The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-03-30 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

The Pathan who murdered at Quetta the Kuhar of
the 32nd Pioneers was hanged on the 16th Feb., by sweepers,
on the spot where he committed the crime. He took his fate
quietly.
"Th. King of Italy was very liberal in his ac-
knowledgments to the gentlemen who presented him with
the Order of the Garter. None went away empty. Sir
Albert Woods, besides getting the king's sword, as an
ancient fee appertaining to his office,' is to receive a minia-
ture of Umberto act in brilliants; while a shower of gold
snuff-boxes has descended on the lesser dignitaries.—By the
way, I may mention that the king, in writing his own name,
omits the H which the English newspapers invariably pre-
fix."—Mayfair.

The Shah of Persia is to set out on his journey five
days after the Persian New Year's festival, which began on
Thursday in last week and continues ten days. us route
will be by Tabriz and Tiflis, and then through Russian
territory.
"They have a 'neck or nothing' way of teaching
officers the art of horsemanship in France. They place a man
who cannot ride on a horse th:it has never been ridden—on
the principle of ‘similia ' probably. It is hoped
that by this mode of instruction, those who are so fortunate
as not to be crippled for life will become expert performers
in the pigskin.— Mayfair.

With respect to the prevalence of small-pox in
London, it is noted by the Registrar-General that the deaths
from that disease which had been 34 and 53 in the two pre-
ceding weeks, were 42 last week, of which 23 occurred in the
Metropolitan Asylum Hospitals, and 2 in the Highgate
Hospital, while the remaining 12 occurred in private dwell-
ing-houses. Of the 42 fatal cases, IS were certified as un-
vaccinated, and 14 as vaccinated.
- - - -

A strike in the South Yorkshire coal trade has
been averted, the masters having agreed to the reduction
of flvo per cent. only, to which the men had offered to
submit:

-----
The prospect of a European war has induced a large
number of officers to reconsider their applications to retire
from the army. In one regiment of infantry there are six
officers who are only awaiting the settlement of the present
difficulties to at once quiL the service —Whiteheal Review.

On Saturday Messrs. Evans and Sons, of the Culwell
Foundry, Wolverhappton, one of the largest engineering and
keavy foundry establishments in the town, gave their men a
week's notice to return to the ten hours per day system.

The Queen attended Divine service on Sunday morn
hag in the private chapel at Windsor Castle. The Rev.
Arthur Robins, rector of Holy Trinity, and chaplain to her
Niajesty's troops at Windsor, preached.
A telegram to The Times says that the Jesuits are
endeavouring to purchase a palace in Rome, with a view to
again removing to the Eternal City the seat of the General
of the Order, which is at present in the neighbourhood of
Florence. The Pope takes no part in the steps which are
being adopted to effect this transfer.
Madame Rossini, widow of the composer, formerly
well known as Olympe Pelimier, has just died in Paris,
leaving all her fortune, of £SO,OOO, save a few legacies, for
charitable purposes. She was 85 years of age. _

. -
The &Mugs of the Tweed during the past week have
shown a decrease in the river waters, but at the seaside
fisheries there have been very fair takes On Saturday prices
were—salmon, is. lid., and trout, is. 7d. per lb. The prices
in the corresponding week last year were—salmon, 2.5. 4d.,
and trout, Is. 7d. per lb. There has been little angling
during the week, owing to the cold weather.
Speaking at Winton, Bournemouth, on Tuesday
evening, Sir Henry D. Wolff, M.P. said that Russia had
shown herself desirous of continuing in that policy of
agression which she had punned for the last hundred years,
and he contended that it was the duty of the Government to
resist these pretensions and agressions firmly, temperately,
but at the same time resolutely. Russia could not be dealt
with merely by remonstrance or by honeyed speeches, nor
could we get her to withdraw from the position she
occupies, or abandon her ambitions projects by- quiet ax-
postulation.
" Desertions from the Army are reported to amount
to 5,000 per annum. It is not within our province to enter
into the general question of the terms of service and the
causes of desertion, but we may with consistency remark
that where soldiers are encouraged to devote their leisure
time to gardening they are better every way in health, in
habits of life, and in devotion to their duty."—Gardener's
Magazine
A landslip occurred on Tuesday on the Caithness
Railway, a few miles from Thurso, by which the rails were
shifted from three to four feet clear of the permanent way.
A passenger train was stopped shortly before reaching the
point where there is an incline of fifty feet, leading towards
the river. The traffic was entirely suspended. The slip is
attributed to the wet weather.

