The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-04-28 00:00:00

5r et MUCUS Intelligence.

ROME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL

A Niw Biuoicirr.—lt le announced that her Ma-
jesty has been pleased to confer the honour of a
baronetcy on Mr. T. Spencer Wells in consideration
of distinguished services rendered by him to his pro-
fession and to humanity. This honour to the Presi-
dent of the Royal College of Surgeons, and one of the
most distinguished members of the medical faculty,
is regarded by his brethren throughout the country
as having been worthily bestowed and thoroughly
merited.

A LARGE GAME BAG.—The shooting party in the
jungles of the Maharajah of Durbhungs, composed of
.Earl de Grey, the Duke of Portland, and other gentle-
men, broke up on the 20th of March, haying secured
the following bag :-4 tigers, 47 buffaloes, 280 pigs,
467 deer, 50 bares, 7 florikin, 560 partridges, 20 quail,
90 snipe, 158 duck—total 1,683. The total, it is added,
would have been larger, but when tigers were on foot
other shooting was prohibited.
WINTER IN OINADA.—The winter in Canada has
been unusually severe, and snow has been lying in
Quebec streets to the depth of ten to fifteen feet. A
great flood will of course ensue when the frost and
snow yield to the sun's warmth, and with the immense
quantities of ice that will come down the rivers, may
do much mischief.. Canadians, however, look forward
with the greatest confidence to a very early spring,
and calculate that the fact of the meow remaining so
long on the ground is of incalculable value to the
farmers, owing to the protection it has afforded to the
vegetation underneath against the eharp frost. It is
rather singular that Canada has had so severe a
winter, while on the European continent scarcely
anything to be called a winter has occurred.

Avarmie Fame or Burn= CORN.—The follwing-
are the average prices of British corn for last week,
as received from the inspectors and officers of Ex-
cise :—Wheat, 41s. Bd. ; barley, 325. 10d. ; oats,
21s. 9a. per imperial qr. Corresponding week last
year :—Wheat, 465. 3d.; barley, 28s. 9d. ; oats,
22e. 3d.
Dlscovecr OF OLD Rommq Come.—During the
time the workmen were engaged in carrying out some
works at Coblcam-park, near Rochester, the seat of
the Earl of Darnley, they came, at a few feet under-
ground, upon a large jar, which on being opened was
found to eontain between 800 and 900 bronze Roman
coins, nearly the whole of them being in a good state
of preservation. The coins mostly bear the impress of
the Emperors Constantine, Constantine, Comtism!, the
usurper Magnentimeand Decentius, and are of the dates
of the fourth century. In some instances they have the
celebrated /abarum, the first emblem of Christianity
adopted by a Roman emperor. The spot where the
coins were discovered is near the old Ruman Wading-
street, which passed through Rochester—the ancient
Duro brovis of the Romans—and Cobham Wood,
where traces of it are still to be discovered. An
Immense number of Roman coins have from time to
time been discovered in the neighbourhood of
Rochester, where the Romans had a fortified station,
on the site of which Rochester Castle now stands.
THE COLONlES.—Traveller (to Squatter).—" Hullo,
McDonald ! I didn't expict this of you I AU your
men working on a Sunday 1" Mac.—" This is naa
Sunday, mun I—it's Wednesday—" Traveller.—
"Not a bit of It! This is Sunday, I assure you-1)
Mac.—" Awell ! Think o' that, noo I We hinna seen
a gowl for three months, an' there's use an almanack
i' the house, an' we've gotten jummelt up a' th'gether I "
—Punch.

AGRICULTURAL PROSPROT3.—The Magnet of Monday,
in a review of the BrAish corn trade during the past
week, says :—Reports from the agricultural districts
are still favourable. After a long spell of fine, dry
weather for spring sowing, some refreshing showers
have fallen, and vegetation has been appreciably
benefited. More rain Is, however, wanted. The
general outlook is now unquestionably satisfactory.

LIINCIISONS AT SALES.—Land and Water says:
The heavy expense to which many farmers are put by
following the custom of giving a free lunch to almost
any one, buyer or not, at sales of stock, is a subject
engaging the attention of auctioneers who preside on
these occasions. As a rule, the non•buyer is the man
who consumes the most at the luncheon table, and it
has frequently occurred that a bona Ads bidder and
buyer, who has arrived rather late, has been crowded
out of the luncheon tent, from the simple fact that
the multitude have crowded in and filled all the
places. It has been proposed by a gentleman at the
Gloucester Chamber of Agriculture, that all luncheons
should be paid for at the rate of one shilling per
head, and after the sale the money should be divided
among the buyers. This would he a move in the
right direction. Some stock•breeders avoid having
auctirn sales, in order to escape the expensive habit of
giving indiscriminate luncheons.

