The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-12-28 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.
Intelligence from Bonny of Nov. 12 states that
King George had been imprisoned there for ten days by
several of his chiefs of the district for attempting to levy a
rate on the traders, after which he was released, but kept
under strict surveillance.
After an illness of six weeks duration, the Rev. Mr.
Spurgeon was again able to resume his functions on Sunday
morning at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. The rev. gentle-
man, though he conducted his services with his usual
ability and earnestness, was still far from being in perfect
health. Oa the contrary, he was suffering severe bodily
pain; but he announced his determination, if able to stand,
to be with his flock on the approaching great festival.

The number of priz of the Paris Exhibiti qa Lot-
tery will be between 60,000 and 70,000. lhe exhibition oi
the rrizes cannnt po.sthly he opened before the secc.nd seek
in January, and the drawing will not probably be finished
before the month ot February, at the earliest.

It appears from a return issued on Saturday that
down to June 30, 1878, the length of tramway open for pub-
lic traffic in the United Kingdom was a fractson over 268
miles, and the number of passengers conveyed in the year
ending on that day 148,001 223, the grosi receipts being
£1,145,485, the worming expenditure £688315, and tb• net
receipts £230,956. The number of horses in use on June 30
was 9,222, and the ntunher of cars 1 124. The total capital
authorised up to Jui,e 30 was 46,536,111 ; the capital paid
up £4,035,464; and the total capital expeoded £4,207,350;
the length of tramway authorised being Siff wiles aud a
fraction.

The South and Wept Yorkshire and North Derby-
shire coal-masters are serving notices upon their miners for
a further redaction in wages. It is expected that at the be-
ginning of the new year the men, rather than submit to this,
will withdraw from their work in a body to the number of
one hundred thousand.

In answer to an appeal of the Bishop of London,
her Majesty has been graciously pleased to send a donation
of £2OO. General ronsonby, in conveying her Majesty's
bounty, says :—" The Queen, notwithstanding the deep
sorrow which has fallen upon her, has noticsd your ap; cal
in behalf of the suffering poor of London, and has com-
manded me to send you the enclosed cheque as her
Majesty's contribution for alleviating distress in the metro-
polis."
- - -

The Paris Correspondent of The Times says :
"Numb,ra of wolves have penetrated as far as the gates of
Metz, and there is more snow on the Vosge, than the oldest
inhabitant remembers. In Petrarch's village (Vaucluse)
numerous wolves are prowling rouud the houses. lu the
Department of Ikere twoyoung men, brothers, have polished
in the snow while on their way home at night, and in other
localities several deaths have occurred on the roads from
cold.'

Parisian bon.bons in readiness for the New Year
are invariably named after some contemporary celebrity or
event. So this )ear M. Lecocq's latest opera, Le Camargo
gives its name to the fashionable sweetmeats in their dainty
boxes.—Graphic.
- - -

An alphabetical list of the lords spiritual and tem-
poral in the sixth Session of the 21st Parliament of the
United Kingdom has just been issued. There is a vacancy
In the representation of the peers for Scotland, caused by
the death of the Earl of Lauderdale. The paper contains
53 names.

At a meeting of the ministers of the various Non-
conformist churches in Rochester and Chatham, it has been
unanimously resolved that none of the ministers should
officiate at a funeral on Sunday except V hell by medical
authority immediate interment is declared necessary on
sanitary grounds. It was also decided that in no circum-
tances should the ministers officiate at weddings on Sun-
day.
The t 'mperature of the Lake of Geneva, ut the depth
of 1,000 feet, is always 42 degrees.

Last Saturday morning, at Oxford, Professor Monier
Williams fell on the ice anti broke his right wrist in three
places.
- - ' -

A grand dairy exhibition opened in New York
recently. The dairy products of the country are estimated
at 350,000,000 dole. in value, or 35,000,000 dohs, more than
the wheat crop..
The highest inhabited place on the globe is the
Post-housa of Ancomarco, in Peru, which is nearly 16,000
feet (upwards of three miles) above the sea.

_
Estimates have just been drawn up of the produc-
tion of Cleveland ironstone for the present year, which
shows a falling off Irons the output of last yew, whbn the
production of ironstone in Cleveland was 6,289,745 tons.
It is anticipated that there will be a falling off this year in
production to the extent of 1,000,000 tout, due to lower local
consumption and use of imported ores.