What is called an "avalanche of mutton" is ex-
pected at Havre. One vessel is expected from Buenos
Ayres with 50,000 sheep on board, and this dead sheep trade
has proved so successful that more ships are heing fitted up
for the bnsiness.
The Leeds Mercury, commenting on Mr. Gladstone's
final tieci.ion as regards Greenwich, declares that the name
of Mr. Gladstone as a possible candidate for Leeds has been
received by all sections of the Liberal party in Leeds with
an enthusiasm such as they have, pahaps, never shown
before on behalf of any one man
There were 2,721 births and 1,676 deaths registered
in London last week. Allowing for increase of population,
the births eaceeded by 203, while the deaths corresponded
with the average numbers in the corresponding week of the
last ten years. The annual death-rate from all causes, which
in the five preceding weeks had decreased from 28.1 to 22 3,
rose again last week to 24 5. The deaths included at from
measles, 22 from scarlet fever, 13 from diphtheria, 124 from
whoopiug-c,ough, 29 from different forms of fever, and IS
from diarrhoea.

An hotel-keeper at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, re-
cently learned something in this wise :—Two countrymen
took lodgings at his place, and fared sumptuously, drinking
three bottles of wine daily. The last day, and before they
had settled their bill, a dispute arose about the speed of
their horses. They at last settled upon a race, and appointed
the landlord judge. When they were ready, the judge, like
those of the Olympian games, gave the word—one, two,
three, and " off " Away they went, and have neither been
seen nor heard of since.

In a fruit garden at Vernon (Euro) about five years
age a thunderbolt fell, making a perforation about three
Inches in diameter. The currant and cherry trees around the
orifice died at once, but every season the circle of destruction
has increased, and now all the vegetation over 22 yards has
disappeared. The circumstance, which has not been ea-
plained, is puzzling the scientific authorities.
In accordance with the announcement made by Mr.
Bourke on Monday, the large map of European Turkey
hanging in the House of Commons reading-room was
painted with boundaries according to the San Stefano
Treaty, and created quite a sensation among some hon.
members, who seemed for the first thus to realise the full
extent of the territorial changes effected by the treaty.

Reductions in the fares of German and Austrian
workmen going to the Parts Exhibition have been arranged
or by the Beriin Government.
Notices have been posted in the whole of the mills
at Blackburn and in the surrounding towns of a 10 per cent.
reduction, and the masters have signified their determina-
tion to enforce it, even if it should become necessary to lock
up their mills. It is said the spinners weavers, and csrd•
room hands seem resolved to strike metier than submit, and
tape sizers have joined them.
"There is a good story, which has the aflvantage of
being true, and is to the credit of Sir John ilolker. As the
Attorney-General was entering the Rouse on Thursday night
he saw a stranger standing in the corridor inquiring after a
member. The member in question happened to ben friend
of Sir John's, and, desirous of obliging him, he said to the
stranger Come along, lit get you in.' The stranger fol-
lowed, and Sir John passed him into the Speaker's Gallery.
As he turned to go away the man held out his hand, and
before the Attorney-General quite realised his position he
found he was the possessor of sixpence. Sir John was very
proud of the coin and showed it to his colleagues on tho
Treasury Bench, affirming that it was the Most easily earned
,
sixpence he posseeeecl."—Xagfair.

The French glove makers threaten to take part in
the spreading strike movement.
A letter from Venice states that Madame Patti
sang forty-two times during her stay in Italy from November
to the end of February, and netted no less than 422,0001. in
gold.
A Times' telegram says Captain Boyton crossed the
Straits of Gibraltar in 17 hours.

