The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-06-14 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH /CD FOREIGN.

People are reported to be dying of famine by
Imndreda in Cashmere.

The Western Morning News states that it has good
reaton for believing that the visit of Prince Leopold to
Australia. as representative of the Queen at the Interna-
tional Exhibition Is highly probable, but it will depend upon
the state of his Royal Highness's health.

Mr. G. W. Hinde, of Wolverhawpton, has jut died
at the age of eighty-five )ears. Mr. H:nde was, for thirty-
seven years editor of the Wolverhampton Chronicle, tha
duties of which past he filled until he reached his eigntleth
year.

During a heavy thunderstorm at Wrexham on
Sunds.y afternoon, the spire of St Mark's church was struck
by the lightning. A gentleman who was conducting a c ass
In a room at the base of the spire was knocked down, while
Live of the scholars were burned and (me had his leg broken.

The State of Massaehnsett., with a population of
between one and a halt and two millions, expends upon
education £l,OOO 000 per annum, maintains 5,750 schools,
employs 8,500 teachers, and enro,a 310,800 pupils.

Owing to the high price of bread, eerious riots have
occurrLd in Sicily. Three gendarmes, one soldier, and
several civilians were Idled.

The Ctoihworkers' Company (London) have voted
£lO5 to th, guaraotee fund of the committee for establish-
hg the new Somerville-hall for the higher education of
women at Oxford.

The Japanese Minister and Madame Wooyeno,
with their children and suite, left London en Tuesday
morning for Folkestone, on their way to Paris, en 2 Mee to
Yokohama.

The first experiment of the Valorous on the sunken
Vanguard has been successful. With hose and dynamite the
foretop and fore rigging were blown out An enormous
quantity of fish came to the surface dead after the explosion.
The blowing out of the masts in sections will be proceeded
with. Afterwards the hull will probably be blown up to get
at the Armstrong guns.

Cardinal Manning was among the visitors to the
House of Commons at the afternoon sitting on Monday,
during the discussion on the Army Discipline Bill.

Prince Alexander of Battenberg, wbilet at Balmoral
was invested by the Queen with the Grand Cross of the Order
of the Bath (Civil Division)

Tbe General Assembly of the Irish Presbyterian
Church has refused by 313 to '278 votes to sanction the use of
instrumental music in churches.

The Panama Canal Congress have decided on
cutting a level canal threugh the Isthmus from Limon's Bay
to Panama, a distance of shout forty live miles and a halt, the
vos age lasting two days. The scheme hiss been selected from
*six other projects, and is much the same plan as that pro-
posed in 1843, and lately reported on by Lieutenant Vyse.
Toe canal would be constructed in six years at an expense of
£48,000.000.

Great preparations are being made in. England and.
Ire'and for the forthcoming medical congress to be held in
Cork, and the Irish people and medical practitioners are
preparing to give a characteristic national greeting to the
members of the profession. The congress Is the forty-
seventh annual meetiug of the British liedical Association,
which numbers upwards of 8,000 medical practitioners in
England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, and forms the most
powerful medical body in the world.
-- - -

A return, prepared at the instance of Mr. Sclater-
Booth, shows that the number of wives of Army Reserve
men who applied to the union authorities in England and
Wales for relief during the time their husbands were called
out last year was 494. The total number of the children
under 16 dependent on their mothers was 1,314; and the
total amount of out-relief given was £437 6s. sd.—A similar
return with regard to the Militia Reserves, show that 535 of
their wives applied for relief, the children dependent upon
them being 1,511 ; and the amount of out-relief £l3B 4s. sd.
The cort of relief given in the workhouses is not stated.

The Gaps publishes a telegram, dated the 13th of
May, from the celebrated Central Asian traveller, M.
Prejevalsky, formerly a colonel in the Russian army. At
that time he was on the river Buluguna. He had marched
600 vents from Bahian along the river Urumtsu, and would
immediately set out for Chemi through the southern Altai
mountains. All the membez sof his expedition were in good
health.

The Marquis of Salisbury gave a banquet on Tues-
day night to Prince Alexander of Battenburg, at his family
residence in Arlington-street, Piccadilly, London. Among
the company were the Turkish, French, German, Russian,
Austro-ilungarlan, Italian, Danish, Netherlands Belgian,
Swedish, and United States Ministers, Lord Daferin, and
Lord Beaconsfield and several other members of the Govern-
ment.