THE ENGLISH CONSUMPTION OF SUGAR.—The Eng-
lish are the most sweet of tooth of all nations, and the
largest consumers of sugar (says the :'ariitary Record).
During the year 1882 the estimated consumption of the
United Kingdom,
which in 1868 was 421 b. per head of
the population, had risen to 621b..per bead. • This
compares with a consumytion of 40Ib. (very rapidly
!mug however) in the United States. 26113. per bead
in France, 15lb. in Germany, and only 101 b in Austria.
The English 1882 total consumption of 979,439 tons
constitutes about one-fourth of the whole sugar crop
of the world.
NOVEL FUNERAL REromia.—The number of deaths
occasioned by colds caught at funerals has led an
American divine to propose that skull caps and gum
shoes and Scheveningen wind.screens at the grave bs
as regular paraphernalia of funerals as the pail, the
11 weepers " and the hearse•horse. The suggestion,
says the New York Herald, is practical and praise-
worthy. A better system, however, IT that e.tablished
in Utica, in Oneiia county. The principal cemetery
there is provided with two chapels—one of atone,
where funeral services are held in the summer; the
other of iron and glass, where they are held all the rest
of the year. Into this " conservatory chapel," full of
tropical verdure, the funeral train passes through a
covered carriage•way, and the services are held in
light apd.warait.h, among trailing vines and blooming
shrubs. At their conclusion the corpse is surrendered
to keepers, who, atter the mourners have departed,
remove It to a cold vault to await interment in a grave.

Line

Tax LONDON Coax Ivitaarr.—The Mark-.
Express publishes' the following report respecting
Monday's London corn market :—There is but a
moderate demand for wheat at this morning's market,
the trade being restricted by the attitude of sellers.
Where sales are effected is. per quarter is obtained
for English, and 63. to is. for foreign descriptions.
Flour comes 6d. dearer, but there is but a small
trade at the advance. Maize is 6d. to ed. dearer oa
the week; mixed A merican, 275. 3d. ex ship. Barley
steady, with a moderate demand. Malt quiet and
unchange son the week. Oats met a dull trade at
last Monday's prices. Beans and peas rather against
buyers. Linseed firm, but quiet at last week's prices.

