaufort and the Marquis of Lorne. Mr.
Sothern begins an engagement at the Park Theatre, New
York, on September 8.

At the close of the grand field day held at the
Volunteer Engineers' Camp, Chatham, on Saturday, General
Bulwer, the General commanding the district, addressed the
men in very flattering terms. He expressed the astonishment
he felt at the celerity and neatness with which they had
performed the difficult task of fortifying a wholly undefended
position, and concluded by saying that their orderly conduct
in camp was throughout all that could be desired.
Heavy rains have submerged large tracks of land in
Lancashire and Ch, shire The heavy pressure upon the
banks of the river Brandon or Little Ouse, Norfolk, has
caused the banks to give way. The water rushed over the
Lakenham fens, quickly submerging hundreds of acres of
land, including many large fields of standing corn.

On Saturday afternoon a deputation from Liverpool,
representing the Catholic Total Abstinence League of the
Cross, waited upon Cardinal Newman at the Oratory, Edg•
baston, to present an address of congratulation on his
elevation to the cardinslate. In acknowledging the address,
the Cardinal said he looked upon the league as a remarkable
body, In its spirit almost a religious body, for there was a
religious character in the special obligation under which
the members lay. Reftrring to their founder, Father
Mathew, he said they knew what great results had followed
from his exertions, and as it was at the beginning so it had
gone on.

Immense supplies of cattle and sheep are arriving
at Bristol from America and Canada, and are being pur-
cliwied by the butchers, by whom the English market is
almost deserted. During the past few days, steamers have
arrived with nettEy 1,000 cattle and 2,000 sheep.

The origin of the name of the Luxembourg Palace,
where the French Senate is once more to be located, is thus
described by the Parisian :—"ln the sixteenth century the
Duke Piney-Luxembourg, Prince de Tingry, erected a reel-
deuce, which bore his name, on the site of the present
edifice, and the appellation has remained through all the
vicissitudes the property has undergone. Marie de Idedicis
Purchased it in 1612, and it was rebuilt by trio architect
Jacques Desbrosses, on the model of the PAU Palace at
Florence."

The present year will surely be rememberod in Rus-
sian history as that of conflagration (says the correspondent
of The limes.) Scarcely a day passes without the St. Peters-
burg papers recording some terrible disaster by fire. As a
companion picture to the semi-destruction of Serajevo by
flames, the Gobs publishes a telegram to the effect that on
the sth of July the little town of Promtsino, in the govern-
meht of Simbirek, was wholly burnt to the ground. Nothing
could be saved, and the state of the inhabitants was de-
scribed as dreadful.

The Emperor of China is threatened with dethrone-
ment, owing to a curious religions difficulty. The present
ruler of the Celestial Empire is first cousin and adopted
brother to the late Emperor, and was, against all precedent,
chosen from the same generation as his predecessor, instead
of from a later, so that the Chinese cannot follow the time-
honoured custom of worshipping their sovereign's ancestor.
Unless the Emperor abdicates, the ancient State ceremonies
will have to be entirely altered, and the matter is considered
in Pcking as a most difficult problem.— Graphic.
The cherished pigtail of the Celestial has hitherto
been in considerable danger in California, the authorities of
San Francisco frequently clipping the queue of a Mongolian
criminal as one of the most effectual punishments they could
inflict. Now the Chinese view the loss of their pigtail as a
mark of deep disgrace, attended, according to their religious
belief, with misfortune in life and suffering after death, so
the Courts in San Francisco have been deliberating on the
matter for several months, and have at length decided that
queue cutting is illegal and unnecessary.
The First Lord of the Admiralty in presiding at the
closing of the Westminster Industrial Exhibition, delivered
an address, in which, after reviewing the work which had
already been done, he pointed out that future Exhibitions
must not be merely a repetition of that which had just been
held. Each year's Exhibition must be an advance upon its
predecessor, so that it should compare favourably with Ex-
hibitions in other quarters, otherwise it would not carry out
the object in view, lie believed that the conditions under
which we lived were most favourable for the development of
cheap, good, and thorough work, and that English workmen
If they only sought to make this a real school of technical
education, need have no doubt as to their success in the race
of the world.