The eldest son of Lord Napier of Magdala, says the
London correspondent of the Manchester Guardian, has just
arrived in London and reported himself at the India Office,
where the information he can give with reference to the rela-
tions of Persia, the Turcoman territory, and Afghanistan is re-
garded with interest. Major Napier has been for four or
live years employed on special service in and about Persia.
In the south of that empire his caravan was robbed and one
of his servants killed. Lately he has been much in the
north-east, about Meshed and towards Herat, which is at
present a region of great interest.
In London, on Tuesday, at a meeting of the Council
of the Central Chamber of Agriculture it was resolved upon
the motion of the Marquis of Huntly—" that an humble ad-
dress be presented to Her Majesty, praying that she will be
graciously pleased to appoint a Royal Commission to inquire
into the depressed condition of the agricultural interest, and
the causes to which it is owing ; whether those causes are of
a temporory or of a permanent character, and hew far they
have been created or can be remedied by legislation • and
also that ire view of elle severe and protracted depression in
agriculture, this Council was of opinion that a hearty sup-
port shoull be accorded to Mr. Chaplin's forthcoming motion
for a Royal Commission of Inquiry."
One of the objects of interest at the present
moment to the lounger in the Strand is the copy of an
English newspaper displayed in a window in the condition it
reached a subscriber In Russia, after passing through the
hands of the Russian authorities. An article on Russia is
entirely obliterated. The manner in which the Russian
authorities manage these things is wonderfully simple and
effectual. They take a printer's roller, covered with printer's
ink, and run it up and down the objectionable columns till
not a word can be deciphered.—Court Journal.

A telf gram from Simla to The Times says that
cholera ht a bad form has appeared in the lower Bolan Pass

Pittsburg telegrams says that the Pittsburg iron
manufacturers have surrendered to the strikers. The iron-
masters met on Saturday, adopting a resolution declaring
that in existing circumstances they deem it inexpedient
further to resist the demand of the men.

The Agent-General for Queensland has received the
following telegram from the Government of that colony
"Treasurer's budget delivered anticipates surplus next year.
No increased taxation. No alteration in tariff. Estimates
show extensive retrenchment_ Government have decide Ito
spend loans on railways and public works only for making
fertile lands available for settlement, and propose further
loan of three millions. They have strong majority in Parlia-
ment. Press approves budget."

- -
The afaidstone Standard says that the Duke and
Duche,s of Edinburgh, while staying at Linton-place last
week, visited Leeds Castle and added their names to a manu-
script in which Bing George 111. recorded his visit to Leeds
Castle In 1778, or almost exactly one century before.

Dr. Talmae, the famous American preacher
arrived in London on Saturday and is expected to lecture in
London and some of the principal towns. The Brooklyn
Tabernacle, over which he preaties, seats upwards of 5,000
persons, and is always crowded.
- - - - -

- •
At a recent sale of silver plate in London a highly
interesting relic of the late Dukett Sussex, consisting of two
magnificently chased silver-gilt tankards, with classical sub-
jects in repousse, sold for £l9l, being at the rate of 16s. 6d.
per ca.

"This is the age of monuments. Germany will
soon have written all her history Ln stone. On the 2nd of
September next, the anniversary of Sedan, now one of the
great national festivals of Germany, a column will be erected
at Fehrbellin in commemoration of the battle fought there
on the 23th of June, 1679, when the great Elector overthrew
the Swedes under Waldemar Wraogel."—Berlin Corre-
spondent of The limes.

The largest orchard in the world is that of Mr.
11:.Kinstry, on the Est Bank of the Hudson River. It con-
tains more Clan 24,000 apple trees, 1,700 pears, 4,000
cherries, 300 peaches, 200 plums, SOO crabs, 1,600 vines,
6,000 currants, and 203 chestnuts. The apple crop of last
year was 30,000 barrels.
Nearly nine thousand prizes in the Paris Exhibition
Lottery remain unclaimed, and are to be sold by auction.

The American peach crop, it appears, is to be a rich
one this year. In Delaware the " set "of fruit is so lavish,
that an estimate has been made that about 10,000 car-loads
of peaches will be transported. Of berries, the most that
the Delaware Railroad ever carried was 764 car-loads in
1876; and the proportion of this crop is also estimated at 20
pe2 cent. more this season than in that year.
No rain has fallen for twenty-three years in one dis
trict of Tunis lately visited by three French engineers to re-
port on the practicability of creating an inland sea in the
province. Their report is favourably to the project.
There were 2,135 births and 1,351 deaths registered
In London last week. Allowing for increase of population,
the bir.ha were 193, and the deaths 68, below the average
numbers in the corresponding week of the last ten years
The annual death-rate from all causes, which in the eleven
preceding weeks had declined from 30-0 to 206, Luther fal
to 19 5, a lower rate than has prevailed in the metropolis in
any week since the middle of September last.

