The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-02-23 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN,

The solicitors and bairiaters' clerks and writ-serveru
employed in the Paris courts of justice intend striking
If they do not receive an increase of salary.

The wooden pavements I,id down last winter by an
English company and I.4glish workmen in the
Champs Elyeees, Paris, have given such satisfaction
that the system is now being applied to the Avenue de
l'Op4ra.
Petitions have been addressed to her Majesty in
Council by householders of the borough of Marghasiew,
otherwise Marazion, and of the borough of Wilton,
praying that the charters of incorporation may be
granted extending the provisions of the Municipal
Corporations Act to the inhabitants of those boroughs.
The petitions will be taken into consideration by a
committee of the Privy Council on March 31.

The Voss Gazette states that the recent grant of two
million marks by the Prussian Landtag for the in-
crease of the Royal Museums is doubtless intended for
the purchase of the choicest paintings in the Duke of
Marlborough's collection at Blenheim Palace, negotia-
tions for which have probably begun some time since.
Upwards of 3:0 puddler's, shinglers, and mill.
workers employed by the Mossend Iron Company, at
Coatbridge, received notice late on Saturday night
that their services would not be required at the
expiration of fourteen days, in consequence of the
dullness of trade. Other works are likely to issue
similar notices,

In London, the other day, Lord Viraveney presided
at a meeting in support of the National Refuge
llsrbours Society held at the Mansion House. A
resolution moved by Lord Ashley and seconded by
Viceadmiral Phillimore was carried, expressing the
opinion that the Government should at once devote to
the formation of harbours of refuge such national
resources as might be necessary.
The President of the United States Cremation
Society says that "over 5000 Americans are pledged
to have their bodies burned." The original crematory
at Washington, Pa., is running on full time, and
15,C00 dollars have been subscribed towards the cow
etruction of a new one in New York.

A despatch from Lima announces that a waterspout
I'm occurred at Arequipa, causing immense damage to
the city and its environs. The loss is estimated at
£lOO,OOO. Several persons were drowned.
A telegram from Athens states that brigands have
captured the Judge and other public functionaries of
the town of Monastir, on the Albanian frontier.
The Attorney-General of the United States has de.
ci led that goods remaining in bonded warehouses
beyond the term of three years from the time of their
importation are to be regarded as abandoned, and
should be sold.

The screw steamer 17ndaluna, from Seville, has
arrived in the Tyne, and reports a serious and fatal
boat accident. Four of the firemen, named Thomas
Dixon, John Kirton, James M'Anally, and George
Giles, were rowing across the river at Seville when the•
craft capsized, and the three former were drowned.
All were young men and belonged to Newcastle.upon•
Tyne.
Lord Randolph Churchill has been elected chairman
of the Council of the National Union of Conservative
Associations.
-Upwards of 16,000 persons have visited the exhibi•
tion of the Tay whale at Glasgow.
The question of constructing a harbour of refuge on
the East Coast is again attracting attention. Eleven
hundred lives were lost on the coast in 1882, and it is
urged that a great proportion of these might have been
made. The advocates of the scheme count upon the
support of Mr. Chamberlain in any steps they may
take.

Literary Frenohwomen are on the increase, and their
organ, the Gazette des Femmes, states that 1883 was the
most fruitful year of feminine writings yet known in
France. Two hundred and five works by women were
published—novels, however, predominating.

The French Minister of Public Instruction will or.
ganis,- in Paris an exhibition of objects which have
been collected at Cape Horn by the Romanche. The
collection is composed of 170 cases of valuable specimens
of mineralogy, geology, and zoology, as well as hiving
plants, which will be acclimatised as far as possible in
French forests, -