- ---
The dispute between the farmers and agricultural
labourers in Bent and East Sussea E till continues, and the
severe frost has considerably increaled the number of men
out of employ. At meetings which have been held during
the past week it was announced that the Agent-General for
New Zealand had offered to place at the disposal of the
Labourers' Union a steamship for the purpose of conveying
(migrant; to that colony. Jets antictpat,d that up wid de of
..e(QQ_versor,s svill leava ,the !‘iGokod.out" diktricts for New
Zsalabd in January next.
According to a. German paper, Luther's house at
Man. 1.-Icl wh'ch rtm it, ed ia the plasessiou of the reformer.,
4lesceuwtiett till the middle of the last century, has jest btin
b ught by person who wishes to turn it into a publichoure.
a
*lo prevent its failing into irreverent hands a committee has
been formed with a view to raising funds for its purchase
and preservation.

The execution of criminals by electricity is being
seriously talked over by some professors in Paris.
It has been observed that with the increasing atten
tion of wont, n to cqiisthenics and gymnastic exercises gene-
r illy, tht the men live taken to practising and Improving
their E, ed in running.
A bill has been submitted to the French Senate
authorizing the shooting of ra'ibits all the year round with-
out a game I.cmce

Three hundred weavers at Lille have struck for
higher wages.
Her Majesty's New Year's gifts to the poor of the
parish,s of New Winds,,r, Holy Trinity, and Clover will be
presented to the recipients on Jan. 1.

-- --
Some of the bridal custpcna of California are unique.
At a late wedding in San Francisco, "a fashionable audience
fairly packed the auditorium." The happy pair were wel-
comed into the C,..urch to the music of Mendelssohn's
"Wedding March," played on a piano; and somewhere dur-
ing the services, which required the united energies of two
bishops and two priests, a violin solo, Schubert's "Reverie,
was tnteTjected. The fiddle and piano often come into
weeding festivi;les, but San Francisco can claim for itself
the invention of solos on these instruments as part of a
marriage ceremony in a high church.

The inhabitants of the Arg .13tire Repulalis are
enerzct'cal'y cArrying on the cultivation of wheat along
the River Piate, and it is believed that region will shortly
be one of the most extensive wkeat growing places in the
world.

Peter C. Weber, the "Weight-lifter of the World,"
died in Nevada recently. One of his public feats was lifting A
121 b. dumb-bell 12,000 times. In a private trial he is said
have lifted a 141 b dumb-bell 30,000 times in succession.

It is said that the Bank of England authorities
contemplate lighting their printing establishment with the
Rapieff electric syttem.
The Deceased Wife's Sisters' question will be
brought b-fore the House of Lords next 3 ear. There are
indications of a great and favourable growth of opinion on
this subject.
That was a funny notim of one of our dramatic
critics to buy a couple of hot potatoes to keep his hands
warm on his way to the opera. On reaching the theatre he
popped them into his pockets and forgot them. Presently
he jerktd one out with his pocket hankerchief in the stalls!
Of course he Ignored the matter, and pretended he knew
nothing about it Fancy his feelings when an old fellow be-
hind him picked it up and politely handed it to him, saying,
"Sir you have dropped a baked potato."
An American locomotive is to take a tour through
Europe. It is the one sent by the Philadelphia and Reading
railroad to the Paris Exhibition ; and an eug•neer has been
sent out to take it over the railways of Italy and other coun-
tries.
A Catholic Congress just held at Brussels has re-
sominencled as a palliatike for drunkenness the substitu-
tion of beer for spirits, as more refreshing and as injurious.
An American athlete performs the feat of having a
stone weighing 116 Ins. broken by a sledge haramer on his
chest.

It is estimated that the cost of maintaining the
Britis'i troops ix the Transvaal fully exceeds L 100,000)
month.

A Ladies Walking Club has been formed in New
York. The members take train or boat to a short distance
from the city and spend a day in the country, walking some
six or seven miles. They are all strongly shod and wear short
dresses.
Two quarterma. tars in Algeria, who had quarrelled
at mess, having been required by thar superior ofileerst o
fight a duel, selected the sabre, and at the first lunge one
of them was mortally wounded. lhe Univers justly pro-
tests against the "duel obligatoire," which, it says, exists
in no other army. But this is a mistake, for it certainly
exists in Germany, though ostensibly limited in both forces
to very serious misunderstandings.—Paris Correspondent of
The Timer,
There has been an erg,' 'on of mud at Salinella, at
the foot of Mount Etna, w‘c is regard,cl as an epilogue to
the numerous shocks of earbuquake recently felt in Catania.
Numerous craters were formed, which discharged torrents of
thick and heated mud propelled by gases formed of
carbonic acid, hydrogen, carbon, carburet of hydrogen, and
sulphuric acid Particles ot hydro-carburets, constialting a
kind of petroleum, were also observed.

A telegram from Melbourne says that Sunday was
to be observed as a day of mourning for the late Princess
Alice throughout the Australian colonies.

