The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-10-10 00:00:00

isultancous 4xitiligeam

HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL'

TICE INVENTIONS Exim3moN.—The number of
visitors to the International Inventions Exhibition for
the week ending Saturday, October 8, was 119,417.
Total since the opening, 3,099,634.
HISTORIC VILLA.—The German Government is about
to purchase for 600,000 marks an object of great archa3o-
logical interest. It is a picture from the villa of the
Etriperor Hadrian, and representing Cleopatra. It is
painted on stone, and of the time of Augustus.
CREMATION IN AMERlCA.—Oremation is beginning to
make way in the United States. Buffalo has built &-
crematory. Troy and Rochester are talking of follow-
ing suit, while Detroit ,is prepaiing to build an expen-
sive structure for the purpose.
LAST 'WEEK'S WRECKS.—Twenty-five British and
foreign shipwrecks were reported during the past week.
Ten were British owned, and six (live British and one
Norwegian) were lost off the British Isles. Lives lost
number 13. Total wrecks for year, 902. Corre-
sponding week of last year—wrecks, 108; total for
year, 1149.
Corm AVERAGES.—The folloi‘ing are the average
prices of British corn for last week, as received from
the inspectors and officers of Excise: Wheat, 30s. 6d.:
barley, 31s. id.; oats, 19s. id. per imperial qr. Corre-
sponding week last year: Wheat, 325. ; barley,
31s. 9d.; oats, 19s.

THE SCRAMBLE you THE Wearee.—The German
acquisitions in the Pacific Ocean are classified by the
Hamburg Geographical Society as follows: Kaiser-
Wilhelm's Land (New Guinea), 3255 geographical
square miles; New Ireland, 213 square miles; New
Britaln, 584; the Bismarck Archipelago, 948; making
in all 5000 German, or 80,600 English geographical
square miles.
CURIOUS CAVERN.—An ancient Greek inscription of
curious interest has just been discovered in a cavern.
under the western side of Mount Ida, in Crete, show-
ing that the cavern in question was identified in
antiquity as that where Jupiter was.fabled to have
been nurtured by nymphs. The site is now being exa-
mined under the direction of Dr. Frederic Halben.
EMPAMORS' LYKURIES.—The Emperors cr their suites
enjoyed abundant creature comforts during their
recent stay at Cardinal Furstenberg's castle at
Kremsier. The bills for the entertainment have been
sent in, and they are said to amount to £40,000. The
wine merchants' bill enumerates 1500 bottle of old
Rhine wines, 2.500 bottles of various French vintages,
3000 bottles of champaene, and 1600 bottles of liqueurs.
Ten thousand glasses, an equal number of table-
napkins, and 7000 silver forks and spoons were likewise•
sent to Kremsier.
FEMALE CAR CONDUCTORS.—FemaIe tram conduc-
tors are common objects in the towns of Chili. During
the war with Peru, when most of the able-bodied men-
were drafted into the army, women were employed in
the capacity, and proved themselves so successful that
they have continued in the employment. They are
usually girls from 20 to 25, dressed in natty uniforms
and jaunty Panama hats and white pinafores. Con-
sequently it is not surprising, the Chicago " Inter-
Ocean " says, that street-car riding has become S.
popular amusement with young men about town.
Cnoren WORDS.—Apparently the Cherokee language
-
supplies the longest existing word in .‘ Winitawtgegin-
aliskawlungtanawnelitisesti," which means "They will
by that time have nearly done granting (favours) from
distance to them and to me." And according to the
same writer (Sylvanus Urban), " Honorificabilitu-
dinity "is the longest word in English literature. In
Aztec an equally formidable combination of vowels and
consonants exist. It is " Arnatlacuilolitquitcatlaxla-
huilli," and it means " payment received for having
been bearer of a paper with writing on it."
ARTESIAN WELLS.—A. contract for the artesian wells.
for the new water supply to Southampton has been
completed. These wells will reach to a depth of ICC
feet below the surface, and will both commence at tie'
bottom of a large oval well 21 feet deep. The pre-
liminary 12-inch borings, after being pumped con-
tinuously night and day lor a week, showed a calculated'
capacity of yield equal to an average supply of
1,500,000 gallons in tha 24 hours.
BANKRUPTCY BUSINESS. A return, showing the
number of receiving orders in the High Court and in
the several ceunty courts having bankruptcy iurisdic-
tion in England and Wales gazetted in the quSrtere
ended September 30, 1884 and 1835, and in the nine
months ended respectively September 30, 1884, and
September 30, 1885, was published in the "Gazette.'
The totals were: Quarter ending September 30, 1884,
851; quarter endine September 30, 1885, 1082; nine
months ending September 30, 1881, 2303; nine months
ending September 30, 1885, 3315.
FOREIGN LIVE STOCK AND FRESH MEAT. The
arrivals of live stock and fresh meat at Liverpool
from American and Canadian ports amounted to 1178
cattle, 520 sheep, 8397 quarters of beef, and 325 car-
cases of mutton, which, in comparison with the ira.
ports of the preceding week, show a slight increase in
both live stock and fresh meat. The conveying steamers,.
eight in number, were as follows: Kansas, 480 cattle•
and 764 quarters of beef; Lake Winnipeg, 458 cattle,.
520 sheep, and 697 quarters of beef; St. Ronans, 270
cattle; Celtic, 792 quarters of beef, and 50 carcases of
mutton; Lord Clive, 1024 quarters of beef; City Of
Rome, 1580 quarters of beef, and 75 carcases of mutton;
Wyoming, 2700 quarters of beef, and 150 carcases of
mutton; and Britannic, 840 quarters of beef, and 50.
carcases of mntton.