Canon Beadon, of North St ,neham, about thrce miles
from Southampton, died on Monday. The rev, gentleman
was in the 102nd year of his age, Laving completed his lOist
yesr In December last. Ile has held the recfory of stone-
ham for nearly three-quarters of a century, succeeding his
father in the living. The bells of Hoiyrood church rtng
muffled peals from nine to ten o'-luck on Tuesday night—it
will be remembered that the Queen paid a visit to the
venerable gentleman shortly after his centenary,

"An Englishman" wriata to The Times :—" It ap-
pears that Englishmen residing in France are compelled by
law to send all horses they may possess to be inspected
annually, and are liable in case of war to have them taken
for the use of the Army, receiving for them such an amount
as the inspectors award. Owners of valuable horses would
thus probably suffer great loss. Now, as Rufslans, Spaniards,
Portuguese, Brazilians, and the natives of many other coun-
tries are exempt from all military requisitions, I write in
the hope that some one at home will take the matter up
and obtain for Englishmen residing in France the same
privileges."
An agreement between the British and German
Governments for the mutual relief of distressed seamen, which
was signed in London on the 27th ult., and which will come
into operation on the let of July, has been printed as a Par-
liamentary paper. The relief will include maintenance,
clothing, medical attendance, medicine, and travelling ex
-
pewits. In case of death the funeral expenses are also to be
paid.
Sheep3hearing is in full progress in France, and the
reports are g. nerally to the effect that the wool is goo i in
quality and abundant in quantity ; but there are at the
same time complaints from all quarters that the weather
has been so unfavourrie as greatly to retard operations.
The Emperor William of Germany is the fifth male
member of the Hohenzollern family who has lived to cele-
brate his G )lden Wadding The first case was that of
Johann, surnamed the Alchemist, *born about 1403, and who
died in 1461. The three sous of Frederick William I, had
also more than fifty years each of married life—namely,
Frederick the Great, Prince Henry-, ani Prince August
Ferdinand of Pru.sia. Of the four sons of Frederick William
llf., thr,e celebrated their Silver Wedding, and Prince
Charles, brother of the present Emperor, who married the
sister of the Empress, was within a day or two of the golden
ceremony in 1877 when his consort died.

The weekly shipments of grain from America con-
tinue to be fully maintained. Durir g the we( k ending 7th
inst. 236,000 quarters wheat were slipped, of which 166,00
quarterstrnite ri li(includingligaemeeld6,looooo,oforoomqueCtatelirfsorfneirs)t
hweecreenftoier
enthte;
while of mmze the quantity amounted to 359,000 quarters,
nearly the whole being for the United Kingdom. Of wheat
Ole visible supply is mew 16,250 bushels, and of maize
11,250,000 bushels. Latest advices from the States give
favourable accounts of the prospects of the young crops.
The Tamer troopship, which arrived on Sunday at
Portsmouth from the Cape, brought home a number of those
ho bad
the afdraeal
of
imsriteidhcoekef
todootnehrm:eeht
)haf
iedidgndehtrbteteoer
aeeetnf,,h
Reii wonNegost
teuhtiontelyele.tdzni
Driftcuoudl
sulupaarriwitasnaet during
e.thhatAaahvn
Amongst
tmee
poeobZneraggnelsttnuit
lu'hPePilillevdaibidyst
the paNiengers by the 'Famar were several widows and
children of officers and men who fell at isandula. Another
party of sick and wounded from the Zulu war arrived at
Portsmouth on Tuesday, in the Russia, transport. The men,
who belonged to the Navel B:lgAde, received their wounds
at the ba:cle of Ginghilova, and, after receiving medical
treatment on the apt, were despatched to Simon's Bay.
They all speak in mithusia.tic terms of the physique and
withstand
thevaloueratoutate ptheeud
Zulus.el
who, h
o,
the Gallinghowev
however, could not
Thp toga atd now nerft.tetb couv4lesteht,
end iCeie disembarked during the afternoon.

A shocking accident took place on the Great
Northern Railway, near Bowling, Bradford, on Monday
afternoon. Several children were playing upon the railway
when an express train dashed 11.:.J their midst, killing two
of their number.
The University of Copenhagen celebrated, on
Friday last, June the 6th, the four Ir ndreth anniversary of
its Lunation. Telegraphic and written congratulations
were read from most of the Universities iEaroke.
The fiftieth anniveri,ary of }high?' Inaepende=nee
is to be kept next year by a t.erles L pirely faes.
There will be a grand txhibition on the Brussals Race-
course, but no foreign uaiions ilhe allowed to exhibit.

