The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-02-08 00:00:00

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The miltnwnera of Forfar have resc)ved to announce
another reduction of wages to the extent of 6 per
take effect in a fortnight, If enforced, this will be the
second reduction of 5 per cent. within six months.
The Army Estimates for 1879-80 have been cut
down considerably, and a much diminishei expenditure
th
upon the war material of e army and navy may be conse-
quently expected. cent!, to

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Sabbath observance is so strict in lowa hat
even the milkman U seen going his early rounds U.5.,l
on lilunday
morning is at once pounced upon by the city authorities. _
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A gas explosion kg k place on Monday morning at
Bradiord, on the premises of Mt. Parkinson, china mer-
chant, and the bandit g soon became enveloped in flames.
Mr. Parkinson, his sc la, aged nine years, and a servant girl
were burnt to death. The damage to property is estimated

Vi 25,000.
Writing from Rome on Feb. 2, the Correspondent of
21te Times says :—" In consequence of the atrattened con-
dition of the Pontifical finances and the falling off in the
offerings of the faithful, an attempt is being made to give a
new impulse to the collection of Peter's pence. To-day
energetic appeals were made from the pulpits of all the
parish churches, followed by special collections after mass
and vespers. The work has been undertaken by the Con-
fraternity of St. Peter, its members being assisted by a large
number of Catholic gentlemen, who attended everywhere
with large canvas bags ornamented with gold cruises."
The Grand Duke Czarewitch has appointed a com-
mittee to write the military history of the B.ussian Guards

(Turing the late war.
There were 2,658 births and 1,821 deaths registered
In London last week. Allowing for increase of popu•
lation, the births exceeded by 18, and the deaths by
123, the average numbers in the corresponding week of
the last ten years. The annual death-rate ITOM all
causes, which had been equal to 281 and 261 per 1,000
In the two precedinz weeks, was 26/. The deaths included
28 from small-pox, 23 from measles, 83 from scarlet fever,
14 from diphtheria, 64 from whooping-cougb, 17 from
different forms of fever, and 16 from diarrhoea.