THE UTILISATION or WASTB.—The British Medical
Journal says :—The latest instance of the utilisation
of waste products is that effected at Elk Rapids,
Michigan, with the gaseous matter given forth by a
blast-furnace in which are manufactured 50 tens of
charcoal iron per day. In the case to which we refer
the vast amount of smoke from the pits, formerly lost
in the air, is now turned to account by being driven
by suction or draught into stills surrounded by cold
water, the result of the condensation beirig; first,
acetate of lime; second, methyl alcohol ; third, tar;
the fourth part produces gas, which is consume&
under the boilers. Each cord of wood produces29,ooo
cubic feet of smoke; 2,900,000 feet of smoke handled
in 24 hours produced 12,00011). of acetate of little, 200
gallons of alcohol, 251 b. of tar.
THB JEWS AND PALESTINR.—EarI Cairns presided
at a meeting at Bournemouth in aid of the Society for
Promoting Christianity among the Jews, and,, after
referring to the fact that the rest of the world was in-
debted to the Jewish nation for the transmisaion of
the great and living aracles of God which had been
deposited with them, his lordship said that the Jews,
although greatly persecuted, had never persecuteri the
people of other nations. Of late the facilities for
the re-admission of the Jews into Palestine for the
re•occupation of their own land had been greatly in-
creased, and there was every inducement for them to
take refuge in their own land.
Woman's Sureaeoe iN ITALY.—The two articles of
the law by which electoral rights are extended to
women, run as follows :—" Art. 21. Oitizens of both
sexes are electors who have completed their 21st year,
have civil rights, know .how to read and write, and
find themselves in one of the conditions established
by the following articles. . , . Art. 74. The electors
will exercise their right personally. The electors who
prove their right to be inscribed in the electoral lists
of several communes for elections in the commune
where they reside; and the women may send to the
president of the electoral office, either directly or by
means of the syndic or other person, their paper
elosed and sealed, and with their signature authen-
ticated by the syndic of the commune where they
reside, or by one of his delegates or a notary, mid with
the stamp of the commune or of the notary."
PROPOSED TAX ON RUSSIAN ABSENTEES.—Ab-
senteeism in Russia is beginning to alarm the autho-
rities, and the Finance Minister propose. to increase
the tax on passports to foreign countries, and thus
keep at home many of those who at present
_prefer
the security of other lands to the alarms of Nihilist
plots in their own country. Now the yearly fee for
a whole family only amounts to £l, but this tax Is to
be raised to £l3 for each member of the family, thne
partially returning to the restrictions under the
Emperor Nicholas, when the tax reached £5O per
annum. In those days not more than 15,000 Russians
went abroad in the year, while now the number may
be estimated at between 300,000 and 350,000, so that
the measure if carried out would be severely felt.
THE LORD RBOTOZAHIP OF EDINBURGH therrsaarrr.
—The Edinburgh University Liberal Association has
reeeived the following letter from Mr. G. 0. Trevelyan.
M.P., with reference to his candidature for the Lord
Rectorship :—"lt is with great pride and gratification
that I hear from you of the hoeour which has been
done to me by the General Committee of the 'Cal.
varsity Liberal Asseciation. It is not for me to
question their judgment in selecting me as a candi-
date, and I can only express my gratitude by placing
myself at their disposal."
DISCOYERIES IN Glam.—Several interesting dis-
coveries are announced from Athens. The excavations
at Eleusis, now being carried on by the Athenian Arch-
nological Society, have laid bare the whole of the floor
of the great Temple, and that part of it which was
the scene of the mysteries has; been recognised at the
back of the Temple, where the foundations of a kind
of spiral labyrinth have been traced. At Athens two
very curious archaic statues have been found at the
foot of the Acropolis, and with them an arm of Parian
marble, said to be a chef d'scurre of sculpture. Veins
of silver have been recently found an Mount Hymdttuss
which promise to yield enough to repay mining.
MAKING Suez.—" Come into the Club, old iman.
I've got a bet on the race, and if I wiz, I'll
stand a bottle of piper!" "But if you lose? ' "Oh,
we'll have one to keep our spirits up." "But we may
be too early to know, you know." "Oh well, we'll
have one to pass the time!" "All right! "—Punek.
A LATIN SCROLAR.—There died at Naples the
other day, at an advanced age, the well-known Latin
scholar, Count Guancialli, who 119c1 spent his life in
cultivating the language of Horace and Virgil, and
wrote Latin verses of the most varied subjects. Poems
on Etna, Vesuvius, magnetism, modern statues, &c..
and many verses in praise of his learaed friends and
colleagues, flowed from his classic pen.' The most im-
portant was a poem on Homeopathy in eight books,
entitled " Hahnemannus," and dedicated to the then
(1840) Minister of the Bourbon Sing, the Marquis of
Fetracatella.
A Forums DANGER ron AMERICA..—It in stated that
the water eupply of the United States is diminishing
to an alarming extent, and the New York Times
declares that the rivers and lesser streams of the
Atlantic States are visibly smaller than they were
twenty•five years ago. Owing to the failure of the
springs and ream which once served as feeders, many
country brooks have totally disappeared; while the
level of the great lakes falls year by yeer, and many
piers on the shores of lakeside cities, where vessels once