A BANKER'S END.—There has just died in the
Preston Workhouse Nicholas Arrowsmith, a member.
of one of the oldest Lancashire families, and the son of
Mr. Arrowsmith, formerly the Preston banker.
Deceased resided with his family in a fashionable part
of the town some years ago, and had a high position.
The bank, that of Arrowsmith and Roskell, was chiefir
used by the Roman Catholics. Owing to a run uPon
20 years ago, the bank failed, and many CatholiC
families were utterly ruined. The deceased went to
Australia and lost money in sheep farming. He carne'
back, but misfortune followed misfortune. At last he
took to drink, and his friends found it necessary to
withdraw the support they had given him. He the?'
went to the workhouse, where an attack of paralysis
caused his death. He was consoled in his last hours bY
two Roman Catholic priests. •
Tim BAEBACOMBE TRAGEDY.—John Lee, who Vag'
convicted of the Babbacombe murder and sentenced to be
hanged, but who escaped by an accident on the gallowOf
and was then sent to penal servitude, has written a
letter to his parents, to whom he remarks : "I Nwa!
wrongfully punished. I never did the murder, not bad
anything to do with it. I should think now the Lord
has saved me from the gallows He will bring the guilty
persons to punishment: and deliver me. I forgive all
my enemies, because they only wanted to make their
ease good; but I am sure my step-sister, E. Harris,
could get me clear if she liked, only she is afraid she
will get into it herself. I will trust in the Lord and 191
will bring it all right after awhile, and the public will
sae that I am innocent."