The Marquis of Huntley, in presiding at a counci
meeting of the Central Chamber of Agriculture, described
the present as the most depressed period in the agricultural
history, and he impressed upon the chamber the importance
of advocating the modification of certain ancient customs
and Acts of Parliament which imposed great restrictioni
upon the farmers.
A very curious sight is to be witnessed in the
London streets. Some performing dogs actually counting,
by means of numbered discs, with apparently as much
care as many human beings, and much more ease than
some. Seldom has anything been seen so clever as the
Ingenious teacher of these most intelligent quadrupeds
performed, and the dogs seemed as contented as they were
clever.
The average daily shipment of oysters from New
York to Europe is over 1,000 barrels, but for the Christmas
season the shipments increased to 2,500 barrels. A few
years ago people in England would not eat American
oysters.
Prince Henry of the Netherlands died possessed of
one of the largest fortunes in Europe. It was generally
valued in Holland at a hundred million gulden in round
numbers, or about eight and a half millions sterling. The
greater part consisted in foreign and State loans; the re-
mainder comprising shares in industrial and commercial ,
companies, landed property and houses, partly in the
Netherlands, partly in Germany, and even in the Dutch
colonies. Toe portion that will fall to his widow is very
important, as it does not depend upon the Dutch law, but is
settled upon her by the marriage contract, which was ex-
ceedingly favourable to the princess.—The World.
According to the quarterly return of the Registrar-
General, in the United Kingdom the births of 280,065
children, and the deaths of 185,086 persons, were registered
in the three months ending Slat December. The recorded
natural increase of population was thus 94,979. The re-
gistered number of persons married in the quarter ending
30th September was 114,528. The resident population of the
United Kingdom in the middle of 1878 is estimated at
33,831,966: that of England and Wales at 24.851,397, of
Scotland 3,593,929, and .of Ireland 5,433,640. The birth- •
rate in the United Kingdom in the fourth quarter of 1878
was 321 per 1,000, and the death-rate 211. The marriage-
rate in tlie third quarter of lad year was 184 per 1,000.
A mass meeting of the men affected by the proposed
reduction of wages in the London engineering trade was
held on Saturday in Dsptford, at which resolutions were
passed declaring that the employers' plea for a reduction
was unjustifiable, and that the workmen are determined to
resist U to the utmost of their power.
The Berliner Fremdenblatt says that the late Prince
Henry of the Netherlands has left no will. His immense
fortune will therefore go to his orother and sister, the Kipg
if Holland and the Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar. His
widow is entitled to a yearly allowance of 40,000 thalers,
and to the Chateau clf Weissenstein, near Treeves, as a resi-
dence. The Crown of the Netherlands will have to main-
tain this residence in repair.
On Saturday the -Duke of Connaught,. who during
nearly eight years has been honorary Colonel of the London
Irish Rifles, was presented with a piece of plate from the
officers of that regiment, on the occasion of his approaching
marriage.
A meeting of retail grocers from various parts of the
country, to consider a plan " whereby pecuniary and other
benefits obtainable by combination may be assured," was
held in London, on Tuesday afternoon, at the Terminus
Hotel, Cannon-street. It was agreed to form a committee.
Another of the few surviving veterans who fought
under the Iron Duke has just died at Newbury, Berkshire:
He was an Irishman, named John Daffy, who, although he
had nearly attained the age of ninety years, had until lately
been bale and hearty, and taken almost daily exercise. He
' enlisted into the 83rd Regiment in 1810, formed one of the
storming party at Be.dajoz, fought at Salamanca and Vittoria,
where he was wounded, and was also engaged at Toulouse
and Waterloo.
An inquest has been held at the village of
Greet, near Ludlow, upon the body of a well-known
agriculturist, Mr. William Lloyd. The deceased, though
in the sixty-third year of his age, went into his
orchard and climbed into an apple-tree, and commenced
cutting from the tree mistletoe boughs, which were thickly
growing there, for the purpose of giving them to his sheep.
He slipped from the tree, and falling to the ground broke
his neck:- The jury returned a verdict of "Accidental
death" .
The appeal made by the Lord Mayor of London at
the Mansion Hotuse, for the relief of the widows and children
of the 63 miners who perished in the recent accident in the
Dines colliery, has so far met with a poor response. It has
been estimated that £lO,OOO will be required. A meeting
was held at Cardiff on Monday in aid of the sufferers.
Arrangements are being made for a week's Temper-
ance Mission in Sheffield similar to that held recently at
Birmingham. Such an effort is as much needed in Midfield
as elsewhere, since there is said to be, on the authority of
the Mayor, one licensed house for every 220 of the population.
Mr. Coolidge an Englishman, with four guides,
made the ascent of the great Schreckhorn last week at four
o'clock in the afternoon, when the thermometer on the
summit of the mountain marked several degrees above
freezing-point.
The Afghan War has crowded one success s
quickly after another that the public at home are in some
danger of forgetting how diffieult was the enterprise and
what splendid qualities have been displayed by the troops.
The fact is that a single serious miscalculation or mishap
might have multiplied the fighting power of the Afghans
tenfold, and made the end of the war still far distant.—
Leader in The Times.
Timorous people, uncertain what to do with their
money in these days of commercial depression and bank
failures. may like to hear of the prudent doings of the
"Rappist Sossiety " in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. During
the troublous times of 1861. the managers buried their money
in a safe spot, and they have just, exhumed £15,000 bright
and uninjured.
Vesuvius is once more in eruption.