The quantity of wheat sold during the past week
according to the returns of the officers of Excise, was
31,151 quarters, at an average price of 48. 11d. In the
corresponding week last year the sales were 42,5C5 quarters,
at 518. 2d.

The Mpublique Franfaise of Tuesday in an 'article
upon the Eastern Question, declares that England, in
defending her own interests, also upholds those of the
whole of Europe.
Her Majesty held a Council on Tuesday afternoon
at Windsor Castle. After the Council the Ministers returned
to London by special train.
The Archduke Francis Charles, father of the
Emperor of Austria, has left a third of his fortune of
£2,400,000 to the poor.

Mr. George Smith, of Coalville, has receivea from
the Christian Knowledge Society and the Rev. J. E. Dalton,
conjointly, a free grant of 700 strongly-bound testaments
for distribution among the canal population; and the
Religious Tract Society has presented him with, 1,000 copies
of the Christmas number of the Cottager and Artisan for the
same object.
The Sultan has invested Osman Pasha with the
Grand Decoration of the Osma.nie and the Star covered with
Brilliants, the gold military medal, and the sword of the late
Sultan.

A robbery of jewels, valued at £4,000, has been
oommitted at the mansion of Mr. Valentine Cunningham,
Walton Heath, Surrey. Mrs Cunningham's dressing-room
was entered by the thief or thieves through the window
while the family were at dinner. No clue to the perpe-
trators of the robbery has been obtained.

The Baron de Pitteurs, Belgian Minister at Lisbon,
has met with a distressing accident. Ile was taking a ride,
when the horse stumbled, and the Baron was thrown with
such violence as to roll under a passing vehicle, one of the
wheels of which passed over his right arm and broke it. It
Is feared that amputation may be necessary.
On Monday afternoon the Duke of Richmond and
Gordon received at the Privy Council Office a deputation,
which waited on him for the purpose of urging the Govern-
ment to abandon or cnnsiderably modify the Bill now before
the House of Lords relating to the foreign cattle trade, and
in reply said that the Government believed their measure
would tend to improve the supply of meat.

An American inventor, named bailey, of .India-
nopolis, United States, hag sent to England and proposes
placing at the disposal of our War Office a wonderful speci-
men of a Gatling gun. Thisformidable engine of destruction
in guaranteed to fire from 1,000 to 1,500 shots per minute, so
directed as to sweep a whole line. ,It Is also entirely self-
loading.

h of con-
zulmber
tests at the annual electiOnfs tr
Wales was, in 1873, 605; in 1874, 686; and in 1875, 719; the
number of uncontested elections in those years being
14,307, 14,226, and 14,193 respectively. The total costs of
such contested elections were, in 1873, L 11,435 ; in 1874,
£12,269 ; and in 1875, £13,427.

According to advices received at Lloyd's from the
United states, the ship Grace Darling, from Departure Bay
for San Francisco, is supposed to have been lost She was
out 65 days on the 27th of February, and when last seen
some sixty days ago, she was hove to in a gale of wind.
Cholera has been prevalent in the city of-Indose.
There have been thirty deaths in three days.

A telegram of Cape news to the sth inst., published
In The Times, says :—" There is every prospect of an early
close of the war. The Kaffirs say they are tired of it, and
martial law has been repealed. Sandilli is reported to be
asking for mercy. A combined movement has been made
for his capture and a decisive light is daily expected.
Colonel Palmer at Port Beaufort has a force of 1,200 strong
to secure Tini 3lacomo ana disarm his men."

