The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-05-17 00:00:00

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HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL

CiASS MANUFACTURING IN EITROFE.—Each of tha
various countries on the Continent where glass is
manufactured produces an article peculiar to itself and
unlike it& neighbours; and one of the specialities of
Austrian glass-making is the manufacture of various
fabrics for ladies' weaT from spun glass. The glaseqs
spun into threads, like ordinary silk or cotton, and
woven into different coloured fabrics, sometimes,
entirely of glass, and sometimes with a warp of silk or
cotton. Collars, neckties, cords and tassels; fringes,.
pincushions, feathers, belts, &e., are all made of this
material. At the Paris Exposition in 1878 Iv bonnet
made entirely of spun glass, with feather and ribbons,
lined with silk, was shown, as well as cloaks and'other
areeles of wear. This spun glass is also used for watch
chains, brushes, (to. Glass-flowers are also madsto a
considerable extent, but it' is- difficult for these to com-
pete with those made from china.
SMUGGLING TORACeO.—At the West Ham Police.
court on Saturday, Samuel. Nichols, 29, employed on
board the steamer Lul m bar, was charged with concealing
3ilb. of tobacco, single value and duty .21 39. 2d., with.
intent to defraud her Majesty's Customs; and Louis,
Jacobson, a quartermaster, of the same vessel, was-
charged with concealing 21b. a tobacco, single value.
and duty 13s, Bd. John Hole,, an examining officer,
deposed to searching the prisoner? berths, and ques-
tioning them as to what tobacco they had besides what
they had produced. Both said they had none, but in
the case of Nichols the tobacco produced was found itx
single layers at the bottom of a% bird-cage, in which
therevrere two pigeons sitting on eggs. On Jacobson
21b. of tobacco was found in his pocket. Prisoners
both protested that the tobacco was for their own use,
and that they had no intention of defrauding the
Customs; Nichols adding that he put the tobacco in
the bird-cage on the impulse of the moment Mr.
Phillips fined both prisoners the double value and duty.
—A coloured man, named Chain, was also fined double
value and duty, £2 14s. Bd., for concealing 21b. of to-
bacco and 4oz. of cigars, on the steamship Karmania ;
and Charles Wright, a stoker, was fined 13s. Bd. for con-
cealing 21b. of tobacco on the steamer Lulimbar.

THE TAITCHNTZ LEGACIES.—Leipsic newspapers re-
port that th value of the property left by the lately
deceased well-known bookseller, is estimated at
4,052,000 marks (about £202,600>, together with a
valuable piece of landed property. The city of
Leipsic is appointed universal heir. From this inherit-
ance are to be deducted the sum of 124,500 marks
(£6,225) left in various bequests, and a yearly income of
14,750 marks (£737) derived from public funds, the
life interest in which he has also bequeathed. He has
directed that the principal must never be alienated or
expended, and for the first 200 years after his death ten
per cent, of the annual income is to be added to the
principal. He has declared that his wish was that the
income should be expended for humanitarian purposes;
but he has abstained from laying down any special
directions.

DEPREDATIONS IN ASIATIC RUSSIA. Intelligence
received from Baku states that all the villages on the
right bank of the' rivers Kura and Araxes have been
completely plundered by Persian nomadic robbers, who
have even carried off some women. The Govern-
ment surveyors in the Maganen Steppe were compelled
to stop their work in consequence of attacks made upon
them by these bands. The audacity of these robbers is
increasing. They do not even fear to engage in open
conflict With the Cos3acks, whose pickets they attack,
The Russian Commissary in those regions, who has held
the office for fourteen years and who is well acquainted
with Persian politics, is completely powerless against
the marauders. :
MolcumENT TO GARIBALDL—Sunday being the anni-
versary of the landing of Garibaldi with his famous
thousand at Marsala, the first completed one of the
many monuments to be erected to him throughout
Italy was inaugurated at Pavia, in the presence of
Signor Cairoli, Signor Nicotera Garibaldi 's youngest
son, Manlio, the civil and military authorities, and a
large crowd of other persons. The monument, executed
by the sculptor Egidio Pozzi, is in the form of a statue
of the hero looking from the summit of the rock of
Caprera in front of which is the defending angel, with
uplifted sword, and at the base is a lion eouehant.