An inquest was held in London, on Monday, at
Guy's Hospital, concerning the death of the Rev. George
Spieuham, AL A., who fell from an omnibus on Westminster
Bridge. Deceased was bead-master at the Bedford House
C.)llege, Brixton. On Jane 28 h. wont to London, and in re-
turning rode on the outside of an omnibus. When opposite
the Clock Tower of the Houses of Parliament he attempted
to change his place by climbing to the seat beside the coach-
man. In so doing he slipped, and he fell headlong on the
road. Be was conveyed to Guy's Hospital, and on the Bth
Inst. died from the injuries sustained. The jury returned a
verdict of accidental death.

The London correspondent of the Manchester
Guardian says the trustees of the British Museum have
succeeded in obtaining a successor to Mr. Hormuzd Rel-
earn in the work of Assyrian exploration. Lieutenant
Kitchener, RE, whose name has for many years been
closely connected with the work of the Palestine Explora-
tion Fund, has accepted the post, awl will as soon as official
duties permit start for Mosul Lieutenant Kitchener has
only just returned from Cyprus, where he had been sent to
arrange for the ordnance survey of that island. The explora-
tions on the site of Careherish and Northern Mesopotamia
have been entrusted to the charge of Mr. Henderson, the
British Consul at Aleppo. The British Museum has also
obtAtned a firman for explorations in Armenia and the die.
trict of Lake Van, but no arrangements for working the
tame have as yet been made.

The large elephant at the Berlin Zoological Gardena
which has recently died is to be represented to future
visitors by his skeleton, which will be set up in his former
abode, an Indian palace. "Boy " was to have been stuffed,
but his fatal illness had ruined his skin, and so his carcase—
bones excepted—was cremated instead, and the ashes were
sold as manure to a gardener for 18s., and carted off in a
wheelbarrow, the remnants of the hide fetching 41. 6d.
When dead, "Boy" weighed over two tons, and had to be
divided into several portions to be carried away from the
Gardens, while the hide itself could not be lifted into the
cart by eight men, and was two inches thick in some parts,
with a total weight cf twelve hundred-weight.
Mr. Edward Butler, Q C., M.L.C., leader of the
Bar of New South Wales, died suddenly in the Supreme
Court at Sydney on the 9th of June. He had met with an
accident a few weeks before while in the country, and had
been suffering severely from it, but on the day above named
be returned to practice and rose to address the Court on a
motion for a new trial, but had only spoken a ftw words
svben his face became pallid and be tell slowly into his
chair, with his head on his chest. Some of his professional
brethren thought he had fainted. They laid him on pillows
on tue floor of the court and immediately procured medicel
advice, but life had departed. Mr. Butler never spoke aftar
falling. Death was evidently Instantaneous and he
of disease of the heart, from which it waskt°
Mr. Butler
wt result
n he had
suffered for fully twelve months past. Thus
literally died in harness and in the arena where he had won
m mo
y a professional victory. Their nours immediately
gave orders for the adjournment of the Court until the fol-
lowing day. Mr. Butler was born in the county of Kilkenny,
Ireland, and educated at Kilkenny College.—Obituary notice
in Monciay'i Timm.

Th. Crown Prince of Sweden and Norway visited
Mr. Gladstone at Hawarden Castle on Saturday after-
noon.

A telertram from Simla announces that the evacua-
tion of Afghanistan by the British troops has commenced,
and will, it is expected, be terminated by the let of Sep-
tember.