On the 16th of March died in Florence a wealthy
American, well known in fashionable circles in Rome (says
the correspondent of the Globe) This was Mr. lhomas E.
Davis, once a master mason, who amassed an enormous for-
tune by contracts for building houses, and settled with his
family in Italy. Several of his daughters married titled per-
sons, and his obituary notice contains the names of Don
Antonio Lante della Rovere, the Marchese Gavotti, the
Visconte d'Hauterive, and the Conte Sala, among his sons-
in-law. His residence in Rome used to be in a palace on the
Quirinal, which was lately taken down to enlarge the new
Via Nazionale, and he latterly, when in Rome, lived in the
Hotel CostanzL

The Australian papers received by the last mail
speak of the harvest in anything but glowing terms. Drought
and rust have done a great deal of harm, and in some of the
wheat growing districts the yield appears likely to be one of
the worst on record. In South Australia the average is
estimated at only six bushels to the acre.—Mark Lane
Express

It is said that the new Pope is already finding his
new life bore him. He was accustomed as a Cardinal to take
long walks outside the gate of St. John Lateran and the
Porta Pia, and he does not all relish that voluntary " impri-
sonment " which compels him to go no further than the
gardens of the Vatican for his constitutional. It is supposed
that Leo will compromise the matter by going out for a
stroll in his private capacity, and not as a Pope.
The War Office has decided to adopt for military
purpose § the six-chamber revolver manufactured by the
Adams Small Arms Company, and large orders are now
being executed, so that the nen-commissioned officers,
trumpeters, and farriers of all cavalry regiments may be at
once armed with the weapon, in accordance with a recom-
mendation of the recent Committee on Equipment.

"The British Lion Shaking his Mane," was the
heading which an Eastern editor lately put to an article. In
the morning it came out: "The British Lion Skating in
Maine."

A suggestion of cousiderable practical value has just
been made; it is, that the telephone should be used by
patients in fever wards, so that they may converge with
their friends to whom immediate access is necessarily denied
on account of the risk of infection. A telephone could
easily be carried from bed to bed in a ward, and the corre-
sponding instrument fixed in an office at a distance.
- - - - - - - -

The dispute in the Birmingham brick trade has been
happily adjusted. A meeting of the Brickmaster's Associa-
tion was held to receive a deputation of the operatives, when
the points at issue were fully discussed. Ultimately the men
agreed to resume work on the masters' terms—viz a reduc-
tion of wages equal to the advance given in 187 j. About
1,000 hands are concerned in this arrangement.
"-A friend of mine who has charge of extensive
works in London, on which a great many workmen are em-
ployed, tells me that he finds it now impossible to keep his
men, 'as since there seems to be a prospect of fighting for
the country, they all and enlist.' This is precisely the
contrary of wtat takes place in countries in which the con-
scription exists, where the first hint of war makes all the
young men go and hide themselves."— Vanity lair.
Mr. Gladstone' on Saturday afternoon, in pursuance
of an arrangement made some days ago received a depu-
tation of the Greenwich Liberal "Five Hundred," who con-
veyed to him a copy of a resolution passed by that body
nominating him as One of the Liberal candidates for Green-
wich in case of a contest, and asking him to alter his an-
nounced resolution of retiring from the representation of
the borough at the next general election. Speaking at con-
siderable length, and in review of the circumstances under
which he was chosen to represent Greenwich, Mt. Gladstone
adhered to the resolution he had announoed in his recently
published letter.
For several years most of the mining engineers have
been of opinion that the whole of the coal fields had been
proved in South Staffordshire; but during the past few days
10 yard coal has been found at the Straits near Sedgley,
which is declared to cover over 200 acres. The coal is of a
very superior quality,- and will be got for household and
manufacturing purposes. Ironstone will also be obtained.
It is said that a large number of German speculators
are buying up estates in South Russia, where, owing to the
succession of bad harvests and the recent blockade, family
property is going for a mere trifle. An immense estate has
been acquired in Saratoff for Count Henkel von Donnesmor,
Governor of Alsace. The price paid by his agent did not ex-
ceedtalf-a.crown an acre.

We (Globe) understand that a wealthy Siberian
merchant named Seberiakoff has arrived in London for the
purpose of arranging with some of our shipping firms for
the establishment of a line of vessels to run between Eng-
land and the north of Siberia. The successful run last
summer of several steamers between St. Petersburg and the
Lena and Ytnesei livers has fully proved the feasibility of
establishing communication with Siberia by sea.