approached with ease, now hardly reach to the edge at
the water. Harbours are growing shallow, and all
the dredging which Can be done to New York harbour
will not permanently deepen it; while that of Toronto
has grown shallow in spite of such deep dredging as to
reach the bottom rock. The Hudson is notably af-
fected, and many places during the summer are almost
bare in the upper waters. If these details are correct,
we should imagine the phenomena due not so much to
the diminution of the water supply as to a gradual up-
heaval of the land, similar to that which le taking
place in the Scandinavian peninsula.
MARITIME JURISDICTION AT GIBRALTAR.—A psi&
liamentary paper has been issued containing corre-
spondence on maritime jurisdiction at Gibraltar,
extending from October, 1878, to the 18th of March
last. It opens with a communication from Mr. West
to Lord Salisbury, stating that the Spanish Govern-
ment had proposed the nomination of a joint commis.
sion to determine the boundary between British and
Spanish territorial waters in the Bay of Gibraltar, and
closes with a despatch in which Lord Granville in-
forms Sir Robert Morier "that the divergence of
views between the two Governments is such that her
Majesty's Government are not disposed to prolong a
discussion holding out so little hope of agreement."
THE "MARRIAGE STONE" OF SPAIN.—The St.
James's Gazette says: If Ireland has its Blarney
Stone, which assures to any one kissing it uncommon
eloquence and persuasiveness—" blarney," in fact,
for there is no other equivalent for the mysterious
gift—Spain has her " marriage.stone," the virtues of
which are equally remarkable; for any single person,
male or female, who touches it is absolutely sure to be
married within a twelvemonth. Theeitone forms part
of the masonry of the college of Sacra Monte, in
Granada. About twelve months ago two young
ladies paid a visit to the old Moorish capit
and were shown over the college by one of
the resident clergy, who acted as cicerone' and
who treated the fair visitors with unusual defer-
ence and respect. When they came to the " marria;e•
stone" the padre smilingly explained the peculiar
powers with which popular superstition credited it.
"Touch it," said one of the ladies to her sister, who
laughed incredulously, but followed the advice none
the less—touching the stone, not once, but twice or
thrice. Now, the two young ladies were the Spanish
Infanta' Dona Isabella and Deis Paz; and the latter
it was who touched the stone. She did so on the 3rd
of April last year; and she was married to Prince
Louis of Bavaria on the 2nd of April of the present
year.
A LOOK AHEAD YOB, • Loar LOOOMOTITI.—A
Philadelphia paper tells the story of the locomotive
which ran through a broken bridge on the Kansas
Pacific Railway scrota Kiowa Creek, several years
ago, sinking into the mud at the bottom and has never
since been heard from, though repeated efforts have
been made by digging and boring to recover so valuable
a property. The bottom is a quicksand, and even
quicksands have limits, and it seems very singular that
the longest boring-rod has failed to find any trace
of the sunken engine. Bye and bye, it is sug-
gested, the silent, mysterious operations will drain the
quicksand and barden it into rock; and then, long after
the Kansas Pacific Road has been forgotten, and the
Kiow,.. Creek has vanished from the map, some future
ecientiet will discover a curious piece of mechanism,
undoubtedly the work of human hands, lying under
so many hundred feet of undisturbed sandstone, and
will use the fact as a basis for calculating how many
million years old the human race must be. Thus history
will repeat itself, as it has often done and will eon-
tinue to do.
DEATHS IN TFIE PZERABB.—The death roll of peers
promises to be an unns-nally heavy one this year (says
the Court Journal). We have already lost the Earls of
Wemyss, Stamford, and Warrington, Viscount
Avoninore, and Lords Castletown, Greville, Yana of
Harrowden, Egerton of Tatton' Sherborne, Haldon,
Lord Talbot de Malahide, and Lord O'Neill. Only
fourteen peers died during the whole of last year.
but this year, although it is early spring, eleven b -Ve
gone over to the majority.
THE GROUND GAME ACT,—Land and Water ea -9 :
The passing of the Crtound Game Act, in spite of
prcteetatiens of its apologists to the contrary, has ha i
the effect of well•nigh exterminating one species oi
ground game throughout the country. Hares, to which
we especially refer, have suffered, and many larg
acres of land which used to support a fair numb(
without prejudicial effect to the tenants' live stoc..-,
are now completely denuded of them, but neither tht.
tenant nor the landlord nor anybody else is any the
better for this altered state of affairs. On the eon-
tram one source of our general food supply is
practically stopped. None but the very well-to-do
class can now afford to indulge in the change of diet
offered by a hare or rabbit. Dealers complain greatly
that the supply of ground game is very short, and the
price quite beyond the reach of the working man.
The latter used to find a rabbit a toothsome morsel by
way of a change st the prices ruling before the Ground
Game Act placed it beyond his means; but now that
homely rodent is at luxury price, and worth about as
much per pound as salmon, while hares are quite out
of the question. • • . The unfortunate part of the
affair is that this Hares and Rabbits Act, which was
to enable farmers to keep and feed so many more
sheep and cattle, or grow so many more quarters of
corn, bas done neither. On the contrary, it hoe
ertranged hundreds of tenants from their landlords,
and has contributed absolutely nothing towards re-
ducing the price of beef, mutton, or bread.