By the popular vote of Tennessee a proposal for the
repudiation of 50 per cent .of the Debt of the State has been
negatived.
- -

All the towns of Belgium are preparing for next
year's fees in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of
Belgian independence.
The Rogistrar General's weekly return of births and
deaths states that the annual rate of mortality for the put
week of the chief towns of the kingdom was lowest in Ports-
mouth, being ten per thousand, Dublin and Sunderland
being the highest, with twenty-four and twenty-seven
respectively.
According to the New York Herald, the American
Government is about to issue a circular letter urging the
European Governments to discourage Mormon emigration
to the United States, declaring that the full penalty of thelaw will be enforced against polygamists.
In getting out the foundalon for Messrs, Childs'
new bank at Temple Bar. London, a number of Gothic
arches have been discovered, and it is expected that there
will be many interesting antiquities found.
There is now in London a detachment of princes
from Siam and the Panjaub. The latter are mostly young
men, accompanied by English interpreters or tutors.
- -

-
, - - -
An inquest has been held in London touching the
death of C. H. Escort, aged 6. The evidence showed that he
was playing at " leapfrog " with another boy, and when
vaulting over the ethers back they both fell on their heads.
The deceased died in Charing-cross Hospital from disease of
the brain caused by the fall. A verdict of death from mis-
adventure was returned.

Heavy sewing machines for sail-making are about
to be introduced into the various dockyards. The machines
will be driven by steam power, and will also be used in the
making and mixing of colours, which work, together with
the heavy sail•making, is now done by hand. The change
will n9t only involve great saving of labour but will also
result in more expeditious and improved work.

The St. Petersburg newspaper Booskaya Pravda
gives the following statistics respecting the emigration of
Russians and Poles to America from the year 1820 till 13r7 :
Daring the first 40 years of that period the total number was
3,000; during the succeeding decade 5,000; in 1871,L3 00;
in 1872, 1,500; in 1878, 1,000; in 1874, 700; in 1875, 30; n
1876, none; and in 1877, 45.

As a bricksetter's labourer, engaged on ths North
Union Railway extension at Preston' was carrying a hod of
bricks, he had occasion to pass over the main line. Be did
not apparently perceive the approach on one aide of the
Scotch express from London and on the other of a luggage
train. As he was passing over the down metals he was
caught by the express and was cat to pieces.

Caricature Sketches, filled in with sympathetic ink,
are the last journalistic novelty in Paris. Thus you buy a
comic paper, and note beneath a certain picture the instruo-
Mons to " heat this with your pipe," and when you apply the
necessary warmth, you find a very important addition, in
bright blue outlines, to the original design, which, however,
disappears on the paper becoming cool again.

A Calcutta telegram (published by The Times) states
that cholera is still prevalent among the troops and, natives
at Candahar. The total number at European cases up to the
6th inst. was 75, of which 60 had proved fatal. The disease
is reported to be spreading towards Herat.

Diderot, the celebrated French encyclopedist and
philosophical writer, is to have the 95th anniversary of his
death feted this year in his native town, Langres, in Cham-
pagne, where a statue will be erected.

A great calamity befell the commune of Brag°, in
the Grbons, last Monday night. At the close of a day of in-
tense heat, a waterspout burst over the district: immense
volumes of water rushed down the preciphous sides of the
P.z di St. Remigio, bringing t h them great pieces of rock
and masses of earth, the Siloone overfl wed its banks, and
all the houses in Brunt°, the church, and the presbytery were
flooded. No lives were lost, but many buildings were much
damaged and the crops are entirely ruined.

Some serious accidents have occurred during recent
bull-fights in Spain. At Figueras, a man was killed, and a
soldier and a woman were severely injured. At Ruzals,
near Valencia, two amateurs of the sport were wounded.
During a bull-baiting at San Roque, in the neighbourhood
of Gioraltar, the torreador Bermosville received some
serious wounds. At Amporta a more unlucky individual
has lost his life.

The Prince and Princess of Wales and their two
elder sons, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the Duke
and Duchess of Connaught, the Archduke Stephen of Austria,
Prince Louis of Battenberg, and a distinguished company,
paid a visit on Saturday to Eaglehurst Castle, the marine
residence of Count Batthyany. The Royal party were con-
veyed in the Albert from East Cowes to the Castle, where
tney remained about two hours, and then proceeded to
Osborne.