SilkviVe is the name of a town in Kansas where a
Frenchman of wealth has established a silk-raising colony.
The most complete success is crowning his efforts, the pro-
ducts of his colony being known in Europe as Kansas
cocoons, and bringing the highest market price.
The Chicago Daily Commercial Bulletin publishes a
report of the packing in that city for the year ending March
1, which shows that during that period the business reached
the largest extent on mord. No fewer than 4,009,311 hogs
were s'aughtered awl despatched. to various cities in the
United Stites, England, and Europe, in the various forma of
hams, pork, bacon, lard, (to.
The Liberal "Five Hundred" of Greenwich have
chosen Mr. Joseph Arch as one of the candidates for the
borough at the next election. Out of twelve candidates Mr.
Arch received the greatest number of votes. One would
have expected Mr. Arch to stand for a constituency in which
there was a considerable proportion of farm labourers.—
Mari: Lana Express.
"The Emperor William observed recently to Baron
Charles Rothschild, that the burden of his eighty years was
beginning to weigh heavily upon him, and that he must put
his worldly affairs in order. Your Majesty,' said the
Baron, 'is absolutely certain of another twenty years. The
Germans will never let their Emperor go below par.' "
Mayfair.
A remarkable rumour is published in a Paris paper
(and which will probably be contradicted) to the effect that
in pursuance of an arrangement come to between England,
Italy, and the Pope, Leo XIII. is about to transfer the
Papal See to Malta.
The east winds of March (says the Medical Examiner)
are proverbially injurious to both man and beast, and this
injuriousness has been shown to depend not on their com-
paratively low temperature, but upon the fact that in their
passage over large tracts of country they become charged
with an excess of solid particles. West winds, on the con-
trary, descend upon us from the pure heights of the upper
atmosphere. The esst wind, with its load of irritating
matter, is a very fruitful cause of bronchitis and consump-
tion, and no one can doubt that its injurious effects must be
much increased by the local additions to it entailed by the
want of adequate street-watering.

The receipts on account of revenue from the Ist
April, 1677, when there was a balance of £5,988,650, to
March 23, were £77,971,310, against £70,799,576 in the cor-
responding period of the preceding financial year, which
began with a balance of £5,119,587. The net expenditure
was £76,475,958, against £73,589,513 to the same date in
the previous year. The Treasury balances on March 23
amounted to £5,075,633, and at the same date in 1377 to
£7,338,491.
At a meeting of the Banbury Chamber of Agricul-
ture, a discussion took place on the Highways Bill, and the
general opinion was that it gave farmers no relief what-
ever from burdens thrown upon them by the abolition of
turnpikes. A resolution was passed in favour of a tax on
vehicles, one member stating that he would rather have his
waggons taxed than submit to the present system.
April Ist is the 300th anniversary of the birth of
Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation of ;the blood. An
attempt has been made to set up a memorial to him. The
rather large sum of £1,600 is required, but only half this
amount is forthcoming as yet, and an earnest appeal is being
made for more fluids—Court Journal.
The Elephant and Castle Theatre in the New
Kent-road, London, was totally destroyed by fire on Tues-
day morning. The surrounding buildings were greatly
damaged, and one of the platforms of the Elephant and
Ca tie station of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway
partially destroyed. The fire was discovered about 4.30
a.m., and by the time the engines had got to work the
theatre was half destroyed, and the heat so intense that the
firemen were compelled to keep at a dibtanee. In half an
hour the roof fell in with a crash and the flames shot up to
a great height. The fire extended to the up platform of the
Metropolitan Extension Railway, and all hope of saving any
part of the theatre being gone the firemen directed their
attention to the adjacent buildings, and were so far success-
ful that comparatively little damage was done to them. The
fire was subdued in about three hours, and nothing remains
of the theatre but the external walls.