USEFUL INTENTION.—A Swedish engineer, Herr DT.'
Lottiger, owner of the Elmhults Engineering Works,
has invented an instrument whereby it is indicated st
railway stations whether the points on the line are i 0
working order or not. The instrument is worked hY
electricity, the warning of disengagements being given
by means of bells; otherwise the invention is, of
course, a secret. Herr Lottiger has submitted the /Tr
strument tcr the inspection of the railway authorities,
-
whom it has satisfied in every particular. Permission
has been given to fit the apparatus for experiments oni
several of the State lines.
THE NORTH ARCTIC ZONE.—It is generally suppose:!,
that the north arctic zone is extending, and proof 1, •
assumed in the increase of ice on the eastern shores 01
Greenland, and in the fact that barley, which was 00'
cessfully grown in Iceland from its first settlement 10
870 down to the middle of the 15th century, is no longer
cultivated here. The Icelandic Government have, /101"
ever, lately attempted to grow barley in the island on a'
considerable scale, and the results were very favourable.
" Norwegian barley from Altenfjord, the extreme use?
' of the barley-growing zone, was planted and fit for
ting in 89 days. The decline in barley cultivation 01
Iceland is really due to the fact that cattle-breeclia
" paid better.
" DEATH OF MRS. LE BRETON.—This lady, who died At
Hampstead, in her 78th year, was a niece of II
Aikin, the historian, and a granddaughter of the W,
known Gilbert Wakefield, names which recall a i°lll'
past literary generation. Though not a writer by Prre,
fession she had a ready and graceful pen, and will
remembered as the author of a memoir of Mrs. I.
bauld, and of a more recently published woks
"Memories of Seventy Years," which abounds in We'
dotes and recollections of such persons as Ooleridgel
S. Rogers, Orabb, Robinson, George Dyer, the G. D.
Elia, Flaxman, Stotbard, Professor Smyth, Malthilur.
Joanna Baillie, Ram Mohun Roy, and many
whom she she had known in early life.
LONDON'S WATER StTPPLY.—London is, as is g 600:
rally known' supplied with water from the rivers'
Thames and Lea, and from certain springS in tile
valleys of the Thames and the Lea, supplemented frl
Ohadwell springs, and from ten wells in the north 0
London, and ten wells in ihe south of London, all clovrot
to the chalk. The proportions for the mond! o
I.
August, 1885, are nearly as follows: From the El"
rrai
Thames and certain chalk springs in the sst.ver
Valley, about 58 parts of the whole; from the le us
Lea and certain chalk springs in the Lea Valley, alba
30 parts of the whole; from the ten chalk wells on
_a
north of London, about five parts of the vrbole ; tu!,t
from the ten chalk wells on the south of London, Ith°'
seven parts of the whole.
RAILWAY TRAFFIC IN AMERICA.—Ten years as-ss
standard car-load on the best American railvrayool7,
20,0001 b., the weight of the cars being 20'5s
In 1881 the load on most roads had increase', sa
ao,oornb., but the weight of the car had incre,asea iø
only 22,00010. Tlsa master car-builders of the Pent 181;„
vania Railroads have now sass,,,,s ears to °l.lss
60,0001 b., while the weight of the cars will be very h'til so
increased. Instead of hauling more than 11b. of car4d
11b. of freight, nearly 31b. of freight can now be haus'ils
for Ilb. of car. The substitution of steel for ironlf,,
has made the change possible. This condition of
makes it it possible for the American railways to
freights at the low rates they receive and yet Make
small profit.
ss the
THE ZOOLOGICAL GA,RDENS.—The additiong tted wweelt
Zoological Society's Gardens during the Pas
include a Macaque monkey from India, preselL,,, ale
Mrs. Paterson; A Humboldt's lagothrist,frurawood ;
Upper Amazons, presented by Mr. F. J.utrarespe°'
two Macaque monkeys, from India, presente,u Arthur;
tively by Mr. F. Debenham and Miss Lucy I‘l°'"ssura*
two West Indian agoutis, seven crab-eating
_' ova
two rough terrapins, two Brazilian tortoi.s%s,,jaus
nine
Teguexin lizards, two tuberculated iguanas, °
tt_
;b 010
toads, from Trinidad, presented by Mr. F. J•
palm squirrels, from India, presented IV _ssaroor
Bellamy; n great kangaroo, a rufous rat Inouth
from New South Wales, a roan kangaroo, fr 7.0.;
Australia, presented by Mr. 0. Ozarnikowt,
common crossbill (British), presented hYiD4yr Uo
Eyre; a green lizard, from Jersey, preseate" frisa, tvi
v. Colliver ; a Guinea baboo, from West Awart
bonnet monkeys, from India, two sElian's se,
T ~a°
from Africa, deposited; a Garnett's trscr
Africa, a harnessed antelope, an elate hor , fries, fi
West Africa a puff adder, from South S. voru_k
Lacertine snake (European), an Aldrovan°';rd Pau
from North-West Africa, purchased; le().
,n the gardens.