The poor of Paris are most ingenious in making a
livelihood oat of all kinds of odd occupations, and a new
branch of industry has been inaugurated this summer on the
banks of the Reine and the Marne. Parisians on holidays
are fond of taking their dogs for a swim, and teaching Item
to fetch anything out of the water, so sundry poor women
haunt the nver-banks provided with a basket of odd bits of
wood, and reap quite a harvest by selling sticks for the dogs
to fetch and carry.

Captain Anderson, the master of the Norwegian
barque Concordia, which arrived in Cork harbour from
Hayti on Ronda'', reports that on July 30, in lat. 43.22 and
long. 33.26, they fell in with the German barque Talke, also
from Hayti, with the captain and four of the seamen dead.
The mate was so unwell that he was not able attend to his
duties. All the deceased had died of coast fever. The Con-
cordia transferred the mate and one seaman to assist in
bringing the ship into harbour.

The Indian-corn crop in Roumania has been ruined
by drought, and, in consequence, last year's maize has risen
very considerably in price on the Lower Danube. It is a
singular fact that Roumania has been dried up for want of
rain, while Central and Western Europe have been deluged
with almost incessant rainfalls The wheat crop on the
Lower Danube has been harvested and the yield has been
good. The price, however, will be stiffened by the failure of
the maize crop.
A new institution for the reception of the blind has
been erected in Sheffield, at a coat of about £15,000. It will
accommodate a large number of inmates, the able-bodied of
whom will be taught such trades as the blind can follow.
An endowment fund of £25,000, left by Mr. Holy, of Norton,
will be applied to the support of the new institution, to the
trustees of the existing Sneftleld Blind Institution, which has
been built with a view to ameliorate the condition of the
blind to as great an extent as possible. The building will be
opened early in September.

The Falls of Niagara are to be illuminated by the
electric light, an enterprising company having ordered the
necessary apparatus wherewith, by means of parabolic
reflectors, &c., "electric rainbows may be produced to order
in the darkest night." An attempt will also be made to
place a light behind the American Fall so as to throw cub
rays through the water. Moonlight effects will thus be
superseded, and the new arrangement will have the advant-
age of being independent of the weather.
The Odessa correspondent of The Times says that
diphtheria seems to be again on the increase here in South
Russia. Fourteen men out of twenty-one who were attacked
with the malady died lately at Elizavetgrad, a town in the
government of Kherson. Here, too, three children in one
family died last week, two of them of diphtheria, and,
according to the newspapers, a man has just been carried off
at Moscow by Siberian plague.

The Pope has issued an encyclical on the teaching
of philosophy, which fills ten columns of the Osbervatore
Romano. His Holiness holds that the greater part of the
evils which afflict society in the present day are due to the
Inculcation of false philosophy, and says that philosophy, in
order that it may attAin its end, must be subject to faith.
After a minute survey of the remits of the philosophic in-
quiry of the Fathers, be exhorts the bishops to adopt in their
their ecclesiastical schools the teachings of Si. Thomas
Aquinas.

Mr. Starkie, M.P., at a luncheon in connection
with the show of the Longridge Floral and Horticulture
Society, referring to the Army Discipline and Regulation
Bill, raid he quite agreed with Sir Vernon Harcourt that the
Bill was one worthy ot three sessions of Parliament, and he
believed that it would contribute materially to the welfare
of the army. In discussing that Bill the conduct of the
soldiers had to be very deeply considered. He believed there
would have to be changes made to place the army on a more
satisfactory footing than it was at present. The snort-service
system, in his opinion, was very well for Continental
countries like Germany and France, where they were always
at the ba.e of their operations, but it was hardly in accord-
ance with the requirements of this country. His own feeling
was that flogging should be abolished if possible; but they
must have a severe punishment for men who could not be
otherwise brought to discipline.