Lord Thurlow will call the attention of her Ma-
jesty's Government on Tuesday, the 2nd of April, to the
petition of a meeting held in London praying for the open-
ing of museums and picture galleries on Sundays, which was
read and ordered to lie on-the table of the House of Lords
on the 21st of March; and will inquire whether her Ma-
jesty's Government are prepated to take this subject into
their early and favourable consideration, and, if not,
whether they would state the objections which in their
opinion exist to opening these plsce3 of inuccent recreation
and instruction to the public on Sundays, as the only day
of the week that the working classes of the population
of London have practically at their disposal for visiting
theta

The book trade in Italy has been flourishing during
the past twelve months, nearly 8,000 new publications, a
great increase on the previous year, having been issued.
-

Trade and industry are at a complete standstill in
In Germany, the iron trade being especially depressed.
A. fine bunch of plaintain fruit, 501 b. in weight,
grown in the Royal Botanic Society's garden in Regent's
Park, London, was exhibited at the meeting on Saturday.
.. It is said that a porlion.a the credit of six millions
has been expended in the purchase of a small railway, which
could, if necessary, be laid down and used for military pur-
poses.

- In the Russian Governmeht of Ufa, in the -year
1874 and 1875, according to official returns, 3,378 horses,
6,9* foals, 4,159 horned cattle, 4,619 calves, 20,227 sheep,
and 5,000 pigs, to say nothing of poultry, fell victims to the
wolves. Besides this 75 men and women were either killed
or wounded.

From an explosion at a paper mill that occurred
lad week at Doogenbosch, near Brussels, six girls, it has
now been discovered from an investigation of the ruined
boiler-house, were killed. Their bodies were frightfully
scalded and mutilated.

A party of twelve young men of Barcelona propose
to visit the Paris Exhibition, travelling all the way in a beat.
They will first reach Cette by sea, then enter the canal of
Beaucaire, by which they will gain successively the BhOne
and the SaOne ; will next follow the Burgundy Canal to the
Yonne, a tributary of the Seine, by which they will arriveat
the Champ de Mars, where they will exhibit the boat in
which they have made the journey.

The approaching arrival at Paris is announced of
about fifty rich Chinese merchants, who are to bring with
them the products which they intend to display at the Champ
de Mars. This is only a first detachment; another will fol.
IJw about a fortnight afterwards. They will be accompanied
by a mandarin of the second class, and by four others of
Inferior rank, who, it is stated, will be the bearers of presents
of great value for Marshal de MacMahon.

During a strong wind from the north, on Sunday
morning, a vessel ran ashore on the Goodwin Sands. The
Broadstairs lifeboat of the National Lifeboat Institution
and the Ramsgate Harbour steamer Vulcan and lifeboat
Bradford proceeded to her assdstanoe, and after some hours'
exertion they were successful ia getting the disabled vessel
off the sands and into harbour. She was the brigantine
Florida? of Christiania, bound from Frederikstadt to Gran-
ville, with a cargo of coal, afid had'on board a crew of sewn
men.

The Philosophical Faculty of the University of
Bern has promoted a Russian lady, Madame Lityinow, of
Tula, to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. She passed
her examination with such brilliancy, especially in the
mathematical branch, that the faculty unanimously agreed
to attach the highest mark (cum summa lauds) to her
diploma.

A return by the Local Government Board shows
that there are 1.873 pauper children in the various industrial,
training, blind, deaf and dumb, orphan, and idiot institutioni
of England and Wales, under the 25th and 26th Viet., cap.
43, and 31st and 32nd Vict., cap. 122. Fifteen of these in-
stitutions are Roman Catholic, and two Jewish. The total
" rdZirugB6 16W^en, d 9,57 girls'
states that in the recent fight as mini "as frlirdibtafrstimi
the young men were killed, and that Cetevayo's head-men
have been consulting the witch doctors as to what should
be done. The result was that the king ordered up all the
regiments, in order that an emetic might be administered
to every individual, so as to bring out the evil in their
hearts, which causes them to fight and kill each other.

"It is a glorious fact that will gladden the heart of
every lover of tobacco on this Caktinent, that the crop of
last year foots up in round numbers, 440,000,000 lbs. And
yet a little reflection shows that this is not very much of a
supply. 'Ming the population of the United States at
40,000,000, A will be perceived that an equal division will
result only in eleven pounds apieoe all round."—New York
Paper.