COURAGE REWARDED.—The Naples correspondent of
the " Times " describes a singular scene which was
recently enacted in the Piazza Plebiscite in front of
the Royal Palace. 4 Custom-libuse officer called
Ferclinando Cicalese was decorated with the gold medal
of military valour. Each corps in garrison sent its
representative and when the medal was fastened to the
breast of Cicalese the soldiers presented arms. It was
during a violent storm in midwinter, when the waves were
dashing over the rocks at Possuoli, two fishing barques
were running to port when one was upset and a man
thrown into the sea. His companion did not hesitate
to throw himself in and attempt to save him. Both
were swallowed up, when Oicalese who was on guard
in his sentinel's box threw off his clothes in a moment,
plunged into the baling sea, and brought both men to
land.

MELTING SOVEREIGNS.—It not unnaturally surprises
many persons that the coins of the realm may legally
be melted down and devoted to less dignified uses;
but the practice was undoubtedly legalised by 59 Geo.
111. c. 49, s. 11, when melting and exporting were
treated together' and both expressly permitted. That
statute repealed 9 Edward 111., by which the melting
of " sterling half-pennies or farthings" was forbidden;
17 Richard 11., c. 1, in virtue of which " no groat or
half-groat" was to be melted; and 13 Charles IL, by
which the same prohibition was extended generally to
current sil•er. There appears to have been no statute
forbidding the melting of gold coin; but this was speel-
fically allowed in the Act of 1819; and, although the
Act is repealed, it cannot be said to be an offence at
common law for a man to put his own gold or silver into
the melting-pot because it happens to be stamped with
an impression of the Sovereign's head. If that con-
sideration were sufficient, it would be a mis-
demeanour to light one's cigar with a sheet of postage
stamps. The illegality of melting coin is as old as the
" Lex Cornelia," which forbade melting as well as de-
basing and "washing ;" but according to modern ideas
the subject is allowed to test practically whether the
sovereign is worth its weight in gold by turning it into
Birmingham jewellery, notwithstanding the disrespect
shown to the Queen's image and subscription.—" Law
Journal."

AVERAGE PRICES OF BRITISH CORR.—The following
'are the average prices of British corn for last week, as
received from the inspectors and officers of Excise:
Wheat; 38s. 2d.; barley, 305. 4d.; oats, 20s. sd. per
imperial qr. Corresponding week last year: Wheat,
435.; barley, 31s. 4d.; oats, 225.
STABBING CASE.—In London, on Monday, Annie
Camel', aged 33, living in King's-cross-road, was
charged at Clerkenwell Police-court with assaulting her
husband, John Carnell, a cooper. The prosecutor said
that when he oame home late on Saturday night he
found his wife the worse for drink. They had some
high words about the children's clothes, and in the
course of the dispute the prisoner struck one of the
children. He stepped in between her and the child,
and held her by the hands. She struggled and escaped
from him, and opening a table-drawer took out a knife,
with which she stabbed him on the head and arm. He
bled a good deal from the wound on his head, which
was strapped up by a surgeon. He called a constable,
and gave his wife into custody. She was a good wife
enough when sober, but danger( Us when in drink. Mr.
Hosack committed her for trial
YELLOWS.—Looking across a broad belt of deep rich
yellow wallflowers, there is seen beyond a big mass of
alyssum saxatile compactum in full bloom; and,
curiously enough, we see in these two undoubtedly
yellow-flowered plants a contrast of a most striking yet
pleasing kind. Somehow, in massing or mixing colours,
we, to create strong contrasts, associate yellow with
some other very distinctive hue, and vice versa, thus
creating combinations that are seldom artistic and too
often odious. But if we were to keep our masses of
mixed plants to particular hues of colour, what charm-
ing combinations might be obtained, as seen in this
present instance, where the truly lovely pale soft
delicate yellow of the alyssum seems to find a bold and
effectual contrast in the deep orange-yellow of the
wallflower. It would not be difficult to mix with these
some other distinctive intermediate yellow shades, and
these skilfully arranged would give a beautiful effect.
Pity 'tis the alyssum is such a common plant, for were
it not it would be much more highly prized, and yet in
the production during the month of May of
.a perfect
mass of exquisitely beautiful yellow it is unrivalled.
It is a curious fact that in the autumn we get our most
striking contrasts in yellows in one annual plant, the
African marigold. With this the orange is of the
deepest, and the sulphur or lemon hue of the palest,
whilst in some good strains several other intermediate
hues of yellow and golden are found. Grand, indeed,
are the effects obtained from large clumps of these mari-
golds in the autumn when planted amidst evergreens,
or where they may be seen at remote distances.
Pansies, again, give a great variety in yellows, making
splendid spring and summer masses.
iAs a rule, how-
ever, yellow show best in spring and n the duller
months of autumn.—" Gardeners' Chronicle.'