There were only eight British and foreign wrecks
reported during the past week, mai ing a total of 718 for the
present year, or an increase of 73 as compared with the
crurPsponding period of last year. The approximate value
of property lost was 000,000, including British £150,000.
A Lloyd's telegram from Sydney announces the
arrival at Noumea of the French steamer Picardie from
cbartered by the French Government to bring
back to France 050 pardoned couvicts.
A Bulgarian decoration has been instituted by
PriLce Alexander. The Order consists of rive classes, and
up, medal bears the Bulgarian inectiptttn "Zs Zaslaga"—
" For Merit "—and is attached to a red, white, and green
ribbon.

With the increased warmth and the prime growing
weather of the plat few cliqs, crop prospects have improved
wonderfully. Cereals awl grata are rapidly shooting up-
wards, and altogether reports are of a more cheery charac-
ter than could have been expected under the adverse cir-
cumstances of the season.

The tallest man in London just now, says the
London correspondent of the Sussex Daily _News, is a mili-
tary attache to one of the Northern Courts, Denmark, I
think. He stands six feet seven inches in height and is
proportionately stout and strong.
There have been serious floods and storms in various
parts of Austria. The church of Ilichtz Ras struck with
lightning and burned to the ground. Waterspouts have oc-
curred throughout Siberia. Tne rivers have inundated the
plains of Moravia, and carried away cattle and household
effects.

The death is announced as having taken place at
Caswell Bay, near Swansea, of Miss Francis Ridley Havergal
("F. R. H."), the popular modern hymn writer. The
deceased lady was best known by her collections of sacred
poems, entitled "The Ministry of Song" and "Under the
Snrface," of each of which about 25,0u0 copies have been
sold.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Lorne were present
on Monday at the opening of a new terrace in Quebec, and
were greatly cheered. The city was illuminated in the
evening in honour of their visit.
The arbitratPrs in the wages dispute in the Durham
coal trade have asked the Earl at Derby to act as umpire,
and his lordship has consented to give his services.

Her Majesty, since her arrival at Balmoral, has
presented to the whale of the tenantry and servants on the
royal estates a souvenir of the late Princess Alice' in the
shape of an e'egaut and carefully-execated portrait of her
Royal Highnet a, who was a universal favourite on Deezide.
A restaurateur at Berlin has devised an ingenious
plan for keeping his place free from beggars, street
uu:sances, deadbeats, and other undesirable customers. He
just puts a policeman's hat on a table near the door, and
when the undesira4le customer looks in it meets his
fascinated gaze, and he closes the door gently and depi.r.s
bolding his breath.

A Queen's messenger recently left London with de-
spatches for the Queen at Balmoral. He reached Aberdeen
at 12 40 pm. on Wednesilay, and proceeded thence to
Balmoral, returning to Aberdeen on the same evening by
the last ordinary train. Taking a special train at Aberdeen
he proceeded from Aberdeen to Perth, which place he
reached' In time to catch the express at 830 on Thursday
morning. Toe express reached London on Thursday even-
ing at eight o'clock, and the journey to Balmoral and
back was thus performed in thirtysiz hours.
The Revisers of the authorized version of the New
Testament met on Tuesday at the Jerusalem Chamber, and
sat for six hours. Fifteen members were present, the Bishop
of Gloucester and Bristol being in the chair. The company
was engaged on suggestions on their revision of the Acts of
the Apostles.

--- -
In the report of the Registrar-General, it is stated
that the fatal cases of small-pox in London, which had been
17 and 8 in the two preceding weeks, rose again last week
to 11.

-- ---
The death of Baron Rothschild is a windfall for
the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for there rust be a fine pull
In the shape of succession duty, as the personality left is said
to be enormous.

The receipts on accomit of reverne from the Ist
April, 1879, when there was a balance of £6,915,756, to June
7, 1879, were £1407,628, against £15,263,719 in the
sponding period of the preceding financial year, wl•:2 •
with a balance of £6,213 359 The net expendittue
£15,165,892, against £15,732,528 to the same date In the
previous year. Tile Treasury balances on June 7 amounted
ot £5,529,459, and at the same date in 1878 to £5,02,510.
e "Flying Dutchman," the fastest train in the
world, has recently been accelerated, so that Exeter is now
within four hours and a quarter of London, and Plymouth
can be reached in fix hours. Between Paddington and
Swindon the speed Is GO miles an hour, the highest known on
any regular service.
Another dyke of the River Po has burst, causing
immense damage and wide-spread destitution in the pro-
vince of Mantua.