A farmer of Boise city, Idaho, catches 400 rabbits a
day. • Along his fences he places traps, boards hinged upon
pivots above deep pits; the rabbits Jump over the fences;
and alight on the boards, which tip up, deposit their occu-
pants in the pits, and reset themselves. About 400 rabbits a
day is the yield. The farmer gets a cent, bounty for each
ear. The teat of the rabbit he uses for feeding his hogs.
Mr. Henry Samuelson intends, when Parliament
meets in February, to more an address for a return every
Thursday, showing (1) the number of English, Indian
soldiers, marnies, and sailors upon the island or the station
of Cyprus; (2), the number of English, Indian soldier,
marines, and sailors in hospital or on the sick list, specify-
ing the number suffering from each complaint, and total
number of sick; and (3), the number of militia, y and naval
officers tent home on sick leave since de occupation.
M. Ledieu, director of the Mont de Pioitei, in Panic,
from 1852 to 1870, has recently died in the eighty-fifth year
of his age. Born in 1794, he entered the army young,"winning
his epaulette at nineteen. In the year 1813 he fought under
the eye of Napoleon at LUtzen (May 2) and Bautzen Ifity 21)
—victories powerleis to avert the crashing disaster of
Leipsic in the Octlber followine. M. Liediu fought bravely
In the "Battle of Nations," and it was on that Occasion that
he received his corn rniesion, as the reward of his gallantry anti
good cohiluct.—Pail Mall Gazette.
A. terrible railway accid ,nt in the Caucasus is re-
ported from Moscow (through a correspondent of the Paris
Terays.) The Rbstow-Vlsoikaokas Railway is, at certain
punt., a high-level one, running through the Caucasus. At
one of theit altitudes an express passenger train recently
swerved from the metals, and was precipitated to a depth
of fifteen metres, or close upon twenty yards. Tne driver
and stoker of the engine were killed on the spot, as was also
the guard. Amongst the passengers eighteen were killed
and thirty-eight injured. Amongst the dead was General
Rientze and several officers of the Russian Army of the
Caucasus.

Six smugglers have been killed by an avalanche in
the Val d'Ambria

The following anecdote is told of the late Princess
Alice. There is a flue picture of a scene in the war of
lii7o-71, in which Prince Louis of Hesse was represented '
leading his gallant division in one of the hardest encounters
of the campaign. When the sketch for the picture was first
exhibited by the arti..t st Darn. tacit the Princess Alice had
Jut • come back from her day's work at the hospital.
" Madam," exclaimed a bystander, "your royal highness
can reea d that picture with pride, beceesse it is true."
" Yes," replied the princess, " I can, general, for I know
the prince lives; but I feel sure that be would be with me
in the hespit..lh.td he not been obliged to be in the add."—
Court Journal.

"The depression of industry is not felt in England
only. lhere is no country in Europe where trade is brisk
and prosperous. Complaints of stagnation are universal,
and we doubt whether the distress from which manufacturers
and working people in this country are suffering, grave
though it is, exceeds Visit which ii felt in Germany, Ii is
certainly sorry consul ition to know that one's neighbours
fare no better than oneself."—Leader in The Times,

It is rUmoured that Germany, which, as is well
known, declined to exhibit at Paris, is seriously thinking GI
an International Exhibition at Berlin for the year 1881. A
number of German engineers have been studying all the
arraogements made at Parts for the -construction of the
temporary buildiues, the transport of goods to and from the
Champ de Mars, and the railway traffic.—Examinsr.
An axe which is to be presented to Mr. Gladstone
has just been completed by Messrs. Mappin and Webb. It
Is an exact tepresentation of the American axe, vs hich Mr.
Gladstone is accustomed to use. The blade is csmposed of
solid silver, and is inscribed with the following words—
" Presented to the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone by a few
admiring friends." The handle is made of ebony, and the
occasion of the presentation will be Mr. eladstone's birth-
day, od the 29th itst
It is e:timated that there are 2,900,000 sheep in
Colorado, and over b,C00,000 head of cattle.
A blue sapphire of marvellous size has been recently
found in the gem district of the island of Crylrn. It weighs
two pounds in the rough, and was discovered by two boys,
who sold it fora trifle, not aware of its nature. It is said
to be worth £lO,OOO.