Monday's Magnet says the weather has been very
favourable during the week. A better season for the farmers
could hardly be desired. Ample opportunities have been
offered for sowing, whilst the absence of radyi has secured a
dry seed bed. The temperature has on the whole been
sufficiently low to check the too rapid development of
vegetation.

In the month of August Mr. John Bright will have
represented Birmingham for 21 years, and it is contem-
plated, the Birmingham Mail says, by the Liberal Associa-
tion to have a grand celebration on the forthcoming twenty-
first anniversary. 'Probably a public banquet will be one of
the chief features.

A fire occurred at Philadelphia on Monday night by
which thirty-five business buildings in North, Fourth, Cherry,
Third, and Second streets were destroyed. The loss is esti-
mated to amount to 1,000,000 dols.

Mr. Gladstone writes to a Leeds correspondent that
"experience has shown that an essentially public character
inevitably attaches to excursions " to Elawarden. and "the
proceeding assumes the aspect of an exhibition of domestic
life to the world at large such as does not, and, he is com-
pelled to admit, ought not, to meet with general approval."
Future visits to liawarden Park must therefore be visits to
the place only.
- - - - - - - -

As a result of the Conference recently held at the
Royal United Service Institution, the War Office has signified
its intention of fully considering the possibility of giving
greater encouragement to the Volunteer Force. This would,
it is understood, take the form of increased facilities for the
promotion of efficiency, and measures for bringing about the
more perfect mobilization of the force. Any increase of the
present capitation grant is not considered either necessary
or desirable, as it is maintained that when the funds of corps
are properly administered the existing allowance should be
sufficient for all requirements.

Pope Leo XIII. has written to the Emperor of
Russia notifying his accession to the Pontificate, and express
ing a hope that the Russian Catholics will show themselves
faithful subjects of the Emperor. Ms Majesty has replied
to the Pope in friendly terms.

In the Court of Session, Edinburgh, a jury has
awarded Mr. Henry Horn, draper, Kirkcaldy, L7OO against
the North British Railway Company, as damages and
solatium for wounded feelings in consequence of the death
of his son in the railway accident at Morpeth in March last
year.
The ship Nairnshire, Captain Nfven, sailed from
the Tail oi the Bank, Greenock, on the 22nd Inst., and had
on board the following number of emigrants, bound for
Brisbane—SO married people, 126 single men, 69 single
women, 59 children between the ages of 12 and 1, and 13
infants, making a total of 347 souls, equal to 304 i adults.
The Paris Correspondent of the Standard says :
"The strike movement continies. The glove makers are on
the point of turning out for an increase of wages. The strike
of the compositors in the book-printing trade shows no sign
of being settled. At Decazeville the mines have been in-
undated by the lain, and the soldiers have had to work at
the pumps in the place of the miners out on strike. Numeruus
arrests have been made in connection with the strikes in
Paris and the provinces."

The memorial to the Home Secretary for a corn
mutation of the capital serrtence passed upon nary Bowles
for the murder of his sweetheart, Miss Allan, at the recent
Oxford Assizes, was taken to London on Monday. It con-
tains 31,283 na-mes, exclusive of the two petitions signed by
the Crown and coroner's juries, the former of which strongly
recommended him to mercy at the trial, and 1,317 signatures
which arrived too late. The petition measured 997 ft. Pin.
in length, and contained the names of Professor Max
Mulller, Canon Liddon, G. W. Kitchen, Mr. McGrath, the
new Pro-Provost of Queen's, the Rector of Exeter College,
the Master of University College, &c. Should the efforts to
obtain a commutation of the sentence be unsuccessful, the
unfortunate man will, it is understood, be hanged on Mon-
day next. Dr. Gover, medical officer of Milbank Prison, by
direction of the Home Secretary, visited the condemned
prisoner on Monday to inquire into the state of his mind.
The prisoner is said to be very resigned to his fate, and pays
particular attention to the ministrations of the chaplain.

e7'