Ghosts' balls have been introduced into American
society by some lively young people tired of ordinary dances
and calico balls, so says the Paris Globe. The dancers drape
themselves in sheets, which cover their dresses like
dom.noe., their faces being co rcesded by a kind of hood
made of the sheet, and false noses of white cardboard. Thus
disguised, the guests glide about like spectres, and often
vainly try to recognise their dearest friends.

- -
On Tuesday afternoon a violent thunderstorm was
experienced in the north of Scotland: It was particularly
feat in the vicinity of Balmoral. The lightning was remark-
anly vivid, trees were thrown down, and the violent rain
which followed in the evening has done a great deal of
damage.

A sad accident occurred at the Park Iron Ore
Mines, near Barrow, on Monday night. The tight turn of
men were at work when there was a sudden fall of earth
in one of the workings. The alarm was given, and it was
ascertained that several miners had been working in that
part of the pit. The work of removing the debris was at
once commenced, and the dead bodies of three miners were
found. All of the unfortunate men were married.

The American papqrs state that a fatal accident has
occurred at the Niagara Falls by which a smuggler met with
his death. A party of excursionists from Buffalo were on
the shore near Cataract-house, when a cry was raised that a
uilt b,n.t with a single occupant was being borne down the
rapids. The man was rowing with all his might, but his
efforts were futile against the descending currents. The
lijht skiff was borne on like a feather until, suddenly dash-
ing agat.ibt a rock at the top of the precipice, it was smashed
to pieces. and the unfortunate occupant was flung into the
waters and killed.

A c,,rresponrient of the New York Tribune at New-
port, Rhode Island, states that Mary Greene, a maiden lady,
celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of her birth on the
22nd ult. There is, the correspondent says, undisputed proof
that she was born May 22, 1779, in the town of Warwick, in
this State, where she resided until about four years ago.
With the exception of being slightly deaf aid somewhat near-
sighted, she is in possession of all her faculties.
The number of congratulatory telegrams, letters,
and addresses received by the Emperor with reference to
his Golden Wedding exceeded 15,000. All the Sovereigns of
Europe tendered their good wishes, either by letter or by
telegram.

At a meeting held in Plymouth Guildhall on Mon-
day evening, it was resolved to invite the various towns in
Devon to form committees for the purpose of raising funds
for the relief of the sufferers by the failure of the West of
England sank. Grants to the amount of £6OO have already
been made to those shareholders of the late bank who are
incapable of maintaining themselves. The total fund at
present amounts to £B,OOO
-

Zulus have a regular symbolic language of grass
fires, and by this means convey messages from one part of
the country to the other. Private signals are also made
among the natives, by tying grass into knots of different
shape, which would pass unnoticed by the ordinary observer.

The second part of this year's issue of the reports
from her*Majesty's Cc nsuls has just appeared. It contains,
among other interesting materials, some valuable infor-
mation about the trade of France and Germany last year.
Speaking generally, the testimony given proves that the
trade of these countries has not suffered in bulk so much as
in price. The general condition is, in short, similar to that
complained of here.

The Stafford-house Committee are about to publish
their float report, from which it appears that the total
amount received from all sources was £43,750 12s. 4d., of
which £42,841 18s. 6d. was expended, leaving a balance of
£9OB 13s. 10d The returns, including Lord Blantyre's Asia
sections, show that 11,626 sick and wounded were treated in
11 hospitals, 33,366 in eight field ambulances and dispen-
saries, and 26,382 were attended to during transport by the
railway and road transport sections, making a total return
of 71,274; 106,940 rations were distributed at seven soup.
kitchens, and 1,708 poor convalescents assisted on their way
home with small money donations. The staff engaged con-
sisted of three commissioners, 43 surgeons, and a large
number of dispensers, transport agents, infirmiers and
others.—The 2'imes.

They are building a little steamboat at San Francisco
for Honolulu parties, and her owners have made its name
the suhject of a riddle at the Hawaiian Islands, promising
anyone who discovers it before it is announced, a tree
passage on the vessel to any point of her route for one year.
"In going down to the Bath and West Show one
often sees some late crops; but anything approaching to the
backwardness of the corn this year I hive never before ob-
served. A. bare might be seen in the middle of a wheat field
by anyone wailing it in an express train, and it is no ex-
aggeration to say that a rat mlght be seen in most of the
harleyw. Tne wheats on tbe heavy lands look quite brown
from excessive moisture, and many of the barleys are yellow
frcm the some cause. There are also many thin plants.
Altogether, the appearance of the oreps as seen in going from
London to Exeter by one route, and returning by another,
is anything but satisfactory."—Mark Lane Fznrfsa