The year 1880 will be the hundredth of the establish-
ment of Sunday schools, and the Committee of the Cottrell
of England Sunday School Institute propose commemosattng
the ev,lit by a ssnes of services, conferenees, and meetings
0. an u:tasuall3 important character. The proceedings will
extend from June 7.11 to July 4cf that year. It is also pro-
pnsed to mark the occasion by founding a "Centenary
Foul,' the contnbutions to which will be applied to the
erection of a building more adapted to the special, purposes
of the society, whose constantly-increasing operations in the
extensioa arid Improvement of Church of England Sunday
Schools makes the need of larger.und more suitable premises
a very pressing one.
The Marquis of Ripon, speaking at a distributi n of
prizes at Francis Xavier's College, Liverpool, said that in
primary educatioires great work had been accomplished, and
was still in progress. Tne question was whether our second-
ary schools had reached an equally high standard, and were
equally appreciated by those for whose_ benefit they were
int,nded Speaking generally of the secondary schools
throughout the country, Catholic and non-Catholic, he did
not think that they were yet in that position.

The constabulary returns received by the Irlsh Asso-
cliti on for the Pres ention of Intemperance from all towns in
Ireland with a population of 5,000 and upwards show a
diminution in Sunday arrests for drunkenness since the
Suuday Clesing Act came into force of 61 per cent. The
returns co.nprise eight Sundays since lie Act came into
operation, with the corresponding slays in 1877, and include
39 towns with a gross population of 314,000, but they do not
refer to cities exempted fromthe Act.
John B. Gough has a rival in New York, in the
person of a Mr. Murphy. In three weeks he is said to have
obtained 8,000 temperance pledges.
1'155 French Police Department has now completed
and issued its statistical report on the foreign visitation of
Paris during the period the 'Wulf-Hon was open. It appears
from the returns of tie hotel-keepers hlone that they re-
ceived from May Ito November 570,792 foreign guests. Of
these 64,044 were English, 31,419 Pelgians, 23,524 Germans,
16,417 Italians, 14,550 Americana from the United States,
13,254 Swiss, 10,234 Spaniards, and 9,072 Austrians,
An American paper disputes the claim of the " Fly-
ing Dutchman" of the Great Western Railway to be the
fastest train in the world. On the Pennsylvania Railroad,
between Jersey City and Philadelphia, a train runs at the
rate of fifty•eight miles an hour, to the "Plying Dutch-
man's '-fitty-three.
At a meeting of the Royal Normal College and
Academy of Music for the Blind, Upper Norwood, it was
announced by the Principal, Mr. F J. Campbseelll,ttuhpaptc9xoapnegr.
per cent, of the pupils who had completed their course of
training at the college were now entirely f.
Between thirty and forty young blind peeple were well esta-
blished in business in different parts of the country. It was
also remarked that the blind trained in the college are not
only saved from pauperism, but in a certa'ax sense go forth -
as missionsries, vindicating the claim of their class to a good
practical education.
staTtehsetiplaatglaci edattPllll4buiTieeNSvaa,
this mouth, and at the land) time
volcanic submarine eruption. -large fires" were ob-
served in the distance in the Lei, supposed to have been a
letter from Iceland, which
bad,
weather has been very
The
felt in Reitfavik on the let of
pabnavnembbeeernokf
killed
hthaveehlgeue
81no
satnodrnlitr, goer flocksliterally
f
blown from the cliffs into the sea.
The Liverpool town cJuncil have decided to pro-
mote a bill in Parliament conferring upon the corporation
the for production of the electric
all necessary Paw.ere 001, Bootle, and the surround-
ingsupply townships, and also such
buer
deermldwderes with respect to
siwraibie.
s may
A Connecticut man is reported to have been badly
through a lead pipe. We have
country poisoned by sucking whisky
kP°n otwithoutpoisoned
m
ed
thbeyeu n
isitilteekrivtnhelswtion is
of a pipe of any sort.—Echo.
One of the great advantages claimed for the electric
light over gas has been that it gives off no noxious fumes:
ail is, therefore,at once more healthy, and less oli-struetive
' to gliding, pictures, &c. It seems, however, that this claim
Is altogether premature. Mr. Thomas Wills read a paper at
the meeting of the Royal Chemical Society detailing the
results of a number of experiments made by him. These
showed that the 1, tense heat of the electric arc decomposed
the oxyg•ni and nitrogen of the air, the result being the
form ‘t,on of nitric acid, one of the most deleterious and
destructive of compounds. It was found that over two grains
of this acid were formed per hour. Further experiments
• .PflLL4carrseuluont, but, thosa ANNA, Mr. Welte-tua airevy
p•rfortned are sufficient to show that a very appreciable
amoent of deleterious matter is evolved by the electric light.
Whether the amount of nitric acid formed is likely to be
more or less injurious than the compounds produced by the
combustion et eas is a matter for chemists to decide;
enough has been none to show that tbe electric light is not
by any means so free from objection as a means of lighting
the interior of dwellings as has been hitherto supposed.—
Evening Standard.