In London, on Saturday, the Speaker of the House
of Commons presided at a meeting held in the Grosvenor
Hall, Buckiugham Palace-road, for the purpose of promdttng
an exhibition of the work of the industrial classes of London.
The right hon. gentleman spoke approvingly of the project,
and in response to a hearty vote of thanks at the close of the
proceedings, said Ida services were at the committee's dis-
posal if he could farther aid the movement. The First Lord
of the Admiralty and Sir Rutherford Alcock also delivered
addresses in support of a resolution declaring it desirable
that erica an exhibition should be held. A committee was
appointed to make the necessary arrangements for the ex-
hibition.
On Saturday, at a meeting of the Executive Council
of the Amalgamate,l Society of Railway Servants, at ita
offices in the City-road, London, there was a discussion on
the subject of strikes, all the delegates who spoke expressing
themselves as favourable to ties adoption of such a course as
would give the Society the power ot directing a strike where
necessary.- A resolution however, passed on the previous
day, whereby the question has been remitted to all the
branches throughout the kingdom to vote upon, was cont
sidered sufficient for the present, and therefore the question
of the adoption of a strike policy will remain in abeyance
until the return of the voting papers to the bead office.
A number of people still repair to the Trocad6ro to
see the lottery drawings, though the prizes are now of little
va'ne—articles such as an album, a walking-stick, or a wide-
awake. Many of these will probably be unclaimed if won by
persona at a distance. Only or wheel is used for these
minor drawings, and each number drawn applies to all the
twelve series. Seven thousand two hundred prizes are thus
commence
beforeaimmeerds
determined in a day, and at this rate the affair will soon be
tthe h_r
over.l3 The der i ywr
nor
Correspondent
eehwbenhr
daai reci tdnhttcoleftehfst
the
ese'hTi
British
tunics
will
Tnnict
ge of
fthew drummers
of
Crown
claimed
nominally
The question has been asked, why are the blue
of the Guards' fi m fe-and-dru band ? The reply is they sym-
ah
ou lel'
i zed et-hi 3e.5 soonvtehr eeg
nominally over France until 1801. It is pointed out that,
seeing how sensitive our neighbours are, it is almost a
wonder that no French ambassador has ever taken offence at
these drummers'ecoats ; though to be sure the "lilies of
France " have ceased to be regarded as national emblems by
the French shoe 1830.—Court Journal.
Mr. F. Gower, the inventor of the telephone harp,
which was exhibited at the last soiree of the Royal Society,
has made an importanit improvement in the Bell telephone.
He uses a magnet, which is of such a size and so arranged
that the sounds can be heard at any distance in a large
room, and, what is of more interest, a helephone circuit can
be easily worked by its aid, in such a manner that there is
at last a possibility of using the telephone instead of the
telegraph
At Clifton, on Monday, an inquest was held con-
cerning the death of Mr. Cope, a partner in the firm of
Messrs. Proctor, agricultural chemists, who was found dead
in his bed on Saturday morning. A surgeon who had at-
tended the deceased said that Mr. Cope had suffered much
frem indigestion, followed by severe attacks of depression.
From the appearance of the body the witnets had no doubt
that the deceased had poisoned himself with strychnine.
Upon his table was found a note, in which he took leave of
his relatives, and concluded by saying, "I have been going
out of my mind for some time, and can bear it no tenger."
Ile was shortly to have been married. The jury returned a
verdict of " Suicide while in a state of temporary insanity."
The telephone is being utilised by the Americans for
submarine operations. It was accidentally discovered
during some recent torpedo experiments that the action of
the sea on the copper wire attached to the towing cable,
and baying an end on each vessel, established an electric
current, and that telephonic communication could easily be
carried on between the ships. Accordingly a copper plate is
now fixed in the diver's helmet and in this is inserted a tele-
phonic wire, by means of whicha diver can be spoken with
et any depth.
The common formuhe of politeness have momen-
tarily fallen into disuse. Last Sunday and Monday people
who met you said, "Have you drawn the pros lot Now,
as the drawing proceed., they become more modest in their
demands,—" Have you drawn anything?" -but nobody
bwahbelny there
return
n t
thinks of asking you bow your health Is In a month's time,
drawingotheololthe e
ulaottetrne lottery
Mr. Hall, M.P., presided at the .annual dinner of
the Licensed Victualler 's Assccietion held at Oxford
.one
Tuesday evening, in the Town Hall, and
in
pla.nepft'rsaT,
toast of "The Association," said that while.
—laCoseuratnJeonud;nawle. shall
Pro-
zle upon them-
those who had thought it right to placeveat%
approval of the
selves, it should be their al
m to deserts. also recommended
wise, the moderate, and the good. lie
üblio-houses to buy
those who wish to lessen the numb sr (rep
amphleteering.
them instead of wasting their money o p
d C anbrook received ,at the India
nothing to fear from the politicians of one Idea, or from
On Tuesday Lor r
i'ves from Lancashire, the
nta
and represe tives of opera
for the entire repeal of the present ,5
per
object being t`' t duty on c Mon goods—both yarn and
cent. Indian import duty e
1 lug, recognised the exist
cloth. His iorasoip, p 3 , d nee
of
feeling upon this question, an accepted the pledges
a strong
o rd SalisburY, as well as the resolution of the House of
CiornD3aions. binding the Gevernaaent gradually to repeal the
duty, as the finarcie condition of India would permit. He
bo ve.wr, pointed cut that there were circumstances con-
nected Office awieptuhteatir
vnencuf
€l,,saonliserrlad,
for any rsspoesiele Minister to make a promise which he
might not he able to fulfil. Be would be sorry to hold oat
i merchants,a
w hich m
hopes which he could not realise; but every etfort would be
made by him to urge on.the Government of India that they
s. sea the phallist I they haki given at the ebzlfest pos-
00.5000thillit7,
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